Untitled

Ranma 1/2 and El Hazard belong to Rumiko Takahashi and AIC respectively.



 "Hey, watcha doing?" Ranma asked as he swung down from the branches
where he had been observing Happosai for the past few minutes.

 "Nothing," Happosai said with a tone of unusual nervousness as he tried
to hide the various objects scattered in front of him from Ranma,
without much success evidently as Ranma plucked one object out from his
grasp.

 "Hey, what is this?" he asked, observing the object, which happened to
be shaped like an eye with lines radiating out of the pupil.

 Happosai's eyes went wide as he realised what Ranma held in his hand.
Of all the objects he had to pick that one, and he wasn't even protected
against it. He knew it was too late the moment Ranma touched it, but he
leapt instinctively at Ranma anyway, trying to snatch the object back
before something happened.

 It was too late. "Hey! What's happening!?" Ranma said, a slight tinge
of fear in his voice as black swirls appeared out of the pupil in the
artifact and started to surround him. "Hey! What-" he cut off abruptly
as the black swirls encased him as tightly as a mummy, shimmering for
one second before the whole thing disappeared. Along with Ranma.

 "No!" he cried out, he was too late to save Ranma. The only thing he
could do was pray for the boy. God knew where the boy would end up.

 ****

 Ranma awoke from a rather peaceful sleep. Glancing around, he took in
his surroundings. Apparently he was in some sort of city, a rather
sophisticated one if he did say so. For some reason though, the streets
were deserted though. Everywhere he looked, there was no one in sight,
only the eerie silence surrounded him.

 "Who are you? You are not registered in the city banks," a pale man
said, appearing in the streets. He was carrying some sort of staff and
two other people stood behind him, also equipped with staffs that looked
strangely like part decoration and part weapon.

 "Huh? What? I'm Ranma Saotome," Ranma answered, as he took in the
strange clothes that the men were wearing. He noticed the stiff stance
of the people, which seemed an unnatural mockery that disturbed him.

 " You're not registered. Therefore you must be a spy. You can surrender
peacefully or suffer," the pale man said after a brief moment, as if he
was thinking.

 "What!? I'm not a spy! And I'm not going to surrender, you want me,
come and get me!" With those final words, Ranma jumped into the air,
preparing for battle.

 *****

 Ranma awoke for the second time that day. He tried to ignore the dull
pounding in his head as he tried to take in his surroundings. He
struggled to get up, but couldn't. Something was holding him down,
something he couldn't break. He turned his head to the left and right,
the most motion he could make under the circumstances but he could see
nothing. He could hear only strange voices, talking in rushed, frantic
whispers. Two voices were arguing, loud enough to make him wince as the
pounding got worse.

 " He's strong I tell you! He managed to stop three minor demongods
before the backup force arrived, and he's only a human now!! If we can
make him into one of the more powerful ones like we're planning with the
Ifurita module you were planning, we will win the war!"

 " But...he's human like us, what gives us the right to experiment on
him? He's one of us. No one deserves this, not even a spy."

 " Look, would you rather we lose the war? Think of your family! What if
we lose the war? What would happen to them? It would be much worse than
this. We have no choice!"

 ".....Fine, we'll do it," the other voice seemed to consider for a long
time before answering with the greatest reluctance.

 Two people stepped into his view. One was short harsh man with graying
hair, while the other was a young man with black hair and blue eyes, who
reminded Ranma slightly of Dr. Tofu.

 "I'm sorry," the young man said just before the pain began.

 ****

 *Here,* the voice drew Makoto onwards until finally he came to the
newly discovered ruins in the school basement.

 "Who's there?" he yelled into the dimly-lit ruins. As he walked across
the floor, beams of light shot up, ensnaring him. "Hey let go!" he
yelled as he started struggling to break free.

 Suddenly the canister in the corner of the room started to spin,
rotating until the symbol of an eye came up. He watched as the canister
opened, revealing a rather handsome young man, his head slumped slightly
and with his hair tied into a familiar pigtail. He wore rather strange
clothes that were faded and slightly tattered with age.

 The young man raised his head, his sapphire blue eyes resting on
Makoto. "Has it come?" he whispered softly to himself. "Ten thousand
years of waiting and the moment has finally come," his voice became
stronger and stronger as he staggered out of the canister.

 "Who...who're you!?" Makoto stammered as the stranger walked closer to
him. To say he was surprised was an understatement.

 The young man gave a slight bitter smile as he replied, "Ranma. Ranma
Saotome. Remember that name well Makoto Mizhura." He walked with
deliberate slowness, as if conserving his energy for some ardous task
ahead. "I'm sorry, but I have to send you to El Hazard. Time is growing
short and I'm weak with the passage of years, but still I must do this.
With my remaining strength, I will send you to El Hazard."

