Title: Grimoire One Half
Category: Anime/Manga ยป Ranma
Author: Fellgrave
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Adventure/General
Published: 11-10-11, Updated: 01-13-12
Chapters: 3, Words: 8,450
Chapter 1: Prologue: Welcome to Ranma's Life
A/N: Well here I am with another story. I don't know if I'm gonna take this too far beyond a one or twoshot at the moment, but I really need to get this plot bunny out of my head. I don't own anything here. And I am still working on Ranma No Kitsune. Im about halfway done the next chapter on it.
Lucifer pops out of the shadows. "How dare you! Go back and work my story! Er I mean the one everyone is reading... Anyway do it or I'll sick Cthulu on you!"
"Ha, I am the great Fellgrave! Nothing you can do can scare me!" Lucifer opens a rip in reality from which tentacles start coming out. I jump in and face off against the indescribable horror that is Cthulu. Dodging his tentacles I leap up slam him with a haymaker infused with the power of the Grave, knocking him unconcious. After returning to reality, Lucifer is trembling in my prescence.
"I'll be back, and next I kick your butt for real!" He shouts as he fades away.
"Anyway. On with the story! And review, cus I can punch out Cthulu. yeaaa..."
Grimoire One Half
Prologue:Welcome to Ranma's Fucked up Life.
Location: Furinkan High, Class:English, Time:Summer Break.
Tick...Tock...Tick...
'Oh come on, can't you go any faster? it's not fair for time to go so slowly.'
Tick...Tock...Tick...
'I mean, look outside, the sun's shining, the sky is clear without a cloud in sight.'
Tick...Tock...Tick...
"MR. SAOTOME! If you showed as much interest in my lessons as you did with that clock perhaps you would actually learn something from them!" The shout, accompanied by the smack of a yardstick on a desk, snapped our pigtailed protagonist from his musings with a start. Scratching the back of his head, he turned from the clock to face the angry, while at the same time cute and humorous, face of his english teacher.
"Um, It's not that I don't try ta pay attention to your lessons, Ms. Hinako. Its just that..."And here did strike that most dreadful of curses, The Curse of the Foot in the Mouth(Dun Dun DUUUN, *cough*),"... half tha time your lessons put me ta sleep and the other I end missin cus of one thing or another." Ranma said with a chuckle. A slight tick had developed on the child teacher's forehead.
"Mr. Saotome, I know it is the last day of school so can you at least take on lesson seriousl-"
'Yes! School's out!"Ranma thought as he opened the window and prepared to leapt out only to be stopped by someone grabbing him by the shoulder. Turning around he stared down his teacher, a feat not hard to accomplish considering she was much shorter than him in her chibi-form.
"And where do you think your going young man?"
"Ah man, let me go teach. I mean its summer break so there ain't any reason for me ta stick around right?"
"No reason hmm. Think back, now how many times have you been late for class this year? Or how many times have I caught you napping during one of my lessons?" Demands the tiny teacher as she taps her foot impatiently.
"Umm, once or twice?"Ranma offers as he scratches the back of his head.
"Try seven times late, in a row I might add, and I lost count of how many times I caught you sleeping. So as punishment you have to go help the new librarian get settled."
"We have a library?" Ranma wondered, he also wondered if with all the martial artists in town there might be some techniques hidden in there somewhere.
"Yes, and it is quite disordered and in need of tidying up and reorganizing. I already told Mr Randell that you would help him so no sneeking off."
" Fine, teach." Ranma said downtrodenly as he stepped back from the window. As he turned away and followed Ms. Hinako to library he shivered as he couldn't help but feel as if he was walking towards his execution.
"And here you go." The door opened into a small room fillled with books, the shelves were stacked full of them and there piles on the floor as well. There was a short round table off to the side with a large book and a music box on it. On the counter where the librarian usually checks out books was a small teddy bear leaning against a plant. "Mr. Randell will be by in a few minutes, he's in a meeting with the Vice-principal right now. While you wait why don't you pick up a book to read. Just be careful of the piles though, they might collapse on you." Ms. Hinako added the last bit with a small smile on her face as she left Ranma alone in the library.
Ranma negotiated his way around a couple of piles as he made his way over to the table. He carefully opened the small music box and listened to it for a while as it played a soft melody that seemed oddly familiar to him. Shrugging it off he pulled out the chair and took a look at the book on the table. 'Dang that thing looks older than the Old Ghoul.' Flipping it open Ranma found it filled with stories of brave heroes and their foes, illustrated with images of knights and dragons and strange creatures. As he was flipping through the yellow and well worn pages suddenly the story stopped. Furrowing his brow he flipped back until he found the last page with text on it. 'One is fated to fill these barren pages. Know you his name?' Ranma paused as he looked around before removing a small pen from his stuff space.'Well, its not like anyone is gonna read it if its unfinished anyway.' He leaned over the table as he scratched in his name next to the sentence in the book. 'Ran... Ma... Sao... Tome... There! Done.'
