Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com
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Strange Days
Chapter 08
By: Cory D. Rose
ertle2@msn.com
(C)2003
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There was a flash of light and Ranma gasped as he found himself flying through normal air again, then he slammed into the side of the Tendo dojo face first, where he landed chest first into the mud at the base of the house. He recalled that it was common occurrence because of all the rain they got in Nerima, but it was still a pain in the ass. It was raining heavily, like usual, and he turned into a girl within moments of touching the mud.
She crawled to her feet just as Akane's mallet came out of nowhere to push his head through the very wall he had just moments before slammed into, it hurt like hell. Growling in frustration, Ranma pulled her head out of the hole and glared at Akane, who was grinning at him in an innocent and overly cute manner.
"What are you hitting me for this time?" Ranma snapped, she wasn't in the mood for this kind of crap today.
"You deserved it, if not now, then later."
"Akane, I told you I wouldn't put up with being hit anymore."
"Then listen up and pay attention, this is a kind of waking dream for you, do you understand?"
"No."
"See, I knew you could get it, now follow me into the house because I want to show you something." Akane stomped through the open door that led into the main room.
"Why?"
"It is time for you to see my greatest secret."
"Huh?! What secret?"
"Just follow me and find out idiot!" Akane yelled back.
Ranma scrambled to catch up with her and had to jump over a chair just to meet her at the foot of the stairs. Akane growled at him as she glared at her antics, then she turned and headed into the kitchen and out the back door. This led into another section of the property that Ranma didn't visit much, the alley way between them and the neighbors next door.
It was full of trash cans, bags of grass, trash, and various other kinds of things she really didn't want to know about. Akane stomped her way about half way down the alley and turned to point to the side window of her room that Ranma was always looking into as she hung from the roof. "Look in there BAKA, I don't want you to be in denial anymore."
Something about was making her apprehensive, but Ranma had never been one to listen to her innermost feelings, so she jumped to the roof of the house. Padding silently across the roof tiles and hung off the edge so that she could look inside the room like she had done on hundreds of occasions. At first she couldn't see anything because all the lights were off in the room.
Then she placed her ear to the glass and noticed that she was hearing some odd noises at the very edge of her hearing...and gasped as images started to flash through her mind, memories that she had been suppressed out of shock and fear, returned in a rush and hit him...well like Akane's hammer as it impacted her skull.
Akane and Ryoga had been making out, their heavy breathing and whispered endearments had been as clear as day and Ranma had heard every word and whisper they made, saw every movement of their hands and bodies. It was to much for Ranma to handle a second time and she fell off the roof and landed in the much below, tears running down her face. She remembered it all, all the little clues he had missed and the times Akane had taken Ryoga's side over hers and never once listened to her side of the story. Ranma sobbed as the intense pain returned and remembered several hours later when his own father had attacked him in the middle of the night and used Shampoo's memory erasing technique on him.
While Soun did the same with everyone else in the house, a heart broken Ranma was a little hard to miss after all, so that things could go back to normal. It was easy enough to get rid of Ryoga, all they had to do was point him in a random direction and send him on his way so they could talk after they had worked the technique on the Lost Boy as well.
They had told her that the schools would be united, no matter the cost, Genma had said that they would do this as many times as they needed to as well. It had been a blow to her fragile mind and her father had made doubly sure that this incident wasn't remembered or it would ruin all their hopes and dreams. Curled into a ball, Ranma realized that this had happened some 8 month ago, just 2 months after the failed wedding.
Akane had heard him fall, looked out the window with Ryoga and they had laughed at his pain, ridiculed him and his manliness. Ranma had been broken and tossed away, but no matter what he couldn't bring himself to hate Akane. Ryoga on the other hand had then proclaimed his victory by kissing Akane right in front of him and she hadn't complained in the least.
Akane stomped up to him and kicked her in the stomach hard enough to launch her against the house. "BAKA!! Wake up and smell what has been dealt to you by your idiot father, total shit! You know what you need to do if you ever want to have peace in your life, restore all our memories! Everyone in the family, Nibiki, Kasumi, and even Ryoga! I want my boyfriend back!"
Ranma wiped the tears away and stood up as a red hazed settled over her eyes, she glared at Akane and stepped up to her, and punched her in the jaw so hard that her entire body fractured into a million pieces! The sound of a shattered heart, the death of all hope crashed all across the yard.
Tempered by Ranma's anger and grief, he had a flash back of his entire life and saw the truth played out over again, his self denial and all the lies that had colored his thinking. He remembered the recent fight he had with...he couldn't call him father anymore...Genma. He realized that everything he had experienced over the last few months had been a way for that man to control his life.
Looking up from her self pity, Ranma noticed that he was male again and that he was back in that foggy region again, but this time there was a wall in front of him. It was bigger than anything he had ever seen and stretched as far and high as he could see. He jumped back instinctively as he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye and barely dodged a wave of silver crackling energy as it traveled along the wall rumbling like thunder.
As it passed by he gasped at the incredible amount of power he was feeling, it dwarfed his puny strength and made him feel like a bug in comparison. He had never encountered anything like it before. Even Cologne would have cowered before this kind power. He could only stand there and gape in awe as it race away from him and disappeared in the distance.
"It's beautiful isn't it?"
Ranma looked over his shoulder and saw that version of himself from before that had argued with Akane, the one dressed in the black silk with silver studs, the Dark Ranma. "You were the one from before that was arguing with A-Akane?"
"Yep, the bitch, she deserved to have that done to her." Dark Ranma said with an evil grin.
"Huh?"
"When you hit her, you destroyed what was left of the love you felt for her. As it shattered you were purged of the love you had been feeling towards her for the last few months. I would have ripped her spine out for what she did, but you're the one running the show here so it was up to you how you did it. Pretty cool, huh?"
"Oh?" He felt numb as he look inside himself and found that nothing at all remained of his feelings for Akane, absolutely nothing but a desire to strike her down again. He searched deeper and noticed that he still had love in his heart, but it was small and intense, as if he had caged it off. He couldn't tell who it was for though, it was if that was also hidden in the cage, there was a female form but he couldn't tell who it was. It was too small to tell.
"Look before you Ranma, do you know what this is?" His duplicate yelled and gestured grandly and laughed loudly. "This whole area is more than it seems, it has been here for as long as you've been alive and you've never seen it before!"
Turning back to the wall Ranma did indeed take a closer look, he stepped up to the wall and studied it in more detail. After a few seconds he noticed that it was covered in very tiny hairline fractures that could be seen for as far as he could see. It was like what Ryoga described when he used the Breaking Point technique, very tiny fractures that one could force Ki into and make them explode. He slowly reached out to touch it and...
"I wouldn't do that." Dark Ranma said with a smirk.
