Chapter 6: Getting A Clue
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
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They trained for several hours, until Genma caught up with them. The Amazons hid, not wanting to tip their hand to him just yet.
"What are you doing all the way out here, Ranma? You skipped our training this morning! That isn't like you. Are you getting soft?"
"I'm going to be doing a lot of my own training from now on. There's some stuff I want to try."
"You'll learn what I teach you! I know the best regimen for you. Now come along!"
Ranma made a show of grumbling but started following his father back to the dojo. "So how long are we going to be staying? A week?"
"Indefinitely. These are your fiancees, Ranma. You should get to know them."
"So am I going to have to go to school again? Last time we stayed anywhere long enough to do that was three years ago."
"School will be a good way to get to know them. You need more stability. You'll have to settle down with them and get used to staying in one place."
"Fat chance of that happening, the way stuff keeps coming at us."
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Ranma spent some time making small talk with Kasumi and Nabiki, drawing out admittances of the morning fights, Kuno's obsession, Akane's crush on Dr. Tofu, and from Nabiki, Dr. Tofu's crush on Kasumi. Looking ahead and laying the groundwork for relationships wasn't his style, or at least it hadn't been before now, but the Anything Goes philosophy was well-named.
That night Ranma had another dream of girls in sailor-themed bodysuits fighting monsters. It seemed like a sentai team. He had to file that away as another thing to look into when he had time.
The next morning he had to start going to school. "Akane will have to show you around," Nabiki said. "You're in her year. Maybe you can get to know each other better in class?"
"You'd better not talk to me," Akane said. "I don't want anyone calling me a weirdo."
"Trust me, they won't be calling you THAT," Ranma said. He bounded up to a rooftop.
"HEY! Get back down here! We need to be going to school!" Akane shouted.
"I know the way. I scouted the neighborhood yesterday. See ya there!" He bounded off.
Akane scowled. "Argh! BOYS!"
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Ranma walked into the front gates and stood dramatically. He did not have to wait long.
"So, the vile sorcerer shows himself at last," Kuno said. It seems the hour of fate is at hand. This day the wrongs done me shall be avenged -"
He was interrupted by a boot to the face. "Do you want to get this over with or not?"
Kuno drew back. "Your tricks shall avail you nought this day. Indeed, they shall be your undoing!"
Ranma made no effort to dodge the water pail thrown at him. The other students gawked at the change. Kuno pointed with his blade, good steel this time. "See! Your other form is now a weakness! Surely you no longer have the strength to prevail against the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!"
Ranma's setup now paid off. Kuno charged just as Ryoga had leaped the wall. They were both committed when their target jumped out of the way, crashing into each other. Ryoga's attack was more powerful, leaving a crater in the concrete with a dazed Kuno to one side.
"Ranma Saotome... PREPARE TO DIE!" Ryoga leapt up from his crater and chased Ranma about the yard. Ranma grabbed his umbella out of his hands and bent it double before throwing it to the far corner of the yard.
Ryoga was in the middle of creating divots in the yard with his fists, his target always leaping away, when a group of spatulas surprised him. "What are you doing to my Ranma?" Uyko called. Ranma noticed she was not made up in masculine dress right now.
"Who are you?" Ryoga asked, just as Ranma splashed him with a water pail. At that moment Akane roared into the yard and smashed into her horde of admirers, who were so absorbed in Ranma's battle they were defenseless.
Ranma walked calmly past the morning's devastation, following Akane into school. He loved it when a plan came together.
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At first break, everyone had questions for Ranma. What it felt like to be a girl. What his girl form's measurements were. What his relationship to Akane was.
"You're her fiancee, aren't you?'
"Not if I can help it."
"But... I mean... everyone wants her! All those guys trying to date her!"
"I could have handled those guys myself," Akane said. "I do it every day."
"That I don't get. Why would they want to date an uncute girl like you?"
He got a desk over the head. "Jerk."
"You see?"
The rest of the day was spent largely answering questions between classes. Ranma had to explain to everyone about the curse, the engagement, Ukyo, and Ryoga. During lunch there was an obligatory appearance from Kuno declaring he had not been defeated. "I shall force you to relinquish your claim to Akane's hand and free her to marry her true love!"
"Which ain't you," Ranma said. "Face it, Kuno: you burned your bridges with her. She don't like guys who come on strong, like you did. You woulda done better with a soft and friendly approach."
"Silence! You know not of what you speak. You who have only been here but a day would not know Akane as I do!"
"Let me guess: Nabiki told you the same stuff and it went right over your head."
Kuno left without further comment. "Notice he didn't argue the point," Ranma said.
As they left for home at the end of the day they were met by Genma, who grabbed Ranma in a headlock and bounded for the dojo. "You're not getting out of training this day, boy! You've got to stop slacking!"
Ranma easily slipped out and leapt to the canal fence. "I'm not slacking! I'm just not training YOUR way!"
Genma leapt to match him. "Ranma -" Trip. Splash. Running battle all the way home, unable to answer his son's insults.
