Dreams of Destiny
Chapter 8
Ranma tugged at the stiff collar of his uniform in frustration. While Mr. Tanaka had agreed to allow Ranma some dispensations about the school uniform, the jacket and shirt were something he stood firm on. If they were big enough for his male form, they would fit his female form. He was allowed to wear his silk, drawstring kung fu pants, since those would be much easier to adjust than the slacks that the male students normally wore and he was permitted a special undershirt. Ranma had been extremely embarrassed and had tried to get out of wearing it, but his aunt's arguments had persuaded him that the elastic, skin tight undershirt would be a necessity. Unless Ranma wanted to wear a sports bra that is. After trying the undershirt on and changing to his girl side, Ranma was forced to admit that the tight shirt gave him a great deal more support and kept his chest from flopping around uncontrollably when he worked out.
Ranma sighed as he unbuttoned the collar of his jacket. Even though the clerk at the uniform shop had sworn it was his size and that he looked very good in it, the collars still made him feel like someone was strangling him. Loosening the collar and unbuttoning the top two buttons of the white dress shirt underneath made Ranma much more comfortable and he hitched his bag up on his shoulder. His aunt had taken him on a whirlwind shopping trip the night before that still left Ranma a little breathless. He'd never known how many things people his age were supposed to need. He'd always gotten along with the bare minimum and never really thought about what the other kids had. Until last night.
Ranma had expected the trip to the bookstore at the school to but his textbooks and school supplies and had though the trip would end with the subsequent stop at the uniform shop. But his aunt had then taken him all over the shopping district, loading him down with bags as she bought him what she considered the necessities. She'd bought him a laptop computer and printer, more clothes than he thought he'd ever wear(including some things for his girl side that he privately swore he'd rather die than wear), a small stereo system and a cell phone. Ranma's head had been spinning as his new room suddenly became crowded with possessions and his aunt had dropped her final surprise. She was giving him an allowance! Ranma had never had anyone willing to give him money before. He'd earned a little here and there at times when he was younger, but Oyaji had always stolen it to go get drunk. Now he'd be able to buy things he liked, if he wanted to, or even go out and get a snack after school. This was great!
Ranma was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he really didn't notice the sprinklers come on as he walked under them, shrinking him down into his other form. Absently, his hand tightened the drawstring on the pants and he walked on, oblivious.
* * *
Kaolinite stood in the middle of the lab, fuming. Everywhere she turned, someone was interfering and making her plans go wrong. She wasn't gathering crystals and it was making her look bad in front of the Professor. Before it had always been the fault of those annoying Sailor brats, now there was a new factor in the game. That annoying little boy had distracted her daimon from the art teacher and prevented the daimon in the park from confronting its target. Somehow, he'd managed to avoid the daimon's attacks and delay it long enough for the Sailors to destroy it. As the leader of the Witches 5, Kaolinite found these failures horribly embarrassing. Perhaps it was time for a new tactic, and she knew just who to test it out on.
* * *
Ranma stifled a yawn as he packed up his books. There was no doubt about it. No matter how much he enjoyed learning new things, school was still boring. He had always wondered how the teachers could take fascinating material in the textbooks and make it something that could put you to sleep. Ranma stretched his arms, feeling his shoulders pop as tension was released, before picking up his bag. Heading out the door, he couldn't help but notice the stares he was getting from his classmates. The girls in his class had seemed eager to get to know Ranma for some reason Ranma couldn't fathom. At least they had until one of them had tripped, accidentally spilling her cold drink on Ranma and triggering the change. Since then, most of the class had kept their distance, almost as if they were afraid. There were a few guys in his class that talked to him, but they were more interested in the athletic ability he had evidenced in gym class and in getting him on their sports teams.
At least they still talk to me, Ranma thought despondently as he walked down the hall. I suppose I can't blame them for treating me as a freak. This curse isn't something they'll ever accept, I guess. He descended the stairs and exited the school, lost in thought. Luckily, his danger sense made him stop, just as something impacted the ground in front of him., pushing up the air in a dust cloud. Ranma looked forward in shock as the dust settled revealing a figure.
