Suikoden One Half
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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 Takahashi. Nor do I own Suikoden 3 or any other characters that I put into this story except for my own OCs. Neither do I own any of the character in any of the crossovers I do. I'm just using them in this fanfiction and I have no money so don't bother suing me. You'll just lose money instead of gaining any.
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Chapter 19 – Gathering Storm Part 1
Place, unknown-
In a cave deep in the earth a person is walking through the darkness. He can't remember who he is or what he's doing here before. All he remembers is a blight flash of light, and then nothing. He had just wandered around the forest when he woke up until he found the cave deep in the woods that he had woken up in. The cave is pitch black and is very old, much older than its surroundings. It's barren of any kind of plants. Not even mold can be found growing anywhere. It's as if something deep inside the cave made the ground too vile for anything to grow on or inside of it.
The darkness seemed to call out to him as he walks farther down into the cave dark depths. He doesn't even know why he was here for, only that something is compelling him to be here to go into it. He can't see in the dark, but yet he can navigate threw the cave all the same as if an unseen force was guiding him threw it. He followed the strange feeling, it was letting him not to walk into anything or lose his way as he went deeper inside the cave.
Strange things began happening as he got farther down into the cave. First it started out as flashes of images appearing in his head. Then he realized that they're called memories. Images that were too many for him to make any sense of flashed into his mind. The headache he had ever since waking up in the forest just made it worse. At intervals the images became very clear they came and went, but they're usually accompanied by even more pain. Migraines, yes, that's what they're called he was beginning to remember. At one point the image became clear, crystal clear as if he's looking at it with his very eyes, but then it felt like his head became a chair for elephants to sit on. He didn't recognize the image he saw through the pain.
Then in one excruciating moment it all came flooding back to him. Like a dam that had finally gave way to the torrent of the river as it all came threw like a flash flood. All the memories became one giant whole he understood everything and remembered everything as well.
Yes he remembered it all. All the pain, all the sorrow, all the suffering that he went through. He remembered their faces. The images he had seen when his headache flared made sense now. He can see THEM in his mind's eye as they tortured him relentlessly, mercilessly, and joyfully. Most of all, the pain is not just physical, but emotionally and mentally as well.
He screamed letting everything that was let loose inside of him out all at once. The very cave reverberated with the sound of his anguish. Some might say even the very ground moved. He almost pulled out his long dark hair as memories he would rather not remember flooded his mind. He kept screaming until he finally ran out of breath.
He stood up, ready to find those people who made his life a living hell and destroy them. But there was something that is still calling him, something deeper inside the cave. Something told him that he would be able to have his revenge so much easier if he continued onward to find out what was in the cave. Once he finds out what it is he's looking for here in this darkness then he will find those people. Let's just say the reunion will not be pleasant.
He at last came to where the feeling was strongest. Somehow he knew what to do. He called out to the darkness to give him power to make all those who cause him pain suffer for what they had done to him, and the darkness embraced him giving him what he wish for. He let out a scream as the source of the darkness welcomed him, giving him the power he needs. His power, already great, but with this darkness it became even more. Even though the pain is intense it's worth it to be able to destroy those that almost destroyed him. He passed out when his very spine erupted in pain and the headaches became unbearable. And while he lay there in the dark cave a voice began to speck to him…
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In Ranma's world-
Far from the city of Shibuya there lays a temple resting on top of a heavily forested hill. Inside of the large dojo built on the hill a meeting is taking place. It is to talk about a battle plan for Neclord, the Vampire of Shibuya. In attendance are all the top level Demon Hunters of Japan.
"I don't get it. Why don't we just attack and drive a stake through that vampire's heart?" asked Yusuke as the meeting is taking place at his teacher's home. He sat on a chair with his arms over the back and his legs crossed. He didn't get what's the big deal. It's just a stupid vampire playing as a crime lord, right?
Kuwabara backed him up for once. "Yeah besides how strong can that vampire be?" he asked cockily. He stood next to where Yusuke is. "I'll even do you a favor and cut his head off first!"
"He's very strong. Trust me on this," Yohko, the 108th Devil Hunter, said seriously to them. She and Azusa had just barely got away from him with their lives and they're the only hunters that had fought him that are still alive after words. They had found the place that the vampire had been staying in and attacked along with a bunch of other demon hunters that had found the place as well. They had survived the attack, but she and her partner had to watch the other hunters being brutally killed by just one vampire. Only thanks to her powers and incredible luck did the two of them survive. She and Azusa are still smarting from the wounds they got from that fight. She has bandages wrapped around her torso where the vampire had bruised her ribs.
The redheaded fox demon Kurama looked over at him calmly, but with a hint of worry. "She's right Yusuke. The energy of that vampire has around him is nothing to laugh about."
The three-eyed half-fire/half ice demon also stared at the dense human. "He's right. The demons that are around the Shibuya area have all started disappearing since he came to the city. I'm not certain, but he might be using them to create more of those monsters."
Azusa nodded. She had a bandage around her head and around her left arm. "Yeah. Those monsters that attacked the police station aren't something to laugh about either." She had seen the video footage. The monsters pale in comparison to the master though.
"So, Genkai, is Koenma going to contact us soon?" Madoka, Yohko's grandmother and the 107th Devil Hunter, asked her old friend.
The pink haired old woman who is Yusuke's teacher nodded. "He and Botan should be here soon."
"Why should we even listen to that diaper wearing baby for?" asked the large demon cat-like creature called Tora.
"I have to agree with Tora here," said a young man holding a large spear called the 'Beast Spear' named Ushio. He and Tora are partners in demon hunting since Tora had softened up after being freed by Ushio by pulling out the spear he's holding that was imbedded in his chest. "We can just storm the place and kill that vampire. There are more than enough of us here."
"Whoever this Neclord is he isn't a vampire that I know about." Mosquiton said. He and his two elemental guards, Honoo, a fire elemental and Yuki, a snow and ice elemental in their child forms came to Japan with Inaho who's named after her grandmother to help out since there's a reward for Neclord to cash in. It's strange that Inaho acts just like her grandmother did when he first met her. "It's like he just appeared out of nowhere. All the other vampires that I have talk to are just as clueless as I am it's like he just appeared out of nowhere."
"Oh come on Mosquiton. I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to handle that vampire. Besides, you're one yourself and you can't be killed in the normal ways like other vampires," Inaho the second said.
"Yes, but he can still be killed," Koenma said as he entered with Botan. Along with the small toddler sucking on a pacifier and his assistant are three women. One is a small dark haired girl with a hammer on her back and is much younger than the other two. Another one is a gentle brown haired woman that radiated calm. The last and oldest (but not by much) is a dark skinned white haired woman that got all of the guy's attention with her great body. She reeked of sensuality. All three are wearing outlandish clothes and tattoos on their faces.
Tora growled at the three women knowing what they are and never like their kind at all. "What are THEY doing here?"
"Behave, demon!" snapped the dark skinned goddess.
"Why you!" Tora growled out.
Koenma stepped forward to stop the fight and introduced the three women. "These three women are goddess Urd, goddess of the past, Belldandy of the present and Skuld of the future. My father called them in to give us a hand since they live close to here."
While a bit disturbed at their presence he ignored the uncomfortable feeling. "So what can you tell us about Neclord?" Hiei asked.
Botan stepped forward and took a seat. Everyone is arranged in a circle on various chairs and couches. "For starters he's not from this world for one."
Kurama looked at the blue haired girl. "From where though? No one in the demon world has ever heard of him."
Skuld and the three goddesses took seats as well. "From what we have gathered he came to our world through the magic of the Chaos Mirror," Skuld said. "He's not from this world, but an entirely different universe, as in a different reality all together."
Silence met this statement for a few seconds before Kuwabara asked, "Chaos Mirror?"
Urd took up the explanation. "Yes. You see Ranma Wild used the magic mirror to go to the other world where Neclord came from. However, the mixing of different magics during a battle between the vampire and Ranma's group caused them to be transported to this world."
Genkai nodded. "So that's the real reason why he's been fighting Neclord. He was an enemy in that world. Now that he's wreaking havoc here he feels responsible and is trying to stop him."
"Hai!" exclaimed a suddenly grinning and giggling Botan, making the others raise an eyebrow. "His real name is Ranma Saotome. He's a former student of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts! He's so CUTE when I met him every once in a while!" she giggled.
Ranma had almost died a couple of times either from an injury or from one of Genma's 'training' techniques or more commonly from Akane's cooking, which has gotten worse after the failed wedding. While his body is recovering his soul would be free to wander around. That's when Botan would go out to meet him. She kept him company and the two would often talk or play around. It's amazing how innocent and childlike he seemed as a spirit. He had expected to finally be free of his harsh and hectic life and so let himself be the child he is inside when he meets up with her.