...screamed as pain ripped through him. Ranma was thrown back nearly a hundred feet and skidded to a halt with his shoulder buried in the ground. He opened his eyes and coughed painfully and sat up using his Ki to augment his body and reduced the damage done to his body. Blood dripped down his hand from where he'd touched the wall, the pain was unbelievable and he could tell that one of his fingers was shattered. Any worse than it was and he would have lost it's use for the rest of his life, but luckily his Ki abilities allowed him to shrug off damage like that and bounce back for more.
"That wall is very large memory block Ranma, beyond that is everything you have ever wanted to hide from, all your painful memories, your fears, you hopes and dreams, and more things than you could ever imagine."
"Memories?"
"Yep, and if you want to ever gain control of your life you are going to have to burst through this block and reclaim that which was sealed away from you."
"How do you expect me to break through this, the power needed would be unbelievable and out of my range. I'm strong, but even I know when not to try and lift a mountain."
"Wimp." Dark Ranma smirked.
"Oh really?"
"Yep, I could break this easily."
Ranma scowled and looked at the wall again, he wouldn't be ridiculed, he was Ranma Saotome and he was the best. "Well then I'll do it."
"BAH!! This will take far more power than you have and then some. I don't think even you have a hundredth of the power level needed to break that. It takes something special to break a memory block Ranma. Not brute strength or the pitiful amount of power you have available." Dark Ranma laughed at him, it was even more frightening then Kodachi's evil wail.
"Oh Yeah!" Ranma screamed, his anger rising exponentially. He suddenly exploded in power, brought his hands forward and fired off everything he had available.
"Sucker!" Dark Ranma cackled some more and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Ranma twitched and cursed himself for a fool even as his blast hit the wall and shattered it like a brittle piece of cardboard. The blast hit something on the other side and he suddenly found himself at ground zero of a blast that rivaled Hiroshima and Nagasaki in shear size. Ranma screamed as the blast washed over him and he vanished in a flare of super heated fire and death. He noted the lack of pain as the clothing was burned from his body and then started on his skin.
Then all went dark and the memories began...
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Dr. Tofu was pulling himself out of the rubble of his office when he heard Ranma start to scream as if all the wraiths of hell were following him. It was not a sound that could be ignored and he ran out of the clinic and to where Ranma had landed in the back yard. The boy started to glow before he could get to him and his aura burst forth in an explosion of power and disintegrated his clothing in a matter of seconds. Tofu skidded to a halt and gaped in awe, he had never seen a reaction like this before and Ranma was one of his weirdest patients of late.
He had heard the boy was powerful, but he had never envisioned anything like this! It was like he was living Ki battery with infinite potential and power. Something was wrong though, he could feel it in the air as it pulsed with Ranma's full power. His aura was turning black instead of its normal blue of confidence.
Rushing forward he called up his own aura and used his healers knowledge to twine his aura into Ranma's, he only had a basic idea of what was happening, but that was enough to know he needed to stop it. Their aura's merged and Tofu started concentrate and all he knew about forcing another's aura to submit to his own, sweat started to run down his face as his forced merging was able to make Ranma's power back off so that he get his hands through the powerful aura.
He quickly started to tap pressure points in a mad attempted to save the boy from killing himself with his own power. Tofu had never seen anything like this, but his masters had and they had described what they had done at those times something like this had happened. He needed to calm Ranma down and alter the flow of Ki in the boy's body while he battled what ever was affecting him.
Minutes turned into what seemed to be hours and Tofu continued to work franticly rearranging the very flow of Ki Power within the boy. After 20 minutes of nervous work he noticed that the black in his aura was fluctuating wildly and a hint of Ranma's pure blue aura was present once again. Tofu continued to work until he finally hit the last dozen pressure points and collapsed into unconsciousness, his strength completely spent from holding Ranma's aura at bay.
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Sailor Mars was running as fast as she could and she was still hit by the attack of the monster that was chasing her. She was thrown across the street and impacted against a wall hard enough to make it crack, she cried out in pain and shock as she flopped to the ground. Her vision was blurry, but she could just make out the asphalt like monster as it took out Jupiter and tossed her around like a rag doll.
With one final blow it just dropped her on top of Moon and Mercury and stepped back. Growling in feral anger she staggered to her feet and screamed in anger. Her Princess was in danger and if she didn't do anything they were all going to die, that would not happen while she was still breathing.
Running forward she crouched down and slammed her wrists together, reached deep within her soul, and opened her palms even as everything around her went blood red. "ETERNAL FIRES OF HEAVEN!" Fire the likes of which hadn't been seen in 10,000 years exploded out of her and hit the monster dead on.
The ground around her melted and monster didn't even have time to scream as good portion of it was flash vaporized in a mater of microseconds. Spent, Mars staggered out of the molten ground around her without being affected by the liquid like rock and fell over in shock as the monster, though horribly disfigured proved strong enough to withstand her strongest attack. It grinned evilly at her and stomped its way over towards her with ever intention of killing her.
"WORLD SHAKING"
"DEEP SUBMERGE"
"SILENCE WALL"
Uranus and Neptune's attacks streaked in and slammed into the monster to hurl it back and away from Mars as she struggled to stand up again. Saturn's wall protected Mars, but as she looked into the fire that was raging nearby her vision faded and gasped as she saw images within the fire. It started out as the last one had, with Amy Lee killing the Inner Scouts, but it changed completely a few seconds in.
Instead of Amy Lee it changed to a man as he gloried in their death, then a dog, then Zoicite, then Queen Serenity, and then...over and over it changed into different people that she had encountered over the years. She saw friends, enemies, strangers, monsters, all of then in the process of killing them and laughing evilly. Through it all she heard that laughter echoing in her mind and she realized that she had been used by some power.
That girl wasn't their enemy, just as Usagi had insisted from the start. Tears slipped own her cheeks as all went black. How could she have misjudged the situation so much that she made a mistake like that?
Saturn held the wall and wondered it she should join the battle, her instincts were telling her to drop the shield and toss out a Silence Glaive Surprise. She resisted, knowing that even her weakest attack was far to strong to use on this crowded street, her attack was a last resort to be used only after all the others had been taken out or killed.
She stood over Mars and waited for her friends to die, they were outmatched and out powered by these strange monsters. Still, there was enough hope left with her guardians fighting that she could afford to wait until the end. Uranus and Neptune had more power than all the Inners combined, they would win.
She recalled that from the meetings they'd had with the Inners, they were facing a smarter than normal enemy. One that worked differently than all the others, one that worked together like a team and knew how to use their powers to the fullest without any frivolous wastes of energy. Saturn winced as Neptune fired off another attack that was dodged by the monster as it actually rolled under the blast and backhanded the Scout. Neptune was hurled into the hood of a nearby car. She struggled for several seconds before she passed out with a curse.
