Disclamer: I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon you know that, I know that. Here we go with the next reworked chapter of the Prince of Planets.
The two weeks of training since leaving the Tendo dojo had been excellent for Ranma. He had completed the Breaking point technique training beyond his expectations and was able to move at Chestnut fist speeds with both his legs and arms while weighed down by 40 kilos. Even more important to Ranma, he had found that thanks to his training he could use one full powered Moko Dan Ha a minute and less powered versions of the attack even quicker. Now Ranma was heading home to his mother's house in Juban in order to move on with his life. Currently Ranma was stopping at this small village he had found to have lunch before he got to the special wards of Tokyo.
Suddenly the peace of the town was broken as a person on a motorcycle raced into the village screaming "GET OUT! GET OUT OF TOWN THE OROCHI'S AWAKE AND COMING THIS WAY!" In a flash the entire village was in an uproar. People were grabbing what they could carry and then running as fast as they could out of the town. Watching the mass panic happening in front of him, Ranma was trying to figure out what was going on. But his mind, even though he was now able to use his intelligence for more things than just martial arts, just couldn't figure out the reason why this was all happening.
Ranma finally gave up trying to figure out what was going on and just grabbed one panicky old man and demanded to know what was going on. The old man stuttered out. "The Orochi has been asleep for 1,000 years in Rygzuwara. Last time it was awake, the Orochi went on a spree of destruction devastating the land before the favored of Suzan-no was able to slay it. After it was killed by the warrior, the Orochi was then reborn in Rygzuwara were it remained asleep until today. Please sir, if you value your life; flee now before the Orochi kills you and me!"
Ranma thought about running along with everyone else but stopped when he remembered that the old man had said that the Orochi didn't stop its rampage until it was stopped. While he did not consider himself to be a favored warrior of the kami, Ranma just couldn't bring himself to do nothing and run away. Almost instantly Ranma made up his mind and decided to try and at least buy the villagers more time to evacuate. Running in the direction that would take him to the oncoming Orochi, Ranma muttered to himself "I must be nuts." Fifteen minutes latter he found himself on a forest path and he stopped as he heard the approach of the Orochi. As the Orochi came into view Ranma let out a low moan as he said to out loud, "Man, I really am insane."
The Orochi was about 20 meters in height and 40 meters in length. The path it had traveled was easy to spot due to the fact that the ground was plowed like someone had just come and ripped the soil away. It had seven dragon heads each on their own long neck attached to the main body. The Orochi had no legs but a body like a snake's. At the end of that body was another head that was far larger than the seven heads before it. The whole body of the Orochi was covered in green and purple scales that gleamed in the sun like polished armor. From its mouths' dark black smoke was slowly billowing out.
Taking that smoke as a sign that the Orochi could breathe fire Ranma cursed his luck. Quickly analyzing the monster in front of him, Ranma tried to figure out any weakness that he could exploit. Ranma was under no illusions that he could possibly win this fight; unless he used ever dirty and underhanded trick in the book that Genma had showed him. If he did that, Ranma gave himself a one in five chance of defeating the Orochi.
Quickly Ranma's mind came up with the attack plan to use. Ranma then started the battle by leaping into the air. At the apex of his jump, just as he was leveling off with the seven heads of the Orochi, Ranma suddenly let lose a scream of "Moko Dan Ha." Ranma made sure to unleashed the attack at its full potential. As the beach-ball sized sphere of Chi collided at the base of two Orochi head necks leaving a gaping wound; Ranma flipped onto the snout of the center head. Knowing that he needed every advantage he could get, Ranma lashed out with his fists at the eyes in front of him.
Seeing his arms buried in the eyes in front of him, Ranma quickly pulled his fists back out. When he looked at his hands Ranma found that they were covered in goopy remains of the monster's now blind eyes. Before Ranma could think about what was covering his arms, the head he was standing on jerked back in pain. This action was like a catapult sending Ranma flying through the air behind the seven heads of the Orochi.
Ranma was in the middle of twisting in the air so as that he could land on the Orochi's largest head in an excellent battle position. However, in mid twist Ranma saw something that caused his blood to freeze in fright. One of the heads whipped around to face Ranma with rage in its eyes and let loose a stream of fire at him. Ranma was shocked for a second as he had never expected to have to face a situation like he found himself in: unable to dodge and with a stream of fire at his person.