She had met him for the first time after he almost died due to the nekoken and met him again and again afterwards. She lost count after the 17th time it had happen. She would always sign up to be the one to keep his spirit from wandering around too far when he's incapacitated so the two could play together. When he returns to his body he would forget everything that had happened. Botan, however, remembers the good friend she had made. He's the reason she's so cheerful even at the type of job she has. Not many people are happy to meet her due to who she is, one of the Grim Reapers. She hasn't seen him in a year though, which made her sad and happy at the same time. She wondered when she'll be able to see the one that's like a little brother to her.
Everyone except for the smirking Urd and Koenma stared at the giggling girl who looks like she's talking about a cute boy she met at school. 'Weird,' is the general thought among the group except for Yohko who nodded in understanding as she had seen how cute Ranma is.
The staring and giggling, however, stopped when the two old women's eyes suddenly bulged and they slammed their hands on the table at the center of the group. "WAIT A MINUTE! ANYTHING GOES! You mean the art that HAPPOSAI teaches!"
Both Genkai and Madoka remember their own meeting with the perverted old man. They really wished that they didn't. Sometimes they would have nightmares of when the old man had copped feels of them when they were younger. The faces that the two are making at that name made the people close to them very worried, especially the people who know Genkai. She had never made a face like what they're seeing now. Only Yusuke has had the 'pleasure' of seeing that expression. He's downright terrified of her at the face she made when she said the name. It's the same one she used right before giving him the beating of a lifetime when she first started training him when he taunted only an old man would think of coping a feel from her. Everyone is too busy looking at the old women to notice he had run to the opposite side of the dojo and is cowering in fear against the wall.
Urd looked seriously at the two. "Yup. The old pervert is still alive." The glint the two women had made her feel a bit sorry for the old man if the two ever met with the ancient pervert.
"Who's he?" Yusuke asked after he had regained his courage and took his seat again before anyone noticed.
"He's the underwear thief from Nerima," Botan answered. The main reason that he's still alive is that no one in the underworld wanted him to be there. Actually, that's not true. The female population didn't want him there for the obvious reasons. The male population on the other hand did want him to be sent down. The reason why; was so that they could beat, maim, and torture him for all eternity. Unfortunately for them the women would not relent for anything and therefore all the reapers just let him live even after all of the stuff that would have killed him. Besides, none of the female reaper's wanted to come even a thousand feet of him. And they all had the Grand Grim Reaper the head of all the reapers to make sure that none of the male reapers would get to him either.
Kuwabara scratched his head in confusion. "Nerima? Underwear theif? Ohhh! That guy!" He felt disgusted as he thought of Happosai. That guy gave perverts a bad name.
Belldandy nodded and spoke for the first time since she arrived. "Yes. Now back to the main point please." Everyone nodded, even the demons though reluctantly. Who could refuse Belldandy after all? "The world they came from is a magic based one where people use magical runes of various types imbedded in their body to use magic. Neclord is one of the most powerful magic users in that world and the anti-demon spells of our world have little or no effects on him. He once had one of the True Runes, a very powerful magic source that had granted him vast amount of magical powers. Even though the rune was taken away from him he had it on him long enough to pick up some of its effects. Now our magics are almost useless against him. Probably only we gods and a few high level demons can defeat him."
"Wait. If you three are goddesses and have the power to stop him then why don't you?" Yohko asked.
The three looked a bit sheepish. Skuld then explained. "Well, you see for some strange reason Father told all of us to leave him in the hands of Ranma Wild for some reason. What Kami-sama says, goes."
Urd nodded. "Yeah. Even mom, Hild, told all of the demons that work under her that they can not help Neclord in anyway. It's like someone is making them leave them alone for some reason." She shrugged to indicate she has no idea.
Botan turned to the three goddesses. "Who in the world can make them do that?"
A cold voice spoke from the shadows, once that made them all stop cold, even the demons. "Simple. I told them to."
Everyone froze in fear at the voice. They turned to where it came and saw a man step out of the shadows. It is the only man that can instill fear in Ranma just by looking at him, Dark Hat. He was dressed in a long army-dark green overcoat that only accented his size and is well over 7 feet tall and towered above them all like a mountain. He had the proportionate bulk for his height that they could tell was all muscle. A thick utility belt is wrapped around his waist and though they didn't see any weapons on him they could feel the violence and darkness radiating off of him in invisible waves. They couldn't see his face, not that they wanted too because of the faceless white mask he wore. They could only make out his cold black eyes from the slits of the eyeholes of the mask. The eyes seemed to look into their very souls looking for what made them tick just so that he could break them that much easier. He also wore a pitch black top hat that cast a shadow over his mask that made him seem even taller then he already was.
They can all feel the waves of shear power coming off of him. They never felt so much power before all coming from just one person. All of the demon hunters were trembling, feeling the dark aura around him and they all knew that he could kill them all in a heartbeat without even trying. No enemy they had ever fought or met even came anywhere close to the sheer power they're all now feeling coming from their visitor. And he hasn't even done anything yet.
Even the three goddesses in the room are trembling because they knew full well who he is and what he can do to them if they angered him even in the slightest. They all clearly remember what happened when Loki tried to play a trick on him the last time they saw him. He's the reason why they need to find a replacement for the job of God of Trickery now. They still can remember the bloody screams that rang threw out the havens. And after words they never did find the complete body of Loki.
'Not even a Super S Class Demon has that much power,' Koenma thought to himself with a shiver. He felt like soiling his pants. Then looking over to the three Goddesses that are with him he could tell that all three knew him. "Who are you?" he asked the man in the trench coat and mask.
A voice colder than anything they have ever heard answered his question. "I am called Dark Hat. It was, I who ordered that Ranma and Neclord be left alone. I trust that the orders are being followed, correct?" He directed his question to Urd and Skuld. The two nodded quickly, not wanting to anger him.
"Um, Mr. Dark Hat, what are you doing here?" Belldandy asked, trembling in fear. She had only met him once, but once was enough to know that she never wants to see him ever again. She could feel that he hates gods as much as he does demons. She had tried being nice to him, but even before she had even made two steps he turned his gaze to hers. Their eyes met and she froze as she saw the cold glare that promised that he would kill her if she even said a word to him. That was the only time in her life since the war with the demons that she felt true fear for her own being. She knew there's nothing she could do to stop him from killing her if she even so much as irritated him.
No, what she's feeling isn't the same kind of fear she felt back then. It's a far deeper kind of fear. The same kind of fear that made small children scared of the dark. It's the fear of the unknown. As long as she could remember she couldn't find any information on the Hats on anything that her Father allowed her to know. There's something about the Hats that made her fear them because unlike gods and demons they're not connected at all with ANY of the Yggdrasils, the central computers, of ANY of the multiverses out there. Somehow they exist without its support. When she asked her Father why all he did is shake his head and told her to leave it alone.
"Ranma is currently engaged to my sister Fight Hat who is also in this world with my other sister Mind Hat. I expect all of you to leave them alone," Dark Hat said in the type of voice that ordered no arguments. No one dared to.
"Who are you really?" Hiei asked in his usual tone, but then froze with fear when Dark Hat turned his sights on him. He's tough, he's strong, and he's smart enough to recognize true power and be respectful of it.
Kurama gathered his courage and asked a question he's wanted to ask since the man introduced himself. "Are…are you one of the Hats the oldest whose powers of even just one of you is even greater than those of Kami and Hild combined? And that once you kill a god or a demon they're gone forever?"
"Yes, he is," Urd said, hugging herself as she felt fear that she had never felt before. All the tales she has heard about them are true, especially effects the oldest of the Hats has on all Gods and Demons alike. She can see Tora the demon cat-creature backed up into the corner like a scared kitten. It's all she could do to stop herself from running away. The seven Hats siblings are very well respected in all realms, the oldest Hat especially as he's the strongest one of all.
Dark looked around at the faces of the others, making them shiver when his gaze passes over them. "Perhaps I should tell you a bit about myself first. You see unlike these gods and demons that you're all are used to we Hat's turn mortal once in awhile so that we know what you mortal live through under the rule of gods and demons. Unlike my other siblings I maintain a link to my other self so that I have a fail-safe plan if any gods or demons get any ideas. THIS is my MORTAL body that is far weaker then my other body." They can't see pass the mask, but they can tell he's smirking.
Skuld got mad at the accusation that gods would try something like killing him. "Hold it! You think we gods could do something that underhanded?" Then she felt all the blood drain away from her face as he turns to face her, meeting his cold dark eyes to hers. This is the first time she had met Dark Hat or any of the Hats and she hoped the last as she froze like a rabbit in the gun sight of a hunter.
