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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters here that belong to Ranma 1/2. The Ranma 1/2 cast belongs to Rumiko Takashi. Nor do I own Suikoden 3 or any other characters that I put into this story. Neither do I own any of the character in any of the crossovers I do. I'm just using them in this fan fiction and I have no money so don't bother suing me.
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Chapter 15 - Meet your grandfather Ranma!
"This is a late breaking story! This is Lita Amaya of Shibuya Channel 9 News lived at downtown here at Castle Hotel. Just half an hour ago there was an attack here in the Castle Hotel that's hosting a ball showcasing some rare jewels and gold coins with the guest of honor Ranma Wild attending. A large group of armed gunmen had crashed the party and according to reports coming in four 'monsters' were the leaders of the thirty or so armed men. The 'monsters' have been speculated to be linked to the bat creature that has been appearing in the Shibuya area at late and to the pumpkin-headed monster that fought with the bat creature in the downtown shopping area and also broke out of the police station after it was supposedly killed. For now police are keeping the details from reporters while things are sorted out and paramedics are treating survivors of the mayhem. We'll keep you updated as the reports come in. This is Lita Amaya reporting, back to the station!"
That's what the viewers of Shibuya watched as a News Flash came on the screen. Different things were happening in different households as the news flash appeared on the set.
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In the Kotobuki household -
The members of the Kotobuki family except for Mr. Kotobuki are watching the late breaking story since Ran called everyone to see what was on the TV. The kids are glued to the set as the reporter gave out any information as they come in. Mrs. Kotobuki is also watching with a concerned and fearful face until the phone rang. The family feared for their father/husband when the reporter mentioned 'survivors of the mayhem'. When the phone rang she practically flew to answer it.
"Wasn't dad at that party?" Ran asked no one in particular.
"I hope dad is okay," Sayo said from next to her sister.
Yamato gathered in his arms his two sisters who are on the verge of panicking. "Don't worry girls. I'm sure that dad's okay."
"WHAT! OH NO! WE'LL BE RIGHT THERE!"
The three Kotobuki siblings rushed to the hallway where they had heard their mother scream. They arrived to see her slamming the phone down and grabbing her car keys.
"Kids, your father is at the hospital! He injured his arm during the firefight! We have to go NOW!" She ran out of the house with her kids right behind her.
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In the Wilds household/temple -
The temple household members are also glued to the TV as the news report interrupted the show they were watching. They were watching 'Soul Hunter' that Viki had tuned into since she had gotten into the anime craze. She was watching the anime with Yun and Landis when the news flash popped up. Once they heard where the anchorwoman is reporting from they called the others to see it. Ms. Hinako had left for her home a little while ago. During the middle of the broadcast the phone rang. Everyone else was too busy to answer it so Piccolo went to get it since he was nearest to the phone.
"You think Ranma and Ranko are okay?" Yun asked, worried about her brother and sister.
Edge patted her on the head to help ease her worry. It didn't help, especially considering that the reporter hadn't said anything about Ranma and his group yet and that she mentioned 'survivors'. "Don't worry. We're talking about Ranma and Ranko here. Besides, they have the others to help back them up," he said to the young girl. Yun clutched her sibling's sword closer to her as she listened intently for any news of her siblings.
"And don't forget my sister!" Mind said.
"The two Maximilian Knights are there as well. Also we all know that Chris would never let any harm come to the others, especially Ranma," Kodachi added.
Then Piccolo came rushing in with a worried look on his face. "I have some bad news. Ranko was injured during the fight and is now at the downtown hospital with the others. It's pretty bad so we better go there now."
"Ranko was injured!" everyone shouted. They all stood up ready to go.
"How do we get there?" Yun asked worriedly.
"I can blink us there," Viki suggested to the others.
Piccolo nodded. "Good. See if you can home in on Ranma. Wherever he is, Ranko is sure to be nearby. If there are a lot of people near them just blink us close by." He affixed her Blinking Rune on her. As soon as he finished Viki prepared to blink them there. "Landis and Edge, you two stay here and make sure that no one tries to sneak into the temple while we're away. Thieves, reporters, anyone could try to break in while we are gone." The two nodded. "Watari and Ayame, the hospital will be full of people and reporters. Once we get there make sure that they don't go sneaking into the room where Ranko is staying in." The two ninjas nodded, knowing that whoever attacked Ranma and the others might try again.
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In a hotel room across town -
"Dr. Jones, are you sure that you should be here?" Rally asked the aging adventurer. They had gone back to the hotel they are staying in after the firefight. They slipped out the back door when the police and paramedics arrived. They knew reporters would be following soon and didn't want to be added to the chaos.
"Yeah. Shouldn't we take you to the hospital to check if you're injured or not?" Minnie asked in concern.
"No need for that. Besides, doctors these days are more concerned about getting money from people than healing them. Nothing like when I was around your age," Jones said a little bitterly to the girls.
"Well, at least we know what kind of man your great-grandson is now," Becky said. She, Rally and Minnie had gotten a hold of one of the pictures that one of the female officers was carrying around with her. In the confusion she didn't notice that it slipped out of her pocket (currently said officer is crying her eyes out. It cost her a fortune for that picture and the two who sold it won't give her a free one). The three girls got a really, REALLY good look at what he has underneath those clothes of his. They hadn't shown Jones the picture yet since they didn't want to lose it. Looks, fame, fortune, the thing he had in his pants, and from what they've seen a great personality too! Even related to a famous adventurer! Grade A catch all right!
Then a thought entered Becky's mind. "Mr. Jones, how is he your great- grandson anyway?"
He turned to her from his seat. He looked at the clock and figured he has time to tell them the story. "Well, I guess you girls should hear how I became his great-grandfather," he said to them. "It all started just before Pearl Harbor was attacked and the U.S entered the war..."
The Gunsmith Cats girls all settled down for the story knowing that it would help answers some questions. Perhaps his story can even explain why his mother is so heartless to her own offspring. The reports, while short, contained a lot of information, including what Nodoka thinks of her son and what she had done to him. Those private eyes are really good at their job.
For some weird reason they somehow... 'materialized' lazy boy chairs, popcorn and soda out of nowhere. They even got a chair for Dr. Jones and he switched the hotel chair for the much more comfortable one. When they got comfortable he continued his story.
"I was in Japan looking into some old temple ruins in the forest areas of old Tokyo before it was all destroyed during the fire bombing raids during the war started. I was out in the field with some researchers from the research center there. The ruins were of an old temple that was destroyed during an earthquake a few hundred years ago. We were staying at another temple that was built near the ruins. There I met a young girl that was staying at the temple visiting her grandfather who was a priest there. Westerners like me weren't very welcome at that time. Only a former student of mine that I met when he was studying in the states and a young girl named Hina were kind to me."
"I don't really know how it started, but we just fell for each other. You would have liked her. She's the most kindest, most gentle person I've ever met. She was also open-minded, not caring for how her fellow countrymen treated foreigners, she was more like young women today. She had an inner fire that my great-grandson had obviously inherited. Her body was to die for too." Jones had a wistful look on his face as he related his story. His eyes are glazed, as if seeing something only he can see. The girls listened attentively, the only sounds in the room are the air conditioner and them munching on popcorn and drinking soda.
"Whenever I wasn't in the ruins I spent my time with her. We just... 'clicked'. Those were some of the best days of my life. Even if it's just a simple thing such as taking a walk through the forest it felt like I was in heaven. However..." His face suddenly fell, making the girls also sad. "A couple of weeks after me and Hina got deeper into our relationship I received a letter from the states telling me that I should come back to America. The Japanese armed forces were gearing up and will take into custody any Americans they find on their soil." His face lit up with a smile suddenly and again the wistful look came to his face. "Me and Hina met one last time and made the last night that we ever would see each other a night to remember. She was an animal in bed. We didn't get any sleep that night. Even now I think of that night as the greatest night of my life." Dr. Jones said sighing. The girls also sighed. They love a good story.
"Wow, so then what?" Minnie asked. They were totally entranced in the story.
Jones' face turned neutral, but they could see the sadness in his eyes. "Well, I lost contact with her after war broke out between Japan and the U.S. After the war was all done with I returned to Japan to find Hina. I searched for a whole year, trying to find her. But...when I finally found her she was resting in a grave, killed during an air raid attack. I cried myself to sleep every night for a whole week. I was prepared to ask her to marry me. I even had the ring ready and everything." He took out a ring from his pocket and showed it to the girls. The girl's eyes widened at the size of the diamond. It's HUGE! "The only good thing that came out of it is that she gave birth to our son three weeks before she died. I found out after visiting her grandfather at the temple where she was buried. Our son was 5 years old when I finally saw him. He grew up never knowing who his father is. Hina's parents were looking after him since Hina died."
"I tried to claim him, but Hina's parents wouldn't let me. They were very into the old ways that many in Japan still follow and weren't into the idea of having a half-breed grandson. However, he was the only one left to carry on their family name. 'Luckily' for them he acquired his mother's brown eyes so he passed off very well as a pure Japanese as long as you don't specifically look for his foreigner traits. For those who asked who the father is they said Hina was raped, but decided to keep the child anyway instead of having her commit seppuku for 'letting' her rapist rape her, which is how they viewed our making love as, even if we both wanted to and we loved each other. Do you want to hear something truly horrible?" The girls nodded, mad that her parents would blame the victim for being raped, even if the story isn't true. "If the air raid hadn't killed her it would have been her parents who would have killed her. They were going to ask her to commit seppuku a week later for dishonoring their family or marry someone she didn't love." The girls gasped. "The only reason she didn't marry is because she refused to be married to anyone else but me. Anytime they tried get her married she would kick the suitor's balls so hard they wouldn't come near her with a ten foot pole." He stopped to smirk at that, and then sobered. "If...if I had just gotten there a little earlier I could have taken her away. It's my fault I didn't risk going to get her even if the war was on." By now he's trembling with emotion and had unshed tears in his eyes. The girls waited for him to regain his composure and resume his story.
"I know I could have gotten the help of McArthur, who's in charge of overseeing occupied Japan, since he and I used to be schoolmates to get my son away from them. But then I thought of something. My son grew up fearing and hating Americans and thanks to his grandparents was brought up believing deeply in the old ways. So I just left him there. I never even knew what his name was until I started to keep track on him. His name was Tenchi, and I was right. He grew up very into the old ways that his grandparents embedded in him."
"Years later he passed it down on to his child, my granddaughter Nodoka. I met her a couple of times so that she would know who her grandfather is. But when I met her she was the same as her father and grandparents were. She refused to believe that I am her grandfather and told me never to see her again. She's so into the old ways that she's blind to everything else around her. Her mother was also the very traditional type and enforced Nodoka's archaic beliefs. The sword my granddaughter carried is the sword I gave to Hina before I left so many years ago. Even though it was very unbecoming for a woman to carry a sword back then Hina didn't care and wanted one badly. I had one made by the descendants of the sword smith Masamune, who I heard is one of the best sword makers in Japan. I asked them to make a sword that can be used in battle as Hina wanted to learn how to fight with it. She did. She became a pretty good swordswoman, even if not a master. I know that if we had more time she would have become a grandmaster. She even made up her style herself. (Sigh) She had a knack for using a sword. It was like she was born to use one, even though her parents didn't want her using one. It still amazes me how fast she learned how to fight with a sword AND create her own school as no one wanted to teach a woman how to fight and I don't know how use a sword so I was no help. I would have saved the scrolls she kept her school's moves in, but they were destroyed when she died. Another way of preventing people from knowing that their daughter is not the traditional type," Jones said with a strong edge. The girls also growled a little. It's wrong to keep a strong woman down just because of old beliefs. Traditional beliefs are okay, but not those that prevent people from becoming better people.
"Hina's parents found out who made the sword and so kept it. It became their house's honor blade, even if it was from an American. They kept the knowledge of that a secret, however. Then Nodoka married through an arranged marriage to one Genma Saotome. He couldn't get married any other way so he had his family set up one. I did a background check on him and saw nothing I liked. I liked him even less after I found out that he trained under Happosai, master of Anything Goes School of Martial Arts and a man that's even dirtier and more perverted than that City Hunter fellow."
All three girls did spit-takes and stood up from their seats after hearing the name Happosai. No woman in Japan hasn't heard of the infamous underwear thief, the only person more perverted than the City Hunter.
"THAT'S THE UNDERWEAR THIEF THAT'S NEVER BEEN CAUGHT BEFORE! HE'S THE WORLD'S BIGGEST PERVERT!" All three shouted. They had heard of him before and had even seen the name in the report, but the name didn't connect until now.