In a desperate bid to survive, Ranma went into the soul of ice and pumped his entire Chi reserves into the process. Ranma could only look at burning pillar of death with a detached worry. Soon enough the jet of fire collided with Ranma and carried him forward and into the ground in front of the larger head. For half a minute the Orochi flamed the ground before stopping its attack. The smoke from the attack soon dissipated revealing Ranma at the bottom of a blackened crater. His clothes were charred black and his skin was covered in minor burn marks.
Although Ranma was still alive even after that hellish attack, he had lost the will to live. His entire martial art prowess was useless against such a large creature as the Orochi. Ranma's despair grew larger as he felt that his Chi reserves were all spent up except for the little bit he needed to live. Also Ranma's entire body was crying out to him in pain from the wounds it had sustained trying to survive the hellish flames that it had been subjected to. Just before unconsciousness claimed him, Ranma let out a silent cry to whoever would listen to it. "Not like this, don't let it end like this."
"Is this the afterlife?" the words escaped Ranma's lips as he thought that this wasn't quite what he expected the afterlife to be like. Ranma had opened his eyes to find himself staring into a vast white expanse. Ranma had looked all himself at every angle that he could see. No matter where he looked, all Ranma could see was the never ending expanse of white nothingness. Seriously, if this was in fact the afterlife; Ranma had at least been expecting something to be there. Suddenly a voice from behind called out to him "No, not quite." Ranma turned around to face the speaker. In the formerly empty space Ranma saw a boy about his size and age dressed in armor.
Looking closer, Ranma saw that the speaker had on what looked like a formfitting dark forest green shirt and pants. Also the boy had on a long cape that was in a deeper green color than his shirt and pants. He also had metal guards on his forearms, shins, and shoulders. Whoever was this boy's tailor obviously loved the color green as he had a pair of green-black leather boots and a pair of gloves made out of the same color leather. Ranma thought that if the person in front of him had decided put on a green hat, then that person could play the part of Peter Pan or maybe Robin Hood. Those two characters had been Ranma's favorites when he had to do a book report for Miss Hinako.
Continuing his observations, Ranma saw that the young man was wearing an undecorated and functional metal breastplate. The metal looked like the polished iron that Ranma had seen on the Roman Legions in the T.V. documentary he had watched late one night. Finally to top the outfit off he wore a small golden crown with a green jewel in the center. The crown was over all simple and regal and not at all like those outlandish European crowns that Ranma had spotted in pictures of royalty in the school text books.
However the thing about the stranger in front of him that shocked Ranma to his core was the stranger's face. The young man's long wavy hair was deep red in color. Also, the young man's chin was a bit more angular than own would expect of an Asiatic person. But except for those changes, the person front of Ranma could be his double.
"W-who are y-you?" Ranma barely managed to stutter out with all of the blood metaphorically leaving his face. The teen flashed Ranma his own patented smirk before the teen took as steep forward towards Ranma. In response to the young man's approach, Ranma unconsciously took a step backwards. The unknown person saw Ranma reaction to his presence and he shook his head as he softly spoke softly in Ranma's own voice. "I am an echo, a shade of what you could have and should have been, Ranma."
Ranma got defensive and angry at that last remark. Now Ranma was willing, even if you had to pull it out of him first, to admit that he wasn't the greatest person around. Also, Ranma could admit in the privacy of his mind that his 10 year martial arts training trip had seriously messed with his ability to socialize and it had also messed with his studies. However, Ranma infuriated that this person would show up and tell him that he should have been something else. Therefore, and in a confrontational tone, Ranma demanded. "What do you mean by that pretty boy? I will not be talked down to by some fancy dressed fool who thinks that he's better then me. Now you're going to tell me where we are. And while you're at it, you better give me your name as well!"
The subject of the questions held his hands up in a peaceful gesture and said, "I mean no disrespect Ranma. I was only referring to the fact that I am the shade of your past incarnation that died violently before our soul was reborn as you the present. My name, for as little as I was called in my short life was Prince Nephelite, son and heir to the crowned princess Hippolyta of Jupiter, and I was the first count of the four great moons of Jupiter." Prince Nephelite paused for a moment to let Ranma comprehend what he was being told by the shade. It was a good thing that Prince Nephelite had stopped talking because Ranma was staring bug-eyed at the dead prince.
