Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Sacrifice™ or any related characters, terms or concepts.
Author's Notes: words simply do not exist to describe my gratitude for your support and appreciation; a long-time reader of fanfics, I never dared to believe that I would ever be capable of writing anything like this. My deepest thanks to you all. Oh, and by the way; I'm now aware that Lime and Mint are unaware of Herb's curse. This will be taken into account in the story.
Chapter 9: Meetings and Beatings, Part 2
"Genma!"
From the tone of her voice, it would be logical to assume that Nodoka Saotome wasn't happy. In fact, downright furious wouldn't be inappropriate and critical meltdown might apply just as well.
Today had seen the realisation of a dream she had carried for ten long years; her son, Ranma Saotome, was finally home, and he was truly a remarkable specimen. In her exultation she had barely noticed as another, rather lost-looking, boy in well-worn, dusty clothing had carried what looked like a giant lump of ice into her house. She and Ranma had sat down for some tea in the kitchen when she finally noticed her additional "guests". She'd offered him a cup of tea out of politeness, then returned her attention to her son, wanting to hear all about his training journey. As it transpired, he had a lot to tell her.
She was truly shocked and appalled at hearing what her husband had done to her son during the course of his so-called "training", though her son didn't refute that they had, in their own ham-fisted way, worked. She listened with horror as he described the torments of the Neko-Ken, at having been forced to fight his father for every scrap of food at every meal, his multiple fiancées, the trip to Jusenkyo and his journey to Otherworld.
Though she'd initially had problems believing some of his more outrageous tales, particularly the parts concerning magic, those doubts had vanished promptly with a few demonstrations. As she'd watched, he'd frozen his steaming-hot tea into a solid block of ice, then flipped it into the air and obliterated it with a lightning bolt. He'd actually produced a "bubble" of pure ki energy for her, and then gone on to juggle about a dozen tennis ball-sized globes of ball lightning. He'd even demonstrated the effects of Jusenkyo curses, with the not-so-willing aid of Ryoga.
Nodoka was now currently glaring at her estranged husband, who was visibly sweating with terror. Ranma had smashed the ice off of him to about half-way down his shoulders, so he was capable of verbally participating in the conversation but incapable of moving. Nodoka slipped the cloth off of the Saotome Blade and withdrew the katana from its sheath, raising it above her head in one swift movement, at which Genma looked ready to pass out.
"You wretched honourless bastard!"
"Whoa, calm down mom!"
Faster than Nodoka could follow, Ranma zipped from his chair to behind her, clutching the hilt of the sword in a grip she didn't have a chance of breaking.
"I'll admit he's done some stupid stuff, but it's all worked out in the end hasn't it?"
"What are you saying? You have three girls who are engaged to you and you spent a year cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water! On top of that, he kept us apart because he was scared for his own skin and what I'd make him do to atone for his stupidity!"
"Yes but- hey, you're right; why am I defending him? Oh yeah; because he's my father and I don't think he deserves to die just for being a greedy fool."
Nodoka stopped trembling with rage, at which Ranma released the sword and Genma sighed with relief.
"My son… so manly that you can even forgive the person who inflicted such depravities upon you. You are truly a man amongst men. Perhaps the training trip wasn't a waste after all."
Genma actually looked smug at that, until Nodoka turned to him with a wicked gleam in her eye.
"But that said, he still needs to be punished."
Genma wailed as Nodoka lunged forward with the flat of her sword…
(The following scene has been censored for graphic imagery. Please do not attempt to adjust your fanfiction. We now return you to your regularly scheduled reading)
Nodoka sighed in satisfaction and resheathed the sword. Genma, now free of the ice but completely covered in bruises, lay unconscious on the floor while both Ranma and Ryoga looked at her with considerable respect.
"Now that that's taken care of, let's go Ranma."
"Go? Go where?"
"To the Tendo Dojo of course. You said that is the most likely place that all of your… fiancées… will be present at once, and I need to speak to them all."
She said this in a neutral tone, but Ranma would have sworn he detected an emotion when she mentioned his fiancées. Not anger like he would have expected, but something that he couldn't identify. Could it possibly be… happiness? Ranma shook that thought right out of his head; that way madness lay.
"All right. Besides, I need to show you Dalara Peaks anyway."
