Here it is, chapter 1 of Oceans of Sky. I mislabeled the
earlier post of chapter 1, part 1 as 'Oceans of Air', but
I assume you know what I meant. C&C would be highly
appreciated, as well as a general feeling from the fanfic
community as to whether I should keep it going, ot scrap
it. This is just the introductory stages, the villain hasn't
appeared yet. Rest assured, though, when he (she? it?) does,
you'll know.
All characters from the series Ranma 1/2 and situations
described in said series belong to Kitty, Viz, the
divine Ms. Takahashi, etc. All characters and situations
pertinent to the world of Tayren belong to me. This
is a fanfiction not intended for profit, but
entertainment. Please don't sue me, I have no money.
Oceans of Sky
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction
By Valandar the Red
Chapter One
The Arrival
'I'm falling,' thought Ranma. 'Well, I don't remember
Akane hittin' me, so I must be dreaming. After all, the
last thing I remember is fallin' asleep.'
Opening his eyes, the young martial artist had the
opportunity to see something not many people do. Namely,
the ground rushing up at him at a speed usually associated
with high performance automobiles. Fully expecting to
wake up, he ws not prepared for what followed next.
BAM! The pain he felt as he lay there in the crater
proved to him this was no dream. However, he wasn't in
much shape to go exploring. He also didn't much care how
he got there, or where he was; he was too concerned with
making sure all of his bones were in place. Slowly, he
stood, and began to take a single, hesitant step out of
his crater.
WHUMF! Seven forms fell on top of him. Only his hands
poked out in the ever-present warding gesture against
pain, a gesture which didn't really work that well this
time.
"Aiyah! Airen save Shampoo, now will go on date,
yes?"
"Ranma-sama, you have spared my life yet again! How
romantic!"
"Ranma, I don't know how it happened, but it's ALL
YOUR FAULT!"
"Accursed Sorcerer, I know not how thou didst abscond
with us to your hellish realm, but I assure you, the Blue
Thunder of Furinkan High demands vengeance!"
"Shampoo, my love, are you hurt?"
"Ranma, honey, are you okay?"
"Ranma no baka! What have you gone and gotten us into
now?"
Their only answer was a muffled groan from underneath
them. They spent the next several minutes untangling them-
selves, while two individuals looked on.
"Not exactly what I expected from adventurers from
another world," muttered N'akaaran. "And I thought you
said they'd appear at about ground level."
Boven simply huffed. "It's not my fault if you got
the mist from somewhat more than thirty miles deep. And
they fit the requirements of the spell. I asked for the
bravest young band of warriors and adventurers, who would
be most capable of handling a journey to another world."
The reptile eyed the ensuing brawl in the crater.
"You didn't specify they had to be friends, did you?"
"No, why?"
"I think your 'brave adventurers' seem more intent on
killing each other than finding out where they are."
********************
After sorting themselves out, and brawling with each
other only five or six times, the eight martial artists
finally settled down long enough to find out what was
going on.
"So, you see, the one responsible for bringing you
to Tayren is me," concluded Boven. "There really was no
reason to attack the pigtailed boy like that."
Kuno regarded the mage. "Then you are a practitioner
of the sorcerous arts?"
"Why, yes. Grand Archmage Boven, at your service." He
smiled broadly. with his chubby face, the smile was very
broad, indeed. "Would you like me to show you?"
"I knw the truth, now! You are the black magician who
did instruct the cowardly Ranma Saotome in his demonic
powers, and thus keeps the pigtailed goddess in thrall, as
well as the beauteous Akane Tendo!" He drew his bokken,
and started to charge the now terrified older man.
"Just shut UP!" growled Akane, as her foot met Kuno's
face. It's a good thing her form was a little off, or he
would have collided with the Great barrier, thirty miles
up. As it was, he performed a perfect triple and a half
back somersault, ending in a one point landing on his
forehead.
Ryouga held up a sign that said "8.6" . Ranma held up
one that said "8.3". Mousse held up one that said "3.7".
They glared a him, and he shrugged. It's always the judge
from China.
"Well, anyway, my name is Boven, like I said. My
companion is N'akaaran, and we welcome you to the world of
Tayren." The mage bowed, slightly, and straightened
immediately as one of the gold buttons popped off his
doublet. To his credit, his embarrassment didn't show on
his face too much.
"Hiya," said the Akiir, waving.
"Nice ta meetcha. I'm Saotome Ranma." He gave a brief
bow.
"Tendo Akane, his fiancee." She likewise bowed.
"What do you mean, 'his fiancee'? He's my fiancee,
too!"
"Ranma Shampoo's airen, not stupid spatula girl or
crazy violent girl's fi...fian...airen!"
"Ohohohoho! Ranma-sama could not possibly care for
such lowborns as you! I am the only woman with the proper
breeding and culture to care for him! I, Kuno Kodachi, the
Black Rose! OHOHOHOHOHO!"
Feeling where this little introduction session was
leading, N'akaara walked away, and decided to go ahead and
start fishing for tonight's dinner. After baiting the
hook and wedging his pole between three rocks, he leaned
back against a tree. A quick kick, and the line bounced
out into the small stream he sat beside. Soon, the chaotic
sounds of battle struggled against his desire to sleep.
