An Empire Reborn
Ch6: The Beginnings of an Empire
Nabiki watched the school gates intently as they approached the school. She refused to look at Ranma or his companion, the ease at which she had been out maneuvered scared her and she was desperately trying to think of a way to regain the initiative. Her family's future and potential safety relied on her being able to probe Ranma for information about his past and future intentions. If his answers indicated a threat to her family she needed to be able to manipulate Ranma or get rid of him. He was decidedly too powerful to be so close to her family and remain completely mysterious. She got the distinct impression that both his father and Ehri took his lead so if she could manipulate him the other too wouldn't be a problem.
Still the situation worried her. One of her sisters was supposed to be engaged to this completely unknown and powerful stranger. Both his father and constant companion where supposed to be insanely powerful fighters and Ranma at least appeared to be extremely intelligent. Normally she was supremely confident entering into any kind of situation but she felt out of here depth with the latest mess her father had landed in her lap.
So far she had reveled far more than he had, and that was not a position that she was used to being in and she was struggling to regain her equilibrium. 'No' she thought firmly 'for now I will focus on my operations at school, my best ideas usually come to me when I'm working.' Although her face was carefully neutral of any expression, inside her confidence was quietly building from the low it had been when Ranma effortlessly turned her questions aside, unsettling her dominance in dealing with people.
'Next time things w…' "Hey!" Nabiki squawked as her thoughts were jarringly interrupted by a hard shove from Ranma as they entered the school gates. The school grounds shifted disorientatingly as her head hammered back with the force of her forceful movement. "What is going…" her enraged demand was interrupted by Ranma's companion forcefully dragging her to the corner of the school grounds away from where Ranma had suddenly bounced and appeared to be waiting for an attack.
Although to most people he would appear relaxed, she noticed subtle signs that indicated that he was ready to respond to anything. What could the problem possibly be, Kuno was probably still at the Kendo club hall and no one else was likely to attack a new student for no reason. Was she about to get some answers about Ranma's past so easily and why did she feel unnerved with the possibility of getting some free and effortless information about her unexpected houseguest.
Before she could further reason Ranma's unexpected behavior or struggle against Ehri's impossibly strong grip, time slowed. The old stonewalls which bordered the school grounds crumbled, debris thundered into a disordered pile throwing dust into the air. She watched the old oak tree which had stood at the entrance of the school since Furikan's founding generations ago shredded, woodchips and leaves ripped ruthlessly in Ranma's direction as unseen blades rushed towards him.
Small explosions sounded around where Ranma was standing, craters exploded more debris into the air. "He'll be killed" Nabiki choked out in worry through the dust filled air from the corner of the schoolyard. She hadn't known him for long but he was her fathers' best friends' son and she had seen what her mothers death had done to her father, she didn't even want to consider what Ranma death would do to him.
Only the tightening of Ehri's grip indicated that she heard or cared about what Nabiki had said. As the explosions died down, Nabiki became aware of the screaming student body fleeing from the battle feild, which had unexpectantly engulfed Furikan.
Nabiki looked disbelievingly at the scarred and pockmarked schoolyard. Dust and smoke obscured her vision slightly but she wasn't so far away from Ranma that she couldn't see Ranma's pleased and expectant smile or smell the blood that filled the air. A cruel tear in Ranma's silk shirt and the welling of blood beneath belied his relaxed, unconcerned and yet powerfully commanding posture.
Whether by design or by accident Ranma's positioning near the centre of the schoolyard had saved injury and death among those students who were now fleeing in terror. "Is it over?" Nabiki whispered as the explosions stopped and the stonewall finished tumbling onto the earth as gravity pulled on the last of the shattered remains.
As if mocking her whispered question, a figure stepped out of the debris cloud of dust and smoke. "Ranma, because of you I've seen Hell!" It was a male's voice, a voice that was rugged and harsh as if the throat it came from was still recovering from injury and his words were bitten out with rage and hatred that she had not encountered before.
Shuddering at the fear the voice inspired Nabiki stepped closer into Ehri's grip. After the destruction the man had just unleashed she was glad she was not in Ranma's shoes. She didn't doubt that she would hear that voice in her nightmares for some time but she wouldn't admit that to anyone.
