--Nerima Ward, Sometime Earlier--
Akane was currently sitting at the table, muttering under her breath as she tried to do some homework. Ever since Ranma had left, Nerima had been mostly quiet and calm, sans Kuno who seemed to believe that he owned her now or something. Akane frowned as she thought of Ranma. Not because she was angry with him, but instead because she knew now that she wouldn't be able to do her homework. Thinking of Ranma always did that to her. She sighed and put her things away before flipping on the TV to see if there was something on to distract her.
Her favorite channels currently had nothing of interest on, and Akane didn't feel like surfing the many others, so simply flipped to the news to see what was going on. Nabiki sat at the table, reading a manga and watching idly out the corner of her eye as the newscast continued;
"And in other news, the senshi have a new ally in their fight against the youma in the Juuban ward of Tokyo, Tetsuo has more on this."
"That's right," The man projected onto the television said, wearing a suit that made him appear very professional. "It took place inside one of the larger malls in Juuban just earlier today. We were lucky enough to have a civilian record the fight on his camera, here is the footage."
Akane, now interested watched intently and Nabiki too had been drawn in. The Sailor Senshi were always idolized by young girls, seeing them as the answer to all these male heroes that were in comics and such. The camera was very shaky, disorienting at first, but Akane soon grew used to it. She watched as the camera was directed towards the large glass entrance of the mall, and a fight seemed to be taking place between two figures, one was human, and the other most definitely was not. The senshi had arrived, but the fighter appeared to be holding his own and refused their help. As his back was turned to the beast however, it grabbed him in a mighty pincer and held him tight, and it was obvious, despite the lack of sound from within the mall, it was easily recognizable that the man was in pain beyond compare. The person holding the camera gasped and muttered, "My God..." As the creatures pincer ran the man through. Akane gasped and held her legs close to her body. She was amazed they were showing such gruesome footage. Then, the man held his arm up shakily, very shakily, and Akane and Nabiki knew that he wasn't going to last long. He muttered something and then a golden energy shot from his hand and struck the creature in the face, causing it to throw him away in rage and pain. Nabiki's brows furrowed and Akane's eyes widened when they saw that, for they only knew of one who was able to make energy blasts like that... The fight continued, the senshi having difficulty and not being able to truly harm the beast, when the camera suddenly turned skyward, and the winds picked. Unbelievable as it was, a funnel cloud had formed just above the mall, and was growing steadily. Debris was blown about from the wind as a tornado was formed and began crashing down through the glass roof of the mall, and a body appeared to float into the tornado. Lightning crackled and the man behind the camera started to back up and zoom in further on the figure in the tornado, who appeared to be stationary. Then the lightning struck the figure, and you could make out his eyes from within the column of wind. They were the focal point of the electricity it seemed, the energy crackling about and crawling along his skin. And finally, it stopped. It was so sudden it confused Akane at first, but then she saw the figure that was within, now wearing beautiful armor with a long and flowing tattered cape. His eyes almost seemed to glow with an abundance of energy, and a new moon shaped tattoo resided on his forehead, just as Sailor Moon's. But Akane paid no attention to any of that. She was looking at the face of someone she cared very deeply for. The face of someone that annoyed her to no end, but had saved her on more than one occasion.
"Ranma..." Akane muttered, disbelief in her eyes.
Nabiki only raised a brow before getting up to make some calls.
The footage continued with Ranma quickly dispatching the beast, before kneeling to Sailor Moon and saying something. She laughed and hugged him, (as a sibling would however, Akane noted) and then she backed off at the suggestion of one of the other scouts. Then, much to Akane's displeasure, she watched as Sailor Pluto latched onto Ranma's face like a plecostomus and proceeded to play a little tongue hockey with him. The remote in Akane's hand snapped in twine and her teeth grinded against one another. Nabiki had entered just in time to see the kiss, and made a U-turn, preparing to make a few more calls.
Unfortunately for our pig-tailed hero, the Tendo residence was not the only household (or building, say... a restaurant or two, for that matter) with a television.
"So Ranma... what do you look for in a girl?" Minako suddenly asked, the group once again sitting around the Hino living room.
"Eh!?" Ranma sputtered, coughing as the tea he drank went down the wrong tube.
"Yeah! What do you look for in a gal Ranma?" Makoto asked, obviously interested as well. Four of the inners and two of the outers stared intently at Ranma, waiting for his response. Ranma began to feel like he was cornered, and in fact he was. There was no way Ranma was getting out of this one.