He 'walked' to her so that he towered over the girl. Skuld whimpered curling up in her seat. "Child, you have no idea what you gods did to my family long ago. Thanks to your kind as well as the demons there are only seven of us Hats left after creating the final evil. But also thanks to that we Hats can kill any god or demon we like since you are the ones that brought doom to the entire multiverses. Don't EVER raise your voice to me, understand?" She nodded very much like Soun Tendo does.
"What did they do?" Azusa asked, wondering what kind of evil that the gods and demons had made together and hoping he won't get mad at her for asking.
To Azusa's great relief he doesn't. "They are the ones that created 'Nightmaris', whose name is where we get the word Nightmare from and where aunty Lord of Nightmares got her title from. And to be something where we get the word Nightmare from tells how powerful he is." (1)
Everyone started to mouth out 'aunty' when they saw him flex his hand. They closed their mouths fast.
"You mean that grandmother got her name from him?" Urd asked, knowing that her parent's mother isn't someone to be made fun of. As none of her children or any of their descendents can never over come her in power as she's the one the gives them their power. But if grandma is just his aunt then that means he's far stronger then he let's on as he has no limits to his power. She had heard tales of Nightmaris before, but every time that she brought it up to her father he just gave her the silent treatment. So did her mom.
"You mean that we're the ones that…" Belldandy couldn't finish as it dawned on her that her kind and their counterparts are the ones that created the final evil that all the gods and demons in all the multiverse are preparing to fight at 'Ragnarok' or the 'Twilight of the Gods'.
Dark nodded. "Yes. The being that all of you gods as well as demons threw out of the multiverse are preparing to fight is the very one that was created by them out of jealousy and fear. Unlike the last time when he finally breaks out of that world that we Hats trapped him in only after paying a heavy cost YOU will be on your own. You will not receive any help from my family not again. I will also order Ranma and any nieces and nephews I gain from my sister's and his marriage to not participate either."
Kuwabara asked him with a bit of fear in his voice, "You mean there's someone that bad out there?"
"Yes. It took all of us Hats just to trap him while the gods and demons ran away with their tails between their legs," Dark Hat said. "You see the only one that was left out of all the Hats that fought him to trap him…is me. My other siblings were too young at that time to fight back then and my younger sister whose the second oldest stayed behind to protect them. Considering how many of us Hats there were back then it proves how powerful he is, especially if you consider I was the tenth strongest out of my family back then of the group that fought him back then. I was still the oldest of my family but there were some of my younger siblings that were far stronger then I was before I had to get stronger then I was before to become the strongest of all the hats ever." That statement shook them to their core.
"Wait. Let's get back to the main point. Why won't you let us fight Neclord?" Kurama said, seeing that they're way out of the main point to this meeting.
Dark turned his cold eyes to him. "Simple. It's a test for Ranma to see how strong of a bond that he has with his friends. It is also intended to get my sister and him closer and possibly increase our family's numbers even more."
"But all those people that are being killed by him and his enforcers along with those monsters he needs help!" Yusuke shouted. Dark Hat merely 'looked' at him and he shut up quickly. The finger that's pointing at him might have had something to do with it. The glowing dark point at the tip of his fingertip had nothing to do with it of course. What's that stain at the seat of his pants?
Mosquiton said tentatively and cautiously, "Even you can see that they need all the help they can get. Why not let us help him?"
Dark lowered his finger and looked at the Mosquiton. "Don't worry about that. He has all the help he needs to fight him." Dark Hat said. He then turned his gaze to Koenma. "The Spirit World is staying out of it as well. I made a deal with Koenma's father."
"What did you do for him?" Koenma asked, knowing that the only reason that Dark Hat isn't looking down at him like he does the goddesses is that he's from the Spirit World. It has a different branch of the gods and demons since his father isn't really a god or a demon to begin with.
"You know how that the Spirit World only controlled half of one of the realms of the Demon World. Well, I just finish up cleaning up the realms that I conquered and handling all of the Super S to the A class demons in the lower levels, leaving only the lowest of the B class demons left in the lower realms, giving the Spirit World the complete control of half of the demon realms now," Dark Hat said, shocking everyone in the room. The Norn sisters couldn't believe that he's able to give the Spirit World complete control of half of the Demon World.
"Wait. When did you get started?" Ushio asked, still in shock.
"This morning at 6 AM sharp," Dark Hat said, shocking everyone yet again.
"Wait. It's just one in the afternoon when we all got here. That means that you…" Madoka began starting to grasp who and what they're dealing with here. If he can conquer half of the demon world in such a short time then they have no chance at fighting him.
"Yes. I know I should have finishes up earlier, but I wanted to make sure that I had gotten all of the upper class of demons and made sure that the demon forces are too weak to fight off the Spirit World army any time soon in the next millennium or two give or take." Everyone paled. He could have finished earlier if he wanted to but just wanted to make sure he did the job right! Then he turned, looking at the open front door of the building. "Isn't that right, Mara? Come inside, now. I already know that you were sent by Hild to keep an eye on me."
Stepping inside the building is the first class demoness Mara who is also Urd's half sister. She's shaking like a leaf as she saw first hand how he dealt with the demons in the demon world. Why her mom sent her to this death trap she doesn't know. She'd rather be dead than face Dark Hat any day.
"Is what he said true?" Urd asked her sister. The two are way too scared to start up their usual bickering.
Mara nodded with a haunted look in her eyes. "Yes. You won't believe the paper work and the chaos he made after destroying most of the demon world. Most of the higher level demons that he didn't kill ran to hell to escape him because he said any attempts to retake the lost realms he would come back and kill what's left of them." Dark nodded to indicate his intentions are true.
"Mara, it's been awhile," Tora said to the demoness. "How bad is it in the Demon World now?"
She still had that look in her eyes. "Well, there are more demons in the human world now than there are in the realms that the Spirit World has control now and that's counting them all. The ones that are left had either ran to hide in the lower levels or went to Hell to live there. There's very little room for anymore demons there now."
"A deal is a deal," Dark Hat intoned. "King Emma and all those that are connected with him will stay out of Shibuya unless I say otherwise or they are asked to help by Ranma himself. I have already made it very clear to Kami and Hild that I won't look kindly on either of them in helping out with either side. Besides, it won't be the first time that I have killed a counterpart of theirs in one of the other worlds."
Yusuke stood up angrily. "There's no way I'm going to stand by and let that Neclord kill anymore people!" he shouted at Dark Hat.
Dark turned to him. "I will only let you fight if you can beat me," Dark Hat said in a calm voice that made everyone uneasy. Yusuke felt overwhelming fear for a second, but then gathered his remaining courage and was about to charge him.
"Yusuke, stop!" Genkai shouted to him before he gets himself killed. "Don't you even try to fight him! There's no way you can even hope to win against someone like him!"
Dark crossed his arms. "Listen to her. What she says is true. I am way out of your power level and I see no reason to fight you."
"Are you saying that I'm weak?" Yusuke shouted, his anger making him ignore the thousand decibel warnings going off in his head to NOT get this guy mad.
"No. You are strong, but not strong enough to face me without losing badly. Even if I am at my worse day and you at your best you cannot win. I will say this, learn to fight when you need to and don't when it's clear that there's no chance of winning," Dark Hat said as he began walking out of the dojo. Kuwabara had to hold back Yusuke who's trying to get at Dark Hat.
Madoka stopped him with a question. "Then who is going to help Ranma to fight Neclord then?"
Dark stopped at the door and addressed them without turning. "He has my sisters and his other friends. Sakura Shinguuji, Sumire Kanzaki, Maria Tachibana, Kohran Ri, Kanna Kirishima, Orihime Soletta, Lachette Altair, Iris and Reni Wild will also give him and his friends the support they need."
Incredulous expressions came to the faces of the Demon Hunters. "What?" Yohko shouted. "Those girls are just amateurs! They have no experience whatsoever! They never even fought a ghost before, much less a demon!"
Madoka contemplated about the names, and then addressed her granddaughter. "True, but only because their grandparents were the best demon hunter team I had ever saw. They cleaned up their area so well that they left none for their descendants to battle."
Dark nodded at her statement. "Yes, they are. Their granddaughters are stronger than they were in their prime. All they needed to bring it out is a leader and they found it in Ranma. He is already the leader of his group of friends. Another group shouldn't be too hard for him to handle."
Belldandy then asked a question while refusing to even look at him. "If you have the power to cross into this world and back why don't you just put everyone back to the other world?"
Again they can tell he's smirking behind his mask. "Simple. They are here to learn how to stand on their own feet and how to work as a team as well. Besides, my sister and future brother-in-law used this time to get closer to each other. What makes my sisters happy is fine by me." He stepped out and is engulfed in the shadow of a tree. He just seemed to 'melt' into the shadow.