Uranus watched this and screamed in rage as her love was knocked out, then pulled her sword and leapt forward, yelling out "SPACE SWORD BLASTER". The huge attack didn't hit the monster. Instead it hit the ground beneath it and forced it to move further down the street. Saturn dropped the shield as she decided that it was far enough away from the Inners that she could attack it, and jumped to the top of a nearby 2 story building.
She brought the Glaive to bear and raised the blade above her head as it began to glow with energy. A massive out pouring of power launched out and slammed into the monster and smiled in satisfaction as it was ripped apart by the sheer strength of the attack, as was the street, the building across the street, and most of the ground for the 20 or 30 feet below the monster. She was glad she hadn't had to use the full strength of the blast or half the city may have been destroyed. It wasn't like she could just go out and practice her control like the others could.
Saturn jumped own off the building and ran over to Uranus as the Scout fell to her knees, she looked utterly drained of energy. Her Fuku was ripped to shreds and there was blood running down her stomach where most of her ribs looked to be broken. She fell over just as Saturn reached her and spent a few minutes healing her life threatening wounds. Moon and Mercury were next, followed by Mars, Jupiter, and finally Neptune who was just unconscious. Saturn collapsed as soon as she was done and lost her Saturn transformation, reverting to...Hotaru.
The rest of the Scouts limped home after thanking the Outers for helping them, Saturn done all she could to get them back on their feet, but was unable to make then perfectly healthy. They agreed meet at the shrine the following afternoon and discuss this development.
Mars kept silent on what she had seen and decided to wait until the meeting to tell the others what she had seen, she wanted to see if she could find out how much damage she had really done by casting another fire reading when she had rested a little. Everyone else went their separate ways and failed to notice just who had been watching the battle while their backs were turned.
Sailor Pluto frowned at the girls as she peeked around the corner of a building and stepped back through the Time Gate, something was out of place and she was worried. That fight was a lot harder than it should have been. She failed to spot the blurred shadow that was watching the fight from the top of a nearby building or as it vanished as silently as she had. No one commented on all the destruction left by the battle, the destroyed street, the crushed cars, and the raging fires that would keep the Fire Department busy for several hours.
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Ranma stood up from where he had been crouching and looked around, he was standing in a ruin of some kind, there were toppled marble columns and broken down buildings all around him, almost all of it was buried in gray rock of some kind. It was oppressively silent, as if sound couldn't mar the area that had survived so much damage. Then he looked up into the sky and gaped at the night sky in wonder, why all the stars were so visible, they twinkled brightly and filled him with wonder at the millions of them visible to the naked eye. It was almost as if he were to reach out he could touch them, they filled him with a sense of wonder and awe.
"Their beautiful aren't they?" A quiet voice said.
Looking to the side, Ranma blinked a couple of times as he noted a silver haired, foot tall fairy, floating beside him, she was stunning, wearing a see through white gown that accentuated her curves and had a pair of wings on her back. Her hair was done up in a style similar to Sailor Moon's except that it was silver and she had a tiny gold crescent moon on her forehead. "Wha...?"
"Of all those I sent forward, I never expected you to awaken my old friend." The fairy said sadly. "You wanted a normal life and asked Pluto to make sure you grew up in a happy home and a normal life."
Ranma snorted at that, his life had been anything but normal. "I don't know what you're talking about, but that doesn't even begin to describe my life, little fairy." Ranma mumbled out, totally confused.
"What do you mean?"
"My life is a living hell, I have almost no friends, girls chasing me as if I was a prize to show off to everyone else, friends who want to kill me for the slightest mistakes, and a mother who will kill me if I ain't manly enough. Hell my curse highlights that subject every time it's activated." Ranma snarled out, his emotional state pushed far beyond what it normally was.
"...will you let me read your memories, I need to see if you can be reawakened."
"What do you mean?"
"This is a kind of dream memory, if I can not awaken you to your old memories there is a chance that you will either die or be turned to the enemy's side like one of my friends has already." The fairy said sadly.
"Read my memories, I-I don't k-know..."
"I promise I won't harm you in any way, I just need to see what had been done to you and to remove the final mental blocks on your hidden memories."
"There are more?"
"Yes, there are 3 levels of blocks that I placed on everyone that was sent forward. They were there to keep you from having multiple personalities."
"I don't understand." Ranma said shrugged.
The fairy giggled and nodded, "I know you don't Ranma, will you let me do what is needed?"
Ranma shrugged. "Go ahead and do it, I am not afraid to die."
The fairy nodded and her little gold crescent moon flared and fired a beam of light right into Ranma's head. It was over in a matter of seconds and he staggered as memories of a life long ago rushed into his mind, loves, friends, obsessions, betrayals, lovers, and most importantly, the fact that he was once a female for real. He staggered back and fell down in total shock.
"How can I have once been female?" Ranma muttered, for some reason it kind of explained his cursed form. The rebirth hadn't really changed him all that much, just made him male instead of female, he wondered if Pluto had done this to him for some reason. Ranma suddenly realized that what Amy had said was true, he used his curse as an excuse for his problems and tried to deny what he knew to be true.
"Ranma, you were a special soldier in my kingdom Ranma, a Guardian Knight. It was your job to protect one of the Sailor Scouts from harm while they were in battle, kind of like a bodyguard."
"Sailor Scouts, like the ones that Amy has been trying to get revenge against?"
"Yes, the very same. You'll notice that even when you found out what she had planned your first impulse was to lesson the damage against the Scouts so that they weren't hurt in anyway. You were doing your duty even when you had no memory of it. Your life has been very...unpleasant for you and I can't understand what went wrong. Why did Pluto allow this to happen, she has never failed before."
"Your Highness, Queen Serenity.." Ranma said as he remembered her name." Pluto has always placed the welfare of the many above that of the few. Remember what she once did to my uncle, Tranquility's son."
"She wouldn't do that again!"
"Pluto will lie if it is necessary my Queen, she has always done so.
She has always been a pain in my side, I remember that."
"..."
"What do you want me to do with the Scouts, Serenity?"
"Protect them, they are facing an enemy that is way beyond anything they have ever faced before, they need help and there is only a little time left to help them before it will to late to save them. Even now they have just faced a powerful Youma and barely made it out alive, my daughter is there, alone, with but one of the Inner Guard."
"Then let me go to them, I will help." Ranma said, in the mood for a fight.
"It will be over by the time you arrive, contact your friend Amy and have her help you with the next battle. I can sense that she is far more than she tells others, she will be able to help you the most."
"I don't know if she will..."
"I have tried to correct that problem even as we speak, Mars will receive another vision with more details on the problem, it's as close to the truth as I am allowed to get without violating certain rules."
"Thank you." Ranma said quietly.
