It was but a simple thing, happening with reassuring regularity. Everyone had it, but none noticed. It was an end for some, but a beginning for others. Life arose and there were new possibilities in the air.
In other words, a new day was dawning.
At that moment, people were beginning to wake up and begin their day. Morning absolutions were completed, breakfast was eaten and people went to their daily routine. All as was usual for their place, even if it might not end that way. For many things could happen in the course of a day.
Because just about to wake up was Ranma Saotome if there was anything that Ranma loved other than the Art (and eating), it would be sleeping. It was a simple pleasure, but one that he enjoyed. Years of travel with what passed for a father had left him with an ability to enjoy the simple things in life. And sleeping was as simple as you could get. There were no stupid pandas, multiple fiancées or even the occasional rival. It was just him and his dreams.
But even simple things must end and it turned out that it was time for him to wake up.
So, with great reluctance, Ranma realized that it was time to get up. And since the Saotome heir didn't want to, that knowledge was promptly ignored. But that was only a moment's respite as it was necessary to get up.
Opening eyes that wanted to stay shut, Ranma didn't know where she was, but she felt that she was a she.
Ranma looked down and saw that her body was not human. It had been somehow been transformed into something else which clearly that was not human anymore. Well at least not fully human as she still had humanoid body as from what she could tell at least. She had not been change into animal or something completely alien.
However the non human parts she noticed on herself were that she had tail swishing behind her and found out it was all too real when she pulled on it. A pair of wings that was she at first thought were a cap the way that they were draped around her shoulders until she somehow cause them to stretch out to their full length.
Rather then fingers and toes, Ranma noticed she had claws and talons. As she examined her body she noticed that her hair was black yet her skin complexion had changed to red.
While looking over herself and trying to think about what had possibly happened to her. Along with why she was the form she currently had or what she was doing out here in this forest the sun started rising in the sky. The moment the first rays of light appeared as the sun rose over the horizon another change with Ranma occur.
As the sun's first light illuminated not on the forest but Ranma herself. Standing there standing at her tail which was no motionless in the air was not a flesh and blood transformed Ranma. But one made entire of stone as she had been somehow become a gargoyle and sun coming up had cause her to turn into stone.
While Ranma just stood there as statue having been somehow turned into a gargoyle. She was not alone as everyone in the world had been transformed into a gargoyle just like she had. Since gargoyles turn to stone during the day that meant that at this moment everyone on one side of the planet were nothing but gargoyle statue.
People that were still asleep did not wake up even as the floor buckled underneath their suddenly increased weight. Causing many bed to collapsed and some to fall through the floor crashing into whatever was underneath them.
Other that were getting ready from the day were caught while in the shower now just stood there as the water struck them and rolled down their stone form or they had moment to look at themselves within the mirror before change overcame them.
Accidents were numerous as well as vehicles no longer had drivers capable of controlling them thus they kept moving forward until they crashed into something that cause them to stop in their track.
Those on the other side of the world were unable to do anything but watch all this in horror as they could provide any help as trying to sent it only result in adding to the problem. After all the moment anyone cross from the side of the planet where it was currently night time to day time instantly turned to stone from merely being that side of the planet. When night time felt again on the side of the world Ranma was….
With loud roar, Ranma awoke as she broke out what had at sun set turned into a mere stone shell that broke out of. Confused as it was not something she was used to as she quickly noticed the fragment of the stone shell around and that lucky enough her clothes had turned to stone along with her. Otherwise she would have been naked along with being in wherever this forest she was in was located.
She looked at her hands and then down at the wings that had once again seemed to form a cloak around her body.
'Apparently what happened early was not just a dream' Ranma thought to herself
She was clearly wide awake and alone in this forest with seemingly nothing but the clothes on her back. She had nothing else and returning to where she had first woke up. There was really nothing there as in no signs of anything to give her of clue of how she got out into this forest. Even her last memories before going to sleep were vague at the moment as she could not even use those to guess what could have caused her to seemingly awaken where she was.
Sighing as just standing around thinking about was not going to give her answer as she first had to learn where she was to make the next move. The course of action she had to take next would depend on that after all and then there was how she was going to deal with her current form (unaware that everyone else in the world were gargoyles just like herself now).