Everyone felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off their bodies as they saw him leave. They let out the breath that they didn't know they were holding. But then Yohko and Azusa thought of something.
"THOSE GIRLS ARE GOING TO BE LEAD BY THAT 'HUNK' RANMA WILD! NO FAIR!" Madoka groaned as everyone else got sweatdrops.
Then a piece of information finally filtered into their minds. All at once they all shouted, "Iris and Reni WILD!"
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In the Suikoden World -
"Wow. Dark doesn't beat around the bush does he?" Leknaat ask to the blue winged cat.
"Yup. He's always been that way ever since I've known him. His siblings told me he's been like that even before Nightmaris came to be. Not someone you would like to be mad at you for anything. Oh, and yes, he knows that we're watching. Whatever you do don't get him mad at you, or worse, irritated the only one that can and gets away with it is Magic Hat since she's so cute."
Leknaat nodded at that.
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Back to Ranma's world -
"…What a mess!"
In front of Ranma and his group is the police station that's been attacked just a few short hours ago. It's near dawn and they all headed to the station to drop off the bikers first. Currently there are police, news crews, construction people and bystanders looking at the devastation. Ranma held the hands of his two daughters while Yun is hugging one of his legs as they looked around. Ranma's group looked at the scene with experienced eyes as they took in the details while Sakura's group is being taught how to do the same. Tina approached one of the officers trying to control the crowd as the others stood back to keep out of site of the reporters.
"What happened here?"
The man is about to shout at her to step back when one of the female officers recognized her. "Wait!" She ran up her. "You're one of Ranma's bodyguards aren't you?"
Tina nodded. "Yeah. What happened here?"
She sighed tiredly. "We were attacked last night by a whole bunch of monsters again." She then tells the whole story to her. Tina thanks her and goes off to tell the others.
She walked up to Ranma with an uncertain expression. "It's not pretty. Do you want to know?"
He didn't like her expression one bit, "…Yeah, but not here. Let's drop off these guys first." He indicated the bikers.
Ranma and company returned to the temple after dropping off the bikers at another police station and dropping off Shiori at her house. The police were ecstatic at arresting the bikers. It seems they've been on the wanted list for a very long time. The police wanted Ranma's group to stay and talk with them, possibly even convince him and his group to join the force, but Ranma and the others insisted that they had to go. In return the police insisted that they take the reward money. The Gunsmith Cats and Ms. Hinako also went back to their homes.
When they got back to the temple Ranko went to check on her garden, Kodachi on her chemicals and pet, and Chris on her goldfishes while Ranma and the others brought Sakura's group down to Molly's lab. Well, they went down there after they met Landis. They had jumped him before the others could stop them. They thought he was a monster that came to kill Ranma and the others. Ranma's group had to physically restrain them before they would calm down. Then Ranma gave them a serious talking to about being too trigger-happy. They were soooo embarrassed!
After the talk and an apology to Landis the group went through what Shiori had to go through. Everything is explained to them while Jones and Piccolo are updated as well. Coming from another world, Neclord and the monsters, their magic, Ranma's past, all of it had been told to them. They took it pretty well, only staying in shock for about an hour. Afterwards Sakura's group found futons and places to sleep for the night around the temple. They would buy the house next door tomorrow as well as notify their families where they are.
Oh course they went to sleep AFTER the lengthy battle of who would sleep where, where being Ranma's room and even his bed much to his annoyance. The Sakura girls claimed that it's only for one night and also so they can get to know their new commander better while the girlfriends argued no way are they letting them stay. Ranma had no problems with his girlfriends, his daughters or his best friend Sakura staying, but what's up with the others?
Of course he became even more annoyed when Landis suggested EVERYONE sleep in his room. Ranma didn't let him get away with that suggestion. Imagine this: an empty, spacious room, Landis, and a very hungry alligator. Landis was NOT happy at having to sleep clinging to the ceiling.
It finally ended when Ranma made his decision known. He allowed them all to stay in his room. First come first serve basis.
Then while they were fighting he went to sleep in another room.
The following two weeks were hectic as most of the schools are closed down because of fear of a monster attack happening as well as most large stores closing down for a while. Ranma and the others decided to just wait and see what the cops found out before making their move.
There had been a few "visitors" from his old life and a couple of new people. Nobody special like the Tendos, but it got Ranma worried that his life is going to continue from his old one. Things like challengers coming, weird people coming to kill him or marry him or something. Thankfully only one other fiancée had found him. She got lucky when she recognized him on TV. Thankfully she didn't want the engagement either (she had a boyfriend already) so they broke it off.
Some of them he didn't mind visiting like Kogane the ghost girl. However, she could have appeared without scaring him to death. Did she HAVE to appear behind him chanting that creepy handball song of hers? Unlike before she can stay as long as she likes so she comes and goes whenever she feels like it.
Others, though, he could do without. There's Kinnosuke Kasha-O. Before the guy could say one word he punted him to who knows where. (A)
Ayane, Kasumi's sister, coming over to try to kill his girlfriend also comes to mind.
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Flashback to when Ayane came over to 'visit' -
"HIYAH!"
Kasumi barely dodged out of the way as a foot impacted the spot where she stood just a millisecond ago. Everyone looked up at the yell. They were expecting it to be for Ranma. Much to their surprise the intruder had been headed for Kasumi.
The runaway ninja looked up at who had been trying to kill her, knowing already whom it is. "Hello, Ayane."
The light purple haired girl with the skin-tight violet modified kimono stood up. "Hello, sister." The last word she said had more venom in it than a hundred snakes.
Kasumi nodded at her with a serious expression. "I guess you're here to kill me."
Ayane didn't like the attitude with which her sister is treating this situation. Normally when they meet she tries to convince her to let her go. Now, however, she looks so serious, so different. She's changed. "Yes. So, shall we?"
Kasumi's only answer is to nod.
Everyone understood that this is a battle they mustn't interfere in and stood back. The two sisters took up stances a few feet from each other. At an unseen signal the two clashed.
At first it seemed evenly matched. While Kasumi has finesse and grace Ayane possessed speed and a chaotic way of fighting that's meant to confuse. While their style is the same the two fight using moves that are a bit different from each other.
Soon Ayane gains the upper hand. Kasumi is tired from a day's worth of training while her sister is still fresh. Soon she's seeing stars as yet again Ayane throws her.
Ayane snorted in disgust. "Hmph. Truly pathetic sister. You've grown soft."
Kasumi shook her head and stood up. "I guess I shouldn't go easy on you even if you are my sister."
Ayane's left eye twitched. "Even if you did I can tell this is the time that I will defeat you once and for all. Die!" She charged, thinking that Kasumi is too tired to block her blow.
However, instead of blocking the punch Kasumi intercepted her punch and threw her up in the air. Ayane, thinking that she'll just land on her feet adjusted herself to do so. Imagine her surprise when she sees Kasumi just an arm's length away.
That's when she learned that her sister has been training in another style, one that focuses on midair combat. Ayane, not having any experience in this, is pummeled in mere seconds.
When they landed Ayane is lying on the ground, moaning. She looked up at Kasumi who is looking at her with pitying eyes. "I'm sorry sister, but I cannot let you kill me. I have a future now." Thinking that the fight is over Kasumi turns around and heads back to the temple where the others are waiting.
Ayane's not about to let her get away with this. She's lost way too many times to be beaten yet again! She takes a shiruken out of her kimono and throws it at the runaway ninja's back.
Everyone saw the projectile heading towards Kasumi and yells at her to dodge. She's about to do so when she finds that it's not necessary.
Ranma is standing just a few feet away from her with the shiruken in his hand. He doesn't look one bit happy. He approaches the girl that's standing up and lifts her by her kimono.
"Listen up Ayane. No one tries to kill my girl without going through me first, got it."
Ayane chuckled mirthlessly. "So, sister, you got yourself a boyfriend. Who are you so that I may know the name of the person I have to kill for siding with a runaway with a marked head."
Ranma frowned. "People know me as Ranma Wild. But you and your brother should know me as Ranma Saotome, Aya-chan."
In the great tradition of all Nerimians, former and otherwise, he punts her away.
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Far from the temple-
Ayane is nursing her wounds by a canal. Fortunately she had landed on the water. "That fool! Who does he think he is! I'll kill him and his little girlfriend too!"
As she's tying a bandage on her arm where a particularly hard strike hit her she thought of what Kasumi's protector had said. 'Ranma Saotome. Who the hell is that?'