Sleep won.
********************
A few minutes, and one very large fish later, the
guide walked back to his charge, and the eight strange
warriors. They appeared to have calmed down, and there
was at least part of the forest left standing. They were
divided across the campsite. On one side, the bespectacled
mage was virtually interrogating another figure with
glasses. "Oh, you're back. I was just asking Mousse, here,
how he manages to hide such large weapons under his
robe."
Fortunately, Akiir have eyebrows, and N'akaara's left
one rose about half an inch. He looked to his left, where
the girl with the large spatula, the angry girl with the
mallet, and the pigtailed boy sat. He was stuffing his
face with what appeared to be some sort of flat bread,
with weird sauces on top of it, while the angry girl just
glared at him, and the other girl. Off to one side, the
girl with purple hair was hurriedly stirring a pot of
something, often looking up to stare angrily at the other
two girls. He couldn't find the fourth girl, the one in
the leotard, until he saw the ribbon-wrappd form of the
girl at the edge of the clearing. Some sort of club was
sticking out of her mouth, and she was hung by her ankles
from a hoop, the outside of which looked pretty sharp
The hoop, itself, was dangling from a stout branch. The
wooden sword boy was completely unconscious, muttering
something about 'pig-tailed goddess', and 'the tigress,
Akane'. He saw absolutely no sign of the boy with the
bandanna.
"So, Mousse, who are all of you?" N'akaaran motioned
around the impromptu campsite.
"Well, we're martial artists. Most of them are from
Japan, but Shampoo and I are from China."
"Um, that's all well and good, but since you're from
a different world, those locations don't mean anything. I
meant, what are your names? And what's a 'martial artist'?"
"Oh, sorry. I'm Mousse, master of hidden weapons. Over
there, the absolutely gorgeuos girl stirring the ramen, is
Shampoo, love of my life. The jerk in red stuffing his face
is Saotome Ranma, and the girls with him are Kuonji Ukyou,
with the long hair, and Tendo Akane, with the short hair.
The guy knocked out over there is Kuno Tatewaki, and his
crazy sister Kodahi is the cocoon hanging up over there. And
it looks like Ryouga got himself lost again." Mousse adjusted
his glasses a moment. "As for 'martial artist', that means
we are fighters. Most of us are trained with some form of
weapon form, but Ranma there calls weapons a weakness, and
Akane only uses her hammer to bash Ranma on occasion. I
think."
"An unarmed fighter? How does he keep from being
killed?" queried Boven.
"One word - speed. I'm fast, myself, but the only
person I have ever seen that is faster than him is the old
monke...er, Shampoo's great-grandmother, Cologne." Mousse
idly wondered why he was using the Japanese mutilations of
his name, and the other two amazon names, then lost track
of that thought quickly.
"I said, he's eating my okonomiyaki! Get lost, bimbo!"
A quick look convinced N'akaaran that it was about to
happen again. Sighing, he made a quick flap to fly over,
and land in the middle of the soon-to-be squabble. "Please.
Consider yourself as guests of myself and the wizard. Are
you so uncultured as to do this everywhere you are guests?"
The statement stopped them cold. Ukyou was in the
middle of unstrapping her huge spatula, and Shampoo had
pulled out her bonbori, while Akane merely started to glow.
In the uneasy silence, Ranma took advantage of the oppor-
tunity to scarf down the last okonomiyaki, and guzzle the
ramen, as well. Unfortunately, he didn't notice one small
piece of noodle was now resting on the tip of his nose.
Akane noticed the ramen piece first. Her glow faded.
Her face fought a valiant battle, worthy of Horatious at
the Bridge, but ultimately lost. A grin cracked her anger
like a cheap porcelain mask, and a snicker escaped. The
other two girls looked at her as if she had lost her mind,
then noticed what she was chuckling about. The absurdity of
it reached out and smacked them both, and they tried to
hold back laughter.
"What?" asked Ranma. He looked back and forth from one
girl to the next, unwittingly causing the noodle to whip
back and forth without dislodging. N'akaaran noticed it
now, and showed no more self-restraint than the girls.
Soon, the four of them were rolling on the ground,
laughing, as Ranma sat there utterly confused. Across the
clearing, Mousse and Boven shook their heads, and continued
to discuss the use of weaponspace.
NOTES: Yes, I do use the concept of weaponspace
(hammerspace, bonborispace, okonomyakispace, whatever),
at least in this fic. The reason Ranma was falling first
was simply one of the Murphy's Laws of Ranma: Anytime
something bad happens to a lot of people at nearly the same
time, it'll happen to Ranma first. Yes, something is making
Mousse refer to himself and his fellow amazons by ther
warped Japanese names, but its just because I've seen out
and out vendettas start about the "proper Chinese versions"
of their names.
*********************************************
- Valandar the Red of the Empty Tankard
Relatively enthusiastic, but a bit too
impulive of a writer.
Firm believer in Destiny in existing
relationships...but Destiny's ways are fickle.
"It's never too late to have a happy childhood."
- Berke Brethed, in Bloom County
http://members.tripod.com/~Valandar/fanfic.html
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