C is for cookie; that is good enough for me!

INHERITAGE 0.5

THE REASON

GIEEF LIVES!

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TODAY'S MEDICAL PROCESS IS: HISTORECTIMY

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Rhys found out that his destiny is going to be rather interesting when the Egyptian goddess of children and felines gives him a special stone called a Chaos Gem.

Genma saw a cheetah vanish into thin air as Rhys climbed out of the Neko-ken pit.

CAMPSITE

Genma basically dropped the boy onto the ground as they got back to the campsite. Luckily for Ranma, there happened to be a sleeping bag where he was dropped. Genma walked to the opposite side of the campfire and sat down.

"What went on in that pit?" He asked plainly.

"I blacked out," Rhys answered, faking that he was out of breath when he was really feeling better than ever, "When I woke up, there was a big cat staring at me. It had a green rock on its head. It told me something and jumped out of the pit. The other cats were gone, so I climbed out."

Genma studied the boy.

"What did it say?" Genma asked.

"A lot of stuff," Rhys said, "It said it would be back for me later."

"Why is your hair still spotted?" Genma asked.

"I dunno," Rhys said.

"Hmph," Genma said, "It must still have a link to you. It can't survive very long without a host, so it left a part of it inside you."

Rhys continued to look at Genma with a false look of horror.

"Very well," Genma said, standing up, "We're packing up. If that things going to keep coming back, I'm going to have to train you to be stronger so you can fend it off."

Rhys had a smile plastered on his face. Genma took it as a sign of thanks, but it was really there because Rhys couldn't believe it had actually worked.

LATER

The trip of Genma and Rhys, who went under the false name of Ranma, was pretty much normal from there on out, until they met a family who owned a Okonomiyaki shop. Genma and Ranma stopped there for a few days, where Ranma became good friends with a girl named Ukyo.

Ukyo always said that she liked how Ranma's hair was spotted. Ranma always said that Ukyo's Okonomiyaki was the best. Everything was normal there.

Except for one occurrence that happened one night.

Ranma kept in touch with Bastet often. At least once a week, she came to him in his dreams. Mainly, she gave Ranma training in the true form of the Neko-ken. She also gave advice for staying healthy through Genma's rather stupid training methods. Also, she taught him many things about the world. About how there were basically three areas of his own dimension that he will have contact with.

There was Earth. Then there was Jade, the place where most other magical creatures lived. Then there was the Realm of the Dead. The place where evil spirits lived. The undead and the like.

But tonight, Bastet was brief. Just to say hello and to say how he would be able to rest here easily. She told him a small bit more of the Chaos Gem that was now in his forehead. He told her that he hadn't been able to use it since the Neko-ken pit.

"Rhys," Bastet had said, "The Chaos Gem that you have is the only one of its kind in existence in all of this dimension. You used almost all of its power to do what you did. The energy it runs off of, Chaos Energy, isn't natural to this plane of existence, so it recharges very slowly since it has to draw its energy from across the borders of reality. Just remember, even with it almost depleted energy, it still has an effect on you. But being as it is the only one, even the gods don't know what that effect will be."

"Then why was it given to me?" Rhys asked, afraid it would kill him or something.

"Because Kami-sama commanded it," Bastet said, "He assured me that the effect would not be negative, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. Don't be afraid. It will remain hidden inside of you until it's true purpose it revealed."

And the dream ended as Ranma is jerked awake by someone talking.

Ranma had slept apart from Genma as to not hear his snoring. Genma slept in the campsite about two hundred yards away from Ukyo's house. Ranma had opted to sleep just outside house. And the talking was coming from inside the house.

And it wasn't in Japanese. Or English.

Ranma was curious.

And curiosity killed… well, you know.

Ranma slinked over to the nearest window. He peaked up into the window to see a very peculiar sight.

Before, Ranma had never really noticed that Ukyo always wore hair in a way that covered her ears. But now that he saw her without her hair like that, he saw that her ears were pretty long and pointy. She was on her knees in front of a stranger. She was scooting away quickly, grasping her shoulder that had been wounded.

Mainly because the man looked like he was about to attack her with the long thin rapier he had.

Ranma watched wide-eyed as the man pulled back to thrust his rapier into Ukyo. Before he knew what was happening, he reacted. He felt his body tingle like it did when he transformed, but it was different. He felt stronger, lighter, and more agile. It felt like the tingle that had happened when he used the Chaos Gem. Almost like an electric current was running through him.

He found himself going through the window towards the man. A green glow coming from his hands.

UKYO'S PERCEPTION

The man had snuck into her home, and might have already killed her parents. But his blade was clean, besides from her own blood. She backed away from him, tears in her eyes.