"I did what I have always done my old friend, helped those who needed it and after reading your mind I had to do something for you as well. Your Silver Millennium memories were far more happy and loving than anything you ever experienced in the last 13 years. Use them to help you see things differently, do not dwell on the fact that you were once female, it doesn't matter in this life time."
"Who would have though that I would have been an even bigger tomboy than Akane, Huh?" Ranma laughed.
"I can't stay very much longer my old friend."
"Will I see you again?"
"I doubt that, I can only do this once for everyone that I revive. I'll miss you."
"Hey now, no mushy stuff." Ranma said crossly, failing to hide his grin at finally finding the missing piece of his soul. The part he hadn't known he was missing until it was returned to him along with almost 42 years worth of memories added to his own...boy was everyone going to be in for a surprise when he woke up again...
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His eyes snapped open and Ranma sat up slowly, every square inch of his body ached as it shouted in pain and told him that moving wasn't a very good idea right now. He noted that he was still in the clinic. He saw that Amy was out cold on a nearby bed and covered in a light blanket. Dr. Tofu was asleep as well stretched out on a bed on the other side of the room. Then the door to the room opened and Kasumi walked in with a small cart with some drinks on it, she spotted him sitting up and smiled.
"Good morning Ranma."
"Morin Kasumi."
"How are you feeling?"
"Actually, I feel pretty good. I'm really hungry though and that food looks really good."
"I'll bring you some if you want me to. I'll have it ready in about an hour or so. Would you like to have something to drink?"
"Thank you Kasumi I would like that. Can you tell me what happened while I was out?"
"Sure."
"How long was I out? Where are Akane, my pop and yours, Ryoga, and why am I naked under this blanket?"
"Lets see now, about 36 hours, all but Ryoga are at the house, Ryoga was last seen heading for the bathroom about 10 hours ago. As for your clothing, it was destroyed in the attack you barely survived. I found you and Dr. Tofu in the back yard yesterday, passed out in the back yard.
You seemed to glow at the time and had done a bit of damage to the yard, I think Dr. Tofu was trying to help you or stop. I called everyone over and we helped you inside and into bed." Kasumi said and blushed as usual Ranma missed it completely.
"Thank you Kasumi, if I could have my pants and a shirt I will more than happy to leave this bed."
Kasumi nodded as she quickly left the room, but she was back a few minutes later and handed him some of his normal clothing. After she left, Ranma got dressed and went to check on Amy, she was snoring lightly and had a little drool hanging off her lip. Ranma almost burst out laughing at the sight, but couldn't suppress a snort as he turned away.
Amy was sprawled out across the bed, her jacket and pants had been removed and dropped at the edge of the bed. This left her in a simple black t-shirt and red panties that hugged her body quite nicely. Ranma stared at her for several minutes before he realized what he was doing, looked around nervously to make sure no one had noticed and backed out of the room.
His thoughts drifted through his mind as he made his way through the clinic and took note of the extensive damage that had occurred throughout the entire building. He headed out front and saw the crater from the initial blast, then wandered around back and looked over the damage he had caused while out cold and wondered how he had achieved so much damage or even survived in the first place.
He sure as hell didn't fell like he had just come close to dieing, instead he felt like he was in perfect health. With the return of his memories from an entire life time, he had a pretty good idea what had happened, but couldn't understand why Pluto would attack him like that.
There was no way anyone could have known he was one of the elite Guardian Knights except Pluto and all evidence suggested that she had ignored him in favor of other more important things. Sure someone may have been able to track his energy surges, but as far as he knew he had never used any of his magical abilities to augment his strength...then he remembered Saffron.
Ranma cursed out loud as he remembered. Of course it had to have been while he was fighting that fucker. After every attack and counter attack he had felt his power growing in tune to his will power, he'd had no choice but to win, Akane's life had depended on it.
Then he frowned as her name made him remember something he didn't want to, Akane...and Ryoga, he had to take care of that little mess. His memories had been unsealed by Pluto's blast and this had awakened him to the truth about himself. Then he smirked and remembered that night a few weeks after his asshole father had used that cursed memory attack on him.
When he and Akane had decided to call things off for a while and see if they could be friends before they tried to marry again. She had agreed to not hit him as much and he had promised not to call her so many names. They had gotten along fairly well, until Amy Lee had shown up and beat the crap out of Akane and shown her how to access her Ki on a new level.
The sparring sessions against Amy and Akane were brutal, almost as bad as what his pop had done to him, almost. Amy knew how to push Akane's buttons and make her angry enough to produce a battle aura of amazing strength. Amy had been training her on the sly for several days now, ever since Akane had started to try and avoid her in fact. Catching her in the bathroom or dojo and attacking her in compromising places.
Ranma had to admit Akane was getting better and quicker with each passing day, she already had the basic principles down and could produce anger Ki on demand and use it for several minutes before she tired out. At the same time her anger control was producing some amazing results. Amy had explained it as something Akane needed, whether she wanted it or not.
Akane and Ryoga, they had chosen each other, over him, ridiculed him and taunted him with it until all his feelings had simply ceased to exist. He had been asked to restore their memories to what they were before any of this mess happened, and he had every intention of doing so. Akane deserved to be happy, even if he wasn't the one that could to the job anymore. Then he had his own revenge to attend to, Ranma held out his hand and concentrated, a brilliant silver and white Katana appeared in his hand.
It was beautiful to look at and he could feel its hidden power just waiting to be released, it was like the Silence Glaive in a lot of ways. It was a magic amplifier and could be used to cause massive amounts of damage, just not on the same scale as the Scout of Death. It was a very rare item for anyone to earn one of these items. It had taken her years of hardship, training, and sacrifices to earn one.
These weapons were only made for the best of the best, when he had been female, he had been the first of his generation to ever earn one in over fifty years. It took dedication and binding oaths that could transcend death for him to gain its power and he planned on using it. Ranma smiled, this was his own power item, something that was thought that only the Scouts could possess.
He had proven them all wrong by earning it in the way he had. Sure weapons were a crutch in a battle, but this weapon was perfect for what he would need it for. Revenge was something he had never considered, but he found that he actually wanted to hurt his father, castrate the bastard for ruining his life, but he wouldn't go to far.
"Ranma, are you all right?" Kasumi called.
"I am more than alright Kasumi, I am whole once again." Ranma said.
"That's good news Ranma. I should have something ready to eat in a few minutes."
"Already?"
"You have been out here for over 40 minutes."
Ranma grinned and nodded as he spun the sword and it vanished from sight, Kasumi didn't even blink. Heading inside the clinic once again Ranma followed Kasumi to the kitchen and helped her to finish preparing the meal. Kasumi was a bit startled, but just smiled and nodded when Ranma started to show off his cooking skills. It was only a matter of time before they soon had enough fixed up to feed 10 people. Ranma ate it all too :-)
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To Be Continued...
