Juraian Knight: Chapter 02.
Disclaimer. Don't own Ranma 1/2 , Nor Tenchi Muyo. Just my own house, car, and job (which is actually a pretty cool job too). However 5 of the characters in this fic are my own creation (And no they are not Super Powerful Mary-Sues, nor are they Mary-Sue's by the definition that I've been reading in the forums they're just OC's that are hopefully dynamic and will fit into the universes that I am playing around with).
A quick note:No I am not dead. Neither are my 3 other posted fanfics or this one. I am just VERY busy with minimal time to pursue very enjoyable but complete waste of time endeavors such as writing fanfiction and reading fanfiction. I will not bore people with telling my life story here, but suffice it to say it's very full.
A second note:Ok, I was experimenting with the notes just after the marker that several reviewers suggested I do after I put a lot of them at the end of the chapter… I'm going back to that style with this chapter update. Sorry to everyone that that annoyed. Second, has had some probs with my upload and somehow chapter one got replace and I have two copies of chapter 2 on there… so I'm re-uploading the whole piece.
Third note:Suggestions help. Thanks. It is those suggestions that have helped me get better at writing and have made my story flow much better since I started working on Weapon X Japan.
So after those rewritten rants… Please enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 02:Recruiting
Ranma came to slowly, his awareness drifting back into being from what he may have considered a rather odd dream. The dream wasn't there anymore, not even a recollection of it other than the fact that it was odd. Once he was done recalling his dream he finished coming back to awareness and opened his eyes. Once they were open Ranma looked up and saw branches above him, for some reason they seemed to be smaller than the ones on the tree on Togenkyo island (1). And he could now feel the bed below him, it was very comfortable, almost lulling him back to sleep again regardless of whether or not he needed it.
"Did I black out?" the youth thought to himself as he continued to look around. "I could only be on Togenkyo, where else would someone put a bed underneath a tree like this." He turned his head to the side and sees that somehow the branches interweave to all around and form a good sized room, a living room as far as his ki senses could tell. "but this tree is not like the ones on the island."
Ranma sat up after looking around for a second. Tried to sit up that is. Instead he found his left arm in a sling and felt a tightness around his ribs that was reminiscent of a break or a deep bruising. He finally managed to sit up after rolling slightly onto his right side and bracing himself on his right arm. After the brief exertion he ended up not quite panting, but breathing a little bit harder than he normally would have after doing a hundred pushups. The pig tailed youth then reaches for his ki to start an accelerated healing cycle as he didn't want to be caught in a sling when one of his rivals found him next. His eyes widened as he felt how different it felt, in fact it resisted his attempts to mold it and bend his life forces to his will. Almost like his control was ghosting through it. Sort of like it was there and completely solid, but his control and capabilities were not there as every time he concentrated to send it to his left arm nothing happened.
Ranma was about to give up and at least stand up to explore this place he found himself in when he noticed a presence enter the room. He looked over to his left to see a beautiful woman that could have been anywhere between 20 years of age to 30 years with short but well groomed turquoise hair and wearing something that reminded him of a cross between a Kimono and one of Kuno's hakima (2). As she walked towards him he noticed that her left arm was also in a sling and that there was a pressure bandage on the left side of her neck.
"Good sir." She began in a lilting voice with a strange accent that Ranma could not discern. "I thank you for saving both my life, and the life of every survivor on this ship."
Scene Break
A few days had passed for the small group of people from Nerima. And though it was only a short amount of time things still had yet to settle down. The Tendo's had only just managed to get home only to find themselves, or rather Akane found herself being bombarded by a combined front of Ukyo, Shampoo, Moose, and Nabiki of all people. Kodachi had just shown up somehow and was attempting to wail away at Akane with either her shrill voice, or with her gymnastic ribbon. Luckily for Akane Ryoga had stepped in at that moment and taken the ribbon from the slightly demented girl.
"I Told You Guys that I DON'T KNOW where Ranma is!" Akane yelled at them with her fists balled at her sides. "You saw how that idiot had shot out of the tree. WHY are all of you so busy condemning me instead of looking for him anyway?"
Shampoo looked at her with an expression that stated to anyone who cared to watch that she did not believe a word of it. "Pervert girl probably chase Airen to Energy launch."
