Disclaimer: Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Video and Winx Club belongs to Iginio Straffi and Rai S.p.A (NOT 4Kids!). Song 'As Days Go By' belongs to Family Matters.
Note: this follows the Rai version of Winx as the 4Kids version butchered it too much, like with every anime it dubs.
Warning: this chapter will be completely revengefic on a certain oneshot character from the Ranma ½ anime as I will take great pleasure in bashing this little bastard until nothing's left! A-hem… well, on with the chapter!
Chapter 35: Uninvited! Arrival of the Psychic Pest!
Somewhere in a forest…
'Damn you, Ranma! I'll be back and when I do, you shall have your final reckoning!'
Ryoga Hibiki, confirmed eternal lost boy, was trudging through the forest trying to find Nerima. As usual, he was walking in the opposite direction of where it actually is.
"Where on earth am I now! Damn you, Ranma! This is all your fault!"
It was then that Ryoga heard a rustling in the trees behind him. "Huh! Who's there!" He looked up around the trees, trying to spot movement. 'Was I just imagining it?'
"No, you're not imagining it." A voice rang out.
Ryoga was startled to hear the voice. "What the!" 'Who was that? It seemed familiar…'
"I ought to sound familiar. I've seen you before."
"Huh!" Ryoga turned around towards the source of the voice and saw before him a boy who looked no older than ten wearing a pink sweater, blue suspender shorts, and sneakers. 'I think I remember this kid…'
"You just thought, 'I think I remember this kid', didn't you?" asked Satori.
Ryoga became startled. "Now I remember! You're that mind-reading kid, aren't you?"
"That I am. And I see you're still lost in this same forest." Said Satori.
"I'm not lost! I… just don't know where I am… that's all…" said Ryoga indignantly.
"Trying to find Nerima again? I don't even need to read your mind to know that."
"I know it's around here somewhere!"
"Whatever. Well, have fun finding it!" Satori then jumps away into the trees and bounds off towards the direction of Nerima.
"Hey! Wait!"
But Satori was long gone, leaving him alone and lost in the woods.
As Satori headed for Nerima, he only had one thought in mind: to head for the Tendo Dojo.
Saotome complex…
Ranma was training in the dojo, then felt a cold chill run down his spine.
'What the hell was that? I've got a feeling I'm gonna meet another headache of mine again…'
Whatever may happen, with his new abilities and friends, he was sure he could handle it.
Opening (Family Matters style, 'As Days Go By')
Music starts as the camera zooms in on the coasts of Japan, then into Tokyo, then the Nerima district, and finally centers around the Saotome home. The 'Ranma Club' logo appears.
It's a rare condition, this day and age,
To read any good news on the newspaper page.
Starring…
Ranma/Ranma-chan Saotome
Ranma walks out of the dojo and smiles at the camera, then suddenly gets drenched by Zing from above. Ranma-chan gives an annoyed look at the chuckling Pixie.
Nodoka Saotome
Nodoka is preparing a meal in the kitchen and smiles at the camera.
Love and tradition of the grand design,
Some people say it's even harder to find.
Bloom Domino
Bloom is sketching at her desk with Kiko and Lockette looking over her shoulders. They turn and greet the camera.
Stella Solaria
Stella holds a dress in front of her before a mirror as Amore gives her a thumbs up. Stella turns and winks at the camera as she holds the dress at her side.
Well then there must be some magic clue inside these tearful walls
Flora Linphea
Flora is watering some plants as Chatta was reclining in the shade of another plant. Flora looks up and smiles at the camera.
Musa Melody
Musa is wearing earphones as she bops to the music of her iPod. Tune taps her shoulder to get her attention and points her towards the camera. Musa blushes and waves.
Cause all I see is a tower of dreams
Real love burstin' out of every seam.
Tecna Zenith
Tecna sits at her desk typing on her laptop with Digit in the screen. She turns and gives a two finger salute to the camera.
Layla Andros
Layla comes through the main gate on her roller blades as Piff sleeps nearby. She removes her helmet and smiles at the camera.
As days go by,
We're gonna fill our house with happiness.
Shampoo
Shampoo is serving at the Neko Hanten and smiles cutely for the camera.
Ukyou Kuonji
Ukyou flips a pair of okonomiyaki into the air and bows to the camera.
The moon may cry,
We're gonna smother the blues with tenderness.
Mousse
Mousse rides his delivery bike and stops. He whips out a take-out box from his sleeve.
Kasumi Tendo
Kasumi is in the backyard hanging the laundry, then gives a curt smile.
When days go by,
There's room for you,
Room for me,
Sasuke Saragakure
Sasuke rakes the front yard and smiles nervously.
And Cologne
Cologne exits the kitchen of the Neko Hanten on her cane and gives off a light chuckle.
It then shows Ranma and company skating at the ice rink, then at their school clubs.
For gentle hearts an opportunity.
It shows Ranma getting flustered at seeing the Winx in their yukatas. The cast walk down a path in a public garden engaging in small talk.
As days go by,
It's the bigger love of the family.
Kiko sits on the floor, then hops up to Bloom. The camera slowly zooms out showing the Ranma Club cast hanging out in the living room, then zooms out of the home and to the rest of Nerima.
Characters by Rumiko Takahashi and Iginio Straffi
Story by Frequent Reader
End opening
Outside the Tendo Dojo…
Satori was a bit surprised when he came across the Tendo Dojo. The place looked like a real big mess as if a hurricane had passed through.
"Wonder what happened around here?" he wondered.
He then went towards the front door and noticed it was slightly open. It looked even more of a mess inside, not having been cleaned in a while (due to Kasumi not being present). He heard a few thoughts coming from the living room.
'With this move, I've got him!'
'Damn… well once I distract him, I'll just steal his piece!'
Looking in, Satori caught sight of Soun and Genma Panda playing, or rather cheating, each other in shogi.
"You're both trying to cheat." Said Satori.
The new voice got the attention of the two older men and turned towards his direction.
"Oh! It's you again! Satori, wasn't it?" said Soun.
*The mind-reading kid* signed Genma Panda.
"So you still remember me. That's good to know." Said Satori.
"So then what-"
" 'Brings me here?' I was just in the neighborhood, is all." Satori cut in. "I am a bit curious about what's happened here, though."
"Errr… well… about that… Akane was-"
"Cooking? Cool! I'd like to try some!" interrupted Satori as he ran towards the dining room.
"Boy! WAIT!" said Soun as he got up to try and stop Satori, but was stopped by Genma Panda.
*No need, Tendo. The boy must know on his own…* signed the panda.
In the dining room, Satori caught sight of Akane as she was putting her latest food preparation on the table, which resembled a yellow and orange mesh.
"Maybe this way is right?" muttered Akane as she was looking a bit disheveled.
"Akane!" said Satori, catching the girl's attention.
"Oh! It's you! Satori, wasn't it?" said Akane.
Satori swooned that the girl remembered his name. "It's been a while! What is that you made?"
"It's my own version of yakisoba noodles!" Akane said with pride.
"Looks delicious. Mind if I give it a taste?"
"Go ahead!"
Satori happily sat down and got himself a portion of the food, when Nabiki came down.
"I highly advise eating that stuff, kid. It's for your own good." Said Nabiki.
"Shut up, Nabiki! Nobody asked you!" said an annoyed Akane.
Satori looked confused. Looking into Nabiki's mind, he was surprised that she wasn't kidding in her words.
'Can't be. There's no way a girl like Akane could be THAT bad a cook!'
Ignoring the warning signs, Satori took a spoonful of the yakisoba… and soon turned green in the face. He dropped his fork, dropped to the floor, and started to convulse.
"Satori! Satori!" Akane called in worry.
Nabiki slapped her hand on her face. "I tried to warn that kid…"
Some time later, Satori awoke in a futon. The house's remaining tenants were surrounding him.
"Oh! He's come to!" said Soun.
*You're lucky you woke up, Kid.* signed Genma Panda.
"Ooooh… what happened…?" asked Satori as he held his head.
"You ate Akane's 'yakisoba', turned green, convulsed, and passed out." Replied Nabiki. "Told you not to do it. I thought you're supposed to be a mind-reader? You should've been getting warning signals."
Satori did get warning signals. He just chose against his better judgment because he truly believed that something cooked by Akane would be delicious. That error in judgment nearly cost him his stomach.
"Hey! My cooking is improving, Nabiki!" said Akane indignantly.
"Pssh! Hardly."
"WHAT WAS THAT!"
"Girls! Stop fighting!" said Soun.
Satori looked around and noticed certain people missing. "Hmmm? Kasumi and that guy aren't here."
At the mention of Ranma and Kasumi, the atmosphere of the room fell. Soun was crying, Genma Panda looked annoyed, Nabiki looked sorrowful, and Akane looked furious.