A burly young man rose from where he'd been crouching in the center of a newly formed crater. Ranma looked at him and something tickled at the back of his mind. He knew this guy from somewhere, but where?
"Ranma Saotome," the figure yelled, "prepare to die, you coward!"
"Who the hell are you calling a coward, you psycho," Ranma yelled back.
The figure stared at Ranma in surprise for a moment before replying, "You ran out on our man to man fight. You ran like a little girl and I'm going to make you pay." He rushed forward, pulling an umbrella off the top of his backpack and swinging it at Ranma
Ranma ducked under the swing and frowned in thought. Who is this guy, he thought, and why is he so angry with me? He said something about running out on a fight, but I've never run from a fight before. What the hell is he talking about? Ranma ducked and wove around the furious blows that the strange young man was throwing at him. The fight moved across the schoolyard as the mysterious stranger chased Ranma, while he dodged the blows with ease.
"Who are you anyway," Ranma asked in annoyance. "You show up like this saying that I ran out on a fight with you, but I have no idea who the hell you are."
"You dare to forget me," the young man snarled. "Me, your greatest rival!?"
"You'd think I'd remember my greatest rival," Ranma remarked offhandedly as he dodged a particularly vicious swipe.
The young man growled and began an even more furious series of blows which ended up completely missing Ranma, but pulverized a section of the wall around the school. As the dust settled, the few students who hadn't run at the first sign of trouble (which was considered a survival trait in Juuban, after all those who didn't run from monsters wound up being monster food), gasped at the strength of the blow. "I can't believe you, Ranma," the young man said. "Not only did you run out on our fight, you've completely forgotten who I am. You're a disgrace to the martial arts!"
"Take that back," Ranma snarled and finally attacked. He launched a series of blows at the young man, knocking him back and destroying even more of the wall. "I'm a disgrace to the martial arts? Who's the one that attacked someone out of no where? Who's the one who isn't worrying about innocent bystanders?"
The stranger stood up, unfazed by breaking through the wall and laughed. "An honorless dog like you has no call to say things like that," he shouted. He was about to charge when a strange noise made him pause. Everyone looked around for the source of the noise and saw a red haired woman floating above them. The rest of the students saw the better part of valor and fled the scene. Ranma and the stranger looked up at the interruption in annoyance. Ranma noticed that the noise was caused by three small object buzzing around her in a circle.
"What the hell do you want," Ranma yelled, frustrated. He knew this wasn't going to end well for anyone. The woman just smiled and two of the objects veered off from their course and darted to nearby objects. One hit a bicycle causing the bicycle to warp into one of those ridiculous woman-like monsters that had bothered Ranma before. The other hit a water fountain and likewise became a woman-like creature. They screamed and ran at Ranma, obviously intent on harm.
Ranma ducked under the chain that the bike woman threw at him and was hit by a stream of water from the other who'd anticipated the move. The chain swung back in an arc and wrapped itself around Ranma, whom the daimon reeled in to her. The transformation had occurred as the daimon reeled Ranma in and it let out a screech of surprise at finding a girl in its chain instead of a man.
"What I want," the red haired woman said, "is for you to cease being an interference to our plans. You have stopped two daimons from capturing their targets. You are an annoyance, however skilled you may be and I don't like to be annoyed. Bicyclia, Crush this insignificant worm!"
* * *
Ami raced along the rooftop as Sailor Mercury. School had just let out when her computer had detected the energy signature of a daimon at the high school. She pushed the emergency call button on her communicator and transformed, only to have her computer inform her that a second daimon had formed. Ami had stopped and stared at the computer in shock. Never had the Deathbusters sent more than one daimon at a time. Ami felt a wave of fear settle in her bones as she realized that the Deathbusters could easily overwhelm them if they ever managed to mass produce their daimons.
