Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all related characters, concepts and terms are the sole property of Rumiko Takahashi and co. Sacrifice™ and all related characters, concepts and terms are the sole property of Shiny Entertainment. I own nothing. This is a not-for-profit fanfiction.
Notes: Set strictly Anime continuity, early 7th season
Prologue: A Nasty Accident! Choose a God Ranma!
It was the usual chaos in the Tendo Dojo, home to the Tendo School of Indiscriminate Grappling, Nerima. Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, was currently engaged in what most outsiders would dub a fight to the death with his various rivals and fiancées.
It had all started less than a half-hour ago, when Happosai had come into the dojo with some ornate jewel-thing. Naturally enough, it was stolen. Unfortunately, it had been stolen from the Cat Café, which meant an angry Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse had tracked him down to the Tendo Dojo. Equally naturally, no sooner had they arrived than Shampoo and Mousse had forgotten about the jewel-thing to start chasing Ranma. That had made Akane mad, so she started yelling at Ranma and chasing him with her mallet. That made Ryoga, who'd turned up out of sheer blind luck as usual, start trying to thrash Ranma for "hurting" Akane. Ranma still wasn't sure where Ukyo and the Kunos had come from, but they were in the melee now, racing round and round the grounds after the madly laughing Happosai, who would try (half-heartedly) to leap out of the fray to make a (full-hearted) grab for the bust or rump of one of the female participants. As Genma and Soun alternately lectured and wept, the Nerima Wrecking Crew blundered all over the place, smashing every inanimate object to cross their paths.
Finally, Ranma managed to snag the jewel-thing; or at least snag it back, during the course of their little 'romp' it had changed hands about a dozen times- Ranma was sure he'd accidentally grabbed it off of Cologne once or twice. Unfortunately for him, as he dodged some of Ryoga's Buzzsaw Bandannas he tripped over a gauntlet-on-a-chain thrown at him by Mousse, with the end result he took a (harmless) tumble. Of course, given Ranma's luck, that caused him to accidentally flip up Akane's skirt.
"RANMA, YOU PERVERT!"
With that all-too familiar cry, Akane drew her mallet back and swung it down onto Ranma's face in perhaps the mightiest blow she has ever delivered. Rather than the expected (and painful) sound of flesh pulping and bone crunching, something altogether unusual (even by Nerima standards) happened. Instead of hitting Ranma's face, Akane's mallet hit some sort of invisible shield (which produced a sudden "flicker" of blue energy) and shattered into shards. Secondly, there was the sound of glass breaking. All looked towards the jewel-thing now clutched tightly in Ranma's hands; sure enough, it was cracked.
"Uh oh."
That was the last thing anyone wanted to hear from Cologne, but before anyone could do anything the cracks began to multiply, streamers of light pouring from them and accompanied by not only the sound of glass cracking but also by a strange humming noise. Before Ranma could even think to throw the jewel-thing away, it exploded in a pillar of blinding light. When everyone could see again, there was nothing left of Ranma or the jewel-thing except a scorch-mark on the floor.
Damn tomboy. Can't she ever get off my case? Oh great…"Where the hell am I!"
Ranma looked at his surroundings with disgruntlement (not that he even knew what the word meant). After the jewel-thing had broken, the light had blinded him. All he could feel was a tumbling sensation, as though he was falling through the air and caressed by the wind. Then, it had stopped with gentle thump and he'd found himself here- wherever here was. He was apparently on a sort of small rocky island, floating in what looked like a sort of silvery-blue mist. Specifically, he was on a peninsula, whereas at the opposite end of the island was a cluster of five statues. Out of curiosity, he approached them.
They were very strange statues; all depicted a figure that could be considered humanoid, but not human. There was one that looked like a muscular humanoid earthworm in overalls. Another was stylised to have flames instead of hair, as well as across most of its body, and to be wearing a velvet robe and holding a cigarette in a long, fancy pipe. A third resembled a hybrid of woman and plant, with green skin and flowers and leaves for hair. The fourth was hardest to classify, as it was entirely wrapped in clothing; a robe, hood, goggles, scarf and gloves, leaving not a trace of its flesh. The final one was a sort of decaying corpse-thing, its forearms rotted down to bare bones, its fingers long and sharp-looking claws. Its face was stitched together vertically, as was part of its mouth, with what looked like rotten bootlace. Ranma would have turned and ignored them after satisfying his curiosity, if they hadn't started moving.
"Welcome child. Are you the new wizard?" The voice was formal and feminine, with a trace element someone who hadn't been away from his mother most of his childhood would have deemed maternal.
"Uh, what?"
"The new wizard, come to our world to seek tutelage under one of us in the ways of magic." This was a regal voice, emanating from the robed figure.
"Afraid not. I just had this little accident with this jewel-thing, next thing I know I'm here."
"So you did not come to our world of your own free will?" Asked the fiery figure, taking a deep draw upon his cigarette.
"No, and what's worse the jewel-thing's broken- which pretty much means I'm stuck here, I guess." Ranma shrugged, easily accepting that would have had most people in a blind panic. But then, he was used to this.
