Dreams of Destiny
Chapter 2
Ranma leaned against his aunt's shoulder until the tears stopped flowing. He'd only had one person that he'd ever allowed see him cry like that, but there was no reason to hide himself from his family. He didn't have to hide his tears like he did when he was traveling with Oyaji anymore. Whenever he needed a good cry, he now had someone to turn to. Someone real. Besides, crying like that had felt good. Like he'd had a weight lifted off his shoulders. What was weird, though , was that it felt natural for him to let it out when he was a girl.
"Ranma," Ami said derailing his train of thought. He hadn't noticed that she had let go of him at some point and was now standing in the hallway. "Could you come and get your pack? I thought I could take it up to the spare bedroom for you, but it's too heavy."
Ranma chuckled and stood up, stretching out the kinks in his back that leaning against his aunt's shoulder had given him and rubbing the salt out of his eyes. He moved past Ami into the foyer where he had left that pack and hefted it up to his shoulder in an easy, fluid motion. "So where did you want me to put it."
Ami stared at Ranma, slightly surprised to see such a petite girl heft such a heavy bag. Ranma didn't even look like he was straining at all to hold it up. I have to scan him with the Mercury Computer, she thought. Maybe I can come up with some way to fix his curse. Also, I need to find out how he got so strong! "The spare room's upstairs. Here, I'll show you."
As Ami led Ranma up the stairs to put his pack in his new room, Dr. Mizuno watched them with the practiced eye of a worried parent. Ranma was going to be difficult to take care of. He was still carrying a lot of grief and dealing with that wouldn't be easy. If she knew Genma, he'd probably done his level best to instill his pig-headed and chauvinistic attitudes in the poor boy. She'd have to work around that and this curse of his as well. Changing from a handsome young man into an incredibly young woman was going to play havoc with Ranma's sense of self. How was she supposed to deal with something like that?
* * *
After being shown where his room was, Ami pushed Ranma towards the bathroom. "I don't want to be mean about this," she said, "but you stink. Take a bath and change into some clean clothes, we'll be having dinner soon and you can tell us some more about yourself."
"Thanks," Ranma said with a small smile as he stepped into the bathroom and started the bath filling.
After Ami encouraged Ranma to clean up, she dashed into her room and pulled the Mercury Computer out of the back of her desk drawer. She'd decided long ago to keep it hidden to prevent any awkward questions from her mother. She had been keeping it set on a passive scan, trying to pinpoint where the Daimon activity was coming from, but she hoped it had managed to pick up information on Ranma's transformation.
Scanning back through the logs, she spotted an energy spike that the Mercury Computer listed as a Chaotic Transfiguration. Accessing the archives, Ami looked up that reference.
Chaotic Transfiguration: An uncontrollable magical transfiguration brought about by contact with a Chaotic Magic Source. Common Chaotic Magic Sources tend to be connected with bodies of water. Warning: Do not attempt to remove Transfiguration Curses with other types of Magic. Chaotic Magic warps the affect of other Magics and the results are wildly unpredictable and often dangerous. See: Aphrodite's Well, Elysian Fountain, Jusenkyo, Pool of Kronos.
Ami toggled the entry for Jusenkyo, curious that these places had existed long enough for the Mercury Computer to actually have them recorded.
Jusenkyo: Also called the Cursed Springs of Sorrow. Consists of a number of pools (Between 30 and 100 at any given time) that contain various water controlled transfiguration curses. Jusenkyo is the only natural wellspring of Chaos Magic on Earth. People are warned to stay away from the area as the curses cannot be cured. Applying a different cursed water results in a merging of the curses. Also, natives in the area are extremely hostile and powerful. See: Jokesetzu, Musk, Phoenix Tribe.
Ami stared at the little screen as the information lay there. Poor Ranma, Ami thought. He'll never be cured of this curse. All he can do is learn to live with it. After all, it's not like he turns into an animal or some kind of monster.
* * *
As Ranma let the bath run, he stripped off his clothes and began to scrub himself down. He still wasn't used to looking down and seeing a pair of breasts instead of just looking at his toes. It coulda been worse, he thought. At least I still have hands, and I can talk. I coulda been turned into a cow, or a pig, or even a c-c-cat Ranma shuddered at the last thought. That would be a fate worse than death. Ranma shivered as he upended a bucket of cold water to rinse the suds and grime off him. He stood up, turned off the water and climbed into the furo, feeling the tingling sensation of the curse as his body returned to its original masculine state.