"Uhm... shouldn't we be talking about... you know, senshi stuff?" Ranma asked meekly, attempting to derail the question.
No such luck. "But Ranma, this IS senshi business. You are a senshi, correct?" Ranma nodded, and knew that he had just been trapped. "Well, as fellow senshi, we need to know everything about you! I mean, the rest of us already know a lot about each other, so we need to learn about you!"
Nods were nearly unanimous around the table after Minako's reasoning, and Ranma began to get very nervous.
"But uh... do we have to start with this topic?" Ranma asked, almost fearing the answer.
Ranma swore that there was only one voice that had several layers to it, but it boomed "Yes!" And Ranma knew that he was unable to get out of it. Sighing heavily and looking around at the girls with more than a hint of hesitance in his eyes, he began.
"I suppose that I'd like a girl that is smart, and strong too. She'd haveta be a good cook... And I'd want her to accept me for who I am ya know? And not marry me just because of an agreement, but because she really loved me. I'd like a girl that's kind and cheerful as well..."
As Ranma continued, he failed to realize that his little speech mattered little in the long run, for each of the senshi interested seemed to believe that Ranma just happened to be describing them.
Haruka turned to Michiru, a slightly bemused smirk on her lips. "At least the guy brought some entertainment." Michiru covered her mouth and stifled back a giggle as Ranma wrapped up his speech, before immediately noticing that each girl that had been interested in his answer now had love struck looks in their glazed over eyes.
"Uh..." Ranma deadpanned, seeing that each of the girls didn't appear to get the message. "Look, I gotta get going... My mom is prolly worried about me anyway..." He said as he rose, but was interrupted by the always intelligent Ami.
"You're Mom would just think that you're at Usagi's house, wouldn't she?"
Ranma blinked and a look of realization crossed his face. "Oh! Well, normally yes, but she probably saw me at the mall on TV and-"
"She wouldn't recognize you then, you were in senshi form." Ami stated, causing Minako to nod rapidly and stare at Ranma.
Ranma sighed and shook his head. "I don't think you get it... I have no magic. I have no senshi form. People will recognize me, for I have no magic to shield my true form... Think about it, you all look quite similar to how you normally look when in senshi form, but no one recognizes you. Why? Magic... something I can't do. Sorry, but everyone who knew me and saw that broadcast is going to know... I am going to sort it out with my mom..."
The senshi were deathly silent, exchanging worried and unsure looks.
Haruka, once she put two and two together shut upright and quickly sprung to her feet. "Wait a minute! That means people will be pestering you to reveal our secret identities! You know who we are! We can't have this... anyone have a spare room with a lock on the outside? I say we lock him up and only release him when we need him-"
Haruka was interrupted mid-rant by Usagi, who appeared quite disappointed in the senshi of Uranus. "Haruka, please. I highly doubt that my brother would ever think to do such a thing. Right, Ranma?" Usagi asked, turning to him and raising a brow above her stern eyes.
Ranma smiled softly and shook his head. "I would never, hime-chan" (little princess)
"Grr.... Stop calling me that!" Usagi shouted, giving chase to Ranma who laughed and ran around the senshi, Usagi close behind.
A short chase ensued, Ranma only really half trying to evade Usagi, before actually letting her catch him and berate and curse him, attempting to harm the poor lad by beating on the armor on his chest from her position sitting on top of his lap.
"Ok ok, no more calling you hime-chan..." Ranma conceded, smiling up at Usagi, who returned his mirthful grin before getting off. Ranma rose to his feet effortlessly and dusted off his clothing before gazing around at the gathered senshi. "I really better go now though... wish me luck." He said, before concentrating briefly and allowing his armor to glow briefly sliding along his flesh like liquid and flowing into the bracers. "Ja!" Ranma said, winking to the group before walking down the hall.
Only to come back in and smile, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh, where's the exit?"
Once he had been showed to the proper exit, Ranma took to the roofs, bounding across three or four at a time, using his time in the air to get his bearings and head home. The golden crescent moon on his forehead with the blackened tips still remained, showing all his heritage and birthright, even if he didn't wish to reveal it.
People below had barely a chance to identify the black blur that shot across the rooftops, as just as they had seen it, it had already gone. As the stunned civilians passed beneath him, Ranma pondered just what he was going to say to his mother. 'Hi mom! You probably saw me on tv earlier, I just wanted to tell you not to worry, I'm just a reincarnated prince from an empire on the moon that existed several thousand years ago!' Ranma paused in his roof hopping and sighed. "This is going to be a bit harder than I first thought..."