"Perhaps we can help." Seeing Ranma's face brighten at her words, the plant-woman hurriedly corrected herself.
"We do not mean we can help you directly; gods though we be, we can exert little influence beyond this world. What We mean is that you can choose one of us as your tutor in the ways of magic. Once you have master the arcane arts necessary, you can transport yourself back to your world." Seeing what Ranma was about to say, she quickly added:
"Do not worry child, time will not affect you or the ones you have left behind. At least, not to the extent you fear. We estimate it will take mere months at worst before you will be able to return to your home. That said, you must choose one of us- and only one- for your tutor."
"I'm grateful for the offer of help and everything, but exactly who are you all?"
"Forgive Our manners child. We are Persephone, the very essence of Life and Purity. You are a servant of good, are you not child? Then come, become one of Our Mystics and wield the holy forces of Righteousness and Justice against the inequity of the infernal ones."
Ranma noticed that the fire-being and the corpse-thing took offense to that; flame-head fumed, the fires clinging to it surging in height and intensity and wafting gouts of smoke whilst rot-face hissed, shook its bony fist and spat at the plant-woman.
"Elysium is a green and gentle land of peace and prosperity, where an honourable warrior such as yourself can truly belong. Come to Us, love Us, and We shall requite thy love a thousand-fold."
"Pah! Do not listen to that green-skinned tree-hugging old crone!"
Spat flame-head. Ranma stifled a grin at the outraged and indignant look on Persephone's face. Ignoring her, and the smirks of the other gods, flame-head took a deep puff on his cigarette and continued in his deep rich voice.
"I am Pyro, god of fire. These worms will tell you that I am the scion of destruction and chaos, but that is not the whole truth. I am the spark of imagination and the engine of industry, the bringer of knowledge and the bearer of light. They are jealous of me and my works, for I am the master of sorcery and science. Do not fall for their lies; fire can be destructive, it is true, but is it not also the very symbol of life? Full of passion and vibrancy and intensity? You too share these qualities, I can sense the burning within you. Join me as one of my Sorcerers, and I will teach you to call upon that burning within the depths of your soul, to call upon it and to shape it! I will make you an artist of the fire within you!"
The cloaked figure stepped(?) forward now, somehow managing to smirk despite its lack of facial features.
"Forget all of this nonsense, the god you truly want to learn from is me; Stratos, god of air and supreme lord of the heavens. I am the bringer of storms and the mover of the firmament, as cerebral as I am celestial and as prophetic as I am pragmatic. As if the power of Elementalism is not enough, as if the mastery of the heavens, the power to control the wind, the frost and the lightning is insufficient to sway you to my side, then consider this: Empyrea's libraries are without comparison in all the land. Surely amongst the greatest magical libraries in the entire world you will be able to find a way, not only to return to your home but also to free yourself from the shackles of Jusenkyo's curse. Choose wisely wanderer, and choose well."
Stratos' melodic voice trailed off and he backed away as the worm-man stepped towards Ranma.
"I am James, god of earth. Ya know, rocks and soil and stuff, some pretty nice gems and metals too. I don't claim ta be the most excitin' of gods, but that ain't my purpose. I'm here ta look out fer ya, to keep an eye on ya and help ya out if yer in trouble. These hoity-toity windbags are fickle as the breeze, 'specially Stratos; ya can never really count on 'em to be there fer ya. Not me though; I'm always there fer ya, through the good times and the bad. I'll pick ya up when yer down, and shield ya when the goin' gets rough. You'll never be as safe as when ya got the very earth fer a friend. 'Cause that's what I am ta my Geomancers; I'm yer friend and confidante. We like a smooth and quiet life in the Glebe, but that don't mean there's no room ta stand out or ta do great things, all it means issat ain't nobody gonna tell ya what it means ta be great. Fact is, if ya wanna reach fer the stars, my granite's the best foundation ta do it with. I'm gonna see ya get everythin' that's comin' ta ya- it's even writ in stone, if'n ya want."
It was the corpse-thing that spoke up next, the last of the gods to make his spiel.
"Don't waste your time with these fools and their trinkets! They make such pretty offers, but none of them really understand you. You are a child of war, born to fight, a living weapon trained from birth to defeat your enemies. You thrive on conflict! And that's what you'll get, if you choose me. I am Charnel, god of strife, god of slaughter, god of death! Where there is pain, I am there. Where there is suffering, I flourish. Where there is joy- yes, well, one simply cannot have joy without another's suffering, can one? Oh, do not look so shocked! You know this is true! Have you not suffered at the hands of your so-called friends and family? Have not your supposed fiancées physically and mentally hurt you? Then come to me and become a Necromancer… master the black arts under my tutelage, and then show them what it really means to suffer…"
Charnel returned to the ranks of the gods, who stood waiting for Ranma to make his decision. Five gods, one choice. Which was it to be?
Reviews please! Oh, and the next chapter won't come until I have at least three reviews nominating a specific god for Ranma to follow.