Puella Magi Saotome Magica
By Ozzallos
Chapter ONE
Ranma Saotome was an artist.
A martial artist to be exact. While his canvas wasn't a blank sheet of paper nor brush strokes of paint, beauty was in the eye of the beholder. Ranma's appreciation of the arts came from an economy of movement; A masterfully assembled combination of kicks and punches. Each technique was a signature and while the pigtailed boy would never see himself as an art coinsurer, he appreciated the form and style of his trade.
Today, his canvas was Ryoga Hibiki.
The open palmed strike to his ribcage was his medium.
"How dare you make Akane—Oof!" The lost boy grunted as the punch transmitted enough force to displace a sizable amount of air from his lungs, but failed to actually slow the bandannaed martial artist down. That wasn't the point of Ranma's attack, however, and the teen ducked low to avoid Ryoga's haymaker before stepping out of reach with a grin. The fist flew by and then a blur of kicks as the fanged teen attempted to regain the offensive. Ranma stepped around the next kick and held it briefly under his arm, tagging the rib again.
That made for the sixth time.
"Hold still, dammit!" Ryoga growled, yanking his leg while ignoring the throbbing pain blossoming anew with the punch. Ranma profiled right as a punch-kick combination sought out his vitals, its intensity finally forcing hard blocks.
"Come on," The black haired boy rolled his blue eyes, giving ground to his incensed rival. "It wasn't my fault!"
"She was in your bed!" His rival bellowed back, attempting to ensnare Ranma's feet with a sweeping kick that gathered little more than dirt. The martial artist hopped out of the kick, then leaned backwards to avoid the hammer hand of his fist. "Explain that, Saotome!"
"I was asleep, moron!" Ranma retorted a he ducked under the fist and tagged the rib again, forcing another grunt out of the lost boy. "How was I supposed to know Shampoo was—!"
"WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE!" Ryoga blurred forward, forcing Ranma to deflect the left cross with the back of his hand, then the left high kick with his shoulder. They stung with potential, but neither was capable of seriously degrading Ranma's ability to retaliate.
"Yeah, and how many times have I caught you in Akane's room?" The martial artist returned bitterly as he finally tired of his rival usurping the moral high ground. "You got no room to talk buddy!"
Ryoga's eyes widened and he cast a quick glance over to the Tendo household where Akane was pleasantly chatting with Alkari. Pain suddenly exploded in his face as Ranma took the opportunity to blindside it. The lost boy reeled with the impact, falling back several steps before finally returning to his senses. Ranma simply stood in a loose stance, waiting with a lopsided grin.
The Hibiki's cheek twitched and his face twisted into a snarl. "PREPARE TO DIE, RANMA!"
That was what Ranma had been waiting for. The lost boy charged forward with a wild strike that Ranma ducked under and unleashed a five hit combination into his rival's midsection. Ryoga staggered and the pig tailed teen took another shot at Ryoga's face, this time up and into his chin with a rising strike. Ranma floated in the air for a moment, converting the momentum into a spinning roundhouse kick that blazed across the boy's cheek.
Ryoga wobbled on his feet, stumbling back as Ranma charged in and-
White. For a split second, his attention was diverted to the property fence where something white sat atop it. Long, furry ears. Red eyes. A luxurious, bushy—
THWAM! SPLASH!
The spilt second's worth of inattention cost Ranma as Ryoga's own fist slammed into the side of his face with the full force of righteous indignation behind it. Stars blasted through Ranma's vision as the world flushed gray, quickly followed by a violent waterborne landing. The cold water was enough of a shock for the Jusenkyo cursed martial artist to regain awareness almost instantaneously, choking on water as she broke the surface.
Blue eyes spared a glance back at the wall, finding it empty. Ranma turned a glare back on Ryoga and stomped out of the pool, tightening the drawstring of her water-logged pants. A distinctly feminine growl left her throat. "Okay, P-chan. Playtime's over."
"Bring it, Ranma-chan." Ryoga sneered insufferably, but was found favoring his right side.
"Lunch is ready!"
Both combatants paused in their standoff, glancing over at the two girls waving them in. The redhead's gaze lost a measure of its former animosity and she glanced back at the lost boy. "How about I bring it after lunch?"
Ryoga's stomach grumbled, forcing him to comply with a nod. "Lunch is good."
Ranma started in the direction of the house after Ryoga, but paused, glancing back over her shoulder. The wall top was currently devoid of any fox-cat creatures, but… The redhead turned back to Ryoga, now currently several paces ahead of her. The Lost Boy looked back at her with a questioning look.
"Tell 'em I'll be there in a few," The girl mentioned as she changed direction for the fence wall. Ryoga merely shrugged and continued back to the house while Ranma began to walk along the perimeter of the wall where she had sighted the creature, then hopped atop it for a better view.
Nothing.
'Weird.' Ranma decided as she surveyed the divide between the Tendo property and sidewalk beyond before letting her interest in the matter lapse. Aside from the cloudy overcast weather above and the passage of cars along the street below, there just wasn't anything to see. The martial artist was just turning around to hop off the fence but stopped, feeling something odd; a ripple of chi behind her. She turned and there it was: The weird, red-eyed ferret thing less than a meter behind her.
The standoff on the fence top continued in silence for another full minute before curiosity finally got the better of her. She cocked her head in study, scrutinizing the familiar creature before getting to the point. "What the hell are you, anyway?"
"Have you considered the offer?" The thing asked in a child-like voice though its lips never moved. It waited patiently, ignoring the girl's perplexed stare.
"…The offer?" Ranma struggled with the content of the question, trying to recall the offer in question while wondering at the mystery of the creature itself. She put a finger to her lips with the attempt. "Something about ogres, right?"
"Witches." The odd creature corrected patiently. "You had mentioned a moratorium on violent activities during our last encounter. Have you since reconsidered your position on the offer? Your aid would be invaluable."
Ranma eyed the white creature. A chilly breeze stirred its long, velvet like ears and the golden rings that encompassed them as she recounted the events of their last meeting. Sure enough, it had been two weeks since and apparently, the thing had sought to track her down for a definitive answer… From China, no less.
"Ah, right. Witches." The redhead began hesitantly, also remembering the most important detail of the thing's offer. "I mean, it sounds good, but the whole wish thing kinda kills it for me."