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com
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Strange Days
Chapter 08
By: Cory D. Rose
ertle2@msn.com
(C)2003
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There was a flash of light and Ranma gasped as he found himself flying through normal air again, then he slammed into the side of the Tendo dojo face first, where he landed chest first into the mud at the base of the house. He recalled that it was common occurrence because of all the rain they got in Nerima, but it was still a pain in the ass. It was raining heavily, like usual, and he turned into a girl within moments of touching the mud.
She crawled to her feet just as Akane's mallet came out of nowhere to push his head through the very wall he had just moments before slammed into, it hurt like hell. Growling in frustration, Ranma pulled her head out of the hole and glared at Akane, who was grinning at him in an innocent and overly cute manner.
"What are you hitting me for this time?" Ranma snapped, she wasn't in the mood for this kind of crap today.
"You deserved it, if not now, then later."
"Akane, I told you I wouldn't put up with being hit anymore."
"Then listen up and pay attention, this is a kind of waking dream for you, do you understand?"
"No."
"See, I knew you could get it, now follow me into the house because I want to show you something." Akane stomped through the open door that led into the main room.
"Why?"
"It is time for you to see my greatest secret."
"Huh?! What secret?"
"Just follow me and find out idiot!" Akane yelled back.
Ranma scrambled to catch up with her and had to jump over a chair just to meet her at the foot of the stairs. Akane growled at him as she glared at her antics, then she turned and headed into the kitchen and out the back door. This led into another section of the property that Ranma didn't visit much, the alley way between them and the neighbors next door.
It was full of trash cans, bags of grass, trash, and various other kinds of things she really didn't want to know about. Akane stomped her way about half way down the alley and turned to point to the side window of her room that Ranma was always looking into as she hung from the roof. "Look in there BAKA, I don't want you to be in denial anymore."
Something about was making her apprehensive, but Ranma had never been one to listen to her innermost feelings, so she jumped to the roof of the house. Padding silently across the roof tiles and hung off the edge so that she could look inside the room like she had done on hundreds of occasions. At first she couldn't see anything because all the lights were off in the room.
Then she placed her ear to the glass and noticed that she was hearing some odd noises at the very edge of her hearing...and gasped as images started to flash through her mind, memories that she had been suppressed out of shock and fear, returned in a rush and hit him...well like Akane's hammer as it impacted her skull.
Akane and Ryoga had been making out, their heavy breathing and whispered endearments had been as clear as day and Ranma had heard every word and whisper they made, saw every movement of their hands and bodies. It was to much for Ranma to handle a second time and she fell off the roof and landed in the much below, tears running down her face. She remembered it all, all the little clues he had missed and the times Akane had taken Ryoga's side over hers and never once listened to her side of the story. Ranma sobbed as the intense pain returned and remembered several hours later when his own father had attacked him in the middle of the night and used Shampoo's memory erasing technique on him.
While Soun did the same with everyone else in the house, a heart broken Ranma was a little hard to miss after all, so that things could go back to normal. It was easy enough to get rid of Ryoga, all they had to do was point him in a random direction and send him on his way so they could talk after they had worked the technique on the Lost Boy as well.
They had told her that the schools would be united, no matter the cost, Genma had said that they would do this as many times as they needed to as well. It had been a blow to her fragile mind and her father had made doubly sure that this incident wasn't remembered or it would ruin all their hopes and dreams. Curled into a ball, Ranma realized that this had happened some 8 month ago, just 2 months after the failed wedding.
Akane had heard him fall, looked out the window with Ryoga and they had laughed at his pain, ridiculed him and his manliness. Ranma had been broken and tossed away, but no matter what he couldn't bring himself to hate Akane. Ryoga on the other hand had then proclaimed his victory by kissing Akane right in front of him and she hadn't complained in the least.
Akane stomped up to him and kicked her in the stomach hard enough to launch her against the house. "BAKA!! Wake up and smell what has been dealt to you by your idiot father, total shit! You know what you need to do if you ever want to have peace in your life, restore all our memories! Everyone in the family, Nibiki, Kasumi, and even Ryoga! I want my boyfriend back!"
Ranma wiped the tears away and stood up as a red hazed settled over her eyes, she glared at Akane and stepped up to her, and punched her in the jaw so hard that her entire body fractured into a million pieces! The sound of a shattered heart, the death of all hope crashed all across the yard.
Tempered by Ranma's anger and grief, he had a flash back of his entire life and saw the truth played out over again, his self denial and all the lies that had colored his thinking. He remembered the recent fight he had with...he couldn't call him father anymore...Genma. He realized that everything he had experienced over the last few months had been a way for that man to control his life.
Looking up from her self pity, Ranma noticed that he was male again and that he was back in that foggy region again, but this time there was a wall in front of him. It was bigger than anything he had ever seen and stretched as far and high as he could see. He jumped back instinctively as he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye and barely dodged a wave of silver crackling energy as it traveled along the wall rumbling like thunder.
As it passed by he gasped at the incredible amount of power he was feeling, it dwarfed his puny strength and made him feel like a bug in comparison. He had never encountered anything like it before. Even Cologne would have cowered before this kind power. He could only stand there and gape in awe as it race away from him and disappeared in the distance.
"It's beautiful isn't it?"
Ranma looked over his shoulder and saw that version of himself from before that had argued with Akane, the one dressed in the black silk with silver studs, the Dark Ranma. "You were the one from before that was arguing with A-Akane?"
"Yep, the bitch, she deserved to have that done to her." Dark Ranma said with an evil grin.
"Huh?"
"When you hit her, you destroyed what was left of the love you felt for her. As it shattered you were purged of the love you had been feeling towards her for the last few months. I would have ripped her spine out for what she did, but you're the one running the show here so it was up to you how you did it. Pretty cool, huh?"
"Oh?" He felt numb as he look inside himself and found that nothing at all remained of his feelings for Akane, absolutely nothing but a desire to strike her down again. He searched deeper and noticed that he still had love in his heart, but it was small and intense, as if he had caged it off. He couldn't tell who it was for though, it was if that was also hidden in the cage, there was a female form but he couldn't tell who it was. It was too small to tell.
"Look before you Ranma, do you know what this is?" His duplicate yelled and gestured grandly and laughed loudly. "This whole area is more than it seems, it has been here for as long as you've been alive and you've never seen it before!"
Turning back to the wall Ranma did indeed take a closer look, he stepped up to the wall and studied it in more detail. After a few seconds he noticed that it was covered in very tiny hairline fractures that could be seen for as far as he could see. It was like what Ryoga described when he used the Breaking Point technique, very tiny fractures that one could force Ki into and make them explode. He slowly reached out to touch it and...
"I wouldn't do that." Dark Ranma said with a smirk.
