Like I said, guys, this story isn't a pity fic for the Ranma ½ genre. I thought things out before I started writing and I hope that you guys like it. I've added some new stuff to the chapter, so I hope that you guys are prepared to leave reviews for this chapter. Enjoy!
*I still don't own Star Wars Rebels or Ranma ½!*
Thoughts of Company - A New Threat Lurks on the Horizon!
"This poor guy. I can't believe the hidden damage that was dealt to him." said a doctor.
In the Emergency Room, several doctors were busy as can be as they operated on Ranma and attempted to bring him back around. However, they've encountered a problem in the process of healing him.
It turns out that the sword Genma used to stab Ranma wasn't an ordinary blade. It secretes a special nerve toxin that is meant to slowly eat away at the victim's nervous system. So when Genma stabbed the boy near his heart, he was hoping the toxin would take him out soon after, if he didn't bleed out first. However, it caused something else to happen.
While the wound itself was easy to sew back up and the doctors managed to purge his body of the poison, the damage had already been done.
The nerves in Ranma's legs had been so badly damaged, he's lost the use of them. Even if he survives this encounter, there should be no way that he'll ever walk or perform martial arts again. And he hasn't completely stabilized since the incident, so the doctors are working tirelessly to keep him from dying due to this ordeal.
"Yeah, it's a crying shame what happened to him. He seemed strong, and probably would have been one of the strongest hand to hand fighters when he became a master. And thanks to that Saotome guy's greed and lust for power, such a bright young lad's future has been cruelly ripped away from him." said another doctor.
One of the nurses quickly used a sponge to wipe the sweat from one of the doctor's brows and went to get another I.V. Bag for Ranma so they could at least provide his body with enough blood and nutrients to make it through the surgery.
"He'll be lucky enough to keep on doing martial arts, let alone walk after this. We may have no choice but to cut off his legs at this rate." grumbled the head surgeon.
"Come on, guys! Now's not the time to be thinking about the 'what-ifs'! We need to focus on the here and now if we want to save this kid's life!" exclaimed a rookie surgeon.
One who was looking quite pale at the sight of so much blood all in one place. Clearly, this is this guy's first time helping in a major operation and he's clearly inexperienced. We'll call him Yamamoto.
"Yamamoto-Kun is right, everyone! We mustn't lose hope now!" added a rather attractive nurse with brown hair and blue eyes, a rare combination.
Her name is Yolie, and she's determined to keep this particular patient alive. Even if she has to step up to the plate and continue with the operation herself! And apparently, these two's words had the desired effect as everyone began to work twice as hard and twice as fast while being just as careful and just as efficient.
One way or another, Ranma is going to survive this!
"Yamamoto, hand me those pliers and get me another bag of O-Positive*!" the head surgeon ordered.
*Outside the ICU…*
Waiting outside of the ICU was Ranma's family. Or, what remained of it, at least. After Genma was turned permanently into a panda and just about divorced by Nodoka, he doesn't really count much as Ranma's family. Let's not forget the fact that he tried to have the boy killed due to Ranma refusing to follow Genma's own agenda. After that performance, he DEFINITELY doesn't count as family to the young man anymore.
Nodoka continued to stare at the door to the operating room with this worried, yet empty look in her eyes. She's been like this for hours now, and it was beginning to worry her parents. Kaoru sat down next to her daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Nodoka…" she mumbled.
"My fault…! This is all my fault!" Nodoka finally said.
"What are you talking about, Little One?" Kenshin asked, using his old nickname for his daughter.
Nodoka looked at her parents with a combination of regret and anger. Anger at herself for being unable to help her son, and regret for being a part of the reason he's in that operating room in the first place.
"It's my fault that my son is in that room in the first place! If I hadn't let Genma take him on that training trip… If I hadn't been so obsessed with my Ranma becoming a man among men… IF I HADN'T HELD THAT SEPPUKU PLEDGE OVER HIS HEAD, THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED AND RANMA WOULD BE HERE WITH US INSTEAD OF ON AN OPERATING TABLE!" Nodoka practically screamed.
All of the pent up stress and anger at the situation and herself became too much for Nodoka, and she collapsed into her mother's arms, proceeding to cry into the older woman's shoulder. For the first time in many years, Nodoka Saotome - no - Nodoka Himura felt the full weight of her actions in regards to Ranma's pain and suffering. Especially having had him sign a Seppuku Pledge when he was but a year old and didn't even know what it was he was signing. She began to feel like she had no right to call herself his mother.