She finishes tying it and moves to put back on her clothes, not caring one bit for the perverts who had seen her naked. Of course she killed them before leaving the area. 'I don't know anyone by that name. What did he mean that Hayate and I know him as that. I know who Ranma Wild is, I just didn't recognize him at first, but why would he give me a different name?'
As she's walking back to the compound she thought some more about it. 'Aya-chan? Oooohhh! I hate it when someone calls me that! There's only one person that ever called me that and it's….' Her eyes widened and words that haven't been uttered by her lips in years broke through the air.
"RANMA NO BAKA!"
End Flash back--------------------------
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In the U.S. -
In New Jersey underneath a government building hides a secret, an agency that very few know about. The B.P.R.D. stood for Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. In the meeting room Dr. Tom Manning head of the FBI is meeting with the board made up of all those who needed to be there. Agent John Myers is a young man that started working in the B.P.R.D about two years ago and is currently the keeper of their most troublesome agent, a six-foot tall red skinned guy named Hellboy who is at the meeting as well. Along with the two of them is the rest of his team. Liz Sherman, a young woman with the ability of fire, and Abe Sapien, a cross between a fish and a man that can tell the past just by touching something.
"I'm sure that all of you have seen the news reports coming from Japan, right?" Manning asked the people in the meeting room.
Hellboy is currently smoking a cigar as he looked nonchalant. "Yeah. Look's like someone has been busy bringing game monsters to life there." He had played the Resident Evil games a few times and watched the two movies that came out. What else is he supposed to do being locked up underground all the time?
Manning didn't like it when Hellboy doesn't take things seriously, but it'll be suicide to try to stop him. "Yes, but that's not what we're here for. It turns out that someone in Japan has restarted the Dark Hunters there and told the armed forces of Japan about it."
"Dark Hunters?" Myers asked, not knowing what Manning is talking about.
Hellboy's girlfriend, Liz, spoke to him. "The Dark Hunters are the monster hunters that came before us."
Abe added in, "Teddy Roosevelt started the organization after he killed a werewolf in a hunting trip. They handled the monsters that plagued the backwoods of our country and worked closely with the other monster hunters in other countries as well, but then gave way to us when Franklin Roosevelt created our agency."
Hellboy puffed out a ring of smoke. "Yeah. Dad told me about them and about that guy that goes by the name of Stranger that was their best hunter."
Manning looked directly at the demon. "Yes, and it turns out that the person that told the Japanese government about the dark hunters is an old friend of your late father, Indiana Jones."
The hornless guy chuckled. "Dr. Jones? I haven't seen him in years. What's that old man doing this time?"
"Dr. Jones knows about us?" Myers asked.
Abe nodded his hairless head. "Oh yes. He has helped both agencies whenever he can for many years now. He never joined either one though."
Manning cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "It turns out that his great-grandson Ranma Saotome has taken his grandfather's name of Jones and is the head of their organization. His grandson knows this vampire crime lord that has created the monsters in Japan. I want all of you to get as much information about him and his friends as you can is that understood?"
Before anyone can say anything else a small metal ball came hovering into the room. It just came out of thin air! It floated to the middle of the table they're all sitting at and a cube of light appeared on top of it. Hellboy is about to destroy it using his gun when an image of Dr. Jones appeared on all four sides.
The old man on the screen smirked at the red skinned demon. "Hello Hellboy. It's been awhile. What did I tell you about being too trigger happy?"
Hellboy shook his head in mirth and put his gun away. "It's been long, old man. What do you want this time?"
Manning's eyes hadn't stopped bulging out of their sockets yet, either from the ball or whom he's seeing on the screen. "Jones? Is that you?"
The old man's image seemed to focus on Manning. "Yes. I'm here to talk about my bringing back the Dark Hunters back to life. This little invention is thanks to the help of Mind, who is my grandson's fiancée's sister, so you don't need to gawk at it." Manning looked embarrassed as he regained his composure.
"Sir, why did you tell the Japanese about the Dark Hunters?" he asked while everyone mouthed the strange name 'Mind'.
Jones shook his head. "Sorry, but the real reason my grandson knows Neclord is too complex to tell them the real reason. While I was thinking of what to tell them I remembered the Dark Hunters. I then had my grandson use it as a cover story. He knows the actual history, but doesn't know that it was an actual organization. He doesn't know about your organization either."
"Then what's the real reason then?" Abe asked.
Jones shook his head again. "Sorry, but I can't tell you right now. Once my grandson handles Neclord I'll let you know."
"Wait a moment sir. What the hell is going on in Japan?" Manning asked hurriedly.
"Sorry, but you guys have to watch on the side lines for now. My grandson and his friends will be able to handle the mess we got here. Oh, and Liz?" Said girl looked at the image, wondering how he knows of her. She's never met him before. "You should know we have our own 'Firestarter'. My grandson found and befriended her a few days ago. She's quite smitten with him." The old man chuckled as Liz boggled that there's another firestarter. "Over and out." Jones' image disappeared and the metal orb as well.
Hellboy stood up and said over his shoulder as he walked out of the room, "If dad's old friend says that his group can handle they can handle it."
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Back in Japan-
The inn girls had settled into their new home quite nicely. It's a four-story home surrounded by a concrete wall for privacy. While not as big as the inn the house is pretty nice. Molly had tunneled her way to their basement so that the two groups, or family being the more appropriate word due to that Reni and Iris being Ranma's daughters, wouldn't have to go through the reporters that are camped outside the front of the temple to visit each other. Most of them had left to cover the police station battle, but there are still some outside waiting around. They got curious when they saw Ranma and his two daughters playing once.
Ranma, his two new daughters and Yun are getting to know each other more and progress is going nicely. The four are getting very attached to one another as family. Ranma is also living up to the promise he made in the other world about giving his children the life he never had. While they are still being trained to be better demon hunters Ranma always plays with them and had Ms. Hinako help him give them an education. He always tries to make things fun for his daughters and sister. He's no expert at being a father, but he's learning.
The two girls are still staying with Sakura and the others so that the rest of the city wouldn't know that Ranma has two daughters now, but they do spend most of the day at the temple like everyone else. It's good that most of the reporters are too busy with the police station attack to really pay attention to Ranma for awhile at least. This bode well for Ranma and the others since it's now easier for them to get outside and walk around without being mobbed.
The girls have been gearing up on their skills since they needed to be ready to fight Neclord's monsters that had attacked the city a couple of days ago. They have all been working on their weaponry to upgrade them to be able to take out the monsters that the officer had told Tina about. It's a bit frightening how dedicated they are to improving themselves for the impending fight.
Sakura sword had been heavily damaged during the island attack. Jones took the sword to Jura and had her fix it up. She heated up the sword up to near its melting point then dunked it into ice-cold water. She then hammered it to make it sharper and stronger than before. When she finished Sakura had Molly use a laser to sharpen the blade to the microscopic level of sharpness, (2) then further hardened with chemicals so that it'll be able to withstand the force needed to cut through the bodies of the monsters. Now her katana rivals Ranmas.
Kohran and Mind are working together to create more powerful gadgets for use in the big battle. They had also gotten all of the kinks out of Kohran's energy cannon. Together they created a shield to be used with the cannon that it's able to absorb the energy blast of an attacking opponent, amplify it and send it back. . They even created a helmet that can read the power level of opponents to be able to tell how strong they are. Like the scoters that are used in the 'Dragonball Z' shows. It's really funny that Kohran can be considered the assistant while Mind is the scientist since its Molly that's teaching Kohran a thing or two.
Maria used Molly's lab as well to fine-tune her gun and bullets. With a little help from the Gunsmith Cats she had enhanced her gun to be able to withstand the new powerful ammo that she had created. The bullets she made are able to kill the monsters that Neclord made. She has created several different types. The Armor-Piercing (AP) rounds she made are able to shoot through a tank so theoretically they should be able to get through the thick hides of monsters. She also created a few energy shells that have compressed magic inside of them that range from Darkness to Water magic courtesy of Piccolo and the help of Molly. Like the Caster Gun in 'Outlaw Star'. So far the ammo that she has created are way more powerful than ones that most armed forces has.
Kanna has been training with the weighted clothes that Ranma and the other fighters have been wearing while they train. She knew she has to get stronger since the big biker she fought had been a lot stronger than her and she doesn't want to feel so weak ever again. She's been training with Ranko and Tina and sometimes Ranma when he's not dealing with the daily challenger, visitor or the lone fiancée. Molly and Kohran made fighting gauntlets for her to use as well. The gauntlets have sharp spikes on the knuckles to add more damage and they're designed to be able to grab onto energy attacks, shape it into a ball and throw it back.
Red Bean and Green Tea is also going through the same training as Kanna is going threw. Both of the twins are now armed with shields that are able to withstand most energy and direct attacks. When one of them defends with her shield the other one attacks. They're quite a team.
