Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters below. People a lot more
creative than me made them. I also am not making any money off of this.
This is merely for entertainment purposes.
Note: This story takes place after Saffron, but before the blotched wedding attempt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
A Destiny of Darkness
By RanmaFan1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Prologue
Many people often think of as destiny as being the future thrust upon ourselves, that there is no escape from it and we should merely accept things that will happen. Others believe that we decide our own. What if perhaps our destiny is a combination of the two? That at times, destiny forces upon us circumstances beyond our control, but later gives us a choice resulting from those conditions. This is a such a story, where the heroes of it are placed into a situation that they did not want, yet will be given the choice as to what to do with it. But if destiny is truly beyond our control, maybe a choice made is your destiny and that there is no escape.
A typical day in Nerima, as many of its residents can vouch for, is not a dull one. Whether it be super-powered martial artist fights, perverted lechers raiding the local girls' locker rooms, or angry tomboys malleting their fiancés, things are never boring. However, on this day, the main characters of our story are going to wish that for once it would be.
Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts was not having a good day. School was out and he was walking along his usual spot on the fence by his fiancé Akane Tendo, looking dejected as well as slightly nervous.
This morning…
The morning started out typical. His lazy and good-for-nothing father woke him up by kicking him out the window and into the koi pond. Well, actually, the only other way he usually gets awakened is by having a bucket of water splashed on him by his over-tempered fiancé. After spitting out the water, Ranma-chan started her traditional arguing/fighting with her father.
"Hey, what did ya do that for, old man!?"
After jumping easily from the window onto a nearby rock by the pond, Genma tries to act, and fails miserably, of being the honorable sensei. "Boy, as your father, I cannot allow you to slack off. Now, prepare yourself." With that Genma leaps into the air to fight Ranma in the tradition of their school, mid-air combat.
Of course, Ranma is not in the mood for this. All she wanted was to get some good, uninterrupted, and peaceful sleep. Although her body has fully recovered from the traumatic events at Jusendo, her mind still needed a break. Deciding to end this early, she joins her father in the air and calls out one of her trademark attacks.
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"
Immediately, a couple of hundred punches land on Genma in the pace of a second. Although Ranma-chan pulled the punches, since even in her irate mood knew that Genma does not have the endurance of Ryoga, it was still enough to get her father into the pond.
"Suck on that, old man." With that, Ranma-chan, still female from her initial landing in the pond, walks into the home and takes the offered kettle from Kasumi.
"Thanks, Kasumi."
"Of course, Ranma."
With the kettle in hand, she pours the warm water on herself and returns to his natural male form. Looking at the kettle and recalling the destruction of Jusenkyo, Ranma grimly recollects on how he will probably have to do this for the rest of his life without the Nannichuan. Attempting, unsuccessfully, to forget such things, he walks over to the table and sits in his traditional spot next to Akane.
Akane, seeming to understand why her fiancé is in a fowl mood from staring at the kettle, attempts to lighten him up with an enthusiastic greeting. "Good Morning, Ranma," she says with one of those smiles that makes Ranma feel all warm inside.
"Good Morning, Akane," replies Ranma with a hint of a blush on his face, though it is not noticed by any at the breakfast table. He eagerly starts to devour his breakfast with the usual Saotome gusto. The elder Saotome, currently in panda form, walks into the house and dumps the rest of the kettle's contents on himself, and then settles down to start the breakfast battle with his son.
"Foolish boy, it's time I made you show some respect to your father." With that he attempts to take a pickle off of Ranma's plate. However, at the last second, his chopsticks are deflected by Ranma, who says, "Yeh right, pop, the day I respect you is the day Akane makes a gourmet meal." Immediately, he regretted the words that came out of his mouth, but it was too late. Akane started to fume and screamed "Ranma no baka!" and punched him in the face.
This sent the pigtailed off of his seat and allowed the greedy martial artist to devour a lot of his son's meal. By the time, Ranma recovered, most of the rice was already gone. "Hey, quit it, old man!" "Boy, a martial artist's life is fraught with peril. If you could not defend yourself during a simple food battle, how can you inherit the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts," stated Genma in an "all-knowing" fashion.
"Year right, pops, you just keep saying that to feed your fat stomach," retorted Ranma.
Before the two could continue their verbal battle, Kasumi calmed spoke "Oh, before I forget, Auntie Saotome called this morning and thought that we could have a little family picnic today since the weather is going to be good."
"Oh, that sounds like a great idea, Kasumi," said Akane. 'Maybe this will help cheer Ranma up,' Akane privately thought. No way she was going to say this out loud, though.
"An excellent idea," Soun says, " Nothing like some fun in the sun. That's what I always say, right Saotome?"
"Indeed, Tendo."
"Auntie Saotome also suggested that Ranma invite his other three fiancés so that she could get to know them better," Kasumi additionally added.
"Uh, Kasumi, do ya think that is a really good idea?" Ranma nervously asked. "With all of them here, the house will be a war zone."
"For once, Ranma is right," Nabiki commented coolly. "We cannot afford to repair this house that would most likely be leveled from the World War III that would occur."
"Oh, well, Aunty prepared for that by saying any such outbursts would invalidate engagements if she saw it fit."
"Well, it, uh, might work then," responded a slightly placated Ranma.
"Well, it's easy enough to get word to Shampoo and Ukyo since they hang around Ranma so much," stated Akane, though the last part was growled out a bit. Ranma flinched at that. "But what about Kodachi."
"Oh, that's easy enough," stated a more subdued Ranma. With that he walks over to a spot on the floor, picks up a board, and grabs under it. Out of the hole, he pulls out a startled Sasuke. "He'll tell her, won't ya pal." To emphasize his point, Ranma shakes the small ninja around a bit.
"Offf, course, Masssterr Saaotomeee," a dizzy Sasuke answers.
"Now get out of here- oh, and don't tell her brother." With that Sasuke quickly takes his departure while the getting's good.
Akane, confused as to how Ranma knew the Kuno servant was there, asks her thoughts. Ranma responds in kind, "Oh, that's easy, he has been tailing me for so long that I know exactly where to look for him if I wanted to." He shrugs it off.
Kasumi glances at the clock and realizes what time it is, "Oh my. You have all better hurry onto to school now or you will be late."
Akane sees the time and confirms what Kasumi has said. "Ack! she's right, we have got to hurry." With that said, she grabs her book bag, as well as Ranma's pigtail, and drags him out the door. "Hey, watch it with the hair." "Oh, stop your whining you baka and take it like a man." Ranma grumbles, "Stupid tomboy", but quiet enough so that Akane doesn't hear it.