Up ahead she saw Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus and waved to them. They merged their paths and Ami called out to them, "There are two daimons at the high school. We'll have to try and split them up." The other two Sailor Senshi nodded and they continued on their course.
The streets around the high school were deserted as the three made their way over the school wall, except for the two daimons, a young man they didn't recognize, a redheaded girl they recognized as Ranma wrapped up in a bicycle chain and Kaolinite. It was rare for the Senshi to ever see Kaolinite sticking around during a fight.
Jupiter powered up to blast the daimon holding Ranma when Mercury grabbed her by the arm. "Don't," she said. "It's got him by that chain. You'll electrocute Ranma." Jupiter nodded and They turned to Venus. "You'll have to cut him out with your Crescent beam."
Mercury was cut off as a blast of water knocked her off her feet and sent her skidding off the wall as the other daimon took advantage of their uncertainty to attack. Venus rushed to try and save Ranma, but the second daimon intercepted her with a blast of water as well, sending her skidding back along with Mercury.
Jupiter rushed at the daimon, but it flowed out of the way like water. Literally. It seemed to dissolve into a puddle of water and then rose up to surround Jupiter in a thin film of water. Jupiter struggled against the daimon, but couldn't seem to do anything. Mercury looked across the yard and saw that Ranma was slowly being constricted as well. She turned to Venus, who was just getting to her feet and said, "You help Ranma, I'll help Jupiter."
"I don't think I'll need to," Venus said, pointing at the daimon holding Ranma. "Look!"
Ami turned and saw Ranma suddenly drop to the ground, the chains tumbling free as if cut and another boy standing there with what looked like a belt standing straight up in his hand. What in the world?
* * *
Ranma tumbled to the ground and stared up in shock as the young man who had attacked him before finished chopping the chains into confetti . with his belt? Ranma rolled to his feet, pulling the drawstring tight to keep his pants up.
"No one kills Ranma but me, old woman," the young man screamed as he began to lay into the daimon with his make-shift blade. Ranma stared hard and suddenly something came into focus. He could see a very slight aura around the young man and he was channeling it into the belt, making it as strong as steel. Which gave Ranma an idea. He pulled his shirt off and quickly roe it into strips. Carefully tapping into the slight aura he could produce, Ranma duplicated the pattern he saw the other boy using and poured it into the cloth. Taking the now stiff pieces of cloth, he launched them at the daimon.
The daimon shrieked in pain as seven pieces of hardened cloth pierced her body. She tried to reach to take them out when there was a cry of "Spiral Moon Heart Ache!" and the daimon was hit from behind with a giant heart. It screamed out "Lovely!" before disappearing and leaving one less daimon for them to fight.
While Sailor Moon had destroyed the one daimon, Sailor Mars heated herself up and launched a Burning Mandala at the water enshrouded Sailor Jupiter. Mercury cried out as she saw her friend about to get flambéed by a teammate, but stopped when she saw how precisely the attack had been aimed. The rings of fire missed Jupiter's body by millimeters, but caused portions of the daimon to evaporate. The water streamed away from Jupiter, letting her fall to the ground gasping for breath.
Mars kept up the pressure, blasting at the water daimon while Mercury rushed to Jupiter's side. Venus had taken the opportunity to launch her Love-Me Chain at Kaolinite. Kaolinite floated to the side and allowed the chain to pass through empty space.
"It looks like I'll have to take stronger measures," Kaolinite said waving her hand at the last object orbiting her. It took off and charged for a nearby object. It hit the object and caused it to pulse with dark energy as the daimon egg was absorbed. Unfortunately, that nearby object was none other than our mysterious stranger with a grudge against Ranma.
To Be Continued
Author's Notes:
Wow, I haven't touched this story in almost two months, so I figured I'd give you a fight scene and the introduction of one of the cast. We all know that it was Ryouga who showed up, but I'm writing primarily from the character's point of view and Ranma has yet to remember who Ryouga is yet. I'm splitting my time between this one and two others, so I'm not sure how long it will take for chapter nine, but I hope it's not two months.
