Star Trek: Ranma's Story34 – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: "Ranma ½", "Star Trek", and other genres belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is a semi-fusion, alt-crossover story
Part 30
Lt. Ranma Saotome (Conn) was playing his violin in the Arboretum on the Enterprise, where he likes to practice every so often. He was playing a popular piece from the works of Mozart, while the sounds of the ocean breeze drifted over the garden. Ranma had first learned how to play his instrument over 80 years ago, after "loosing" a wager to his former girlfriend Nyota Uhura, a Starfleet communications officer who served under the tenure of the legendary James Tiberius Kirk. Even though Ranma was no longer with Uhura, he didn't mind keeping up his practice. In fact, he has gotten quite good at it.
"Hey, boy!"
Oh, brother, Ranma thought to himself, as he stopped playing.
"We need a word with you!" said Genma Saotome, Ranma's father, as he enters the garden with his friend Soun Tendo. For the past hour, the two patriarchs were trying to look for Ranma, who has, thus far been avoiding them like the plague. Ranma already knew what they wanted from. So, he had asked the ship's computer to restrict access to his location. Of course, Ranma should have remembered how determined his father and Soun can be.
"Yes, we want to know your plans for Akane!" Soun says.
Ranma smirked, as he sat down on a nearby rock. He took out a string polisher, and began to clean his instrument.
"I have none, Mr. Tendo," Ranma said simply.
"How can you do that to my daughter?"
"Yes, and why are you playing at being a sissy?" Genma asked. "You're a martial artist, boy!"
"ME a sissy?" Ranma smirked. "Did you know that there are many species that consider 'playing an instrument' as the highest art form imaginable, including the art of romance? And there are few within those groups that have mastered the instrument to even greater heights. I'll show you how…"
Ranma swiftly took up his violin, and began to play a weird melody.
"I'm not impressed-"
Suddenly, the plant life around the three came to life, and began to dance about the three.
"Wha-what matter of sorcery is this!" Soun asked nervously.
When Ranma finished his tune, the plants ceased to move.
"Learned it from a people of the planet Altair 6, who learned how to manipulate plants using sound waves. Interesting stuff."
Ranma sets his instrument in his case.
"Look, I can't marry Akane. I got too many obligations as it is."
"Yes, we KNOW that," Genma says in a huff. "And one of obligations is for you to honor the pact made by our two clans."
"If you don't do it for your father, do it for me," Soun says. "Do you know what it will mean if you don't marry my daughter? How would you feel then when she has no honor, along with the rest of our families?"
"Hmmm," Ranma mused. "You got a point. I'll…think about it, but there are no guarantees in this regard."
"Thank you, son-"
"Don't thank me. I'm only considering this for Akane and her sisters' sakes."
Meanwhile, on an unknown planet…
"I'm not you're opponent!" Wesley Crusher says, as he avoided the ribbon strikes thus far.
"Where am I?" says a mean-looking, yet strangely attractive Japanese girl, who was dressed in a gymnastic leotard. She used her competition ribbon to either cut her opponent, as evidenced by the slicing of the nearby rocks, or entangle the opponent for a "toss up" session.
In this case, a toss up session involved getting wrapped by the ribbon, and then slammed all around the immediate area.
"Come back here, and face your punishment, foul boy!"
"You know," Chief O'Brien begins, "the lass reminds me of the boy Worf had fought earlier."
"Aye," Worf says.
"Wesley, you can do it!" Usagi says, as she ate a bucket of popcorn.
"Where did you?" Riker began. "Never mind. Share."
"Here," Usagi says, as she past the bucket. "It's lightly buttered and salted."
"So, what do you think of young Mr. Crusher's prognosis?"
"Well, from what Ranma has told me, Wesley's father laid the groundwork before he died, while his mother made sure that he continued his training in Japan."
"And…?"
"You'll see."
Wesley, not wanting to hurt the girl, and wanting to end the fight quickly, took loose stance. He narrowed his eyes, and began to see a pattern in his opponent's movements…
"I got you now!" the girl said, as she charged forward-
"CLAW OF THE BEAR!"
The "Claw of the Bear" technique was designed to deliver a focused impact that shreds the opponent. However, Wesley used a non-lethal version that simply shreds the very air itself.
"Ah!" the girl said, as the force of the blow sent her backwards.
"Cretin!" the girl said, as she threw a barrage of hula-hoops at Wesley. Had the hoops not been lined with razors, the teen would have simply redirected the attack. Instead-
"STRIKE OF THE SNAKE!"
The "Strike of the Snake" is normally used for blind fighting. However, the deadly accuracy of the striking of the tips of the fingers is only bested when combined with the knowledge of pressure points.
Wesley struck the inside of the hoops, as he flowed into the onslaught. As the hoops broke apart, he knocked the pieces into the other hoops, causing a virtual barrier between himself and the girl.
"Grrrr!" the girl growled. She took out her batons, just as Wesley moved towards her.
"Stay away from me!" the girl said.
"FLOW OF THE MONKEY!"
The "Flow of the Monkey" technique allowed the user to move about in a circular movement, using many parrying maneuvers. Though primarily used when fighting in tight spaces, the training involved allowed the user to be extraordinarily limber and agile.
Wesley hopped and moved about, just as the girl tried to hit him with the batons.
"Hold still and take your punishment!"