Jones nodded grimly. "Yes. I met him once when I was in lowland China in my younger days. He was stealing some artifacts from a town so I stepped in to help out. He's was a small old man even back then, but is faster and stronger than he looks. I later learned that Happosai managed to live so long because of the training he did and learning how to control his body's energy. I managed to shoot him as he was making his getaway across the nearby river. I got back some of the stolen goods and gave it back to the townspeople. I thought that it was the end of him, but it looks like he lived through the bullet I shot through his shoulder and falling into the river. His student, Genma, is just as bad as his master is. However, instead of being a pervert his greed is what rules him. I've also heard he's gained a bit of the perverseness of his master, as when I looked into Genma and Ranma's training trip he's made a lot of visits to brothels, where he sold Ranma as way of payment for their services. Thankfully Genma stole Ranma back every time he did, or else he would have been a slave for them as the contracts noted. Also thankfully when my detectives talked to the owners of the brothels Ranma seemed to not know what sex is or much at all about the female gender so he wasn't corrupted by anything." The girls felt like gagging at that. Not at the brothel thing as that's common now even if they felt disgusted about it, but that he sold Ranma as a slave as way of payment. Even worse is bringing a young child to a place like that. He could have ruined Ranma's mind that way. Jones' eyes also twitched as Genma first takes away his great-grandson and then has the nerve to cheat on his granddaughter. He even has the nerve to expose him to such things that a young child shouldn't know about. "His other student, Soun, wasn't as bad as the other two, but he's bad in his own ways. He lets his emotions rule him and isn't above letting his daughters do all the work for him as you have seen in the reports." The girls nodded, glad that their fathers aren't like him.
"I kept tabs on both Genma and Nodoka since their marriage. Nine months after their marriage Ranma was born. I know that I failed as a father and grandfather, but I wouldn't let myself fail a third time around. I had my contacts keep a close eye on Ranma when he was still living at his home. But then Genma took him away to be trained to take over the school of Anything Goes. I lost track of them after that since Genma kept to the back roads and never staying in one place more than he needed to. When they made it to the cursed springs was when my private detectives caught up with them. Then everything went down hill from there. They met with the Amazons and got chase all around China by Shampoo. Then the two spent two years in the Tendo Dojo with the fathers trying to force their kids to marry each other. They tried to make MY great-grandson marry a MALLET-HAPPY BITCH who's cooking is more lethal than most poisons ninjas use! Then Genma, Soun and even my granddaughter did NOTHING when the other arranged marriages that Genma set up to feed himself arrived demanding retribution! They left Ranma to deal with them, saying that it's HIS responsibility when it was GENMA who made those deals! They did NOTHING as MY great-grandson was put through more abuse than ten slaves put together! My granddaughter even had the GALL to JUDGE Ranma whether he is a 'man among men' and if he didn't pass her IDIOTIC notion of what a 'man among men' is she would kill him! THEY DID NOTHING BUT CONTROL RANMA BY USING HIS HONOR AGAINST HIM WHILE THEY WATCHED HIM BEING BEATEN AND ABUSED TO DEATH EVERY DAY, OFTEN PARTICIPATING IN THE BEATINGS THEMSELVES!"
The three girls became fearful when Jones shuddered with barely contained fury. They became even more fearful as they saw his hand hover over his gun. The three jumped behind their chairs and waited for a long time for Jones to calm down. When he did he apologized for scaring them. The three girls understood and sat in their chairs again. "I didn't want to force Ranma into anything since he never had a choice ever since he was born. So I waited till he chooses to leave his old life and that's when I would step in. I was overjoyed when my detectives reported to me that he had declared himself a ronin and left the Tendo Dojo. I was set to leave to get him when bad news was given to me. After he left no one could find him. All I could find out was that he stopped at a magic shop then vanished after that. It wasn't until one of my detectives had seen the article on Ranma Wild and sent it to me that I received word of Ranma's possible whereabouts."
The girls are in awe at the vast story told to them by Jones. "Wow. That's some story. So what are we going to do?" Rally asked.
"We'll just have to play things by ear from now on," Was all Dr. Jones said to them.
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In the downtown hospital where Ranko and others injured in the fight were brought to -
Inside one of the operating rooms two old friends had just finished telling each other what happened to them after they last saw each other.
"So that's what happened to you since I last saw you," Tofu said to Ranma while putting the finishing touches on Ranko to make it look like she was stitched up from the knife wound. "Hard to believe, but then again it is you we're talking about," he said with a laugh.
Ranma unconsciously rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, but this new life I have is SOOOOO much better than the one I had before!" If the smile he had on his face is any indication that statement is absolutely true.
Tofu nodded, happy that Ranma had finally found some happiness in his life. "Yes, I know. Still though..." He took off his glasses and cleaned them while shaking his head. "I'm glad that you're finally getting something good in your life. However, Nerima hasn't been the same without you. It's as bad as some of the gang slums in the states." Tofu said remembering what the city used to be and how it is now.
Ranma sighed a little. "Yeah, I feel bad what about what happened to Nerima, but I'll never go back there. Sorry Doc, they'll have to go on without me."
Tofu nodded a little grimly. "I understand. Ranma, later I would like to bring Kasumi to your place. I'm sure that she would love to meet your new friends and family and she's been dying to see you for a long time."
His face lit up at the opportunity to see Kasumi again. "Yeah, that'll be great! I'd love to see her again! Besides, you, Kasumi and Ms. Hinako were the only ones that treated me as a person. No way I'm refusing anything for an old friend."
A knock on the door interrupted the two. The two men saw Chris and Tina letting in Yun, Molly and Piccolo inside while the others and a few hospital security guards are holding back the reporters as they tried to press their way into the room. The doors quickly closed as the three got into the room. They could hear the ones outside shouting and shoving the reporters away from the doorway.
"Oneechan!" Yun shouted out seeing her sister on the table. She rushed over to her sister's side. She took her sister's right hand in hers as she looked worriedly at her.
Piccolo approached Ranma while staring at the doctor. "How is she Ranma?"
Before he could answer or introduce Tofu to the others Mind pulled a laptop out of nowhere. "Well, according to my readings," The screen showed a layout on Ranko's vital signs as Molly typed on the keyboard. "She will make a full recovery. You gave her some Mega Medicine A didn't you Ranma?" He nodded. "Good. You got it to her just in time."
"That's good. She'll be okay," Yun said rubbing her face into her sister's side after she climbed onto the table and hugged her.
"We brought your sword just in case," Piccolo said handing Ranma his sword that was hidden under his clothes.
"Thanks," Ranma said taking the sword out of its sheath and twirling it around a bit. Tofu is surprised at how well he's using a sword, especially since he had always scuffed at weapon users. Ranma puts it back in the sheath and made it disappear. "Yun, Mind, Piccolo, this is Doctor Tofu, my old friend that I told you about. Doc, this is Yun, my sister, Molly, Tina's sister, and Piccolo, a friend from the other world." As they were introduced they bowed or nodded to each other.
Before anyone could even say anything else Molly said, "So YOU'RE the friendly and love crazy doctor that he told us about!"
"He told you about that?" Tofu said laughing a bit nervously. Ranma also laughed nervously and apologized to Tofu, which he just waved away.
"So what are we going to do about getting out of here?" Piccolo asked. "The hallways are filled with reporters wanting to take pictures of you and Ranko. They're not listening to anybody, not even the security guards. They all want to get in this room. We were barely able to get inside as it is."
"I know! I'll go and make a distraction outside and Viki can come in and blink you guys out of here," Mind said. Tofu wondered how 'blinking' will get them out of the hospital, but figured it had something to do with magic.
"Good plan, but what's going to be the distraction then?" Ranma asked her. Then they all heard one of the reporters shout that the City Hunter is outside.
"He'll do!" Mind smiled evilly, making Ranma gulp and feel sorry for the guy.
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Outside the operating room –
Tina and the others are keeping the reporters back from entering the room as they tried to take pictures of the two siblings. When Yun and others had arrived the reporters started to take pictures of the youngest of the three siblings. They had to clear a path for her as the reporters tried to get in her way to answer some questions they had for her. Mics and cameras were shoved into her face as they tried to get some answers from her. Kodachi and Viki had to step in front of the cameramen and others as they were scaring her. The security guards had to form a protective ring around her as they tried to get to the young girl. Then when Tina and Chris opened the door for her the reporters tried to rush in. But the others kept them all back as Yun, Molly and Piccolo entered. Even the two ninjas were forced to help out by discreetly knocking out one reporter at a time and dragging them away from the main crowd as they all continue to push their way in front.
Then a crowd of cops being lead by Ryo came and began to push the reporters back to the front of the hospital. He was asked by Kotobuki to help out his men to get all of the reporters out of the building. After a good bit of shoving and pushing they had finally gotten all of the reporters out of the hospital. Some even had to be arrested for pushing back some of the police. They were all acting like this is the news of the century and wouldn't back down without a fight.
"Thanks for the help," Tina said to Ryo as the rest of the police dragged away the remaining reporters. Everyone who was keeping the reporters back before the reinforcements arrived are exhausted. Most had small scratches and bumps from the ordeal and most are sitting down on the ground or propped up against a wall.
"Sure, no problem," Ryo said. "Sorry, but I need to go in there and ask your boss some questions about tonight."
The operating room door opened and Mind came out. Viki went in behind her, but Ryo didn't see her since all his attention is on the little girl in front of him. It should be noted that his knees are shaking.
Mind spotted him and her eye twitched in irritation, making Ryo whimper a little. "What! You again! Won't you ever learn your lesson? Once someone wants you to stay away, you stay away!"
Ryo jumped back from her. "Not you again!" he said as Mind threw a metal ball at him. The ball hit him and exploded and wrapped him in colorful ribbons. It cocooned him from his mouth to his feet making him look like a mummy. "Mmmmm hmmmp!"
"What? Sorry, I can't hear you!" Mind smiled at the hopping mummy as he hopped about in the hallway. "Don't worry! I'm sure that someone will cut you free!"
Kaori appeared, walking through the cops and security guards that are guarding the hallway in case more reporters tried to get through. "Ryo, Kotobuki's family is here and asking how... is everything going...with the..." Kaori stopped as she saw her partner hopping about wrapped in colorful ribbons like a mummy. She couldn't help laughing at the literally hopping mad City Hunter. "Ryo, what happened to you?" He mumbled something, but no one could tell what he said. "What's that? I can't understand you." Kaori giggled. This is just too funny!
"Oh, I gave him another lesson like the one I'm going to teach you," Mind 'smiled' at the older woman.
Kaori gulped, but gathered her courage and held up her hands to show she means no harm. "Well, we need to get some information from Ranma and his sister about the firefight at the hotel. Please, just let us to our job," she said hoping that the weird little girl wouldn't pull out another weird gadget on her.
"Sorry, but they left some time ago," Tofu said walking out of the room and opening wide the doors, letting everyone see that the room is empty.
"What? How did they!" Kaori began.
"Well, all I know is that I turned my back to them and they were gone," Tofu said, shrugging. The others already knew of the plan and took their leave as quickly and quietly as they could. "And now I need to get going. My wife will be worried about me. Bye now," he said to Kaori, who had ordered a few of the cops in the hallway to search for the missing martial artist and his family and friends.
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Meanwhile, elsewhere in the building -
"Wow dad! You were in a firefight?" Sayo asked her father who is sitting up on a bed. His arm is encased in a cast. During the fight Kotobuki suffered a fracture on both the radius and the ulna when he was knocked through the air by one of the bombs the clown girl was throwing around. Thanks to all the doctors and being the chief of police he was one of the first operated on and his injury was speedily fixed and put in a cast just an hour after he was brought in.
"That's so cool dad! I never knew you had the guts to be in a firefight!" Ran said.
"Well, what do you think I married him for," her mom said from her position of sitting next to him on the bed.
He chuckled a little at the excited looks on his daughter's faces. "I'll be all right. Besides, considering what me and my men were facing I got off lucky," Kotobuki said getting off of the bed.
Yamato immediately tried to stop his father from getting up. "Dad, are you sure you should be getting up?" he asked.
He brushed away the hand trying to stop him from getting up. "I'll be fine. It's nothing but a busted up arm," he said as got up with some help from his wife to balance him.
As the family was about to exit the room Kaori ran in. "Kotobuki, Ranma and his sister are gone!"
"What! How did they get out?"
"I don't know! The room was surrounded and the doctor said that he just turned his back to them and then they were gone," Kaori said. "And the others in Ranma's party are gone as well!"
"Didn't anyone try to stop them?" Mrs. Kotobuki asked.
"We were too shocked to stop them," Kaori said a little sheepishly.
"Just great. I'm sure that they're all heading back for the temple by now," Kotobuki said tiredly.
Sayo tugged on her father's shirt to gain his attention. "Daddy, do you think my friend Yun's family has something to do with those monsters?" she asked her father with worried eyes.
He shook his head as he patted her head. He knew her and Yun are friends and didn't want to make her worry, or mad. A little lie won't hurt. "No, but we need all our facts straightened out first Sayo." He then turned to Kaori. "Where's Ryo at?"
She's about to answer when Ryo came hopping about to them. "Oops! I forget to cut you free," Kaori said laughing at the struggling City Hunter. Everyone stared for a moment before laughing as well. They laughed even harder when he lost his balance and fell down face first to the floor.
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Across Town -
Viki blinked Ranma and the ones that were in the room at the time back home. Piccolo was right about leaving Edge and Landis to guard the temple. Dozens of reporters are all camped outside waiting for Ranma to come back to the temple with his wounded sister. It's a good thing that Viki blinked them inside the temple grounds and not outside of the temple walls.
Once inside Ranma placed Ranko on her bed and then pulled up a chair to wait by her side till she woke up. Before sitting down he thanked everyone for their help and told them that he hoped they understand that he wanted to be left alone with his sisters, which everyone nodded to. Yun lied down on the bed hoping that her big sister would wake up soon. She cuddled up to her as Ranma sat down on the chair to watch over them. The others closed the door on this touching moment and let the siblings be by themselves for the night.