As he put down the last stroke of ink a sudden flash of light burst from the book. As he started to float in the air he tried nearly everything he could to get away. As his conciousness started to slip away from him he had time to try one last burst of ki. While it didn't appear to do anything for him, adding massive amounts of energy into a space-time warp is never a good idea. As the darkness encroached upon him he had time for two thoughts. Thought one:'I really hate magic artifacts.' Thought two:'Dang I'm gonna be late for dinner, I hope Kasumi won't be mad.' And with that he slipped into unconciousness and out of his world.
Bwahahahaha! This is gonna be good!
Anyway I have decided to give Ranma a little boost here in this story to survive Ivalice and its dangers. Why you might ask? Because the air render that the white monks learn is like the yama-sen-ken, the aurablast is like the shi-shi-hokodan, and the earth render is like the bakusai tenketsu. And all those abilites, while they do do damage, they don't deal a lot of damage to monsters and other clans. And so I am going to give Ranma a heritage that he will slowly gain access to over the story, unaware for the most part. The options of what heritage though are:
Dark Elf, Drow
Demon, D&D classifications
Devil, D&D classifications
Succubus, deserves its own spot
Dragon, If this wins I'll do a second poll for the type of dragon
Some type of Undead, such as Vampire, Banshee etcetera.
Any other option someone sends to me that I think I can write in.
Well thanks for reading and Review!
Chapter 2: Chapter 1: A Warriors Call
Read this First...A/N,V2: Okay so After the reception to the previous version of this chapter I have reworked most of what I had planned for the story. Some things will stay, such as the Sailor Moon cross, but most of the other stuff will be tossed or reworked. I must also respond to the review fromRydan fall. First off have you even played FFT A2? First off the book is stated in the game to be an ancient grimoire of great power, second according to the FFT games and FF XII games, the world we live in is the very far-flung future from where they take place in. Look up Ivalice on the Final Fantasy Wiki if you don't believe me. Therefore the events that occur in the games would take place before or during the Silver Millenium, however I am keeping Ivalice as a seperate dimension. Third, Klesta is a Crushatrice, which is basically a giant, fat, chicken. I have taken your advice though and I removed most of the extraneous crossovers.
A/N: So, I guess I'm going to be alternating updating my fics from now on.
/I\Disclaimer/I\ I own no manga, anime, book, nor video game series or characters belonging to those series' that may appear in any form within this work of fiction.
I have squat when it comes to the Sailor Moon timeline, I've only read fanfiction for the series, so I'm gonna wing it with them.
Remember to vote in either the review or the polls for what heritage you want Ranma to have. IF there is a particular character from a manga or game that you would like to see in the fic, just message me or leave a review.
So yeah, that's it. Umm, read and, well you know, review.
Oh yea, I now Have a Beta. All Props go to Maltrazz for being my guinea pi- I mean volunteer.
And I am going to be writing up a character stat sheet as well. It will follow after every chapter and I will update it as the story goes along. Expect it within a day or two.
'
~-Destiny, by Sinner Sought-~
~-Tragedy, by Power Wrought-~
'
~-The Blind man sees devils in the darkness-~
~-The Deaf man hears the howling of lost souls-~
~-And the Dumb man speaks in tongues of impending terrors-~
~-Chaos has Come-~
'
Chapter One: A Warrior's Call
The dimensional tear grew much larger than the magic had intended, the extra energy imparted from its target causing it to go beyond the spell's original outcome. The tear widened and caused another to fall in, stealing her and placing her within before sealing itself. The driving force of the magic had still caused the tear to seek out those who would best fulfil the requirements and the need to become something greater than what they were. And so the magic reached out from Nerima, and snaked straight to the center of a small ward that was really quite ordinary. The only thing that made it stand out was a particular group of Defenders of Love and Justice.
Location: Juuban Ward. Tokyo
The senshi had hoped that after defeating Mistress Nine they would have some time to rest before the next threat appeared. Unfortunately for them, what they had not been expecting a maddened Jadeite to appear from nowhere and start attacking them. He had been driven insane after being sealed away in the Eternal Sleep. He had escaped when Metallia and Beryl were defeated and spent the time abosorbing the essence out of any youma left in the Dark Kingdom. Having defeated him before they were confident in their skills that had grown so much since they had first fought. They were caught off guard by how much strength he had gained from his insanity and efforts stealing energy from youma.