Once Nephelite was sure that Ranma understood what he had said but before Ranma could speak further Nephelite started to talk. "As to where we are, we are in the Twilight Realm. The Twilight Realm is a place that few mortals can normally visit. But those few souls who do manage to reach this realm can converse with the spirits of those of the past, present, and sometimes what could be. It is unique properties of the Twilight Realm that allows the two incarnations of our soul that being you and me, to talk face to face."
Ranma thought about what his 'past incarnation' had told him. While there was a part of Ranma's mind that wanted to shout out that Prince Nephelite was nothing more than a simple concussion; Ranma did not follow the directions of that impulsive thought. One thing that his life, and in particular his living in Nerima, had taught him was that nothing in his life was simple. The chances that could just be having a simple concussion caused illusion were about as good as Happosai become the Prime Minister of Japan.
Prince Nephelite then turned around and started walking away from Ranma and towards a bright red point of light that had suddenly appeared in the horizon. Nephelite called to Ranma even as he was walking towards the point of light. "Come Ranma, you have much to see and only a short time to see it. Keep quiet and at the end you'll hopefully understand what you must do." Not know of anything better to do Ranma hurried after the retreating figure of the prince. As the duo continued to walk towards the light, it got brighter and brighter until it blinded Ranma's view.
Ranma suddenly found himself floating in some reddish-orange clouds looking down at a massive sprawling city. Looking at the city, Ranma was filled with wonder; never had he seen a city such as this. The city was a sprawling complex filled with stone buildings that spread out all over the place. Surrounding the large stone buildings were smaller buildings that looked like they were single family homes. The bleached stone roads were easy to spot out and they were in a simple and sensible grid pattern. The various trees, parks, and roof-top gardens prevented the city from looking like it was cut out of the earth along with adding a special charm to the city. All in all, the whole city was a work of art. Floating next to the gabbing Ranma, Nephelite started speaking. "A truly magnificent sight is it not? This is the great city of Jovepolis, the capital of the Kingdom of Jupiter."
"We are currently looking at the shades of what happen in this system over 10,000 years ago. At this time the world-kingdoms of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are united under the banner of the Silver Millennium. The Silver Millennium is the nation of the Earth's moon called Luna by its inhabitants. It was the Silver Millennium that founded each of the other kingdoms 4,000 years ago from the time we are currently seeing. For over 6,000 years the Silver Millennium has been ruled by the House of Selene and at this time the Silver Millennium is celebrating the 300th anniversary of Queen Serenity IV's rule."
Prince Nephelite turned to his left in order to look Ranma in the eye. The prince then softly said to Ranma. "I know that this must be confusing for you Ranma. After all, you have probably heard in your classes at school that the Earth is the only planet that can support life. But then, how many scientists claim that it's impossible for a person to change back and forth between being a man and being a woman?"
Ranma then suddenly started to descend from his spot in the sky towards one particulary grand building. Looking over to his right, Ranma saw that Nephelite was descending with him as well. Ranma and Nephelite then passed through the roof of the building, which was in fact the royal palace. When they stopped, Ranma found himself standing in one of the palace's halls. As Ranma was looking at various artworks to be found he didn't notice the maid coming up behind him until she walked through him. Nephelite smiled at the nervous look Ranma sported as Nephelite said. "Remember these are merely shades of what was, they do not notice us nor can we interact with them. Come, a remarkable event is about to occur."
With that Nephelite led Ranma down the corridor following the maid. They stopped at a non-descript door and Nephelite turned to Ranma and said. "Before you see what I am about to show you, you need to know the events of 9 months ago. During the festival of Typhoon there was a grand ball held in this palace sporting delegates from all over the system. Even the planet Earth sent delegates even though they are not connected to the world kingdoms in any way except for the most basic of diplomatic forms. During the end of the festival the princess of Jupiter, my mother, took general Nephrite of Earth to her bedchambers. On that one night of wine enhanced love and lust, I was conceived."
Nephelite grabbed Ranma's hand and pulled him through the door and into the room. In the room was a bed with a young woman in labor on it. She had long brown hair and shiny green eyes. There were four maids in green in plain green dresses trying to comfort her in her pain while the midwife worked. After a few minutes the scream of a baby was heard but the midwife with the baby was approaching the woman with a shocked face. "M-mistress y-your s-son!" the midwife said before she ran out of the room like the grim reaper was on her heals.