Though she was unaware why she had this form, Ranma still decided to just test it out seeing what if it had threw off her balance in anyway. After all there was far more different about this form then when she was original cursed to turn into a girl. So taking some time out to test out a few things as not knowing where she was at the moment could also mean she might have to fight either against someone or something else before she can learn just where this forest is.
Having the feeling that she got the hang of this new body a bit as it better to have at least some idea of what it felt like to fight now then when she was in the middle of one and that could present a problem. Of course there was always the sun rising and revert her back into a stone state. However Ranma managed to get through one day just fine so she hoped that if she could at least learn what happened before going through that again.
Continuing to wonder around within the forest. The question of where she was exactly was constant on Ranma's mind. Having been away from seemingly any sign of civilization for rough two days, she was not aware of the fact that sudden transformation that she had occurred not only to her but to everyone else in the world as well.
Trying to focus on any sounds coming from the distant as given how her life was at time. She would not put out the possibility of no longer even being in Japan at the moment. After all Ryoga was capable of crossing large area without even knowing it so with her luck being as it was at time. Somehow being transported outside of Japan without her knowledge was not that unlikely.
Hearing nothing that give away the sign of her being near a city or town, she was about let out a long sigh. Although that when something caught the red hair gargoyle's attention causing her to shift her focus in that direction. Where from the left she was show what appeared to be a large beast of which she had never seen before jump at her. Though Ranma managed to dodge out of the way just in time
The gargoyle beast then landed and attempted to again to jump at Ranma. Who dodges yet again causing the beast to growl as their eyes start glowing red. Though she was not aware of it at the time Ranma's eyes also started glowing a similar red as well. Soon a short brawl between the two began to happen as their glowing eyes was result of them growing angry at apparently each other.
The gargoyle beast for Ranma continuing to dodge them and Ranma for having to keep doing so without knowing why. Their new forms and setting messing with their tempers a bit causing them to get angry faster then normal but then again they were both pissed off. The gargoyle beast had been wondering around just like Ranma had seem to be aware of who she is somehow. Before getting angry their was sign of relief upon seeing Ranma.
"What do you want for me" Ranma growled angrily managing to pin the beast down with her hands, feet, and even her tail.
Looking at the beast more closely there were thing she noticed that there were strangely familiar things to this creature that was seemingly attacking her. For one they were light pink colored with dark pink claws. Though what really caught Ranma attention now that she paying attention was that they had hair that in very similar fashion to someone he knew.
"Shampoo" Ranma as the gargoyle beast merely nodding in respond.
"How did you end up like that" she asked
Shampoo's curse form was suppose to be a cat not what before her eyes currently. To which Shampoo just shook her head. She did not know how she became this way as she sleeping and just woke up like this and seemingly covered in dirt and mud as if she moved rolled around bit before waking up.
Though neither had the answers to how this happened to them. Ranma had at least found someone she knew and now the problem of finding their way out this forest or at least some hot water to revert back from their altered cursed form, hoping that their original forms were not equally as effected as their cursed ones.
Elsewhere at the moment…
It in instant that the entire world had changed without anyone realize it fully until it was already too late to do anything about. While Ranma was wondering around in unknown forest in her female form not sure how or why she got there. This was not something she alone was experience as there were many people going through a similar scenario of their own as night fell on the eastern hemisphere of the world again. Since it happened here first the western half of the world was somewhat prepared for the rising of the sun and to enter their own stone sleep for the first time. Having become aware of the chaos that happened as result being unprepared their new forms that turn to stone during the day. Though there was still panic and chaos across the western hemisphere regardless but not as much as in the east.
Those of the western hemispheres sought to send what aid they could towards the east. Travel now had new barrier apposed upon them. The two hemisphere were unable to interact with each other in real time anymore. For when one hemisphere was active the other would be inactive, thanks to gargoyle having go through stone sleep every day.
In Nerima like everywhere else, chaos was everywhere even more so then usual for this town as because they could not prepare even though it was the very early morning as the sun rose that fateful day. There were still vehicles on the street, planes in the sky, boats in the seas, and trains on the tracks. All of which crashed when their drives were unable to continue driving them properly because they had turned to stone for the day.