The creature merely stared. After a moment, it translated that eerie gaze into words. "That's unfortunate."
"That's what I'm sayin'" Ranma nodded, only vaguely sympathetic to the creature's plight. "Besides, these things would have to be pretty badass to even be worth my time."
"I see." The white ferret noted and raised its front paw to favor it with a couple of licks. Once it had finished, the thing's attention returned to the teenage girl. "Then perhaps an exhibition of their potential would arouse your interest?"
Ranma blinked. That sounded like an invitation. "Um, sure?"
"Very well," The little animal nodded, never taking its eyes off the girl. "There may be little warning once a witch surfaces. Please be prepared to adjust your schedule accordingly."
"Think I can manage." Ranma nodded, not entirely sure where this was all leading. Still, the little fur ball and his story about witches was just intriguing enough to keep her interest. Whatever the animal actually was, it wasn't normal, which probably meant that these witches weren't normal either. She was actually good with that, all things—
"Ranma! Lunch! Now!"
The martial artist glanced left to find Akane hanging just outside the porch with an unamused expression on her face. Ranma sighed, turning back to the creature. "Look, it was fun having this… chat?"
The rabbit-cat was gone, leaving her alone on the fence.
"Right." She shrugged, somehow not surprised. She gave her immediate space a last once over before shrugging, hopping down into the grass and across the yard to the waiting girl. Akane waited expectantly as her part-time fiancé sauntered up to the door. Ranma jabbed a thumb back up to the fence. "Don't suppose you saw a weird ferret thing up there with me?"
"No?" Akane eyed the redhead suspiciously, looking up to the empty wall and back to her currently female fiancé.
"Figures," Ranma stated with a sigh, following the girl to join the rest inside.
"Wo Ai Ni!"
Ranma Saotome struggled from within the giant Amazon's grip as she snuggled him against her cheek while the world wobbled and jerked as the girl smeared him against her jaw adoringly. The martial artist stared up at the lavender haired teen's giant face, then the city far below. Biplanes marked with the Japanese sun on their wings buzzed through their airspace, but Shampoo ignored them, instead staring at him with a loving gaze.
"Shampoo give Airen big kiss!"
'Big' was the operative word in her sentence since her lips eclipsed him by several magnitudes. In fact, a mere kiss from the giantess would more than likely inflict severe bodily injury, so the martial artist redoubled his efforts to gain his freedom from her grip. Her grip remained around him like a steel vice despite his pounding, and the lips loomed closer… and closer…
…Ranma leaned away, closing his eyes…
"BAKA!" The battle cry echoed, causing the Chinese girl pause. Both turned toward the sound to find Akane Tendo standing amid her own thicket of skyscrapers. She pushed one to the side and it tumbled to the ground in ruin. She stepped across the mangled steel as if it were little more than a splintered bamboo shoot and squared off against Shampoo, pulling the belt of her gi tight.
Akane pointed at Shampoo accusingly. "I CHALLENGE YOU!"
A biplane strayed too close to the Amazon and she swatted it out of the air like a fly. It tumbled down in flames, but was otherwise ignored as she considered the youngest Tendo with a tisk in her voice. "Too-too angry girl learn place or get hurt."
"I'll kick your ass back to China!" The giant Akane insisted and stepped into a forward stance that incidentally flattened several suburban blocks with her feet. Ranma winced as buildings and cars were flattened wholesale.
The lavender haired Amazon sighed and suddenly the world blurred once more for the martial artist as Shampoo brought Ranma up and set him gently between the mountainous terrain of her bosom. She shimmied slightly to ensure he was well nestled in its valley, looking down at him with a cute smile. There was no hiding the blush on his face as she spoke.
"Is safe here."
"Ranma!?" Akane growled, balling her fists from across the city. When adjusted for scale, the distance couldn't have been more than ten meters from the angry girl and he was feeling less safe by the second. Shampoo stepped into her own wu-shu stance, arms bent upward to intercept any attack the girl might employ.
"Come get, kitchen destroyer," Shampoo smirked condescendingly. A red glow sprang to life around Akane Tendo, her muscles coiling like a tightly wound spring.
"RANMA!" She roared and launched forward as if his name were a battle cry. Her advance was Shampoo's signal and she leapt forward as well, turning Ranma's world into a massive quake of female jiggle. Akane's high roundhouse kick swept through the air, forcing the Chinese girl to duck under as it decapitated a building off to the side instead. The top floors tumbled away and Shampoo retaliated with a quick jab that was quickly deflected by the back of Akane's hand.
The enraged girl took the opening and setup her own punch aimed squarely at Shampoo's chest. The pigtailed boy's eyes widened as her fist loomed like a planet, filling the whole of his vision. It drifted closer and closer in slow motion toward the horrified martial artist, all but certain to smear him on impact. He tried to wiggle free from his breast imprisonment, but there was no give. Akane's fist now blotted out the sun as he fell within its shadow.
"RANMA!"
"Gah!" Ranma bolted upright, thrashing around in his futon for a couple seconds before his pale blue eyes opened to the mostly darkened guest room of the Tendo residence. The teen panted, trying to will calm though his body before taking a glance to the right in order to consult the disembodied red LED display of the alarm clock on the dresser. 1:54 AM. He sighed, shaking his head at the ridiculous dream. Ranma shifted around in the futon and prepared to go back to sleep when a child's voice spoke.
"Ranma-kun."
The sleepy martial artist blinked and turned to his left, finding an all too familiar creature sitting in the room's only illumination; a shaft of moonlight filtering through the room's window. A pair of ruby eyes stared eerily back. Ranma rubbed his own clear, staring back without enthusiasm.
"You know what time it is, right?"
"A witch has appeared." The little creature began without preamble. "I advise you to prepare yourself quickly. The hunter I have contacted will only wait so long before engaging it."
Ranma's eyes widened and he bolted up, hopping to his feet with newfound urgency. "Well, why didn't you say so?"
"The meeting will require your female aspect." The statement didn't even slow Ranma down as he reached for his red Chinese shirt hanging on the nearby door hook, sliding it over his tank tee.
"Doesn't everything?" The martial artist return facetiously, rolling his eyes as he pulled a pair of black pants on. "Give me a sec. I'll meet you outside."