He arrived at his home mere minutes later, gracefully flipping over the wall that bordered the rather large home within. Ranma gazed at the front door for several moments, taking several deep breaths as he did. This would be one of the more difficult talks in his life. He hesitated only a moment more, before lifting his arm and knocking upon th wooden door, still working the speech over in his mind. At first there was no sounds from within, and Ranma was about to knock again when he heard soft but hurried footsteps approach the door. The sliding of a latch was heard before the knob turned and the door swung inward, slowly revealing the auburn-haired woman in an exquisite kimono that had opened the door.
"Uh... hey mom." Ranma said weakly, the smile on his face matching his voice.
"Why Ranma!" Nodoka smiled happily with open arms. "Come in, you're just in time, someone is here to see you!"
Ranma blinked and looked up at his mother as he was ushered as the shouting started.within. "Eh?"
"Or should I say, several someones..." Nodoka muttered, a hint of malcontent in her voice.
Ranma was beginning to grow worried, and when he was pushed into the living, he knew his fears were well founded. Four women sat around a low table within, four very familiar women. Each was radiating an aura of mixed and confused emotions, but the one they all held in common was anger. As he entered, all eyes turned to him, and Ranma swallowed the lump in his throat, tensing up by reflex
"Ranma! What do you think you were doing with the senshi!?"
"Ran-chan! Was that you on the tv I saw kissing that old lady in the short skirt!?"
"Airen! What you doing with too too friendly old woman!?"
"Ranma-sama! Thank goodness, I thought that harridan had hypnotized or poisoned you!"
Before Ranma had even thought of responding, the girls had surrounded him, and were looking intently at the new tattoo on his forehead, and the change that had taken place in his eyes.
"I-it was you…" Ukyo stated, her eyes widening.
"Aiyah…" Shampoo muttered.
Now knowing that Ranma was indeed the fellow they had all witnessed on the television, they all seemed to reach the same conclusion at the very same time. Their reactions were, of course, polar opposites however.
"What was that wench thinking when she kissed MY Ranma-sama!"
"Too-too short skirt girl was awfully familiar with Airen!"
"Ran-chan! What do you think you were doing with that hussy!"
"Ranma no baka!"
Before any violent actions were taken however, Ranma spoke. "Please! Everyone just… calm down… I have some things to go over with all of you…"
Ukyo gave him a half lidded stare. "You're telling me."
Ranma shot Ukyo a less than warm smile and continued. "Look… if you all could just… take a seat at the table and I'll tell you everything… or at least, all that I can."
The fiancées looked at one another, as if searching for an explanation in each other's eyes. Of course, none was found so they all took a seat.
"Mom… you better sit down for this too." Ranma stated, his eyes expressing a deep sorrow that Nodoka could not understand. She nodded, her anger at the fiancées temporarily forgotten as she too took a seat at the low table, and let Ranma begin.
"I… I am a reincarnated being from the past… and… I am a Senshi…." Ranma stated, getting straight to the point.
The assembled fiancées and his mother glanced at each other and erupted in a fit of giggles, the very thought of their Ranma being one of the senshi simply absurd.
All found this amusing, except Ranma of course, who simply waited for them to get it out of their system. He expected there to be disbelief… after all, having a boy suddenly announce he is a senshi did seem absurd, even to him.
"Furthermore…" Ranma said as they quieted down. "I am engaged to one of the other senshi… Sailor Pluto… Hence the kiss."
The humor in the room was immediately sucked out, leaving 5 deathly silent women staring intently at Ranma, who began to fidget against their unrelenting gaze.
"What. Did. You. Say?" Akane asked, her hands tightening to the point where her knuckles were deathly white.
Ranma swallowed a lump in his throat and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… funny story really…"
His mother simply continued to stare straight ahead, though the corner of her mouth twitched upward so often, forming a goofy smile on her lips, a small droplet of drool dribbled down her chin. Her fingers twitched spasmodically, a pair of victory fans could be seen sliding into view from within her kimono. Indeed, Nodoka was happy of the news.
"Before any of you jump to conclusions…" Ranma began, putting his hands in a gesture for them to calm down in front of him, "Let me explain… You see, I was not exactly… a welcome addition to the senshi in the past, the people feared me, feared that I may try to take over the queen and her loyal warriors. The Queen and most of the senshi knew otherwise… One senshi however, was quite adamant against me… she thought me to be nothing but a curse, a blemish upon the senshi's divine name. The Queen decided in a last ditch effort to try and warm the public, and the last senshi up to me, engaged me to her… Needless to say, the senshi as well as the public were outraged, her I was, in their eyes, a blasphemous creation of science…"
"Wait, back up Sugar… whaddya mean creation of science?" Ukyo asked, her brows furrowing in confusion. She knew that Ranma was born naturally… didn't she?