Kaoru's eyes widened a little bit. Sure, her daughter has gotten angry about a lot of things during her childhood and most of her young adulthood, but never like this. This was a pure, primal fury towards herself and her actions in regards to Ranma and his upbringing. Honestly, she doesn't blame Nodoka for feeling this way. If it were her or her brother that this happened to, and she had ANY form of involvement in it, she'd probably feel the same way.
But that doesn't mean that she should be tearing herself apart like this. It's not what Ranma would want her to do. She knows from what she's heard from many people in the Nerima Ward that he can be incredibly forgiving towards his friends. And he's not known to hold a grudge. Not unless someone has done something to earn that grudge. Such as that cursed boy with a worse sense of direction than Sano known as Ryoga.
Speaking of whom, where is the Pig-Changing Lost Boy?
*Somewhere in South America…*
Ryoga was running for his life from the native wildlife of South America as he had somehow, once again, got lost trying to get to the Tendo Dojo of Anything Goes. His goal was to kill Ranma so that Akane wouldn't marry him and he could have her to himself.
Delusional much?
"CURSE YOU, RANMA! CURSE YOOOOUUUU!" screamed Ryoga.
*Back In Nerima…*
Kaoru said nothing as she just embraced her daughter and tried to help her calm down enough that she would listen to reason. It won't be easy, what with how distraught she is, but she knows that Nodoka will calm down sooner or later. Although, at this rate, she might just as easily cry herself to sleep. As for Kenshin, he narrowed his eyes as he remembered all of the crap his grandson had to endure growing up under Fat Panda's tutelage. It sickened him greatly.
The redhead told his wife that he was going to step out and get some air before walking out of the hospital. But he didn't go very far as he noticed a very familiar presence near the door of the hospital.
"How long have you been working here, Wolf of Mibu?" Kenshin asked.
"Long enough, Battousai. Long enough." replied a man's voice.
Stepping out of the shadows was none other than Saito Hajime, or Fujita Goro, as he prefers to go by these days. Like Kenshin and Kaoru, he too has changed very little over the years. The only thing about him that has changed at all, appearance wise, is the single scar over his now cloudy right eye.
Held within his left hand is his trusty katana, while in his right hand is a rather large file that had the words 'For Himura's Eyes Only' written on it. But why is a Wolf of Mibu, and one who so avidly despises Kenshin, helping him?
"This one understands that you have information for him, Saito-San?" Kenshin asked.
"It seems as though your intuition hasn't dulled over the years, Battousai. That's good. And how many times must I say that I go by 'Fujita' now?" Saito replied.
He handed the file to Kenshin, a rather grim look leaking into his usually stoic expression.
"You were right. It seems as though there was more to Genma's methods than simply stealing from others and leaving your grandson to pick up the tab." he reported.
Kenshin opened the file and began to read over the information within. So far, he wasn't all that impressed.
Thievery, not honoring his deals, breaking and entering… All of these just further emphasized his cowardly methods in trying to make Ranma strong in the Anything Goes martial arts style. That is, until Kenshin's eyes began to go over some very damning pieces of information within this file of his.
'Wait a tick. What is this…'
Kenshin's eyes continued to scan over the evidence within the file, and this new information he was reading was very disturbing, to say the least. His eyes widened more and more as he continued to read off the words on each piece of paper. The visual evidence just made it even more appalling to the redhead samurai.
His eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked at Saito over the file.
"Is this all legit…?" he asked in a dangerously low voice.
"Every word of it. And every picture. We quintuple checked the evidence for authenticity before I brought it to you." Saito replied.
Angry at this information, Kenshin slammed the folder shut, actually startling Saito by what he had just witnessed. There were very few times where the old member of the Shinsengumi saw Kenshin get enraged by anything. But when he did, may the Kami have mercy on your soul, because Kenshin sure as Hell won't!
"Thank you for assisting This One's family, Saito-San. With this evidence, Nodoka can claim full custody of Ranma as well as fully dissolve the Seppuku Pledge. We can also name him the full heir to the Himura family and teach him all we know of the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu." Kenshin said.
"Indeed. But that still leaves us with that ridiculous curse of his. It cannot be broken by simply splashing him with water from the Cursed Hot Spring of Drowned Boy, as the curses mix with each other. Our best option would be to mix the waters of the Spring of Drowned Boy with one of the other spring's water. This way, at least, his cursed form would be male." Saito added.
"We will cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, I must return to my wife and child. They, along with Ranma, need me to be there for them now more than ever."