Nabiki started in surprise as the owner of the voice stalked out of the cloud further in an interception path with Ranma fully revealing himself, it was only a boy of barely 16 with a strange gait, as if one of his legs were still recovering from a bad break. Despite his odd posture the boy's frame was heavily filled with bulging muscles and his numerous scars gave him the look of a seasoned fighter. Looking closely at the boy's frame and stance she didn't think his age reflected his ability to fight very closely.
Nabiki shivered in fear at the sight of the boy who had caused such effortless destruction in an attempt to kill Ranma. Despite the attempt on his life and the destruction and show of power that surrounded him, Ranma looked relaxed with a friendly smile fixed firmly on his face. How powerful was Ranma that he showed no fear in the face of such danger and lethal intent.
"I'm kind of busy today Ryoga, can you come back later – we'll spar then." Ranma's flippant tone only served to enrage the boy further. The boy's body took on a more deadly cast as he adopt a combat stance, "do you call this sparring Ranma?" Ryoga spat, "I will kill you for the hell you've put me through, and only then will I be able to continue with my life."
Nabiki shook her head at Ranma's attitude, 'why wasn't he taking this more seriously? The boy looked quite capable of carrying out his threat and judging by the remains of the school yard, she did not want to be caught in the middle of it.' Ranma's nonchalant stance only further enraging the boy, 'Was he deliberately provoking the boy, or was he just suicidal?' Nabiki didn't know Ranma well enough to make a judgment but from her limited experience Ranma knew exactly what he was doing.
'So what is he up to?' Clearly the key to being able to manipulate Ranma was to find his ulterior motive, his absences still irritated her and she was itching to find out what he was up to. None of that was possible if he was killed and by the way Ehri was gripping her she was not certain what the outcome of this fight would be. If such a close companion was unsure of the fights outcome then why did she get the feeling that Ranma was just playing with Ryoga.
Nabiki winced in pain as Ehri once again tightened her grip as Ryoga pulled some bandanas off his head and flung them at Ranma. Although Ranma easily avoided the projectiles Nabiki shivered at the large craters they dug in the grounds and brick work of the buildings behind Ranma and wondered what would happen if one were to ever hit him. Her eyes were once again drawn to the large cut on Ranma's side and the increasing blood soaked shirt he wore. She shivered as she looked at the wreckage surrounding her and considered her younger sister getting involved with anyone this dangerous. No, that is one bridge that needed to be avoided at all costs – these people are miles above Akane's skill. Her little sister's pride would see her decimated.
"I'll tell you what Ryoga," Ranma grinned condescendingly. "Lets finish this quickly, I start school today." Ignoring Ryoga's cry of frustration Ranma crouched low and leapt at the heavily muscled boy. Keeping half an eye on the fight Nabiki shook Ehri off of her before she bruised further than she already had.
"Is Ranma going to be alright?" she asked rubbing her bruising arms after having freed them from Ehri's vice like grip. She had not seen Ehri leave Ranma once since she had met her, so Ehri should be able to tell her if her judgment of the situation was close to the mark.
Ehri frowned worriedly, "I can only assume that he has the boy Ryoga outmatched by his behavior but the fight looks to close call and Ranma can't use his greatest source of power, otherwise it would have been over before it had begun." Nabiki tried to hide a triumphant smirk as Ehri started to open up, thoroughly engrossed in the fight with her worry at its outcome clearly marked on her face.
Although unexpected she would take whatever she could get, Ranma seemed to be occupying Ryoga for the moment as they pounded on each other, so she would take this opportunity to quiz his shadow for a while.
"Greatest power, what do you mean?" Ehri looked sharply away from the fight and gazed piercingly at Nabiki as if just realizing what she had said. Although she was good at reading and manipulating people, she couldn't help but be a little intimidated by Ranma and her companion. Ranma's unconcerned and commandingly dismissive stance in the face of Ryoga's destructive display and Ehri's hints that he was hiding a much greater power caused a chill to run down her spine.
"The style Ranma is using," Ehri started, changing the subject and refocusing on the fight between Ranma and the brute Ranma had identified as Ryoga. "He will lose if he restricts himself to that," Nabiki just shook her head in amazement at Ehri's assessment. Living in a dojo her whole life she had learned a few tricks when it came to judging the outcome of a fight. This one though, how could she judge who was winning when attacks and styles were far outside of anything she had experienced. Still, if the fight between the two fighters were as close as it seemed to her, why would Ranma be restricting his fighting style, was he trying to even the fight between Ryoga and himself or was he trying to lose?.