Sumire has been learning to better herself in fighting and her personality. Her naginata had been made stronger thanks to Jura who melted it down and mixed it with some other metals to become stronger. The twins are also teaching her how to use her weapon more efficiently. She and Sakura have been reading the scrolls that Ranma's great-grandmother passed down to him. She had taken a katana as her backup weapon just in case (never mind that Sakura and Orihime were soooo pissed at her for doing so). They wanted to learn the Splitting Heaven technique, but Ranma said they needed to be able to control their ki before they can use it AND it's unsafe to use until he can master it himself and teach it to them. The three of them are getting the hang of the sword style and can use the lower levels of the scroll sword moves. For controlling her ego there's no better teacher than Ranma who once had the ego the size of Japan.
Lachette had created special knives for taking out different kinds of monsters. Besides the combat knives her throwing blades have been enhanced to be poison, bomb, and elemental knives courtesy of Piccolo and Molly. The bomb knives, once armed, will explode after embedding itself into a target. The poison knives will inject a lethal poison once it hits a target. The large combat knives had been made by Jura and Molly the same way Sakura's katana had been. With the hidden weapons style that she learned from Ranma she's able to carry all of her knives instead of having to choose a select few like she had to before. She's been learning to fight and moves like a ninja from the household ninjas since she's more of a silent attacker than an upfront fighter. She even learned how to use the Umi-Sen-Ken to be able to move around without being seen.
Reni is learning better swordplay thanks to her new papa and mama (Chris much to her delight). Besides the new rapier she got remade from Jura she also has a modified lance to use as a secondary weapon. The lance's blade is a solid chunk of titanium steel alloy and is shaped like a drill and is able to spin like a drill too thanks to Mind who had made it. The hand guard has a gatling-gun built into it as well. It lets her take out long ranged attackers and give the others cover fire when they're in trouble. (3) She's also learning to be able to use her ki to power up her attacks as well as channel her ki through her weapons for a charge blast. She's no master at it yet, but she's learning.
Orihime has been learning a lot of fire magic thanks to Piccolo. The Rage Rune that he had embedded into her hand gave her more control of her fire ability than ever before. The rune also gave her more power to her fireballs as well. Her chains are in reserve now and she's learning how to use whips that she had been given along with a Thunder Rune for the electric powered whips. Her teacher in how to use the whips is of course Dr. Jones. She's learning along with Ranko who's using Jones' old whip that he had given her. It was so beaten up that one of Jura's friends had to fix it up first before Molly could strengthen it like the other weapons. Kodachi is also training them since the whip and ribbon are close to one another. Mind had also made her a grappling hook like the hookshot in the Zelda games so that she'll be able to climb up to high places and rain down fire on her opponents.
Iris has been hanging around with Piccolo to learn better control of her telekenetic powers. Piccolo had some knowledge on psychic powers that he wouldn't tell them the story of how he knew. Iris has never been happier ever since she gained a new father. Her family has gotten a lot bigger and she's been opening up more to others as she found a family like the one she had so long ago, only bigger. Mind made a flying craft that shaped like a pod to fly Iris around in battle since her powers make her vulnerable to attack. (4)
Iris had also gotten into the habit of sleeping with her new papa at night. While Reni really does like her new father and is starting to love him as such but she's too old for that. Yeah, it did irk her a bit that her new younger sister is starting to have their father wrapped around her finger, but what can she do about it? This also meant that Tina, Ranko, Chris, Viki, Kodachi and Kasumi couldn't stay with Ranma as well since they do like to 'play' around with their fiancé/boyfriend at night. However, when Iris calls them mama, well…
There was a lot of squealing and hugging involved. Ranma became afraid that they would skip right to the wedding night and get to making their kids right then and there. It certainly didn't help when they gave him 'the look' whenever Iris or Reni called them mama. At least Iris became happy when one of her 'mothers' started sleeping with her and her papa at night with her right in the middle like her real mother and father used to do.
Ranma's fiancée/girlfriends didn't like the way he's been hanging around with Sakura and the other girls. Their wonderful, naïve boyfriend still sees them as his friends. However, they know what some of have in mind for him. While they feel no threat from Sakura, Kanna and Kohran Orihime and Lachette don't exactly hide well how infatuated they are with him. Maria is still an unknown due to her nature, but when she lights up when he's around they get really worried. Sumire even follows him around a lot since she 'needs help getting rid of her snotty, bratty personality', which of course he gladly helps her out with. They know better even if Ranma doesn't. Tensions are a bit high because of it except during practice when all thoughts of anything that doesn't involve turning Neclord in thousands of little pieces are forgotten.
Through this Ranma remained oblivious. They can't tell if he's really clueless about it or if he's using the "Kasumi Tendo Oblivious to Anything Bad"™ technique.
Ranma has been training to be able to face the monsters that Neclord has made. To help out with his training Mind made two bracelets that would restrain most of his power to the strength he had before he gained the Chaos Rune. Mind said that everyone in her family who fights wears a limiter to restrict their powers and make them stronger when they take it off. His fiancée's limiter is the chain-ball she wears on her ponytail. (5)
After learning of that the day became one of the worse days in his life. It means that when Ranma defeated her the first time they met she wasn't at her best. He challenged her again and he promised not to use his Chaos Rune or his special moves, only straight fighting. It would be too cheap of a match if he did so. She too promised not to use her own special techniques, whatever they may be. Neither of them wore their limiters.
He remained incapacitated for a day at Tofu's clinic. It hadn't been pretty. Tina proved that she's named 'Fight Hat' for a reason.
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A brutal fight later-
Tofu walked into the room Ranma is staying in with a tray of food in his hands. He looked at the young man still in a daze on the bed. He's been like that for hours now, just staring at nothing in particular. Nothing they did could get him out of it. A couple of times Tina would talk to him and tell him that it didn't matter and they are still engaged. The first time he looked up at her with joy and relief on his face, and then it faded to sheer sorrow. He's been like that ever since. His wounds physically had healed up quickly, but emotionally they had not.
"Here you go Ranma, a nice meal cooked by my wife." He had hoped that Kasumi's cooking would get him out of it like it does in the past. Instead it seemed to make him sadder. Then he realized that he had said 'wife' and it clearly upset him. He winced, but then he had a look of determination on his face and he put the tray in front of the young man. He then proceeded to force him to eat by using various pressure points. At the end there's no change at all.
Tofu stood up and shook his head. Sometimes even he's boggled at the tempest that is Ranma. He can be all happy go lucky at one point, serious at the next, nice and sweet afterwards, and then he mimics Ryoga pretty well. He's taking this very hard. He knows he'll be fine later on, especially since he still has Ranko, Viki, Kodachi, Chris and Kasumi, but loosing even one of them hits him badly. He really, really cares for them.
Kasumi (Ono), Nabiki and Tina all then entered the room. Ranma turned to look at them and the same sorrowful look passed over his face before going back to looking out the window. Tina looked saddened at it, but then she had a look of determination on her face. She nodded to the two women and the doctor and walked out of the room. Kasumi then showed she had a bundle on her arm and she walked to the bathroom while Tofu and Nabiki picked up Ranma's limp form. The two brought him to the shower as Kasumi brought out the clothes in the bag and left to deal with her patients. Tofu and Nabiki (blush) gave the un-protesting Ranma a bath and then put the garment on him.
Afterwards the three lead the dazed wild horse to another room in the clinic. They left him at the door and indicated for him to go in.
Finally, Ranma gained some sense of sentience as he stared at them questioningly. They indicated for him to go in again. He opens the door and finds the room to be very dark. Since the hallway is also dark for some reason (he's only now noticing) he can't see into the room. He can barely see the Onos and the lone Tendo who looks saddened. He's about to ask them what this is about when he felt someone shove him into the room and close the door.
He's about to turn around to ask them why when a voice spoke up from the darkness. "Hello, Ranma."
He's about to go into a stance when he notices his danger sense isn't going off. In fact he recognizes the voice. "Fight Hat?" he says in confusion and a bit of agony. He hears a match being lit.
His eyes widen as he registers what he's seeing. Tina is sitting down on the floor lighting a candle. While not an impressive thing what she's wearing and what's in front of her is. She's wearing a beautiful kimono while sitting in behind of a low table. She then takes a stick and lights the end of it. He notices that there are other candles around the room as she lights them from her sitting position. After she finished she puts the flame out and puts the stick away. She stares directly at him, waiting for his move.
He nervously sat down, his own kimono slightly getting in the way a bit. She then proceeds to do an intricate ceremony, one that involves a formal tea set. He swallows as he does his part of the ceremony, an engagement ceremony.