As if the mid-wife running away was some sort of prearranged signal, pandemonium reined in the birthing chambers. Two of maids attending the new mother, who Ranma figured must be princess Hippolyta, quickly bolted from the room with their faces covered in pure terror. The third maid had backed herself into a corner and seemed to be on the brink of breaking out in hysterics. Only the fourth maid differed from the princess's helpers. That maid smiled at the new mother and son and said softly, "Your son is a handsome little boy my lady."
Nephelite turned to Ranma, who was trying to understand the scene that had unfolded before him, and Nephelite said "this was my birth and only the beginning of the shock it created. You have to understand Ranma that for six thousand years in their recorded history every daughter of the 9 kingdoms ALWAYS had a daughter as their first born. Also that daughter naturally got the lion's share of magical power compared to her younger sisters. There was a similar ratio of power difference between the younger sisters and their brothers as there was between the first and younger daughters. News that I was a first-born male, and with more power then ANY (the moon princess not included) three first-born princess's combined had shook most commoners and lords to the core. Although I was named prince Nephelite I was also known behind the Jovian royalty's back as The Abomination. Peoples' shock and worry did not decrease when on my presentation day seven days after my birth it was discovered that not only did I bare the symbol for Jupiter upon my head, but also on my hands and feet were the symbols for the four great moons of Jupiter."
Ranma stood there in shook as the shades of the past slowly disappeared around him. Ranma Saotome could honestly say that he had seen many crazy and unbelievable things, but he never expected to see something like he had just saw. It just didn't make sense to him. Yes he could understand people being confused at the oddity that Prince Nephelite was. Actually Ranma thought it was fitting that his last incarnation seemed to turn people's world views on their heads as much as he seemed to do. However, Ranma just couldn't understand why people were so scared at Nephrite's birth.
Nephrite seemed to sense Ranma's confusion and then said, "People tend to be afraid of what they don't know or can't understand. My unique birth and the oddity of my presentation was defiantly something they couldn't understand. In fact, the fear and hysteria that my birth caused got so bad that some of the common people were calling for 'that devil child' to be killed to prevent me from contaminating others with my foulness. However Queen Serenity refused to hear it and enacted harsh punishments to those that tired to harm me. She did everything that she reasonably could to protect me." Nephelite paused for a minute as a smile formed on his face before he continued. "The Queen would often have me over at the palace to play with her daughter princess Serenity even though I was 2 and she was 14 years old. Serenity said it was convenient to have me at the Lunar Palace because my mother was serving as Sailor Jupiter and guard to the princess.
When I was around five years old I was no longer hated or feared by the population as much. I think this was partially due to the fact that they had time to calm down and accept the oddity that I was. But mostly it was because they saw the moon princess and me playing together. Princess Serenity was deeply loved by everyone in the kingdom and seeing that she liked me forced them to look at what they were doing. But in a way the Doom Sayers were correct that I was herald of disaster because on my fifth birthday my father came to see me. Although not officially recognized as my father general Nephrite was there with the three other guards and Prince Endymon. Endymon and Serenity were enamored with each other and a few months latter their romance was revealed to the public.
This caused Duchess Beryl von Nova of Avalon to become insane with trying to win the prince who was to be her betrothed next year. During her insanity she found a dark entity of enormous power called Metallia. With the power of this dark entity, Beryl was able to corrupt the generals and armies of Earth. With these armies and the legions of yoma spawned by Metallia itself 'Queen' Beryl of the Dark Kingdom launched a surprise attack on the nine worlds. The world kingdoms were the first to be destroyed due to being caught unprepared and due to the fact that the world kingdoms' armies were far smaller then those of Earth. Still, even as badly prepared as they were, the world kingdoms were able to take out a significant portion of Beryl's army. With the last of her forces Beryl attacked the Silver Millennium grinding it to the dust.
However all was not lost for the Silver Millennium. With all of her senshi dead and the enemy on her doorsteps Queen Serenity used the Silver Imperial Crystal, an artifact of unimaginable power, to trap Beryl and her legions into another dimension. Then with the last of her life energy Serenity sent the souls of her daughter, the senshi, and the entire court into the future. After that spell was complete, the last queen of a six thousand year old kingdom died among the ruins of that civilization.