Back at the house, Nabiki calmly stands up and proceeds to school at a far slower pace. Usually, she likes to be at school early to personally oversee the betting pools. This morning's discussions, however, prevented that. She didn't need to worry, though; her subordinates could adequately handle things and the teachers did not dare punish her for being late. 'It's great being in control,' Nabiki thought with a smirk.
Ranma and Akane continue to race along towards Furiken High, with Ranma on fence and Akane beside him on the sidewalk. For some reason, as time was going by, Ranma was feeling more anxious, as if something was going to happen. However, while running to class, the ladle lady somehow missed drenching Ranma and changing him into a girl. 'Maybe I'm just being paranoid,' thought Ranma. However, his luck just changed when they heard an all-to-familiar bell ringing, followed by the crunching of Ranma's skull under a bicycle.
"Nihao, Airen take Shampoo on date?" asks the local Amazon princess, while taking her bicycle from atop of Ranma, and then proceeding to glomp onto said martial artist. Akane meanwhile was silently fuming over Ranma being a pervert and for probably wanting to take Shampoo on a date. It was only through a great of amount of self-control (and yes she does have some, mostly from things that happened at Jusendo) that resulted in Ranma being saved from a mallet.
Slightly dizzy from being crashed upon again and unwittingly tongue-tied from having Amazon curves secured onto him, Ranma nervously states, "Well, uh, no Shampoo. Ya see, I have got to get to class today, but, uh, we are having a, uh, picnic at the Tendo dojo today, and my, er, mother would like to meet the rest of my, uh, fiancés."
"Ohhh, Shampoo get to meet Mother-in-Law! Is very important day!" squeals Shampoo in delight, releasing Ranma from her glomp and clapping her hands excitingly. "Can great-grandmother come too?"
"Well I dunno, but I guess mom should meet the old ghoul as well, but ya all better behave because my mom said that any funny business and she will get rid of the engagement."
"Okay, Airen, Shampoo go see great-grandmother and talk about this right away. No worry, Shampoo behave and bring too, too delicious ramen to dinner. Bye, bye, Airen." Shampoo then quickly gets onto her bicycle and speeds away back to the Nekohanten.
With the Amazon out of sight, Ranma breathes a sigh of relief and turns around, only to face a furious Akane. "Ah, what did I do now?" asks Ranma dejectedly.
"Oh, like you don't know, you pervert. Hanging onto Shampoo like that and then inviting Cologne. They'll probably drug the ramen."
"Ah, Akane, they ain't gonna do that. Ya heard what Kasumi said. Any funny stuff and my mom will get rid of the engagement. With women being in charge in the amazons, that's gotta count for something."
"I guess so," Akane relented, but still obviously not happy with the situation. Ranma still left out another sigh of relief, but in the back of his mind, his danger sense was still telling himself something was seriously wrong.
At the Nekohanten…
Shampoo, still bubbly excited from the news her Airen brought, bounced off her bicycle and threw open the doors (and not going through the wall) towards the kitchen exclaiming, "Great-grandmother! Shampoo have good news. Airen invite Shampoo over to dinner to meet mother-in-law."
Cologne, who was currently cooking a fresh pot of ramen, turned around and smiled in turn to her great-granddaughter and replied, "That is excellent news, great-granddaughter, though I am a bit surprised that son-in-law would do such a thing."
Not dissuaded by her comment, Shampoo explained, "Mother-in-law want to meet all of Airen's fiancés tonight to get know better. Shampoo show mother-in-law she best choice for Airen."
"Indeed, if you would be able to get son-in-law's mother on your side, it might bring the situation better into your favor. Therefore, you should be on your absolute best behavior tonight to impress her."
"Shampoo already say such to Airen. Now, Shampoo must get ready for picnic. Oh, Airen also say that great-grandmother can come."
"Very well Shampoo, we will close early today for you to prepare in meeting your mother-in-law. Do we need to bring anything for the picnic?"
"Aiyah, Shampoo say she bring too, too delicious ramen to dinner. Is alright, great-grandmother?"
"Of course, great-granddaughter, although we will need to close a little bit earlier to accommodate."
"Aiyah, is good. Shampoo show Airen and mother-in-law she best choice. Will be good day!"
CRASH!
At the noise, both Cologne and Shampoo blink at each other. The pair cautiously walks upstairs towards the source of the disturbance, which incidentally came from Shampoo's room. While peering inside, they look around for what caused the sound and find it on the floor. Cologne hopped on her walking stick over to the pile of glass on the floor- they were now the remains of a shattered glass frame of a picture of Ranma. She frowned deeply at that, but had the sense to make sure that her great-granddaughter was unable to see her facial expression. In a calm, neutral voice, Cologne says, "Shampoo, would you please clean-up this mess before you go with the take-outs?"
Shampoo blinks and says, "Of course, great-grandmother. Is something wrong?"
Cologne turns around and speaks with a reassuring smile. "No, dear. I just have something on my mind. Now you best hurry up so that we have enough time to prepare for tonight." Without waiting for a response, Cologne hops out of the room speculating, 'This is a bad omen. Perhaps I had best bring Mousse along. He may be a fool, but he is a decent martial artist.'
Outside the high school…
Both Ranma and Akane are making their way towards the school's entrance when the delusional kendoist Tatewaki Kuno declares in his normal pompous tone, "Foul sorcerer, 'tis this day that I, the Blue Thunder, shall release the fierce tigress Akane Tendo and the beauteous pigtailed girl from thy…" His speech is cut off with a swift kick to the face by the "pigtailed girl" in guy form. "That did not hurt," Kuno replies, before falling down unconscious.
"Heyya, Ranchan, Akane." The mentioned people turn around to see Ukyo, who is dressed in the female school uniform, coming up to them.
"Hey, Ucchan." "Hello, Ukyo."
"So, the idiot strikes again," she says, motioning towards the unconscious kendoist.
"Yeh, ya think the jerk would learn by now that he ain't gonna beat me," replies Ranma irritably. "Oh, Ucchan, we're all having a picnic at the dojo this afternoon and my mom would like to meet all of the fiancés. Can ya come?"
Ukyo is happy to hear this and says, "Of course, sugar, I'll even make some okonomiyaki there!" Privately, she thought, 'Now I'll show Ranchan that I would make the best wife.'
"That would be great, Ucchan."
"Yes, it would be, Ukyo. His mother also said that all of the fiancés need to be on their best behavior, or she might consider it grounds to remove the engagement."
"Don't worry, Akane, I'll be fine, just make sure those other two behave."
'Yeh, right, like this is really gonna work,' thought Ranma, still nervous and wondering what was feeling wrong with the day.
Some time after the three make it to class without bucket duty, Nabiki walks past the school gate and sees Kuno on the ground. "Kuno-baby, when are ever going to learn?" Knowing that there would be no response, she then proceeds to drag the man by his arm into the nurse's station, for a substantial fee of course.