Everyone awoke from their stone sleep they saw the chaos and carnage that was happening around even though they were all unable to move themselves during the day. The various things that happened were a result society not build up to handle something like this happening in an instant. While vast majority of cities were in a state of complete and utter disarray, Nerima had managed to keep so sense of order as people were still panicking and running around. This was the city that had the group dubbed by many the Nerima Wrecking Crew, so weird crap happened here all the time. Many were just in shock that it was happening on a global level this time around.
A blue green colored gargoyle that turned to stone in middle of running, saw stuck staring in shock at the sight before their very eyes. Right in front of them crashing into the wall was a car. If they had been just a foot ahead of where they were currently then they would have been struck by that car themselves.
Shocked that they literally just live through a near death experience by chance and without even knowing it until now they grateful for the fact they were alive before going to check to see in the person or people inside the car were okay. Sadly that was not the case as what found in the car was what appeared to be a crushed statue of gargoyle as airbag were meant to help save people not statues. So even though the airbag worked their stone form broke and the resulting impact broke them. Gargoyles that destroyed during their stone sleep are basically dead. They do not turn back at night if they are in pieces as their bodies just do not work like that.
This gargoyle looking to see her new self was the youngest member of the Tendo family, Akane Tendo. Having woke up before sun rise the previous day, she decided to take morning jog at that time since she could not get back to sleep. Leaving the house she was on her way back when the sun rose and well she turned to stone like everyone else.
Seeing that Nerima was in chaos even more so then normal. Akane rushed back to the Tendo Dojo hoping that everything there was okay. That nothing too serious had happened as she passed by other homes and business that either had car driven into them, some had seemingly been on fire but apparently it rain enough during the day thus the fire was put but not before many homes and such were lost.
Making her way through the crowds, various car wreck, and other obstacles that prevent her from getting back home. Akane finally made it back home only to find that…a plane had literally destroyed half of it by crashing into not only the dojo but her house as well.
Akane just stood there once again in shock as she was once again lucky as from what she could tell if she had managed to get back to sleep and did not going jogging. Then the shattered remains of what she assumed were once people turned into gargoyles. That would have been her fate as her room was gone part of her home that had been destroyed in the crash.
While being shocked over see what had happened to their home, Akane wanted to know what happened to her family. Were they still in there when it happened as if they were then she could only pray that they were not anywhere near the destroyed portion of their home. It was unlikely as other then Kasumi and because it was not a school day today. Neither her father or Nabiki should be getting up this early for anything as they did not seem to have anything plan.
Akane was brought out her thought when she heard the sound of bags dropping and striking the floor. Turning around she saw Kasumi standing there looking at the house. Though Akane was not exactly really comforted by the fact that at least one member of her family was safe. The youngest Tendo was overjoyed that Kasumi was alive and well however what left her feeling a sense of wrongness was the just how Kasumi looked at the moment. The normal peaceful look that Kasumi seemingly always had on her face seemingly regardless of what was going on around her was not there. A look of pure and utter shock was on her oldest sister's face as she did not even seem to be aware that they were no longer human but had been turned into a gargoyles.
Akane walked over to her sister worried as she had never seen Kasumi like this as neither Nabiki or her father ever talked about her acting like this. Even when their mother died, Kasumi did not act like this according to them as she was still young at the time thus her memories of those time were not exactly the best.
"Kasumi….Are you…ummm….okay?" Akane asked her sister as she approached her hoping that everything was.
While this was all going on in Nerima, back with Ranma and Shampoo…..
Shampoo had managed to find something that could hold water and Ranma was told a practical usage of the Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken by her. Though she was currently a gargoyle beast she was still able to use some of her moves in this form better the she ever was in her cat form. Took a while and she looked rather bizarre standing on her hind legs but before falling down unable to remain like this for long.
Shampoo managed to get her point across and Ranma seem to stand her just find as she had with Ryoga and Mousse a few times in their curse form. She had to figure out what they wanted in similar fashion because their cursed forms were animals as well.
Though that more practical usage of the Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken was that it could be used to start a fire. Punching was not the only thing it was good for since after all the training itself was grabbing chestnuts from fire without burning one selves.