Ranma was out into the cold night's air less than a minute later, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as a curvy redhead. She was in pursuit of a white ferret-rabbit-fox that lead the way, picking a path through the Nermian suburb. Ranma kept up easily while trying to keep a running conversation going with the animal in order to find out more information.
"So why the girl thing, anyway?" She asked as they traversed the spine of a rooftop, then leapt to the next.
"The emotional catalyst required to transfigure a normal person into Magica Puella is orders higher in the females of your species than the males." The little creature replied without breaking its stride. "In short, the energy conversion potential is greater."
The pigtailed girl furrowed her brow, attempting to decipher the explanation. It simultaneously made sense and didn't, forcing Ranma to realign what she knew about using emotion as a chi catalyst with what the rabbit had just related to her. "So you use emotion to create magical girls?"
"In part," The long eared creature returned with a slight nod. "The reality is vastly more complex, of course."
"Of course." Ranma returned blandly, though his companion didn't seem to pick up on the emotion. She wasn't dissuaded, however. "And you're saying none of this isn't something I couldn't do as a guy."
"Correct." The thing explained as they hit the ground running. "First, witches do not exist in normal space and are thus inaccessible by normal means. Second, their power is magnitudes greater than even your considerable skills as a martial artist."
"I'll believe that when I see it." Ranma huffed, but declined to comment further. The creature simply acknowledged the fact.
"Which is purpose of this exhibition." It replied and began to slow as they approached a dimly lit construction site.
The skeleton of a large building was the most obvious destination and Ranma's eyes traced it with interest, hoping to catch a glimpse of the witch in question. There was little to see beyond the chain link fence save what anyone expected of an afterhours construction site—Piles of dirt, vehicles for excavating said dirt, steel beams stacked into neat piles and the half-finished structure itself. There was nothing that the redhead could properly term a witch to be seen, but there was a distinct atmosphere of foreboding drifting in the air around them as they approached, as if some malignant presence was watching them unseen.
Her long eared guide simply hopped through the meager space provided by the chained main gate while she opted to hop over it, balancing lightly atop it before dropping back to the earth behind the rabbit.
It looked completely deserted… Except for a feminine silhouette contrasted against the moonlight. She stood as a shadow atop one of the crane booms until they drew closer, where upon she simply dropped gracefully to the ground as if the step from the twenty meter high structure was merely an inconvenience. To Ranma Saotome, that's exactly what it would have been, but this girl wasn't a martial artist, nor had she bothered to reduce the kinetic energy of her landing like a proper martial artist would. To her trained eye, the girl landed with simple grace, as if she were a delicate object to be placed upon a designated spot without regard to physics.
'Guess that makes her the magical girl,' Ranma deemed silently as the girl walked to meet them through the site's anemic lighting. Her path to them allowed the redhead an opportunity to study her host further.
The girl was slender, appearing nearly the same age as her own female aspect. Her hair was jet black, tied up into a pair of odangos that left long twin streamers of fine hair floating behind her like smoke trails. Her clothing was almost classic kunoichi, being a high cut yukata with large black and white checkering across it, while body netting covered her sleeveless arms and thighs. The girl's legs were swathed in white leather thigh-high heels that swallowed the netting, ending at a spiky point that threatened to impale the ground with each step.
Her back bore the most interesting component of the girl's costume—A giant wheel shuriken with glowing hieroglyphics bordering the middle void. All things considered it was a hell of a fashion statement in Ranma's opinion, but much as she wanted to deride it, she had seen worse.
'Worn worse,' the redhead grumbled mentally as those green eyes favored her with overt suspicion. The magical girl gave Ranma a quick up and down glance, then discarded her presence in favor of the patiently waiting creature beside her.
"This is her?" She asked softly.
"It is." The rabbit-cat stated, then licked its paw as if to clean the appendage.
The girl turned back to Ranma, her countenance losing any trace of the deference she had favored the animal with. The girl's demeanor turned downright frosty as she considered the redhead. "I am Emi. You will do what I say, when I say it. This is life and death, not fun and games."
The kunoichi magical girl turned away and began walking toward the half-complete building, leaving Ranma to watch after her slender figure in annoyance. She glanced down to the creature beside her, who merely stared back with unblinking ruby-pink eyes. She turned away with a half sigh, following the black haired hunter into the maze of semi-complete walls and girders. The shadows deepened and the already weak ambient lighting struggled to accompany them as they progressed deeper.
The redhead's eyes flicked back and forth, realizing at some point the cloak of darkness was unnatural and only gaining in intensity. As if to underscore the fact, her guide glanced back with a hushed voice. "Stay close. Get lost in this and I'll never find you."
Somehow the martial artist didn't doubt it for a moment. Every sense she had honed as a martial artist was screaming that they were walking into peril. Movement caught her eye. She turned and blinked at the multi colored school of fish that swam in the opposite direction. They didn't even look like fish; more like a colorful scrap paper cut to look like fish. Somehow, it didn't match the dire peril she was feeling, though kept her guard up regardless.
"Did you just see…?" Ranma jabbed her thumb back at the marine life that had since disappeared. The black haired girl finished her question with a terse response.
"Yes." Even as she responded, another school came into sight. The space around them began to take on a bluish hue while the very ground they walked upon rippled with each step. Ranma stared down at her own murky reflection, then back up at her surroundings. The girl retrieved the massive shuriken from her back and her walk began to slow. She took a half glance back at Ranma. "Stay behind me at all times. It is already aware of our presence."
Ranma shrugged her acquiescence, content to play the observer simply due to the weirdness around her. The horizon had populated itself with giant blue cubes and paper sea life, ranging from small fish to giant squid that swam through a blue sky. The surface they stood upon was now akin to a glassy, crystal blue lake with azure liquid squares drifting up from it. As interesting as it was, the redhead couldn't help but to frown to herself. She wasn't on familiar ground and there were too many vectors of attack. The threat was out there and she could all but feel the malice in the air. It was coming from anywhere and everywhere, and that's exactly where she expected the first strike to come from.
Then the fish started to circle around them.
'Yeah, don't telegraph your intentions or anything,' Ranma snarked with silent sarcasm as her blue eyes tracked some of the bigger origami fish and their orbital trails around them. Her magical girl guide was also ready, her stance indicating high alert even if it wasn't related to martial arts in any way. Still, Ranma couldn't help but to ask.