And so another typical Nerima morning continues.
Meanwhile, at the Kuno estate…
Kodachi, the Black Rose of St. Hebereke High School, is preparing to leave when the family servant Sasuke appears kneeling out of nowhere.
"Mistress Kodachi, I have urgent news."
"What is, you low-bred fool, I must bask the halls of St. Hebereke with my presence this morning."
"My apologies, Mistress, but Master Saotome has told me to inform you his mother wants to meet all of the fiancés this afternoon at a picnic in the Tendo dojo"
"Oh, Ranma-sama, this is the perfect opportunity to show you how only I am worthy of your love. I must prepare a 'special' bouquet for you as soon as possible."
Before she could implement such a plan, Sasuke interrupts, "I beg your pardon, mistress, but Master Saotome also has told me that all of the fiancés must be at their best behavior or his mother will consider canceling the engagement."
"Oh, very well, it is not that I really need any such objects of affection to win my love. My beauty and standing are more than enough to impress my future mother-in-law." With thoughts of winning her Ranma-sama, Kodachi jumps from rooftop to rooftop laughing maniacally as usual.
Present time…
No, things were not going well for Ranma today. One would think that the Saffron incident would have calmed things down for him, but no, he just had to live with the same insanity over and over again. Kuno did not help any by attempting to destroy the "foul sorcerer" three additional times that day. Ranma also knew that the picnic had to become a disaster; that's just the way things happened around him. And for some unknown reason, Ranma's nerves were just on edge without the usual chaos into consideration. He just does not have the patience to deal with much more. Now to top it all off, we hear a familiar cry.
"What a haul! What a haul! What a haul!" Yep, the local pervert Happosai is seen carrying a bag several times his size and overflowing with various ladies' unmentionables. 'Perfect!' thought Ranma. Something to relieve his stress over. "Wait here, Akane," Ranma tells his fiancé, and before she can respond, he flips into the canal, becoming a she, and is bouncing away to stop the lecher's latest perversion.
'Honestly!' thought Akane, 'Every single day it's the same thing. When will everyone grow up.' Of course, all those who know Akane would be thinking the same thing of her many times over. With that Akane continues to stomp home. Somebody had to help Nodoka and Kasumi this evening.
After catching up to the ancient lech, "Hiya ya, Happy," replies Ranma-chan in an ultra-cutesy voice, showing off a lot of cleavage with a couple of buttons of her shirt undone.
Of course, 'Happy' always is easily tricked when Ranma-chan uses her feminine features on him. With a "Sweeto", Happosai spring towards his target, lowering all forms of defense in favor of attempting to molest Ranma-chan's breasts. However, before he can grasp his targets, Ranma-chan kicks the old man hard enough that he flips into the air, dizzily landing on the next rooftop. The pigtailed martial artist knew the old pervert was tough enough to survive that kick, but the purpose of it was to distract him long enough to get the stolen undergarments. Doing as mentioned, Ranma- chan grabs the overfilled sack and tosses it back to the approaching female mob.
Happosai has recovered by then and seeing Ranma tossing the bags laments, "My pretties!!" However, the bag is already returned to the females and he dare not go near the angry mob for fear of their wrath. With that Happosai turns back on Ranma and barks out, "Ranma, how dare you treat your master this way!" To further emphasize his point, he starts to envelop himself with a dark red aura.
As usual, Ranma is unimpressed by the perverts' actions and merely snorts, saying "Ya ain't my master, Jiji. All ya are is a perverted old man and a disgrace to martial arts." Now Happosai is seething with the continual disrespect of his so-called heir. "Ranma, mark my words, you will pay for this!" With that Happosai bounces off to the unknown, leaving Ranma, who yells back "Man, Jiji, ya're starting to sound like Ryoga. Now why don't ya act like him and get lost." After speaking his peace, Ranma starts to make his way back to the Tendo Dojo to help out prepare for the picnic, unaware that the wheel of destiny is starting to spin faster.
Feeling much better after relieving some stress on Happy, Ranma makes his way home, jumping from rooftop to rooftop until he lands outside the Tendo gate. 'Man, I hope Akane doesn't get too angry with me for being late and all' thought Ranma. Upon passing through the gate, he notes that the entire family, including the Amazon crew and Ukyo, has congregated outside and most were placing the food out. 'I hope Akane didn't make anything but curry,' thought Ranma nervously. Fortunately, all of the food that he sees being taken out looked edible and not something research scientists would love to get their hands on. Belatedly, he noticed that all of his present fiancés seem to have been actually acting civil towards each other. This was only making him even more nervous since this almost never happens. Hoping to sound as cheerful as possible under the circumstances, in greeting Ranma yelled out, "Taidaima!" and was welcomed in kind by all. He saw his father and Soun playing their usual game of shogi, and trying to cheat each other with distractions.
"Hello, son, how was your day so far?" asked Nodoka. "Fine, enough, I was able to break some stress by pounding the old lech." "That's nice, dear."
As everybody was about to settle down and start to eat, a familiar battle cry is heard, "RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!" bellows Ryoga, who is holding his heavy umbrella. Excited about facing a worthy opponent, Ranma responds in kind, "Come and get some, P-chan!" This only enrages Ryoga further and he responds by saying, "Don't call me P-chan!"
But before they could engage in battle, Kasumi speaks up. "Oh, my. Ranma, Ryoga. It would be best not to play right now. You might knock some food over." Ranma and Ryoga pause in mid-step and flush in embarrassment because NO ONE wants to make Kasumi unhappy.
Nodoka re-iterates, "That's right, dear, you and your friend can spar later. Right know let's not let any food go to waste here. Why don't you join us young man, Ryoga, isn't it?"
Ryoga, surprised by the generosity, becomes embarrassed with his cheeks blushing and he nervously puts his hand behind his neck saying "Well, I don't want to be a bother?"
Akane helps make-up Ryoga's mind by stating, "Oh come on, Ryoga, we have plenty of food here. Help yourself."
Ryoga's blush increases and stammers out, "Sssuurreee Aakaane!"
Ranma couldn't resist to remark, "Yeah, you can have some of the sweet-and- sour pork, P-chan!"
Ryoga's cheek are now red, not from embarrassment, but of anger, and yells out, "RANMA!" Before we can act out his aggression, Akane beats him to it and bobs Ranma on the head. "Stop picking on Ryoga, Ranma!!" "Ouch, what did ya do that for, ya stupid tomboy" "WHAT DID YOU SAY!" "I said ya're a tomboy, ya tomboy!" Before the three could continue their argument, Kasumi calmly interjects, "Dinner's ready." The three just grumble but leave bygones be bygones for the sake of dinner.