 Makoto stood there speechless as he took in Ranma's words. "Wait!
What's El Hazard!" he yelled but he received no answer. The last he
could remember was seeing Ranma stare at him emotionlessly as strange
images flooded his head. Strange light burst from Ranma, exploding out
from the ruins and striking the still forms of the figures still in
school.

 ****

 (1) For those who don't know what happened before this, I recommend
that you get the first tape of El Hazard, which is a really great
series.

 (1)Makoto ran towards the source of the scream that had pierced the air
moments before, his thoughts still muddled and confused. The burning
question in his mind was where was he? The strange man had said
something about El Hazard, could this be the 'El Hazard' he was talking
about. He and Fujisawa arrived in time to see a beautiful woman running
towards them, collapsing on her feet as she pleaded with them to help
her.

 He was about to help her to her feet when suddenly he spotted something
out of the corner of his eye. An albino man was walking towards them,
dressed in green. He had long black hair, which flowed down his back.
But the thing that caught Makoto's attention most was his clothes. His
clothes reminded Makoto of the strange man in the ruin's clothing, being
almost exactly alike.

 The man stopped in front of them, taking them in with a cool gaze. "
Surrender Rune Venus now, or suffer the consequences," he said in a
voice as cold as ice, and as hard as steel.

 "Huh? Who?" Fujisawa asked, scratching his head. He had no idea who
this 'Rune Venus' was supposed to be, unless it was the woman in front
of them of course.

 " Rune Venus, the woman in front of you," the man continued in the same
monotone voice. "You have five seconds to comply...5...4...3-"

 " Hey wait a minute! Why don't we see if she want to go with you?"
Makoto had the suspicion that this was the very person the woman had
wanted help from.

 "2...1, you have failed to comply. Termination will proceed," the man
said before leaping towards them.

 Fujisawa raised a hand to block but accidentally lashed out against the
man, sending him sprawling back into the trunk of a nearby tree.

 "Woah, what's going on?" Fujisawa asked himself as he stared at the
palms of his hands, he felt stronger than he had ever felt before in his
whole life.

 " Wow Sensei, that was really something!" Makoto exclaimed, he had
never known Fujisawa had so much strength before.

 "Alright!" Fujisawa said as he leapt towards the man, kicking him in
the chest.

 "Unit efficiency is compromised, efficiency is now 75%, armor is now at
50%," the man stated, as he struggled to rise from the ground. Before he
could however, several giant bugs rushed out from the foilage, swarming
over the man as they battered him.

 Makoto could clearly hear the man talk despite of the noise of the
ongoing activities of the giant bugs around him.

 "System damage, 40% and rising. Unit requesting permission to retreat,"
the man said to no one in particular as he fought with the giant bugs,
occasionally knocking one away with one punch.

 Apparently he received whatever permissionhe was seeking as he shook
off the remaining bugs with one tremondous effort and took off into the
sky suddenly. Flying an erratic and unsteady course, he headed south
towards a ridge of mountains.

 Makoto looked over to where the woman was lying, who was now surrounded
by other people, one of which caught his eye in particular. She had hair
the hue of light-purple, more a mix between pink and purple actually and
had long wings trailing on the floor behind her as she squatted besides
the woman anxiously. One of the men apparently remembering them came
over and kneeling on one leg, he said, " Brave warrior, we are forever
in your debts for saving the life of our princess, but from what kingdom
do you hail?" The man looked up, seeing Makoto for the first time and
gasped. "Incredible," he said.

 The woman was now standing, helped by the many ladies in waiting
surrounding her. Spotting Makoto, she ran towards him."Oh! Fatora!
You're back!" the woman ran over and embraced Makoto. "Oh dear Fatora,
you're home. I was so worried, where were you?"

 "Uh-oh, I'm afriad there's some confusion, I'm not your friend Fatora,"
Makoto said as politely as he could.

 "You're not?" The woman let go of him in surprise as she took another
look at him.

 " That cannot be, you resemble her so much," the purple haired woman,
who was now standing beside the woman said, as she looked at him
quizically and suspiciously. He could feel himself being weighed in the
woman's eyes.

 " But my name's Makoto Mizhura!" he protested, somehow still managing
to sound polite through it all.

 "He's right and I can vouch for him. I should know, he's one of my
students you see. And I'm Masmichi Fujisawa, a teacher at Shinnome
High."

 "Interesting, the two of them look so alike," the purple haired woman
mused as she observed Makoto. Once again he felt that weighing look of
hers again.

 "You're right Diva. It must be fate, we were going to consult the
psychic this very day!" Rune Venus said. "Meeting them must have been a
sign from the gods themselves."

 "That's very nice," Fujisawa interruped, "But do you know how I can get
back to Shinnome High? I'm on the night shift you see."

 "We will simply not take no for an answer. Come, I am Londs, chief
servant to the Royal house." Londs put his arm around Makoto and
forcibly dragged him along, even as Fujisawa protested that he had to go
back to watch over the school.