"Is it always like this?" The redhead continued her wary study, gesturing to the oddly cut fish swimming through a sky of blue cubes.
"Each witch is unique, as is the space they inhabit," Emi advised with cool detachment. "Most of it is lethal in some way, shape or form."
"Awesome." Ranma returned unenthusiastically, her eyes tracking several blocky sharks and other misshapen aquatic predators circling their position. Their presence was hardly anything to cause Ranma serious concern, however. It was what she wasn't seeing that had her on edge.
'And if I were a halfway competent evil spirit, I would be using 'em as a distraction,' The redhead pondered her tactics, searching for any clue in the swirling patterns of make-shift fish. She glanced up, noting that though their airspace was clear, the cyclonic corridor of sealife rose to considerable altitude. Ranma glanced down, finding her distorted mirror image looking back up at her. She was just about to look away when something peculiar occurred…
…Her mirror image began to darken.
'A shadow?' Concern raced through her thoughts and her head snapped up, only to reveal the same scene as before: the funnel of marine life reaching skyward. Ranma cocked her head with little in the way of comprehension when a key fact sliced through the confusion like a laser.
"MOVE!"
She yelled and threw herself to the right. Her magical girl companion wondered at her for a split second before her own gazed snapped down, noting the rapidly darkening water. The black haired girl's eyes widened and she, too, leapt. Whereas Ranma's sidelong role left spray of water behind her, an explosive geyser detonated just below her partner, allowing the redhead to watch as the ugliest whale-like fish she had ever seen shoot skyward. It snapped ferociously at the magical girl, whose flips managed to stay just centimeters above it's open maw before the arc managed to take her out of the range of its teeth.
Eyes. They were the prominent feature that drew Ranma's attention. Its quilt-like patchwork body seemed to tower above her for another few moments before gravity reclaimed it. It had at least eight of them stitched down the side of its rainbow scaled flank with several fixated on her person. The rest were locked solidly upon the magical girl, until it finally flopped back into the water with a violent splash. The martial artist profiled through the frothing cubes of water generated by its landing, watching as its two jagged tails slipped beneath the surface.
The circling orgami fish moved in for the kill.
There was barely time to think as the larger predators knifed in for an easy meal, quickly finding anything but. The odango girl unleashed a barrage of ninja stars for the smaller barracuda-like creatures, dispensing the larger one only for the larger sharks and squid. The wheel kunai arced through the air, slicing through three of the greater fish before returning to her hand where she began to employ it as a melee weapon against anything closer.
Ranma was likewise dealing with the swarms in her own way, albeit unarmed. The fish were fast, but not nearly fast enough to effectively track the redhead within hand-to-hand combat ranges. A smaller school tried to swarm her but she was already weaving through the yellow finned creatures and their razor teeth. Each strike was a precision affair, popping the fist-sized piranha with each graceful twist. A hammerhead shark wandered into the fray, missing the girl entirely as the curling flip cleared its lunge. And overhead smash as she passed above effectively ended the shark's efforts, crushing it and sending it down into the sea with a thrashing splash.
The ocean exploded again just off her right flank as the Leviathan breached the water, angling directly for Ranma's person. This time Ranma had a view clear down its throat and the three rows of steel trap-like teeth that lined the beast's throat. Its flight time would be measure in just over two seconds, giving the martial artist more than enough time to decide whether she would stand her ground or withdraw.
Ranma firmed her stance up and brought her arms up to an 'X' across her chest.
She was just about to release the forbidden technique straight down the monster's throat when a blur phased into existence directly in front of her, materializing in her line of fire. The magical girl dropped into a crouch, bringing the flat of her giant shuriken to bear on the airborn fish. She thrust it out and it began to spin at high speed, forming a whirlwind sheer that the whale dove straight into. It's jaws snapped ineffectually at the girl less than a meter away, struggling to writhe past the maelstrom holding it aloft while she in turned fought to keep the shiruken and the cyclone it was generating spinning.
"I told you to stay behind me!" Emi hissed, taking a half glance over her shoulder at the redhead as the beast continued to thrash ineffectually against the wind.
"Yeah, tell that to the big sushi there!" Ranma retorted and returned to the business of sea life destruction at her back. The magical girl's cheek twitched, but she literally had bigger things to worry about. Massive squadrons of fish had circumvented the tempest and were attempting an end run behind toward the martial artist holding the line.
The magical girl only caught a blue flash out of the corner of her eye as her charge unleashed a Moko Takabisha at a squid and its razor-sharp tentacles. The ball of chi tore through the animal in a lethal manner, but more sea life filled the void it left forcing the girl back on to the defensive while her counterpart maintained the shield against the snapping jowls of the leviathan. It gave the barrier one last snap before lunging away to circle them at a distance. The fish scattered with its retreat, finally giving the girls some breathing room as they stood back to back.
"I'm thinkin' that's the witch." Ranma asked rhetorically as she watched the beast retreat.
"Of course that is the witch!" Her partner hissed indignantly, eyeing the whale monstrosity swimming around them. Three of its eight eyes stared back at them and she was certain it was trying to determine a way to devour them both. Emi glanced back at the redhead. "I thought Kyuubei said you weren't contracted!?"
"I'm—"
"We'll settle this latter." The magical Kunoichi girl cut her off, slashing the giant wheel shiruken through the air symbolically. "Follow me and don't showboat. Getting fancy will kill a new Puella such as yourself, got it?"
"I guess?" Ranma blinked, no longer sure they were even holding the same conversation.
"Then stay close." The girl commanded as she lunged toward the circling whale. "It's time to end this!"
Emi tore off across the water with the declaration in a sprint that would have given any decent martial artist a run for their money. Cubic ocean spray trailed off her heels, but Ranma kept pace on her right flank, watching as the monstrous whale turned toward them, cruising through the open water like a gigantic torpedo. The host of origami sea life in attendance took the cue of aggression and swarmed down upon the female interlopers.
"Keep 'em off us! I'll clear the road!" Ranma hollered as the first wave of aquatic monsters dropped upon them. She didn't even wait for her guide's consent as their mutual strengths and weaknesses crystalized in her mind's eye. The girl's giant shiruken had range and coverage. So did she, but the redhead knew unless she was willing to burn the chi, most of it was hand-to-hand.