Suddenly, she heard something come from behind her. She turned to see a creature coming through the window. It looked like nothing she had ever seen. A small humanoid creature that had cheetah spots, two black slashes of fur over its eyes, which glowed green. In the middle of its forehead was a green shining stone. It had a green shirt on, made of silk, that had yellow cuffs on its long sleeves. It had sturdy brown pants on that were loose enough to provide a wide range of movement. It's tail lashed behind it.

And its hands glowed with a green energy as purple waves of electricity arced down them. It leapt towards them.

Ukyo nor the man had a chance to do anything as the creature tackled the man.

Ukyo scrambled back against the wall, and huddled there.

RANMA'S PERCEPTION

Face to face with the attacker, Ranma was surprised that he didn't look afraid.

"Werecreature!" He yelled out.

Using Ranma's momentum against him, he flipped Ranma across the rest of the room.

Ranma twisted and landed feet first against the wall. He hopped off of it, and went back towards the man at breakneck speed.

Not fast enough though. The man managed to pull back and slash at him. He felt the blade slice through him. Luckily, it wasn't silver, and the wound was shallow. It still jolted him back to reality. His eyes stopped glowing, but remained the same piercing green cat eyes. The stone as well stopped shining, and the energy around his hands dissipated.

He rolled while in the air, landing and sliding through the mans legs to vault to his feet on the other side. He was slightly surprised that he could do that. He turned with the man to look at him.

Only then did Ukyo and the stranger notice that the boy in front of them was, indeed, a young boy. Only about six or seven in age. The man smirked at his apparent easy win.

The man came at him quickly, slashing again and again, occasionally also grabbing at him with his free hand. Ranma dodged around the slashes and grabs, slightly surprised at his ability to do so.

Ranma flipped back onto his hands to avoid a slash to his mid section. He pushed off and landed even further back to avoid a slash that would have taken his arms off. A roll to the left avoided the downward slash aimed at him.

The man was too fast with that rapier. Unarmed, Ranma would have been able to attack, but the sword kept him at a distance that wouldn't let him attack. He had to get rid of it. But with what? His werecheetah claws were brittle from not having a way or excuse to eat zebra, and they wouldn't cut or even survive hitting that blade.

Unless…

His neko-ken claws.

Leaning to the left, the rapier stabbed past his face with millimeters to spare. Bringing up his hand, he used the back of his hand to bat it away. He spun around and slashed at the sword with his 'claws'.

They flickered to life for a moment, but only succeeded in shoving the sword away harshly. The mans grip held. He used the momentum to slash again. Ranma ducked down, and came from below. It was parried. Ranma was forced to back away.

"I tire of this!" The man flashed his free hand out. Ranma managed to see a knife leave it, but not towards him.

Towards Ukyo.

"NO!" Ranma yelled, going as fast as he could.

He could literally see the knife in slow motion as he zipped up to it. Diving, he grabbed it from the air. While still in the air, he turned and hurled it back at the man.

The man brought his sword up and knocked it from the air. Ranma landed on his side in front of Ukyo.

"Hmph…" The man said, "I see… very well, I will leave this one be…. For now."

He blurred suddenly, and he was next to the door.

"I will see you again, young werecheetah," The man said as he jumped out of the window.

Ranma bolted to the window. Nothing was there. The window was still closed. In the reflection, he could see that the gem on his forehead was back. He saw it dim, and disappear.

He sighed, and turned back to Ukyo.

She had passed out from fear.

LATER

Ukyo awoke with a start. She remembered passing out in the corner of the room as she saw the dagger coming at her.

But now, she was lying in bed.

Her hand moved to his shoulder.

It was bandaged.

Just… what was that thing that saved her?

FINISHED

SATURDAY, MAY 14th, 2005

1:50am

OKAY, I WANTED TO GET THIS WRITTEN BEFORE I WENT TO SLEEP. EH, WHATEVER.

THE POWERS OF THE CHAOS GEM SEEMS TO WORK IN FAVOR FOR RHYS, BUT HE STILL DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO CONTROL IT, OR EVEN HOW THEY WORK. TRUST ME, WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM IS ONLY THE SURFACE OF THE POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY IT CARRIES.

A LITTLE SPOILER? THERE ARE 9 OTHER CHAOS GEMS. EACH ONE DIFFERENT, AND EACH ONE SERCHING FOR AN OWNER LIKE RHYS HAS FOUND HIS THROUGH BASTET. WHO WILL THEY FIND, AND WHAT POWERS DO THEY HAVE?