Ranma leaned back in the heat, sighing in pleasure. He had really missed being able to take a hot bath while on the road. They'd rarely had the money to stay anywhere, so he and Oyaji had almost always camped out in parks and washed in streams. Sometimes the cold water felt good –especially on hot days- but Ranma much preferred the soothing heat of the furo, especially after strenuous, physically or emotionally, days.
It's not like I can't see the advantages to having this curse insteada one of the others, Ranma considered, But what kinda girl is gonna want anything to do with a guy that turns into a girl when he gets hit by cold water? I wouldn't be able to stay a guy for an hour if I actually managed to get a date. Ever since I was cursed, cold water seems to go out of its way to splash me. No girl wants to be thought of as going out with another girl. Especially not her.
As Ranma contemplated his loneliness, he was slightly cheered up by the fact that his aunt and cousin didn't seem all that upset by the curse. Probably on of them delayed shock thingies, Ranma thought. I'm sure they'll come to their senses and boot me out soon. If not over the curse, wait till they see what happens when I run across the next c-c-cat. Ranma shivered despite the warmth of the furo as he thought of the one thing in the world that could send him running away, screaming in terror.
"Ranma, are you nearly finished in there," Dr. Mizuno's voice called from the other side of the doorway. "Dinner's almost ready and I think we need to talk some more."
Ranma sat bolt upright. There were few things that could induce him to leave a nice long soak without an argument and one of those was food. "I'll be down in a minute, Auntie," Ranma replied as he got to his feet and began toweling off. He dressed in record time and was eagerly waiting at the table before Ami had even come down the stairs.
As they sat down to their meal, Ranma dug into his food as was his wont, shoveling it into his mouth and swallowing almost without chewing. Ami and her mother sat and watched him in shock as he destroyed the food on his plate in less than a minute. Ami was surprised how much like her friend Usagi he ate. Except Usagi normally took more time to chew.
"Ranma," Dr. Mizuno said. Ranma stopped eating and looked across the table at her. "Please slow down. I remember how Genma used to talk about speed eating as training, but at our dinner table, I want you to eat at reasonable speeds. Good food is to be enjoyed, not wolfed down. No one is going to take it away from you."
Ranma smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that," he said as he scratched the back of his head. "Oyaji was always making me fight him for the food. You had to eat fast or he'd steal it all away. I'll try and eat slower. Your cooking's real good, Auntie."
"Thank you, Ranma," Dr. Mizuno said, realizing that this was most likely one of the highest compliments Ranma was likely to give anyone. "Now, I wanted to ask you about your schooling." Ranma started looking extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed. "I know that Genma wouldn't have completely ignored your education. Even he couldn't get around the law, but I know he held school and book learning in contempt. So, what was the last grade you completed?"
Ranma shifted a little nervously as he replied, "Well, the last school I went to was an all boys junior high two years ago. I never told Oyaji this, but before we left for China, the principal had me take some kind of proficiency test. He said it would make it easier for me to come back to school when I got back."
"So how did you do," Ami asked, always curious about how others did on tests.
Ranma mumbled an incoherent reply.
"Ranma, how did you do," Dr. Mizuno asked a little more forcefully. This was very important to her as well.
"He said I did well enough that I coulda gotten into high school then," Ranma replied his face flaming.
Ami stared at him astonished. She hadn't expected him to be quite as smart as that, not with the dumb jock image he gave off. Dr. Mizuno wasn't surprised. High intelligence ran in the family, although common sense wasn't as strong. After all, Nodoka had married Genma. "Then it shouldn't be a problem getting you into high school," she said. "I'm very proud that you've managed to keep up with your studies. Didn't you move around a lot, Ranma?"
"Yeah, we didn't stay in most places for more than a couple of weeks. The principal said my transcript read like a concert tour schedule for some kinda band. I always liked studying, but Oyaji hated it when I would have my head in a book. He felt that if I had time to study then I wasn't training enough. I didn't get much of a chance ta study when I was young. It wasn't till I could hold my own against him that I was able ta get some free time. I wound up staying up real late studying. I found I didn't need as much sleep as I got older, so it didn't bother me much. I just hadta keep it quiet," Ranma replied. "I didn't want nobody to think I was stupid or nothing just cause I'm a martial artist."
"Well, I'm glad Ranma," Dr. Mizuno replied. "You should be able to enroll at Juuban High School in the morning then. They should let you in until they can get ahold of your transcript. I have some friends down at the school, so we should be able to get everything straightened out quickly. Now comes the hard question, Ranma. What do you want to do about the curse?"
Ranma looked down at the table for a long moment before replying. "I don't know, Auntie," he said. "I mean, I know the curse is going ta happen there and everyone will see me change if I go as a guy, but I'm not really a girl. I shouldn't pretend to be one. Everyone would really hate me if I tried and got found out. I figure I should go as myself. We could explain the curse to the teachers and let the other students find out when I get splashed. Everyone'll think I'm weird, but at least I wouldn't be lying ta nobody."