Watching as the steam started to rise from the water showing that it was changing from room temp to nearing the boiling point. Testing it out to make sure that it was hot enough Shampoo move away from the fire. After all once she was human again then she would go and get some more water so that Ranma could turn herself back to normal as well. While they could have just shared this hot water, Ranma was against the idea as they needed at least one of them to be able to easily move around should something happen that was unexpected. Normally the magic of their curse was not effected by any other source of it. The only thing so far that was able to effect their curses did not actually do much when you think about.
Other then making so that it can or can not activate so far has been the only thing they were aware of. Nothing could literally change the form they took as not even Taro Pantyhose was able to change his curse form. He was able to add on to it but not change it completely like with what happened to Shampoo.
So bracing herself as Ranma threw the hot water over Shampoo was waiting for her change back into human. One that was seemingly instant normally despite the purple hair amazon going from animal to human. Unlike Ranma that mere goes from female to male but is always human.
Ranma did see that Shampoo returned to her normal human form as unlike Ranma who was currently gargoyle. Shampoo was her normal self again however there was change to her original self that was very off. Though Shampoo was human again but…..she turned to stone almost instantly once she changed back. It was in similar manner to how Ranma had during the sun rise but it was more instantaneous change all at one rather then quick crawl from her tail and feet to over her head.
Shampoo did not even have time to register that she had turned to stone judging from the expression on her face. One that clearly showed she was not aware of what had happening thinking that she just turned back to normal like she always used to when splashed with hot water. Glad now that they were taking turns as otherwise it was likely that both of them could have ended up like this. Leaving them at the mercy of whoever happened to find them next.
That was when Ranma noticed one key difference between when she turned to stone during the day and just now with Shampoo having done it at night after splashing her with hot water, other then her being her normal human self. That is that Shampoo's clothing had not changed along with her as while Shampoo herself was solid stone.
Ranma sighed as she had to decide the next course of action for the two of them since Shampoo was in no state to give her input.
Sighing Ranma then went back to the fire and thought about getting some more water so that she would be able to cook herself something to eat. Having been on a training trip for over a decade and with her father like her old man. The red hair might not be the best cook there was but she was able to make herself a meal while out in the wild. Those this was merely a forest because she was not aware of how close she was to any sign of civilization. This could basically count as part of the wild until she learned of her overall location.
Getting some water to boil for cooking, some for drink, and just some for later. Ranma went about making herself a quick meal as it had been quite some time since she had eaten last. Shampoo could wait for now as she could not deal with her properly on empty stomach. After all Ranma had to prepare for the worst case scenario if things could get any worse(though little did she know how wrong she was in more ways then one).
After finishing eating she was going about changing the water from what she was using for cooking to what she would be using for drinking. As the red hair gargoyle was doing this the land itself seem to shake causing her to lose her balance as it was different then she was used to thanks to her tails and feet now being more like claws instead of toes. Thus causing the water….the hot water to spill all over herself at first causing a slight panic as Ranma was worried that she turned to stone like Shampoo did after getting splashed.
Though after it happened she felt nothing at all. Which was strange as she should feel something like herself growing taller and the other things that typical happened when she changed from male to female. Yet none of those things happened as she looked at herself and noticed that she was not stone at the moment but also seemingly nothing had changed. Looking down her shirt she could still see her breast and then another look revealed there was no change there as well.
Ranma then noticed that her hair had also gotten wet and some of it was coming into her field of view where she saw that it was not red like it should have been in her female form but it was now black instead. Some how instead of turning to stone despite revert to her otherwise normal human self like Shampoo had after being splashed with hot water. Ranma stay female but her hair had merely changed back to its original color.
Back with Akane and Kasumi….
The oldest Tendo daughter remain there standing in the front yard with look of utter and pure shock. There were times when Akane offer wonder what her sister was thinking as it kind of hard to see with the how she normally acted. What she display to them might not actually be what she feels but merely what she showing to her family and friends.
Though the worrying over her oldest sister was somewhat taken away when she noticed her other sister making her way into the front yard herself. Again at first Akane was happy that her sister had made through this disaster that had been happening for whatever reason. Though while Kasumi seem to be mental shock at the moment the same be the case for Nabiki as well.