In the end she stares at him with a smile, the smile that he's fallen in love with over the months that he's known her. "According to the traditions of my family in order to be engaged to one of us we have to be defeated in combat or something else first and for us to admit our real names to them. In our first battle I said that if you defeated me I would tell you my name. The reason for this is because I never thought that you would actually beat me. I was overconfident, and I paid the price. In our second battle I won. You found out that I wasn't at my full strength for our first battle and had a match with me to make up for it. You, however, lost. Hence, I am no longer engaged to you. I'm sorry."
His eyes grew even more sorrowful. She didn't want to be with him. It had been a fluke the first time he won. She got stuck to him the same way Shampoo did. But why did she do this?
She continued. "However, between the first and second match I have gotten to know you well. We have talked, we have fought, and we have even dated and kissed. We have shared each other's secrets and dreams. We have gotten so close to one another that we cannot live without one another. How you acted when you lost the match to me is proof of that."
She reached over the table and took one of his hands. "That is why I had this ceremony with you. I love you Ranma, and I want to be married to you one day. Do you accept being my fiancé, and someday my husband?"
He didn't notice that he's crying tears of joy. He's too busy being on cloud nine to notice much except the beautiful woman holding his hand. He nodded his answer. "Yes, Tina. I love you and I want to be your husband and you be my wife one day." He jumped over the table and engulfed her in a hug that threatened to crush her. She too put her arms around him. The two shared a kiss that would have been perfect in the movies.
Loud clapping and whistles came from the door and the two turned to see the Onos, Ranma's daughters and sister all cheering for the two. The two newly engaged couple is smothered by everyone as they're congratulated in the form of a pileup.
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From then on when in training Tina would take off her limiter while Ranma would keep his on. That way he'll be pushed a lot more than he would without it and therefore become better for it. She's been pushing him a lot since then. Sometimes though she has the habit of stopping the training to smother him in kisses out of the blue. He can't tell whether it's annoying or not.
One thing does bother him though. She told him that she had NEVER seen any of her older siblings without their limiter on. It worries him to no end knowing since she says even though SHE had proposed to him that doesn't get him out of having to fight her siblings for the right to marry her. He just hopes that he'll be able to defeat the last three siblings, especially (shiver) Dark Hat.
However, the more current threat is Neclord and his monsters. If he or any of his group (Sakura's group is now part of them) fights them one on one it'll be a semi-fair fight. However, Neclord always seems to have new surprises every time he sends out his monsters.
Another worry comes from his past. He'll be dealing with the last of the Nerima Wrecking Crew. In fact pig boy arrived yesterday.
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The day before -
Sakura and the other girls had come over for lunch. In order to accommodate everyone they ate outside on a picnic table the guys had constructed. Everything is going fine until Mr. Green Turtle didn't think his steak was good enough and began chasing after Landis again. The high compound walls made sure that the reporters outside wouldn't see what's going on inside. Not that they want to when they recognized the now familiar sounds of an alligator looking for lunch. As they ran around the temple Landis knocked Iris and Yun into the pond. The chase ended when Ranko put a sleeping spell on Mr. Green Turtle and Kanna dragging him back into the water while everyone held Landis back from turning Kodachi's pet into a purse.
Seeing that Iris and Yun are all wet from their fall Ranma said they should take a bath before they eat. As they went upstairs they heard some shouting and the sounds of a rumble and a fight going on outside. They thought that Mr. Green Turtle had woken up and is making another try at Landis. Giggling, Iris and Yun undressed and are about to jump into the tub of warm water when something ran into the bathroom, a small black piglet wearing a yellow with black spots bandana around its neck. It jumped right into the tub. The two girls are about to peak at the little piglet to see what's wrong when a very naked and fuming Ryoga stood up.
"RANMA! FOR THE HELL YOU PUT ME THROUGH PREPARE TO DIE!"
Ryoga hasn't changed much except that his hair is longer now. It reaches to his shoulders this time. He's more muscular than before as well. However, the most noticeable change is that his battle aura is a lot stronger than before. The green aura radiated at least a foot from him.
He's about to jump out of the tub when he's met with an unexpected obstacle. The two girls screamed at the top of their lungs. Ryoga is about to bash them out of the way, his rage making him disregard that these two are young girls. He has had to keep his rage for Ranma bottled up for a year and he's not about to let the chance to let off that steam be denied.
Before he could backhand the two away Iris began glowing as she used her powers to blast Ryoga threw the bathroom wall. Then both ran out of the bathroom screaming all the way.
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A few minutes before the last scene –
"Do you think Akane-san would like this?"
Ryoga is looking at a small stuffed pig in his hands. It's practically an exact replica of his cursed form.
"Yes, yes. She'll like it," his companion said in exasperation. His other companion just grunted.
Ryoga and Akari have been dating for months now. They started going steady three months after Ranma disappeared. Their relationship had been pretty good for the first few months. However, she could never get him completely over Akane. Even now he's buying her souvenirs. It frustrated her to no end that he's still thinking of that psycho.
Yes, she thought of Akane as a psycho. The two of them had been okay friends while Ranma had still been around. However, after his disappearance there's hardly any time that she's not mad. At first Akari had tried to help the girl thinking that she misses Ranma. However, around the time her and Ryoga decided to go steady she found out Akane's true feelings.
Akane enjoys the attention. She loves the attention being the girl Ranma loved. Akari isn't sure, but she thought there might be love in there somewhere as well. However, after what he did to her the last night he was around she changed. She's a constant inferno, and always ready to beat someone to a pulp. Akari's efforts were for nothing and she moved on with her life.
She had gotten Ryoga to let go of Akane for a few months. No way is she going to be two-timed. The two enjoyed a few months of bliss with each other. They went out on dates, held hands, everything a couple should do. She even got him to stop fainting every time she even kissed him or walked in on her when she's dressing. He still had the magical habit of always being able to find her farm.
However, lately he's back to Akane this and Akane that. She's not sure what brought it on. All she knows is that he had visited her around the same time that he started on his Akane obsession again. After that he's back to buying her souvenirs and stuff. Sometimes she can still hear him curse Ranma for taking her away. She knows better since Ranma had been nice to her. He's the one that encouraged her to go after Ryoga, secretly of course so no one would know. However, a little before he disappeared he sent her a letter saying how utterly miserable he is and that he hoped that she and Ryoga aren't the same. Again he had encouraged their relationship.
She's not sure how to handle Ryoga being back on the Akane obsession. Ryoga still claims to love her. However, he says it less and less lately and it seems less sincere than before. She's torn up about this. She loves him so much, but she has her limits.
Katsunishiki walked behind the two of them. Of course he didn't care about anything except his master's happiness. He grunted in anger at the pig-cursed individual. He can sense that Ryoga is making his master unhappy and wants nothing more than to rip him apart. She gave up her farm so that she could live at his home for crying out loud! She had dedicated herself to becoming his wife, and to that end left her farm to the farm hands so she could live at his home and take care of it when he gets lost.
As the two passed by a temple they are puzzled by the people camped outside the walls. They're about to ask one of them what they're doing when they heard a struggle coming from inside.
"Oh come on Landis! Calm down!"
"I'm going to gut that damn alligator! You hear me! That's the last time that thing tries to eat me! Let me go Ranma!"
This of course set Ryoga off. "RAAANNNNMMMMAA!" He backhanded his girlfriend and her pig since the two were between him and the wall separating him from where he heard the voices. His vengeance had been waiting for more than a year now. Finally he can kill Ranma and get his revenge! The wall separating him and the pigtailed one crumbled to dust and Ryoga rushed in.
Everyone stared at the new hole and the person coming through it. Ranma, Kodachi, Ranko and Sasuke's eyes widened as they saw who went through it.
"RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!" Ryoga immediately went in swinging, trying to decapitate his hated enemy. Even with the new hairstyle and clothes and the fact that Ranma is now taller than him he can still recognize his most hated enemy.
Ranma dodged the attacks with ease. "Damn it pig-boy! Look at what you did to my wall!"
"SHUT UP RANMA! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO AKANE!"
"I didn't do anything to her that she didn't deserve!" Ranma punched the enraged boy hundreds of times in the gut. While it hurt a bit Ryoga's aura dampened the blows. The two fought for a few seconds before Ranma could get in a kick that sent Ryoga towards the pond. However, Ryoga still made a jump to try to kill the one who hurt Akane.
Ranma held up the pig by his bandanna. "Don't even try it. You could never beat me while in this form."
For once he used a part of his body that he rarely used, especially during fights, his brain. He jumped out of Ranma's grip and proceeded to look for some hot water. Lucky for him he found one.