 ****

 Later that night, they sat eating dinner with Londs and a person he
introduced as Doctor Stalbaugh. The conversation was light as Makoto
didn't really feel much like talking. He wondered what his parents were
doing right now. *Were we the only ones brought here? Or are there
others from our school? Who exactly was that man who sent me here?" All
these thoughts ran through his head at one time or another.

 "So, you say you come from a world called, what was it, oh yes, earth?"
asked Londs with  scientific curiousity.

 "Yep, from beautiful downtown Shinanome to be exact." said Fujisawa.

 "That's positively fascinating," said the Doctor. "But as I understand,
both you young man claim to have come here from a distant world by means
of crossing over dimensions?"

 "Well, that's the best I could come up with," said Fujisawa, not really
understanding it himself.

 "That would explain why your friend acquired such power. It must have
been a side effect of the journey," Dr Stalbaugh, nodding to himself
sagely.

 "Yes, we give praise to anyone who uses such power to defeat the evil
demongods." said Londs.

 "Demongods? You mean that albino guy?" Fujisawa asked.

 "Yes, they cast a long and evil shadow across El Hazard. They are our
enemies."

        "Our strength comes from the surrounding countries of Roshtaria,
they are all allied against the Demongods," the doctor took a long
breath and began to talk again, "El Hazard is divided in two by the
great River of god. Beyond this is a land long shrouded in legend and
mystery. The Bugrom, our allies now, once lived there before they were
driven out by the Demongods in the holy wars.  This is where the
Demongods have built their empire, one that is ruled by the supreme hand
of Ishbal, the ruler of the Demongods. Ever since the holy wars, we have
fought battle and battle with them to keep them from conquering
Roshtaria."

 "Really? But where they live before that?" Makoto asked, curious to
know more. He felt himself getting drawn into the story that Dr.
Stalbaugh told, it was much more interesting than his normal history
class.

 " Nowhere, for before the holy wars, there weren't any demongods. But
in the holy wars, the ancients of El Hazard made them for use as
weapons. They proved successful enough until some of them started
breaking free of the control the Ancients had over them. At first, it
was a scant few, a bare handful but soon more and more broke free. Those
who did are the ones we fight now. The only weapon as powerful as the
demongods is the Eye of god. Only that protects us from the immediate
threat of the demongods and of the rebel Bugroms."

 "The rebel Bugroms?" The story was just getting better and better,
Makoto felt as if he had dropped into some bizzare fantasy book.

 "Yes, they are led by Queen Diva's younger sister, Triva. Triva
disapproves of her older sister's alliance with humans and seeks to
conquer Roshtaria by herself and make the bugrom masters and the humans
slaves. Of course there are those among us who resent the bugrom too."

 "Sounds pretty complicated," Fujisawa commented not really
understanding half of what he was told. Demongods? Holy war? He
definitely needed a drink.

 ****

 "Princess, they are here as you requested," the guard said bowing low
before Rune Venus. Her constant companion, Queen Diva turned at his
words, spotting the strangers in the wide banquet room.

 ****

 "What? Is that true?" Triva regarded the small flying insect before
her. Due to it's size, it was mainly used for spying and carrying
messages.

 "Bring him before me," she said after a moment of thinking.

 Moments later, a young human male was led in. Her lip curled in slight
contempt as she regarded the obviously inferior species before her.

 " Arghhh! Where am I now! This is all your fault Mizhura!!" the human
screamed with frustration.

 The surrounding bugs grunted, apparently they had heard it all before.
*So it is true, he can speak with the Bugrom," Triva thought. Perhaps he
was the messanger from god. But she had better make sure first.

 "Who're you?" She asked in as cold a tone as she could manage.

 "Me? I'm Katsuhiko Jinnai! Ruler of Shinnome High!" he bragged,
obviously trying to impress her.

 A ruler no less, though she doubted it. Where were his bodyguards?
Surely he had some and where were they? If what she heard was true, he
was captured alone with no one around in the vincinity.

 "Are you the messanger from god sent to lead us to victory against our
foes?"

 " What, of course I am!" he said after a moment's hesitation. " I shall
lead you to victory," he yelled, raising his head up high, at which the
other bugs in the room did the same, yelling and cheering in their
gutteral voices.

 Trival leaned back in her chair, apparently satisfied as a small smile
played across her lips. The human would serve her purpose, and if he
proved to be less than satisfactory, she would take care of him.


 The end

Authors Note:  Oh I could go on but I decided to end the chapter here,
unless you want a description of what happened on the first night. The
events that happened in the original first night are pretty similiar to
the ones that will happen here. So that doesn't leave much to write
about, just the important stuff Well I guess thats about it then.

Sining [shihlin@pacific.net.sg]
http://home.pacific.net.sg/~shihlin/fanfics.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/4615/