"So the others will be back soon?" Landis asked as everyone settled themselves in the main room.
"Yes. I told Molly to inform the others after we made our getaway," Piccolo said tiredly. Even though his part in tonight's events is small he felt tired, especially after the walk through the crowd of reporters in the hospital.
"How are they going to get around all those reporters waiting outside?" Viki asked a little worriedly. They were so mean to her when she helped the others back at the hospital. They wouldn't stop waving around their cameras in front of her face and asking questions she would rather not answer. Some even tried to shove her out of the way to get into the room.
Edge growled a little, surprising the newcomers. "Yeah. Those reporters are pests! Some even tired to climb over the wall to get here, but when they started to do that I just turned the hose on them! I swear! Some of these people made Arthur seem tame and mild-mannered!" Edge said harshly. Even Landis' left eye twitched. He was about to go out there and convince them to leave. They kept shouting out questions at Edge as he tried to make them leave and making a huge racket. He doesn't like being annoyed and was about to show his displeasure to the nosy insects when Ranma and the others arrived.
"Don't worry about that. You should be more worried about the reports. All sorts of things are going to be made up about what happened tonight," Piccolo said. Everyone groaned. By tomorrow everyone's faces except Landis is going to end up on every television set and newspaper in the whole city.
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Outside the temple walls -
Chris and the others had just gotten back from the hospital by way of bus. Watari and Ayame had ridden on top of the bus and had already jumped over the wall unseen by the reporters who mobbed Chris' group as soon as they got off.
"Madam, is it true that your boss's sister was nearly killed by a monster?"
"Is it true that those who were at the party helped fight off the attackers?"
"Can you tell us what happened during the fight?"
"Sir, some of the people from the party had said someone with a shield had helped them escape from the hotel. That was you right? Any comments?"
"Miss, someone said a person with a hammer helped lead them to safety. Do you have anything to say?"
Everyone got mobbed by at least a dozen reporters as they tried to squeeze their way to the door. When everyone inside heard the volume level from outside rise and saw the two ninja's arrival Edge ran to the door and tried to clear a path to them. Piccolo and the others couldn't help as questions would be asked on how they got there before everyone else.
"Are you Ranma Wild's girlfriend?" one female reporter asked Tina who is still in her dress she had on in the ball. The reporter is a spunky reddish brown haired young woman who is looking for her big break in the news business.
"Lay off!" Tina shouted, shoving the annoying reporter down to the ground and making a run for it with the others.
"Hey!" the reporter said getting back on her feet, but saw that the doors are already slammed shut in front of her. "Darn it! I will get to the heart of this story yet!"
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Elsewhere -
"So the attack failed to get Ranma Wild as I wanted," Neclord said to the seven crime lords that served under him. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself Ms. Uikkan?"
"But sir! My men did the job and got some of the items that were on display there," Ms. Uikkan said nervously.
"Yes, they did do that. But the main target is Ranma Wild. Your people were supposed to supply the firepower needed to keep the cops busy while my men took care of Ranma and take him alive," Neclord said with a feral grin.
"But your man, Stab, did wound Ranko and she'll be staying at the hospital! My people will be able to get her out of there to use her as bait for Ranma!" Ms. Uikkan said hysterically as the others tried their best not to be involved.
"That has already crossed my mind, but they have already left the hospital and you have already lost your chance. You just weren't good enough. Perhaps I need a replacement for you," Neclord said to the scared crime lord.
"But sir! I..." Ms. Uikkan started, but was cut short by Neclord.
"But, I'm in a forgiving mood today, a rare thing for me. I'm giving you one last chance. Mess this up and there will be an opening for your spot at this table," Neclord said seriously.
"Thank you sir! I won't fail again," Ms. Uikkan said very relieved.
"You better not. As for the next plan I want you to kidnap Ranma's younger sister, Yun. Then you can lure him to a trap that I will set up for him. Oh, and come with me to my chambers tonight. I will need...entertainment. I will consider this as payment for your extra chance." Neclord said before leaving the room with a shaking woman behind him. The others prayed for her soul. He had never had any of the higher ups or their families go with him to his room before. They just hoped they would see her again tomorrow.
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A couple of days later -
A week had passed since the attack at the Castle Hotel. Ranko made a full recovery, much to the great relief of her friends. The ones that were most relieved were her brother and sister who stayed at her side till she had woken up from her deep sleep the late morning after. Ranma and Yun hadn't left her side since she was put to bed and had glomped her as soon as she awoke, which surprised the hell out of Ranko and Yun seeing as Ranma had 'never' glomped anyone before. That didn't stop him as he was all too glad that she's alive and well.
That same morning the ones that were injured in the fight or were hurt by the reporters were properly patched up by Ranma and Ms. Hinako (everyone fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows without bothering to patch up injuries and such). Tofu and Kasumi were too busy with their work to bring them to their clinic and they had to conserve their medicine from the other world. He had spoken on the phone with the doctor and he said the two are swamped and will visit when their workload abates a little.
The next few days were busy as no one wanted to go out unless they had to. People kept asking questions about the ball and sometimes reporters would find them as well. Ranma and the others had taken to staying in the temple and only came out when they absolutely had to. During the next few days some of the others asked him to help them with various things.
For Tina and Chris he helped them organize their rooms so that their clothes weren't everywhere. By the time they were done five dressers (they had to buy more) and four cabinets for each of them that are full to the brim with their clothes, making Ranma tell them to ease up with the clothes shopping. They agreed as they surprised themselves at how much clothing they had accumulated. They didn't even want to think about how much money they used up.
He also helped Ranko with making a flower and vegetable garden. She doesn't know why but she loves gardening and he helped her set up a small garden at a small patch of land that seemed to have been used before by the previous owners. Both theorized it might have been from her previous life.
He also helped Kodachi by making a small crude greenhouse for her near her trailer so she may grow and tend to various herbs. While not demented anymore she is still a master at herbbology and chemistry. She is trying to make more of the various medicines from the other world with no luck yet. No one, not even Piccolo, knows what the stuff are made of.
For Viki he took her to Tokyo Times Square (after having Piccolo remove her Blinking Rune to keep her from going away) and took her shopping which she had wanted to do for a while now. By the time they were done he was carrying more than a two-dozen bags and boxes of various clothes, plushies, toys and anything else she liked. Shopping with the Tendo sisters and his mother thought him the value of patience during their shopping trips as their packhorse or else he would have ripped his hair out in frustration and boredom. All of Viki's purchases really hampered their supply of money, but Ranma was sort of expecting this trip (she had been hinting at going on a major shopping spree ever since she started collecting 'cute' things) and so he had sold some more gold coins to some people he met at the party to prepare for it. Strangely enough one of the outfits she bought is a copy of his usual Chinese attire that's fitted for her, not that she didn't have one set of his already AND his favorite shirt, which he doesn't know about. He had to hire two taxis to help get them home, one for themselves and the other for the items.
He was surprised that as a reward for helping them each girl, after whatever thing he helped them with was done, had pinned him to her bed and did a make out session with him that lasted for no one knows how long. Even though the second and third and fourth and even fifth time it happened he was still surprised. Even the sometimes-shy Viki had done so as well.
More surprising is Ranko, as they still didn't know about not being brother and sister. She couldn't control her rampant emotions anymore and just pinned him to her bed and started kissing him, shocking him to say the least. She said she desperately needed to do this and to just go with it, please. He didn't want to let her down so he just participated, since he too lost control as soon as her lips touched his. He was surprised to say the least at the actions of the girls, but both parties enjoyed all the kissing and caressing anyway. Neither 'siblings' spoke of their lack of control after that. It was a little awkward that night, but they dealt with it and things are back to normal with them.
No one noticed Yun and Ms. Hinako giggling outside each of their doors during the make out sessions as they were the ones who had set things up with a subtle comment here and there. It's all a part of their plan of course, which they have let on to Fred, Rico and even Molly, who didn't mind as long as her sister is included. They didn't know about Ranko though and didn't catch the two.
He felt like a bit of a jerk having made out with five different girls. But to his surprise they knew what the others had done (except for Ranko). All the girls had said that as long as he loves them (which he does. He just has yet to say it as he felt nervous about verbally saying it, but he reveals it in his actions and his eyes) and does not take advantage of them (which he wouldn't he and they knew) that they are okay with the situation. The four girls (no one knows about Ranko and she didn't know what the four others did) said that they are willing to share him this way as long as he does love them or if he chooses one. They will not be like the girls in Nerima who abuses him and tries to bed him so they can use his honor against him, nor will they be 'easy'. They plan to capture his heart no matter what it takes, but will not sleep with him to do so as Shampoo tried to do. They won't do 'it' until they feel it's the right time, which Ranma also believes in and made them more attractive to him. They will, as Kodachi had said, try to win him over the right way. They won't fight over him as the NWC girls had tried to do, rather shower with him affection. Besides, the girls have become close friends during the time they had spent here and will not damage the friendship because of a man.
Ranma was elated and happy as he feared things were going degrade again like they did in Nerima. This is what he hoped Nerima had been. The girls aren't fighting over him, but rather trying to win his heart than killing each other or using his honor against him. This situation also freed him from fearing the girl's wrath on Viki. Out of them she is the weakest fighter and he didn't want to start a war as he still has his protectiveness streak. He didn't want to have to turn on the other girls to protect her.
He had told what had happened to Piccolo. The old man was happy that the girls aren't fighting over him as he is still set on helping the young man with his romantic problems. He told himself that he would keep an eye on this (he does not know of Yun and Ms. Hinako's plans).
Fred and Rico had started organizing all the various dojo signs they had won from the around the area. They've also set aside the one from Ran's friend's dojo on request from Yun who had been told by Sayo that soon they would be challenged for it.
Piccolo asked for an extra large bookcase for his mangas to be put in his room. It surprised the hell out of everyone that after setting it up they needed two more just to fit everything. That did not include his anime's either, which needed two bookcases.
Edge had set up a small reading area for himself. It's more of a small library actually. If he's not training or doing his share of the chores he's there quietly reading one of his books along with the Zodiac Sword. Some speculate he's going to be a librarian if he ever gave up his fighting days.
The two ninjas continued training. Ranma had Ms. Hinako look up some things on the Internet for him about moves from other ninja clans in this world. She didn't find any, but as a substitute got some off of various video games. They were flashy, but the two were able to integrate it into their styles. The two had also, weirdly enough, bought a ping-pong table and air hockey table. If they are not training or doing other things they can be found competition against one another. It's funny as Watari almost always beats her at air hockey while it's vice versa for Ayame on ping-pong. The two would constantly try to get the other to play their game.
As for what has happened the current day the police had come over to the temple earlier and asked a few questions of the events that happened last week, which garnered the question why it took so long for them to ask for information. The answer they received is that they had to interview ALL the people that were there and Ranma's group is the last one to be interviewed. Ranma answered the questions, even if some were about him as refusing or lying could lead to more complications. He didn't mention anything about his old life of course. The two cops that came to the temple were two female officers that were at the party, but weren't hurt during the firefight. They were VERY forward when he met them at the gate. They're very well built and liked pressing their body parts onto his, which made him very nervous. He couldn't activate his Anti-Amorous Amazon Defenses either as they might get hurt when he tried to get away. They were later thrown out after Ranko had walked in on them molesting her brother and had the other girls gladly help her throw them out.
Also just yesterday someone else from his past showed up when Rico went outside to feed the fishes in the pond. When they moved in the pond was empty, but after a trip to a fairgrounds two days after the ball firefight as Chris really wanted to go (which was a semi-date for her, they would go on a better one later when they weren't so famous as an hour after they got there someone recognized them and they were swamped) and winning a LOT of gold fishes they put them in the pond and started to feed them. In the pond that morning was 'Mr. Green Turtle', Kodachi's pet alligator with most of the goldfishes gone. He's over twenty feet long while the pond itself is a good thirty feet long all around and ten feet deep. It seemed that with Kodachi gone Mr. Green Turtle got worried about his master and went to look for her. Another reason is that the only one that fed him is Kodachi so he got hungry. After trying to eat Landis, who he thought was an oversized bat, he had gotten a small piece of his wing and liked the taste so much that he wanted more of it. 'Mr. Green Turtle' finally calmed down after Kodachi threw him a large side of beef that was supposed to be their dinner to him, really upsetting Viki who it was her turned to cook that night.
Landis wanted to let his pet piranhas be set loose into the pond to eat 'Mr. Green Turtle', but Yun pointed out that his skin would be too hard for them to bit through. And if they did the alligator would just get out of the pond when their biting finally got to him and try to eat him again. Kodachi got Ranma to let her pet stay after going all puppy dog eyes on him, which he STILL has no defenses against. While she now knows keeping an alligator is nuts but she didn't have the heart to get rid of him. The good side to having 'Mr. Green Turtle' around is that he keeps the reporters away after one of them climbed over the wall and almost became his lunch.
They gathered up and put in an aquarium the goldfish still alive before they were eaten. It's now on display in Chris' room, which she claims is a remainder of her semi date with Ranma.