Down the street of the Tendo dojo…
"Honestly, brother, the invitation was for only me from my precious Ranma- sama. You are not welcome," spoke the Black Rose, who was wearing a tasteful and quite expensive turquoise dress.
Garbed in his traditional samurai outfit, Kuno stroke a quick pose with his boken held high in the air proclaiming, "Nonsense, the magnificent Akane Tendo and pigtailed girl will be present at this function. No doubt, this is some dastardly plan of the foul sorcerer to enchant himself a harem. 'Tis well that I discovered this event upon your preparation ramblings, my twisted sister."
"Yes, luckily," Kodachi sarcastically replies.
Meanwhile in Happosai's room…
The perverted lecher was searching through a large chest containing many of the magical artifacts he collected over his vast lifetime. While looking, we can hear him muttering things of a certain pigtailed martial artist.
"Ungrateful whelp, I'll show him. He thinks that he can just disrespect his master all of the time. What to do? What to do? ….No, this thing won't work… Hmm, already tried that. No, this won't work anymore."
Happy continues with his ramblings until a glint catches out of the corner of his eye. "Hello, what's this." Reaching into the chest, he pulls out the source of the glitter, it is a small coin that appears to be made out of gold. Attached to the coin is an ancient looking scroll. On one side, he sees the number eight. No, upon further consideration, it is the symbol of infinity. Turning the coin around, he notes that it is engraved with what appears to be an hour glass. "Hmm" wonders Happy. "Well now I haven't seen you in a while. Now where did I get you at…Ah yes! It was at that Amazon village. Something about curses and destiny. Let's see what the scroll has to say."
Putting words into action, Happy carefully unrolls the scroll and translates them to himself. "Hmmm, doesn't really say much, says only that it will bestow upon the person a "curse of destiny"… Hmmm, so this is supposedly a gift from the gods and will only work once. What kind of gift is that? Well, all I need to know is that it mentions a curse, and they are never a good thing. Now how do I use this…Ohh, so the person to be cursed has to have a drop of his or her blood fall onto the coin while holding it. Figures. Well now, Ranma my boy, I'll show you the penalty for not respecting your master!"
Back outside in the picnic…
Ranma has been having this overwhelming sense of foreboding all day and now it was starting to reach an all-time peak. Everyone of those present at the picnic could see the thin sheen of sweat on him and his eyes darting all around the place as if some pack of cats were out surrounding him. For some of the fiancés, they made their concern shown.
"Hey, Ranchan, what's wrong? You seem to be pretty out of it, sugar."
"Aiyah, Spatula-Girl is right, Airen. You act like when Shampoo is in cat form."
Another fiancé chose to voice her opinion differently. "Baka, what are being so paranoid about? We can't enjoy our picnic if you keeping acting like that." Ukyo and Shampoo chose to glare balefully towards Akane, but their gaze faltered a bit upon seeing actual concern glittering in Akane's eyes, disregardless of what she said.
"I can't help it, Akane, something feels really bad about today. It has been like this all day, but it is getting really freaky now."
"Well, son-in-law, what has this feeling been like?" Cologne asked, cautiously.
"I don't know how to describe it…it's just like if something big is gonna happen!"
"Hmmm" Cologne remarked, her eyes narrowly.
"Well, don't worry about it too much, son" Soun responded in kind. "It's time to eat, drink, and be merry. That's what I always say, right Saotome?" "Of course, Tendo, the boy just hasn't figured that out already."
"Yeah, right, and become a fat, lazy panda like you, pop," shot back Ranma.
"Ranma, you should show some more respect to your father." Genma's smile turned smug for a second with Nodoka's words. "Even if he doesn't deserve it." Genma's smile disappeared and his shoulders drooped.
"Sorry, Mom."
"That's okay, dear."
So the picnic continued with relative ease until a splash of water from a pail was heard, followed, by "Sweeto!" The entire group turned to see the perverted old lecher nuzzling into Ranma-chan's bosom with the aforementioned martial artist growing angrier by the second.
"Get off of me, ya old freak!" exclaimed Ranma-chan, while continuously trying to knock the pervert off of herself, though with little success. Deciding to help out her fiancé, Akane threw her tea at Ranma, changing him back into a guy. As Happy typically jumped of off a male Ranma, he hit a pressure point on the wrist of a descending fist, which caused the hand to open, and pricked the hand with a needle that mysteriously appeared from his sleeve. "Ouch, hey, what did ya do that for, ya old freak!?" Ranma exclaimed. After being at a safe distance from Ranma, Happy threw the coin at the Ranma's bleeding hand. Ranma reflexively caught the coin.
As matriarch of the Amazon tribe, Cologne is informed of all of its secret techniques and ancient lore. Because of this, the legend of a coin being grasped in such a manor quickly came to her mind and made her go pale. "RANMA, LET GO OF THE COIN, NOW!" she exclaimed, fearing that it was already too late. With her statement, all residents grew tense with worry, knowing how calm and collected Cologne usually is. Indeed, it was too late, for the coin suddenly exploded in a golden shower of power surrounding Ranma in ribbons of light. Immediately, the fiancés, rivals, and Cologne valiantly tried to go and save Ranma, but some unknown wall of force separated them from the power encircling him. Ranma, himself, tried to move, tried to speak, but could do nothing, but stand with eyes wide open with horror.
Entering the gate of the Tendo's, two voices can be heard.
"Ranma, darling! What is going on?"
"So, the evil Saotome shows his true dark sorcery. Halt thy spells and release the beauteous Akane Tendo and the pigtailed girl, or face the wrath of the Blue Thunder!"
Before the two Kuno morons could advance, two quick sleep pressure points by Cologne puts them out.
"Kuno-baby, you have got to learn in being more discreet," Nabiki chided at the delusional fool's side.
In the brief seconds that the Kuno's appeared, the audience turned just in time to see the ribbons encompass Ranma fully. Cologne was only able to whisper a near inaudible "No" before an explosive wave of energy enveloped the entirety of the Tendo land. When the light cleared and the dusted settled, there was no one remaining.
End Prologue
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Author's Notes: Yes, I know this is a long prologue, but I wanted to develop a plausible reasoning behind a Ranma and company disappearance. Chapters to this story might not be this long. However, this prologue might also be used for other stories I may start. I have thought of starting a "Destiny Coin" series for myself, though this might be the only one where all of the Nerima Wrecking Crew is affected. On another note, I must say that writing this prologue shows how much actual work, time, and energy it takes to write fanfiction. A well-deserved round of applause should be given to those who do this on a regular basis. Hopefully, I was able to write the characters well enough for you to enjoy reading this.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Next Time: A New Beginning of a New Adventure
We discover the fate of the Nerima Wrecking Crew.
Hint: This is going to be a fusion with another popular series. Okay, so that is not much of a hint, but you will have to read the next chapter to find out. Bwahhhhaahhhaaahhh!
