Chapter 4: Ranma Whole= Sheik~
Ranma didn't know how he got himself into half the messes he did.
Currently, he was standing, at the edge of a forest that bordered Jusenkyo in the mountains, one that he hadn't know about , and probably shouldn't have missed, until today. He was in his boy form, and the shiny,flittering light holographic rendering of the owner of his girl form stood beside him, a hand on her sword.
"Through this tunnel, beyond these white birch trees. This is the doorway into Farore's hell. In the days before the coming of Men, it was called the "Lost Wood". This is the purgatory,the eternal prison, of all those who are bound to Farore's accursed power...It is also the resting place of the accursed Master's Sword, that holds the deceptive benevolence of the goddesses in its blade, but is really a creation of evil, meant only to destroy."
Zelda turned to Ranma, who, for once, had shut up, head swimming with trying to process what was going on.
" To enter the wood, without coming under its curse, one must take on a different form. A "Cloaking" Form, one that the Witch cannot see, cannot understand, and therefore cannot bind..."she began slowly.
"What are you talking about, Princess?" Ranma asked, jaw hanging open, a fly going up his throat, and making him hack for a moment, trying to put the digits together, to figure it out. One second he was fighting with Akane, as per usual. The next second, he's been swept off to Jusenkyo, basically press-ganged into his girl form's justice quest, and now he's standing at the gates, or rather folded scary branches, of Hell itself, and his girl form is saying something about tricking witches, and another form. He fears possibly sharing a fate with Pork-butt, or maybe worse...a similar fate as Shampoo. The thought of a cat...of becoming the thing he hated the most...
"What I'm saying, Ranma -san, is that we should fuse our forms into one ,genderless, disguised form. A cloaked form, a spirit that will be invisible to Farore, because there is no accursed power creating it that she can understand. Rather it will be you, and me, working together...Like symbiot animals; have you ever seen those? Sometimes two birds, or two fish, of different kinds, such as a robin and a sparrow, or a trout and a shrimp, will live together for the same goals. With my power, the Crown of Love,the Triforce of Wisdom, we can combine your man-form, and my woman-form, into a genderless form. One consciousness that has your martial arts abilities ,which exceed mine, and pretty much every other soul that ever walked the earth, and my wisdom, which ,admittedly, has no equal."
"So you're saying Ranma One-Half boy plus Ranma One-Half girl equals some sexless,savage mutant freak thing that can beat the witch? What the HECK have I gotten myself into, you pointy-eared ,shaman-wanna-be, psycho?"
Zelda smiled, not offended. Usually people were offended by Ranma, it was a way he egged a fight on. She wasn't though. She was actually smiling. It was unnerving.
"It's either this or "Specialty Soup by Akane"..."
"HOLY! OK-ok...I'll do it. Errr...how do we do it?"
Zelda let out a "Hup!" sound, and held up her right hand. A golden triangle began to blaze like he sun beneath her knuckles.
Ranma felt himself blown about 10 feet back, and then being pulled in like by a magnet, ( gold wasn't magnet?), into the light, into whatever insanity befell him next.
"Whatever it is-just not a kitty-Please not a kitty! PlEASE, ANYTHING BUT A KITTY!"
But in the end it was not a kitty. There was a long white pause, like floating through a dream, that you had when lying under a tree in Eternity, deep peace...like he'd never known before, a heart flowing over with love for somebody...not a fiancée, like a sibling..like a brother...Wisdom, deep, heavy thoughts, Ranma felt like his soul was full of clear, cold water. Yet that fierce warrior that he had always been, with the quick-witted retort, was still alive inside him too...It was as if their souls had somehow melted together, Ranma and the Drowning Girl, and when they woke up:
"Sheik." said a voice, higher-pitched for a man, but too deep for a woman's. A combination of Zelda's voice, and his own.
He looked down at ,for lack of a better word ,itself.
He was wearing a full body suite of ninja armor, and had a strange white mask surrounding his darker skin. He reached up, and could feel his hair was not the same, it was bleached, a white gold color, and glowed as if it had light in it. He wheeled around, looking at himself, trying to find something to mirror him.
It's ok...said Zelda's voice, like the voice of his thoughts would, Cold water can't change you back, neither can hot. Only my power can, I will let you go when you need to be released...
Ranma got an idea. If cold water couldn't change him back, then he could look at his reflection with it.
They weren't terribly far from Jusenkyo. Surrounding the Lost Woods, were little puddles.
He ran up to one, and looked down.
He was met with the reflection of a masked young ninja, with eyes as red as garnet stones, the birth stone of January. Something about it...as cold as the heart of winter too, but skin was dark ,as if they'd always lived in the desert.
He touched his face, with a bandage wrapped finger, half gloved hand.
"Ranma Whole equals Sheik..." said his new voice again.
He felt his chest,beneath the light coat of chain-mail, and it was as flat as a man's.
There was nothing between his legs but skin. He curled a brow at this, a bit confused.
"Ranma and Zelda equals Sheik."