The martial artist took point with a slashing kick that decimated a colorful paper shark, flowing into a combination designed to build forward momentum against the unnatural maul. Shredded paper floated around the dancing redhead like so much snow as she continued her forward advance, while the magical girl dispatched the infestation seeking to swarm them. Shiruken flashed out en-masse like guided missiles, lighting the patchwork sky with tracer fire. Emi pirouetted and the giant shiruken rolled off her back, eviscerating a modest origami whale as it attempted to spear them with the lance-like horn extending from its skull.
The school of paper fish abruptly scattered and both girls watched as the mutant patchwork leviathan thrashed, hurling itself into the air along a high arc that tore sparkling cubes of water from the surface it had breached. Ranma Saotome firmed up her stance with a grim smile.
"Round two, you ugly—"
The redhead didn't even get to finish her sentence as Emi slid around her, hurling the massive shuriken skyward like a four point buzz saw. Ranma watched as the comparatively small weapon curved in flight and arced into the void of its open maw… And disappeared. The martial artist didn't have the time to comment on the ineffective attack and once more brought her arms up to cross her chest. The enormous creatures shadow passed over her and now all that was visible was row upon row of jagged teeth.
The forbidden technique would either work or she'd be dead.
The ninja magical girl standing next to her calmly and brought her hand up. Her delicate fingers snapped and the monster buckled. Ranma watched as the same giant kunai the whale had ingested suddenly erupted from its bowels and in every direction at once, eviscerating it as no less than twenty copies of the weapon began to carve the giant creature from the inside out. It let out a bestial roar as the laws of physics took their leave, suspending the witch aloft as its long body was wracked in agony. Ranma's blue eyes traced the weapons' flight paths, watching as they exploded outward, curved and cut back into their target again until it hung as little more than a tattered paper machete construct against the skyline.
And then it exploded.
It's death was signified by a loud, hollow 'pop' that caused the neogirl to flinch as the creature was destroyed via violent expansion that ended in a blast wave of confetti, as if signaling the climatic end to a carnival. Ranma blinked with fascination, holding her hand out to sample the confetti storm even as the environment deteriorated around them. The sky and water they stood on evaporated, giving way to the construction site as one reality superseded the next. Even the whirlwind of confetti faded out, leaving little more than the steel skeleton of a building and the magical girl at her side.
"That was quite reckless of you." Emi commented haughtily as she bent down, delicately picking up a jewel that Ranma had only now noticed. The ornament was no larger than the palm of her hand; its oval structure an amalgam of crafted pewter and glass crafter along gothic lines. There was also no mistaking the malcontent glow that it harbored; a dark, smoldering green that promised some degree of toxicity if set loose. The magical girl considered it for a moment, holding it up to the moon light before blindly tossing it in Ranma's direction.
The redhead caught it on reflex then immediately wished she hadn't. Its mere touch seemed to ripple discontent through her aura, but the girl had already moved on, walking back to the clearing where a certain rabbit-cat ferret waited. Ranma's study flicked from her escort to the gem between her fingers and back to the little white creature as Emi's monologue continued.
"Those power levels are sufficient for Familiars, but you'll need to step it up if you expect to even inconvenience a Witch." The magical girl advised, glancing back at Ranma to ensure the message was clearly communicated. The redhead behind her frowned at the slight to her abilities and was about to comment on how her partner had almost become fish food inside the first five minutes of the encounter when their one sided conversation turned back to the eerily cute creature waiting for their return.
"Her performance was satisfactory." Emi reported with an aloofness that grated against her counterpart's nerves. "If she survives her first solo encounter, we may even meet again...?"
The sentence was left hanging and it was obvious through eye contact that the girl clearly expected a name to go with the face. Ranma shrugged, projecting the same aloofness right back at her. "Ranma's fine."
The girl inclined her head slightly with acknowledgement. With that, she crouched and sprung upward, disappearing into the night sky like the ninja she vaguely represented. Ranma watched her high arc of travel until she disappeared behind a nearby block of building. The martial artist glanced back down at the creature accompanying her, jabbing her thumb back at the skyline.
"Interesting people you got workin' for you." Ranma observed dryly, though the sarcasm inherent in her words was apparently lost on the ruby-eyed creature as it stared impassively back at her.
"Has the encounter caused you to revise your assessment?" It asked in its childlike voice, reminding Ranma of the reason they were standing around a construction site in the pre-dawn to begin with.
The redhead stared down at her velvety companion, watching as it licked a paw as if it were a normal animal. While that was by no means a certainty, the aforementioned encounter had indeed caused Ranma to revise her assessment of the creature's offer with one thought being at the forefront of that proposal: It was great training.
'Sure as hell gets the adrenaline going.' Ranma thought with approval as the battle was broken down within the mind's eye. While she doubted Emi's summation of her effectiveness, the fact that each Witch promised to be different would undoubtedly keep her on her toes. Even now, the martial artist was considering a massive revision to her arsenal of techniques in regards to their effectiveness and execution.
Her attention snapped back to the present, finding the small animal waiting for her with its unflinching gaze. Anticipation bubbled within, and yet there was that singular condition it had insisted upon. Ranma speculatively eyed the long eared creature as she voiced her most immediate concern. "About the wish part…"
"Yes?"
"Well, here's the problem," The redhead started, laying her cards on the table. "I don't really need it. I already got a curse that turns me into a girl that I'm tryin' to get rid of. Any deal that turns me into magical girl on purpose kinda screws that up, ya know?"
Kyuubei simply stared at her, as if not comprehending the point.
"What I mean is I'd probably do this for free." Ranma continued hopefully, trying to fill its silence by shoring up her argument. "These Witches are pretty evil, right?"
"They prey upon the emotional weakness of your species, ultimately consuming the afflicted." The white rabbit hybrid replied and the girl nodded emphatically with the confirmation.
"See?" The teen confirmed excitedly, punching her left fist into the other hand. She began to pace, working through the angles of the deal for herself. "How about this: I take the wish, get rid of my curse and kick Witch ass for ya all day long. Sound good?"