Satori noticed this and decided to delve into their minds on what had happened. In Soun's mind, Satori nearly drowned in an ocean of the elder Tendo's tears as he sat on a small rock formation. Getting out, he searched Genma's mind, where he saw the panda looking like he's starving as silhouettes of Ranma and Kasumi walk away. In Nabiki's mind, the gold coins that used to fill the void had turned brittle and were reduced to metal shavings with a downtrodden Nabiki in the center. Finally, Satori looked into Akane's mind and saw her looking angrily at Ranma as he walked away with six leather-clad demonic-looking gaijin girls. The six said girls turned their heads and smile viciously with red eyes, sharp teeth, and snake-tongues. They suddenly grew horns on their heads, demon tails, and demon wings before vanishing into flame. He also sees Kasumi walk by before she gets taken away by the six demon girls.
"So that's it. They left, huh?" asked Satori.
"That's right, Satori. Ranma and Kasumi are gone." Affirmed Nabiki.
"This is all that pervert's fault! Him and his sluts!" said Akane with her stubborn logic. "Everything was just fine until those six gaijin whores showed up!"
*That boy of mine needs to be disciplined!* signed the panda, though he knew there was nothing he could do about it considering Ranma's new abilities as well as his wife.
Satori started to get angry. How dare Ranma break up with someone as wonderful as Akane to be with someone else! He hurt Akane, so therefore, he must pay dearly.
"Don't you worry, Akane! I'll definitely bring the both of them back here! If Ranma resists, I'll just beat him up like last time! I'll also take care of those evil gaijins, too!" said Satori.
Before anyone could protest, Satori ups and leaves.
"Wait! You shouldn't mess with them!" Nabiki called out to his retreating form. Unfortunately, he was well out of earshot.
"Oh happy day! Satori will fix everything for us!" said Soun as he and Genma Panda embraced.
"I didn't really want Satori to bring that pervert back, but hopefully he can get Kasumi back." Said Akane. "Also, he did say he'd take care of those girls." She grinned at that thought.
Nabiki could only worry. Satori should really think twice about what he's doing. Considering her own experiences of daring to cross Ranma and the Winx, that kid will be in for a serious world of hurt.
On the streets, Satori broke into a fast run.
'Let's see… from what I had been able to gather, they should be residing somewhere around here… Just you wait, Saotome, for hurting Akane, I shall make your life a living hell!'
Saotome complex, some time earlier…
In the dojo, Ranma was currently sparring with Onyx Riven. Some time ago, he discovered that he could use his souls as sparring partners. Each soul was ingrained with Ranma's fighting style since they've been a part of him for a long time. Therefore, it's like he's fighting himself, much like the time he used that shadow incense to fight a shadow version of himself to train. However, unlike that time, since he's fighting a part of himself, he'll feel whatever pain he inflicts on his souls, and they him. This gives both Ranma and the souls more incentive to dodge, building up evasive and strike speed. It also served as endurance training. After all, a good martial artist is able to take what he dishes out, sometimes even more so.
"HYAH!"
Ranma and Onyx Riven threw a fist forward, catching each other in the face. Both flew back from the force and dropped to the floor. Ranma slowly gets back up.
"Okay… I think we're good…"
Onyx Riven nods and fuses back into Ranma.
"Mmm… what a workout… I feel sore all over…"
Flora comes into the dojo. "Ranma, you done? You've been at it for a while now."
"Yeah, I'm done now, Flora." Said Ranma.
"Well, Kasumi's drawn your bath for you."
"Oh, thanks."
In the bathroom, Ranma soaks in the tub, feeling refreshed.
"Man… just the thing I need after some hard training!"
Zing teleports in. "Hello, Ranma!"
"GYAH! Zing! Don't do that!" said Ranma.
"Oops! Sorry. Did I come at a bad time?" said Zing.
"Yes, I'm in the bath!"
"Well at least the girls will have nothing to complain about!" said Zing with a sly grin.
Ranma turned beet red at this statement. "Zing, please leave!"
Zing cackled a bit before disappearing from sight.
"That Pixie of mine…" Ranma resumed relaxing in the tub, when his eyes snapped open. "Huh? What was that?"
His magical senses were starting to act up. He then used his powers to open a magical viewing window displaying the streets of Nerima. Ranma felt a familiar ki signature and homed in on it. Zooming into the source, his expression hardened when he saw Satori running through the streets.
"That little brat again? What's he doing here now?"
Ranma got angry as he heard Satori's thoughts through the magic window. 'Just you wait, Saotome, for hurting Akane, I shall make your life a living hell!'
"Feh, not likely, brat. Knowing him, he'll eventually find this place. Now, how to go about doing this?"
After finishing and dressing up, Ranma sits in the living room. The six Faeries of Alfea and Nodoka walk in.
"Something wrong, son?" asked Nodoka.
"Yeah. I just had a heads up on an unwanted arrival coming to the house." Replied Ranma.
"That so? Who is it now?" asked Bloom.
"It looks like Satori's back…"
The expressions of the Winx darkened. They knew of the mind-reading little boy from Ranma's mindscape. He instigated a lot of trouble for Ranma just because he was the unwilling fiancée of Akane and the brat crushed on the girl. Satori abused his ability to get Ranma in trouble with everyone else and to get Akane to hate him, thereby gaining her favor. Yet another loser who saw the tomboy through rose-colored glasses and instantly made enemies with Ranma due to his relationship with her. The Faeries just couldn't believe Satori's attitude against Ranma and that everyone took his side. The very thought angered them.
The Winx girls weren't the only ones. Nodoka was also angered at the brat's attitude with her son in the name of that tomboy. Genma and the Tendos were suckered into believing Satori to be just a cute innocent boy, but as the old saying goes, appearances can be deceiving.
"So you think he'll come by here?" asked Flora.
"No doubt." Replied Ranma. "Most likely he's heard of the situation at the Tendos' and will be coming for me. It's odd, though. I was able to hear the little pus's thoughts when I saw him through the magical viewing window."
"Faeries are able to sense negative thoughts." Tecna informed.
Bloom nods as she recalled her own ability to see the auras of people.
"If you're certain that this Satori will come by here, what do you suggest we do about it?" asked Layla.
"Oh! Let's teleport him into the sewers!" said Stella.
"As much as I like that idea, hold that thought, Stella." Said Ranma.
"You've got something in mind?" asked Musa.
"I say we let the brat in."
"Ranma?"
"It will be different this time. I'm not gonna let that punk off so easily. I plan on showing him just how dangerous we can be when we're crossed."
"Then we'd better prepare for his arrival." Said Bloom.
"Agreed. Since this is a mind-reader we're dealing with, I'd say setting up mental blocks is in order." Said Tecna.
"Good idea, Tecna. How?" asked Ranma.
"Along with having magic over technology, my magic is also of the mind. I can temporarily block out any kind of mental probing. Pretty handy to have when you want to prevent people from trying to cheat off of you on tests." Everyone chuckles at this.
"Then do your stuff!"
Tecna nods and held her hands before her. Green electricity sparked between her palms as she focused her magic.
"Mind Shield!"
Green sparks flew up and homed in on the room's current occupants. Each spark melded into a person's head until the light died down.
"Ow… I feel like I've got a migraine…" said Stella.
"Sorry. It'll feel like that at first." Said Tecna.
"So how does this work?" asked Ranma as he was recovering.
"As I mentioned before, the Mind Shield spell will prevent any mental probing done on you. You can, however choose which thoughts to be read, which means you can give off false information, if you choose."
"Perfect…"
Later…
Nodoka was washing the dishes in the kitchen. She had sent Kasumi and Sasuke to refresh themselves at the local bath house earlier along with Shampoo, Ukyou, and Mousse, so she's doing the housework. This wasn't a problem as she had her magic to ease the load. It was then that she sensed someone enter.
"Hello? Anyone home?"
Nodoka turned to see a little boy smiling cutely. She fought the urge to through a spell point-blank in his face for all the inexcusable actions he committed against her son. Forcing a smile, she responds, "Hello there, And who might you be?"
"I'm an old friend of Ranma's." Replied Satori, which Nodoka inwardly scoffed at. "I heard he lives around here. Is he around."
"I'm sorry, but Ranma's not here right now." Said Nodoka.
"That's okay. Mind if I wait around?"
"Go right ahead."
Satori smiles and leaves for the living room. Once he was gone, Nodoka frowned. 'You're no friend of my son.'
Satori took a moment to take in his surroundings. "So this is where he lives, huh? Quite a place…" He shook his head. "Not as nice as Akane's place, though. I'll make him beg to go back!"
'Let's see… if I cross-phase the wiring on the virtual display circuit, it should provide more efficient output…'
"Huh? Obviously the thoughts of a scientific genius." Satori couldn't make anything of the technical jargon he was hearing, then looked over to the next room to see a girl with short purple hair working on a small mechanism. "Must be one of those gaijins. She certainly doesn't look to be from around here."
He gulps as he saw Tecna's head turn up and looked at him. "Hmmm? How long were you there?"
"Just got here." Said Satori.
"Don't think I've seen you around here before."
"I'm Satori."
"I'm-"
"Tecna, right?"
Tecna faked surprise. "Now how did you know that?"
"The truth is, I can read minds."
