They say third time is a charm, so hopefully, this will go through
this time.
As always, all the fics I have posted are available at my website
listed below...
C&C, MST, and other forms of feedback are appreciated and required for
the continuing posting of my fics...
That said, on to the story...
Begin Include
"A Hell of a Life"
by Shaule Sachs
= - = Part 2 = - =
= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =
Version 0.3
Author Notes:
(1) Working title of "A Hell of a Life" suggested by Louis-Philippe
Giroux.
(2) This is a MEGA crossover, in that there are elements from other
series, both American television, anime, and comics, involved in this
story. To name a few, "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues", "Bubblegum
Crisis", "Dr. Strange", and "Kung Fu: The Original Series".
Appendices will added to help people with non-anime/manga
characters...
(3) Chronological Note: The time frame for this fic is tentatively
after Japanese Volume 22, part 2, where the character of "Nodoka
Saotome" is introduced for the first time. It's "tentatively" because
I only have the Viz Graphic Novels up to Volume Eleven, although I
have gone to the Ranma 1/2 FAQ, and downloaded a copy of all the manga
summaries...
(4) Font key:
- Italics will between two '//' and denote thoughts.
- Bold will between '*' and denote emphasis.
- Translated languages will between '<<'s and '>>'s otherwise
everything is to be considered to be in native
speaker's language (ie Japanese)
- Author notes and Footnotes are between '['s and ']'s.
= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =
Akane Tendo has having a bad day. During lunch that mysterious woman
appeared, afterwards, Shampoo, Ukyou, and Kodachi came by demanding to know
where Ranma was. Of course, one of Akane's friends had to make a comment
about the mysterious woman to them, gleefully mentioning that the woman
didn't even mention them in her 'talk' with Akane about Ranma....
The end result was a brawl. It started when Shampoo, Ukyou, and
Kodachi started arguing about who should get Ranma. Which erupted into
actual blows when the insults got too much for all four girls. It got
even worse when Mouse came by to defend Shampoo, followed by Ryoga,
who showed up to defend Akane, and matters really got out of hand when
Kuno showed up trying to date with Akane since Ranma wasn't around.
The brawl was only stopped when Hinako-sensei sucked the battle-auras
out of everyone. Akane liked to think she gave as good as she got.
But all she got was a black eye, some bruises, and a torn dress.
Still the fight did let her vent some of her anger. She had
manage to tag both Shampoo and Ukyou during the fight, so the
afternoon was not a complete loss. As she approached home, she noticed
that something was wrong...
The house was too quiet as she entered. When she called out that
she was home, her father told her to come to the dining room. When she
arrived, she was surprised to see Ranma's mother, Nodoka, sitting
beside her husband, Genma, who was in human form. There was such
sadness in Nodoka's eyes that Akane's knees to begin to buckle. Even
before she fully sat down, Akane had to ask, "Ranma's not coming back,
is he? He's..."
Seeing the pain and hurt on Akane's face, Nodoka finished for her
by saying, "Dead? No, my son is not dead... Although, it might have
been better for him, if he was."
"Nani?!?!?" exclaimed Akane. "How dare you say that?!?!?!?"
"Because at the moment, my dear," Nodoka explained gently,
"Ranma's in Hell."
"Hell?" Nabiki responded too quickly. "There's no such thing."
Eagerly Akane asked, "Then Ranma is alive? How do you know?"
"Well," Nodoka replied, "I found out this morning...."
= - = - = - = - =
Nodoka sighed as she finished cleaning up the dishes from her
breakfast. The house was quiet. Some would say too quiet and Nodoka
would agree with them. She knew why the house was silent. It was a
punishment. A curse...
Kami-sama was punishing her for the huge *mistake* she made when
she allowed Genma to take her son, her *only* son, *away* *from* *her*
on an extended training trip. That happened ten years, one month, one
week, two days, and forty minutes ago. She had been paying for that
mistake every moment since, with a quiet house, a cold bed, and no one
to truly confide in.
All her former friends couldn't believe what she had *done*. They
all looked at her with pity and sadness. She tried to explain but her
response about honor, duty, and the hope that her son would be a 'man
among men' began to sound as hollow as the house after a few years...