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After Ryoga got blasted by Iris' attack -
Ryoga got up from the little girl's attack. Putting on his clothes on as fast as he can Ryoga ran downstairs to where he could hear one of the little girls calling for her papa. For once his 'blame Ranma' mind is right, concluding that one of the girl's father is Ranma. Ranma's going to pay for having a kid with anyone besides Akane! Of course he would have killed him if he DID have kids with Akane!
He arrived to the sight of Ranma gathering the two towel clad girls in a hug to soothe them. The two girls are crying hysterically, saying there's a pervert in the bathroom. Ryoga's about to deal out long-awaited punishment to Ranma, again ignoring the two girls he's trying to comfort, when he's suddenly blindsided. It HURT! He fell to the ground nursing one hell of a throbbing jaw. He writhed on the ground for a while trying to get his sore jaw working again.
He looked up after getting the pain to subside a bit and noticed that he's surrounded by a bunch of women. All are glaring at him so harshly that it pierced his rage-clouded mind.
"So, Ryoga, you finally found this place," Kodachi said to him with disgust in her voice.
He looked around at all the glaring faces, his rage taking a hike to be replaced by fear. Then he spotted a familiar one. "RANMA! DIE!" He lunged at Ranko.
However, the redhead just caught his fist. "WRONG, P-CHAN! Ranma's over there!" She pointed and Ryoga followed her finger to where Ranma has gotten his daughter and his little sister to stop crying handing them to the two ninjas to get them to safety and clothes. When Ranko pointed him out he's bringing in Akari's wakening form while all the others are either bringing in Katsunishiki or keeping the reporters away.
When he saw Ranma touching Akari he lost it again. "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!"
However, Tina's fist met his gut while Kasumi took out his legs from under him. Again he's down on the floor. He's about to get up when Sumire stomped down on a really sensitive part of every man's anatomy. He shrieked like a girl.
All the guys in the vicinity who heard it winced. Ranma tried to ignore it as he proceeded to revive Akari. "Hey, Akari. You okay?" He signaled for Edge to get a medical kit. The swordsman nodded and ran off to get it.
Akari woke up to a splitting headache. When her vision finally cleared she saw a face she hasn't seen in a long time. "Ranma? What happened?" She tried to sit up.
Ranma helped her balance herself. "I guess Ryoga got too excited to 'see' me again. How's your head?"
She moaned in pain. "It hurts. What happened to Ryoga?"
He just pointed to where Ryoga's finally recovering a bit. "See for yourself."
Back at the group of girls surrounding Ryoga things did not look good for the still in pain man. Viki looked absolutely livid as she stomped on his chest. "How dare you flash my daughter and my little sister in law! I'll make you pay for that!"
Ryoga's aura flared. So this is the one Ranma had a daughter with! Of course he didn't notice that the mother and daughter didn't look alike and the ages of the parents and children would have made such a thing impossible. The only thing important is that Ranma had slept with ANOTHER girl!
Kodachi's battle aura is raging as well. "I bet you also hit Akari didn't you! How could you hit your own girlfriend like that!"
Ryoga's voice sounded more like a girl's as he spoke. "It's Ranma's fault! If he hadn't been behind that wall I wouldn't have pushed her out of the way so I could kill him!" Absolutely the stupidest thing to say when said girl is within hearing vicinity.
Akari's battle aura flared. He cared more about killing Ranma than of her health! She stood up, her headache and other injuries forgotten. She strode up to Ryoga with battle aura at full blast even though she's not a martial artist herself.
"So it's more important to kill Ranma than me is it?" she screamed.
One must understand that when Ryoga's mad he tends to be like Genma when it comes to choosing his words, as in he usually uses the wrong ones. "Oh course! Nothing is more important than killing Ranma and making Akane happy! For the hell he put me and Akane through he will pay!"
Akari reached her limit at those words. She lifted him up by his shirt and put their faces only centimeters apart. "We're through Ryoga! Go back to your Akane for all I care!"
Ryoga's face turned disbelieving for a few moments, then turned absolutely hateful. "RANMA! HOW DARE YOU MAKE MY GIRLFRIEND BREAK UP WITH ME! PREPARE TO DIE!" He tried to get at the pigtailed man looking over Katsunishiki. However, Orihime's whip around his legs stopped him.
"Forget about blaming Ranma for this! You're going to get it from us now!" Maria screamed as she and the other girls closed in on Ryoga who's going to learn the true meaning of pain.
Ryoga is tough, especially after the Bakusai Tenketsu training. However, even he can't withstand the fury of a mob of girls, most with superhuman strength.
After the girls had finished beating him up Viki teleported Ryoga away to a far off land so he wouldn't be back anytime soon. No one flashes those she considers her daughters and gets away with it!
Akari huffed and puffed. While she's no fighter, letting her pigs do the fighting for her, she still knows how to kick and punch. However, beating her now ex-boyfriend took a lot out of her. Ranma approached her from behind. "Akari, you okay?"
Her answer came in a fierce hug as she cried her heart out at loosing her first love. Ranma froze for a second before realizing he has a distraught friend to take care of.
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Awhile later-
Akari again woke up to a splitting headache. She moaned a bit at the pain until he felt someone tap a point and it suddenly became manageable. She blinked her eyes until they focused and saw Ranma and an unknown man hovering over her.
"Ah, good. You're finally awake. How are you feeling?" Ranma asked.
She sat up with help from him. "I'll be okay. Where am I?"
Ranma helped steady her. "You're at my temple." Before she could ask Ranma said, "Don't worry about Katsunishiki. He's been bandaged up as well." He pointed to the giant pig resting on the floor. The pig squealed to show he's okay.
Akari smiled and petted its head as it came close to her bed. "That's good. Um, Ranma, do you think I can have something to eat? I'm starving for some reason."
Ranma nodded. "Sure. I'll be right back. Edge'll take care of you." He indicated the unknown man and left the room.
The two stayed in an uncomfortable silence until he broke it. "Um, how's your arm?"
She looked down and realized her arm has been expertly bound. "It's okay. Um, are you the one who bandaged me and Katsunishiki up?"
Edge nodded, suddenly feeling very shy for some reason. "Yes. I hope they're not too tight."
"No. It's okay. So, how did I end up here?"
Edge looked up at her, surprised. "You mean you don't remember?"
Akari shook her head. "Uh-uh. I can't remember…" Then it came back to her.
Edge looked at her worriedly as tears started streaming down her face. "Hey there. Are yo-oohmp!"
Akari had latched onto him as she cried her heart out again at Ryoga's betrayal of her love. Edge looked decidedly uncomfortable as she soaked his shirt with her tears. Katsunishiki tried to help his master out, but there's not much a pig could do without hands.
Finally, Edge just put his arms around her and whispered soothing words to her. It took quite a while for her to calm down, but calm down she did. She didn't even pass out this time.
Edge settled her back down to the bed and tried to think of what Ranma would do when confronted with something like this. He opted for lifting up her face with a finger on her chin and said, "Ryoga was nothing but a fool. I never met this Akane, but I can tell she's nothing compared to you. You are a beautiful young woman. It's his loss, not yours."
Akari blushed. A perfect stranger is complimenting her, yet he had been kind enough to help her when she felt at her lowest. "Thank you. Umm, you're Edge, right?" She gave him a small smile.
Edge gave one in return. "Yeah it's really nice to meet you." He held out his hand. She saw that he wants a handshake and took it.
At the door Ranma, Ranko, Kodachi and Sasuke smiled at the scene. They arrived when Akari had latched onto him. They were about to go in when Ranko stopped them and indicated for them to let Edge take care of it. They then watched the whole thing unfold. They're glad that Akari's not taking this too badly, and even made a new friend!
Ranma smiled and indicated for everyone to leave them alone. He instructed Katsunishiki to take the food into the room. He put the tray of food on the pig's head and walked away, knowing that Edge will keep Akari from going off the deep end. He can trust his friend to take care of his other friend.
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Next time- It what you all have been waiting for Ranma finally faces off with his parents in the next chapter! And it looks like Neclord is up to something too. And it looks like Happosai finally gets what's coming to him in part 2 of Gathering Storm!
Author's Notes -
1 – This guy is the main villain in my other story that I stopped working on for lack of reviews.
2 – Think of the Assassin in Batman Beyond whose sword was sharpened using lasers so that it's so sharp it can cut through stone and other objects easily.
3 – Got the weapon from a game called Sky Gunner. The final boss uses it.
4 – Think of the flying pod that Dr. Eggman uses to fly around.
5 – Think of the demon power limiters in Saiyuki.
Co-Writer's Notes
(A) Look in Volume 27 of the manga.
For those of you worried that Ranma's never going back to the Suikoden World rest assured he will. He's going to return soon so don't worry.
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