The battle had been a hard one, even requiring Pluto to step in. And that merely evened the playing field. He had tired the Senshi with repeated bombaardments of various magical attacks. Once they were tired enough he launched his final attack. Creating a meteor of pure magic he cast it down at the Senshi. As they attempted dodged the attack, Jadeite teleported in to seize the already tired Sailor Moon in an attempt to ensure her destrution. His plans were ruined when a rip in space opened beneath her feet and pulled her away. Jadeite only had a moment to scream in frustration before being crushed to death by his own attack. From her space at the end of timePluto rewound the event in the Time Gates, watching once again as her princess was snatched away from danger. She knew that she would be back, Chibi-Usa was still here after all. Chibi-Usa had even found something about the disaster to make her happy. It was probably something she knew from the future though it didn't help Pluto, and neither did the sometimes smug I-know-something-you-don't-know smirk Chibi-Usa got when talking about her future mother or father. But nothing had ever stopped Sailor Moon for long, and Crystal Tokyo was still there, so she had to make it back, eventually...
Location: Targ Wood, Klesta's Domain.
Ranma was in hell.
Ranma's brain, upon regaining consciousness, ran through its usual start-up procedure. Current form? Male, Check. Damages or wounds? None, Check. Current location? Lying on top of something warm,soft and breathing, hand holding on something round on even softer. Che-wai-whaaa?
Ranma's brain immediately dropped to DEFCON Three, possible dangerous situation resulting in a malleting. In order to make sure, his hand lightly squezed the object it was holding, eliciting a soft moan and shudder from the object underneath Ranma. Visual confirmation necessary, his eyes opened to see a young blonde-haired girl unconcious underneath him, and his right hand was grasping her breast. Yes Ranma was in hell.
His mind jumped straight to DEFCON One, and enacted its prepared emergency procedures. He leaped up in the air before cowering underneath a nearby tree. As the awaited malleting was long in coming Ranma dared to open his tighly shut eyes. As he looked around for mad mallet-wielding tomboys, he noiced his current environment.
From what he could tell, he was in a clearing a forest somewhere, a very old forest if the size of some of the trees was anything to go by. He could hear the sounds of a river rushing nearby, though he couldn't see it from where he was standing. As he calmed down, he noticed that aside from the girl he had woken up on top of there was no-one else nearby and he couldn't sense anyone for a long ways out.
He took a moment to study the girl. She of seemed pretty normal to him, other than the unusual blond hair, he could have gone past in the streets any day and not noticed her. At least that was what he thought until he preformed an aura scan on her. He had to shut his eyes from the brightness of her aura, he had never met anyone with that amount of power outside of himself and Saffron. And if what Saffron had said was true then he was a God. Ranma's brow furrowed as he thought over his last battle with the alleged Phoenix God. He had in fact seen the egg left over after his attack and so he was inclined to believe what Saffron had said. That however had brought even more questions though, because this girl obviously hadn't trained all her life like he had, so how could she have that much power.
Suddenly a nest fell out a tree nearby, startling Ranma out of his thoughts. It was then that he finally registered a strange shaking. He had noticed a slight trembling before, but simply ignored it. By now though, the shaking was enough to cause the trees nearby to shudder slightly. The blonde haired girl in the clearing beg to stir due to the vibrations, only to mutter "five more minutes" under her breath before turning over and going back to sleep.
Ranma started to turn to face her before something moving over the treetops caught his eye. He circled slowly around the tree he was hiding behind before letting out a low curse.'How the hell did I get back to Ryugenzawa? And since when was there a giant chicken living there?'
Klesta had sensed that there were trespassers in its domain, and had gone out to run them off. It knew that there were those out there who hunted it, but the prescences it felt had appeared suddenly, much unlike the slow approach of the hunters. Their appearance had also stirred something, some strange innate sense of self-preservation, as there had been a third prescence, one whose nature terrified the crushatrice on some instinctual level. Finally spying the intruders it let out a large battle cry before attacking.
"KWORK!"
"KWORK!"
Usagi Tsukino was roused out of her sleep in an instant, something that would have drawn screams at an incoming apocalypse from those who didn't know her well enough. After having had to fight for her life too many times to count over the last while after being rudely awoken by her communicator, she had developed a hair trigger response to possible threats, it was triggered so suddenly she nearly had mental whiplash. Opening her eyes she remembered the last few moments before she lost conciousness, sending her into a panic. As she realized that she wasn't going to immediatly be crushed she opened her eyes to see a young man fighting a giant chicken. 'A very handsome young ma-,' She mentally slapped herself, 'No I have my Mamoru, I can't be going after every good looking guy I see. Is that a giant chicken? Umm roast chicken,' Yep a one track mind here folks. 'No time for food. Its attacking that hands- er, man who is not Mamoru! And so her well-honed mind led her to the most obvious, and in this case incorrect, conlcusion."Ah! Youma!"