Ryoga sighed and bent to pick up Genma's unconscious form, only to have Ranma wave him off.
"Let me take care of him."
Contrary to his words though, Ranma didn't move towards his father at all. Instead, he began to whisper and gesture. Before Ryoga and Nodoka's stunned eyes, a shape begin to form in mid-air, growing thicker and more solid-looking as they watched until finally it surged into reality. The figure stretched its 12 foot-plus bulk as high as it could and voiced a grumbling roar before Ranma began speaking to it in a harsh, grumbling language. The figure nodded its head, though they couldn't see any expression behind that crude mask, and reached out and grabbed Genma by the legs, lifting him effortlessly with one hand. Ranma turned to them.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go."
Somewhere near the Cat CafeHapposai smirked with glee; his barrel of Nyannichaun had finally arrived, so he could now get his delightful Ranma-Chan back. In fact, why stop there? He closed his eyes and enjoyed the gorgeous image of Ranma and every single one of his male rivals transformed into sexy young girls. What's more, thanks to this mystical ladle he'd stolen from that trio of foreigners, his victims would be trapped in their female form permanently; incapable of spoiling his fun with the application of hot water! His eyes snapped open as he heard Ranma's voice and sensed a male figure approaching his hiding spot.
With a warcry, he leapt towards his doomed prey. In a single elegant move, he swept the ladle forward, splashing his masculine victim with the transformative waters of Jusenkyo before latching onto newly sprouted breasts with limpet-like strength. He enjoyed himself for almost a full minute, serenaded by the screams of his newly feminised target, before he suddenly found himself gripped with WAY more force than Ranma-chan had ever been able to exert and hurled into a wall with such strength that he couldn't even block it.
Of course, his 300 years of martial arts training, coupled with the resilience that naturally comes from having been a panty-stealing girl-groping pervert for almost that long, meant he took no real damage from the impact. He blinked his eyes free of the dust and slipped effortlessly from the crater he'd left behind. Almost immediately he found himself engaged in a battle with Ranma-chan- but was it Ranma-chan? Since when did Ranma wear yellow? Or a bandanna on his (now her) head?
"Ryoga! Come on mom, this way, I've never heard him scream like that before!"
Happosai goggled, then confirmed that yes, he hadn't splashed Ranma; he'd splashed Ryoga. There was Ranma, coming from that intersection at an extremely impressive speed. He (literally) screeched to a halt at the sight of Happosai and the now-female Ryoga, somehow avoiding skidding so much as an inch from his stop, despite the speed with which he had been moving.
"Ryoga? What happened to you?"
"It's all that pervert's fault!"
Ryoga-chan screamed, throwing another futile punch at Happosai.
"What did you do to him!"
"The same thing I'm gonna do to you! Founding School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts Special Attack! Pretty Lady Splash!"
That ridiculous bit of mid-battle drama stunned Ranma just long enough for Happosai to successfully splash and Glomp him. Only to be sent flying into the "tender" mercies of Ryoga-chan by a perfectly executed "Anti-Perversion Punch!". Ryoga-chan did her best to crush the life from the perverted dwarf, only for him to break free with a Happo-Fire Burst. Happosai coughed up a bit of smoke, then looked up at a glowering, and still male, Ranma. Needless to say, Happosai's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.
"What! How, how, how…"
Ranma sneered, cold as liquid nitrogen.
"How stupid do you think I am? Did you really believe that I would return to Nerima and fail to take precautions against something like this? Fool! Once I was cured, I spent a month developing my own variant of the Water Repulsion spell and weaving it into my bio-matrix. I am immune to the effects of Jusenkyo's waters! Pity you don't share my own immunities… Twin Peaks Corkscrew Cannon!"
Ranma held his arms above his head, forming a capital Y shape. Twin orbs, one of lightning, one of blue fire, formed within his cupped palms before erupting forth as twin streamers, spiralling around each other in a corkscrew pattern as they rushed towards Happosai. Happosai almost yelped. Almost. Instead, he leapt upwards, just barely dodging the spiralling beams as they tore effortlessly through the ground beneath him- and almost did the same to Ryoga-chan, who leapt aside in the nick of time.
Happosai seethed with rage as he soared upwards. He pulled out one of his jumbo-sized explosives and hurled it towards the ground. Ryoga-chan dove for cover, but it was at that moment Nodoka came onto the scene- directly in front of the Fire Burst!