Also there was another new thing added to the temple. Somehow Molly had built a laboratory underneath the temple, how she did it without bringing down the whole place and how did she do it so fast no one wanted to ask. She had caught Ranma in one of her traps and did a LOT experiments on him. After he was able to get away he stayed clear of Molly's lab as did most of the others in the household. Yun, Tina and Landis are the only ones that go in and out of her lab. Yun because she likes to see what she is building and having fun doing experiments with her, Tina since she is Mind's big sister and knows how to deal with her, and Landis because after seeing a few horror movies he wanted to play the part of the creepy assistant for the mad genius.
Tonight Ranma is waiting for Dr. Tofu and Kasumi to get there. They had talked over the phone on what day they would meet each other again and tonight is it. Ms. Hinako is also coming to the dinner as well after Ranma told her that Dr. Tofu and Kasumi are here in the city. Ranma is looking forward to tonight.
He's currently listening to some American songs as Ms. Hinako ordered him to brush up on his English when Fred snapped him out of it. "Hey Ranma, I got a letter for you. It was left under the gate," he said handing him a sealed letter.
"Thanks," Ranma said opening it and taking out the paper folded inside.
Dear Ranma Wild, formerly known as Ranma Saotome,
I would like to meet you at Shibuya Park, which is south of your home. I will be at the hillside with the big tree at the top waiting for you. I have much to say to you about the history of your family and the life you left behind. Remember to bring the broken sword with you. The sword originally came from me and I would like to see it again.
Signed,
Your Great-Grandfather
Reading the letter Ranma knew that this could be a trap, but then again it could be real. He knew that there's no hope for the Saotomes, but there's still a chance that his great-grandfather is different from them. It's a small chance, but he knew that he would never forget what could have been if he didn't go.
"Fred, tell the others that I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back later."
"Sure. Be careful man," Fred said leaving Ranma alone in the main room.
"Watari, Ayame, would you two mind joining me?" Ranma asked the two ninjas that are up in the rafters reading some of Piccolo's mangas, mostly about ninja based ones. They are really into the Naruto series and are taking a page from Piccolo's book by trying to copy the moves in the manga. Ranma threw them the letter.
"You do know that this could be a trap," Watari said when he finished reading the letter.
Ranma nodded. "Yeah, I know. But I have to see if it's true or not or I'll always wonder if it's real. So, mind coming with me?" he asked again.
"No problem. We'll come along," Ayame said as the two jumped down.
"Thanks."
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In Shibuya Police Station -
A meeting is being held again to update everyone on the monster attacks that have been happening lately. All the top brass from all the armed forces in the Shibuya area are attending. A few of the women officers from the party are also there in case anyone needed to know of their experience in the ball. They wanted to get this whole thing cleared up before it gets any worse than things are already. The worldwide press is already on the coverage on the attacks making the armed forces of Japan look bad.
"These attacks are ruining our image," one of the top brass said out loud.
"Yes. People are starting to think that the government has something to do with all these attacks since it looks like we're doing nothing to help fix the problem," another said.
"We are doing all we can. We're still interrogating the gunmen that were left behind in the firefight at the hotel," Kotobuki said to them. With him are Ryo and Kaori and also Sakeo had come down to Shibuya to help out.
"So what do you have Kotobuki?" Mr. Zen asked. "Also what's the death toll of the party?"
"Well, the body count is out of thirty gunmen nine escaped with the four monsters and out of the twenty-one ones that are left all but eight of them were killed during the fight and two is in critical condition. We're still questioning them, but from what we got out of them they're part of the Uikkan crime family. That family has been around here for a long time, but we could never prove anything on any of the heads of the family. But with the attack on the hotel and the situation making world wide news I don't think that the current heads of the family can remain on the good side of the public spotlight for long," Kotobuki said.
Mr. Zen nodded, pleased. "Good. I've been trying to get something on them since I started working in the police force, but they're too well connected. What about our own me...women?" Everyone knows the ones they sent to the party were women except for the three lucky, or unlucky, men.
"As for our side there were forty officers and thirty guards and two-hundred guests there. Three of the officers were killed and all but fourteen were injured during the firefight. Sixteen guards including Mr. Gunro, the head guard, were killed. Most of the others are injured and of the guest twenty-three were caught in the cross fire and more than fifty were injured. In all things could have been much worse."
"So what of the four monsters that crashed the party? What do you have on them?"
"Well, this is what we got on them. Thanks to some cameras that some of the guest had on them at the time we got some pictures of the monsters that crashed the party and we also know what they call themselves," Kotobuki said. On a view screen appeared the pictures of Afterburn, Jestbomb, Gunner and Stab. "The first one is called Afterburn, who was posing as one of the statues on display before he attacked. Before you ask, no, we don't know HOW he and the others got there in the first place. He has the ability to produce intense heat from his body even with the fire systems pouring water on him. The water just turned into steam before it even hit him according to Kaori. Anyone that came into contact with him was severally burned from the heat. He was taken on by Tina Fight, one of Ranma Wild's bodyguards, and Kaori until they escaped."
"The next one is Jestbomb. She was the entertainment for the party until the attack started. Again, we are not sure how she got listed as the entertainment. She seems to have teleporting powers since she was the one that made the attackers appear then disappear afterwards. She's very fast and she uses colorful bombs that look like plain old balls and a sword cane. She did a lot of damage before Chris Lightfellow, another one of Ranma Wild's bodyguards, picked a fight with her, but escaped with the remaining gunmen."
"The next one is Gunner who did the most damage to our side. Those Gatling Guns on his arms tore up most of the injured officers during the fight. Ryo here fired his Magnum at him, but he seemed that he didn't even feel it. The armor he's wearing is the same kind that the Core uses, meaning that most of the firearms we carry won't even make a dent on him. He was taken out early in the fight thanks to Ranko Wild, who pushed a heavy stone vase on him from the second floor."
"The last one appeared to be the leader of the attack, Stab. He has the ability to fire energy beams from his eyes, which killed Mr. Gunro. He also has a grappling hook on his right arm. He can also throw knives really, really fast. Ranma himself handled this one after he took out ten of the gunmen. With a little help from two of our officers he was able to fight him off." He pointed to two women in the crowd, who waved their hands shyly from the attention. Everyone nodded at them to show their thanks in helping the pigtailed martial artist out. If he had been injured or killed the media would have a field day with them. One of the heads of the police force even whispered to the two women to expect promotions later on, which made the two extremely happy. "One of his knives struck Ranko Wild as they were leaving. From what we gathered they were after the displays and Ranma Wild. As you all know he's worth a lot. We think they were trying to pull the old 'take the rich guy for a hostage then have someone pay for his release' scheme. Thankfully as you can see Ranma is a great martial artist and was able to hold them off before they left."
One of the brass perked up when he made a connection in the facts. "Wait a minute! So that means Ranma Wild would be off the list of being the suspected new crime lord right? From the reports he's really close to his sisters so having one of his men almost killing her wouldn't be something he would do then."
Everyone nodded and Mr. Zen turned to Kotobuki. "Yes. It does seem like that. Kotobuki, I think he has a point. While we can't say for sure that that's true it's very reasonable. According to your reports the paramedics who checked her out said it was almost fatal. He wouldn't risk something that big just to throw us off the trail. You can take his name off of the list of possible suspects, but I still want you to find everything you can on him. Do you have anything else?" The women silently cheered. They just knew Ranma couldn't be the new crime boss! He's too cute to be one!
"Well, after the fight Ranko was rushed to the nearby hospital in the area. One Doctor Tofu Ono treated her by himself. According to the paramedics who were pushing Ranko's gurney it seems Ranma Wild and Dr. Ono knows each other. They greeted each other when they arrived at the hospital. But we couldn't get anything else since after rushing Ranko into an empty operating room his bodyguards stood by the door not letting anyone in. Ryo and Kaori tried to ask them some questions after getting rid of the reporters, but were stopped by Tina Fight's little sister Molly." At this Ryo and Kaori blushed intensely when everyone turned to them. Fortunately Kotobuki isn't finished and everyone's attention went back to him. "When Dr. Ono stepped out of the operating room there was no one else in the room with him. Somehow they managed to leave the hospital without anyone seeing them. Later when I sent two officers to the temple they are staying in we learned the reason they left was to avoid the reporters that were hounding them. We couldn't get Ranma to reveal how they got away though."
"So what's the plan now?" one of the people in the room asked.
"Nothing much. We're still looking into all leads, but the new crime lord seems to be holding all of the cards," Mr. Kotobuki said.
Across the room Ryo is talking to Sakeo. "So did those two plant the bug on Mr. Wild Ryo?"
"Yeah. It wasn't hard to do since the two girls were pressing their bodies onto his." 'Lucky devils!'
"Good. Heard anything good?" Sakeo asked to get him out of his depressed and obviously jealous mood. She already knew what he is thinking, probably cursing the guy as he had two gorgeous girls hitting on him.
"Yeah. He's meeting someone after getting a letter today. He seems to have two other people with him that we don't know about," Ryo said.
"So we just have to listen and wait then."
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Across town -
In Shibuya Park Dr. Jones is waiting for his grandson to arrive. Rally, Minnie and Becky are nearby eating some ice cream from a nearby vender. Jones reminisces of old times as he had been standing under the same tree when he last saw Hina so many years ago. Now it's time to meet his great- grandson that came out of their union.
As he stared at the entrance where Ranma would probably walk through two people suddenly appeared on the tree behind him. 'So it looks like my grandson has some friends that know ninjitsu. I should tell them to come down later after I talk to Ranma,' he thought with a chuckle. He had encountered ninjas before and knows what to look for. The two are VERY good, but his experience had thought him to know they're there even if just barely.
Ranma had sent Ayame and Watari ahead of him to scan the area first before going into the park. He couldn't take any chances since he didn't know which side of the family his supposed great-grandfather is from. After getting the go ahead from them he entered the park. The park is mostly empty since most of the people had gone home for the day. He followed the directions on the letter and headed towards the hillside with a tree growing on top of it. There he saw an old American man standing where he's supposed to meet his grandfather. It confused him as he was expecting an old Japanese man.
As Ranma approached Jones smiled reassuringly at him, telling him that he means no harm. When he got to within a few feet of the old man Jones spoke. "Hello Ranma Wild, or do I say the one who used to be Ranma Saotome. I'm your great-grandfather from your mother's side. My name is Doctor Indiana Jones. Hopefully you have heard of me." he greeted the former Saotome.
Ranma's eyes widened. Not only is he not pure Japanese, but he's also related to THE Doctor Indiana Jones! "YOU'RE my great-grandfather?"
Jones smiled at his stunned expression. "Yes. Haven't you ever wondered where you get your blue eyes from?" It's true now that Ranma thought about it. It never occurred to him that he's not a pure Japanese. It's just his eye color and he never really paid attention to it. Wow, if he knew that he could have gotten out of a lot of the old engagements since a lot of the parents are pretty traditional considering they arranged for their daughters to be married to a stranger. Hell even Mr. Tendo would have broken the engagement if he found out he's part foreigner. He's into the engagement since he thinks he's pure Japanese. Then again why DID nobody notice his eyes are blue? What are they, color blind? He stopped thinking about it since it made his head hurt.
Jones noted that Ranma is coming back from the shock. "If we can sit down for a while and talk I can fill you in on how I became you're grandfather. If you don't mind I would like to call you grandson if that's alright with you." Ranma nodded. He might as well listen. The guy says things way too confidently for everything to not be true. "I can also explain why your mother acts the way she does." He sat down at almost the speed of light. Finally he's going to know what caused his mother to be so cold-hearted to her own son.
Jones chuckled a little at the enthusiasm in his grandson's eyes. It's like telling a story to his grandchildren, something he's always wanted to do! He sat down as well, than pointed up at the tree. "Also, you can tell your friends to come down from the tree and sit at one of the tables. I don't mind if they listen in if you don't."
The two ninjas looked down towards Ranma. He nodded to let them know its okay. The two jumped down from their hiding place and nodded at the old man. "Impressive," Ayame said.
"Wow. I never even noticed they were there. The old man still has it," Rally said from where she and her friends were sitting at.
Ayame and Watari joined Rally and the others after getting some ice cream and drinks from a vendor for both themselves and Ranma. Ranma and Dr. Jones made themselves comfortable on another nearby table (there's ants all over the ground) knowing that this is going to be one long tale. "I guess I should start at the beginning. It all started just before America went to war with Japan..."
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Meanwhile at the police station -
"Ryo! Get over here!" Sakeo shouted to Ryo as she listened to the bug planted on Ranma. They are alone in one of the equipment rooms so that they could listen in without the fear of running into that little girl again.
"What is it?" Ryo asked as he walked over to her. From the excited look on Sakeo's face he knew it has to be good.
"Wild isn't his real family name! It's Saotome!" Sakeo said to him.
Ryo nodded at the information. Then his eyes widened when he connected what that means. "Wait! Did you say Saotome? As in RANMA SAOTOME?" He had heard about the famous martial artist of Nerima. He's the one responsible for keeping the Nerima district crime free before it became a slum. After his disappearance over a year ago things just went downhill from there. Not even he and Kaori want to go to that district. The people of that district are desperate to get the pigtailed martial artist back. All sorts of rewards have been posted for any information that leads to his return, especially those from one Nabiki Tendo.
"Yes! And get this, Indiana Jones is his great-grandfather!" Sakeo said with great excitement.
"What?" Ryo shouted as both he and Sakeo listened in on Ranma and Jones. The machine is recording everything as proof of the conversation.