"Can you now? If that is true, what am I thinking of right now?"
Satori focused on Tecna, trying to read her thoughts. In her mind, he almost got shot down by security robots which coincidentally looked like Ranma, electrocuted by live wires, and nearly buried in green binary numbers. Satori quickly exits, panting in relief.
"Such security…" said Satori.
"Hmmm? Did something happen?" asked Tecna.
Satori was snapped to reality. "No no! Nothing!"
He quickly leaves the area, leaving a smirking Tecna.
"Mental blocks are working like a charm. Also, my mind can be quite dangerous when coming in."
'Just what was that? That was a bit freaky…' thought Satori. 'I have to admit, though, she looked pretty cute…'
He goes into the backyard and spots Flora kneeling before her garden with a watering can.
'Looks like you need some water, little ones.' Flora turns to see Satori. "Oh? And-"
" '-who might I be', right?" interrupted Satori. "I'm Satori."
"Hello there. I'm-"
"Flora? Kinda fitting. Sorry about that. I happen to be a mind-reader. Don't be alarmed." 'She's quite beautiful'
Flora, like Tecna, faked surprise. "You're a mind-reader? So what brings you here?"
"Actually, I'm here to see someone."
"Oh? Who?"
"Ranma Saotome."
"Ranma? You a friend of his?"
Satori puts up a fake smile. "Yes I am."
Flora instantly saw through the false front Satori was putting up. "Well it's nice to see one of Ranma's friends dropping by." 'You're no friend of Ranma…' Flora mentally added, which was blocked from Satori from hearing. "I'm afraid he is not in at the moment."
"I know. I heard earlier." Said Satori. He decides to delve into Flora's mind. All he could see was beautiful greenery stretching out for miles and further down he could see Flora standing within a circle of exotic flowers and plants. She holds her hand out, causing a gust to blow up some petals into the air, which form Ranma's face. She smiles as she looks at the image with longing. 'So beautiful and pure… she's too good for someone like Ranma!'
"Something wrong?" asked Flora.
Satori was snapped to reality. "Err… nothing…"
"You were looking into my mind, weren't you?"
"Er… uh…"
"I don't know about you, but I think that's considered an invasion of privacy, don't you think?"
"Er… I… uh… that is… I didn't mean…"
"Just don't let it happen again, okay?"
"Uh… sure…"
Flora nods and resumes tending to her garden.
Satori walks back into the house. 'Okay, that felt a bit awkward, but she sure looked beautiful!' He sees Layla from behind on the floor doing some stretches. The way she was doing it looked pretty sensuous and had Satori's eyes bulging.
'One, two, three, four, and switch…'
Layla turned to see Satori gazing at her. "Huh, enjoying the view?"
"Ah! Uh, it's just… well…" Satori stammered. "Looks like you keep yourself in good shape."
"Well, it is healthy." Said Layla. "I'm-"
"Your name is Layla." Said Satori. "Sorry, but I can read minds. Didn't mean to startle you."
Layla puts up a face. "So that's how you knew my name? You knew what I was going to say?"
"It's just a thing I do." Said Satori.
"So what am I thinking of right now?"
Satori looks at Layla and into her mind. He finds himself in a void and suddenly gets subjected to a hard deluge of purple water. He desperately tries to swim out of it and keep his head above the water, but was suddenly hit in the back of his head by a surf board, causing him to sink back into the depths.
"Huh? I think I hit something." Said the mind Layla as she was surfing.
Satori quickly gets out of Layla's mind, panting as well as feeling a pain in the back of his head.
"Something wrong?" asked Layla.
"Nothing!" Satori quickly leaves.
Layla stood smirking. It looked like her mind security left an impression on the boy.
Satori heads down the hall, rubbing the back of his head.
'Ow! That never happened before! How did it happen?'
He hears music being played in a closed room and decided to check it out. Peeking through the door, he sees Musa playing a saxophone in a jazzy beat.
'She's quite good.'
Once Musa was done with her number, Satori made himself known by clapping. "That was pretty good."
Musa turned to look at Satori. "Oh, thanks, uh…"
"Name's Satori, and you are Musa. Quite fitting."
She puts up a false face of shock. "Huh? Now-"
"-how did I know? I read your mind." Satori interrupted.
Musa kept up her front and gave the false thought of, 'No way, that's impossible,' when she was really thinking 'He's got some nerve going into my head, he thinks he's impressing me or something?'
"You just thought, 'No way, that's impossible'."
"Okay… so what else am I thinking?" asked Musa with fake curiosity, which was lost on Satori.
Satori gazed at Musa and found himself being bombarded by large music notes that shattered upon impact. Each shattered note would play out a VERY loud earsplitting sound. Satori reflexively covered his ears, trying to block the sound out and screamed in pain, snapping him back into reality.
"Whoa! What's wrong with you?" asked Musa.
Satori panted a bit as he slowly recovered from the sound wave hell. "Loud sounds… loud sounds…"
"Hmmm?"
"No no no! I'm not trying to insult your music talent or anything! I just felt something else…"
"I should hope not."
"Well, I won't keep you down, so I'll be off." Said Satori as he left the room, his ears slightly bleeding.
Musa noted this and smirked.
'I feel like I've gotten a headache for some reason…' thought Satori as he went down the hall. Coming out onto the side patio, he sees Stella reclining on a sun chair, soaking up the sun's rays. Satori couldn't tear his eyes away from the sexy scantily-clad blonde and once again found himself drooling. 'Hellooooo Nurse!'
Stella sits up a bit and stretches out in a sensuous manner, getting the mind-reader even more excited. "Oh, didn't notice you there." Said Stella with fake surprise. She had already known that Satori was watching her earlier.
"Hi there! The name's Satori."
"Satori, is it? I'm-"
"You are Stella, yes?"
"Uh… yes… that was quite a lucky guess there."
"Nope. I actually read your mind, that's how I knew."
"A mind-reader? No way. That's-"
"Impossible? Not likely since I'm standing here before you."
Stella pretends to be impressed when in truth she wasn't at all. It was a cheap parlor trick as far as she was concerned. "Interesting kid, aren't you?"
"Oh, I'm a lot more, and I see you're a lot more, too."
Satori delves into Stella's mind to see her current thoughts. He finds himself in a place illuminated by multi-colored lights and sparkles that nearly blinded him. Within the lights, he sees Stella taking a pose reminiscent of the Venus painting. 'My! She's so radiant!' Satori then gets a look of disgust when he sees Stella turn towards a light image of Ranma and she struts over to him before proceeding to make out. 'Hmph… why is she thinking about that jerk? I'd be a much better choice!'
"Hello? Hello?"
"Oh… huh?"
"So what did you see? You were reading my mind just now, weren't you?" said Stella. "Unless, of course, you were just spacing out a bit."
"Uh… nothing. Some radiance, though."
"Well, I do like light."
"Well don't let me keep you from your business." Satori leaves the area as Stella smirks.
'He thinks he has a chance with me? Not in this lifetime!'
Satori backtracks through the house. 'That girl is hot! I ought to make her mine! Ranma doesn't deserve her!'
He finally comes across the last of the Winx Club, Bloom, from behind in the living room. The redhead was sitting on the couch with her sketchpad on her knees. Before her on the table was a small bowl of fruit, acting as her model. On the pad, Bloom was drawing a perfect likeness of the fruit bowl.
"And now to shade in the depth…"
"Nice drawing."
Bloom turned to the unfamiliar voice. "Oh, thanks, uh…"
"Satori. And you must be Bloom."
"Yes I am. Do you know me?" asked Bloom with false curiosity.
"No, but I knew your name because I can read your mind." Said Satori.
"Wow, that's really something!" In reality, Bloom wasn't at all impressed. Little did Satori know that while he was reading Bloom's false thoughts, she in turn was viewing his real thoughts via her aura sight. Though Satori put up a cute and innocent front, his aura self looked rather devious and scheming. "So what's a mind-reader doing here?"
"I happen to be an old friend of Ranma's." replied Satori.
Bloom then looked at Aura Satori who said, "Yeah right, like I'd ever be a friend to that fool!"
"Really now?" asked Bloom.
"Yeah. I just happened to be in the neighborhood. I've met your friends earlier. They're pretty nice."
"Oh, they are."
"And from what I've read, you're all friends of Ranma?" asked Satori.
"We are. We care about him a great deal."
Bloom looks at Aura Satori who retorts, "You shouldn't! He's a jerk and he doesn't deserve you girls for friends!"
Bloom tried very hard not to lash out at the boy for his thoughts. 'Just who does he think he is? You don't know Ranma like we do! You're no friend of his!'
Satori, unaware of Bloom's dark thoughts, was looking into her mind. In the void, he was suddenly attacked by a giant flaming dragon that blasted him with fire. He screams in pain as he was engulfed in an inferno. He gazes in horror as the flames took the form of Ranma, who smirks deviously before engulfing Satori in dragon fire.
"Hey, you all right?" asked Bloom.