Chapter 8
Ranma tugged at the stiff collar of his uniform in frustration. While Mr. Tanaka had agreed to allow Ranma some dispensations about the school uniform, the jacket and shirt were something he stood firm on. If they were big enough for his male form, they would fit his female form. He was allowed to wear his silk, drawstring kung fu pants, since those would be much easier to adjust than the slacks that the male students normally wore and he was permitted a special undershirt. Ranma had been extremely embarrassed and had tried to get out of wearing it, but his aunt's arguments had persuaded him that the elastic, skin tight undershirt would be a necessity. Unless Ranma wanted to wear a sports bra that is. After trying the undershirt on and changing to his girl side, Ranma was forced to admit that the tight shirt gave him a great deal more support and kept his chest from flopping around uncontrollably when he worked out.
Ranma sighed as he unbuttoned the collar of his jacket. Even though the clerk at the uniform shop had sworn it was his size and that he looked very good in it, the collars still made him feel like someone was strangling him. Loosening the collar and unbuttoning the top two buttons of the white dress shirt underneath made Ranma much more comfortable and he hitched his bag up on his shoulder. His aunt had taken him on a whirlwind shopping trip the night before that still left Ranma a little breathless. He'd never known how many things people his age were supposed to need. He'd always gotten along with the bare minimum and never really thought about what the other kids had. Until last night.
Ranma had expected the trip to the bookstore at the school to but his textbooks and school supplies and had though the trip would end with the subsequent stop at the uniform shop. But his aunt had then taken him all over the shopping district, loading him down with bags as she bought him what she considered the necessities. She'd bought him a laptop computer and printer, more clothes than he thought he'd ever wear(including some things for his girl side that he privately swore he'd rather die than wear), a small stereo system and a cell phone. Ranma's head had been spinning as his new room suddenly became crowded with possessions and his aunt had dropped her final surprise. She was giving him an allowance! Ranma had never had anyone willing to give him money before. He'd earned a little here and there at times when he was younger, but Oyaji had always stolen it to go get drunk. Now he'd be able to buy things he liked, if he wanted to, or even go out and get a snack after school. This was great!
Ranma was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he really didn't notice the sprinklers come on as he walked under them, shrinking him down into his other form. Absently, his hand tightened the drawstring on the pants and he walked on, oblivious.
* * *
Kaolinite stood in the middle of the lab, fuming. Everywhere she turned, someone was interfering and making her plans go wrong. She wasn't gathering crystals and it was making her look bad in front of the Professor. Before it had always been the fault of those annoying Sailor brats, now there was a new factor in the game. That annoying little boy had distracted her daimon from the art teacher and prevented the daimon in the park from confronting its target. Somehow, he'd managed to avoid the daimon's attacks and delay it long enough for the Sailors to destroy it. As the leader of the Witches 5, Kaolinite found these failures horribly embarrassing. Perhaps it was time for a new tactic, and she knew just who to test it out on.
* * *
Ranma stifled a yawn as he packed up his books. There was no doubt about it. No matter how much he enjoyed learning new things, school was still boring. He had always wondered how the teachers could take fascinating material in the textbooks and make it something that could put you to sleep. Ranma stretched his arms, feeling his shoulders pop as tension was released, before picking up his bag. Heading out the door, he couldn't help but notice the stares he was getting from his classmates. The girls in his class had seemed eager to get to know Ranma for some reason Ranma couldn't fathom. At least they had until one of them had tripped, accidentally spilling her cold drink on Ranma and triggering the change. Since then, most of the class had kept their distance, almost as if they were afraid. There were a few guys in his class that talked to him, but they were more interested in the athletic ability he had evidenced in gym class and in getting him on their sports teams.
At least they still talk to me, Ranma thought despondently as he walked down the hall. I suppose I can't blame them for treating me as a freak. This curse isn't something they'll ever accept, I guess. He descended the stairs and exited the school, lost in thought. Luckily, his danger sense made him stop, just as something impacted the ground in front of him., pushing up the air in a dust cloud. Ranma looked forward in shock as the dust settled revealing a figure.