"Mom! Watch out!"
Ranma dove in front of his mother as the Fire Burst detonated, while Happosai himself simply snickered and vanished. Ryoga-chan emerged from her hiding spot, covered with soot and coughing as she rubbed her watering eyes. When she could see again, she saw that Ranma had literally flung himself in front of his mother. A pair of "wings" formed from thick ice, now heavily cracked by the force of the explosion, emerged from Ranma's spinal column, spreading out to serve as a blast shield for his mother. As Ryoga-chan watched, the ice shattered into pieces, fell to the ground and melted away. Ranma stepped back from his mother and heaved a sigh of relief.
"Are you okay, mom?"
"I-I'm fine. Who was that- that- that… monster?"
"That was Happosai, the so-called Grandmaster of Anything-Goes Martial Arts. Some master. Looks like he somehow got his slimy fingers on some water from Jusenkyo's Nyannichaun- Spring of Drowned Girl. I figured he'd be out to use it on me –he loved groping my female form more than any other- but it looks like he doesn't care who he hits. Poor Ryoga…"
Ryoga-chan blinked at the genuine sympathy in Ranma's voice. Before she could say anything though Ranma turned to her.
"Come on, let's head to the Cat Café; we can at least change you back to normal first, and we need to tell the Amazons about Happosai's newest dirty scheme."
As the Storm Giant carrying Genma joined the trio, they headed towards the Cat Café.
The Cat CaféOf course, when they got there they were in for quite a surprise. The place was apparently being held up by a pair of Chinese youths, one wearing a tiger-skin kilt and the other a wolf-skin hat. Wolf-skin was apparently trying to touch Shampoo, who proceeded to take a swing at him with her bonbories in retaliation. Mousse was lying unconscious in a heap on the floor, which obviously was the reason why he wasn't trying to stop wolf-skin. Tiger-skin was questioning Cologne in bad Japanese.
"Tell! Where is Ladle Amazon! Give back or Lime crush!"
"How many times must I tell you, you stupid boy, I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about?"
"What's going on here?"
Tiger-skin and wolf-skin spun around. It's impossible to predict what might have happened, but what happened was that tiger-skin's eyes immediately locked onto Ryoga-chan's breasts (she was the one who had spoken up- failing to think the situation through as usual). He then reached out and grabbed them, giving them a curious squeeze before the enraged Ryoga-chan punched him in the jaw, sending him flying into the kitchen before she dove over the counter herself, clearly intent on thrashing tiger-skin bloody. Wolf-skin turned his attention away from Shampoo, who quickly seized the opportunity and smashed him over the head with one of her bonbori.
Wolf-skin staggered away, only to duck several almost playful punches from Ranma, who promptly turned to Shampoo.
"Do you think you and Ryoga can handle that idiot in the kitchen?"
Shampoo nodded, hefted her bonbories and leapt into the kitchen, nimbly dodging the flying array of pots, pans and kitchen utensils. Wolf-skin turned to Ranma, only to receive an almost casual swat on the head.
"Come on kid, you look pretty fast. Why don't you see if you can catch me?"
Having said that, Ranma somersaulted out of the Cat Café, nimbly dodging the blistering array of throwing knives that followed him out the door. Without stopping his tumbling, Ranma reached the wall of the building near his mother and the Storm Giant and casually flipped himself upwards, performing a series of gymnastics before landing on the roof and leaping away. Wolf-skin, practically foaming at the mouth, chased him by running straight up the side of the building before leaping after him.
Now, Ranma could have easily fried wolf-skin with a spell, but he truthfully felt he was beginning to rely a bit too much on his magic to directly solve his fights. What's more, an idea had occurred to him; a way to teach this perverted kid a lesson and to remove a personal thorn from his side. Temporarily blinding his pursuer with a cloud of mist, Ranma stopped at a fountain. Another quick spell later, and the water surged upwards into a crude humanoid form, which promptly froze solid and then walked out of the water. Ranma clothed it in an illusion so that it looked just like him, then spoke quickly and quietly to the simulacrum.
"Lead this idiot on a wild goose chase for a little while, then get him to the Kuno estate- can you do that?"