But I was different than what the queen expected. You see, unlike the other people sent forward to be reborn, I was not already dead when the spell occurred and my or I should say our soul is very different then the others. These two very important variables caused our soul to not follow the commands of the spell. The end result is that not only were we born to a different family than our mother but we were reborn 23 weeks before she was born instead of about 23 years after she was and to her."
Prince Nephelite stopped talking at this point and let Ranma absorb what was said. It seemed impossible to believe that he, one trick pony Ranma, was once a powerful prince. However Ranma decided not to argue with what he had seen. Suddenly a thought came to him that he blurted out loud. "Okay, okay, I can accept that I was once a prince but what does that have to do with the Orochi that I was in the middle of fighting?" At this Nephelite smiled and said. "If you merge with me not only will we be whole once again in mind and soul, but the celestial powers that are ours by right of birth and soul lineage will be ours to command once again. You needn't worry about me taking over you for I am just a shadow that does nothing separated but joined to this body, you, allows many things to be done. If you wish us to merge just put your hand on my chest over my heart and the fusion will happen."
Ranma, figuring that this was the best thing to do, placed his hand over Nephelite's heart. Immediately both of their bodies started to glow a soft deep green light. The light got larger and brighter until the light covered their bodies and prevented them from seeing any details of the other person's body. Lighting started to crackle around and between both Ranma and Nephelite's glowing bodies. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light accompanied by a tremendous boom.
Ranma opened his eyes to find himself standing in the crater that the Orochi had sent him into thanks to its fire attack. No longer was Ranma in his burnt up clothes but he was instead wearing Nephelite's armor. The merging had gone perfectly and now, although still pretty much physically spent, Ranma knew he could win the fight. With the tremendous celestial power granted as prince of Jupiter and lord of the four moons Ranma received the knowledge that he needed to harness and weald those powers he had so recently reclaimed in a battle such as this.
As the Orochi turned its seven heads to face him Ranma cycled through his attacks and smirked. Most of his attacks were geared for a fight against human sized opponents; however there was one attack that seemed to have been crafted for just such an occasion as this. Ranma reallywanted to try out this attack and he knew that he probably wouldn't get the chance in a long while to break it out again in battle. At least Ranma hoped he didn't have to use it in a battle for a long while. The attack was his strongest attack and totally inadvisable for a fight in a city against ground troops, but in the country against such a large beast it was perfect.
Ranma's feet shifted apart and Ranma closed his eyes to prepare to channel the vast amount of energy that the attack needed in order to work. Ramna then brought his hands together as if he was going to pray. As soon as his hands were pressed together, Ranma opened his eyes and called out, "I call upon your power!" A bright circle of energy then surrounded Ranma about 4 feet away from him in all directions. As Ranma named them, their symbols appeared within the circle surrounding him. "Hear me Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa; deliver your judgment oh Jupiter." Ranma then formed his right hand into a fist and sent it soaring into the air yelling out, "Imperial Thunder Dragon King Ascension Fist!"
From the circle surrounding him, a giant beam of golden energy soared into the air taking the form of a Chinese dragon. This dragon twisted about itself as if it was looking for prey. It then 'spotted' the Orochi and flew at it roaring in such a way as to drive fear into the hearts of the even the bravest of men. All eight heads of the Orochi let loose a barrage of fire in an attempt to stop the attack. However for the Orochi the dragon cut through the flames and struck the body of the Orochi. The dragon kept on driving though the Orochi until it came out the other end of the Orochi. As soon as its front claws passed through the other end of the Orochi, Ranma's 'dragon' exploded in a bright light, thundering booms, and hurricane like winds.
Ranma transformed out of his royal battle robes with the bright light of the explosion serving as a back drop for him. Once he had de-transformed and found himself back in his miraculously repaired regular clothes; Ranma had a contemplative look on his face due to the magnitude of what he had done finally reaching him. Ranma looked upon the dead and burnt remains of the once fearsome Orochi. Strange, Ranma thought, that even as tired as he was after the merger, he was still able to summon the strength to slay such a beast. After all, the amount of power he was able to summon in his senshi form was related to how well and rested he was in his normal form.
Ranma slowly walked through the charged ground that the Orochi had previously been located at. Once he had cleared the burnt areas of ground, Ranma picked up his discarded backback that was hidden a little ways away from the battlefield. Walking away from the gruesome seen the words left his mouth of there own accord "I have become death; the destroyer of worlds."