The creature's silence drug out for several long moments before it finally replied without moving. "I'm afraid that is impossible. The emotional catalyst required to-"
"Come on, make an exception!" Ranma interrupted, all but pleading with the animal. "You should have seen me in there! Hell, I even saved your devil hunter or whatever she is!"
"If your circumstances should change, please let me know." The long eared creature advised, dismissing the possibility completely.
The martial artist pinched her nose in frustration. "Yeah, and how am I supposed to do that? You don't exactly have…"
Ranma glanced back up. The creature was gone.
"…a business card." She stared at the now vacant parcel of dirt in disappointment. The neo girl ground her jaw down in silent frustration, but quickly rechanneled it, framing the encounter as a challenge like any other.
'Screw the rabbit.' The redhead huffed mentally as she outlined a new plan of action for herself. 'I'll find these witches myself and smack 'em down with some epic techniques that don't involve magical girls in any way, shape or form.'
Ranma glanced down into her hand, rolling the pointed jewel between her fingers as it smoldered with green power. The redhead smiled to herself. By the time she was done, the furry little animal would be begging her to take the wish on her own terms.
Very rarely was the man known as Genma Saotome known to show concern.
When he did, it was usually in regards to food, money or some ill-fated deal that managed to catch up with him. And sometimes, even his son. Not that he could ever show the concern in an outward manner, especially toward his offspring. To do so would undermine every lesson he had instilled into the boy, and yet…
The parent watched his boy flow through a kata, which was not out of the ordinary in and of itself. Even the fact that it was a new kata wasn't necessarily surprising. The adult adjusted his glasses and watched as his son worked through it, smoothing out the rough edges into a finished product. By and large, it was an activity he approved of in his son, but something was off. The boy was pushing himself. Hard. He had been doing so for a week straight, without reserve. Genma had taught Ranma that katas were used to frame the mind and body and now the Saotome patriarch couldn't help but to wonder what Ranma was framing his mind and body for. The kata he watched from the porch of the Tendo household was being framed for high intensity combat.
His son blurred in and out of visibility, unleashing attacks and combinations in multiple directions as if his attackers were everywhere and anywhere around him while the sheen of sweat dripping down his forehead to advertise the exertion he was under. Even if none of that concerned him, the blue glow trailing from the his hands—
Ranma suddenly skidded to a stop and thrust his hands outward; forming the collected chi into a two-meter sphere that Genma was already on his way to identifying as a moko takabisha when it reluctantly contracted to the size of a baseball within the teen's grasp. The strain it put on his son was obvious as the black haired boy fought to contain the manifestation at its current size, held it for a moment, then released.
Genma Saotome's eyes widened as the ball's containment failed, resulting in eight sharp lances that impaled the ground he had aimed it into. Explosive violence erupted as the earth was torn asunder in a conical arc of destruction that rotated outward before expending its potential, leaving Ranma panting and the ground at his feet smoking ruin. The father all but gaped from the sidelines.
His son had just invented a chi shotgun.
After a mental reboot, Genma was left with a single overriding question as he watched the boy wipe the sheen of sweat from his brow: Why had his son just developed a technique that all but guaranteed the destruction of anything inside a ten meter cone? There was, of course, the one disturbing parallel he could draw from his own life and times: The Sen Ken schools. Genma frowned as those particular memories were recalled, memories he would rather have sealed up with the techniques themselves.
He watched the boy recover for a moment before deciding it was time to intervene. His first step off the porch immediately gained his son's noticed, and the black haired teen watched as his father approached with a stoic air, as if to assess his performance and the damage wrought.
"Boy." Genma nodded as he began to circle the scored earth. He knelt down, fingers lightly grazing the earth in study for a moment before turned back up to Ranma with a penetrating gaze. "Anything you'd like to tell me?"
Ranma stared in silence for several seconds before the intensity faded from his frame with a shrug. "Just practicin'."
"Hnnn." The father grunted, returning to height. His expert appraisal compared the damage at his feet with a lifetime of experience and gave the technique an effective range of twenty meters based on the depth of damage at his feet. His eyewitness account of its delivery likewise told him that the radial cone would likely extend out to devastate the entirety of the Tendo property wall at that range. Genma glanced back to his son, gesturing to the damage. "What are you going to call it?"
Ranma blinked, having expected an interrogation, not shoptalk. "Um, Kagayakashii Ryuujin Tsume came ta mind."
"Sounds appropriate." The bald martial artist admitted, comparing the brilliant dragon-god claw to its actual performance in the field. Appropriate or not, it still danced around the heart of the matter. He took an uncharacteristic moment to compose his thoughts.
"Back in the day, I managed something similar." Genma began, turning away as if to relate the story from memories long ago. "I developed a school of techniques so powerful that they could bury somebody alive and cut through stone. Back in the day, there was somebody I need to kill."
He paused for a moment, then leveled a serious gaze upon his son.
"So my question is who do you plan on killing, boy?
Ranma blinked at his father's directness. A sarcastic remark was considered and discarded as he realized a single, important fact: The old man was concerned… About something. The pigtailed teen wasn't entirely convinced it was for his own wellbeing, but it was better than being pestered, tricked or beaten for the information.
"Not a 'who'. A 'what'." Ranma correct, deciding to humor the question with a serious response. "There's some bad shit out there and I need to step it up."
'Worse than Saffron?' Was Genma's first thought, his curiosity now fully engaged. Not counting the Master himself, the Phoenix child represented his son's most potent adversary to date and he was certain that Ranma would have been able to take him cleanly if not fighting with a handicap. He eyed his offspring carefully. "What, exactly, are we talking about here?"
"Ever hear of witches?" The martial artist asked, only to receive the response he had expected. Genma shook his head and his son elaborated. "Me neither. Weird ass invisible demons that eat people or somethin'. Supposedly only magical girls can kill 'em, but I'm about to prove that wrong."
Genma cocked his head, rolling the idea around in his thoughts. In truth it alleviated some of his concerns. His offspring wasn't tooling up to be a killer of men or walk the same path he had. Demon slaying was, in his opinion, well within the purview of a martial artist and thus an acceptable past time for his son. It would keep his skills honed and sharp.
And so would this.