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Across town -
"Do you think this looks good on me?" Kasumi asked Tofu as they are getting ready to go to Ranma's place. She's wearing a flowing orange dress that she had gotten after she found out she's with child. That way it would fit her till her water finally broke. This is the fifth dress she had tried on. She wants everything perfect for her reunion with her 'little brother'.
"It looks fine on you," he said as he put on the finishes touches on himself. He's excited to see Ranma and all of his new friends tonight. From the little preview he had gotten at the hospital Ranma has a lot of 'unusual' friends. He has told a little of the story Ranma had told him to his wife, but the rest he will let Ranma handle as he has a better grasp of it than he did.
Before Kasumi could complain that her dress is STILL not good enough the phone rang. Picking it up Tofu is a bit surprised it's a coworker from the hospital. "Hi Xenia, what do you need?"
"Tofu, this is about Ranko Wild that you treated last week. I think you should know about something that I found out about Ranma Wild and his sister since you seemed to know them," Xenia said over the line.
That caught his interest. "Oh. I didn't know that people knew I know them. So, what did you find out?"
"As you should know Ranko needed blood for the blood lost from the wound she had. Ranma volunteered his own blood to give to her. You know even if they are siblings we still have to check their blood for compatibility. During the test the doctor who checked it found out something interesting. They're...not brother and sister."
Tofu's eyed widened. He knows the story of how Ranko came to be and it's only logical that they are related. But now... "But-but how can that be?" he asked.
"I know it's weird, but I ran the test myself twice and came up with the same results. They're not related. They have the same blood type, but not the same parents or anything. We can't even find who their parents are in the first place. I know that they are friends of yours so I'm having this information kept under wraps for now. I suggest you find out what's going on and tell me. I'm curious myself. So is the doctor who did the test."
"Okay. I'm going over to his place later. I'll ask them about this when I get there," Tofu said hanging up the phone.
Kasumi came out of their walk in closet where she had scrutinized herself on the mirror. "Anata, who was it?"
"Just a friend from work," Tofu said wanting to wait till they are at Ranma's place to break the news.
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Back at the park -
"...and that's the story about your mother's side of the family," Jones said finishing his story to Ranma.
Ranma just sat there absorbing everything. He now knows why his mother acts so coldhearted to him. It's because he doesn't act at all like a traditional Japanese man and doesn't live up to her expectations. Oh he tried, but if he remembers what he learned about traditional people they demand perfection. It took him a while before he can come up with a reply. "So the whole reason why my mother is the way she is now is because of my great-grandmother's parents?" He felt...well...numb. All because of some outdated traditions his life has been hell. If his mother does act like a TRUE traditional Japanese housewife then she probably thinks Genma's right in everything he does. That means that she blames everything that's wrong with him on HIM, not the one who raised him, Genma. At first he felt furious, but that quickly went back to numbness. He felt hopeless that his parents will never accept him for who he is.
"Yes, that's why," Jones said feeling sorry for his great-grandson. He had seen the numbness in his eyes, then the fury, then back to not feeling anything. He can tell what he's thinking right now and wanted to do something about it. He put his hand on the young man's shoulder and waited until Ranma acknowledged him. "Ranma, I failed as a father and as a grandfather because I didn't take your grandfather away from them when I had the chance. I'm to blame for all what has happen to you. Nothing I do would ever be enough to be forgiven by you. But, I just want to make things right before I finally die. Just...give me a chance will you?"
Ranma thought about everything that he had listened to for the past hour. This is the man that made his mother the way she is now, by doing nothing. But thinking back to the story he could tell that even if he did take his grandfather away it was way too late. His great-grandmother's parents had already corrupted him and Tenchi wouldn't listen to a man that he has been taught to hate. However, Jones has fessed up to his crimes and is willing to make amends for it. Even with his 'new life' he's still the forgiving type as long as they want to do the right thing. He smiled at his great- grandfather, which also brought a smile on the old man's face. "Sure, great- grandpa." 'Wow, it feels funny saying that for the first time. I know Piccolo's like a grandfather to me, but this guy IS my great-grandfather.' "What do you have in mind?"
Jones gave him a beaming smile at being called 'great-grandpa'. He let the feeling of being called that flow through him before turning serious. "Just 'grandpa' would be fine, grandson. Well, according to my informants your old friends are coming here and your parents are going to try to force you back into the family name so they could control you again. They are only taking this long to get here because they have to gather money to make the trip and I had my detectives and informants slow them down as much as they can."
"Yeah. I already know that they're coming here. And thanks for slowing them down grandpa. Kodachi went ahead of everyone else and unlike the others she had changed from the person I once knew, which I'm very grateful for," Ranma said blushing as he remembered the make out session a few days ago. Jones and the Gunsmith Cats wondered why he's blushing while the ninjas had knowing smiles. They would have to find out later.
Jones waited until his grandson stopped blushing and focused on him again. "Well, the Amazons are indebted to me. I can use that to stop them from trying to get you to marry that Shampoo girl. As for your parents I can pull some legal strings and have them charged with child abuse." Jones said. Ranma stayed silent, as he knew what they had done to him is considered child abuse to the maximum level. He just hoped that they hadn't had any more kids while he was gone. He doesn't want ANYBODY to go through the crap he went through because of those two. "Also I can have you take my name so that legally you would be Ranma Jones, thus ending any honor pacts that your parents made on your behalf. Also since I'm a well-known American they won't be able to do anything without causing an international scandal. I know full well that Japan doesn't look very kindly on people who make them look bad to the rest of the world."
Ranma chuckled. "Wow grandpa, you got everything planned out already."
Jones gave him his own confident and arrogant smirk in response. 'Wow, so that's where I got it from,' Ranma thought.
"Once you get to be my age you have to plan ahead. Besides, I didn't plan ahead during my younger days and that got me nothing but trouble." Both men chuckled as they can see the similarities between the two of them.
"Umm, grandpa, there are things that you should know about me," Ranma said a little nervously.
"Like how after you left Nerima you used the Chaos Mirror to teleport yourself to another world?" Jones asked with another smirk.
His eyes widened. "How did you...?"
"Simple. I asked around and found out that you went to a magic shop and when I asked the owner when I got there I put it all together. Don't worry, the NWC don't know about it since I paid off the owner not to tell anybody."
Ranma is still a little wide-eyed at his great-grandfather's actions. "So you know about the mirror?"
Jones nodded. "Yes. I heard about it during my younger years, but during the war the Japanese army looted the site where the mirror was supposed to be kept. Then years later it turned up in the magic shop you went to. I did my homework and found out what it's used for. I'm guessing the strange stuff that has been happening around here are from the world that you went to right?"
Ranma is about to answer when he felt his danger sense flare up. Grabbing his grandfather he jumped up away from the table as an air blade sliced it in half. He dropped off Jones next to the two ninjas who also stood up when they felt their danger sense go off. Turning towards where the air blade came from he saw his attacker, Kuno.
He had really changed from the last time he saw him. The kendoist is truly insane this time, not just delusional like when he left. His eyes are clouded with madness and Ranma can see that there's no way of reasoning with him.
Kuno stood with his katana at the ready. "At last I have found you foul sorcerer! After I have KILLED you I will take my Osage no Onna and my fierce tigress and I will bring them to my bedchambers where we will consummate our love for each other! Then we will celebrate your fate in hell by doing it again and again!" Kuno shouted with lust, madness and hatred in his eyes.
"Kuno-eta," Ranma growled while pulling out his sword from his subspace pocket and signaling the two ninjas to stay back. He's been wanting to trash this insane jackass ever since he got here. Plus, that statement about taking Ranko to his bedchambers has his blood boiling. "You should just step down Kuno-eta. I won't hold back like I used to." He said coldly. If the two ninjas knew that he said it with the same voice he had used before killing all those people in the other world they would have tried to stop him, or run away. Yes, run away, very, VERY fast. The first time he killed those knights he was being influenced by a rage spell. The second time he knew he could revive anyone he had killed. This time he would kill Kuno if he said another thing about touching his sister, and he won't bring him back from the dead.
"How DARE you call me trash! I will kill you once for all!" Kuno shouted while charging at Ranma.
Ranma sidestepped from his downward swing and kicked his back as he flew past him, almost cracking his spine. He had gotten better at fighting people using swords since he fought with Chris, Fred and Edge when they trained with each other.
He blocked all of Kuno's attacks with his sword with an emotionless expression on his face, sending a shiver up everyone's spines except the insane kendoist. Since the blade of his broken katana is much shorter he can block Kuno's sword faster than Kuno could swing his and making Kuno madder than he already is. Every once in a while he would retaliate with a slice that left deep, but none fatal cuts. Kuno screamed every time Ranma easily went past his defenses and inflicted him with a wound.
"You Knave! Fear the awesome might of the True Samurai!" Kuno shouted using his best move. He let loose with a series of staccato thrusts that are nearly too fast to see. However, Kuno hasn't improved his technique ever since the pigtailed martial artist left Nerima, instead developing that air blade, so Ranma avoided all of the strikes without effort. He appeared behind Kuno, slamming the hilt of the sword into the back of his head. Kuno fell to the ground grabbing onto his head from the pain from the blow.
"Give up Kuno-eta. You can't beat me," Ranma said turning to him with his sword ready. "Just walk away. You're no 'True Samurai'. You're nothing, always have been nothing, and always will be nothing. You are just a delusional fool who lives to torture people and who calls trying to rape someone 'dating' them. Don't think I don't remember what you tried to do to my girl side on Watermelon Island. You threatened me by saying you're stronger than me, which implies that you can overpower me anytime you wanted to. You DID try to, by saying that you want to 'date' me. If you don't leave right now I just might be tempted to kill you." The murderous Kuno then slumped over unconscious not being able to take the pain anymore.
Ranma became disappointed that he can't keep on beating the guy. His anger stayed, but he's not going to fight an opponent that's down. "Oops, put a little too much oomph in that last blow."
Then Ranma jumped out of the way of a chain ball as it crashed where he once stood. Looking to where it came from he saw another bane in his existence, Mousse. "So you're here too," Ranma growled, staring at the nearly blind male Amazon. His blood boiled even hotter at seeing the delusional Hidden Weapons master.
"Ranma! For stealing my Shampoo I will kill you!" Mousse shouted, jumping at Ranma while pulling out two swords out of nowhere.
"Hand of Chaos!" Mousse screamed as he's engulfed in a beam of purple energy. Ranma didn't fool around with the insolent pest and just lashed out with a spell from his rune after putting away his sword. Not enough to kill him, but just enough to weaken him so he can keep on beating on the guy. When the blast is over Mousse barely stood there with his clothes ruined and smoking and the swords disintegrated into tiny molecules. Jones and the Gunsmith Cats stared in awe, as they had never really seen a spell in action before. Also the bug planted on Ranma was burned out from the energy output from the magic attack.
However, Ranma isn't finished yet. This blind idiot has been trying to kill him ever since he arrived for no good reason. He decided to show him how a Katchuu Tenshin Amaguriken feels like when empowered by a Gale Rune, which is empowered by the Chaos Rune. He also let his rage fuel his attack, making the hits even more painful. The sounds of a SERIOUS beating sounded throughout the park, along with the screams of pain from the victim of the attack. As he attacked Ranma felt the need to say a few things.
"Damn it Mousse-baka! I NEVER wanted Shampoo in the first place! She used all sorts of potions, spells, drugs, ANYTHING to get me back to her village! Not ONCE has she ever treated me like a person! All I am to her is her 'airen', a trophy husband and baby-maker! First she tries to KILL me, and then she tries to MARRY me! She NEVER asked me how I feel about it! I might have gone back with her, IF she had just treated me nicely! But NOOOOOO! It's always some sort of scheme with her so she can control me! Dang it, she even turns into freaking c-c-c-feline! You KNOW how I feel about THOSE things! Then she even gets her great-grandmother involved! All I wanted was a friend dammit! Then YOU come along and try to kill me every chance you get! SCREW YOU! You're just as delusional as Kuno-eta is!"
Mousse is too busy screaming in pain to reply.
In the middle of the attack he grabbed Mousse by the throat and threw him up in the air. However, he used only a small amount of strength so he rose only about five feet before coming down again straight towards Ranma. Ranma waited until he's only a few inches away before unleashing a Chestnuts Roasting Over An Open Fire, powered by the Gale Rune and Chaos Rune of course, straight up at the hidden weapons master. Mousse hovered in the air as the momentum of the thousands of punches kept him in the air for a few very agonizing minutes.
'Whoa! He's STILL conscious! All those beatings from Shampoo must have been like the Bakusai Tenketsu training, just like what I went through with everyone! Hell, at the rate I'm going I should have ripped right through the guy by now!" (A)
After satisfied with the amount of pain he had inflicted on the male Amazon he leaped back a step to examine his work. Mousse is barely conscious, lying down on the ground and every portion of his body is covered with large, purple bruises. You wouldn't even recognize his face anymore. Ranma himself is panting heavily. He never had to keep up that technique for so long before and it took most of his reserves to do it. Now that most of his anger and adrenaline are mostly spent it left him feeling pretty weak. If he didn't have his runes he knows he would've been knocked out from using so much energy. Luckily the runes provided him with the energy to keep up the attack for much longer than usual. He glared at the duck cursed individual. 'Stupid duck! Duck? Hmmmm...' He spotted something a small distance away from them that put an evil smile on his face.