With that, the two parted ways as Kenshin walked back into the hospital while Saito began his walk to the Police Station. He still has more work to do, and he knows he needs to get it done early so he can get back home on time. His wife, Tokio, would be eagerly awaiting his return.
*With Akane…*
Akane had her hands in her pockets as she walked the streets of Nerima. She was reflecting upon her life choices in regards to Ranma. True, she doesn't want to marry him just to unite the schools like their fathers… or, should she say her father and Ranma's FORMER father, wanted them to.
No, Akane Tendo is a woman of standards. While it may be true that she doesn't really care much for the men of Nerima, due to their blatant acts of pervertedness, she does want to find that special someone who she can spend the rest of her days with. And she knows that that person isn't Ranma… Or, at least she USED to think that.
After the startling revelations that occurred earlier today, she began to question her relationship with the gender changing boy. She knows that it's not his fault that he's cursed to turn into a girl whenever he's splashed with cold water, and she can't really call him a perverted hentai when he's never once tried anything perverted with ANY woman. Not even those who actively threw themselves at him.
At the Cat Cafe, a certain blue-haired Amazon girl sneezed as she was getting ready to go on a delivery.
Akane was so caught up in her thoughts, she seemed to not realize that she was being stalked by the bunch of persistent perverts known as the Hentai Horde. One by one, they tried to sneak up on her and grab her inappropriately, but each time they tried, Akane would instinctively dodge and make them grab something that hurt them in some way.
One hugged a thorny cactus, another grabbed a married Policewoman who proceeded to arrest him on grounds of sexual harassment, another grabbed a cow's backside and got kicked in the nuts for his troubles, another fell face first onto a lit barbeque grill, and other sorts of horrible things happening to them. Including the most perverted members of this group…
"RRAAAWWWRRR!"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
...Falling into the Tiger pit at the local zoo.
But what Akane didn't know was that, while she believed these to be the results of sheer luck, a greater power was actually guiding her and making it easier for her to dodge such attacks. Even after the shakespearean wannabe samurai, Kuno, attempted to sweep her off her feet. The end result was the guy running into a hidden gay bar and walking out looking like he's seen the end of humanity.
However, despite these lucky dodges, she's still reflecting on how she's been to Ranma since he got to Nerima.
'Ranma is stronger than me at the art, I admit that now. And why wouldn't he be? While he's been traveling the world for almost his whole life, learning all he could and training even more than that, all I've done is jog and break bricks. Dad hasn't given me a lesson since mom died ten years ago, so what have I really accomplished, besides boosting my own ego?' Akane thought to herself.
She wasn't going to deny it anymore. Ranma is in fact the stronger of the two of them, and it showed with how many crazy yahoos he's had to fight. Especially all those times when she's gotten herself kidnapped. She hated feeling weak like this, and she wanted to do something about it!
'If only I were stronger…! Just wait Ranma! I'll find a way to get stronger, and prove to you that I'm not just some mallet swinging girl who only lives to try and kill you! I'll prove to you that I can change who I am for the better! I'll show you… that I AM your friend…'
As Akane thought that, she didn't realize that her eyes were beginning to change until they were a sulfuric yellow color as opposed to their natural color.
*With Nabiki…*
"Okay, Nabiki, that's the last of the pictures. They're all here, just like you asked." said one of Nabiki's friends and henchwomen, Kimiko.
Stacked up in a secret warehouse belonging to Nabiki and her little 'Yakuza' group were boxes upon boxes of photos. All of them were of Ranma in his cursed form, which Nabiki had been using as blackmail to get money out of the only child of Nodoka and Genma Saotome. It had worked like a charm for this long, but after learning the truth about Ranma's history and how Genma made his life miserable, along with her own part in it, she had her henchmen and women gather up all of the photos and bring them here.
After taking a moment to check and make sure everything was accounted for, Nabiki nodded and began to move towards the boxes. She still has one more mission before she can go to bed tonight with a semi-clear conscience.
"Good. Now, all we have to do is put them all in the bonfire… and burn them!" Nabiki instructed.
She and Kimiko picked up six boxes each and began to bring them outside to where she and her inner circle were having a bonfire to celebrate the coming of the new year, and the middle Tendo child knew that it was a perfect way to finally end this whole charade with Ranma and his female form.
"If you don't mind my asking, boss, but why are we burning these photos anyway? I thought Ranma was supposed to be our cash cow." Kimiko asked.