...screamed as pain ripped through him. Ranma was thrown back nearly a hundred feet and skidded to a halt with his shoulder buried in the ground. He opened his eyes and coughed painfully and sat up using his Ki to augment his body and reduced the damage done to his body. Blood dripped down his hand from where he'd touched the wall, the pain was unbelievable and he could tell that one of his fingers was shattered. Any worse than it was and he would have lost it's use for the rest of his life, but luckily his Ki abilities allowed him to shrug off damage like that and bounce back for more.
"That wall is very large memory block Ranma, beyond that is everything you have ever wanted to hide from, all your painful memories, your fears, you hopes and dreams, and more things than you could ever imagine."
"Memories?"
"Yep, and if you want to ever gain control of your life you are going to have to burst through this block and reclaim that which was sealed away from you."
"How do you expect me to break through this, the power needed would be unbelievable and out of my range. I'm strong, but even I know when not to try and lift a mountain."
"Wimp." Dark Ranma smirked.
"Oh really?"
"Yep, I could break this easily."
Ranma scowled and looked at the wall again, he wouldn't be ridiculed, he was Ranma Saotome and he was the best. "Well then I'll do it."
"BAH!! This will take far more power than you have and then some. I don't think even you have a hundredth of the power level needed to break that. It takes something special to break a memory block Ranma. Not brute strength or the pitiful amount of power you have available." Dark Ranma laughed at him, it was even more frightening then Kodachi's evil wail.
"Oh Yeah!" Ranma screamed, his anger rising exponentially. He suddenly exploded in power, brought his hands forward and fired off everything he had available.
"Sucker!" Dark Ranma cackled some more and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Ranma twitched and cursed himself for a fool even as his blast hit the wall and shattered it like a brittle piece of cardboard. The blast hit something on the other side and he suddenly found himself at ground zero of a blast that rivaled Hiroshima and Nagasaki in shear size. Ranma screamed as the blast washed over him and he vanished in a flare of super heated fire and death. He noted the lack of pain as the clothing was burned from his body and then started on his skin.
Then all went dark and the memories began...
*********
Dr. Tofu was pulling himself out of the rubble of his office when he heard Ranma start to scream as if all the wraiths of hell were following him. It was not a sound that could be ignored and he ran out of the clinic and to where Ranma had landed in the back yard. The boy started to glow before he could get to him and his aura burst forth in an explosion of power and disintegrated his clothing in a matter of seconds. Tofu skidded to a halt and gaped in awe, he had never seen a reaction like this before and Ranma was one of his weirdest patients of late.
He had heard the boy was powerful, but he had never envisioned anything like this! It was like he was living Ki battery with infinite potential and power. Something was wrong though, he could feel it in the air as it pulsed with Ranma's full power. His aura was turning black instead of its normal blue of confidence.
Rushing forward he called up his own aura and used his healers knowledge to twine his aura into Ranma's, he only had a basic idea of what was happening, but that was enough to know he needed to stop it. Their aura's merged and Tofu started concentrate and all he knew about forcing another's aura to submit to his own, sweat started to run down his face as his forced merging was able to make Ranma's power back off so that he get his hands through the powerful aura.
He quickly started to tap pressure points in a mad attempted to save the boy from killing himself with his own power. Tofu had never seen anything like this, but his masters had and they had described what they had done at those times something like this had happened. He needed to calm Ranma down and alter the flow of Ki in the boy's body while he battled what ever was affecting him.
Minutes turned into what seemed to be hours and Tofu continued to work franticly rearranging the very flow of Ki Power within the boy. After 20 minutes of nervous work he noticed that the black in his aura was fluctuating wildly and a hint of Ranma's pure blue aura was present once again. Tofu continued to work until he finally hit the last dozen pressure points and collapsed into unconsciousness, his strength completely spent from holding Ranma's aura at bay.
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Sailor Mars was running as fast as she could and she was still hit by the attack of the monster that was chasing her. She was thrown across the street and impacted against a wall hard enough to make it crack, she cried out in pain and shock as she flopped to the ground. Her vision was blurry, but she could just make out the asphalt like monster as it took out Jupiter and tossed her around like a rag doll.
With one final blow it just dropped her on top of Moon and Mercury and stepped back. Growling in feral anger she staggered to her feet and screamed in anger. Her Princess was in danger and if she didn't do anything they were all going to die, that would not happen while she was still breathing.
Running forward she crouched down and slammed her wrists together, reached deep within her soul, and opened her palms even as everything around her went blood red. "ETERNAL FIRES OF HEAVEN!" Fire the likes of which hadn't been seen in 10,000 years exploded out of her and hit the monster dead on.
The ground around her melted and monster didn't even have time to scream as good portion of it was flash vaporized in a mater of microseconds. Spent, Mars staggered out of the molten ground around her without being affected by the liquid like rock and fell over in shock as the monster, though horribly disfigured proved strong enough to withstand her strongest attack. It grinned evilly at her and stomped its way over towards her with ever intention of killing her.
"WORLD SHAKING"
"DEEP SUBMERGE"
"SILENCE WALL"
Uranus and Neptune's attacks streaked in and slammed into the monster to hurl it back and away from Mars as she struggled to stand up again. Saturn's wall protected Mars, but as she looked into the fire that was raging nearby her vision faded and gasped as she saw images within the fire. It started out as the last one had, with Amy Lee killing the Inner Scouts, but it changed completely a few seconds in.
Instead of Amy Lee it changed to a man as he gloried in their death, then a dog, then Zoicite, then Queen Serenity, and then...over and over it changed into different people that she had encountered over the years. She saw friends, enemies, strangers, monsters, all of then in the process of killing them and laughing evilly. Through it all she heard that laughter echoing in her mind and she realized that she had been used by some power.
That girl wasn't their enemy, just as Usagi had insisted from the start. Tears slipped own her cheeks as all went black. How could she have misjudged the situation so much that she made a mistake like that?
Saturn held the wall and wondered it she should join the battle, her instincts were telling her to drop the shield and toss out a Silence Glaive Surprise. She resisted, knowing that even her weakest attack was far to strong to use on this crowded street, her attack was a last resort to be used only after all the others had been taken out or killed.
She stood over Mars and waited for her friends to die, they were outmatched and out powered by these strange monsters. Still, there was enough hope left with her guardians fighting that she could afford to wait until the end. Uranus and Neptune had more power than all the Inners combined, they would win.
She recalled that from the meetings they'd had with the Inners, they were facing a smarter than normal enemy. One that worked differently than all the others, one that worked together like a team and knew how to use their powers to the fullest without any frivolous wastes of energy. Saturn winced as Neptune fired off another attack that was dodged by the monster as it actually rolled under the blast and backhanded the Scout. Neptune was hurled into the hood of a nearby car. She struggled for several seconds before she passed out with a curse.