He walked up to the Gunsmith Cats' table. The girls didn't even notice him as they are still frozen at seeing the carnage. He grabbed a bottle of water, thanking them as he did, which they didn't reply to. He pressed a pressure point on Mousse which will heighten everything he feels by ten times, which garnered a groan from the increased pain he's feeling. He poured the water on the Amazon, waking him up a little more. He grabbed the chain from before and tied the weakly protesting duck up. He then carried him over to 'it', grabbed the duck's head and forced it into...an Anthill! One filled with Red Fire Ants! (1)
Mousse realized his predicament when he felt hundreds of little bites along his head, which felt like a hundred lions biting him. He tried to get out, but Ranma held him down with a smirk. He waited until the duck is literally crawling with ants before letting go. It took a few moments for Mousse to get his head out of the anthill as his head is too big for it in the first place. Only the force of Ranma pounding his head into the ground made the hole big enough. It killed a lot of the ants, and the survivors are clearly not happy. When he did get his head out he ran around quacking like crazy, which did nothing for his predicament. Thousands of sores already riddled his body as he ran around like a chicken...duck with his head cut off.
Ranma, Jones, the girls and even the ninjas are rolling around on the ground laughing their lungs out as the duck tried to get the ants off without success. Unnoticed by them Kuno is getting up.
"I won't let you live foul sorcerer!" Kuno shouted as he saw his chance to get rid of Ranma once and for all. He reached into his robes with his right hand and pulled out a nine-millimeter Browning HP.
Ranma cursed himself for getting distracted and assuming the insane kendoist is down. The guy is always getting up, even from his nastier blows. He's about to use his Gale Rune again when a shot is fired.
He waited for the pain to come, but he didn't feel a thing. Then he realized the shot came from behind him. Jones had pulled out his gun when he saw Kuno reach for something in his robes and the sunlight glinted off the black metal. His shot blew off Kuno's right arm, which is also his sword arm, thus ending his 'True Samurai' days forever.
"My arm!' Kuno cried out holding onto the stump where his arm used to be and trying to stop the bleeding.
"Rally, call the cops and get both of these madmen into a cell," Jones called out to Rally and the others who watched the whole thing happen. "Becky, get some hot water for Mousse so that we can present the police with a human prisoner. Minnie, call an ambulance to patch up Kuno's arm. Ranma, you should go. I'll handle the police once they get here. Don't worry, I'll tell the police to search Mousse for all his weapons. We'll also tie him up so can't unleash any that he has hidden using his technique. I'll call you when I can."
Ranma nodded, and then directed a smile towards the old man. "Thanks grandpa. I'll see you later!" he said as he and the two ninjas took off.
"Well, my grandson, you have turned out to be more than I had hoped for. Hina would have been very proud of you." Jones smiled as he watched Ranma head back towards his home.
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At the temple -
Kasumi and Tofu had arrived at the temple and were greeted by Hinako and Ranko. They had just sat down on a couch when Ranma, Watari and Ayame walked...stomped through the front door. Ranma didn't even notice the Onos as he kept mumbling about stupid insane wannabe samurais and dumb blind Amazons. He went straight to Kodachi when the others entered the room.
"Kodachi, your brother arrived at the park I was in. So did Mousse," Ranma practically spat out.
"What happened?" Kodachi asked, worried that RANMA might have gotten hurt. Didn't matter if her brother or the nearly blind duck got hurt or killed.
"Well, I was there to meet my great-grandfather who contracted me to meet him there. There we talked for a while about how he's my great-grandpa and how come my mother is like she is. I'll tell everybody the story later by the way. Then your brother showed up swinging around his katana and almost killing me AND my great-grandpa! After showing him that I could beat him using my sword I used too much force on a blow to the back of his head and knocked him out. While my back was turned Mousse attacked me. I'll get into detail later. The big thing is after I beat Mousse your brother pulled out a GUN on me! I got lucky that grandpa fired his own gun and blew off Kuno's right arm before he could fire off a shot. No offense Dachi, but your brother is NUTS!" Ranma growled out.
Kodachi felt euphoria on being given a nickname, but she swallowed it down to deal with the situation. "So my brother lost his sword arm. Please give my thanks to your great-grandfather. Maybe this will finally help him regain his lost mind," she said with a smile.
Tina looked at her like she grew a second head. "You're taking this pretty well."
Kodachi shrugged dismissively. "Tatawaki and I were hardly brother and sister ever since our family broke apart. I'm sure that this would be good for him since it will force him to open his eyes to the real world now. Without the ability to wave a sword around to force people to conform to his fantasy world perhaps he will return to reality." Then she had a thought. "Ranma, did you see Sasuke anywhere?"
"Yeah. He's hiding right here!" Ranma said opening a window and grabbing the ninja that's hiding under it. The ninjas and most of the inhabitants of the household had already known he's there, but dismissed him as a threat since he didn't seem like a reporter and 'Mr. Green Turtle' was sneaking up to him.
"Oh, hello Saoto...Wild-san, Mistress Kodachi. It's been a while," the nervously laughing ninja said as he's dropped to the floor.
Kodachi approached him and bent down until she's eye to eye with her brother's pet ninja. "Sasuke, you've been hiding here all this time?"
Sasuke nervously bowed with one knee on the floor in front of his mistress. "I'm sorry Mistress for not revealing myself sooner! After what happened earlier today I was afraid to introduce myself," he said mostly to the floor.
Ranma decided to ease his nervousness a little. While he was in Nerima he's never really hurt him unless under orders from the Kuno siblings. He walked up to where the ninja is bowing to Kodachi and put a hand on his shoulder. He waited until he had the ninja's attention and smiled reassuringly at him, which made him less tense. "So you saw what happened to Kuno right?"
The Kuno's retainer nodded at his mistress' love interest. "Yes, but to be frank I was getting tired of cleaning up his messes, all because he couldn't stand that you were...are better than him. But..." He then returned to bowing to Kodachi. "At least I can now serve under you now Ms. Kodachi, if you will let me. Since you left the house I missed you a lot while your brother didn't even care that you were gone." He had been getting along well with Kodachi ever since she was cured from her madness. He wanted to serve her and not her brother, but honor dictated that he remain with Kuno. Now that Tatawaki is going to jail he cannot serve him anymore and is happy to transfer under his sister.
Kodachi put a hand on his shoulder until he looked up at her. She smiled brilliantly at him and nodded, which garnered a smile from him as well. "I, Kodachi Kuno, as a member of the Clan Kuno hereby accept you as my personal retainer until I release you or death takes you." Sasuke kissed her hand, sealing his fate. However, this is a fate he would gladly take.
Sasuke stood up and bowed from the waist to his now official master. Kodachi smiled at him, then turned serious. "Sasuke, there are some things you will need to know. The first is that I will be giving up the Kuno name to be with Ranma. Do you change your mind and do you want me to release you?" she asked.
Sasuke shook his head in the negative. "It really doesn't matter to me Ms. Kodachi. You're the only one from your family that isn't mad," he replied seriously, while the mirth could be seen in his eyes.
She nodded in acceptance. "Come. There is much we need to talk about over dinner."
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In the Kotobuki household -
Sayo is sitting in her room looking through her manga collection and reading up on how to be a monster hunter. But, she's still afraid because if it wasn't for Landis saving her from Jack-O she would had been...
"Can I really do this?" Sayo asked herself as she gazed at the Thunder Sword Rune imbedded on her hand. It's the same rune she found while tracking down Landis. It had somehow bonded to her, giving her power. The power to turn anything she held in her hand into a lighting weapon.
But when she faced Jack-O she was scared stiff. How could she become a hero when she can't even face her fears? Jack-O is a true monster, something from her deepest nightmares that's real.
Turning to a pack of Duel Monsters cards she began to flip through them. She had gotten into the game after seeing one of her friends at school playing them. Now she has collected a host of powerful female-based monsters. She's staring at two cards that she liked the most. Kuriboh is in her left hand since she always thought that it's a cute looking thing and in her right hand is Dark Magician Girl. They are two of the first cards she bought when she started collecting cards. But looking at the Dark Magician Girl she knew she would never be like her.
Then she thought of something she had heard around school. If you picked a card from a pack of Duel Monster cards then that monster that is on the card would be a reflection of what you are now. Thinking 'why not' Sayo took out all of the magic and trap cards, leaving only the monster cards in the deck. She spread the cards over the floor face down and picked up one of the cards. The card looking back at her is 'The Unhappy Maiden'. As she stared at the card she thought that the card really does reflect what she's feeling now.
Lost and alone the Unhappy Maiden is just like her. She didn't know where to go from where she is now. She doesn't know how to face what she feared most, facing Jack-O again.
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Shibuya Police Station -
Kotobuki had just been called in to see Sakeo and Ryo. They said they had something REALLY important to tell him. Reaching the room they are in Kotobuki came in to see the two with smug faces. "So what did you want me to know?"
"Well, we found out something about Ranma Wild that you wouldn't believe," Ryo actually sing-songed.
"Try me," Kotobuki said seriously with a twitch on his left eyebrow. Ryo NEVER singsongs anything!
"Well, to start things out he's not really Ranma Wild, but Ranma Saotome," Sakeo also sing-songed.
It took him a while before the name clicked. "You mean the guy who kept the Nerima area crime free till he left the city and gave up his name almost a year ago?" Kotobuki asked. He had heard all about him from the chief of the Nerima station. While the place was chaotic when Ranma was there it's nothing compared to now. He still couldn't believe what a mess the streets are now just because of one person leaving and everything going downhill because of it. At first he figured that it's the martial artist's fault somehow, but the chief DRILLED it into his head that the city NEEDS Ranma back! It's not that Ranma is at fault, it's that HE was the one keeping the city FROM turning into what it is now. The chief practically begged him to help him find Ranma.
Sakeo nodded as the two turned serious. "Yes. We're still doing some background checks on him, but from what we got from the information we have I don't blame him from leaving that hellhole. At least we now know why he hates the media so much and why he's so private. If he's hiding out from his family he wouldn't want to be found on the front of newspapers wouldn't he." Everyone nodded. Everything made sense now. Then all three slapped a hand on their forehead when they realized that they had probably blown his cover seeing as he's now worldwide news. "But the even bigger piece of information is that he's really is part American and his great-grandfather is none other than Dr. Indiana Jones."
His left eyebrow twitched again. "You mean that's the reason why Jones is here? He's looking for his grandson?" Kotobuki asked.
Ryo nodded. "Yes, also not looking for him since he's already found him. That's how we found out everything. The two just met in Shibuya Park a few hours ago, which means we can't touch him now since he's the great-grandson of a well-known American. We made a copy of the story that he told Ranma, but for some reason the power was cut off before we could hear Ranma's side of the story. Then when we reconnected we found the bug had stopped working. It seems that the bug was burned out from an energy wave of some kind. We found out later that two of Ranma's rivals attacked him and Jones at the park. According to the reports from the officers at the scene after seeing Tatawaki Kuno pulling out a gun at Ranma and Jones blew off his right arm with his own gun. Ranma took care of the other attacker, a guy named Mousse."
Kotobuki nodded as he narrowed his eyes. "I know all about Kuno. He had attacked many people who look like Ranma in the past year, but got off by paying off the right people. I think he even killed someone, but I have no proof of it. But after attacking someone as well known as Jones it looks like he's going to see some jail time for this. So will that Mousse guy as well."
"Well, for now we just have to wait and see what's going to happen," Sakeo said and the two men nodded.
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At the temple -
Ranma is in the backyard with Tofu. Everyone had a nice dinner, which of course was cooked by Chris. Ranma can't decide who's food is better, Kasumi's or Chris'. He had informed Kasumi and Sasuke on what happened to him after he left Nerima while everyone chatted. They took it quite well, even if Landis did try to scare them when they came into the dining room. He did scare Sasuke, but Kasumi just said, "Oh my, what strange friends you have Ranma-kun." That got Landis depressed since he thought she's an easy scare. After talking to her he took it rather well as he had a hard time being depressed or have any negative emotions when she's around, which didn't surprise everyone seeing how nice she is. Oh course it did torture him as he doesn't like those happy all the time people, but he only kept twitching the whole time she's there. It's probably because Tofu used a pressure point to keep him in his place for trying to scare his wife.
Ranma had also explained what happened at the park in detail, which got mixed responses from everyone. The ones from the other world wondered who Dr. Jones is and were furious at the two teen's actions. They vowed to kill them if they ever come near Ranma, Ranko or anyone in their group. The Onos and everyone from this world gasped when they realized whom Ranma is related to. Now it made sense on how come Ranma is who he is since he's related to such a legend. Jones is known for all the trouble he had encountered, and it seems whatever it is that attracts trouble to him got passed down to Ranma. It didn't matter to them that Ranma is part American either. He's still who he is, just that they know more about him than before. They also vowed to beat the two teens senseless if they ever encountered them.
Everyone laughed when they heard what Ranma did to Mousse's duck form.
The only bad thing to happen all night, if you can call it bad, is when Ranma found out about Kasumi's pregnancy.
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"Kasumi!"