Note: This story takes place after Saffron, but before the blotched wedding attempt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
A Destiny of Darkness
By RanmaFan1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Prologue
Many people often think of as destiny as being the future thrust upon ourselves, that there is no escape from it and we should merely accept things that will happen. Others believe that we decide our own. What if perhaps our destiny is a combination of the two? That at times, destiny forces upon us circumstances beyond our control, but later gives us a choice resulting from those conditions. This is a such a story, where the heroes of it are placed into a situation that they did not want, yet will be given the choice as to what to do with it. But if destiny is truly beyond our control, maybe a choice made is your destiny and that there is no escape.
A typical day in Nerima, as many of its residents can vouch for, is not a dull one. Whether it be super-powered martial artist fights, perverted lechers raiding the local girls' locker rooms, or angry tomboys malleting their fiancés, things are never boring. However, on this day, the main characters of our story are going to wish that for once it would be.
Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts was not having a good day. School was out and he was walking along his usual spot on the fence by his fiancé Akane Tendo, looking dejected as well as slightly nervous.
This morning…
The morning started out typical. His lazy and good-for-nothing father woke him up by kicking him out the window and into the koi pond. Well, actually, the only other way he usually gets awakened is by having a bucket of water splashed on him by his over-tempered fiancé. After spitting out the water, Ranma-chan started her traditional arguing/fighting with her father.
"Hey, what did ya do that for, old man!?"
After jumping easily from the window onto a nearby rock by the pond, Genma tries to act, and fails miserably, of being the honorable sensei. "Boy, as your father, I cannot allow you to slack off. Now, prepare yourself." With that Genma leaps into the air to fight Ranma in the tradition of their school, mid-air combat.
Of course, Ranma is not in the mood for this. All she wanted was to get some good, uninterrupted, and peaceful sleep. Although her body has fully recovered from the traumatic events at Jusendo, her mind still needed a break. Deciding to end this early, she joins her father in the air and calls out one of her trademark attacks.
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"
Immediately, a couple of hundred punches land on Genma in the pace of a second. Although Ranma-chan pulled the punches, since even in her irate mood knew that Genma does not have the endurance of Ryoga, it was still enough to get her father into the pond.
"Suck on that, old man." With that, Ranma-chan, still female from her initial landing in the pond, walks into the home and takes the offered kettle from Kasumi.
"Thanks, Kasumi."
"Of course, Ranma."
With the kettle in hand, she pours the warm water on herself and returns to his natural male form. Looking at the kettle and recalling the destruction of Jusenkyo, Ranma grimly recollects on how he will probably have to do this for the rest of his life without the Nannichuan. Attempting, unsuccessfully, to forget such things, he walks over to the table and sits in his traditional spot next to Akane.
Akane, seeming to understand why her fiancé is in a fowl mood from staring at the kettle, attempts to lighten him up with an enthusiastic greeting. "Good Morning, Ranma," she says with one of those smiles that makes Ranma feel all warm inside.
"Good Morning, Akane," replies Ranma with a hint of a blush on his face, though it is not noticed by any at the breakfast table. He eagerly starts to devour his breakfast with the usual Saotome gusto. The elder Saotome, currently in panda form, walks into the house and dumps the rest of the kettle's contents on himself, and then settles down to start the breakfast battle with his son.
"Foolish boy, it's time I made you show some respect to your father." With that he attempts to take a pickle off of Ranma's plate. However, at the last second, his chopsticks are deflected by Ranma, who says, "Yeh right, pop, the day I respect you is the day Akane makes a gourmet meal." Immediately, he regretted the words that came out of his mouth, but it was too late. Akane started to fume and screamed "Ranma no baka!" and punched him in the face.
This sent the pigtailed off of his seat and allowed the greedy martial artist to devour a lot of his son's meal. By the time, Ranma recovered, most of the rice was already gone. "Hey, quit it, old man!" "Boy, a martial artist's life is fraught with peril. If you could not defend yourself during a simple food battle, how can you inherit the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts," stated Genma in an "all-knowing" fashion.
"Year right, pops, you just keep saying that to feed your fat stomach," retorted Ranma.
Before the two could continue their verbal battle, Kasumi calmed spoke "Oh, before I forget, Auntie Saotome called this morning and thought that we could have a little family picnic today since the weather is going to be good."
"Oh, that sounds like a great idea, Kasumi," said Akane. 'Maybe this will help cheer Ranma up,' Akane privately thought. No way she was going to say this out loud, though.
"An excellent idea," Soun says, " Nothing like some fun in the sun. That's what I always say, right Saotome?"
"Indeed, Tendo."
"Auntie Saotome also suggested that Ranma invite his other three fiancés so that she could get to know them better," Kasumi additionally added.
"Uh, Kasumi, do ya think that is a really good idea?" Ranma nervously asked. "With all of them here, the house will be a war zone."
"For once, Ranma is right," Nabiki commented coolly. "We cannot afford to repair this house that would most likely be leveled from the World War III that would occur."
"Oh, well, Aunty prepared for that by saying any such outbursts would invalidate engagements if she saw it fit."
"Well, it, uh, might work then," responded a slightly placated Ranma.
"Well, it's easy enough to get word to Shampoo and Ukyo since they hang around Ranma so much," stated Akane, though the last part was growled out a bit. Ranma flinched at that. "But what about Kodachi."
"Oh, that's easy enough," stated a more subdued Ranma. With that he walks over to a spot on the floor, picks up a board, and grabs under it. Out of the hole, he pulls out a startled Sasuke. "He'll tell her, won't ya pal." To emphasize his point, Ranma shakes the small ninja around a bit.
"Offf, course, Masssterr Saaotomeee," a dizzy Sasuke answers.
"Now get out of here- oh, and don't tell her brother." With that Sasuke quickly takes his departure while the getting's good.
Akane, confused as to how Ranma knew the Kuno servant was there, asks her thoughts. Ranma responds in kind, "Oh, that's easy, he has been tailing me for so long that I know exactly where to look for him if I wanted to." He shrugs it off.
Kasumi glances at the clock and realizes what time it is, "Oh my. You have all better hurry onto to school now or you will be late."
Akane sees the time and confirms what Kasumi has said. "Ack! she's right, we have got to hurry." With that said, she grabs her book bag, as well as Ranma's pigtail, and drags him out the door. "Hey, watch it with the hair." "Oh, stop your whining you baka and take it like a man." Ranma grumbles, "Stupid tomboy", but quiet enough so that Akane doesn't hear it.
Back at the house, Nabiki calmly stands up and proceeds to school at a far slower pace. Usually, she likes to be at school early to personally oversee the betting pools. This morning's discussions, however, prevented that. She didn't need to worry, though; her subordinates could adequately handle things and the teachers did not dare punish her for being late. 'It's great being in control,' Nabiki thought with a smirk.