Satori stopped screaming as he was back from his mind jump. "Uh, oh! Yeah, I'm fine!" He then noticed Bloom was looking at him funny and reads her mind. "And now you're thinking my hair's on fire, haha." He thought it was a joke, until he smelled something burning and his scalp felt hot. His eyes widened with horrified realization. "AAAAAHHH! MY HAIR'S REALLY ON FIRE!"
Bloom watched as the boy quickly runs out of the room, out into the back yard, and dunks his whole head into the koi pond, dousing his burning hair. The redhead chuckles at this scene. 'That ought to cool him off.'
Sometime later, Ranma returns home. He gets a telepathic message from Tecna.
'Ranma? It's me, Tecna. Your little 'friend' has arrived.'
'So he has, has he? Guess it's time to prepare.'
'You got it!'
Cutting off the transmission, Ranma carries out the first phase and materializes a vase on a nearby stand. He later sensed Satori was watching him in hiding. Ranma walks past the stand and "accidentally" bumped the vase off, causing it to fall off and shatter on the floor.
"Oh crap!" said Ranma as he knelt down to the broken pieces and started picking them up. 'I hope no one saw that…'
"I saw you!"
Ranma's head snapped up as he heard the voice. "I know that voice…" He gathered all the pieces into his hands.
"You broke that vase! I saw you!" taunted Satori from his hiding spot.
"Why don't you show yourself instead of hiding like a coward!"
Satori pops up from hiding to smirk at Ranma. "Been a long time."
"Not long enough, I'm afraid."
"You can't hide it, Ranma! I'll tell everyone you broke that vase!"
"You wouldn't dare!" 'Just try it, you little punk!'
Satori makes a smug face as he says, "Oh, I will! Have you forgotten? I can still read your mind!"
Ranma growls, but his shielded thoughts were, 'You try it and you're in for a surprise, you puny asshole.'
Satori fought the urge to laugh when he saw Ranma hide the pieces behind his back. "Oh please! You can't hide that! That's real pathetic!"
Flora comes down into the room. "What's all the commotion? Oh, Ranma! You're back!"
"Oh, hi, Flora." Said Ranma.
Flora then noticed something. "Where's my vase?"
Satori grins, seeing an opportunity and immediately started pointing at Ranma. "He broke it! I saw him! And he's hiding the pieces behind his back!"
"No I'm not." Ranma stated calmly.
'Go ahead, dig yourself deeper. Makes it easier for me!' thought Satori. "He's lying!"
"Ranma? What are you hiding?" asked Flora.
"Oh, just this." Ranma brought his hands before him, revealing an UNBROKEN vase. "I accidentally tipped it over, but managed to save it."
"Oh, thank goodness! I don't know what I'd do if it were broken."
Satori's eyes widened. How could the vase be whole? Wasn't it in a million pieces just a moment ago? "Hey! That's impossible! I saw you break it!"
"Whatever are you talking about? As you can see, it's in one piece." Said Ranma mockingly. Little did Satori know was that Ranma had instantly repaired the broken vase behind his back through alchemy. He then goes to Flora and hands her the vase. "It's important to you, so you should keep it in your room. It'll be safer that way."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Flora then directs her attention to Satori. "You know, Satori, it's not nice to lie like that."
"But… but… I saw him break it!" Satori insisted.
"Give it a rest already. It's not broken, so let's just leave it at that." Said Ranma before he gives off his own smug grin. 'Nice try, you prick.'
Flora leaves, leaving Ranma and Satori alone. Satori shoots Ranma an angry glare and stomps up to him.
"I don't know what you did, but it won't work a second time! I know you'll slip up sooner or later, and when you do, I'll be there!" said Satori.
"You've got some nerve, kid." Said Ranma nonchalantly. "So what's with this uninvited appearance of yours?" 'As if I didn't know.'
"I'm going to see to it that you go back to the Tendo Dojo! I'll ruin you here if that's what it'll take to do it! You'll soon be begging to go back!"
"Not likely. I happen to like my life the way it is now. I'm not the same guy I was back then. You're treading on thin ice here. You do NOT want to get on my bad side this time."
"Ha! Empty threats. As if you could do anything to me! Have you forgotten the beating I gave you last time?"
"I won't be held responsible for what happens to you later. Don't say I didn't warn you." With that said, Ranma leaves for his room.
Satori was left alone with his thoughts. 'Just you wait, Ranma Saotome! I WILL get you sent back to the Tendo Dojo! Once you're gone, don't worry about your friends, I'll take GOOD care of them! They're too good for a lowlife like you!'
Unknown to him, Bloom had been spying on him during the whole exchange, the mental block preventing her from being discovered by the mind-reading brat. She was pretty disgusted at what he heard, and even more so when she heard his thoughts from his aura self.
'Appearances really are deceiving. If I hadn't seen it from Ranma's memories, I would've thought he was just an innocent boy, but now I know he's anything but! Just what does that kid thinks he knows anyway?'
Bloom silently leaves the area to regroup with the others.
Later, Ranma was in the living room reading a manga. Hidden nearby, Satori was about to make his next move. He managed to swipe Musa's iPod earlier and waits. Ranma leaves to go get a drink, and Satori quickly places the iPod under one of the couch feet and quickly hides. He sees Ranma enter and sits down on the couch, causing a cracking noise to be heard. He gets up and sees the now crushed iPod. 'Oh damn!' Ranma false-thought.
'Got you!' Satori thought before leaving to find Musa. He sees her searching around. "You lose something, Musa?"
"I'm trying to find my iPod. I must've misplaced it."
"I think I know where it is."
"Really? Can you show me?"
"Sure thing!" It was perfect. Satori will lead Musa to the crime scene with Ranma and the broken iPod. She'll hate Ranma for sure after this!
Satori sees Ranma sitting there as if nothing's going on. 'Hmph! He's probably playing dumb and must've hidden it somewhere! Well I'll expose him!' "Hey Ranma! You're hiding Musa's iPod, aren't you?"
Ranma turns towards them. "Hmmm? No, I haven't seen it. You lose it, Musa?"
"He's lying! He broke it and he's hiding it from you!" said Satori.
"Ranma? Is that true?" asked Musa.
"No it isn't."
Before Satori could refute his claim, Tecna walks in. "Oh Musa, I found your iPod on the floor." She goes and returns the music maker to the musical faerie.
"Oh, thanks, Tecna! Glad you found it for me." Said Musa as she plugs it to her ears and started bopping to the music tracks.
Satori was shocked. That was impossible! He saw the iPod broken himself! It even had the same etching of "Property of Musa" on the back of it.
"Wait! That can't be right!" said Satori. "I just saw him break it!"
"What are you talking about, Satori? It's right here!" said Musa, gesturing to the iPod in her hand.
Ranma smirked again at Satori's dumbfounded expression. Tecna had come earlier and rebuilt the iPod in an instant. Fixing small technology like that was child's play to her.
Satori glares at Ranma, believing he had something to do with it, as the pigtailed boy merely shrugged.
Laster, he caught Ranma accidentally spilling soy sauce on one of Stella's cashmere scarves and once the blonde came down, Satori was quick to blab out the crime to her, but again was thwarted when Ranma had the stain removed when he wasn't looking.
Other incidents followed. Satori tried everything to get Ranma in trouble with the Winx, but he would always be thwarted in his attempts. When that failed, he tried to attack Ranma when he was alone. Satori had figured that he could easily take the pigtailed boy on since his foresight on his movements gave him an upper hand. Unfortunately for him, Ranma had an even better upper hand, in the form of six soul phantoms. He tried to charge Ranma from behind, but was tripped by Silver Timmy's outstretched leg, causing him to fall flat on his face. Next, Satori tried to dive attack Ranma from the roof, but was suddenly hit high by an uppercut from Onyx Riven and crashed into a mud puddle just outside the house walls. After that, when Ranma was training in the dojo, Satori once again tried to charge him while he wasn't looking, but ran face-first into the invisible elbow charge of Amethyst Nabu. Ranma saw the boy knocked out and resumed his training like nothing happened.
Satori just couldn't understand it. As far as he knew, Ranma wasn't even thinking of doing any attacks, so how could he have been struck? It was like he was being attacked by ghosts or something. If he only knew. Satori may be able to read the minds of humans, but to read the minds of pure souls was impossible.
Dining room sometime later…
"Time to eat, everyone!" Nodoka called out.
Ranma and the Winx girls were immediately at the table and marveled at the dinner before them.
"Everything looks delicious!" said Stella.
"And a lot!" added Tecna.
"Considering the number of people under this roof, I have to, you know." Nodoka joked.
"Good point."
Satori, after tending to his injuries, entered the dining room.
"Oh Satori! Nice of you to join us!" said Bloom.
"Oh, thank you!" said Satori as he gave and admiring gaze to Bloom and the girls. His expression soured when he met eye to eye with Ranma. He takes his seat just across from him.
Ranma immediately knew what was going to happen next, and relayed telepathically to the others. 'Better get prepared, girls.'
'You got it!'