"Crack, snap!" Nabiki winced as she watched Ranma land a blow, forcing Ryoga to land unsteadily on the pock marked and heavily battered battlefield. His follow up smashed into the overly muscled boy's knee, snapping the leg in two and leaving it flopping unsupported underneath him. "Looks like the fight is over," Ranma panted his face pale from blood loss as gained some space between them.
"Do you think this is really enough to stop me Ranma? You should know – you've injured me far worse before in our 'sparing' sessions before." Nabiki stared at Ryoga as he perched on his unbroken leg, readying for an attack. 'How can he stand the pain' she thought 'and Ranma, how can you still be standing.' She had watched as he had taken hits that had smashed concrete walls and shredded the earth around him. Only the blood pooling at his feet seemed to affect him, Nabiki looked at Ehri with a worried frown as if seeking reassurance that this wouldn't finish in the death of one of the combatants.
If Ranma had enemies this strong in his past and he was unable or unwilling to deal with them efficiently then her family was at risk. How could she safely get rid of the Saotome's though if they were that powerful? Ehri had indicated that Ranma held even more power but why hadn't he used it before now. So why hadn't he used it before now?
'Hang on' she thought worriedly. 'They've done this before and by Ryoga's tone and disfigurements it was probably more than once before.' Nabiki nodded in understanding at Ryoga's resentment, 'no wonder his out for blood and a little psychotic. Still it makes me wonder what Ranma is really capable of and what else is hidden in his past.
Ranma's weak laughter echoed over the destroyed schoolyard, "I only needed to destroy your mobility Ryoga since you have a natural defense against the style I've been using. Surely you noticed that I've been restricting myself to that single form, weak as it is." Nabiki raised her eyebrow at Ranma's audacity and strength of will. It seemed that he had been planning all this from the beginning and to be able to stick with his plan and take so much punishment was admirable, even if he did look close to collapsing and had ruthlessly broken Ryoga's leg in the process. Nabiki could admire a well-executed plan but what was the purpose, she still hadn't worked that out.
Ryoga's smirk barely hid the rage she could see shining through his eyes, "I noticed Saotome and I was wondering when you would get serious. You don't look to healthy yourself, are you sure you wouldn't do us all a favor and DIE!" Nabiki's mind boggled at seeing Ryoga launch an attack with the one leg only to be knocked to the ground by a weakly smiling Ranma.
"Your right Ryoga, it is time to end this," he announced conversationally striking hard at Ryoga's exposed throat. Nabiki gasped at the fatal strike only to see a wooden staff deflect it at the last minute resulting in a crushed collar bone instead of a mangled windpipe. "I was wondering when Ryoga's allies would show up," Ranma grinned excitedly roughly kicking Ryoga to the side and ignoring the cracking his ribs made.
"You are powerful stranger, but you are no match for me in that condition." Ehri's face was blank of all expression but Nabiki could feel the tension in her stance behind her. The old woman pogo'd on her staff towards Ryoga's fallen form and checked his pulse before turning back towards Ranma, "Do you want to give it a go old ghoul?" Ranma spat bloodily to one side grinning though blood stained teeth as if inviting her to try something. His expression was one filled with confidence as if even weak as he was he could still take on the world and win.
"Shampoo, take the injured male back to the encampment" the old woman commanded as a luscious Chinese girl with long purple hair appeared from nowhere to drag the defeated boy from the wrecked remains of the school yard. "We'll meet again stranger," the old woman chuckled as she and the young girl disappeared over the top of the school building. Nabiki was amazed that after such a climactic fight it had all ended so suddenly and with apparent ease. Ranma had been playing with the revenge-crazed boy so that he could flush out his allies, Nabiki could only admire his deviousness.
"Ehri, lets go – I think school will be cancelled for the day and I still have things that require my attention." Nabiki blinked as Ehri raced from behind her to Ranma's side just as Ranma collapsed into her arms. He limped slowly from the schools yard, supported by the woman at his side. "I'm sorry Nabiki, our little chat will have to be postponed," he mumbled as they disappeared behind what remained of the stonewalls surrounding the schoolyard.