After realizing that they had visitors and who they are Ranma did what might have been an Amazon Glomp except this one is friendlier and not as tight as to hurt her. The two old friends hugged after a whole year (for Kasumi anyway) of not seeing each other. Ranma put all the love he can into the hug with the mother figure he never had and she put all the love she can into the hug with the little brother she never had. As he's hugging her he noticed something...strange about her. 'Eh? Is Kasumi getting fat?' He knows she has an hourglass figure under all those modest dresses so this is pretty much a shock for him.
Of course he wouldn't say this in front of her or anyone, especially since he respects her so much. Unfortunately, instead of just thinking it to himself his old foot-in-mouth disease reared its ugly head and he unintentionally said it out loud.
"Oh my Ranma-kun! I'm not getting fat!" Kasumi let him go fast at his statement and gave him an indignant look.
Ranma nervously scratched the back of his head as Kasumi berated him for saying something like that. She gave him all sorts of reasons for keeping comments like that to himself and proper manners while he apologized repeatedly while bowing at the waist. Everyone is laughing at the scene, especially Tofu as he knows what that 'fat' is.
"...And furthermore Ranma-kun, if you are going to say something like that you might as well keep it to yourself since it will get you into a lot of trouble. Now, give me your hand."
Ranma looked up at her questioningly, but the stern look she gave him quickly made him give her his hand. She took it and put it right at the mound that he had felt in their hug.
"Now Ranma-kun, does that feel like fat to you?"
He looked up bewildered at her. How is he supposed to know? "Ummm...no?"
She still has that stern look on her face as she asked him another question. "Good answer. Now, what could it be?"
"Ahhhh...gas?"
"No, try again."
"Ummm...you ate a whole watermelon and it's still in your belly?"
"Not even close, but it is about the size of a watermelon. I'll give you a hint. This 'fat' is a natural thing for women to go through, especially after getting married. What is it?"
He's too flustered to think straight so he answers with a, "Errrr...I don't know."
Kasumi giggled in spite of herself and lost the stern look and adopted her usual serene expression. His totally stupefied look is really funny. "Come on Ranma-kun! Now, what is inside a woman's body, is about the size of a watermelon, and will stay there and grow for about nine months before it leaves the woman's body?"
By now his brain is fried at trying to figure out what the hell it is. It should have come to him early on, but being scolded by Kasumi had really rattled him and his brain is not functioning at 100. That always happened when guilt got to him whenever she scolded him. He can't believe his old 'Genma Saotome Insult Everyone Whenever You Can' technique reared its ugly head at that precise moment! He gave up anything and everything he ever learned from the bastard and just when he thought it's all gone it comes back at the worst time possible!
It took a few moments for him to gather himself and another few moments to figure out what that 'fat' is. When he did Tofu came up behind his wife and hugged her, therefore confirming the answer.
"Y-y-you m-mean y-y-y-your p-p-PREGNANT!"
Everybody laughed again as Ranma's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and his jaw hit the ground. Tofu and Kasumi also laughed at his shocked expression. They knew he didn't mean the fat insult, just that sometimes his mouth goes ahead of his brain and inadvertently says things he shouldn't have. His old foot-in-mouth disease is not totally gone obviously.
Tofu got his chuckles under control and decided to tease his friend. "Yes Ranma, that's what usually happens when two people who love each other have sex." He knew Ranma's imagination would take care of everything, especially when he's flustered like this, as he has no control over it when stressed.
Unfortunately this last sentence made his brain go into overload as his imagination kicked in and he saw... the two doing 'it'. He didn't want to, but his brain is still not working from being scolded by Kasumi and finding out his mother figure is pregnant and so he couldn't stop the images from coming to him. He locked up in place and a shiver traveled up his body as he didn't want to think of his mother figure like THAT!
Kasumi caught on to what her husband is doing. With a mischievous grin very unlike her she walked up to the beet red Ranma and whispered in his ear, "I bet you're thinking about making babies with those four girls, aren't you Ranma-kun?" She giggled as Ranma turned atomic red.
His imagination did the rest. Instead of seeing Tofu and Kasumi he now saw himself and one of the girls. The image of the girl keeps flickering from Tina to Chris to Ranko (choke and shudder, that's his sister damn it!), and even Viki and Kodachi again and again and again. The images mercilessly assaulted his poor brain as everyone laughed at his stunned expression and atomic red face and body.
He did the only thing he could do, which is not entirely voluntary.
He pulled a Ryoga and fainted with huge amounts of blood going out his nostrils.
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After that nothing much happened. Everyone mercilessly teased him until 'Mr. Green Turtle' got hungry and tried to eat Landis again when he was leaning out of the windowsill. Ranko had stopped him by turning her hair green and used the power of the Cyclone Rune to cast a sleep spell on him. Then they had to drag him back to the pond before he woke up. Yun thought it was funny as 'Mr. Green Turtle' is acting like the crocodile in Peter Pan and Landis is acting out the role of Captain Hook. She had gotten into the story when her class had started to read the book. Kodachi said she would get 'Mr. Green Turtle' under better control in the morning.
The girls are all around Kasumi asking her about children, especially those interested in Ranma. During the discussion among the women Yun broke off from the group and she approached the men and asked how the baby got into Kasumi's stomach. The men all found that they had something else better to do than tell Yun about the birds and the bees. Even the doctor couldn't put up the usual scientific explanation of sex as she seemed so innocent, so he said he had to drag Ranma outside to tell him something important. Before the doctor could drag him out Ranma sighed and approached his little sister. It seems it's his responsibility to tell her as no one else is volunteering to do so. He knelt down to her level and promised her that he would explain when she got a little older. All she needed to know right now is that Kasumi and Tofu did something to put a baby in there. She still had a lot of questions and wouldn't give up. He sighed and pulled his sister over to a corner of the room where hopefully no one could hear them, especially now that everyone is watching the two.
He whispered in her ear, "Okay sis, I'll make you a deal. If Tina, Chris, Viki, Kodachi or even your sister gets pregnant I'll tell you how we got the baby inside them okay?" He figured that happening in the immediate future isn't likely, therefore giving him time to create a decent explanation that won't embarrass them.
Unfortunately Yun decided to loudly vocalize her reply, missing why they had to whisper. "Okay big brother! If they..." she pointed towards the group of girls he had mentioned. "...ever gets pregnant you'll tell me how you and her...mmmphh!"
Ranma put a hand on her mouth with a din of panicked strength and speed. He laughed nervously then dashed away with his sister to his room, leaving a room full of laughing people and five wildly blushing females. Ranma forgot to think that most of the people in the room are trained martial artists and they had heard what he had whispered. Everyone knew he has very strong feelings for the girls (except for Ayame as she's just a friend and his ninja) and that only proved that he's thinking about the future. They figured Ranko is blushing because Ranma had included her name in the list inadvertently.
Ranma ran into his room he shared with Ranko and slammed the door shut and put his back to it while heaving in big gulps of air. Yun wiggled out of the grip he had on her and looked up totally confused at her brother. She waited until he got himself under control and tugged on his shirt to get his attention. "Big brother, why did we run away like that?" Her totally innocent eyes stared up at him.
Ranma breathed in and out to calm his nerves. Then he took hold of one of Yun's hands and led her to sit on his bed. After they did he turned to her. "Sorry sis, it's nothing big. Okay, now I told you I would tell you when you either get older or one of the girls gets pregnant right?" She nodded. "Great. I just didn't want them knowing when I would tell you because...well, just because okay. Don't worry about it for now. Just know that Kasumi is going to have a baby in a couple of months okay. I'll even take you to the hospital to see the baby when it happens alright." At her enthusiastic 'okay' he mentally heaved a sigh of relief. He led her back to the room where everyone had regained their composure. She immediately went back to the huddle of women as the men went about their business, mainly cleaning up the mess from dinner. However, Tofu asked Ranma to go with him outside to discuss something important, therefore that is how the two ended up in the backyard.
"So doc, what did you want to tell me?" Ranma asked.
Tofu looked seriously into Ranma's eyes. "Ranma, I got a call earlier today from a friend of mine. Remember when you gave a doctor some of your blood to test to see if you could give some to Ranko?" He nodded. "Good. Actually, wait. First, tell me how did you know that you and Ranko are siblings."
Ranma looked at him a little bewildered. "Actually doc we just decided to tell everyone that we are. It's a lot easier that way since we made up that my girl side is my twin sister so it's easier to just say that she is instead of making something else up. Why?" He got a nagging feeling that what he's about to find out is important. It both scared and excited him for some reason.
Tofu nodded. It made sense. "Well, it turns out that the doctor who took yours and her blood for the test also did a compatibility test on the two of you. He's not allowed to do that, but that's not the point right now. The point is...you and her aren't brother and sister." Tofu said with all seriousness.
Ranma's eyes widened and he gasped in surprise. "What? But how?" His mind is racing, not staying on one thing as everything put him on a loop. Too many surprises for him to deal with are popping up today.
Tofu felt a little sorry for him seeing the conflicting emotions passing over Ranma's face and eyes. However, he had to tell him. "Well, hearing the story of how you and her got split apart I figured it all out. You see Ranko just looks like how you would have looked like if you were born as a girl. The dead spirit in the pool needed a body, but as you probably guessed we don't know how her original body looks like. When Herb came here he didn't look like you remember. The pool just curses you to look like how you would have looked if you were born a girl. When the spell went haywire instead of just removing the curse it took her spirit from the pool and put it in your cursed body. However, your girl form probably looked a lot like she originally did so it mixed the two bodies together. So now the genetic data is totally different. She only looks like your girl form on the outside, but on a genetic level she's totally different from you. It means that you and her were never brother and sister in the first place."
Ranma felt both excitement and nervousness at those facts. "That means that..." Ranma began thinking of all of those feelings he had been having for Ranko. The only reason he didn't do anything about those feelings was that he thought that she's really his sister, except for their lapse of control with the make out session of course. But now that he now knows that she isn't his real sister the situation is totally different. He took the feelings he's been suppressing for her and let it spill into his heart, joining his feelings for Tina, Chris, Viki and Kodachi. He felt bliss. However, he can't just go ahead with everything or things might turn sour. He needed time to think about this. "Thanks for telling me Doc, but let's just keep this to ourselves for a while longer, please."
"I understand Ranma," Tofu said. He had seen the emotions on the young man's face. Looks like he had fallen for his 'sister' as well as the other girls and is only letting himself immerse in it now.
"I wonder where we will go from here now," Ranma said to himself. He sat down on a rock near the garden he and Ranko had made together and just stared out at the flowers, not really seeing anything except his thoughts. Tofu understood and left the young man to tell the others he needed some time alone.
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Meanwhile in a dark room -
"So that's the plan," Ms. Uikkan said to her men. There are forty in all since the raid on the party most of her men were either left behind and taken by the police or killed during the firefight.
After that night Neclord brought her to his room she hasn't been the same. Whenever she's in the presence of Neclord she's either scared to death of him or totally subservient. Otherwise she seems fine. The servants who came close to Neclord's room that night said they heard a lot of screaming from the woman. She screamed like she was being tortured. After that night she always wore a scarf around her neck. It didn't seem like he turned her into a vampire, more like he fed off of her. Neclord always orders her back into his room whenever he felt hungry. It seems like he took a personal liking to her blood as the girls he asks for every night actually returns instead of never being seen again, without bite marks. However, those girls are like zombies now. Even when they are given to other men they do nothing. They are not actually zombies, but their minds broke from the experience.
"So we're going to kidnap Yun Wild right? Well at least this will be easier than the last mission," one of the surviving gunmen said.
"So where do we take her after we get her?" another one asked.
A shroud of darkness materialized out of nowhere and solidified. "You take her to the old clock tower. Then we do the rest," Faceless said.
"What are you doing here?" Ms. Uikkan asked with a little edge.
"Making sure that everything goes to plan THIS time," Faceless said with an emotionless voice.
"My men are more than enough to catch a little girl!" Ms. Uikkan shouted.
"That's what you said last time. But still, your men will be enough to catch her. But then we will handle the rest," Faceless said as three more shrouds of darkness appeared and solidified.
Three figures appeared. One is a pale, but beautiful, busty dark haired woman. She's wearing a sexy white dress that showed off all her curves. Her skin is flawless, but her eyes are those of a killer that quickly made the men's lust levels drop when they looked her in the eyes. Also she has long green nails that look like they could cut into flesh as easy as a knife would.
The other is a huge man. He's at least 10 feet tall and built like a gorilla. He has long arms, but short legs. His hands are big enough to grab a fully-grown man like a rag doll. His bald head is normal sized, but on his overly large body made him look like a pinhead. He's wearing blue overalls and a red shirt underneath. He also has on black fingerless gloves.
The last one is a fairly tall man who almost looks normal. But he has two metal tentacles popping out of his back and a large drill sticking out from the top of his head. The two metal tentacles came out from where his shoulder blades are. They're tipped off with two drills just like the one on his head. He's dressed in a green uniform with a pair of goggles on his head.
"I give you Nails, Grasper, and Spindrive. They will be helping me on this task," Faceless said to the group.
"When do we begin?" one of the men asked a little nervously. The whole group of humans felt very afraid of the four monsters.
"We'll start things off tomorrow," Faceless said with authority, just daring anyone to not obey his orders.
No one even thought of it.
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The next day at the temple -
Landis has had it with hiding in the temple. He needed to go outside and fly around for a while. However, he also needed a reason and a purpose for going out besides to stretch his wings. Then he thought of something that he and Mind had work on. After watching an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh and the duel disk thing they were using he asked if Mind could make one.