Although while Akane and Kasumi has seemingly managed to avoid bodily harm. The same could be said of Nabiki as she was clear case of something that Akane had often wondered when it came to gargoyles. That being that while they heal mostly from whatever injuries they gain during the night but being shattered as stone statue would kill them. What would happen if they were just partial shattered not enough to full destroy them but just enough to damage them.
This was clearly the case with Nabiki as she taken damage to her arm, wing ,and leg during her stone sleep. Walking with a limp because of the damage to her leg. Something had happened before she had entered her stone sleep that had cause her to be in such a daze after awakening from.
Akane was very worried for her sisters as she did not really know how to go about helping them as she had never seen them like this. Despite all the madness that normally happened in Nerima they seem to keep things together far better then she did. So even though Akane was in shock over everything that happened herself to see her sisters like this cause her to become more worried for them then herself at the moment.
The Tendo School of Anything Goes was basically a mystery as it relative unknown to anyone that did not know Akane and Soun. Akane was not exactly the best example because unlike Ranma who was trained continuously and constantly by a master of the Saotome School, his father, for over a decade. The same could not said of Akane as she might have gotten training from the Tendo School's master, her own father. It was for the same amount of time nor did she get the same level of training. In sense Akane was almost a self training herself in her family school as Soun never seem train Akane or anyone else after her mother died. Not only that he did not seem to keep himself in top form either so it very unlikely that even when he did fight it was not at the level he was at in his prime form.
So in sense the Tendo School had no real heir. Out of Soun's three kids because Akane practiced marital artist as normal person would and not the level of basically everyone else in the Nerima Wrecking Crew. (Even Uyko's life was seemingly consumed by her own marital arts training since being a chef was part of it). Akane was mostly the Tendo School's heir because Genma and Soun wanted to join the schools but really only one school even had a proper either through the fault of the master not the student.
However though Soun was not anywhere near the state he probably was in his prime. His sense of danger had seem to dull that much over the years or at least now when he needed it the most. Akane moved away from her oldest sister that just seem to be frozen at the moment staring at what was once their home. To head over to her older sister that still just walking forward not seemingly aware they were near by.
Placing her hands on Nabiki's shoulders, her sister then still did not seem to realize fully that she was there though. From there she hear some muttering from her that cause her arms to fall as step back as there was another shock to her system.
"Daddy…why…pushing…..out…..window " Nabiki muttered.
Rushing to the where Nabiki had come from Akane tripped over something she did not see because she was in such a rush. Turning around to look at the all the color seem to drain from her face as she saw just what she had tripped over.
It was her father or to be more precise what was left of him as it was just a piece of him that he noticed was scattered around the place where she had fallen. All of him was not here as it seem that the plane crashed into their house destroyed a lot but also pushed things out of it at the same time. These were apparently the parts of Soun that was pushed out. Looking up the youngest Tendo saw part of her father near wrecked window and what she could only guess was the spot where Nabiki landed after being pushed out the window. The damage Nabiki currently had was a result of either her fall or turning to stone in mid air then landing on the ground as statue. It damaged her stone form but did not shatter her like…like their father had been.
The reasoning for why Soun did what he did and if he thought things were going to be this bad were questions they could never get answered. The only one that could have even given a hint of what Soun was thinking at the time was just as shocked as Akane was over what happened.
Akane have paid respects to her father decided to it was time to return to her sisters. They had to get to somewhere that had a bit more order to it as thing were even more chaotic around here then normal. Not to much that they need to get some treatment for Nabiki who was suffering various injuries and properly Kasumi looked at as apparently she might need some help as well. Not any need of it in physical sense though she might need someone to talk to though.
When she got back to her sisters what she found was that Kasumi had apparently snapped out the state of shock she was in but rather then going back to the sister she was used to. Kasumi was angry and not passive anger like when she was possessed by that oni. This time around it was legit angry that one would normally expect from Akane as her eyes were glowing red as she yelling at Nabiki for something. Even though she was injured, Nabiki was using her one good arm for attacking their older sister and her tail was being used to help her keep her balance thanks to the damage that had been done to one of her legs.
Her older sisters continue to clash with one another as they were doing so in manner that Akane was not wondering how they were able to do so. She was suppose to be the one amongst the three of them that was the fighter. Here were her two older sisters going at with each other with rage over something clear that must have erupted while she was gone.