The simulacrum nodded and Ranma leapt away. As wolf-skin came into view he roared:
"Mint have you!"
And leapt towards the simulacrum, who promptly darted in a different direction to the one Ranma was taking.
Kuno EstateRanma stopped at the gates to the Kuno's massive mansion and ground and swallowed hard to clear his nausea. This next part of the plan was the part he was really going to hate, but it was necessary. The last of his mana went towards an illusion that made him look at the very brink of death, and he then leapt over the walls and headed towards where he knew (though he wished he didn't) Kodachi's bedroom was.
Kodachi was experimenting with her numerous chemicals, when she heard a faint scratching at the door.
"Go away Sasuke, I'm busy!"
"Kodachi…"
She started- she knew that voice! She flung down he experiment and darted through the doors. There, lying bloody, bruised and burned on the ground, was Ranma.
"Ranma darling!"
She knelt beside the twisted form and gently turned him over. He groaned and his eyes opened slightly, flicking around before settling on her face.
"Kodachi…"
"Shh, my love. What has happened to you?"
"The… the evil pig-tailed girl… she is… a sorceress. All this time, she kept me a slave with her evil magics. But now…"
Ranma coughed, and Kodachi gasped as blood bubbled out of the corner of his mouth. He gasped for breath and then continued in his dying whisper of a voice.
"She has tired of this place, and of me. She has killed me" he made choking gurgle of a sound "and departed Nerima forever. As a final cruelty, she offered me one wish. I know that my passing will hurt you Kodachi…"
"Ranma darling, no! You cannot die!"
"There is no hope for me, Kodachi. My strength fades, I will be gone soon. But I will not leave you alone…"
"Ranma?"
"With my dying wish, I have wrought a gift for you. He approaches now; a wolf-spirit in human form. He will be your new beloved, if you will have him. I only hope… he makes you… happy… as I… never…"
"Ranma!"
Ranma's breaths wheezed, and then stopped, his eyes closing as his body fell limp. Kodachi burst into tears for several seconds, then sniffed hard. She could not cheapen her beloved Ranma's death by denying his final gift to her. She looked up as she heard footsteps approaching rapidly. Wiping her eyes, and directing a final sorrowful gaze to the body of her dead love, she went to great the man her beloved had wished for her.
Mint was not happy; he'd chased this strange Japanese across the town before he'd finally come to this strange hut. It was bigger than anything he'd ever seen; even Prince Herb's castle wasn't this opulent! He finally managed to corner the boy in front of a pair of doors. Smirking, his opponent threw something at him, which he caught effortlessly. He looked at it in confused fury- it was a bouquet of roses! Enraged, he flung a series of throwing daggers that buried themselves perfectly in his victim's heart. Before his stunned eyes, the corpse fell to the ground and broke into pieces, which quickly turned to liquid and seeped away. Confused, he turned to go when the doors burst open and a figure emerged, stopping him dead in his tracks.
Kodachi stifled a gasp at the sight of the figure standing before her; clearly, this was the man her beloved Ranma had wished for her. He was enchanting, primal, with a strange, animalistic magnetism. Kodachi's sorrow burned away as the flames of passion, desire and true love roared through her heart.
Mint boggled; he didn't speak Japanese too good, but he understood enough of it. Enough to get the gist of what this strange creature –was this a woman?- was saying. And he didn't like what she was saying. When she announced her intentions for him, including several things that Mint thought were anatomically impossible, he had enough and reverted to basic, animal instincts: he ran like his groin was on fire! Despite the fact he was one of the fastest of all the Musk, this woman kept up with him. Her strange whip cracking at his heels and the sound of her deranged, scream-like laughter was sufficient to spur him to even greater efforts.
In Kodachi's bedroom, Ranma took a deep breath; that had been too close. For a second, he wondered where the idea to do this had come from, then dismissed it. After all, it had worked, hadn't it? Kodachi wouldn't be chasing him any more, and that weirdo from the Cat Café probably would never dare to return to Nerima. In a way though, Ranma had been lucky. Any normal person would have seen through that load of garbage he had spouted. But then, Kodachi was far from normal. Dismissing the illusion woven around himself, he quickly fled Kodachi's room for the Cat Café.