During sparring before dinner, Ranma was predictably changed. Ranma-chan found her attention drawn to the newspaper Soun was reading. It felt as if she were supposed to read it. The momentary distraction cost him a few lumps. She filed it away for after dinner.
After practice, soak, and the usual battles over food with his father, Ranma took up the newspaper, finding a page 2 story with a picture of a girl in a striking outfit. White body suit, sailor collar, short skirt, blond hair done up in a style Ranma-kun thought ridiculous - two balls of hair on top, with streamers down to her knees. She was facing away from the camera.
Ranma had to laugh. "Who's this?" He began looking over the story.
Nabiki saw Ranma checking out the article. "Some new sensation," she said. "Girl in some kind of sentai outfit going around in Juuban. I'd think it was publicity for some game or TV series, but there's been serious property damage."
"Monsters...?" Ranma muttered. "What kind of martial arts is she using?"
"They haven't said. Why? Are you looking to join her?"
"I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those outfits."
Kasumi came over. "I think your girl form would look great in one of those."
"I'd look better," Akane said. "I'd make a great sentai hero!"
"Yeah," Ranma said. "The monsters would choke to death just looking at you."
"Grow up," Akane said, giving him a splash of cold water.
*Amazing how fast she can get a glass of water these days," Ranma-chan thought. Then she looked back down at the newspaper.
Her blood ran cold. Now in girl form, she recognized the girl and the suit she wore. She had, in fact, worn one of those outfits. This, she knew, was what she was here to do.
She cast her time-sight forward and saw the paper reporting another battle in one week. So, six days before it actually happened. She would be ready to face this 'Sailor Moon'... and whatever monster was following her.
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Ranma went to sleep that night in girl form. Hopefully she would get a clear picture of who this girl was and who the Prophetess had been.
She saw many battles against many monsters. The only thing more pathetic than the monsters themselves was the blond girl's performance against them. She was a ditz, a klutz - far more than Akane - and knew all the martial arts moves of a TV junkie. She was always running away from battle and had to be saved by some joker in a tuxedo. Ranma got the feeling she was just going through the motions and didn't really want to be doing this.
There were now two others in her team: Sailor Mercury in a blue outfit and Sailor Mars in red. Both had bravery and fighting spirit, but far less power than Sailor Moon, who for some reason their advisor treated as the leader.
The advisor he knew only by voice; when he tried to look at her directly he blacked out. She was very small, that much was clear - some kind of fairy sprite? That sounded about right for a sentai team of girls.
On the way to school that morning his mind shifted to more immediate concerns. He was beginning to regret forcibly revealing Ryoga's curse to Akane and the school; it made his previous scouting of his future obsolete. Some of it had looked like fun, and it wasn't as if he cared what happened between Akane and Ryoga.
Today he knew Ukyo would start attending Furinkan. Without Ryoga's fixation on Akane there would be no battle with him today. Indeed, Ranma found him camped out just outside the gate, apparently having taken Ranma's advice not to move a step lest he get lost.
"Maybe you'd better camp out in the boy's room," Ranma said.
Ryoga wouldn't be baited so easily this time. "You will not escape me any more, Ranma! When I am ready we will fight our duel here!"
"You know, we're both still getting better. Might as well leave a final matchup for when we've peaked."
"That would take years!"
"Well, in that case, you might as well... GET LOST!" Ranma gave him a boot that sent him flying over the rooftops.
Akane was coming up. "I hate boys... I hate boys..."
The horde of admirers, however, wan't in a mood to fight this morning. "Akane, we shall no longer challenge you," one said.
"We shall instead wallow in our sobs and give our approval to your engagement to Ranma," another said.
Ranma sweatdropped. "Some things just can't be helped..."
Kuno stood apart from the crowd. "So, they reveal their true weakness. They know not the code of Bushido as I do. Tatewaki Kuno does not admit defeat!"
"Doesn't mean you WEREN'T defeated," Ranma said.
"Kuno was the greatest fighter at Furinkan High!" the first boy said.
"Yeah! And the greatest hentai!" the second chimed in.
"Hentai?" Kuno said.
"If it's Ranma you've chosen, then we shall give you up."
A line of spatulas hit the ground at his feet. Ukyo jumped down from the wall. "What's this about Ranma being engaged to Akane?"
The horde and Akane turned to Ukyo. Unfortunately, Ukyo was in her boy's school outfit. There was no way this was going to end well.
"Who's this?" the first boy asked.
"Ukyo Kuonji's my name. I'm an old friend of Ranma's."
Akane remembered that name. "Wait, Ranma... didn't you say Ukyo was your finacee from Osaka?"
"She's been hiding out in a boys' school. Long story."
Akane didn't look like she was buying it. "This I have to hear."
"Fiancee?" the second boy asked. "Then... Saotome... is like that...?"
A third boy was putting the pieces together. "That girl he turns into... is that his real form?"
"Who are all these guys, Ranchan?" Ukyo asked.
"This here's Akane. These are just some of her admirers. You don't have to hide anything from them." He turned to the crowd. "Ukyo's actually a girl... don't let the uniform fool you."