Akane was not exactly sure how to go about doing anything about the sight that she was seeing before her. Her sisters were fighting against each other for reasons that she was not aware of. It must have happened while she was gone and they were left alone all.
However before the youngest Tendo was able to think of anything that she could do in order to stop her two older sisters from fighting each other the two of them stopped fighting each other as they head perked up and took noticed that the two of them were no longer alone and that someone else had arrived and was watching them.
Eyes glowing red as they turned to face their youngest sister, the target of their rage switch from each to Akane instead as there was no longer a need to get them to stop fighting each other anymore. Though instead Akane had a new problem to deal with.
Meanwhile...
Cologne and Ukyo are talking were standing around within U-Chan's. Like everyone else the two of them were not aware of why or how they had become gargoyles. Not even Cologne who was aware of what was going on or why they were in these forms now. Unlike other so far the type of gargoyle Cologne had become was different as she did not have wings on her back. Instead she had wings that were in web-like in the manner of a flying squirrel.
She had come to Ukyo looking to see if she had seen either Shampoo or Mousse. The two of them were suppose to come over to pick something up from Ukyo for the Cat Cafe. They were planning to do a joint business venture as new place had opened lately causing the other business to team up with each other. This new business was part of chain that was aiming to put them all out of business themselves.
However whatever happened while she was gone Akane would have to worry about later as she had another problem that she had to deal with at the moment and that was the fact that her sisters noticed her and this cause their attention to be switched from each other towards Akane herself .The youngest Tendo was frozen for in shock for a moment as she was faces that she was not used to on her siblings. Especially in the case of Kasumi as she hardly so anything other then different version of the same smile that she always seem to have on her face. While Nabiki did get angry she was never this angry over something that she become lost in rage.
Avoiding Nabiki was not that hard as despite seeming to have gain some fighting instinct or possibly something awaken within her because of this sudden change into a gargoyle. The fact that she had only good arm and leg along with only one of her wings seem to be in good condition. However she did not have to merely deal with Nabiki alone but Kasumi who was in perfect shape thus making her more dangerous as result.
While the fighting style was crude and she reacted seemingly on instinct the fact that they had claws for hands and feet left them dangerous weapons. Rather then throwing punches at Akane they were both clawing at her instead. This was with enough force to not only leave marks on solid stone but rip through it like it was paper.
Thus the danger was very real as Akane now had various rips in her clothes from where her two older sister had clawed at her. While they were once against each other for whatever reason once Akane become the object of their rage they were seemingly working together to attack her.
Since Nabiki was already in an injured state Akane decided that it would be best to attempt knocking out her older sister first thus leaving Kasumi for last. A feat that was again easier said then done as whatever happened to the two of them had apparently even nulled the pain from her injuries. That what Akane hoped had happened as she did want to think that Nabiki had completely loss the usage of all but one of her arms, leg, wing, and her tail.
Guessing that if her sister had strength increase from the new form they were in that made them this strong. Then Akane who was already stronger then a normal person to begin with should have even more then them. Of course it took massive blow to Nabiki's gut and then another to her head to put her down as she might got more injuries from this but it was better then what could have happened if Akane allow her to keep going in that state.
With Nabiki now out cold the only one left was to deal with was her oldest sister, Kasumi. Apparently Akane was kind of shocked as though she was expecting Kasumi to be able to fight this well even while in this state. Rather seemingly on instinct alone there was starting to of what looked like normal fighting style almost similar to their own in way. In manner that she had never seen before as if she was the original heir to family style. After all she was two year old then Nabiki and four years older then her, so it was possible that even if it was for a short while Kasumi could be taught by their father before stopping. Akane was still pretty young at the time so she would not exactly have the clearest of memories of back then unless someone just told her about them.
Taking down Kasumi proved to be a lot harder then Nabiki who was suffering from various injuries and such. To the point where she almost lost her temper and went into a rage herself before managing to come back to her sense mostly from taking blow to the face from Kasumi. Her head cleared again she managed to finish taking down Kasumi and then just collapse to her knees as that was quite the workout considering that she had not fully gotten use to this new body of her. Being gargoyle was still something she was adjusting too as Kasumi and Nabiki were as well but that rage they were in made so that at least for the moment they did not.