The dinner was relatively quiet, except for the fast eating of Ranma and Satori. Once Ranma was done with his portion, he reached out with his chopsticks for the pickle chips saucer. Satori sensed this and immediately used his chopsticks to pull the saucer out of Ranma's reach and greedily eats them. Ranma growls and reaches for the soba bowl, but was pulled out of reach again by Satori who eats it down. At this point, Ranma was starting to get annoyed and reaches for the rice bowl, but was yet again pulled away by Satori's chopsticks. Satori flashes Ranma a devious smile.
'Hmph, predictable. I'll make you starve! You won't get a scrap of food while I'm here! And if you blow your top, everyone here will accuse you of child cruelty like back at the Tendos!'
Unknown to Satori, as he thought this, the Winx girls and Nodoka were giving him angry glares. Unlike the Tendo Dojo residents, they were more observant. They caught how he was purposely going for whatever food Ranma was about to take despite the table having so much food.
'Guess you haven't changed, you little douche. After this, you'll learn not to take others' food!'
Ranma reaches for the sushi platter to get a roll, but was intercepted by Satori as he immediately took the roll and quickly puts it to his mouth. As he bit down, he noticed that he bit on empty air.
'Huh?' Satori became shocked when he saw Ranma had the roll in his own chopsticks and ate it. 'How did he! I'll show him!'
He swipes the last dim sum from the platter Ranma was reaching for and bit down, but was again biting empty chopsticks. He looked up and saw Ranma had the last dim sum and popped it in his mouth.
""Mmmm… delicious." Said Ranma.
Satori couldn't understand what was happening. He tried again several times, taking first what Ranma was aiming for, but would always wind up empty and Ranma eating. Ranma silently thanked having those teleportation lessons. He was able to quickly teleport the food away from Satori and into his own chopsticks, only leaving behind the parts Satori's chopsticks were touching. He certainly didn't want to eat something that was touched by someone else's utensils after all, especially from him.
Satori tried again by swiping the last dumpling before Ranma could get it and quickly bit down.
Crack!
"OW!"
Satori felt like he just bit on a rock. His throat also felt a bit itchy. Looking forward, he saw that Ranma was eating the dumpling. So what was in his own mouth? Taking the object out of his mouth, Satori realized it was the pepper shaker. He dropped it in shock and was immediately hacking.
"Goodness? You all right?" asked Flora.
"What were you thinking, trying to eat the pepper shaker?" asked Layla.
Quickly downing some water to recover, he responds, "Er… I like spices?"
"Well, I'd better get these empty dishes out of the way." Said Nodoka as she got up and took away some empty dishes to the kitchen.
The dining resumes. Ranma reaches to get a sushi roll, but was beaten to it by Satori.
'Hasn't learned his lesson yet, huh?' He links with Bloom. 'Bloom, since he says he likes spices, how about you spice that roll up for him?'
'Thought you'd never ask!' thought Bloom as she uses a silent spell. 'Dragonfire Spice!'
Without Satori noticing, Bloom shot a small spark at the roll, turning the rice red. Unfortunately for the mind-reader, he bit down and swallowed. That's when he felt a burning pain within himself.
"GYAAAAAAAAAHHHH! HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!" Satori's eyes watered as his whole head turned red and started shooting out gouts of flame from his mouth. "WATER! WATER!"
He desperately looked around for water, but unfortunately, Nodoka had taken the water pitcher away to be refilled. He had nothing to save his burning mouth and throat.
Well, almost nothing.
"He's on fire." Stated Tecna.
"What do we do?" asked Flora.
"Cool him off." Replied Ranma. "Platinum Sky…"
Platinum Sky emerges from Ranma and grabs Satori by the hair. He then drags the boy out the sliding door to the back yard, spins Satori around, and slams him headfirst into the koi pond with a big splash.
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
SPLASH!
The task done, Platinum Sky fuses back into Ranma. Everyone noticed that Satori's legs were sticking up out of the pond. Apparently, Platinum Sky slammed the boy too hard. In fact, upon closer inspection, Satori's head was completely buried under the bottom of the pond.
"That certainly cooled him off." Said Musa.
"Nice work, Bloom, Ranma!" said Stella.
"Pretty funny, actually!" said Bloom.
"We won't have to worry about him during dinner now." Said Ranma.
"But still, don't you think you went a little overboard there?" asked Bloom.
Ranma tilts his head in mock thought. "Hmmmm…. NAH!" They all laugh at this until Nodoka came back with a refilled water pitcher.
"What's so funny? Did I miss anything?" asked Nodoka.
"No, but we do have an impromptu bird bath stand in the koi pond now." Said Ranma.
Everyone continues to finish dinner as Satori continues to practically drown, not that he can since he's still unconscious. He'll have to worry about that once he wakes up.
Later, after Satori managed to dry off and recover, he sees Ranma sitting on the couch and juggling a ball in one hand, seemingly in contemplation. Satori refrains from trying to attack him this time, instead in favor of reading his thoughts. Of course, unknown to him, they were false thoughts made by Ranma.
'Hmmm… what to do? I promised to go out with Bloom next week, but I also promised Stella as well. I also agreed to taking Flora, Musa, Tecna, and Layla, but their free times are all the same! And to top it all off, we're all going to the same place! How did I get into this mess? Well, since it's in the same place, I can go between each of them without the girls noticing. Man, that's tough enough trying something like that with just two, but six?'
Satori frowned as he heard these thoughts. 'Why that two-timer! Or rather six-timer! He's stringing them all along! He's cheating on every single one of them! Well I'll tell the girls about his bigotry!'
As Satori left, Ranma smirked. 'That's right, dig yourself deeper.'
Satori heads upstairs to the large guestroom the Winx Club was sharing. The sudden entrance startled the girls.
"Satori?" said Bloom.
"You know, it would've been more polite if you had knocked first before entering a girl's room." Said Flora.
"Sorry about that, but I have something important to talk with you about." Said Satori.
"Oh? What about?" asked Musa.
"It's about Ranma."
"Ranma? Is he sick or something?" asked Stella in concern.
"Oh I do hope he's all right." Said Flora.
"If by sick, you mean sick in the head, then yes!" said Satori.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked Tecna.
"He's nothing but a cheating swine! He's stringing you all along! Ranma's cheating with each and every one of you! A rotten six-timer!"
"Oh please, Satori. Ranma's not like that." Said Layla.
"Yeah. He's a great guy!" added Musa.
"How can you say that! I had read his mind earlier about how he planned to keep it all a secret from you! Ranma's a jerk! You all should hate him!" insisted Satori.
"What reason does he have to do that for? He cares about us and wouldn't do anything to hurt us." Said Bloom.
Satori couldn't believe what he was hearing. These girls had such strong faith in Ranma despite what he had told them. He delved into their minds and was shocked to see they all had the same thoughts about Ranma being their one and only. How could such nice and wonderful girls be attracted to that heart-breaking pimp!
"But he's a cheater! A heart-breaker!" said Satori.
"Satori, I know you are a guest, but I do not wish to hear any more negativity of Ranma!" said Stella.
"Yeah! Now if you'll excuse us…" said Bloom as she got up to usher Satori out of the room, locking the door behind him.
Satori was livid. 'How can this be! After everything I told them, they should all hate Ranma's guts!'
The person in question had just come up the stairs and stops when he sees Satori. The mind reader gives Ranma a hateful glare, which he returns with an indifferent one. Ranma proceeds to walk forward until Satori stood in his way. When he tried to walk around him, Satori would just move to block his path again. This annoying dance continued a couple more times until Ranma got peeved.
"Just what the hell is your problem?" asked Ranma in a not so nice tone.
"You're the problem here!" said Satori. "You don't deserve to be those girls' slave let alone their friend! They could do a lot better than a pathetic loser like you!"
"You should watch your mouth, punk. And I suppose you'd be a better choice?"
"Of course! They deserve better!"
"You're in over your head, kid. Better stop before you get hurt."
"Yeah right! Like you can do anything to me!"
"I have something to discuss with the girls, so would you please kindly move out of the way."
"No way! You don't deserve to be in their presence!"
"You've got some nerve telling me where I can and can't go in my own home. And my relationships with them is none of your damn business!"
"I'm making it my business! You're not getting past me!"
"I'll ask nicely one more time. MOVE."
"MAKE ME!"
'Have it your way, you little shit stain.' Ranma thought blocked. 'Diamond Brandon!'
Diamond Brandon appeared behind Satori and grabbed him by the back of his underwear. With a mighty pull, the phantom Specialist gave Satori the Wedgie from Hell.
"GYAAAAAH!" Satori screamed in pain as he was mysteriously given a huge wedgie and was hanging in the air by his briefs. "OW OW OW! WHAT'S GOING ON!"
"Why are you asking me for? You're the mind reader." Said Ranma nonchalantly. 'Gold Helia!'
Gold Helia appeared and opened the outside window. He then signaled to Diamond Brandon to toss him the annoying brat. Once Gold Helia caught the still confused mind reader (by his now stretched out briefs), he chucks him out the window like yesterday's garbage.