"Ah! Youma!" The shout proved enough to distract Ranma for a moment from his fight as he looked over his shoulder to see who made the noise. Klesta capitalised on Ranma's momentary distraction by charging with sudden speed and slamming into the pig-tailed boy. The impact sent Ranma hurtling into a tree hard enough to knock it over. Usagi stared wide-eyed before rushing over to see what had happened to the boy she had killed, after all, no human could survive a hit like that. Halfway across the clearing she got her third great shock of the day as the boy simply stood up and dusted himself off, while muttering something under his breath about hitting harder than mallet-freaks or pig-boys.
Shaking off her shock she rushed forward to check if he had any wounds. As she looked him over he blinked up at her.
"You don't need ta do that ya know. I'm perfectly fine, a hit like that barely did anything. Heck, Kuno hits harder than that." Sides you should get outta here and find cover. A weak girl like you can't help me with this thing." Usagi's cheeks puffed out in indignation at the insuation that she couldn't care of herself, why if she was transformed she'd have flicked him right into orbit. She opened her mouth to retort only to gasp as the wind was knocked out of her as she was tackled to the ground. She stared at her assualter in question.
"What the heck was that for!" Suddenly there was a giant boom and where they had been standing only a moment before was now a crater filled with several tons of angry avian. Blinking, she shut her mouth after uttering a quiet 'thank you.' Her saviour helped her to her feet before charging towards the bird again, dodging its darting beak strikes and claw swipes. For a giant ball of feathers it was suprisingly agile. Ranma stuck at it repeatedly, but failed to do any visible damage. Finally he leapt up right in front of the beast's head, and with a shout of "Amaguriken!" he unleashed a storm of blows right between the birds eyes. The bird reeled drunkenly from the attack, nearly falling over on its backside before shaking it off and letting out an angry "Kwooork!" Ranma's eyes widened at the site, at worst all he had done was make the thing angrier. If this kept up he would have to unseal the forbidden techniques. As he crouched in preparation to lead the creature away from the girl behind him came the sound of the sun broking through the darkness.
"Oi, Oi! What do we have here?"
"I still can't believe how cheap were doin' this for. I mean, 250 gil is barely enough to pay us for sweeping up the feathers after we're done. We wouldn't have to do these crap jobs if we were in Camoa Cid, so why do we stay around here?" Cid grunted, he had been wondering the same thing himself. His companion walking on his other side answered for him, her blue hair flowing in the breeze. "We're staying around because no-one would hire a clan with only three members. Speaking of which when are we going to get some new members Cid? Again his only response was a grunt, this time because he had heard something at odds with the normal sounds of the forest. He stopped suddenly, causing the short, thin, dog-like person following him to walk into the large sword strapped to the tall man's back. Rubbing his nose, he peered at his leader from underneath the brim of his hat. "What did we stop for now?"
"I hear the sounds of a fight. It seems someone got to the bird before us. I just hope they don't end up chicken feed. We should see if they need any help. 'Sides, it will make it easier to take down the blasted thing if there's more of us. Come on Ben. You too Lucia."Cid added as he moved swiftly through the forest, the Nu-mou behind him struggling to keep up and the blue haired hume easily keeping pace even with the large rifle slung on her back.
As they neared the fight, the sounds of combat got louder and louder, shouts and angry sqwauks filled the air. Entering the clearing, the trio was greeted to one of the strangest sights they had ever seen. A male hume was attempting to keep Klesta from a female who was lying stunned on the ground. Cid started at the sight of the male leaping up in the air and delivering a rapid attack to the Crushatrice, knocking it back a couple steps. Putting aside his minor disbelief, he focused at the task at hand, that of picking up the bounty on the fat buzzard and a few possible new clan members. His voice boomed out across the clearing, causing the combatants to pause for a moment to regard the new arrivals.
"Oi, Oi! What do we have here? You lot look like you could use a hand. If you join our clan we'll even help you with feather-brains over there!"At his side Ben palmed his face at his leader's antics. Just because they needed more members doesn't mean he can go press-ganging civilians. Lucia only sweatdropped, as she had been brought into the clan in nearly the same way. Although she did still wonder who this Ilua was that Cid sometime called her when he was drunk.
Ranma looked from the strangers to the blonde haired girl on the ground. 'I still don't know her name, dang it.' before tilting his head in question to her. The girl shrugged back, obviously not having any better idea of what to do than Ranma did. Ranma looked between the trio and Klesta, calculating his odds of victory. He finally came to a decision even as he thought to himself 'After all, we can just leave once we're done with the bird anyway.'