Wesley side-stepped one attack, rolled another, and then leaped over the girls head…and seemingly disappeared!
"Where did he go…?" the girl wondered.
"Hello."
The girl looked around.
"Up here."
The girl looked up, and saw that her opponent was on top of her head! Wesley had masked his weight without the girl's knowledge.
"It's…hopeless…" the girl lamented, as she began to collapse to her knees.
Wesley leaped off the girl's head, and knelt to ground.
"Hey, it's okay," Wesley said with assurance. "I…didn't want to hurt you."
"R-Really?"
"Yeah. I mean, I don't want anyone as cute as you to get hurt, and all."
"What…what is your name, sir?"
"Wesley…Wesley Crusher."
"Wesley…"
FLASH!
And the girl was gone
"Hey!" Wesley yelled.
"It's okay, Wes," Geordie LaForge says. "Everything around here is an illusion anyway."
"That is a likely possibility, since Q is involved," Data says.
"I guess so…"
Back aboard the Enterprise-D…
"Hello, son-in-law," the Amazon matriarch "Cologne" said. She, her great, grand-daughter Shampoo, Ukyo Kuonji the Japanese Pizza chef and her assistant Konatsu the Cross-Dressing Ninja were volunteering their time at "Ten-Forward", the bar and grill of the ship. Cologne, with Nabiki Tendo's help, for a fee, of course, had gleaned amazing information on her way-ward future son-in-law…if that was still possible. At the moment, Guinan had given her volunteers their lunch break.
At any rate, it was Cologne's turn to help out.
"Hello, Cologne," Ranma said, as he sits down at her table. He had just completed his latest psychic sweeps, and still came up empty. If his colleagues were dead, he was sure that he would have felt something. Thus, the search continues.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," Cologne began. "I wanted to first thank you for your gift."
That's when Ranma noticed how young Cologne looked. She could pass as Shampoo's older sister. He didn't say anything since what he did was not a big deal, especially since he no longer saw "normal" vision. In fact, unless he purposely willed himself to see normally, Ranma saw only auras and patterns at their pure state, which was almost like the way LaForge saw things. Ranma choose to see the way things are in his attempts to see beyond illusions and physical states. It made things a lot easier to detect the occasional alien entity that tends to sneak aboard the Enterprise.
The side-effect was that Ranma tends to have a far-off look to himself, as if he was "zoned out". Usagi would complain about this, simply stating that the look creeped her out…which was why Ranma continued to do what he had done!
"Hey, no problem. I wanted to at least compensate you for your…'headache'."
"I see. I would like to discuss with you about your offer of an alliance."
"And…?"
"I will accept your offer, but on one proviso."
"Okay…"
"I would like to induct you as an honorary Amazon, but only as 'Ranko Tendo'. After all, we Joketsu must maintain our standards."
"I don't see if that will be a problem…I accept your offer, as long as I am able to exchange new techniques with you and your tribe."
"You drive a hard bargain, son-in-law. You certainly have picked some of Nabiki Tendo's ways."
"Hey, if I can become a Federation Ambassador to a warrior culture, and be successful at it, I should be able to deal with you on equal ground."
"Hmm," Cologne smirked. "Then, we have an agreement. I will talk to your…yeoman about making arrangements to have the ceremony take place on this ship. Until then, I have to get back to work."
And with that, Cologne leaves.
"Interesting," Ranma said to himself. Just as he was about to get up, Ukyo comes running into Ten-Forward. She went to Ranma's table with her arms folded.
"Ranma, how could you!" Ukyo yelled.
"I guess she was talking to Nabiki," Ranma muttered under his breath. "Ukyo, please, have a seat. And calm down. I'm not deaf, you know."
Ukyo sat down in a huff.
"How could you have betrayed me like that?"
"Let me guess. You found out that I was married. So what?"
"So, why is your wife here on this ship?"
"Pardon?"
Ukyo sat down a data pad with the picture of Usagi Tsukino, Ranma's ex-spouse.
"I was afraid of this…"
Up until now, Ranma was avoiding mentioning Usagi, for fear of something that could hurt a lot of feelings.
"Look, Usagi and I were married, but that was a long time ago."
"Well, it still hurts to know that you were married TWICE."
"Alright, you got a point. And since you do, I will tell you all about it, but not right now."
"Why not?"
"Because I want to let everyone know what happened, at once."
Ukyo nodded in understanding. She knew that Ranma will be honest about the truth, but why did she get the feeling that she might be opening a can of worms?
Tbc.
Author's note: First, the Wesley Crusher fight is in homage to the recent Teen Titans episode called "The Quest" (check it out!). Secondly, if you all have noticed, I am focusing on the ramifications of Ranma Saotome's time in the world of Star Trek. Sure, I could have one big fight that Ranma could get into (which still may happen, before all this is over), but I wanted to write how the crew of the Enterprise behaves when THEY have to deal with Ranma's enemies/rivals. I hope that I haven't disappointed you all in this regard. Finally, when this particular arc is done, you will know for sure if what Ranma is experiencing is just a trick by Q, or if the entity really did bring Ranma's "people" to his world (yea or nay?). As always, CC are welcomed.
Next time: While Ranma explains Usagi to his friends and family, Riker must take on Ryu Kumon, the heir to one-half of the Forbidden Saotome. Find out who comes out the victor, next time on "Star Trek: Ranma's Story". See you then!