The slightest flicker of a malicious grin was Ranma's only warning as the man lunged into his personal space and grabbed his blue silk shirt. Genma Saotome pivoted and rolled his son over his shoulder, then violently skyward where the teen flailed weightlessly until plunging back to the earth. There could only be one landing zone.
SPAloooSH!
Koi scattered as a male body was abruptly deposited into their watery domain, though it was a female sputtering indignantly as she erupted from the pond's surface, spitting out fish water. Her blue eyes sent a murderous glare back out at her father.
"WHADDYA DO THAT FOR!?"
"If you can't take your father in combat, how can you expect to take a demon?" Genma folded his arms imperiously, as if inviting his son to challenge his logic. The redheaded girl stomped out, fists clenched and ready to take him up on his offer.
"I seriously don't think that'll be a problem." She growled, but allowed a feral grin to take up residence on her face in spite of the trespass. He knew she was tired. She knew she was tired. But that was fine because the soaked martial artist knew her father was right—If she couldn't hold her own against her old man, then she had no business going after soul devouring witches. Ranma flicked her red pigtail off her shoulder in anticipation of hostilities.
Fortunately, these particular hostilities would be plied to the person that usually deserved them the most.
Training turned out to be the easy part.
Actually finding the invisible, extra-dimensional soul-devouring witches was much more difficult than the martial artist had originally anticipated… Though even that implied some degree of forethought or planning on his behalf. Lacking any sort of furry magical advisor that vaguely resembled a white rabbit or ferret, Ranma Saotome wandered with only the vaguest clue as to what to look for. In fact, most of what he was looking for had little to do with the eyes since he had been led by the nose to the original witch.
In lieu of actual methodology, the martial artist wandered the suburb looking for… Something. What, he had no idea and it was starting to get annoying. It was also becoming a waste of a perfectly good weekend, causing his pace to falter. Ranma glanced up and down the sidewalk with a sigh, finding nothing out of the ordinary either around himself or the mini-mart he stood in front of. No monster attacks, no ruckus, no nothing.
'Waste of time,' the pigtailed boy huffed to himself, reaching into his pocket to pull out the charm the magical girl had given him a week ago. He eyed the gem within as it glowed with malignant energy; energy he could actually feel. Ranma turned it in his fingers, studying its chaotic green glow with a new thought in mind. It felt angry. Depressed. The martial artist cocked his head. 'Like one of Ryoga's Shishi Hokodens…'
…Which was what Witch-space had felt like, coincidentally.
It was quite literally the only lead he had, and so far the cursed teen hadn't noticed anything that felt anything close to the foreboding crush of emotion that the other dimension seemed to be saturated with. Ranma's mind whirled, trying to work out something to salvage the complete waste of time he was currently engaged in.
'The fuzzball said that witches prey on emotional weakness,' the pigtailed boy supposed, leaning back against the store wall as the pedestrian traffic passed by. He rotated the gem around in his fingers as if it contained the key to finding a witch, addressing it directly. 'Ya kinda feel like Ryoga when he gets all pissy, so maybe those are the people you're after?'
Ranma glanced up, spying the foot traffic passing him with a frown. While it was a great theory, Ryoga was a depression spotlight. Most people didn't radiate chi that strongly, making that method of witch hunting iffy at best.
'Not like everybody walks around with a green... aura…?' The teen's thoughts were sidetracked as he watched the putrid green swirl within slowly begin to brighten. He could have mistook it for a trick of the sunlight except for the fact he had been looking at it all damn day. Not only was it brightening, but he could feel the swell of emotional chi jumping between his fingertips. He glanced around beyond it, noting only two women, a salaryman and teen in his immediate vicinity. The doors slid open and a twenty something year old guy stepped out for the convenience store, popping a drink open as he continued past.
Ranma's eyes darted back to the gem. 'What's got you all worked up now?
The unnatural glow died, fading away as if in response to his notice. He looked back up once more, hoping to pick up on some critical detail. The girl was still texting on her phone. The salaryman was having an animated conversation on his. The two women were having a polite chat. The store patron was putting on a pair of earphones.
The stone had returned to its original hue, now little more than a foggy swirl.
"Some help you are." Ranma irritably accused the charm aloud, then thrust it back into his pocket as if to punish the artifact. He shook his head with a sigh and pushed himself off the wall, merging with the meager pedestrian traffic as he worked the problem. 'Maybe pig-boy can help me lure one of these things out. Emo-depression is his thing, not mine…'
It sounded like a good idea on the surface until the teen realized one crucial fact: In every instance they had fought, no extra-dimensional monsters had shown up to devour his depressed rival's soul. Ranma shrugged to himself. 'Maybe not depressed enough?'
In either case, he had better things to do than psychoanalyze the lost boy's mental state and returned his attention back the intersection he had been working toward, still looking for some hint of a witches' presence. The crosswalk indicator chirped its singsong melody and the martial artist crossed to the other side with a small group, paying his fellow pedestrians little mind as he continued to pick through the remembrance of the single encounter he had participated in, mining it for any potentially helpful detail.
'Went in as a girl,' Ranma cocked his head, examining the fact more closely. 'In fact, the fuzzball insisted on it…'
It stood to reason as he picked over that particular element of their encounter. The creature wanted chicks for his witch clean-up crew. Was it absolutely necessary? The pigtailed boy frowned slightly at the idea as his thoughts turned sarcastic. 'A necessary evil, maybe.'
"Whatever." Ranma huffed with mild irritation and altered his course, stepping into the next café. When the martial artist returned to the sidewalk, he was a she. The redhead adjusted her red silk shirt to accommodate her new curves, tossing a paper cup into a waiting trash receptacle as she continued her search with a clear mission in mind. If it took him being a girl to find the witch, so be it. Once she did, he would fight it on his own terms.
Another hour passed, however, invalidating any theory she had concerning witches and her female aspect. Instead of a life and death battle against otherworldly evils, Ranma Saotome sat on the edge of an embankment, throwing rocks down into the canal.
Chucking stones was a poor substitute for the action she had originally planned on. She had no leads, little information and nothing to show for another lost day. Her hand blindly reached to grab another rock to vent her fusteration on, only to find she had depleted the local supply around her. Ranma's hand dug into her pant pocket, shaking her head as if disappointed in the pewter charm she had exposed to open air. The redhead glowered at it unhappily.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just toss you in with the rest?" She asked rhetorically as the thought to divest herself of the sickly green gem formed. The stone remained quiet, save the tempest of angst dimmly roiling below its crystal surface. Ranma rolled her eyes at its inactivity. "Yeah, that's what I—"
It began to glow brighter.