"Sure, we're in. Umm, not that we need help to beat this thing, but it would go a lot faster." The tall dark skinned man nodded before he charged down into the clearing, drawing his sword as he went. His companions on the other hand only moved the slightest bit into the clearing, just enough to get a clear line of sight towards Klesta. Ranma, in his life, had seen too many strange things for the dog-like person chanting under his breath to even register on his odd-o-meter. The other girl unslung her rifle off her back before loading it and firing in a single fluid motion. There was a loud *CRACK* and puff of white smoke from the barrel of the rifle as the bullet was propelled at great speeds into the side of Klesta. Jaws dropped as with a flex of muscles the bullet was popped out and the wound quickly healed. Ranma gave voice to the thoughts everyone was sharing.
"Now that's just unfair." The battle was quickly rejoined though, as to stop was to invite disaster.
Cid let loose with another overhead slash with his sword, forcing Klesta to mave to the side and right into a punishing combo of thrusts (sounds dirty) from the Ranma. Klesta backed away from the two, and dodged another bullet from Lucia. As Klesta was dodging the bullets and sword strikes it failed to notice Ranma behind him, before the ground erupted in a spray of razor sharp rock shards. Reeling from the barrage of attacks, Klesta was an easy target, as Ben suddenly raised his arms to the sky as his chanting reached a crescendo. "By the Thousand Torches of Zarik, BURN!" From the air above his hands formed a swarm of flaming darts that hurtled towards Klesta, shrieking loudly as they pierced through the air. They smashed into Klesta and the ground around him, exploding into a storm of fire and schorching the earth. Klesta had finally had enough and fled, his body near completely covered in burns and a distinct lack of feathers. Somehow the big bird still managed to fly off and away from its attackers.
The group watched the injured bird fly off from the clearing, the bluenette pouting about not being able to use her "toy" and Usagi comforting her. After the bird had dissapeared from view Cid turned to take a better look at his new recruits. From what he had seen the male was definately an able fighter, and the blonde girl had an aura of incredible magical power, according to Ben that is.
"Well, from what I've seen, you two look like you'll be perfect for our clan." Ranma raised in hand as he realized something important.
"Thats good and all, but umm. Where are we exactly?" He asked while scratching the back of his head.
"How can you not know where you are? Ah, you must be from one of the other lands. Well you in Targ wood, on the continent of Jylland, in the Land of Ivalice. Where are you from, no wait, I think I know. From your appearance you must be from the lands of the east. But that doesn't matter now since your in the clan, but it would be nice to know your names and a bit about you. Mine's Cid, and I'm the clan head, over there is Quick Ben, Nu-mou mage extraordinaire. If there exists a magic in the world, Ben here knows it. And last but not least is Lucia, our clan's ranged expert. So why don't you tell us a little about yourselves." Cid neglected to mention how Lucia reminded him of his former comrade in arms, right down to the blue lipstick.
The two were put off slightly by the boisterous nature of the clan head, though Ranma simply accepted it, as he was sometimes worse. Shrugging, he decided to go first.
"My name is Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes school of martial arts. I am one of, if not the, best martial artist I've ever met. I used to live in Nerima, where I was fought over like a prize by an army of fiances that my idiot father engaged me to behind by back." The last part came out as a low growl as he remembered the recent fiascos involving his fiances, least of which was that blasted marriage disaster. And here, he had been thinking that Akane had actually cared for him. I mean she knew what a cure for his meant to him, and yet she hid that she had it from him. It was even adressed to him from the Guide. That was the last straw from her.
Usagi was slightly put off by the amount of venom the pigtailed boy had put into his last sentence. She had also paled slightly when he mentioned he lived in Nerima and was a martial artist, the stories that came out of that ward were unbelievable. She wasn't about to knock the existance of magic or anything, she was Sailor Moon after all, but it was impossible for normal humans to do even half the things the stories said they did. She decided that she needed to know more about him before she leapt to any conclusions however, since it looked like she was stuck with him for a while.
"Um, my name's Usagi Tsukino. Uh, I like to sleep in, eat, and I really like Ice cream, but I'm not that good at school and sports stuff or anything else really." 'Cept saving the world, but it's not like I can tell them that.' She added to herself silently. "And I guess I'm gonna have to shopping if I'm staying here for a while." She frowned slightly as she looked down at her school uniform, her only link with her life in Juuban, aside from her status as Sailor Moon of course. She wondered if she could still transform, since she wasn't on Earth anymore and she derived some of her magic from her connection to the Earth's moon.
Cid smiled at her in an attempt to cheer her up. "Well, shopping can wait for tommorow, today we celebrate a job well done and friends well met. To the Inn!" He struck a dramatic pose that caused those watching to blink and cough. Cid dropped the pose and slouched down in a pout, even his mustache drooping. Ben walked up to him, and patted him on the back while talking to the others. "He means well, he just tends to go overboard at times. Anyway, onwards to the inn. After that, we can figure out what kind of jobs you're suited for."
Lucia picked up where he left off. " Yeah, and sides if were celebrating than that means a feast and Cid's buying!" Cid felt a chill down his spine at the sudden hungry looks he got from the new recruits, maybe he shouldn't have introduced that after-battle tradition.