"Alright, Ranma. That's how we'll do it then," Dr. Mizuno replied. "I'm glad you're going to be honest about your curse. I agree that trying to actively hide it would most likely backfire badly. We'll explain the situation to the principal tomorrow and see what happens. I'm sure they'll relax the uniform requirements for your condition. After all, your measurements are completely different in your cursed form."
"Tell me about it," Ranma muttered as he cleaned off his plate.
* * *
As Ranma was getting ready for bed, Dr Mizuno appeared in his open doorway with a couple pieces of posterboard in her arms. "Ranma," she said, "how much do you know about your cursed body?"
"Not much," Ranma admitted.
"It's a good thing I still have these then," Dr. Mizuno said.
"What's that," Ranma asked.
"They're the visual aids I used when I explained to Ami about how to take care of her body and about the female reproductive system," Dr. Mizuno replied calmly as she propped the pieces of posterboard on the desk and closed the door.
* * *
Ami was working on her homework when she heard a startled yelp coming from Ranma's room. Looks like Mom's giving him "the talk," Ami thought, mentally snickering at the look that was probably on Ranma's face as her mother explained to him how the female body worked.
Author's Notes: Wow, I'm glad everyone seems to like this story so far. It's been a lot of fun to write and I have quite a bit planned out. This is a much more character/plot driven story than most, so the action parts will be kind of far between. It takes a lot more page space to explain and explore how people will deal with things. As for characters showing up, all the Ranma and Sailor Moon characters will show up, even if they won't all have important roles. I had a question about how Ranma could fight without learning the chi blasts and I would like to point out that the chi blasts actually had nothing to do with an Amazon. Ryouga got a scroll describing the Shi Shi Hokodan technique from an old miner. Who's to say there aren't other oppertunites out there for Ranma to learn other techniques and other people to teach them.
Another point is that Ranma is out of character the further I go into this story. Bear with me, people. I have my reasons for why Ranma acts differently. Many people will act differently since defining events in the lives of the characters have been or will be changed.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone for their support of this story. Every author likes to have his or her ego stroked. It's one of the reasons we write. I have a plan for this story. Trust me. I hope you continue to read.
Chapter 2
Ranma leaned against his aunt's shoulder until the tears stopped flowing. He'd only had one person that he'd ever allowed see him cry like that, but there was no reason to hide himself from his family. He didn't have to hide his tears like he did when he was traveling with Oyaji anymore. Whenever he needed a good cry, he now had someone to turn to. Someone real. Besides, crying like that had felt good. Like he'd had a weight lifted off his shoulders. What was weird, though , was that it felt natural for him to let it out when he was a girl.
"Ranma," Ami said derailing his train of thought. He hadn't noticed that she had let go of him at some point and was now standing in the hallway. "Could you come and get your pack? I thought I could take it up to the spare bedroom for you, but it's too heavy."
Ranma chuckled and stood up, stretching out the kinks in his back that leaning against his aunt's shoulder had given him and rubbing the salt out of his eyes. He moved past Ami into the foyer where he had left that pack and hefted it up to his shoulder in an easy, fluid motion. "So where did you want me to put it."
Ami stared at Ranma, slightly surprised to see such a petite girl heft such a heavy bag. Ranma didn't even look like he was straining at all to hold it up. I have to scan him with the Mercury Computer, she thought. Maybe I can come up with some way to fix his curse. Also, I need to find out how he got so strong! "The spare room's upstairs. Here, I'll show you."
As Ami led Ranma up the stairs to put his pack in his new room, Dr. Mizuno watched them with the practiced eye of a worried parent. Ranma was going to be difficult to take care of. He was still carrying a lot of grief and dealing with that wouldn't be easy. If she knew Genma, he'd probably done his level best to instill his pig-headed and chauvinistic attitudes in the poor boy. She'd have to work around that and this curse of his as well. Changing from a handsome young man into an incredibly young woman was going to play havoc with Ranma's sense of self. How was she supposed to deal with something like that?
* * *
After being shown where his room was, Ami pushed Ranma towards the bathroom. "I don't want to be mean about this," she said, "but you stink. Take a bath and change into some clean clothes, we'll be having dinner soon and you can tell us some more about yourself."
"Thanks," Ranma said with a small smile as he stepped into the bathroom and started the bath filling.