Ukyo looked at Shampoo in almost surprise for the level of cognizance that the Amazon displayed with her statement. "I agree Sugar." She then looked at the current object of her wrath. "Your harping and nagging at poor Ran-chan probably drove him to do that."
Akane looked like she had just about had enough and her right hand was visibly shaking and grasping at something, almost as if she was trying to get a hold of some sort of weapon.
"Hold Children." Cologne said in a calm but gravely voice. "Fighting each other does not find Son-In-Law." She looked at Akane with her back to Ukyo and Shampoo. "And loosing your temper does nothing to justify or exonerate you youngling."
While Akane was spluttering in denial to what Cologne said, Nabiki and Ukyo were snickering. Shampoo just looked at them and then Akane and asked. "What 'xonarete'?"
"Exonerate Shampoo. It means to have an official declaration that someone is not to blame." Nabiki answered as she reverted a bit to her regular faÁade.
"Why not say in first place," Shampoo said as she stomped her foot in an exasperated huff. "Japanese is stupid language." She finished before turning around and storming out of the house.
Ukyo turned to leave as well, only a quick waive and goodbye marked her leaving. However Ryoga, Cologne, Kuno, Moose, and Kodachi remained in the house with the Tendo's. Cologne was snickering again while the Kuno siblings were just watching everyone a bit warily.
Cologne gave a quick dry cough. "If it is of some small consolation to you Akane, then I'll state that I do not believe that you are at fault for that blast."
"Finally, someone talking some sense."
"Yes, the person at fault for the blast was in fact Son-in-law."
"WHAT!" Genma yelled out. "I knew that my worthless son would be so callous as to do something like that. Oh why was I so cursed to have such a lazy son." He bemoaned as he and Soun walked off to the Shogi table to play one of their regular games. Kasumi sighed heart fully and walked off muttering about things returning to normal as Nabiki turned on Cologne.
"So, how do you know that the energy ball was Ranma?" She asked calmly.
"Because it was laced with his life energy." Moose answered for the elder only to receive a bonk on the head.
"Quiet Mr. Part Time." Cologne said then continued. "He's right though." Ryoga nodded from where he sat. "Ranma's life force was all throughout that energy ovoid. Somehow he must have taken some of the energy from the tree itself and contained it. Now all we have to do is figure out where on Earth he is."
Ryoga stood up and shouldered his pack. "Well, I'm not waiting around for that coward. He's probably off somewhere gathering another group of girls." The last part said with a snarl. As Ryoga departed and everyone watched him, Nabiki made her way out of the room as well with a mischievous grin on her face.
Scene Break
Ranma looked at the woman who had introduced herself as Seto Kamaki. His expression was slightly blank and his posture (what little posture you can have while leaning up on one elbow in bed) was that of a confused and out of place person.
"Say What?" He asked her when his brain started to function again.
"I said young sir, that we are in your debt. If not for your timely arrival with such an abundant amount of life energy the Serateho would have died and with everyone on board." The older woman said with a kind glint in her eyes.
"Say what again?" Ranma said and came up to a full sitting position. "You mean I saved a buncha people? Last thing I remember was savin 'Kane from some curse water in Togenkyo, then a blue/gold light. Now I'm here in some weird bed under a tree."
"You are in the medical section of the Juraian Space Ship Serateho. The tree is part of the control system and structure of the ship." Seto said as she walked over to a seat that seemed to form from a gathering of branches that came down from the tree limbs and turned into roots once they came near the ground. "Your life force gave the Serateho enough energy to jump start back to being able to function. If not for that almost 500 people would now be dead. Maybe more."
"How would my life force help a space ship?" Ranma asked from his sitting position.
Seto looked him directly in the eyes. "Simple. This ship is alive, and was dying due to damage and energy loss when we arrived in orbit around your planet. Your energy hitting the living inner hull of the Serateho was similar to having a heart restarted with an application of what you call electricity."
"So, I helped you out. No prob, that's what a martial artist is supposed to do." He looked around the area again then back at the woman who was claiming that he had saved both her and many lives. "But, when can you get me back home?" He asked.
"After we bring you to the Crown planet for Knighting."