"AAAAHHH!"
SPLASH!
Satori once again splashed headfirst into the koi pond.
"I warned you." Said Ranma as he made his way to the Winx's room. He knocked on the door. "Girls? It's me, Ranma."
Stella opened the door for him. "Hey Ranma, come on in!"
As Ranma entered and sat down on a chair, the Faeries gathered around to inquire.
"We heard the commotion outside." Said Layla.
"So what did you do?" asked Musa.
"Just tossing some useless garbage out the window. No wait, that would be an insult to garbage." Replied Ranma.
Some time later, Ranma stood on the roof of the house looking outwards as if waiting on something. His expression hardened as he sensed Satori a few feet behind him.
"RANMA!"
Ranma slowly turns his head to give the annoying brat a sideways glance. "Yo. So what is it this time? I would've thought you'd be smart enough to cease this idiocy, but I guess that was too much to hope for."
"Shut up! This ends now! I challenge you!" declared Satori as he pointed at Ranma. "If I win, you go back to the Tendo Dojo and you never make contact with either Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna, or Layla ever again!"
"Pretty damn confident, aren't you? Making such high stakes for me. WHEN I win, you'll never darken our lives with your presence again! I'll also take what is precious to you!"
"Just try it!" said Satori as he rushed forwards. "You just made the biggest mistake of your life!"
'On the contrary, YOU made the mistake, you stupid piece of shit.' Ranma block thought.
"Have you forgotten? I can read ALL your moves!" Said Satori as he was ready to begin his assault. 'I'll just attack at where he will dodge! There's no way he can avoid me!'
Ranma looked to move.
'Dodge left, huh? You'll dodge right into my punch!' He punches towards Ranma's left, but was shocked when his attack hit and missed towards his right. 'Huh!' Satori tried a high kick when he read that Ranma will jump, but hit empty air as Ranma was high above him. Landing behind Satori, the mind reader lashes out with a backfist, but was again dodged. He continued to attack Ranma, who continued to dodge every hit with his enhanced speed. 'This is impossible! I'm hitting at where he will dodge, but I'm still missing him! How can this be happening!'
"What's the problem? I thought you said you could read my moves?" taunted Ranma as he danced around Satori's attacks. (1)
"Shut up and stand still!" shouted Satori as he missed Ranma by a few inches.
"Not likely, brat."
It was then that Bloom climbed up to the roof. "Ranma? What's going on?"
Ranma turned to look at the redhead. "Oh, Bloom."
'An opening!' Satori charged at Ranma while his attention was diverted. 'You shouldn't have taken your eyes off of me, fool!' Just as Satori was about to strike at Ranma's gut, he was suddenly punched away by Gold Helia. 'OW! What hit me!'
Ranma turns to look at Satori. "Hmph… how dishonorable of you, trying to attack me when I wasn't looking."
Soon, the other Winx girls were up on the roof, observing the fight. Satori quickly took an opportunity to get them to side with him.
"You see what a jerk he is! He's beating me up for no reason! Child abuser!" shouted Satori.
"What are you talking about, Satori? Ranma didn't even lay a hand on you. You looked like you just leapt back on your own." Said Flora.
It was true. Ranma didn't even touch Satori. His soul did.
"But-but- but… he hit me!" said Satori.
"Even if he did, for what reason?" asked Layla.
"I told you! He's being a jerk! He just attacked me for no reason!"
"So you're saying you were on the roof by yourself earlier before Ranma came up? What were you doing?" asked Musa.
"Uh… I… uh…"
"Maybe I can clear this up." Said Tecna as she holds out a tape recorder and plays it.
"Shut up! This ends now! I challenge you! If I win, you go back to the Tendo Dojo and you never make contact with either Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna, or Layla ever again!"
"Pretty damn confident, aren't you? Making such high stakes for me. WHEN I win, you'll never darken our lives with your presence again! I'll also take what is precious to you!"
"Just try it! You just made the biggest mistake of your life!"
Tecna stops the recording. Satori blanched when he heard the recorded conversation between himself and Ranma.
"It looks like Ranma has good enough reason to attack you. YOU were the one who challenged HIM to a fight, and with such high stakes, no less." Said Tecna.
"So you forced Ranma into a fight to decide our fates?" asked Flora with a bit of an edge in her voice.
"No wait! You don't understand!" pleaded Satori. "I was just-"
" '-Trying to get us to hate Ranma so you'd get our favor', is that right?" Bloom cut in.
"G-huh!" 'How could she have-!'
"So that WAS your plan. That reaction of yours proves it." Said Stella.
"But I was only trying to save you from this jerk!" said Satori.
"Punk, if they needed to be saved from someone, it's from you!" said Ranma. "How's it feel now that YOUR thoughts are being known by everyone? Not so funny when you're the one on the receiving end, is it?"
Satori gets angry and charges at Ranma. "I'LL TURN YOU TO A PULP!"
"Silver Timmy…"
Silver Timmy appears and grabs and lifts up Satori from behind by his hair.
"OW OW OW OW! WHAT'S GOING ON!" shouted Satori in pain as he held his hair.
"Onyx Riven…"
Onyx Riven comes forth and assaults the hanging Satori with punches and kicks. He's basically become a punching bag for the soul.
"OW OW OW! HOW IS THIS HAPPENING!"
"You're a mind reader. Figure it out by your damn self!" replied Ranma.
Once Onyx Riven finished his brutal assault on Satori, he uppercuts him hard into the air.
"Platinum Sky…"
Immediately, Platinum Sky jumps up after Satori and grabs him from behind. Turning themselves upside down, the soul performs the Izuna Otoshi, spin-driving Satori head-first into the back yard. Ranma and the girls get down into the yard. Before Satori could get up, he was stomped on the chest and held down by Diamond Brandon.
"I… can't… move!" said Satori.
"You lose." Said Ranma.
"CHEATER!" shouted Satori.
"Oh? And your mind reading was a fair advantage for you? Please!"
"I WILL get you sent back to the Tendo Dojo!"
"After getting your stupid ass royally kicked, you still think you have a chance of doing so? You really are a little idiot!"
"I don't understand it! How could you have beaten me! It's impossible to dodge me since I know when and where you'll move!"
"Your precognition doesn't mean JACK SHIT if your body can't keep up!" said Ranma. "Plus, I've learned a few tricks of my own! Most of this whole time, I've been feeding you FALSE THOUGHTS!"
Satori was shocked. "IMPOSSIBLE! There's no way anyone can keep their thoughts hidden, especially not someone like you!"
"Newsflash, you little shit head, I just did!"
Nodoka then walks in.
"Miss! This brute is harassing a child! Stop him!"
"Why? He has every right to do what he's doing." Said Nodoka.
"WHAT! How could you let this thug do this!" demanded Satori.
"That 'thug' as you call him is MY SON!"
Satori was shocked when he heard this. "W-w-what! YOUR SON!"
"Oh, didn't I mention that to you? My full name is Nodoka SAOTOME!" said Nodoka. "Ranma had told me about his first encounter with you, and I don't appreciate you making an enemy out of him simply because he was ONCE the fiancée of Akane Tendo and that you once wanted her for yourself. Unlike you, I KNOW my own son, and he wouldn't lie about things like this. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, boy, for trying to charm people who are already spoken for. You're obviously no friend of my son since your sole purpose here was to get him sent back to that horrible place, which I might add, have pulled him out from!"
"I warned you earlier about lying, Satori." Said Flora. "People's thoughts are their own. If we want our thoughts to be known, it will be of our own accord, NOT yours."
"Yeah! All you've done was invade people's privacies with your ability!" said Musa.
"The minute you made an enemy with Ranma, you made enemies with us!" said Bloom. "You don't know a thing about Ranma like we do!"
Satori was trapped. They had him pegged. He had been played for an idiot all along. Seeing all the angry females, Satori got really nervous. "Uh… eh-heheheh… uh… it was all just a joke… hahaha! You know, a joke made between friends, right? We're all friends here! Forgive and forget, right?"
Everyone frowns at this pathetic excuse for a human being.
"Forgive? If you want to know if I forgive you or not, then just read my mind!" said Ranma. (2)
Satori does just that and looks into Ranma's mind. He blanches when he saw nothing but IMMENSE PAIN from rapid-fire punches and kicks. "No… no! NOOOO!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" said Stella. "Oh my!"
Suddenly, ALL of Ranma's souls come out before him with eyes promising immense pain (though Satori couldn't see them). They all cracked their knuckles before they rushed at Satori and pummeled him all at once with rapid-fire punches and kicks.
"ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAH ORAAAAAAAAAAH!"(3)
With one combined kick, the Specialist souls punted Satori into the Stratosphere.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Satori was soon a distant dot in the sky.
"Good riddance." Said Ranma as the souls fused back into him.
"Looks like he won't be bothering anyone else now, huh Ranma?" said Tecna.
"Nope. Especially not with that spell I placed on him."
"What spell?" asked Flora.
"Well, that punk had been abusing his ability for far too long, so I thought I'd seal it off."