Uranus watched this and screamed in rage as her love was knocked out, then pulled her sword and leapt forward, yelling out "SPACE SWORD BLASTER". The huge attack didn't hit the monster. Instead it hit the ground beneath it and forced it to move further down the street. Saturn dropped the shield as she decided that it was far enough away from the Inners that she could attack it, and jumped to the top of a nearby 2 story building.
She brought the Glaive to bear and raised the blade above her head as it began to glow with energy. A massive out pouring of power launched out and slammed into the monster and smiled in satisfaction as it was ripped apart by the sheer strength of the attack, as was the street, the building across the street, and most of the ground for the 20 or 30 feet below the monster. She was glad she hadn't had to use the full strength of the blast or half the city may have been destroyed. It wasn't like she could just go out and practice her control like the others could.
Saturn jumped own off the building and ran over to Uranus as the Scout fell to her knees, she looked utterly drained of energy. Her Fuku was ripped to shreds and there was blood running down her stomach where most of her ribs looked to be broken. She fell over just as Saturn reached her and spent a few minutes healing her life threatening wounds. Moon and Mercury were next, followed by Mars, Jupiter, and finally Neptune who was just unconscious. Saturn collapsed as soon as she was done and lost her Saturn transformation, reverting to...Hotaru.
The rest of the Scouts limped home after thanking the Outers for helping them, Saturn done all she could to get them back on their feet, but was unable to make then perfectly healthy. They agreed meet at the shrine the following afternoon and discuss this development.
Mars kept silent on what she had seen and decided to wait until the meeting to tell the others what she had seen, she wanted to see if she could find out how much damage she had really done by casting another fire reading when she had rested a little. Everyone else went their separate ways and failed to notice just who had been watching the battle while their backs were turned.
Sailor Pluto frowned at the girls as she peeked around the corner of a building and stepped back through the Time Gate, something was out of place and she was worried. That fight was a lot harder than it should have been. She failed to spot the blurred shadow that was watching the fight from the top of a nearby building or as it vanished as silently as she had. No one commented on all the destruction left by the battle, the destroyed street, the crushed cars, and the raging fires that would keep the Fire Department busy for several hours.
*********
Ranma stood up from where he had been crouching and looked around, he was standing in a ruin of some kind, there were toppled marble columns and broken down buildings all around him, almost all of it was buried in gray rock of some kind. It was oppressively silent, as if sound couldn't mar the area that had survived so much damage. Then he looked up into the sky and gaped at the night sky in wonder, why all the stars were so visible, they twinkled brightly and filled him with wonder at the millions of them visible to the naked eye. It was almost as if he were to reach out he could touch them, they filled him with a sense of wonder and awe.
"Their beautiful aren't they?" A quiet voice said.
Looking to the side, Ranma blinked a couple of times as he noted a silver haired, foot tall fairy, floating beside him, she was stunning, wearing a see through white gown that accentuated her curves and had a pair of wings on her back. Her hair was done up in a style similar to Sailor Moon's except that it was silver and she had a tiny gold crescent moon on her forehead. "Wha...?"
"Of all those I sent forward, I never expected you to awaken my old friend." The fairy said sadly. "You wanted a normal life and asked Pluto to make sure you grew up in a happy home and a normal life."
Ranma snorted at that, his life had been anything but normal. "I don't know what you're talking about, but that doesn't even begin to describe my life, little fairy." Ranma mumbled out, totally confused.
"What do you mean?"
"My life is a living hell, I have almost no friends, girls chasing me as if I was a prize to show off to everyone else, friends who want to kill me for the slightest mistakes, and a mother who will kill me if I ain't manly enough. Hell my curse highlights that subject every time it's activated." Ranma snarled out, his emotional state pushed far beyond what it normally was.
"...will you let me read your memories, I need to see if you can be reawakened."
"What do you mean?"
"This is a kind of dream memory, if I can not awaken you to your old memories there is a chance that you will either die or be turned to the enemy's side like one of my friends has already." The fairy said sadly.
"Read my memories, I-I don't k-know..."
"I promise I won't harm you in any way, I just need to see what had been done to you and to remove the final mental blocks on your hidden memories."
"There are more?"
"Yes, there are 3 levels of blocks that I placed on everyone that was sent forward. They were there to keep you from having multiple personalities."
"I don't understand." Ranma said shrugged.
The fairy giggled and nodded, "I know you don't Ranma, will you let me do what is needed?"
Ranma shrugged. "Go ahead and do it, I am not afraid to die."
The fairy nodded and her little gold crescent moon flared and fired a beam of light right into Ranma's head. It was over in a matter of seconds and he staggered as memories of a life long ago rushed into his mind, loves, friends, obsessions, betrayals, lovers, and most importantly, the fact that he was once a female for real. He staggered back and fell down in total shock.
"How can I have once been female?" Ranma muttered, for some reason it kind of explained his cursed form. The rebirth hadn't really changed him all that much, just made him male instead of female, he wondered if Pluto had done this to him for some reason. Ranma suddenly realized that what Amy had said was true, he used his curse as an excuse for his problems and tried to deny what he knew to be true.
"Ranma, you were a special soldier in my kingdom Ranma, a Guardian Knight. It was your job to protect one of the Sailor Scouts from harm while they were in battle, kind of like a bodyguard."
"Sailor Scouts, like the ones that Amy has been trying to get revenge against?"
"Yes, the very same. You'll notice that even when you found out what she had planned your first impulse was to lesson the damage against the Scouts so that they weren't hurt in anyway. You were doing your duty even when you had no memory of it. Your life has been very...unpleasant for you and I can't understand what went wrong. Why did Pluto allow this to happen, she has never failed before."
"Your Highness, Queen Serenity.." Ranma said as he remembered her name." Pluto has always placed the welfare of the many above that of the few. Remember what she once did to my uncle, Tranquility's son."
"She wouldn't do that again!"
"Pluto will lie if it is necessary my Queen, she has always done so.
She has always been a pain in my side, I remember that."
"..."
"What do you want me to do with the Scouts, Serenity?"
"Protect them, they are facing an enemy that is way beyond anything they have ever faced before, they need help and there is only a little time left to help them before it will to late to save them. Even now they have just faced a powerful Youma and barely made it out alive, my daughter is there, alone, with but one of the Inner Guard."
"Then let me go to them, I will help." Ranma said, in the mood for a fight.
"It will be over by the time you arrive, contact your friend Amy and have her help you with the next battle. I can sense that she is far more than she tells others, she will be able to help you the most."
"I don't know if she will..."
"I have tried to correct that problem even as we speak, Mars will receive another vision with more details on the problem, it's as close to the truth as I am allowed to get without violating certain rules."
"Thank you." Ranma said quietly.