"Say What?"
"I said, after we bring you to the Crown planet for Knighting. Because of your bravery and quick action you have managed to do a heroic deed that the Empire of Jurai must repay."
"No." Ranma said simply and swung his legs down from the bed.
"What do you mean 'No'." Seto asked, an expression on her face that looked like she was unused to being told no.
"I mean, no. I need to get back home, I'm sure that everyone is worried about me. There's no way I can go runnin around the stars gettin knighted for any ol act of duty that I did. My pops alone would be pissed, let alone all the others I gotta deal with in my life."
"Well, there are other reasons then. One of which I MUST insist on." Seto said getting her wind back behind her sails. When Ranma just looked at her with a blink or two but not saying anything else she continued. "When your energy bullet hit the side of the Seraheto the Juraian Space Tree absorbed almost All of your life energy. If not for it's quick action to bring everyone inside a force bubble immediately and then sending a life energy link directly to you then you would now be dead. Right now you are completely reliant on Juraian energy to live, and until we can get you back to the Juraian home world of Jurai we can not stabilize it or link you permanently to your own Space Tree which would allow you to be free to wander around the Galaxy on your own once more."
"You mean that I would die?"
"Yes. You would. And there are only two places where you can gain the energy link required to allow you to live without being within 10 of your kilometers from a Space Tree. The home world of Jurai, or in the presence of Tsunami the Ship of Jurai. The quickest way to get you linked is on Jurai as we would have to find the Goddess Tsunami to find the ship Tsunami before we could link you there. As we would be on the home world then our Emperor would then be able to Knight you as befits your act of heroism and bravery."
"Even if that act was an accident?"
"Yes. Accident or not. You saved this ship and the lives of everyone onboard. That must be rewarded."
"I still want to go back to Nerima first." Ranma said reluctantly. "I need to tell my pops and 'Kane."
Seto paused before answering him. "We can't. We're only a week left from getting to Jurai, we have been traveling since we finished repairs about 3 days ago and are expected back in Juraian space as soon as we can."
"So just turn around and get me back. 3 days is bad enough."
"It took us 3 days to complete repairs. You've been asleep for almost 6 days now."
"WHAT!" Ranma shouted.
"Calm down, after the Knighting ceremony we will make arrangements for the rest of your reward. Especially as a Knight must have a proper holding. Jurai does not like to have its Knights wandering around without the proper estates. It would make us look bad to the other Star Nations in this Universe."
"You mean I've gotta take over some land? Just great, now I'll end up like Kuno." Ranma complained.
"I do not know who this Kuno is, but it would not be 'some land'. A Knight once Knighted must assume duty in the Court of the Star Empire of Jurai, and part of that duty is the responsibility of Lordship that goes with the title of Knight. You will receive more information soon, but in the mean time you have basic run of the Serateho. I must get back to my own duties, and the ship will not let you get into places that you do not belong. Oh, and I should also warn you. The crew wishes to thank you in person as well as many of the passengers. So if people come up to you that you don't know they're just a little awe struck that someone not of Jurai was able to replenish a Space Tree so well. You've become quite famous to them now." With that Seto left the dumbfounded Ranma alone in the room.
Scene Break
Ryoko was sitting on the couch in the living room of the Misaki house. She was comfortably watching some news broadcast while eating some crackers. As she sat there the broadcast changed from the local news to international events.
"TENCHI! OLD MAN! WASHU!" Ryoko yelled out as she stood up, the crackers falling onto the floor. "GET IN HERE NOW!"
While the alarmed ex-space pirate finished her yell just about everyone came barreling in to the room with the exception of Washu who of course had a bit further to go.
"What's wrong Ryoko?" Tenchi asked only to hear Ayeka gasp beside him. Tenchi looked at her and saw her pointing at the Television. "Shimata…" Tenchi said quietly and watched the screen.
On the Television was a computer enhanced scene showing the damaged ship that they had helped last week, unlike what they knew happened though there seemed to be only debris and none of the people they had helped. About twenty five seconds into the clip the blue and gold energy ovoid that they had seen themselves crashed into the side of the space craft and then all the debris started moving closer to the tree as it started to fade from the picture. Another half minute elapsed and then there was no visible debris what-so-ever and only stars could be seen.