EndNoteV2:Alright I got rid of most of the crossovers, but I kept in Lucia. Why? Because she is one of my favorite characters. Not happy? DEAL WITH IT!
Chapter 3: Chapter 2
A/N: Eh not much new to say. Dragon and Succubus are tied in the poll with Dark Elf a close third. Well thats it, Enjoy. Oh and a cookie to however can place Cass, the Bar, and Daedulus Blacksmiths, as well as The Lapistier Witches. Oh yea and whatever else I threw in here as well. Heh man there were a lot of cameos in this chap, ah well.
I don't have anything for this. Darn.
Chapter Two:
Location Targ Woods: Stickleback Bar.
"Oi Cass! Hurry up with the grub, this lot look like they're about ready to start eatin each other if you don't get out here soon! And where's my Laagard Lager?" Cid shouted boisterously, swinging an emtpy tankard in one hand. The barkeep, a smiling, somewhat pudgy man with long black hair tied in a ponytail, came out of the kitchen pushing a cart covered in steaming dishes. Wheeling it over to the table, he set out the platters of food with a agility that belied his girth. Stepping back he and the other diners watched with awe as the massive amount of food dissapeared at a rapid pace into the mouths and stomachs of the three teenagers at the table.
After having enough food to at least put the edge off his hunger, Ranma slowed down to resume the conversation that they had started before the food had arrived.
"So these clans are kinda like bounty hunters, treasure seekers, and other stuff all rolled together right?" He got a nod back from Ben before continuing on. "And each member of the clan has to register for a class and clan and spend time in that class before they get access to the more dangerous classes and abilities?" Another nod. " But some people have their own specific class that only they get, but they still have to get registered so they can buy stuff from the shop. Huh, guess if we're stayin around here, we're gonna have to stick to a clan." This time all he got was a shrug in response.
"So you guys got any interestin stories behind ya? I mean, it seems kinda unlikely you knew each other and all decided to get together like this. If we're sticking around with you guys we might as well know more about each other." Cid and Ben exchanged a quick look with each other before shrugging, the only one actually noticing being Ranma as Usagi and Lucia were still vacuuming away the food on the table. Cid started speaking first.
"I don't like talking much about my past kid. I got a lot of bad memories from back then, and unfortunately some refuse to Stay memories. Back then I did things I'm not proud of, and I don't plan to make the same mistakes. I guess I started this thing because I was bored and as a way to escape my past. Sides, its an enjoyable way to make a living." He nodded his head towards Ben who picked up where he left off.
"Well as I was introduced to you earlier, I am master of all sorts of magics. My specialty though, is being able to combine and dissasemble my magics in order to make new ones. My past is also something I prefer not to discuss openly. Suffice to say, I believe I am the last alive of my friends when we served in my nations army. And like Cid said, I've also done many things I'm not proud of, but this is my attempt at a second chance. And Lucia..." He trailed off expectantly. When no-one said anything he looked over to see her asleep in her seat, a contented smile on her face. One eye twitching he reached over before uttering something under his breath and sending a bolt of electricity arcing through the air, shocking Lucia awake.
"Gah! I'm up! I'm up!" She tool a wide-eyed look around the room and saw the looks of amusement before she remembered where she was a sat back down with a blush across her face. "Sorry about that, its just after hearing them say that to any and everyone who asks you get kinda bored of listening to it after a while. Anyway, my story isn't much. My family has its own clan back home and me and my sister were part of it. At least we were right up until my sister disappeared somewhere in Jylland. I told my parents where I was going and came here, Cid found me and offered me a steady job and I been with him and Ben ever since." Both Cid and Ben had raised there eyebrows when Lucia had mentioned belonging to a clan, apparently they were quite unaware of that fact.
"Oh that's right I forgot to tell you about that. Heh, sorry. Me my sister and both my parents were, are, members of the Lapistier Witches." Ranma watched as the jaws of everyone who had heard hit the floor with a resounding thud. The entire room had gone dead quiet, even Usagi had recognized something important had been said, even if she didn't know what it was. Cid pounded his chest with one hand in an effort to restart his heart before he spoke in a bare whisper.
"You-you're a Lapistier Witch?" Nod. "Holy crap... Thats the most powerful clan in the Carnava, there one of the top clans in the world! The say that the Shadow-Frost Witch took down Cinquluer single-handedly! And the rumours about the Immolation Witch, you say that you're a member of their clan?"
"Uhuh. Hey I heard about mom beating down the Five Fools, but what was that about poppa?" Lucia asked Cid. Instead of answering Ranma asked his own question.
"Um, not to sound ignorant or anything, but aren't all witches supposed to be female?"