The martial artist checked her impulse to chuck it down range, holding it up as the putrid green energies within became more animated, swirling across the gem's surface like a storm. She stared for a long moment in wonder, than tore her attention away from it to search the environment around her. No crackling storms of power. No demonic incursion. No giant confetti carnival whales looking to swallow the city wholesale. Her blue-eyed gaze snapped back to the jewel
"Come on! Give me… something?" She was just about to plead with it when a presence caught her attention. Ranma cocked her head, her focus slowly drawn from the gem to the roadway bridge spanning the canal overpass some fifty meters away. Cars traversed the bridge at speed, but they weren't what had pulled her attention to the structure.
It was a girl.
She wore a white sundress and broad rimmed straw hat adorned with a light blue bow. The wind of the passing cars tugged at the garment's hem as she stood on the edge looking down. The girl herself wasn't unusual nor was her dress. She certainly didn't scream magical girl by any meteric Ranma cared to apply, but it was her placement… Where she was standing. Ranma cocked her head at the oddity that had drawn her attention in the first place. The brunette girl was standing outside the bridge railing with little more than open air separating her body from a quick trip downward.
The cellphone she had been cradling slipped from her hand, falling to the shallow waters below. Ranma's eyes widened with alarm as the possibility formed in her mind. 'She's not going to…?'
Her balance shifted slightly, her leg swinging out as if in slow motion. The question became a certainty.
'She's gonna jump!' Her brain screamed as if to spur the rest of her to action, Adrenaline flashed through her body like lit gasoline and she was nearly airborn in her initial leap off the embankment, sprinting to the girl that seemed mired in slow motion. The girl's leg was now completely hanging into open air and in the back of her mind, the martial artist knew her center of gravity was now terminal. She would fall.
Water sprayed up behind the redhead as she dropped into the canal, bounding through it even as the girl herself fell completely away from the bridge. A car screeched with hastily applied deceleration on the bridge above, but Ranma didn't noticed. Her sole focus was on the falling girl. She was now close enough to see the fated expression from a distance; the look of somebody who had been crushed by life and had accepted her fate.
She was the girl from the convenience store.
Ranma Saotome strained harder, all while knowing there was no way she would reach the girl in time. Her white dress floated through the open air, now halfway down. The martial artist had miraculously covered fifty meters from the time of her decision to this point, but the buildup to terminal velocity would beat even her incredible athletic ability in the end. The pigtailed girl growled in defiance at the inevitability of her defeat.
"DAMMMIIIIIIT!" She screamed and executed and impossible pirouette even as a light blue ball of realized chi formed in her hands. The reckless, spare of the moment maneuver cost her forward momentum as she spun to face backwards, pointing the moko takabisha into the ground at her feet.
BOOOOOM!
The detonation was instantly followed by a violent plume of water and debris, ejecting a body at high speed from the blast zone across a barely controlled tumble that bounced and skidded under the bridge before coming to a painful stop in the waist deep water. By now, the traffic above had stopped and people were looking over the edge, pointing to the explosion and the prone body curled in the water. Many were already on their phones to the police. Whatever had happened below looked not only to be violent in occurrence, but incredibly painful.
Ranma agreed. There was very little of her body that wasn't screaming in pain and she knew from experience that dressing the numerous scrapes and cuts she had incurred would be its own slice of heaven, but… The martial artist uncurled herself from around the body she had protected, the now shell-shocked brunette looking back up at her. The soaked pair stared in silence at one another for several long moments until the wide-eyed girl was finally able to form a single word.
"W-Why…?"
A number of reasons came to mind, but only one managed to make its way past the initial rebuke that didn't feel appropriate for the situation. The redhead shrugged with a faint smile. "Because I could."
"You… you shouldn't have…" The brunette's curiosity faded into depression that was evident across her features. Ranma continued to stare at the vulnerable girl and then simply shrugged.
"Yeah, well, I did." The wet redhead simply stated as she began to untangle herself from her protective embrace. "Not sure why ya did it and I ain't gonna ask, but-OwowowowOW…"
The girl watched her savior wince while stretching her arm to inspect a long superficial scrap that stretched up the shredded silk of her shirt and across her bicep. The long haired girl suddenly looked panicked.
"I'm sorry!" She blurted, all but chewing on her thumb until the Ranma looked back down at her. The brunette turned away. "I hurt another person…"
"Oh please." Her rescuer snorted, rolling her eyes. The pigtailed girl ignored the arm and instead inspected the scrap running down her leg, then glanced back over to her. "All this just means I'm doing it right."
The fact that the girl was thinking she had hurt another person didn't go unnoticed by the martial artist however, nor did her complete lack of eye contact… and self-esteem. Sirens could be heard now and Ranma looked up, finding a crowd clustered around the bridge watching them from on high. Glancing back down at the girl, however… She was pathetic; the opposite sex in her most vulnerable state. As embarrassing as it might have been to be in the presence of the wet girl and her water logged, nearly translucent dress, Ranma's honor simply could not abide.
The girl looked up, wondering why the redhead was just standing there. Instead of condemnation, she found an understanding smile. Ranma plopped down into the water next to her. "How about I just hang out until somebody finds us?"
The wet girl blinked, her depression slowly turning to wonder. The nod she favored the redhead with was reluctant, but a nod none the less.
"I… I think I would like that."
Author's Notes— I hadn't thought people would perceive the prologue as a one-shot, but looking back, I can see where that impression might come from. But no. IT'S NOT. What you have here is a 100% intact fic, ladies and gentleman; a fic with a definite beginning and end. That said, it's a slow burn project and this is about all I have for the moment. But you deserved a little extra for the new year, so Happy New Year!
Grief Seed: Misunderstandings occur. A seed is offered to another Puella as a token of trust. If the recipient accepts the seed, it is a sign the pair are amicable to working with one another. Of course, Ranma has no idea as to the significance of the offering. I can't see any canon reason why Ranma can't have one technically. In regards to plot, well, that's already taken care of.