"So he can't read minds anymore?" asked Layla.
"Yeah, but there's more. Since I took away that ability, I've given him something else, an ability he can't control. From now on, he'll be projecting his OWN thoughts to everyone around him."
"And you did that while you were hitting him? Pretty impressive, Ranma!" said Stella.
"Aren't you the sneaky one?" teased Bloom.
"Who, me?" Ranma said with mock innocence.
They all laughed before heading back inside the house.
Somewhere in the Nerima streets…
Satori falls screaming towards the earth. Unfortunately for him, he crashes into an alleyway dumpster, causing trash to fly about. Groaning, he pulls himself out of the dumpster and crashes out to the side, into more garbage. The assault from the invisible souls caused him to suffer numerous bruises, a broken nose, and possibly a few broken bones. He turns to lie on his back before passing out from the pain. Just as he does, a stray dog comes by and urinates on him. Afterwards, it then sits on Satori's face and poops.
Satori gets himself cleaned up once he woke up later and tried to get some food. With not a yen to his name, he resorted to trying to steal from a vendor. Unfortunately, the vendor heard Satori's thoughts of how he planned to swipe an apple once he turned his back in two minutes, and was immediately chased away.
Next, Satori hung out near an ATM to read the mind of a man to get his PIN number.
'Come on, Geezer! Think of your PIN so I can use it!'
"Geezer!" Satori looked up and saw the angry gaze of the man. "You trying to steal my PIN you little punk! Get out of here before I call security!"
Satori eeped before running.
After that, Satori accidentally tipped over a vase in a museum.
"Oh no!"
A curator came up. "What happened here!"
"Uh… it fell over by itself!" said Satori.
"Really now?" said the curator with a dubious eye.
"Yeah, really!" 'Good, he didn't notice me do it.'
"Didn't notice you do it? So you DID do it!" said the curator angrily.
"Huh! No! I didn't!"
"You just said you did! I just heard you!"
"What?" 'No I didn't! I thought that, not said it!'
"You just said that, too! Security!"
Satori was immediately carted off by two security guards. "Let go of me! I'll make you regret it! I'll tell your deepest darkest secrets if you don't!"
"Yeah right, kid. Just where are your parents so we can contact them?"
"Sorry, but they're out of town." 'Actually, I don't have any. I've been on my own for a long time and I like it!'
"So you've been on your own, huh? Well not anymore. You'll be sent to a juvenile hall."
"WHAT! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
It was then that Ranma's words hit him.
Ranma: WHEN I win, you'll never darken our lives with your presence again! I'll also take what is precious to you!
Ranma was definitely true to his word. Another quote was heard.
Ranma: How's it feel now that YOUR thoughts are being known by everyone? Not so funny when you're the one on the receiving end, is it?
It was then that Satori realized what has happened. He wasn't able to read people's thoughts anymore. Rather, other people are able to hear HIS thoughts. He couldn't believe what was happening to him.
Back at the Saotome complex…
"Mom! Everyone! We're back!" announced Ukyou. She, Shampoo, Mousse, Kasumi, and Sasuke entered the home with their bath supplies.
"Welcome home!" said Nodoka. "How was your bath?"
"It was very refreshing!" replied Kasumi.
Stella went up to Kasumi and put an arm around her. "You know, next time, we should go clothes shopping. You're a bit too conservative."
"Oh, you think so?"
"So anything interesting happen while we gone?" asked Shampoo.
"Not really, Shampoo." Replied Ranma. "Just getting rid of a little pest."
The others were a bit confused to Ranma's answer while Nodoka and the Winx just chuckled to themselves.
To be continued…
Ending
(as the credits are rolling…)
Ranma walks down to the living room were the Winx were at. Tecna was fiddling with a device before the TV.
"Hey, what are you doing, Tecna?" asked Ranma.
"Just putting up a little fan video." Replied Tecna. "My little gift to Satori for when he goes to sleep."
"Huh?"
"I'm thinking if your little lesson didn't get ingrained in him, then this just might. A bit of karma justice."
"Hmm… now I'm interested. Is it ready?"
"She's just making the finishing touches." Said Flora.
After a bit more work, Tecna closes the device and activates it. "Done! Let us view!"
She turns on the TV.
The screen was black for a moment until the scene changed to show a disheveled Satori waking up in a chair in his underwear as well as a diabolical mechanical device strapped to his face and jaws. He was locked in a dark dank room with only a door, a dentist mirror, a wall mirror, a small tool box, and a TV. Satori struggles with the device to get it off of his face, but to no avail. Because it was hooked to his jaws, he couldn't speak out except for muffled grunts. After a few more seconds of trying to vainly get the device off of himself, the TV in the room sprang to life. The picture was a bit grainy, but he could make out the image of a menacing-looking white-faced marionette puppet. In a distorted voice, the puppet spoke.
"Hello Satori. I want to play a game. So far in what could loosely be called your 'life', you've made a living invading others' personal privacy with your mind reading. People would call you a stoolie, a rat, a tattler, a big mouth. I call you unworthy of the body you possess which you use to throw off any suspicions on you with an innocent front. The device you are wearing is hooked into your upper and lower jaws. It is on a spring timer, and if you do not locate the key in time, your mouth will be permanently ripped open. Think of it as a reverse bear trap. I'll show you."
The TV then displays the device on the head of a mannequin, which blows the top half off once the device activated. Satori practically pissed his underpants when he saw this. The scene then shows a video of him unconscious on a hospital gurney being operated on by a hooded figure. The puppet's voice continues to talk.
"What you are looking at right now is your own body not more than two hours ago. Don't worry, you're sound asleep and can't feel a thing. Taking into account that you can only read the minds of actual people and not recordings like this, I'm going to give you a hint as to where I've hidden the key, so listen carefully: it's in the back of your mind."
Satori becomes shocked when he sees on the TV an X-ray of his head, and the key was implanted in the back of his neck. He felt the back of his head and saw blood on his hand.
"Before reading other peoples' minds, learn to look into your own mind. How much blood are you willing to shed in order to live, Satori? Live or die, make your choice. And better hurry, or you'll become a big mouth both figuratively AND literally."
With that, the TV blips off. The timer activates, giving off an audible ticking sound. Satori screamed in anguish and fear.
'WHO THE HELL ARE YOU! SOMEONE HELP!'
In anger, Satori kicks the TV off the stand, breaking it. The ticking still going, Satori quickly opens up the small tool box, which contained a screwdriver, a knife, a hook, and a scalpel. He tried to force open the reverse bear trap from his face, but failed. Throwing it away, he takes up the scalpel and dentist mirror and heads towards the wall mirror. Quickly placing the mirrors so he's able to see the back of his head, Satori took the scalpel and lodged it into the back of his neck. He screams in pain as he tried to cut open a hole, which was difficult, made even more so since he was being timed and the key was implanted pretty deep. A few more seconds of slicing the back of his own neck, Satori couldn't take any more pain and angrily threw the scalpel to the side.
3…
2…
1…
The reverse bear trap device activates and brutally rips Satori's jaw open, splashing blood everywhere. He falls over dead.
"AAAAAHH!" Satori wakes up with a scream. He was in the barracks of a juvenile detention center. "Just a dream…"
He was soon pelted with pillows from all sides.
"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU LITTLE SNOT! SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!"
The TV turns off. The Winx looked a little disturbed at the whole trap scene. Ranma looked expressionless.
"Hmmm… maybe I made it look too brutal? I only read about it on the earth's internet movie database." (4)
After a minute, Ranma responds.
"I want to see it again!"
The girls all face-faulted at this.
"Boys…" said Stella.
End ending
Preview…
Ranma: Another day has passed here in Nerima.
Bloom: Japan usually this chaotic?
Ranma: You get used to it.
Stella: Did you hear? We're going to New York! The big city! The night life!
Ranma: An old friend of Mom's invited us over to America. This ought to be a nice change of scenery.
Flora: My, such a tall building… is that where we'll be staying at?
Musa: Wow! It's so high up!
Tecna: Interesting, there's a castle on top of it. Is this an architectural fad?
Layla: Did those statues just move?
Bloom: Next time, on Ranma Club, 'Overseas! An Age of Faeries!'
Ranma: Looks like I won't be bored.
Author's notes:
Ahhh… I felt so good after writing this chapter. I hated that little prick so much in the series I just had to do something about it. He didn't suffer at all for all the crap he pulled, but rectified that little problem nicely, huh? Mwahahahahaha!
Sorry for the delay, but I hardly get any internet time anymore, having to rely on whatever free wireless I can get in contact with.
(1)What Kenshiro said to Sangaa in Shin Hokuto no Ken.
(2)What Jotaro Kujo said to Terrence D'Arby before he let him have it with Star Platinum's Blazing Fists attack.
(3)A tribute to Star Platinum's famous battle cry in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
(4)If Satori were in Saw, this would probably happen to him. Couldn't resist putting in that torture.
Chm01: I just skimmed through a bit of it. Would've been better if it were Naruto/Hinata, IMHO.