Ranma shook his head and sighed. "I was not… born in my past life… more like 'created…' Using the blood of the queen, and her most hated and powerful enemy, the fused the blood to create a senshi who would hopefully be able to annihilate the foe once and for all… I was not made to be popular… I was a weapon, and treated as such for the most part."
"What is it that made you so powerful?" Ukyo asked, deciding to play along for now, but still not completely believing of Ranma's story.
"I am… a void. Magic cannot exist near me or inside me... you see, the senshi operate and heavily rely on magic. I was feared because everyone knew; should I touch one of the senshi… their powers might disappear forever. It was never proven, and I dare not try to… but there is still a chance that I can make the senshi everyday girls with a simple touch… We later found that the theory was incorrect, but they will not be able to use magic while in contact with me."
"So they wanted you to touch the bad guys…" Akane said, the story was far-fetched, yet Ranma himself seemed so sure and she couldn't help but notice that the moon on his forehead was frighteningly similar to her idols.
"Actually… they wanted me to infiltrate her lair, and touch the source of her power, nullifying any power she might have been able to gather. Unfortunately… she struck first. That's not important right now however..." Ranma said, recalling back to where he had left off in his story. "As I was saying… I was engaged to her in an attempt to get her to like me… it never worked… I was constantly showered with insults and thought of in general as a complete abomination and that she would sooner kill me than touch me. The other senshi tried to warm her up to me, talking of how much they enjoyed my company and teachings. I was there teacher in close combat; just in case their powers would not work… she however would not accept my teachings, claiming that I was sabotaging the senshi with false arts that wouldn't work against youma. It seemed more and more likely that the engagement would end up with one of us dead, likely me since I had no desire to kill her…" Ranma made to continue, but was interrupted by Shampoo.
"You say she no like you, but we watch her kiss you on tv! Something no make sense here…" Her fractured Japanese made Ranma take a moment to arrange it so that he could better understand it, before answering.
"I admit… it was a surprise to me… you see, the last time I had seen her she had… said some words that I knew would permanently effect our relations… and then seeing her again, and having her kiss me… it was… completely unexpected… I still don't know what to do."
"Give me lots of grandchildren!" Nodoka cheered, finally letting the cheer and happiness let go and run free as she got her fans out and started dancing, laughing quite happily.
The fiancées and Ranma sighed in unison, expecting it at some point or another.
Turning back to the boy they had all been chasing for several years now, Ukyo asked: "So… what? We have more competition now?"
Ranma sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know…" he said honestly. "I just don't know."
"Shampoo not worried!" The curvaceous and bubbly amazon stated. She know how to take care of too-too short skirt girl!" Grabbing her bonbori from beside her she stood up, her eyes gleaming with the intent to kill the obstacle.
Ranma closed his eyes and put a hand out in front of her, as if to stop her. "Please… can't any of you try to solve this without violence for once?"
Silence met his question, causing Ranma open his eyes and blink. The rest of the fiancées simply staring at his hand. Ranma knew that this wasn't good, and followed his arm over to Shampoo, where his hand rested precariously on her breast. Shampoo seemed to be excited and angered, happy that her husband had finally showed his affection, but angry because she was supposed to be the one in charge.
"Ran-chan…." Ukyo growled, pulling the enormous spatula off of her back and hefting it above her head. "You can move your hand now!"
Ranma's hand seemed to vanish and appear back at his side, a silly grin on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. "Eh… hehehe…"
"Ranma… no… BAKA!" Akane shouted, pulling out her customary mallet and bringing it down upon Ranma's head with tremendous force, knocking him unconscious and allowing him to slump to the floor.
Akane nodded, proud of her handiwork, and turned to see the three other fiancées looking none too happy at the development.
"If anyone's gonna punish Ran-chan… it's gonna be me."
"Too-too violent girl need lesson in manners!"
"You psychotic harridan! You shall pay for what you have done to Ranma-sama!"
Akane just stared, immediately realizing her mistake and turning and running while she could.
"Not so fast!" Ukyo shouted, pulling out some spatulas and tossing them like daggers at the fleeing girl.
Unfortunately, Kodachi's ribbon seemed to be seeking the same target. The result was the small spatula's being knocked just enough to barely miss Akane, and Kodachi's ribbon had ripped in several places.