"Yeap! I know but me and my sister were born kinda by accident. From what I could gather it involved one night, several barrels of vodka, a couple magical artifacts, some rolls of duct-tape, and a dragon's curse. After nine months me and my sister were born and Vanessa and Fatima were father and mother, respectively." Now the sound of crickets filled the bar. Lucia looked around the room innocently.
"What, it's not like it hasn't happened before. How do you think my cousin was born? Though Aunt Dia never did forgive Auntie Claire for that..." Lucia trailed off with a thoguhtful look on her face. By this point Cid had regained control of himself enough to steer the conversation away from the somewhat uncomfortable subject.
"Why don't you guys finish up so we can go and get registered at the store. I'll go settle up with Cass for the food and see if there are any jobs available for us to take." With that said Cid stood up from the table and made his way over to the bar where Cass eagerly awaited him, his hands cleaning a mug as he stood there. Ranma shrugged and turned back to his plate.
"Hey! Who stole my meat? Usagi!"
"Uwaawaah..."
Location: Daedulus Blacksmithing.
The first thought that popped into Ranma's head upon entering the store was: 'Now that is a lot of weapons.' Followed closely behind by: 'Is that a robot at the cash register?' Usagi didn't even notice as she was too entranced by all the different clothing and armor that dominated one side of the huge shop. Lucia walked brushed right past them and the golem and stood at the door to the back before shouting.
"Hey Elena! You got customers! Get down here already!" There were sounds of objects clattering to the ground followed by muted curses before a young blond-haired girl emerged from the back, soot stains on her face and arms and a very large hammer held in her hands. Ranma immediately noted the fact that if the girl could swing that around easily he really didn't want to get her mad like he did with Akane.
"Oh hey Lucia. I was just getting your current job finished. Gimme a sec and I'll get 'em out here." The blond dissappeared for a minute and came back with a bundle wrapped in old stained leather. Laying it out on the counter in front of the robot she carefully unwrapped it for Lucia. Opened it revealed a pair of large 6-shot revolvers, the barrels much larger than most guns Ranma had ever seen, even while training with the American Marines stationed in Japan that one time.
"There beautiful eh? I can't wait to get started on your other projects. I never even thought of using cogs as a means for making double-barreled revolvers. Oh yeah, one of your Aunt's stopped by, asked me to make this as your birthday gift." Elena took a piece of paper out of her tool belt, carefully making sure only to grasp it by the corners, and handed it to Lucia. Unrolling it her eyes went wide as she studied what was printed on it. Wordlessly she rolled it back up and handed it back to Elena.
"Did you already get-"
"Started on it? Yeah the moment I got it. Man you're Aunt is a genius! How many do you have anyway? Do you think you could lend some of them to me sometime?" Lucia chuckled, getting over her awe at what she had seen.
"I can try, but Aunt Sarah probably wouldn't approve. Still can't believe her and Jimmy tied the knot, you know? I always did love Auntie Kerrigan, I just hope it ends up well. But she still knows all the best gifts to get me. How long do you think it'll take to finish that?"
Elena responded with a small frown. "A couple of months, at the least, for something that complex. Frankly just getting the recoil system to work is going to be a nightmare, thats not even including the firing caps and the-" The pair both jumped in the air when Cid loudly cleared his throat behind them. He had a twinkle in his eye as he saw them blush at being caught so distracted.
"Now if you two ladies are done, perhaps we could get on with the reason we came here in the first place? Elena, meet Ranma Saotome, and Usagi Tsu... Hey Usagi where'd ya go?" Cid looked around wildly before finding the blond looking through some of the robes. Grabbing her by the ear he dragged her back to ther rest and dropped her on her butt in front of them.
"Ahem, as I was saying. This is Usagi Tsukino. The two of them are new members of, Clan Gully!" Everyone sweatdropped as Cid assumed what he considered a 'heroic pose'. When he no-one said anything he folded up himself and moved pouted, causing some of them to swear they saw a storm cloud follow him as he went. Lucia cleared her throat and picked up for Cid.
"Yeah Like Cid said these two need to be registered and set up with basic equipment 'fore we get a new job." Elena nodded and started circling the two teens from Earth, looking them over like an eagle would a mouse. As she went she was making notes on a small piece of paper she had pulled out of nowhere. Looking over at Lucia she pointed to Ranma.
"This guy, fighter right? Now from what I can see it looks like he is definately a speed over strength guy, so no heavy armour for him. For weapons I'd say something like a double-edged shortsword to start would be best, and some chainmail." Ranma interrupted, he much prefered fighting with his fists after all. But after seeing how little damage he did to the bird thing they had faught he realized he needed some extra firepower.
"Um, I don't think a shortsword would work for me. Cus I've been trained in martial arts by my pops, the only weapon I know how to use with any skill is a katana cus my mom insisted. Sides I'm more than strong enough to use even a big weapon one-handed."