"It's true, we've all made quite a bit of spending money off of Saotome's secret, but I've been doing a little bit of soul searching as of late." Nabiki said. "And what I've discovered so far has been less than inspiring. Throughout my years in High School, I've been doing this whole racketeering ring to try and make sure the loan sharks didn't take my family's home, no thanks to dad not teaching any more students since mom died. But even then, I kept doing this because it gave me power and control over others. I became obsessed with that power."
As she and her workers continued to bring out the boxes of photos, Nabiki sighed as she felt this strange feeling of light pulsating inside her. Healing her soul and making her strong. Thus granting her more of the strength needed for the biggest thing she was going to do.
"I don't want to be consumed by my own greed like I've been allowing myself to be. Therefore, by the time this is over, my racketeering ring will be disbanded. My gambling rings and information brokerings will be over, and we all will go back to living normal everyday lives." Nabiki declared.
Her friends and coworkers were shocked to hear this coming from the Ice Queen of Nerima. Nabiki was usually so cold and willing to use any means to get what she wanted, and almost always succeeded. Anyone who wouldn't comply, she made their lives Hell on Earth. But to hear that she's disbanding that power base that she's worked so hard to build…
It just seemed so strange to all of them. But it wasn't an unwelcome change.
With the Japanese Government having created and started enforcing new racketeering laws, this was probably for the best. If it means they won't get arrested due to illegal activity, then none of them are complaining. The fact that they don't have to worry about turning over money to Nabiki, 'lest she blackmail them, was a big plus in their books.
After pouring lighter fluid all over the wood and photos, Nabiki lit a few matches and threw them into the fire pit.
"Here's to new beginnings and new hopes." Nabiki said as she watched the photos go up in flames.
*With Panda-Genma…*
'Damn that boy! This is all HIS fault!' Panda-Genma mentally raged.
After waking up from being permanently sealed in his cursed form, the Pandafied sperm donor of Ranma that is Genma Saotome fled from the Tendo household for fear of being skinned alive should the Himura family return to finish the job. Not even his tricks of acting cute in his Panda form would be enough to save him, as he's already incurred their wrath to the point where they won't care if they're harming a member of an endangered species.
He was currently wandering through the bamboo forests outside of Nerima as he tried to figure out a way to find Ranma and finish what he started. He doubted Happosai would be willing to help him, as the old letch has grown fond of Ranma in a grandfatherly manner.
As he continued to wander about, walking around on all fours, Genma mentally raged about how Ranma, supposedly, ruined his life.
'I spent fifteen years training that boy from the ground up and THIS is how I'm rewarded?! That boy should have just listened to me and married Akane so the schools would be joined! Not only would it grant me and Soun with great wealth and notoriety, but it was also my ticket to a free home and meals! I'd never have to work again! But now, thanks to HIS actions, not only has Nodoka turned against me, but now I'M STUCK AS A PANDA FOREVER!'
Panda-Genma roared in absolute fury as he used a paw to strike down several bamboo trees. In his anger, he also failed to realize a very dark and evil power was beginning to grant him greater strength and further blackening his already tainted soul.
The Panda-Man continued to roar with rage as he swiped at tree after tree, doing more and more damage as his little temper tantrum went on. And if one were to look at his beady eyes… you'd see that they are turning a very pale yellow color.
Things appear to be changing at a rapid pace, readers. And not all of it is for the better.
*To Be Continued…*
*I chose this blood type because I have no idea what Ranma's actual blood type is.*
I hope you guys like this chapter, because I work hard on all my stories to try and make them great. Now, I've been thinking of changing the name of this story to something along the lines of Second Coming of Tulak Hord and having Ranma be the successor of Tulak Hord himself, but I'd like to hear your honest opinions about this. Should I keep the name and theme as Revenge of Maul, or should I change it to Second Coming of Tulak Hord? Also, here are the current results of the poll on my other profile, SaurusRock625.
Remember, this poll is to determine who I pair with Ranma in this story. She will be the one to primarily teach the Light Side of the Force until this new order is fully established.
Current Poll Results…
Ahsoka Tano: 14 votes
Nabiki Tendo: 7 votes
Aayla Secura: 6 votes
The Seventh Sister (Whom I firmly believe is Barriss turned to the Dark Side): 5 votes
Shampoo (ShanPu): 2 votes
Kodachi Kuno: 2 votes
Akane Tendo: 2 votes
Ukyo Kuonji: 1 vote
Barriss Offee (Before Dark Side Corruption): 1 vote
Shaak Ti: 1 vote
Riyo Chuchi: 1 vote
Albino Twi'Lek (My Newest OC): 1 vote
Kasumi Tendo: 0 votes
Luminara Unduli: 0 votes
Aayla Secura: 0 votes