A burly young man rose from where he'd been crouching in the center of a newly formed crater. Ranma looked at him and something tickled at the back of his mind. He knew this guy from somewhere, but where?
"Ranma Saotome," the figure yelled, "prepare to die, you coward!"
"Who the hell are you calling a coward, you psycho," Ranma yelled back.
The figure stared at Ranma in surprise for a moment before replying, "You ran out on our man to man fight. You ran like a little girl and I'm going to make you pay." He rushed forward, pulling an umbrella off the top of his backpack and swinging it at Ranma
Ranma ducked under the swing and frowned in thought. Who is this guy, he thought, and why is he so angry with me? He said something about running out on a fight, but I've never run from a fight before. What the hell is he talking about? Ranma ducked and wove around the furious blows that the strange young man was throwing at him. The fight moved across the schoolyard as the mysterious stranger chased Ranma, while he dodged the blows with ease.
"Who are you anyway," Ranma asked in annoyance. "You show up like this saying that I ran out on a fight with you, but I have no idea who the hell you are."
"You dare to forget me," the young man snarled. "Me, your greatest rival!?"
"You'd think I'd remember my greatest rival," Ranma remarked offhandedly as he dodged a particularly vicious swipe.
The young man growled and began an even more furious series of blows which ended up completely missing Ranma, but pulverized a section of the wall around the school. As the dust settled, the few students who hadn't run at the first sign of trouble (which was considered a survival trait in Juuban, after all those who didn't run from monsters wound up being monster food), gasped at the strength of the blow. "I can't believe you, Ranma," the young man said. "Not only did you run out on our fight, you've completely forgotten who I am. You're a disgrace to the martial arts!"
"Take that back," Ranma snarled and finally attacked. He launched a series of blows at the young man, knocking him back and destroying even more of the wall. "I'm a disgrace to the martial arts? Who's the one that attacked someone out of no where? Who's the one who isn't worrying about innocent bystanders?"
The stranger stood up, unfazed by breaking through the wall and laughed. "An honorless dog like you has no call to say things like that," he shouted. He was about to charge when a strange noise made him pause. Everyone looked around for the source of the noise and saw a red haired woman floating above them. The rest of the students saw the better part of valor and fled the scene. Ranma and the stranger looked up at the interruption in annoyance. Ranma noticed that the noise was caused by three small object buzzing around her in a circle.
"What the hell do you want," Ranma yelled, frustrated. He knew this wasn't going to end well for anyone. The woman just smiled and two of the objects veered off from their course and darted to nearby objects. One hit a bicycle causing the bicycle to warp into one of those ridiculous woman-like monsters that had bothered Ranma before. The other hit a water fountain and likewise became a woman-like creature. They screamed and ran at Ranma, obviously intent on harm.
Ranma ducked under the chain that the bike woman threw at him and was hit by a stream of water from the other who'd anticipated the move. The chain swung back in an arc and wrapped itself around Ranma, whom the daimon reeled in to her. The transformation had occurred as the daimon reeled Ranma in and it let out a screech of surprise at finding a girl in its chain instead of a man.
"What I want," the red haired woman said, "is for you to cease being an interference to our plans. You have stopped two daimons from capturing their targets. You are an annoyance, however skilled you may be and I don't like to be annoyed. Bicyclia, Crush this insignificant worm!"
* * *
Ami raced along the rooftop as Sailor Mercury. School had just let out when her computer had detected the energy signature of a daimon at the high school. She pushed the emergency call button on her communicator and transformed, only to have her computer inform her that a second daimon had formed. Ami had stopped and stared at the computer in shock. Never had the Deathbusters sent more than one daimon at a time. Ami felt a wave of fear settle in her bones as she realized that the Deathbusters could easily overwhelm them if they ever managed to mass produce their daimons.