"Hmm, I think I have some katanas in stock. I'll check that later. Anyway for the girl, she obviously isn't that strong physically so I'm guessing a mage type. That means light protection for her, real light. Weapon or no weapon?" Ranma spoke up again at this point.
"I think I'll train her a bit in some of the easier styles. That way she won't need a weapon you know?" Lucia and Elena exchanged nods. Elena gestured over to a small box with a hole in it over on the counter.
"All right all thats left is to get you guys registered. Just stick your hand in the machine by the salesgolem there and it'll match you to a class, or it will tell you what you already are." Usagi went first sticking her hand into the small hole. She was expecting lights or pain or something to happen when she stuck her arm in, but she was pleasantly suprised when all she felt was a mild tingling before a sheet of paper popped out. Lucia grabbed it before Elena could, prompting a pout, and started reading it out loud.
"Usagi Tsukino. Gender: Female, doy. Age 17. Class: Heir of Serenity/Sailor Moon." Ranma blinked and looked over at the Usagi who was stunned by the casual reveal of her most well-kept secret. Ranma opened his mouth to say something, before Lucia grabbed his arm and shoved it into the machine. The paper popped out again just as quickly. This time Elena was waiting for it and swiped it before Lucia could, Lucia responded maturely by sticking out her tongue.
"Lets see here. Ranma Saotome. Gender: Male, or Female due to curse. Well isn't that interesting. Age 17. Class..." Elena trailed off her eyes widened to the point of saucers, and she wordlessly handed the sheet over to Lucia. Lucia accepted it with a look of bemused confusion before reading the sheet herself, her own eyes widening and her face paling as all the blood drained. Her voice was quiet and full of awe as she looked at Ranma in a new light.
"Class: God-slayer. Oh my... I can't believe... You-you've actually killed, not just met even, but actually killed a divine being?" Cid had come out of his funk and stared with a dropped jaw at Ranma, much as the rest in the store did, with the exception of Ben, who's eyes had narrowed as he studied Ranma. Ranma on the other hand scratched the back of his head in embaressment at all the looks.
"Heh, yeah I did. Damn Phoenix-god or whatever tried to kill this girl I used to like. Kidnapped her and that whole thing. At the end of the fight it was either me or him so I really pulled out all the stops. I'm just glad he's gone you know? Anyway, why don't we get this new stuff so we can go out and start findin a way back to where me an' Usagi came from." Getting nods the group quickly split up to find what they needed, while Elena went in back to grab whatever katanas she had.
Later:
"See ya later Elena! And tell James I said high next time he's in town!" Lucia shouted as she waved to Elena down the street. She dropped her hand once she was out of sight and turned back to the newly refitted group. She cast a well trained eye over both of the new additions to the team and made sure they had everything as they had gotten into a discussion over something from their home they called 'manga'.
Ranma was dressed similar to his old look, though his old silk pants now had several hidden protection runes woven into the fabric, and his red shirt was replaced by a chainmail one, though were Elena had found one that was colored red she would never know. Completing the look was a black-handled guardless katana in a plain wooden sheath strapped to Ranma's back.
Lucia had managed to find Usagi two sets of clothing, after they had done some experimenting with her transformation magic and found they could store different types of clothing and that the stored types still recieved and granted her the benefits of her old Senshi uniform. Now her normal clothing consisted of a simple knee-length yellow dress and a sleeveless white vest over top. When she transformed her outfit switched into a beautiful gown made out of woven silver and reinforced not only with the Senshi magic but with special runes and seals as well. The gown was actually a gift from Lucia's Aunt Sophia, but she would never wear anything so formal.
And finally Lucia herself, decked out in a pair of black combat pants, an ice-blue shirt and a reinforced black leather jacket. On her back she had slung her rifle, and on each hip she had holstered one of her new revolvers. On the back of her jacket was her personal crest, a pair of crossed pistols behind a frozen skull. All in all they looked pretty damn good she had to say. Well when Usagi was transformed they did.
"Hey Cid you found us a job yet?" The afore mentioned Revgaji turned from where he was staring at the notice board in the town square.
"Aye, got us a big one. I have an old friend who's owes me a few favors up in Camoa, and there's a group of bandits who've taken over the high road. I figure we can hit two very plump birds with one stone so we're heading out tommorow. Rest up all of you, it'll be a bumpy ride. THere are a few other stops we can make on our way, so make sure you're prepared. And if you don't mind I have to go see a man about a bird. I'll see you tommorow." With that said Cid walked off towards the edge of town into the sunset. Blinking the new recruits turned and looked to the other members of the clan.
Ben shrugged. "Eh, you get used to it."
Whelp there ya go. Enjoy. Next chap will have some action. I promise.
Review!
Too much, too complex, too little interest.