And she did make not one but two in less than a day. But unlike the ones in the show these run on magic power. The disks are just like the ones used in Battle City where Landis saw them being used in the show. The panels that the cards are played on would project an image of the monster being played using holograms that the ones in the show used. They're real to the touch, but the attacks they use wouldn't hurt people. That was something that Mind came up with to make them safe to use.
Then Landis thought about Sayo, Yun's friend he had met before. She still has his Thunder Rune Sword that she had found and let her keep for a while. He figured it's a good time to take it back and it would be fun to play around with her first. These Duel Disks would do nicely. If she beat him then he would just let her keep the rune. He can just get another one in his world. He knows full well from Yun that she loves to play Duel Monsters. It's time to see how good she really is. Landis took off when he saw that it's safe to fly off and headed for the school.
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At the school-
In Sayo's school the final bell had just rang and the kids are going home for the day.
"Guys, could you wait a bit. I need to walk Sayo home before we can hang out," Ran said to her friends.
"So your mom is still worried about your little sister?" Aya asked.
"Yeah. She's still mad that me and big bro let her out of our sights that day," Ran said.
"Well, Miyu thinks it's sweet that you're taking care of your little sister," Miyu said.
"Well, at least things couldn't get worse than things are now," Ran said opening the scene for the next act. You should NEVER say that phrase unless you want some trouble.
In the elementary part of the school a shadow flew over the students as they were walking home. Looking up the students and teachers saw it's the bat creature that was in the papers and on TV a few weeks ago. Everyone stopped what they were doing as it landed on top of the surrounding wall of the schoolyard.
Seeing Sayo in the crowd Landis jumped down so that he's standing in front of her. "Hello again! I came for the rune on your right hand," Landis said to her pointing at where the rune is affixed on her hand. Standing next to her are Yun and Masato.
"W-what? You want it back?" Sayo asked a bit frightfully.
Yun stared wide-eyed at Landis. 'What's he doing here? Big brother and the others are SOOOO not going to be happy when they hear about this!
Landis nodded with his usual sinister smirk, causing a shiver up the spines of those watching. "Yes. You don't really know how to use it, but I do. So just give me your hand and I'll remove it," Landis said as he held out his hand.
"Come on, she knows how to use it," Yun said to him wondering what Landis is up to besides being here for the rune. She knows he wouldn't be here JUST for the rune.
"Yeah! She's been training on how to use it if that monster you fought off ever comes back for her," Masato said in defense of his friend.
"True, but I can plainly see that she's nothing more than a scare child with a power that she doesn't even know how to use," Landis said.
"I'm NOT a little child! I can face my fears!" Sayo shouted. But inside of her she knew that what he said is true.
"Well, I guess I have to fight you for it then," Landis said making the surrounding kids and teachers back off thinking that he's going to kill Sayo for whatever he wanted from her. Sayo, Masato and even Yun paled when they heard this. They prepared to run for their lives, but instead of pulling out his scythe he pulled out two Duel Disks right out of the TV show and handed it to the bewildered Sayo.
"You... want to duel for it?" Sayo asked with disbelief.
Landis smirked again. He just LOVED everybody's scared look when he said he would fight her for it. "Yes. I don't really want to hurt you so we just play a game of Duel Monsters to see if you keep the rune or not." Yun breathed a sigh of relief that no one heard besides the winger. Now she knows why he risked going out of the house. He's BORED!
"Fine. What are the rules?" Sayo asked putting on the duel desk on her left arm. Her relief at not having to 'fight' the bat-creature can't be described in words.
"We both get 2000 life points as shown on the panel and we play until one of us has been beaten. Also there's no helping from anybody for both sides. If there is any helping then the game will be forfeited and the other player wins. Good enough for you?" Landis asked.
"I agree," Sayo said as she took her position.
"Sayo! Wait!" Ran shouted as she raced for her little sister. She had frozen when the bat-creature arrived. She didn't even snap out of it until the two took dueling positions.
Sayo signaled for her sister to stay back. "No Ran, I need to face him alone. I need to stand on my own two feet from now on!" Sayo shouted out, "LET'S DUEL!"
"Sayo..." Ran said as she saw that her sister needed to do this alone. 'Mom is SOOOO going to kill me!
"Ladies first!" Landis said with a smirk.
Sayo returned the smirk. "Okay, I play 'Lamoon' (ATK-1200/DEF-1700) in defense mode and play two cards face down as well!" Sayo said ending her turn. An image of a beautiful winged woman appeared in front of Sayo kneeling with her arms cross before her. She carried a staff as a weapon.
"Good play. Now I put down one card in defense mode and another in defense face up. Come forth 'Yamatano Dragon Scroll' (ATK-900/DEF-300)!" An image of a scroll with a picture of a dragon appeared on the field in front of Landis. "In just three turns this monster card will transform into Yamadron."
"Not if, I can help it! Lamoon, attack that dragon!" Sayo commanded her monster to attack. Lamoon took off ready to destroy the dragon scroll.
But Landis smiled, flipping his face down card showing a trap card. "I revile my face down card 'Bear Trap' it destroys any monster with an attack power of less than 1500."
"Lamoon! No!" Sayo shouted seeing her monster destroyed by the trap card and her life points drop to 1700.
"Sorry kid. Now I put down one card face down and attack with 'Legion the Fiend Jester' (ATK-1300/DEF-1500)," Landis said as a fiendish looking clown popped up. "Now attack her life point directly!"
"I play 'Spellbinding Circle'!" Sayo shouted flipping one of her face down cards, trapping the Jester in a magical circle and dropping his power down by 600. (ATK-700/DEF-900)
"Good move sis!" Ran shouted to her from the sidelines!
"Now I play 'Hibikme' (ATK-1450/DEF-1000) now attack the Jester!" Sayo shouted as a blue-hair women in a green dress carrying a huge scythe appeared. The woman sliced the Jester in half bringing Landis life points down to 1250.
"Good move but now I play 'Castle of Dark Magic'! (ATK-920/DEF-1930) in defense and it also covers the field with a shadow that powers-up all fiend type monsters by 500 points including itself," Landis said and the Castle points got higher to (ATK- 1420/DEF-2430). A huge dark floating castle with a ring around it appeared and the field got covered with a thick shadow that Sayo could hardly see in.
"Now, I'll show you my face down card. Come out 'Crass Clown' (ATK-1350/DEF1400) ! He also gets a power boost of 500 (ATK-1850/DEF-1900) and don't forget about 'Yamadron' since three turns are up now (ATK-1600/DEF-1800)." A fat clown standing on a ball holding a scythe appeared along with a three-headed dragon, the one that was on the scroll. "Now Crass Clown, bring her monster down!"
The clown threw three knives at Hibikme destroying her and bringing Sayo's life points down to 1300. "Now for your turn Yamadron take her down with 'Triple Fire Breath'!" The dragon's three heads let out a roar as they were powering up to attack Sayo remaining life points, but before they could attack she flipped her face down card to show, "What! An 'Infinite Dismissal' card!" Landis said as Yamadron got frozen for three turns. Ran, Masato and the others from the school cheered while Yun didn't know who to cheer for.
Sayo gave the winger a beaming grin. "Yup! Now, I play one face down card and play 'Gemini Elf' (ATK-1900/DEF-900), in attack mode," two lovely elves appeared, one a blonde wearing a blue dress, the other a dark skinned auburn haired one in a purple dress. "Now destroy Yamadron!" The two elves formed two energy balls and threw it at the three-headed dragon destroying it, bringing Landis' life points down to 950. The audience cheered again.
Landis is still smirking, however. "Nice. Now let's see how you deal with a monster card that should remind you of someone that, I know you're very scared of. I call up 'Pumpking, The King of Ghost' (ATK-1800/DEF-2000) and use 'Megamorph' to raise its attack/defense points by 300 (ATK-2100/DEF-2300). I also put down one face down card also," a huge one-eyed pumpkin monster appeared on the field. "Now destroy those elves!" Pumpking took in a deep breath before unleashing a wave of acid breath at the two elves and destroying them.
"No. Not now. Not this again," Sayo whispered in fear as her life points dropped to 1100. But Sayo is too busy watching the new monster on the field and having her nightmares return to her to care. She had tried to forget the ordeal she went through when she saw Jack-O for the first time. The monster is so much like Jack-O that she became frozen with fear as she stared at Pumpking.
Landis is no longer smirking as he looked at the shaking Sayo. He acquired a serious look that Yun had never seen before unless in a battle. "Do you now understand little one? If you can't overcome your fears then the rune I gave you is useless. A scared child with power is nothing more than a ticking time bomb waiting to be set off," he said coldly.
"Don't listen to him Sayo! You can overcome your fears!" Ran shouted at her sister. She knew full well that she's still scared to sleep at night because of that monster Jack-O.
"Don't let your fears rule you!" Aya shouted out.
"You can beat that thing!" Miyu shouted.
"You can do it!" Masato shouted.
"Overcome your fears!" Yun shouted seeing what Landis had in plan all along. This way he could help her friend Sayo to overcome her fears and see if she could keep the rune on her hand while at the same time getting rid of his boredom.
"Well Sayo, what will it be? A little child who's still scared of the dark, or will you stand on your own two feet and become what you need to be?" Landis asks her emotionlessly.
Sayo took a few deep breaths before scowling at the winger. "I might be scared, but I will not let this monster keep me from becoming what I need to be!" she shouted out.
"Then show me what you got!" Landis shouted. 'At last, she's overcoming her fears.'
"I play 'Dark Magician Girl' (ATK-2000/DEF-1700) in attack mode!" A blonde haired girl appeared wearing a sexy magician's outfit and holding a wand. "And I show my face down card, 'Cyber Shield', raising her attack/defense points by 500!" Dark Magical Girl is fitted with female armor making her even stronger (ATK-2500/DEF- 2200).
Then Sayo saw a way to bring down all three monsters in one blow. "Dark Magician Girl, destroy the floatation ring of the castle! 'Dark Magical Attack'!" Dark Magician Girl pointed her wand at the castle, shooting out a ball of magic energy and destroying the ring around it and sending it crashing down. The castle crashed on top of Crass Clown and Pumpking, destroying them both.
"Well done Sayo. You remember that episode where Yugi used his opponent's own castle against him to destroy his opponent's monsters." Landis said as his life point's drop down to 40 points. Sayo looked a little embarrassed as the crowd all sweatdropped. She was just copying something she saw on TV. Even Landis' right eye twitched in irritation. "But now, I play my face down card, 'Dark Hole'!" A black hole appeared in the middle of the field, sending Dark Magician Girl down the hole and clearing the field.
"My Dark Magician Girl!" Sayo shouted as her most powerful card got sucked into the dark hole.
"Now I play this card, 'Showdown'! (2) This very rare magic card will only lets us play one magic and monster card but no trap cards in our hand or graveyard. Whoever wins this fight wins the game," Landis said to Sayo. "Now I play this magic card, since I don't have any monsters cards in my hand, 'Call of the Hunted', to bring back Crass Clown as 'Clown Zombie' (ATK-1350/DEF-0)!" Bursting out of the ground Clown Zombie looks like Crass Clown but as a rotting zombie.
Looking in her hand she only had one monster card, 'The Unhappy Maiden' (ATK-0/DEF-100). But there's no way she could win with it and she only has trap cards and one magic card in her hand. But then she took a second look at the magic card and saw it's the card that she needed to win this duel.
"I play 'The Unhappy Maiden' in attack mode!" A young girl with dirty blonde hair and wearing a tattered blue dress appeared on the field. She held onto a basket of apples.
"Why would you play a weak card like that for?" Landis asked bewildered.
"She may be weak, but with this card she will win! I play the 'Sword and Shield' card and flip both monsters attack points with their defense points!" Both monsters attack points changed with the flip. 'Clown Zombie' (ATK-0/DEF- 1350) 'Unhappy Maiden' (ATK-100/DEF-0). "Now Unhappy Maiden! Destroy Clown Zombie with your fast apple throw!"
The Unhappy Maiden unenthusiastically powered up for a throw and let loose an apple straight to the Clown Zombie's forehead. It bonked him on his noggin, falling down to the ground and the monster is destroyed. The Unhappy Maiden staggers around before falling down and disappears with a flash.
Landis chuckled a little as he watched what was left of his life points disappear. The crowd roared as they watched Sayo win the match. "Well, you win the duel Sayo. The rune is yours to keep. Use it wisely." Landis approached her and took the dual disk back. He then took off to the air after giving a wink at Yun that only she saw. He left behind a young girl who had overcome her fear.
As her friends ran to her side Sayo had only one thought in her mind. 'Thank you my friend, for everything you have done for me," Sayo thought as she watched Landis fly off into the sky above.
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Next time - Yun, Sayo and Masato have been kidnapped and Ranma is walking into a trap! But help comes from someone that you would never guess. Also City Hunter has entered the temple to find out some answers. Next time in: 'The Clock Tower'
Author's Notes
1- Don't even ask how fire ants got to Japan.
2- I made up this duel card. Showdown only lets both players play only one magic and one monster card in their hand or graveyard and both sides can't play any trap cards during play.
glazedlookineyes101/prereader's Notes
(A) Hey, getting beat up by a bunch of high-powered martial artists every day for a year or two is the same as going through the bakusai training, right?
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