Not willing to let it go so soon or with such a lack of finality, Nabiki chased after them only to find that they had vanished as soon as they had left her site. Even the trail of blood seemed to just stop behind the pile of rubble that encircled the school grounds. "Who dare's to disturb the sanctity of the holy Furikan grounds, I will smite thee!" Bellowed a pompous voice as Tatewaki stormed onto the battle site in full Kendo gear, his boken held ready to attack an opponent who had long since been defeated and moved.
"Kuno, you're an idiot," Nabiki remarked as she started walking back home. Without Ranma to answer some questions and with the rest of the school body having fled the destruction, there wasn't a lot else she could do.
"Are you insane…" Serenity screeched as Ranma sat back on a stretcher in the medical wing of the moon palace. "You do realize how close you came to dying today don't you, and unless you used the crystals power you would never have been able to defeat the old woman." Ranma sighed as he tried to block out Serenity's lecture.
Sure his plan had been risky but he had pulled it off okay and that was the main thing, Serenity was getting worked up over nothing. Now he was back at the moon palace he was already healing with the power of the crystal, a decent meal and a good night's sleep and he'd be as good as new.
He couldn't risk detection so early so the use of the extra power granted to him by the moon crystal was limited to the palace except for emergencies, like him dying – or at least in danger of dying. His use of too much power drawn from the crystal would be like a beacon to those who could detect the use of such power. Only structures like the moon palace was a defense to that, allowing him to use its power freely.
"Are you even listening to me Ranma?" Serenity screeched in his ear. Ranma sighed again and turned his head to face Serenity, he had rarely seen her so mad and he had known her all his life. She of all people should understand that at times certain risks needed to be taken to milk the most out of a situation, judging from her expression though he had probably taken it too far and worried her too much.
"It worked didn't it?" Ranma mumbled suddenly feeling guilty. After all, this time he hadn't really told Serenity the full extent of what he had planned. He had acted alone not even mentioning to the woman who had raised him what too expect. "I'm sorry that I worried you, but whoever Ryoga managed to find in his quest for vengeance now sees me as a serious opponent and not someone that can be taken lightly."
"Despite their obvious desire to hide, I managed to flush them out and dealt with Ryoga without the possibility of tipping off any of my other enemies. Enemies that are capable of attacking me at any time, Beryl would probably jump at the chance to finish me off and the longer I can gather my strength without exposing myself to the puppet master behind those school girls, the better."
"What about the small leakage of power that I detected throughout the fight, don't tell me it was a lack of control during your fight, I know you better than you think, there's more to it than that." Ranma shook his head at Serenity's mood change. No matter what she was feeling he could always manage to distract her with the plots and schemes of statecraft, he sometimes wondered if she realized that she was that easily manipulated.
"I'm not content to sit here while I establish the moon palace as a powerful base of operation. My enemies are not standing still and so neither can I. Now help me come up with a plan to start recruiting people from Earth to my cause. If I have to wait until the Martians populate my kingdom it will be another thousand years in coming."
Serenity smiled craftily down at Ranma as he shifted to a more comfortable position on the stretcher. "You didn't answer my question Ranma, what are you up to?" her inquisitive tone trailed off as Ehri re-entered the room.
"My king," his lieutenant saluted sharply before approaching "the repairs are slightly ahead of schedule, there should be no delays and the palace should be fully operational by weeks end. You will need to populate your kingdom before our empire reaches full strength though," Ranma thanked her before activating his virtual consol and dismissing her. After all he was supposed to be recovering Ranma grinned wryly.
"Now my queen," Ranma smiled artfully, turning back toward Serenity referring to her previous position eagerly tapping away at his consol "how about we run some simulations?" Entering in the possibility of three enemies with power on par with his own, Ranma considered ways to thwart them and gain control over large tracts of land on earth with the support of the people living there in the process. He doubted if there would be three opponents who would or could seriously challenge his power but by planning for the worst victory would be that much sweeter.
The most obvious solution would be an armed incursion. By weeks end, his operations would be fully operational meaning that the time and resources required for building and outfitting a force capable of overwhelming any defenses on earth would be minimal. Ranma's typing intensified as he continued adding in suitable parameters for his computer to instantly compute a probability of success.