"Well, that answeres that." Washu said from the other side of Tenchi causing him to jump in startlement. "I was wondering when they would air the video."
Ayeka turned to look at Washu in amazement. "You knew that we had been seen and yet felt no need to inform Lord Tenchi or myself?"
"Yep. However I don't know if the Yukinojo was traced or not. I have only been able to tap into that video feed as it was being discussed by some of the larger news agencies."
Tenchi turned to Washu. "Why wouldn't you know if we were traced or not?" He asked. "Aren't you the Smartest woman in the Galaxy?"
"That's Smartest Woman in the Universe! And don't you forget it." Washu said with an air of confidence bordering on arrogance. "And do you know how primitive this worlds computers are? It's hard enough getting a link with them, but I have to write special programming just to interface with this senile operating system that some genius in a city called Seattle came up with. Not to mention the lack of hyperspace bandwith to work with, it's almost like being in the stone ages!" With that the petite red head with a hair style almost as big as her head turned and walked off back towards her lab confident with her explanation.
Once she had left Tenchi turned to the rest of the group. "Did she just avoid the question?"
Scene Break
Ranma had gotten up a while ago and had been wandering around the ship ever since. He was in more than a little bit of awe. The inside of the area outside of the collection of drooping branches that made up the 'medical' ward was enormous. It looked like about thirty or forty meters to the top of the area and was at least four hundred meters to the far end. Much larger than any park he had ever encountered. He had declined moving from the more natural area of the ship that he had awakened in to go to the service and living areas underneath but had decided to stay in the natural environment.
The pig tailed youth had also discovered after getting up and moving around a bit that some of his ki was starting to come back under his control. Not enough to do anything with, but enough to tell him that he was indeed recovering.
After about ten minutes of wandering Ranma encountered a great stream that led back up to the roots of a great tree that seemed to be in the center of the great cavernous room. The stream was crystal clear and seemed only to be about a foot or two in depth with walking stones strategically placed to allow people to cross without needing to resort to a bridge or to getting wet. The area held an almost magical calm to it, and Ranma could see many people moving around. Some of them were obviously fixing something near one bank as the dirt had somehow been raised into a pillar about shoulder height and they had a wooden panel opened up on the far side that they were peering into. Nearer to him was a young couple in some form of military like uniform similar to what Seto had been wearing, one of the two had a bandage around her head and a brace on her thigh. The guy with her had something that looked like a wooden cast on his left arm and some burns on his face that looked about a week old. But the two were smiling at each other.
"Now why can't me and Akane be like that." Ranma thought to himself regretfully "If I wanted to be like that!" He thought almost immediately afterwards unable even to himself about having feelings for his still earth bound fiancÈe. Trying to distract himself he decided to pump some ki into his shoulder to accelerate his healing as he didn't like having his arm in a sling.
Scene Break
At Furinken High school of the Nerima ward of Japan there seemed to be little studying going on. Instead there was a plethora of gossip and rumormonging. At the center of it all was Nabiki and her small group of cohorts in crime. Of course the discussion ranged from what the aliens ate, to whether they were the fallout from an interstellar war. Nabiki, having a bit more inside information was getting ready to sell the info packets to her fellow students.
On the other side of the lot was Akane who was not paying attention to the other teens talking about the aliens. She seemed to somewhere off in her own land and attributed the chatter to a new movie that everyone was interested in. She was still in that state when the self proclaimed Blue Thunder of Furinken High came over spouting proclamations that the Foul Sorcerer Saotome had been taken home as the obviously low born servant of a debaucherous alien empire. Hearing the different slant on Kuno's speech caused Akane go groan and leave him behind before he started spouting rhetoric trying to woo her and Ranma-chan into his arms.
Scene Break
"Milady Kamiki, what you are proposing is preposterous." A slightly aged man clothed in the finery of a Juraian noble stated as he reclined in a wooden chair that was placed across from Seto Kamiki. Seto was dressed in the more functional clothes of the Galaxy Police uniform. The tight fitting outfit proving much easier to get around in in her opinion than the formal robes of a Noble of Jurai. Something that her adviser felt much angst over.