"Y-you wench!" Kodachi shouted, clearly quite angry.
Ukyo on the other hand, was just as angry. "Prepare to get a beating of a lifetime you rich bitch…" She got her enormous spatula once more and heaved it over her head, only to hear a loud 'Clang!'
Ukyo blinked and looked over her shoulder along with Kodachi, to see a dazed Shampoo sitting on the floor rubbing her head.
"Stupid spatula girl…" Shampoo growled, snatching up her bonbori and rising to join in the mayhem that was about to ensue.
Nodoka was broken from her manly-son induced stupor when a loud tearing noise was picked up from her eardrums. She turned to watch in stupefied horror as a steel bonbori tore through one of the rice paper walls and then crashed into a wooden beam, splitting it in two.
"No! Stop it! I will not let this happen again!" Nodoka shouted, but her cries fell upon deaf ears, and the women continued their quarrel, tearing through everything in their path, whether it be wall or door, the fiancées seemed to not be aware of the path of destruction and chaos they left behind them.
Akane watched from outside, wondering why the girls had not pursued her. The house suddenly lurched and Akane gasped, her fears switching from her own well-being to the current inhabitants of the building.
Ranma groaned and rubbed his head as he slowly rose on all fours. "Damn it! This is the last time… I swear… no longer will take this abu-" Ranma froze when he heard the loud creaking of wood being strained. He looked up and froze at the utter carnage around and how many of the support beams were damaged in some way or another. He quickly got up and looked around, almost immediately spotting his mother. "Mom!"
Nodoka turned about and saw her son standing, and relief washed over her. "Oh Ranma, please, you must stop them, their tearing the house apart, I…"
A loud creak, one that sounded dangerously close to breaking suddenly sounded from behind Nodoka, and a snap was heard.
"Mom!" Ranma shouted, setting off toward her as he watched the ceiling above her give in, and the massive wooden support beam splintered in two, collapsing and falling directly onto Nodoka skull.
A crack was heard, and it was all Ranma needed. He dashed forward at inhuman speeds, grabbing the woman who had given him life before she fully fell to the ground and kicking the beam out of the way.
A low growl emanated from his throat and his eyes sparked with electricity, and he set to work escaping from the collapsing home, breaking through several barriers in the process before exploding out the building and out onto the street. He glared at Akane, his eyes still allowing strands of coruscating electricity to escape from them, and leaving Akane to gaze at him in wonder. As he set his mother down and turned back to the home, which was already collapsing in on itself. His head turned to the skies, and Akane blinked and raised her gaze too to the sky, and gasped as the once beautiful skies clouded with dark and stormy clouds that denied any compassion for those beneath them. They quickly swirled and Akane realized that they were becoming a funnel cloud, directly over the Saotome household.
Akane looked at Ranma, who was now gazing at the house with his arms crossed over his chest. The breath escaped her as she realized that it was Ranma who controlled the storm, and the tornado that was rapidly descending to the house and lifting the fragile rice paper up into the sky. Several loud cries were heard from within, and soon the quarreling women dashed out the door of the home, and met a site that shocked them.
Ranma stood there, his eyes completely white with arcs of lightning crackling from his eyes, appearing seemingly at random and shifting before collapsing back into his eyes, only to allow another strand to appear. His arms were crossed across his chest, which was garbed in a black silk shirt, and the same black silk seemed uniform across his body, sans his bracers.
"The engagements…" Ranma growled, his teeth grinding together in anger. "Are off!"
Ooh! Didn't see that coming did ya! What has happened to Ranma's mother? Well… Sore wa… himitsu desu!
(at Slayers headquarters: Another loser fanfic author used our term! Bust out the attorneys!)
comes back, quite a bit poorer Anyway… Sorry it took so long, I plan on now returning to fanfic writing… yes, I know, amazing… Chaos and Carnage will be next, but I promise work on this one too! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my first and favorite fanfic! (maybe not favorite… but still my first)
I never received the fanart I was promised… twas sad indeed… maybe this update will help! Hehehe…
Next time on Ranma Oh! King of Games! And Storms!
The fiancées brood over Ranma's decision! And wait, he didn't specify which fiancées… meaning… Setsuna and Ranma aren't engaged anymore!? And what happened to poor Nodoka, will she live?
And… what happened to Ryouga… why are his eyes like that…
And Ranma has his most difficult duel yet! Maximillian Pegasus sure knows how to play his cards!
Once again, read and review… any questions and comments, suggestions, or anything else you might think to send me can be sent to or
Till next time everyone
-Gundraw