Ranma and Akane continue to race along towards Furiken High, with Ranma on fence and Akane beside him on the sidewalk. For some reason, as time was going by, Ranma was feeling more anxious, as if something was going to happen. However, while running to class, the ladle lady somehow missed drenching Ranma and changing him into a girl. 'Maybe I'm just being paranoid,' thought Ranma. However, his luck just changed when they heard an all-to-familiar bell ringing, followed by the crunching of Ranma's skull under a bicycle.
"Nihao, Airen take Shampoo on date?" asks the local Amazon princess, while taking her bicycle from atop of Ranma, and then proceeding to glomp onto said martial artist. Akane meanwhile was silently fuming over Ranma being a pervert and for probably wanting to take Shampoo on a date. It was only through a great of amount of self-control (and yes she does have some, mostly from things that happened at Jusendo) that resulted in Ranma being saved from a mallet.
Slightly dizzy from being crashed upon again and unwittingly tongue-tied from having Amazon curves secured onto him, Ranma nervously states, "Well, uh, no Shampoo. Ya see, I have got to get to class today, but, uh, we are having a, uh, picnic at the Tendo dojo today, and my, er, mother would like to meet the rest of my, uh, fiancés."
"Ohhh, Shampoo get to meet Mother-in-Law! Is very important day!" squeals Shampoo in delight, releasing Ranma from her glomp and clapping her hands excitingly. "Can great-grandmother come too?"
"Well I dunno, but I guess mom should meet the old ghoul as well, but ya all better behave because my mom said that any funny business and she will get rid of the engagement."
"Okay, Airen, Shampoo go see great-grandmother and talk about this right away. No worry, Shampoo behave and bring too, too delicious ramen to dinner. Bye, bye, Airen." Shampoo then quickly gets onto her bicycle and speeds away back to the Nekohanten.
With the Amazon out of sight, Ranma breathes a sigh of relief and turns around, only to face a furious Akane. "Ah, what did I do now?" asks Ranma dejectedly.
"Oh, like you don't know, you pervert. Hanging onto Shampoo like that and then inviting Cologne. They'll probably drug the ramen."
"Ah, Akane, they ain't gonna do that. Ya heard what Kasumi said. Any funny stuff and my mom will get rid of the engagement. With women being in charge in the amazons, that's gotta count for something."
"I guess so," Akane relented, but still obviously not happy with the situation. Ranma still left out another sigh of relief, but in the back of his mind, his danger sense was still telling himself something was seriously wrong.
At the Nekohanten…
Shampoo, still bubbly excited from the news her Airen brought, bounced off her bicycle and threw open the doors (and not going through the wall) towards the kitchen exclaiming, "Great-grandmother! Shampoo have good news. Airen invite Shampoo over to dinner to meet mother-in-law."
Cologne, who was currently cooking a fresh pot of ramen, turned around and smiled in turn to her great-granddaughter and replied, "That is excellent news, great-granddaughter, though I am a bit surprised that son-in-law would do such a thing."
Not dissuaded by her comment, Shampoo explained, "Mother-in-law want to meet all of Airen's fiancés tonight to get know better. Shampoo show mother-in-law she best choice for Airen."
"Indeed, if you would be able to get son-in-law's mother on your side, it might bring the situation better into your favor. Therefore, you should be on your absolute best behavior tonight to impress her."
"Shampoo already say such to Airen. Now, Shampoo must get ready for picnic. Oh, Airen also say that great-grandmother can come."
"Very well Shampoo, we will close early today for you to prepare in meeting your mother-in-law. Do we need to bring anything for the picnic?"
"Aiyah, Shampoo say she bring too, too delicious ramen to dinner. Is alright, great-grandmother?"
"Of course, great-granddaughter, although we will need to close a little bit earlier to accommodate."
"Aiyah, is good. Shampoo show Airen and mother-in-law she best choice. Will be good day!"
CRASH!
At the noise, both Cologne and Shampoo blink at each other. The pair cautiously walks upstairs towards the source of the disturbance, which incidentally came from Shampoo's room. While peering inside, they look around for what caused the sound and find it on the floor. Cologne hopped on her walking stick over to the pile of glass on the floor- they were now the remains of a shattered glass frame of a picture of Ranma. She frowned deeply at that, but had the sense to make sure that her great-granddaughter was unable to see her facial expression. In a calm, neutral voice, Cologne says, "Shampoo, would you please clean-up this mess before you go with the take-outs?"
Shampoo blinks and says, "Of course, great-grandmother. Is something wrong?"
Cologne turns around and speaks with a reassuring smile. "No, dear. I just have something on my mind. Now you best hurry up so that we have enough time to prepare for tonight." Without waiting for a response, Cologne hops out of the room speculating, 'This is a bad omen. Perhaps I had best bring Mousse along. He may be a fool, but he is a decent martial artist.'
Outside the high school…
Both Ranma and Akane are making their way towards the school's entrance when the delusional kendoist Tatewaki Kuno declares in his normal pompous tone, "Foul sorcerer, 'tis this day that I, the Blue Thunder, shall release the fierce tigress Akane Tendo and the beauteous pigtailed girl from thy…" His speech is cut off with a swift kick to the face by the "pigtailed girl" in guy form. "That did not hurt," Kuno replies, before falling down unconscious.
"Heyya, Ranchan, Akane." The mentioned people turn around to see Ukyo, who is dressed in the female school uniform, coming up to them.
"Hey, Ucchan." "Hello, Ukyo."
"So, the idiot strikes again," she says, motioning towards the unconscious kendoist.
"Yeh, ya think the jerk would learn by now that he ain't gonna beat me," replies Ranma irritably. "Oh, Ucchan, we're all having a picnic at the dojo this afternoon and my mom would like to meet all of the fiancés. Can ya come?"
Ukyo is happy to hear this and says, "Of course, sugar, I'll even make some okonomiyaki there!" Privately, she thought, 'Now I'll show Ranchan that I would make the best wife.'
"That would be great, Ucchan."
"Yes, it would be, Ukyo. His mother also said that all of the fiancés need to be on their best behavior, or she might consider it grounds to remove the engagement."
"Don't worry, Akane, I'll be fine, just make sure those other two behave."
'Yeh, right, like this is really gonna work,' thought Ranma, still nervous and wondering what was feeling wrong with the day.
Some time after the three make it to class without bucket duty, Nabiki walks past the school gate and sees Kuno on the ground. "Kuno-baby, when are ever going to learn?" Knowing that there would be no response, she then proceeds to drag the man by his arm into the nurse's station, for a substantial fee of course.
And so another typical Nerima morning continues.