"What I am proposing is the least of what should be done." Seto said back to the old man acting as her advisor on this cruise. "And you know it Garns. If this youth was Juraian you would not have batted an eyelash at it. Only the fact that he hails from the planet earth where the Crown Prince is in residence keeps you from seeing that." She said to her aged companion.
Garns seemed unmoved by this and continued on. "But what about your other previous project?" He asked. "Did he really turn out to be that great an addition?"
"That 'project' as you say has helped us in many ways. And helped out the GXP much more."
"Milady, I am sure that may in fact be the case. But he was just added to the rosters of the GXP. This new project of yours, if you do go through with this folly will be not only in the GXP, but will be a Jurain Noble of his own right. The House of the Lords will have non of it, let alone the Nobility of our Empire. You are one of the few Juraian Nobles to ever serve in the Galaxy Police, it is kept that way to give the GXP their air of separation needed to maintain the peace and impartiality."
"That may be Garns, but I sense great things about this Ranma Saotome. I believe that he will be a force for good."
"I only hope that you are right Milady." Garns said. "I can only hope."
Scene Break
A couple of days had passed on the living space ship Seraheto. In those days Ranma had been wandering the ship and generally trying to make himself comfortable in this strange alien environment. Luckily for the pig tailed youth much of the ship was like a great tamed forest refuge or state park which reminded him of his years on the road with his father.
During his wanderings he had encountered a great many people that were injured in one form or another. As he was who he was he couldn't just leave them to suffer so he had started to aid the personal of the Seraheto and her passengers who needed it by giving shiatsu, pressure point aid, and massage. Back in Nerima people might have been amazed that the boy that only knew how to fight was acting as a serrogate healer to this ship. He hadn't actually encountered many healers in fact, only one Nurse and a scruffy old looking man who couldn't actually have been older than 30 who said he was a doctor but looked more like a drunken rabbi or homish man than what Ranma thought a doctor should look like.
However every now and then he came upon something that did not fit in. Like the washrooms. After a couple of days of helping out and wandering around the pig tailed youth decided he needed a wash. So he started looking around for them. Now Ranma was familiar with hot springs, as well as with public baths. But the washrooms on the Seraheto were open. At first Ranma had thought that the odd pool like area was just a visual spring or another park until one evening he came across a guy and three women using it while off duty.
He had watched as they had calmly taken off their clothes and started to bathe while showing none of the reaction he had come to take for granted back on his home world. The girls were not bashing the guy for being a pervert, and the guy was not staring or trying to grope the women. In fact they were acting as if they were still wearing their clothes as they washed off. Their seeming comfort with each other 'out of uniform' as it were had derailed Ranma's train of thought so much that he was more shocked about that then he was about the water that would shoot up from the pool and arc around to rinse them off as if by mental command.
After that Ranma had gone looking for a more secluded bathing area as he did not feel comfortable undressing in public like that regardless of Akane's accusations of his lack of modesty. After all, going without a shirt on was completely different than going without any clothes on at all. Once he had put his mind to it Ranma had been able to find such a place, and confident that he would not be seen while bathing and that his curse would not be discovered he went about his business.
In another part of the ship Seto was pleased with what she had seen of her new ward, and if everything worked to her machinations her new protege as well. She felt that she had made the right decision, not just because of his tremendous potential but also as he had so far shown a kind heart and a knowledge of healing that would work greatly in any pursuit that he so desired. She was so caught up in her contemplations though that she failed to note the presence of another being till the young aid coughed slightly to gain her attention.
"Yes Ensign?" she said after quickly checking his collar pips to make sure she got his rank right.
"I have something here that you should probably see My Lady." He said while handing her a small data crystal. Seto was about to put it in her reader when her aid coughed again. At her raised eyebrow he continued. "My Lady, it would probably be best if you viewed the recording in a private chamber. The control center would most likely not be the best viewing area."
Seto nodded her head and stood. "Garn, please let me know if anything comes up while I am in my day quarters." She said to her advisor who had just walked into the main control area of the Seraheto.
Garn looked back at her and sighed. "I just love when she is so hard to track down." He said under his breath and then walked over to the Officer of the Watch to ask for an update.