Up ahead she saw Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus and waved to them. They merged their paths and Ami called out to them, "There are two daimons at the high school. We'll have to try and split them up." The other two Sailor Senshi nodded and they continued on their course.
The streets around the high school were deserted as the three made their way over the school wall, except for the two daimons, a young man they didn't recognize, a redheaded girl they recognized as Ranma wrapped up in a bicycle chain and Kaolinite. It was rare for the Senshi to ever see Kaolinite sticking around during a fight.
Jupiter powered up to blast the daimon holding Ranma when Mercury grabbed her by the arm. "Don't," she said. "It's got him by that chain. You'll electrocute Ranma." Jupiter nodded and They turned to Venus. "You'll have to cut him out with your Crescent beam."
Mercury was cut off as a blast of water knocked her off her feet and sent her skidding off the wall as the other daimon took advantage of their uncertainty to attack. Venus rushed to try and save Ranma, but the second daimon intercepted her with a blast of water as well, sending her skidding back along with Mercury.
Jupiter rushed at the daimon, but it flowed out of the way like water. Literally. It seemed to dissolve into a puddle of water and then rose up to surround Jupiter in a thin film of water. Jupiter struggled against the daimon, but couldn't seem to do anything. Mercury looked across the yard and saw that Ranma was slowly being constricted as well. She turned to Venus, who was just getting to her feet and said, "You help Ranma, I'll help Jupiter."
"I don't think I'll need to," Venus said, pointing at the daimon holding Ranma. "Look!"
Ami turned and saw Ranma suddenly drop to the ground, the chains tumbling free as if cut and another boy standing there with what looked like a belt standing straight up in his hand. What in the world?
* * *
Ranma tumbled to the ground and stared up in shock as the young man who had attacked him before finished chopping the chains into confetti . with his belt? Ranma rolled to his feet, pulling the drawstring tight to keep his pants up.
"No one kills Ranma but me, old woman," the young man screamed as he began to lay into the daimon with his make-shift blade. Ranma stared hard and suddenly something came into focus. He could see a very slight aura around the young man and he was channeling it into the belt, making it as strong as steel. Which gave Ranma an idea. He pulled his shirt off and quickly roe it into strips. Carefully tapping into the slight aura he could produce, Ranma duplicated the pattern he saw the other boy using and poured it into the cloth. Taking the now stiff pieces of cloth, he launched them at the daimon.
The daimon shrieked in pain as seven pieces of hardened cloth pierced her body. She tried to reach to take them out when there was a cry of "Spiral Moon Heart Ache!" and the daimon was hit from behind with a giant heart. It screamed out "Lovely!" before disappearing and leaving one less daimon for them to fight.
While Sailor Moon had destroyed the one daimon, Sailor Mars heated herself up and launched a Burning Mandala at the water enshrouded Sailor Jupiter. Mercury cried out as she saw her friend about to get flambéed by a teammate, but stopped when she saw how precisely the attack had been aimed. The rings of fire missed Jupiter's body by millimeters, but caused portions of the daimon to evaporate. The water streamed away from Jupiter, letting her fall to the ground gasping for breath.
Mars kept up the pressure, blasting at the water daimon while Mercury rushed to Jupiter's side. Venus had taken the opportunity to launch her Love-Me Chain at Kaolinite. Kaolinite floated to the side and allowed the chain to pass through empty space.
"It looks like I'll have to take stronger measures," Kaolinite said waving her hand at the last object orbiting her. It took off and charged for a nearby object. It hit the object and caused it to pulse with dark energy as the daimon egg was absorbed. Unfortunately, that nearby object was none other than our mysterious stranger with a grudge against Ranma.
To Be Continued
Author's Notes:
Wow, I haven't touched this story in almost two months, so I figured I'd give you a fight scene and the introduction of one of the cast. We all know that it was Ryouga who showed up, but I'm writing primarily from the character's point of view and Ranma has yet to remember who Ryouga is yet. I'm splitting my time between this one and two others, so I'm not sure how long it will take for chapter nine, but I hope it's not two months.