Meanwhile, at the Kuno estate…
Kodachi, the Black Rose of St. Hebereke High School, is preparing to leave when the family servant Sasuke appears kneeling out of nowhere.
"Mistress Kodachi, I have urgent news."
"What is, you low-bred fool, I must bask the halls of St. Hebereke with my presence this morning."
"My apologies, Mistress, but Master Saotome has told me to inform you his mother wants to meet all of the fiancés this afternoon at a picnic in the Tendo dojo"
"Oh, Ranma-sama, this is the perfect opportunity to show you how only I am worthy of your love. I must prepare a 'special' bouquet for you as soon as possible."
Before she could implement such a plan, Sasuke interrupts, "I beg your pardon, mistress, but Master Saotome also has told me that all of the fiancés must be at their best behavior or his mother will consider canceling the engagement."
"Oh, very well, it is not that I really need any such objects of affection to win my love. My beauty and standing are more than enough to impress my future mother-in-law." With thoughts of winning her Ranma-sama, Kodachi jumps from rooftop to rooftop laughing maniacally as usual.
Present time…
No, things were not going well for Ranma today. One would think that the Saffron incident would have calmed things down for him, but no, he just had to live with the same insanity over and over again. Kuno did not help any by attempting to destroy the "foul sorcerer" three additional times that day. Ranma also knew that the picnic had to become a disaster; that's just the way things happened around him. And for some unknown reason, Ranma's nerves were just on edge without the usual chaos into consideration. He just does not have the patience to deal with much more. Now to top it all off, we hear a familiar cry.
"What a haul! What a haul! What a haul!" Yep, the local pervert Happosai is seen carrying a bag several times his size and overflowing with various ladies' unmentionables. 'Perfect!' thought Ranma. Something to relieve his stress over. "Wait here, Akane," Ranma tells his fiancé, and before she can respond, he flips into the canal, becoming a she, and is bouncing away to stop the lecher's latest perversion.
'Honestly!' thought Akane, 'Every single day it's the same thing. When will everyone grow up.' Of course, all those who know Akane would be thinking the same thing of her many times over. With that Akane continues to stomp home. Somebody had to help Nodoka and Kasumi this evening.
After catching up to the ancient lech, "Hiya ya, Happy," replies Ranma-chan in an ultra-cutesy voice, showing off a lot of cleavage with a couple of buttons of her shirt undone.
Of course, 'Happy' always is easily tricked when Ranma-chan uses her feminine features on him. With a "Sweeto", Happosai spring towards his target, lowering all forms of defense in favor of attempting to molest Ranma-chan's breasts. However, before he can grasp his targets, Ranma-chan kicks the old man hard enough that he flips into the air, dizzily landing on the next rooftop. The pigtailed martial artist knew the old pervert was tough enough to survive that kick, but the purpose of it was to distract him long enough to get the stolen undergarments. Doing as mentioned, Ranma- chan grabs the overfilled sack and tosses it back to the approaching female mob.
Happosai has recovered by then and seeing Ranma tossing the bags laments, "My pretties!!" However, the bag is already returned to the females and he dare not go near the angry mob for fear of their wrath. With that Happosai turns back on Ranma and barks out, "Ranma, how dare you treat your master this way!" To further emphasize his point, he starts to envelop himself with a dark red aura.
As usual, Ranma is unimpressed by the perverts' actions and merely snorts, saying "Ya ain't my master, Jiji. All ya are is a perverted old man and a disgrace to martial arts." Now Happosai is seething with the continual disrespect of his so-called heir. "Ranma, mark my words, you will pay for this!" With that Happosai bounces off to the unknown, leaving Ranma, who yells back "Man, Jiji, ya're starting to sound like Ryoga. Now why don't ya act like him and get lost." After speaking his peace, Ranma starts to make his way back to the Tendo Dojo to help out prepare for the picnic, unaware that the wheel of destiny is starting to spin faster.
Feeling much better after relieving some stress on Happy, Ranma makes his way home, jumping from rooftop to rooftop until he lands outside the Tendo gate. 'Man, I hope Akane doesn't get too angry with me for being late and all' thought Ranma. Upon passing through the gate, he notes that the entire family, including the Amazon crew and Ukyo, has congregated outside and most were placing the food out. 'I hope Akane didn't make anything but curry,' thought Ranma nervously. Fortunately, all of the food that he sees being taken out looked edible and not something research scientists would love to get their hands on. Belatedly, he noticed that all of his present fiancés seem to have been actually acting civil towards each other. This was only making him even more nervous since this almost never happens. Hoping to sound as cheerful as possible under the circumstances, in greeting Ranma yelled out, "Taidaima!" and was welcomed in kind by all. He saw his father and Soun playing their usual game of shogi, and trying to cheat each other with distractions.
"Hello, son, how was your day so far?" asked Nodoka. "Fine, enough, I was able to break some stress by pounding the old lech." "That's nice, dear."
As everybody was about to settle down and start to eat, a familiar battle cry is heard, "RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!" bellows Ryoga, who is holding his heavy umbrella. Excited about facing a worthy opponent, Ranma responds in kind, "Come and get some, P-chan!" This only enrages Ryoga further and he responds by saying, "Don't call me P-chan!"
But before they could engage in battle, Kasumi speaks up. "Oh, my. Ranma, Ryoga. It would be best not to play right now. You might knock some food over." Ranma and Ryoga pause in mid-step and flush in embarrassment because NO ONE wants to make Kasumi unhappy.
Nodoka re-iterates, "That's right, dear, you and your friend can spar later. Right know let's not let any food go to waste here. Why don't you join us young man, Ryoga, isn't it?"
Ryoga, surprised by the generosity, becomes embarrassed with his cheeks blushing and he nervously puts his hand behind his neck saying "Well, I don't want to be a bother?"
Akane helps make-up Ryoga's mind by stating, "Oh come on, Ryoga, we have plenty of food here. Help yourself."
Ryoga's blush increases and stammers out, "Sssuurreee Aakaane!"
Ranma couldn't resist to remark, "Yeah, you can have some of the sweet-and- sour pork, P-chan!"
Ryoga's cheek are now red, not from embarrassment, but of anger, and yells out, "RANMA!" Before we can act out his aggression, Akane beats him to it and bobs Ranma on the head. "Stop picking on Ryoga, Ranma!!" "Ouch, what did ya do that for, ya stupid tomboy" "WHAT DID YOU SAY!" "I said ya're a tomboy, ya tomboy!" Before the three could continue their argument, Kasumi calmly interjects, "Dinner's ready." The three just grumble but leave bygones be bygones for the sake of dinner.
Down the street of the Tendo dojo…
"Honestly, brother, the invitation was for only me from my precious Ranma- sama. You are not welcome," spoke the Black Rose, who was wearing a tasteful and quite expensive turquoise dress.