After Ami encouraged Ranma to clean up, she dashed into her room and pulled the Mercury Computer out of the back of her desk drawer. She'd decided long ago to keep it hidden to prevent any awkward questions from her mother. She had been keeping it set on a passive scan, trying to pinpoint where the Daimon activity was coming from, but she hoped it had managed to pick up information on Ranma's transformation.
Scanning back through the logs, she spotted an energy spike that the Mercury Computer listed as a Chaotic Transfiguration. Accessing the archives, Ami looked up that reference.
Chaotic Transfiguration: An uncontrollable magical transfiguration brought about by contact with a Chaotic Magic Source. Common Chaotic Magic Sources tend to be connected with bodies of water. Warning: Do not attempt to remove Transfiguration Curses with other types of Magic. Chaotic Magic warps the affect of other Magics and the results are wildly unpredictable and often dangerous. See: Aphrodite's Well, Elysian Fountain, Jusenkyo, Pool of Kronos.
Ami toggled the entry for Jusenkyo, curious that these places had existed long enough for the Mercury Computer to actually have them recorded.
Jusenkyo: Also called the Cursed Springs of Sorrow. Consists of a number of pools (Between 30 and 100 at any given time) that contain various water controlled transfiguration curses. Jusenkyo is the only natural wellspring of Chaos Magic on Earth. People are warned to stay away from the area as the curses cannot be cured. Applying a different cursed water results in a merging of the curses. Also, natives in the area are extremely hostile and powerful. See: Jokesetzu, Musk, Phoenix Tribe.
Ami stared at the little screen as the information lay there. Poor Ranma, Ami thought. He'll never be cured of this curse. All he can do is learn to live with it. After all, it's not like he turns into an animal or some kind of monster.
* * *
As Ranma let the bath run, he stripped off his clothes and began to scrub himself down. He still wasn't used to looking down and seeing a pair of breasts instead of just looking at his toes. It coulda been worse, he thought. At least I still have hands, and I can talk. I coulda been turned into a cow, or a pig, or even a c-c-cat Ranma shuddered at the last thought. That would be a fate worse than death. Ranma shivered as he upended a bucket of cold water to rinse the suds and grime off him. He stood up, turned off the water and climbed into the furo, feeling the tingling sensation of the curse as his body returned to its original masculine state.
Ranma leaned back in the heat, sighing in pleasure. He had really missed being able to take a hot bath while on the road. They'd rarely had the money to stay anywhere, so he and Oyaji had almost always camped out in parks and washed in streams. Sometimes the cold water felt good –especially on hot days- but Ranma much preferred the soothing heat of the furo, especially after strenuous, physically or emotionally, days.
It's not like I can't see the advantages to having this curse insteada one of the others, Ranma considered, But what kinda girl is gonna want anything to do with a guy that turns into a girl when he gets hit by cold water? I wouldn't be able to stay a guy for an hour if I actually managed to get a date. Ever since I was cursed, cold water seems to go out of its way to splash me. No girl wants to be thought of as going out with another girl. Especially not her.
As Ranma contemplated his loneliness, he was slightly cheered up by the fact that his aunt and cousin didn't seem all that upset by the curse. Probably on of them delayed shock thingies, Ranma thought. I'm sure they'll come to their senses and boot me out soon. If not over the curse, wait till they see what happens when I run across the next c-c-cat. Ranma shivered despite the warmth of the furo as he thought of the one thing in the world that could send him running away, screaming in terror.
"Ranma, are you nearly finished in there," Dr. Mizuno's voice called from the other side of the doorway. "Dinner's almost ready and I think we need to talk some more."
Ranma sat bolt upright. There were few things that could induce him to leave a nice long soak without an argument and one of those was food. "I'll be down in a minute, Auntie," Ranma replied as he got to his feet and began toweling off. He dressed in record time and was eagerly waiting at the table before Ami had even come down the stairs.
As they sat down to their meal, Ranma dug into his food as was his wont, shoveling it into his mouth and swallowing almost without chewing. Ami and her mother sat and watched him in shock as he destroyed the food on his plate in less than a minute. Ami was surprised how much like her friend Usagi he ate. Except Usagi normally took more time to chew.
"Ranma," Dr. Mizuno said. Ranma stopped eating and looked across the table at her. "Please slow down. I remember how Genma used to talk about speed eating as training, but at our dinner table, I want you to eat at reasonable speeds. Good food is to be enjoyed, not wolfed down. No one is going to take it away from you."
Ranma smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that," he said as he scratched the back of his head. "Oyaji was always making me fight him for the food. You had to eat fast or he'd steal it all away. I'll try and eat slower. Your cooking's real good, Auntie."