Firelordeg: That chapter took a long time, didn't it?
OBSERVER01: You had to read it? Who knew the descriptions of the Afterlife would be so deep? So which circles you think the others ought to be subjected to, if I may ask?
Elrail: Actually, I was trying to reference Felicia's Rolling Buckler special move.
Dumbledork: Thanks!
PEJP Bengtzone: Now he has!
Skye Silverwing: I plan on having Cologne take the spot of keeping Ranma on his toes as she had done in the past. The only difference between her and Happosai's methods is that Cologne does it in order to make Ranma stronger. Happosai does it just to make his life a living hell (**). I've plans for Ryoga and Happosai…
God of all: I'll try to.
Angel Cullen Mew Chimera: Man, that makes her even worse…
Jerry Unipeg: And there will be more fun days in the future!
AndrewK9000: Well, I came across it and just got inspired. That and the Tenchi episode with Washu's haunted house she had Tenchi and Sasami go through.
Anon: To tell the truth, I really don't know that much about Konatsu.
Salamander Hanzo: ?
Hiryo: Glad you approve.
TheLordOfPages1692: Eric Genryusei suggested it to me a long time ago, and thought this would be the best place to use it. I got the opening from the old 80s sitcom, "Family Ties". I had the chapter's opening and ending play out like a sitcom. Instead of an ending song, I had an "ending scene" that would usually play when the credits roll. Oh, and in the Philippines.
Rubius: It's been a while seeing you here again, too.
Alyssa: Writing is hard…
Orchamus: You know the old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover". Also, wanted to reveal the idiocies of horrible dubbing which ruin the reps of good foreign shows.
Hitmanmarco: This fic is FAR from abandoned. I'm just having a bit of writer's block. All writers tend to experience this.
Today's…
RAI vs. 4Kids Rant!
This is a continuation of last chapter's rant. From season 1 episode 5, "Appointment in the Dark" (US: Date with Disaster).
4Kids took out the scene of the aftermath of cooking dinner for the whole school, mostly because of their stupid made-up crap about making a "good decision potion".
RAI:
Bloom and Flora enter their room after a long night of cooking.
Bloom: "Ohh… I'm exhausted…"
Flora: *yawns*
Bloom: "And I'm not even hungry anymore."
Flora: *Slumps on her bed*
Bloom: "How are you feeling, Flora? (sits up to see Flora already asleep) Enough said."
Kiko: *tucks Flora in*
Scene: Bloom leaves to check on "Stella"
4Kids:
Flora: "I know, Tecna, but still…"
Bloom: "We're her friends. Something must be up. Let me go check up on her real quick."
Musa: "You're the one with the good judgement." (There is NO damn good decision potion!)
Flora: "What about Palladium's class?"
Bloom: "I'll be right back, just give me a minute!"
(stupid cut here and goes directly to Bloom entering the ransacked dorm)
Bloom: "Stella? Huh? Whoa…"
RAI:
Flora: "But I thought we were her friends…"
Bloom: "I'll try again with Stella. You guys just wait for me here, okay?"
Musa: "Good luck, girl!"
Bloom: "Flora is right. I thought we were all friends"
(4Kids cut)
(Bloom walks up the steps and through the halls as she monologues)
Bloom: "And friends forgive each other. I'm sure Stella has a good explanation for her wacky behavior this morning. At least I hope so…"
(end 4Kids cut)
Bloom: *enters ransacked room* "Gasp! Stella?"
Scene: aftermath of "Stella's" rampage in the dorm.
4Kids:
Flora: "Why is she being such a fuddy?" (Wait… "fuddy"?)
Tecna: "There is a technical term for the way she is acting: crazy."
Bloom: "I think there's more to it than that. She's in danger! I don't know what kind of danger, but my new powers of good judgement are telling me we've got to do something!" (There IS NO DAMN GOOD JUDGEMENT POTION!)
RAI:
Flora: "What in the world has gotten into her?"
Tecna: "Her date with Prince Charming must've sent her into dizzy mode."
Bloom: "On Earth, we'd say she's out of her head, but somehow, I don't think Sky's got anything to do with it. You should've seen her! She was… she was really evil! It didn't look like her!"
Scene: Bloom, Flora, Musa, and Tecna fail to find the "Black Lagoon".
4Kids:
Flora: "My feet are killing me…"
Bloom: "I don't understand! Now could nobody in Magix have heard of this place?"
Musa: "Maybe someone's just played a joke on Stel and it put her in a bad mood."
Tecna: "You know, I think Musa's right. Let's just go back to Alfea."
Bloom: "No. Just give me a minute to think."
Tecna: "Bloom, just because you took that potion doesn't mean you're in charge!" (again with the damn nonexistent potion!)
Bloom: "I'm sorry if I care about our friend!"
Flora: "Okay people! Now just relax!"
Bloom: "Tecna!"
Tecna: "Bloom!"
RAI:
Flora: "Nothing. This isn't good…"
Bloom: "If they wanted to be a cool spot, they really should start advertising a little bit."
Musa: "Yeah! Nobody's heard of it! There's something fishy going on here…"
Tecna: "Maybe we should all go back to Alfea and warn Ms. Griselda."
Bloom: "You girls give up already?"
Tecna: "Listen, this kind of perseverance is not always good, Bloom."
Bloom: "Neither are your electronic gadgets!"
Flora: "Hey hey! This is no time to be fighting!"
Bloom: "Sorry…"
Tecna: "Yeah, sorry…"
4Kids made Bloom seem bossy here…
Scene: The girls fight against "Stella"
4Kids:
"Stella": "Ha ha! It's over, Pixies!"
Musa: "Friend or not, she's gonna get Mused!" (WTF?)
Flora: " 'She's gonna get Mused'? What's that? " (I'd like to know that myself, too…)
Bloom: "Guys, that's not Stella! You know who calls us 'Pixies'! (stands) Are you Icy or Darcy!"
"Stella": "And the slowest horse crosses the finish line! Ahahaha! Congradulations! (reverts to Darcy) Here's your prize!"
RAI:
"Stella": "Ready to surrender!"
Musa: "That's enough! I'm sick of being your target!"
Flora: "No, Musa! Don't react! We can't hurt Stella!"
Bloom: "But that's not Stella! She has no powers without her ring! (stands) Alright, enough fooling around!"
"Stella": "Right you are, little faeries! Time to shed the disguise, and be myself! (reverts to Darcy) Once again!"
4Kids couldn't use a simple thing like that for the girls to figure out that "Stella" was a fake…
Scene: After the girls rescue the real Stella.
4Kids:
Musa: "That was a good decision, Bloom."
Stella: "Yeah, seriously. I wish I had some of that potion last night." (for the last time, THERE'S NO DAMN POTION!)
Tecna: "Then you might have known NOT to go out on a date?"
Bloom: "Hey, you know what? Last night, I almost forgot to mix in the mandrake beet. Who knows what would've happened?"
Tecna: "No wait! You're supposed to mix in a mandrake ROOT, not a beet!"
Flora: "Wait, she got the potion wrong? You know what this means?"
Bloom: "I sure do, Flora! This totally rules!"
Stella: "Bloom, what are you talking about?"
Bloom: "I'm a natural good decision maker!"
Flora: "You didn't need the potion! Just thinking you took it gave you confidence!"
Bloom: "You know girls, the Witches may have scored a goal, but they haven't won the game! (kicks a can)"
Tecna: "What game?"
Stella: "It's an expression, Tecna!"
Bloom: "Don't worry! We're gonna get that ring back! (kicks can at screen)"
RAI:
Musa: "We've been had. We fell for it like amateurs."
Stella: "Well, maybe that's because we ARE amateurs."
Tecna: "We could have beaten them! It was four against four!"
Bloom: "A battle could've made things worse. To me, the exchange was the best possible option bar none."
Tecna: "But who are you to decide for all of us? You're not the boss!"
Flora: "Tecna, I would've done the same thing."
Bloom: "They might've scored a goal, but the game isn't over yet!"
Stella: "What are you talking about?"
Bloom: "What? You don't have soccer on your planets?"
Flora: "What's soccer?"
Bloom: "Come, I'll show you. It's a game you play with a ball. Let's take this for example. (kicks a can)"
Tecna: "That's NOT a ball."
Stella: "It's just an EXAMPLE, Tecna."
Bloom: "Now, it goes like this… (kicks can at screen)"
Yeah, "good decision potion" my ass! What a load of crap. That contradicts with some of Bloom's poor judgment (real or made up by 4Kids) in future episodes. I suppose it was a good decision on her part to just stand there and let that ice boulder fall on her in her physical test (4Kids crap change, when she was SUPPOSED to PASS it), or it was such a GOOD decision for Bloom to just attack Diaspro on the first meeting over an assumption. Let's also not forget how she just trusted the fake Avalon with all her personal secrets which resulted in her getting captured. Oh yeah, that was a REAL good decision to trust him.
Anyways, thanks for sticking with me this whole time. Ssee you all next chapter!