Scene Break
In Seto's private chambers she had already plugged in the memory crystal into her rooms viewer and a recording of Ranma getting undressed for bathing was on the screen. The background said that it was in one of the ships second hull bathing area's near the crew quarter overflow area.
"Ensign, though I do enjoy a good show I should let you know that I do not find this a particular funny joke. And if Garn put you up to it then I'll have to have a talk with him." She said then looked back at Ranma as he turned towards the recorders pick up. "Though I do appreciate the voyeuristic gesture none the less."
The Ensign had turned beat red at her comments with both embarrassment as well as with shame as he thought that maybe he should have explained what was on that recording prior to having her just view it. "My Lady, I assure you, this is no jest. Please just continue to watch our guest, something is about to happen that you should be informed about."
Seto just sat back in her seat after that and decided to just enjoy the show then, and did have to admit that it was a good one even if slightly unethical for a lady of her stature to be doing. Then her opinion changed. As Ranma had stepped over to a small water outlet and had figured out how to get it to work and was rewarded with a spray of water to his face. However that was not what changed her opinion. It was the fact that his form shimmered briefly and once the shimmer was done he was replaced with a very buxom but very short naked red haired girl. The girl managed to get the stream of water to cease and was spluttering for a second as she was obviously spouting of some form of curse. Then she shrugged her shoulders and shivered a bit as the water, which Seto could now tell was cold from the girls reaction, turned and headed for one of the other water outlets and started to fiddle around with it. After a moment she managed to get it to turn on and the resultant spray of water initiated the form shimmer again and Ranma returned to his male form. Seto could see the steam generated from the water as well as his now relaxed expression and then reached to turn off the recording.
"Did you manage to get a bio scan of the change?" Seto asked.
"I am afraid not My Lady. This happened last night during the mid watch. They did not actually see any of the security footage. It only came to my notice when I was checking battle damage that we are still in the process of repairing. I noticed a section of the crew overflow area had a bio sign in it that would move in and out periodically during the ships late evening or night hours. So I pulled up the visual recordings and found the middle of this segment where the red haired girl turned into our guest."
Seto thought for a moment then looked her aid in the eyes. "I would like full, but unobtrusive bio scans of Ranma at all times. Do not let him, her, uh... Ranma know about them please, but use the internal ship sensors to keep tabs on him and let us see if we can get a recording of what is actually happening if he shape shifts again."
Her aid bowed and left her day cabin as she turned back on the recording. "Interesting, I'll have to keep an eye on your progress."
Scene Break
Back in Nerima Nabiki was standing on a street corner with the smirk to end all smirks on her face. It was the smirk of someone who knew something and was not sharing.
"Argh… Mercenary girl frustrating." Shampoo said to Nabiki's face as she pouted. "Why no say what know? Do know or not know where Airen is?" she continued as she put her fingers on the bridge of her nose as if to stem off a headache.
"Oh, but I do know where he has gone. I just stated that he is not on this planet." Nabiki said enjoying pulling the emotional cords of her sisters rival for the pig tailed martial artist.
Shampoo pulled her hand down from her face before she continued. "What you mean 'Not on planet'? Where go other than planet. Airen Dead? Airen on Moon?"
"Ah, now you ask the right question. Let's go, I have something to show you." Nabiki stated then turned around and walked towards her families house.
Once the two of them arrived Nabiki headed strait to her room and turned on a small desktop computer she had there.
Shampoo looked over her shoulder for a second trying to see what Nabiki was doing. "Why mercenary girl need game box?" She asked while looking at the computer.
Nabiki snickered before answering. "It's not a 'game box' it's a computer. And there are no games on this one, just files. Lot's of files."
"Then why not use cabinet? Is easier to look up files, no?" Shampoo said while looking around the room. "Is waste of space." She said looking back at what Nabiki was doing. Then she stopped her derisive attitude and watched what was on the computer screen as Nabiki pulled up some form of square file like looking at a television inside of the computer screen. It showed an energy ovoid very similar to the one that her Airen had accended to the heavens in. "What? How get?" Shampoo demanded.