Even assuming that his opponents could match his power he felt confident that he would be able to maintain control over the space surrounding the earth. His production ability would thus quickly outstrip anything even Beryl could match and with her non-renewable source of troops his eventual victory would be assured.
Chuckling evilly Ranma let Serenity look over his shoulder at the humming simulation, "that will never work you know, humans are tricky and if your opponents are half as troublesome as you are, then a conflict like this would lose you the thing you were all fighting over." Ranma just smirked at her pessimism, whatever probability of total victory the computer gave him he felt confident he could increase it by half again – the computer was always erring on the side of caution itself.
Even so, he suspected she was right, an armed conflict would not bring the earth he wanted into his empire but a shattered shell of his pyretic victory. The computer beeped as the results of the simulation scrolled down the display. His probability of total victory was judged to be 5 with his chances of victory increasing to 60 if accepted the shattered crust of earth's former glory. While he had always expected his enemies to cause the greatest destruction he was surprised that the chances of the great powers of earth banding together in an effort to repel him and causing massive destruction were quite high.
His forces had not escaped unharmed either with the possibility of his own Martian subjects all surviving being quite low. With the cost of victory too high and his objectives of integrating earth into greater empire nearly impossible under an armed invasion scenario Ranma turned to another possibility.
"Agghhh! I never expected that to work anyway," Ranma commented glancing sideways at Serenity. "But how often do you get to take over the world, even if only virtually and I wanted to see what the computer thought about it. How about just buying up huge tracts of land using the proceeds from the resources so readily available in space, and succeeding from earth?"
Typing in the appropriate parameters Ranma was surprised to see that the probabilities for the legal scenario were about as low as the armed incursion one. "That is strange," Ranma muttered looking more closely at the data the computer had spat out.
"Never underestimate a peoples sense of nationalism and pride, as soon as your enemies let slip what you were trying to achieve, no mater how peacefully, armies would be formed to stop you. It is a lesson my descendants learnt early on."
"This scenario only ended with slightly higher probabilities because you attempted to include people and so you had a greater support base. The fear of fascism was imbedded so deeply into the people of earth's character over the last century that you would be wise to avoid stirring such fears again."
Serenities superior grin over Ranma's shoulder annoyed him. She had always been telling him that relations between states were harder than he thought and now she was being proved right. He would need a balance of approaches that would take into consideration the cultures and histories of earth people. Still, the expression on Serenity's face deserved some kind of playful response.
"We'll you know? I could always do this…" Ranma replied in a serious tone frantically typing in even more complex parameters. With his eyes filled with excitement and his face twisted into a feral smirk, Ranma hit a final key to start the scenario.
"You're not serious Ranma, starting your own religion – that would never work!" Serenity dismissed from over his shoulder looking expectantly at the display as the simulation finished. "You must have made a mistake in your parameters Ranma," Serenity frowned uncertainly "you wouldn't would you. That's morally suspect and the chances of the power corrupting even you despite me being around to keep an eye on things is very high."
Ranma chuckled at Serenity, feeling every bit vindicated, "says here I have an 80 chance of achieving all my objectives. Bringing a peaceful earth into my budding empire, defeating my opponents and moving on to building an even grander empire than you could imagine. Of course it also says that I'll have to retreat from civilization once a stable government has been established to prevent the scenario you painted from coming true." Smiling reassuringly at Serenity he moved back to his computer, "naw- I doubt I could pull of godhood long enough for it to work. Besides I'm a much more hands on type of person."
Ignoring Serenities sigh of relief Ranma considered the problem a little more. How could he…. Frowning in concentration, Ranma made a few corrections to his current parameters and added a few more. "How's this for a plan…" he announced eagerly reveling in Serenities look of approval and pride, the probabilities could have been higher but then Ranma Saotome never lost so it wasn't an issue.
Makoto Kino hummed forlornly as she prepared a serving of chicken tatsuta, the bite sized pieces of chicken thigh sizzled in her own recipe of sauce. Sometimes the oppressive quite of the house really got to her and she did what she could to liven things up and make some noise. Her humming increased in tempo as she checked to see if the wakame seaweed had soaked for long enough, she couldn't begin preparing the side of cucumber salad until it had softened enough.
She hated these quite and lonely nights worse than anything else in her life, before her parents had died in an airplane crash dinner times and evenings had been a family time. Her parents would talk about their day, ask Makoto about school and they would often discuss the future. Plans, wishes, hopes and dreams. All that had vanished, leaving her alone in an empty house. It was something she had never fully appreciated and now she missed it greatly.