Garbed in his traditional samurai outfit, Kuno stroke a quick pose with his boken held high in the air proclaiming, "Nonsense, the magnificent Akane Tendo and pigtailed girl will be present at this function. No doubt, this is some dastardly plan of the foul sorcerer to enchant himself a harem. 'Tis well that I discovered this event upon your preparation ramblings, my twisted sister."
"Yes, luckily," Kodachi sarcastically replies.
Meanwhile in Happosai's room…
The perverted lecher was searching through a large chest containing many of the magical artifacts he collected over his vast lifetime. While looking, we can hear him muttering things of a certain pigtailed martial artist.
"Ungrateful whelp, I'll show him. He thinks that he can just disrespect his master all of the time. What to do? What to do? ….No, this thing won't work… Hmm, already tried that. No, this won't work anymore."
Happy continues with his ramblings until a glint catches out of the corner of his eye. "Hello, what's this." Reaching into the chest, he pulls out the source of the glitter, it is a small coin that appears to be made out of gold. Attached to the coin is an ancient looking scroll. On one side, he sees the number eight. No, upon further consideration, it is the symbol of infinity. Turning the coin around, he notes that it is engraved with what appears to be an hour glass. "Hmm" wonders Happy. "Well now I haven't seen you in a while. Now where did I get you at…Ah yes! It was at that Amazon village. Something about curses and destiny. Let's see what the scroll has to say."
Putting words into action, Happy carefully unrolls the scroll and translates them to himself. "Hmmm, doesn't really say much, says only that it will bestow upon the person a "curse of destiny"… Hmmm, so this is supposedly a gift from the gods and will only work once. What kind of gift is that? Well, all I need to know is that it mentions a curse, and they are never a good thing. Now how do I use this…Ohh, so the person to be cursed has to have a drop of his or her blood fall onto the coin while holding it. Figures. Well now, Ranma my boy, I'll show you the penalty for not respecting your master!"
Back outside in the picnic…
Ranma has been having this overwhelming sense of foreboding all day and now it was starting to reach an all-time peak. Everyone of those present at the picnic could see the thin sheen of sweat on him and his eyes darting all around the place as if some pack of cats were out surrounding him. For some of the fiancés, they made their concern shown.
"Hey, Ranchan, what's wrong? You seem to be pretty out of it, sugar."
"Aiyah, Spatula-Girl is right, Airen. You act like when Shampoo is in cat form."
Another fiancé chose to voice her opinion differently. "Baka, what are being so paranoid about? We can't enjoy our picnic if you keeping acting like that." Ukyo and Shampoo chose to glare balefully towards Akane, but their gaze faltered a bit upon seeing actual concern glittering in Akane's eyes, disregardless of what she said.
"I can't help it, Akane, something feels really bad about today. It has been like this all day, but it is getting really freaky now."
"Well, son-in-law, what has this feeling been like?" Cologne asked, cautiously.
"I don't know how to describe it…it's just like if something big is gonna happen!"
"Hmmm" Cologne remarked, her eyes narrowly.
"Well, don't worry about it too much, son" Soun responded in kind. "It's time to eat, drink, and be merry. That's what I always say, right Saotome?" "Of course, Tendo, the boy just hasn't figured that out already."
"Yeah, right, and become a fat, lazy panda like you, pop," shot back Ranma.
"Ranma, you should show some more respect to your father." Genma's smile turned smug for a second with Nodoka's words. "Even if he doesn't deserve it." Genma's smile disappeared and his shoulders drooped.
"Sorry, Mom."
"That's okay, dear."
So the picnic continued with relative ease until a splash of water from a pail was heard, followed, by "Sweeto!" The entire group turned to see the perverted old lecher nuzzling into Ranma-chan's bosom with the aforementioned martial artist growing angrier by the second.
"Get off of me, ya old freak!" exclaimed Ranma-chan, while continuously trying to knock the pervert off of herself, though with little success. Deciding to help out her fiancé, Akane threw her tea at Ranma, changing him back into a guy. As Happy typically jumped of off a male Ranma, he hit a pressure point on the wrist of a descending fist, which caused the hand to open, and pricked the hand with a needle that mysteriously appeared from his sleeve. "Ouch, hey, what did ya do that for, ya old freak!?" Ranma exclaimed. After being at a safe distance from Ranma, Happy threw the coin at the Ranma's bleeding hand. Ranma reflexively caught the coin.
As matriarch of the Amazon tribe, Cologne is informed of all of its secret techniques and ancient lore. Because of this, the legend of a coin being grasped in such a manor quickly came to her mind and made her go pale. "RANMA, LET GO OF THE COIN, NOW!" she exclaimed, fearing that it was already too late. With her statement, all residents grew tense with worry, knowing how calm and collected Cologne usually is. Indeed, it was too late, for the coin suddenly exploded in a golden shower of power surrounding Ranma in ribbons of light. Immediately, the fiancés, rivals, and Cologne valiantly tried to go and save Ranma, but some unknown wall of force separated them from the power encircling him. Ranma, himself, tried to move, tried to speak, but could do nothing, but stand with eyes wide open with horror.
Entering the gate of the Tendo's, two voices can be heard.
"Ranma, darling! What is going on?"
"So, the evil Saotome shows his true dark sorcery. Halt thy spells and release the beauteous Akane Tendo and the pigtailed girl, or face the wrath of the Blue Thunder!"
Before the two Kuno morons could advance, two quick sleep pressure points by Cologne puts them out.
"Kuno-baby, you have got to learn in being more discreet," Nabiki chided at the delusional fool's side.
In the brief seconds that the Kuno's appeared, the audience turned just in time to see the ribbons encompass Ranma fully. Cologne was only able to whisper a near inaudible "No" before an explosive wave of energy enveloped the entirety of the Tendo land. When the light cleared and the dusted settled, there was no one remaining.
End Prologue
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Author's Notes: Yes, I know this is a long prologue, but I wanted to develop a plausible reasoning behind a Ranma and company disappearance. Chapters to this story might not be this long. However, this prologue might also be used for other stories I may start. I have thought of starting a "Destiny Coin" series for myself, though this might be the only one where all of the Nerima Wrecking Crew is affected. On another note, I must say that writing this prologue shows how much actual work, time, and energy it takes to write fanfiction. A well-deserved round of applause should be given to those who do this on a regular basis. Hopefully, I was able to write the characters well enough for you to enjoy reading this.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Next Time: A New Beginning of a New Adventure
We discover the fate of the Nerima Wrecking Crew.
Hint: This is going to be a fusion with another popular series. Okay, so that is not much of a hint, but you will have to read the next chapter to find out. Bwahhhhaahhhaaahhh!