"Nuh uh. You are not going to get something for nothing. This picture is a freebee. To view the full file you'll need to pay me." The money conscious girl said as she held out her hand. Shampoo sighed and dug into her pockets and counted out some yen and placed the bills into Nabiki's waiting hand. Nabiki looked at the amount that had been paid to her and shrugged her shoulders pocketed the money and then pushed the play button.
Shampoo watched the small 20 centimeter wide miniature screen inside the computers view screen play out and saw as the energy ball shot up and impacted into the side of a large vessel that seemed to be made out of wood that was silhouetted against the stars cape. She gasped as the vessel that at first seemed damaged suddenly started to pull in all debris and then vanished from the screen. Shampoo stared at the blank stars cape on the screen for a moment longer when she noticed that Nabiki's hand was outstretched for more money. Not even counting the amount she handed her full billfold to the other girl and waited.
"What you just saw is what everyone in the world saw on the news. What I am about to show you has not been seen and I believe is considered secret by our government, but it may give us a clue as to where to start looking for Ranma." Nabiki said to Shampoo and brought up two other windows and put them next to each other.
The window on the left showed the scene similar to the one that just played out, the one on the right showed the scene but from much further away and had part of the Earth in the picture. Nabiki started them both at once. On the left the wooden ship was there and Shampoo could now see people and debris were falling out of the large wooden ship as it came near the Earth. On the right screen a small speck of light could be seen rising from the earth and if she squinted she could make out the area where the wooden ship was as a slightly foggy blur. She also noticed something else. There was another speck trailing the foggy blur, to distinct to be a star, and to regular to be something else. When the spark from the planet hit the wooden ship the cloud of fog immediately started to disappear and the other speck could be made out much easier and could be seen as a red metal craft.
However on the screen on the left as soon as the energy ovoid hit the ship it immediately was absorbed into the crafts hull like a sponge absorbing water. And left outside rebounded off the hull was a well toned boy with black hair in a pig-tail wearing a white tank top and blue and yellow shorts.
"AIREN!" Shampoo yelled out when she saw him. Then gasped it was obvious to her that he was unconscious.
Shampoo felt a hand on her shoulder and didn't know when she and Nabiki had traded places but Nabiki was now standing behind her with her hand comfortably on her shoulder. "Keep watching, this next part is interesting." She said.
On the screen Shampoo watched as the debris started to slowly move towards the wooden ship and then watched as a small portion of the hull opened up near Ranma and he drifted back towards the craft and into the opening. Then the crafts and debris on both screens suddenly vanished.
Shampoo turned and looked at Nabiki. "Where they go?" She asked.
"I don't know where the wooden ship went. But I believe that the red craft came from somewhere in Japan." She said. "That craft is where we start to look."
Scene Break
In a open glade somewhere inside the Seraheto Ranma was working out. He was aware of the crowd that he seemed to be gathering but shrugged it off as something similar to what happened when he worked out in the public parks on Earth. Though the off duty girls were creeping him out a bit with the way they were looking at him.
As he completed a specific Kata that called for a handless jackknife back flip he came back to center and saw Seto finish walking up to him and stand 5 paces away and go into a basic combat stance. She was no longer in her sling just as he had shucked his off a day ago. Ranma was also wearing something akin to Kuno's hakima, but a little more form fitting as his shorts and tank top had finally bit the dust a couple of days ago.
Seto was dressed in something similar, when he had asked about it earlier in the week she had said that it was similar to what the Jurai considered to be work out clothes and as such he took to them and found them nearly as comfortable as his Chinese silks.
Ranma got into an actual stance of his own rather than one of his 'I'm not in a stance stance' as he figured that Seto would not only see past it but that she might be able to surprise him enough that he couldn't get his hands out of his pockets fast enough to block.
He was right of course, the aqua almost platinum haired woman across from him shot forward at a speed that when he first arrived at Nerima would have left him flat footed. Of course that was before some of his best speed training. However, he had minimal access to his Ki currently and as such he had to actually block her leading fist rather than just dodge around it. At that the match was started.
Seto pressed Ranma hard and actually managed to keep him mostly on the ground as he found it difficult to gain the distance to jump properly, he even paid for a particularly cocky attempt at a back flip by receiving a punishing blow to his thigh as he rose into the move. After that he stuck to more of the ground maneuvers. "Man, she is stronger than Ryoga and about as fast as Shampoo. It's a good thing she's telegraphing almost as bad as Akane though." He thought as he swirled around a wide punch that if it connected would have been brutal to his shoulder. In response he tapped her right ear, jaw, and collarbone in rapid succession to let her know that he had not just broken through her defenses but could have landed several near crippling blows.