"Thank you, Ranma," Dr. Mizuno said, realizing that this was most likely one of the highest compliments Ranma was likely to give anyone. "Now, I wanted to ask you about your schooling." Ranma started looking extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed. "I know that Genma wouldn't have completely ignored your education. Even he couldn't get around the law, but I know he held school and book learning in contempt. So, what was the last grade you completed?"
Ranma shifted a little nervously as he replied, "Well, the last school I went to was an all boys junior high two years ago. I never told Oyaji this, but before we left for China, the principal had me take some kind of proficiency test. He said it would make it easier for me to come back to school when I got back."
"So how did you do," Ami asked, always curious about how others did on tests.
Ranma mumbled an incoherent reply.
"Ranma, how did you do," Dr. Mizuno asked a little more forcefully. This was very important to her as well.
"He said I did well enough that I coulda gotten into high school then," Ranma replied his face flaming.
Ami stared at him astonished. She hadn't expected him to be quite as smart as that, not with the dumb jock image he gave off. Dr. Mizuno wasn't surprised. High intelligence ran in the family, although common sense wasn't as strong. After all, Nodoka had married Genma. "Then it shouldn't be a problem getting you into high school," she said. "I'm very proud that you've managed to keep up with your studies. Didn't you move around a lot, Ranma?"
"Yeah, we didn't stay in most places for more than a couple of weeks. The principal said my transcript read like a concert tour schedule for some kinda band. I always liked studying, but Oyaji hated it when I would have my head in a book. He felt that if I had time to study then I wasn't training enough. I didn't get much of a chance ta study when I was young. It wasn't till I could hold my own against him that I was able ta get some free time. I wound up staying up real late studying. I found I didn't need as much sleep as I got older, so it didn't bother me much. I just hadta keep it quiet," Ranma replied. "I didn't want nobody to think I was stupid or nothing just cause I'm a martial artist."
"Well, I'm glad Ranma," Dr. Mizuno replied. "You should be able to enroll at Juuban High School in the morning then. They should let you in until they can get ahold of your transcript. I have some friends down at the school, so we should be able to get everything straightened out quickly. Now comes the hard question, Ranma. What do you want to do about the curse?"
Ranma looked down at the table for a long moment before replying. "I don't know, Auntie," he said. "I mean, I know the curse is going ta happen there and everyone will see me change if I go as a guy, but I'm not really a girl. I shouldn't pretend to be one. Everyone would really hate me if I tried and got found out. I figure I should go as myself. We could explain the curse to the teachers and let the other students find out when I get splashed. Everyone'll think I'm weird, but at least I wouldn't be lying ta nobody."
"Alright, Ranma. That's how we'll do it then," Dr. Mizuno replied. "I'm glad you're going to be honest about your curse. I agree that trying to actively hide it would most likely backfire badly. We'll explain the situation to the principal tomorrow and see what happens. I'm sure they'll relax the uniform requirements for your condition. After all, your measurements are completely different in your cursed form."
"Tell me about it," Ranma muttered as he cleaned off his plate.
* * *
As Ranma was getting ready for bed, Dr Mizuno appeared in his open doorway with a couple pieces of posterboard in her arms. "Ranma," she said, "how much do you know about your cursed body?"
"Not much," Ranma admitted.
"It's a good thing I still have these then," Dr. Mizuno said.
"What's that," Ranma asked.
"They're the visual aids I used when I explained to Ami about how to take care of her body and about the female reproductive system," Dr. Mizuno replied calmly as she propped the pieces of posterboard on the desk and closed the door.
* * *
Ami was working on her homework when she heard a startled yelp coming from Ranma's room. Looks like Mom's giving him "the talk," Ami thought, mentally snickering at the look that was probably on Ranma's face as her mother explained to him how the female body worked.
Author's Notes: Wow, I'm glad everyone seems to like this story so far. It's been a lot of fun to write and I have quite a bit planned out. This is a much more character/plot driven story than most, so the action parts will be kind of far between. It takes a lot more page space to explain and explore how people will deal with things. As for characters showing up, all the Ranma and Sailor Moon characters will show up, even if they won't all have important roles. I had a question about how Ranma could fight without learning the chi blasts and I would like to point out that the chi blasts actually had nothing to do with an Amazon. Ryouga got a scroll describing the Shi Shi Hokodan technique from an old miner. Who's to say there aren't other oppertunites out there for Ranma to learn other techniques and other people to teach them.
Another point is that Ranma is out of character the further I go into this story. Bear with me, people. I have my reasons for why Ranma acts differently. Many people will act differently since defining events in the lives of the characters have been or will be changed.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone for their support of this story. Every author likes to have his or her ego stroked. It's one of the reasons we write. I have a plan for this story. Trust me. I hope you continue to read.