Oh, she made some attempts to locate her husband and son but all
she got for her trouble were rumors, pity, and bills. In desperation,
she had went to the Tendo Dojo two week ago in hope that Soun Tendo,
an old friend of her husband, might know where he and her son was...
After all, besides cooking and eating, the other only thing Genma
respected was the martial arts. He had trained with Soun for a long
time, and they could considered themselves as brothers, even promised
their children would on day marry in order to truly unite them. But
all she found was her husband and son missing, a tame panda bear, a
truly tomboyish girl with red hair, and Soun's three daughters. who
needed a mother's firm hand, although the eldest, Kasumi, seemed to be
all right, unlike the other two.
As she headed for the door to spend the day with Kasumi, she
noticed two men waiting for her there. The man on the right was a
stranger. The man on the left was Master Po, the elderly Shaolin
priest from the temple down the street. Nodoka had visited the Shaolin
temple a number of times since Genma and Ranma had left her. She found
comfort there. In all her time there, she never heard nor seen Master
Po leaving his beloved temple, much less associated with strangers...
As she opened the door, Master Po asked if they could speak with
her. Intrigued, she showed her guests into the living room, prepared some
tea, and sat down with them. After she and Master Po had exchanged the
necessary greeting rituals, Master Po introduced the stranger by saying,
"This is Peter Caine [KF2] of the Kwai Chang [KF1] line..."
The stranger, introduced as Peter, waved his right hand to signal
to Master Po that he shouldn't continue. Nodoka thought it was rude of
Caine-san not to allow Master Po to properly introduce him. She
noticed that there was a brand in the shape of a dragon on his arm.
Which confused her since only a Shaolin priest wore the dragon/tiger
brands on their arms. This Peter Caine didn't have the look of a
Shaolin Priest.
Peter said simply, "I am Peter Caine. Like my father and his
father, I too am a Shaolin priest. And I am here to repay a family
debit..."
"A debit?" Nodoka asked confused. "I don't understand..."
"Yes, a debt of honor," Peter explained. "You see, your son, Ranma
Saotome, helped my great-grandfather, Kwai Chang Caine, when he was in
great peril."
"Nani?!?!?" Nodoka exclaimed. "When was this? How could an old
man..."
With a slight smile Peter replied, "The events I'm about to tell
you happened over seventy-five years ago...."
Nodoka sat there as she listened to Peter Caine tell her how
Ranma helped the then-young Shaolin priest Kwai Chang Caine in the
American Wild West deal with a gang of bank robbers who were preying
on a small home stead... It was too much for her, so she motioned for
Caine to stop and said, "While that's an... interesting... story,
Caine-san, but my son is only seventeen years old... He... *I* wasn't
even alive back then..."
"Yes," Peter replied. "That's part of why I'm here. You see, your
son and Happosai --"
Nodoka waved her hand and said, "Happosai was my husband and
Soun Tendo's master in the Martial Arts..."
"Right," Peter continued. "Last week, Ranma and Happosai fought
an Oni..."
"Nani?!?!?" Nodoka exclaimed. "Oni are only legends..."
"Oni are real, Saotome-san," Master Po said matter of factly.
"To make a long story, short," Peter responded, "the Oni took
both Ranma and Happosai to its home..."
Scared, for some unknown reason, Nodoka asked, "And where do Oni
live?"
With a sad smile, Peter replied, "In this case, Hell..."
"But," Nodoka began to inject.
"Your son is alive and well, considered where he is," Peter tried
to reassure her. "After confronting the demoness who cursed Happosai,
they were able to make it to more 'friendly' territory. There, Ranma
learned how to travel from one plane to another... Unfortunately,
while traveling between planes isn't that difficult, navigating
through them is."
"You mean..." Nodoka asked worriedly.
"Yes," Peter said seriously. "Ranma is trapped in those other
realms... those other time frames... without knowing the way back.
But! You can help him..."
"How?" Nodoka replied. She didn't understand much of what Peter
Caine was saying but if she could help her son...
"Blood calls blood," Master Po answered.
At Nodoka's confused face, Peter explained, "As Ranma's mother,
there is a bond between you and Ranma... a bond of flesh... a bond of
blood... We, Master Po and myself, along with you can across the
dimensions to them, Ranma and my great-grandfather, to show Ranma the
way home."