The horde wispered among themselves. "A girl?" "A cross-dresser and a transgender?" "That's only natural, isn't it?"
"Exactly," Akane said. "Two perverts. Just perfect for each other."
"Who's a pervert?" Ukyo said.
"It's not so much that we're perverts," Ranma said. "It's that Akane's a prude."
"A what? What did you call me?" Akane gave Ranma a bash over the head.
"Also a violent maniac," Ranma said.
"Is it true?" the horde spokesman wanted to know. "If Ukyo is your fiancee -"
"Yup. Akane is free. Go on with your challenge."
"Gee, thanks!" Akane glared at him.
"Hey, you said you could take care of them."
The others were ecstatic. "Then we have a chance! LET'S GO!"
Ranma left the ensuing morning workout behind. Ukyo fell in beside him. "Is it like this every morning?"
"Just wait," Ranma said with a grin. "The best is yet to come."
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Pedestrians on the street were startled by the sound of breaking glass. High above the street someone had flung themselves out of a skyscarper window. But this was no despondent executive: those looking up saw the figure emerging from the hole had wings, and flew in a straight line over the city for some distance before slowing to a hover. With all eyes on this creature, almost no one noticed the schoolgirl step up to the edge of the hole left behind.
Almost. One person was looking at her. One person saw her raise her hand, flare with light, and become covered by ribbons which formed a costume.
*Gotcha,* Ranma-chan thought. *Now to see where you live...*
She steeled her nerves, stifling her terror at the sight of the cat next to Sailor Moon. Was that the advisor? She realized it had to be when the super-heroine picked the cat up before leaping down to the street, a vertical drop Ranma couldn't have made uninjured in male form. *So awakening this cursed form's powers will be a BIG power-up!* Ranma-chan grinned.
Dealing with the cat would be a problem. He would have to ask the Amazons to help. The next youma battle would be in another week. Plenty of time to craft a contact strategy.
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"When are you going to tell your fiancees about us?" Cologne asked. "It would be so much simpler if we could work with you openly."
"It's not exactly a trivial problem," Ranma said. "Greed, pride, no discipline, not thinking AT ALL... give them a billion-yen lottery prize and they'd waste it in literally months."
Cologne considered that. "We will have to move slowly, then," she said. "Tell them the powers are just starting to manifest, and aren't reliable. Let them try to use you to make a little money, and end up losing."
"Won't work," Ranma said, "but I don't see any way that will. I'd say let's try next week."
"Very well. For now, I have something. Shampoo!"
Shampoo brought out a tray with barbering equipment, including bottles of hair shampoo and one flask. "Shampoo is a master of certain herbal-wash enhanced shiatsu techniques to manipulate memory," Cologne said. "Formula 411 can be used for selective memory supression. If someone finds out your secret, we can make them forget you even exist. If someone then tells them about you again, they will forget within minutes. Formula 911 undoes the effect."
"Handy. And this one?"
"This flask is formula 711. It's in a flask because we didn't carry a ready-made bottle with us. We weren't expecting to need it. We have spent the past few days gathering ingredients."
"What does it do?"
"A meditation aid. I'd like to use it to help look into your future, particularly with these 'Senshi'. Set your intent to get to know more about them and what they do in the time before you meet your mother."
Shampoo's technique was very relaxing in itself. Ranma found his trance to be as vivid as a nightly dream but as controllable as normal meditation. He was able to report his findings and hear Cologne's instructions. "Newspapers... TV reports... next week at an auditorium... then a cruise ship ...woah! The enemy general goes public... an airport... " This continued until one year out, with Ranma's mother showing up. Ranma was able to avoid revealing himself to his mother in either form. At about one year, there were no further reports of the Senshi. Just after that all went gray.
"That usually means you can't look any further without making choices. Now let's try befriending the Senshi. Present yourself as one of them."
They soon worked out a plan for presenting themselves to the Senshi. This proved less helpful than hoped. They were able to get the cat to reveal Ranma's, or rather the Lady's, identity. But things went fuzzy when they did.
"It's something that you'll have to actually do. Very well, let's see what you can do to help them without being a magical girl."
They found out much about the Senshis' situation just by being allied over the next year. Ranma protested that he would have to cut ties with everyone in Nerima after a point, but Cologne pressed. They were going after information, not a plan.
Information they got. The Moon Kingdom, the Dark Kingdom, Queen Beryl, the generals, and one thing Ranma immediately knew was the key to everything.
"Guinzuishou..."
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AN: The basic idea for this fic came from some "Ranma Gets A Brain" type fics like "Whan Bakas Learn" where he starts dealing with his life in a more rational, disciplined, un-Ranma-like way, or "Mirrors Multiplied", where he has the benefit of hundreds of lifetimes perfecting his approach. My own idea was to give him the powers of a prophet, affording some ability to perfect his actions before committing to them, though in later chapters he should find he does not have enough time to find the optimal path and will have to make do with skipping over the early stages of learning his situations.
Next: Contact