Seto turned around and backed away and bowed to her opponent in both appreciation and defeat. Ranma bowed back slightly out of breath as he had to use an anaerobic boost (4) rather than his normal ki enhancement to give the extra speed necessary to pull off that last move.
"You are very skilled Ranma." Seto said to him and walked up. "But you really should start hitting back instead of just tapping. It's rude to your opponent and can get you killed." She said as she draped her arm around him. "Now, I'd like to talk to you about a red haired girl that we've seen on a few of our security camera's."
End Chapter
(1)In case anyone has not seen it, Togenkyo Island is part of the Second Ranma movie. It is a floating island with a giant tree that has a pool of water that can turn anyone into a man. See the movie for more details.
(2)hakima, the formal wear out of armor of a Samurai. It's what Kuno is almost Always wearing.
(3)I am using the theory that Juraian Energy is very close but not directly related to Spirit Energy or Ki, and yes I know that in many fanfics especially with Yu Yu Hakusho that Spirit Energy is not Ki. But in this universe they will be very close to Juraian Energy. Sort of like American 60hz power source vs Russian 50hz power. Just a slight frequency off.
(4)Anaerobic boost. The ability to shoot additional toxins and adrenalin into your system during a physical maneuver by the simple act of not breathing. This is an actual ability or technique and I DO NOT recommend it. It can almost double your speed or power for a few seconds, however it can also cause a person to black out from lack of oxygen in their system. Most masters, sensei's, and even coaches highly frown on this technique though a few do teach it as a last ditch item that can be used in times of crisis. Also very few people actually call it Anaerobic boost, but that is the best description I have for it.
This additional note comes from nantukoprime and flushes out my earlier note
"Anerobic Boosting is also the leading cause of death in weightlifters, or sports players in their prime. The act of boosting and the strain it causes on the system is pervasive. So pervasive in fact, that the most common actual injuries are a hemmorhage in the main artery of the brain, a ruptured diaphragm, or a tear in the lungs/abdominal lining (note that those injuries are all injuries to smooth muscle, as the energy from the flooded adrenaline comes from internal systems that are not conciously being controlled)."
Authors notes – Jurai is an Empire, and in several of the Tenchi Anime, and in quite a few Manga there is a caste of Knights. Now in all the Tenchi series there has been no full fleshing out of the Juraian culture. Only bits and pieces, usually around holidays or basic interpersonal relationships. So I am borrowing a little bit of etiquette from two sources, the British Empire, specifically their Naval history. And a lot of David Webers books as he deals with space born empires and kingdoms quite a bit. As such, a person with Seto's lineage could indeed request or demand the Knighting of an individual responsible for not just her life, but also the safety of a Ship of Jurai. Additionally if the Ship had indeed used the generated life energy from the Life tree of Togenkyo and the energy matrix from Ranma's Ki bullet then I also conjectured that it would indeed drain a lot of life energy directly from Ranma as a result.
Second Note – I have received multiple IM's PM's and Reviews stating this so I thought I'd spend a second to explain. Ranma has No personal Ki right now. I was going to go into it in the next chapter but decided to explain quickly here. He is learning to tap the Seraheto but think's that he is using Ki not Juraian Energy. For you laymen out there (and as I myself am one as well) it is like being on plasma when critically wounded rather than receiving a blood transfusion. The Seraheto is the source and the ambulance and the transfusion is on the Planet of Jurai. Seto and her advisors believe that Ranma would not be able to jump start his life energy properly without a blessing from a Tree of Jurai (and Seto is purposefully bending her will to accept that belief). As such they think that the only way to keep the being that saved them alive is to get him to Jurai at the earliest possible time. But they are not on a warship, or on a Throne ship, heck not even a courier. They are on a bulk transport turned cadet training luxury ship for Seto's personal vacation and her ability to take about 500 cadets at once on a midshipman's first cruise, sort of a dual purpose month long trip.