"I did what I have always done my old friend, helped those who needed it and after reading your mind I had to do something for you as well. Your Silver Millennium memories were far more happy and loving than anything you ever experienced in the last 13 years. Use them to help you see things differently, do not dwell on the fact that you were once female, it doesn't matter in this life time."
"Who would have though that I would have been an even bigger tomboy than Akane, Huh?" Ranma laughed.
"I can't stay very much longer my old friend."
"Will I see you again?"
"I doubt that, I can only do this once for everyone that I revive. I'll miss you."
"Hey now, no mushy stuff." Ranma said crossly, failing to hide his grin at finally finding the missing piece of his soul. The part he hadn't known he was missing until it was returned to him along with almost 42 years worth of memories added to his own...boy was everyone going to be in for a surprise when he woke up again...
**********
His eyes snapped open and Ranma sat up slowly, every square inch of his body ached as it shouted in pain and told him that moving wasn't a very good idea right now. He noted that he was still in the clinic. He saw that Amy was out cold on a nearby bed and covered in a light blanket. Dr. Tofu was asleep as well stretched out on a bed on the other side of the room. Then the door to the room opened and Kasumi walked in with a small cart with some drinks on it, she spotted him sitting up and smiled.
"Good morning Ranma."
"Morin Kasumi."
"How are you feeling?"
"Actually, I feel pretty good. I'm really hungry though and that food looks really good."
"I'll bring you some if you want me to. I'll have it ready in about an hour or so. Would you like to have something to drink?"
"Thank you Kasumi I would like that. Can you tell me what happened while I was out?"
"Sure."
"How long was I out? Where are Akane, my pop and yours, Ryoga, and why am I naked under this blanket?"
"Lets see now, about 36 hours, all but Ryoga are at the house, Ryoga was last seen heading for the bathroom about 10 hours ago. As for your clothing, it was destroyed in the attack you barely survived. I found you and Dr. Tofu in the back yard yesterday, passed out in the back yard.
You seemed to glow at the time and had done a bit of damage to the yard, I think Dr. Tofu was trying to help you or stop. I called everyone over and we helped you inside and into bed." Kasumi said and blushed as usual Ranma missed it completely.
"Thank you Kasumi, if I could have my pants and a shirt I will more than happy to leave this bed."
Kasumi nodded as she quickly left the room, but she was back a few minutes later and handed him some of his normal clothing. After she left, Ranma got dressed and went to check on Amy, she was snoring lightly and had a little drool hanging off her lip. Ranma almost burst out laughing at the sight, but couldn't suppress a snort as he turned away.
Amy was sprawled out across the bed, her jacket and pants had been removed and dropped at the edge of the bed. This left her in a simple black t-shirt and red panties that hugged her body quite nicely. Ranma stared at her for several minutes before he realized what he was doing, looked around nervously to make sure no one had noticed and backed out of the room.
His thoughts drifted through his mind as he made his way through the clinic and took note of the extensive damage that had occurred throughout the entire building. He headed out front and saw the crater from the initial blast, then wandered around back and looked over the damage he had caused while out cold and wondered how he had achieved so much damage or even survived in the first place.
He sure as hell didn't fell like he had just come close to dieing, instead he felt like he was in perfect health. With the return of his memories from an entire life time, he had a pretty good idea what had happened, but couldn't understand why Pluto would attack him like that.
There was no way anyone could have known he was one of the elite Guardian Knights except Pluto and all evidence suggested that she had ignored him in favor of other more important things. Sure someone may have been able to track his energy surges, but as far as he knew he had never used any of his magical abilities to augment his strength...then he remembered Saffron.
Ranma cursed out loud as he remembered. Of course it had to have been while he was fighting that fucker. After every attack and counter attack he had felt his power growing in tune to his will power, he'd had no choice but to win, Akane's life had depended on it.
Then he frowned as her name made him remember something he didn't want to, Akane...and Ryoga, he had to take care of that little mess. His memories had been unsealed by Pluto's blast and this had awakened him to the truth about himself. Then he smirked and remembered that night a few weeks after his asshole father had used that cursed memory attack on him.
When he and Akane had decided to call things off for a while and see if they could be friends before they tried to marry again. She had agreed to not hit him as much and he had promised not to call her so many names. They had gotten along fairly well, until Amy Lee had shown up and beat the crap out of Akane and shown her how to access her Ki on a new level.
The sparring sessions against Amy and Akane were brutal, almost as bad as what his pop had done to him, almost. Amy knew how to push Akane's buttons and make her angry enough to produce a battle aura of amazing strength. Amy had been training her on the sly for several days now, ever since Akane had started to try and avoid her in fact. Catching her in the bathroom or dojo and attacking her in compromising places.
Ranma had to admit Akane was getting better and quicker with each passing day, she already had the basic principles down and could produce anger Ki on demand and use it for several minutes before she tired out. At the same time her anger control was producing some amazing results. Amy had explained it as something Akane needed, whether she wanted it or not.
Akane and Ryoga, they had chosen each other, over him, ridiculed him and taunted him with it until all his feelings had simply ceased to exist. He had been asked to restore their memories to what they were before any of this mess happened, and he had every intention of doing so. Akane deserved to be happy, even if he wasn't the one that could to the job anymore. Then he had his own revenge to attend to, Ranma held out his hand and concentrated, a brilliant silver and white Katana appeared in his hand.
It was beautiful to look at and he could feel its hidden power just waiting to be released, it was like the Silence Glaive in a lot of ways. It was a magic amplifier and could be used to cause massive amounts of damage, just not on the same scale as the Scout of Death. It was a very rare item for anyone to earn one of these items. It had taken her years of hardship, training, and sacrifices to earn one.
These weapons were only made for the best of the best, when he had been female, he had been the first of his generation to ever earn one in over fifty years. It took dedication and binding oaths that could transcend death for him to gain its power and he planned on using it. Ranma smiled, this was his own power item, something that was thought that only the Scouts could possess.
He had proven them all wrong by earning it in the way he had. Sure weapons were a crutch in a battle, but this weapon was perfect for what he would need it for. Revenge was something he had never considered, but he found that he actually wanted to hurt his father, castrate the bastard for ruining his life, but he wouldn't go to far.
"Ranma, are you all right?" Kasumi called.
"I am more than alright Kasumi, I am whole once again." Ranma said.
"That's good news Ranma. I should have something ready to eat in a few minutes."
"Already?"
"You have been out here for over 40 minutes."
Ranma grinned and nodded as he spun the sword and it vanished from sight, Kasumi didn't even blink. Heading inside the clinic once again Ranma followed Kasumi to the kitchen and helped her to finish preparing the meal. Kasumi was a bit startled, but just smiled and nodded when Ranma started to show off his cooking skills. It was only a matter of time before they soon had enough fixed up to feed 10 people. Ranma ate it all too :-)
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To Be Continued...