Deciding that the wakame was finally ready she drained the bowl of water and started to add the cucumber to the rest of the salad. Oh, she had tried dating around to find someone to fill the hole left in her life, but she had so far been unsuccessful. None of the boys she had dated really understood what it was like to live alone, none truly understood her well enough to even begin filling that gaping hole in her life and none were responsible or mature enough to understand her circumstances. She supposed it wasn't entirely there fault, at her age she would have been the same had he parents not been taken away so cruelly.
Smiling nostalgically at the smell of the chicken thighs she added them to her plate. This was one of her favorite dishes and she could smell when it was cooked to perfection. Glancing sadly at the empty places around the table Makoto sighed as a wave of loneliness hit her again.
"Bleep….Bleep, Bleep…Bleep"
'Ahhh, that's just what I need to snap me out of this funk, a good fight,' Makoto grinned as she grabbed her communicator. Her life had definitely started to look up since she had fought off those bullies that had been bullying Usagi. Mostly just looking for a good brawl, she had seen Usagi's situation as a godsend. Since then they had become firm friends and when she had discovered that she was Sailor Jupiter they had become even closer. Usagi's role as the princess almost cemented it.
For the first time she had been included into a close knit group of friends and she was incredibly grateful to Usagi for that. Her life hadn't led itself to making many close friends, but Usagi had embraced her anyway. "Makoto here, who needs some ass whooping," she announced staring in surprise at Ami Mizuno. While they were friends and she was a sailor it was usually Usagi or Rei that contacted her about sailor business. Makoto was more used to talking to Ami on the phone than the Scout communicator.
"No one I hope, I have detected some interesting readings and I wanted your advice." Makoto blinked in surprise, Ami was the smartest person she knew and she wanted her advice. She could hardly suppress a growing feeling of curiosity though, since Ami was almost never wrong and rarely needed help. With the help of her mercury computer she often discovered things first and held all the answers.
"So, what's up Ami? You're the smartest person I know, why do you need my advice. Usually you only call me when there's some unbeatable monster that needs pounding." If their team members were ever divided and classified into roles Ami would be the brains and she would be the fists, not that she minded too much. It was nice to let out some frustration every now and again and although she wasn't as smart as Ami she knew at a pinch she could get through most situations on her own.
"This morning I detected a small trace of moon kingdom energy, if my computer hadn't been looking for it at that precise moment it is doubtful that I would have detected it at all." Makoto sighed as Ami droned on about the strength and fluctuations of the energy, she wasn't that interested in the science or the probability of the mercury computer detecting such a small signal, but for some reason Ami thought important to tell her.
"Surely it would be better to ask Luna or Artemis about it?" Makoto asked politely as she started picking at her meal, she had so been looking forward to a good brawl. She was glad Ami called though it was good to hear from her friends outside school hours or Sailor Scout business. "That is something more in there realm of expertise, maybe it's an artifact or someone else was reborn from the moon kingdom."
"If there was something specific to ask or I knew for sure it was either of those things I would. What struck me as most interesting was that it was accompanied by a weak negative signal." Makoto's hopes began to rise before she realized that any monster would be long gone if she had detected the signal that morning. "What do you think Makoto?"
Makoto blushed in embarrassment; she had completely missed the question. Apologizing profusely she hoped that she hadn't missed anything else important "Sorry, Ami what do I think about what?" She almost turned away at the worried frown on Ami's face. It was embarrassing enough to have missed the question but to have Ami worried about her as well.
"I asked if you thought we should investigate this anomaly ourselves or contact the rest of the scouts first? We don't really have much to tell them but it could be dangerous." Makoto grinned, to her the answer was obvious. Quickly bolting the rest of her meal down and leaving the dishes were they lay she stood up in anticipation.
"I'll be there in five minutes, if it was a moon kingdom signal that you detected we have nothing to worry about – we're the good guys right?" Ami sighed into the communicator as if she expected Makoto's answer. Makoto closed the connection before Ami could think of arguments which would involve them telling the rest of the scouts and spoiling her fun.
A/N – I thought it would be cool to add some side stories of Ranma living his megalomania scenarios, what do you think.