Cat CaféWhen Ranma sauntered through the doors of the Cat Café, the place was a wreck. Mousse still sprawled unconscious on the floor, while the only whole table and chairs in the place were currently playing host to Nodoka, Cologne and Shampoo. The three women chatted amiably while Ryoga, still a girl, glared angrily at the unconscious tiger-skin, trussed up in steel chains, probably swiped from Mousse's sub-space pockets, and sitting in the only other chair to have survived.
"So, care to explain what happened here?"
"Well son-in-law, it turns out these two are members of the Musk Dynasty, an ancient, male-dominated tribe who dwelled near us."
"Dwelled? Past tense?"
"We thought they went extinct long ago, but it turns out we were wrong. It seems they came to Japan seeking one of the two mystical artefacts of their tribe; the Unlocking Kettle."
"Unlocking Kettle? What's that?"
"The Unlocking Kettle and its counterpart, the Locking Ladle, are two artefacts deeply tied into the history of the Musk. Centuries ago, a group of male martial artists dedicated to 'Form Mimicry', martial arts based upon various animals, settled near Jusenkyo. Feeling unable to master it as they were, the martial artists took to defeating animals and then dipping them in the Nyannichaun, in the hopes that the children they produced from such matings would bear the traits of their animal mothers and thus become true masters of Form Mimicry."
"Where do this Unlocking Kettle and Locking Ladle come into things?"
"You see, simply dipping the animals in the Spring of Drowned Girl would do no good; once the animals adjusted to their human forms, they would easily be able to revert themselves to normal and escape. The Locking Ladle is a powerful artefact with the ability to lock Jusenkyo curses; after transforming the animals, the Musk would splash them with cold water from the Locking Ladle and thus permanently trap them in human form. The Unlocking Kettle is the counterpart, capable of undoing what the Locking Ladle does."
"So these semi-mythical beast-men come to Japan looking for the trinket they never thought they'd need to use, but then Happosai mugged them and stole their precious Ladle?"
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
"Well, you told me they were here for the Unlocking Kettle yourself, they were so pissed off it was obvious that there was something more than a neighbourly dispute behind it and finally we ran into Happosai earlier. He was wielding some sort of fancy ladle, and I guessed it must have been the Locking Ladle because Ryoga's still a girl."
Everyone stared at Ranma once he finished outlining his deduction, except Ryoga-chan, who was glaring at him; she obviously blamed this on him. Ranma ignored them and continued speaking.
"Now, seeing as how these two probably don't have two brain cells to rub together between them, they must be travelling with a mastermind. And my guess is that would be you, right?"
"Right."
Everyone started, including Mousse and tiger-skin, who had just recently come to. Ranma's last comment had been directed at a stranger in a heavy robe and cloak. Tiger-skin trembled, while the others stared. Ranma remained cool and collected.
"May I ask who I have the honour of speaking to?"
"I am Herb. Prince of the Musk Dynasty and Son of the Dragon."
"I am Ranma Saotome, Master of Saotome Anything-Goes Martial Arts and Stormlord of Dalara Peaks."
Herb nodded his head in greetings, before turning a gaze they could tell was contemptuous, even though they couldn't see his eyes, upon tiger-skin.
"I see you have defeated Lime. But where is Mint?"
Ranma shrugged casually.
"Who knows? Probably still running for his life."
In fact, although Ranma had no way of knowing it, Kodachi had been self-testing some of her latest chemical concoctions at the time of his arrival. This meant she was currently in possession of speed, reflexes and agility to match Mint's, but also a libido half-again as big as Happosai's. This meant she had caught up to Mint, and that the two of them were… er… um… let's… not go there, okay?
"I'll take a wild guess and say you want your Locking Ladle back, right?"
"Correct."
"Well then, let's sit down and talk. Maybe we can come to an agreement…"
Cologne, Shampoo and Nodoka vacated their seats and untied Lime as Ranma and Herb sat down to begin discussing a mutually beneficial way to seek vengeance upon the lecherous Happosai.
All right, chapter 10 is done. I personally think this is my worst bit of writing yet, but I'll admit I don't have much self-esteem. In the next chapter; Ranma attempts to lure Happosai with a feast, Ryoga reveals his former status as P-Chan to Akane, Ranma and Happosai battle for the rights to the title of "Grandmaster of Anything-Goes" and Ranma, Herb and Ryoga set out for the Unlocking Kettle. Please review!