"Home... Ranma... home," Nodoka stated to herself. Out loud she
said, "Of course, I'll help...."
Peter nodded his head expecting that answered but he had to add,
"There's something else... another reason why we came here."
"Oh?" Nodoka stated confused... What could be more important than
getting Ranma home?
Gently Peter began, "as we like to think otherwise, there
is more to our World than what we can see with just our eyes. There
are other worlds... realms... beside this one. But, in all the realms,
there is a balance between the two opposing, fundamental forces in the
Cosmos, Ying and Yang."
"Yes, but what does this have to do with my son?" Nodoka asked. A
premonition that she would not like the answer settled over her.
"You required that your son be a 'man among men,' right?" Peter
asked,
"Yes, but," Nodoka began.
"He succeed," Peter stated matter of factly.
"I don't see where you are going, Caine-san," Nodoka replied.
"To be a 'man among men,' means that yang must be greater than
ying, an imbalance," Peter explained.
"Yes, but," Nodoka interrupted.
"The Universe does not like any *imbalance*. It wishes ying and
yang to be even," Peter continued. "Thus the Universe took steps to
correct this *imbalance* in your son.... In this case, the Universe
led your son and husband to Jusenkyo, 'the land of cursed springs,'
where a person who *falls* into one of its pools *assumes* the *shape*
of whatever drown in that pool."
A thought, which Nodoka had dismissed, came back. Out loud she
said, "How... What do you mean?"
"It's easier to show you than trying to explain it with words,"
Master Po said as he took the now-cool tea and dumped its contains
over his head.
Before Nodoka's startled eyes, the old priest changed into a
tiger. The priest's robes fell off the priest-turned-tiger as the
priest-tiger walked on all fours around Nodoka and then returned to
his robes. Caine then poured the remaining hot tea onto the tiger
which turned back into Master Po.
"How?" a wild-eye Nodoka asked
"When I was young," Master Po said, "I went on a journey through
China. Not believing the Jusenkyo Guide, I was not as careful as I
should have been. So I fell into the Spring of Drowned Tiger."
"While fascinating, I final to see what this has to do with my
son," Nodoka stated.
"As I said, Ranma had an imbalance. The Universe corrected it,"
Peter repeated.
"Yes, but," Nodoka once more injected.
Gently, Peter replied, "The end result was Ranma fell into the
Spring of Drowned..."
"Girl," Nodoka finished for him. "And I had wondered if Genma
had had an affair with a Tendo....."
Seeing that Nodoka had drifted off into thought, Peter reached
into his robe and pulled out a crystal which he set between himself
and Master Po. Nodding at Master Po, Peter assumed a meditation
position facing Master Po, who took up a similar position.
Nodoka had thought 'Ranko Tendo' looked familiar... After her
second visit Nodoka had noticed the similarities between Ranma and
Ranko. Her fear was that Ranko had gotten the similar features by
being Genma's daughter... Now she realized why Ranko looked so
familiar... Ranko looked quite a bit like she did when she was Ranma's
age. And she had thought that the reason why Ranko was such as
'tomboy' was because she had such a poor mother... which Nodoka feared
was the truth.
"Even with a woman's body, I'm still a man, Mother," Ranma said.
"Always have been."
Nodoka's eyes snapped open upon hearing her son's voice. There
between the two Shaolin Priests sat Ranma in the air. Or at least, it
looked like Ranma, if he was blue and transparent.
Floating in the air between the two priests was a glowing crystal
which served as a center for a blue transparent Ranma, who was wearing
his Chinese clothes that he usually wore. There was a slight smile on
his face as he looked at his mother and said, "Hello, Mother."
Nodoka could feel her eyes widening in surprise. She whispered,
"How? Why?"
With a chuckle Ranma stated, "I've learned a few things while I
was in Hell..."
With some dread Nodoka asked, "Are... Are you dead?"
"No," Ranma laughed, "I'm just stuck Between, at the moment."
"Stuck?" Nodoka wondered.
"Yeah," Ranma replied. "I don't have anything to point the way
home...."
"But..." Nodoka began.
Ranma interrupted his mother with, "Yes, there is the love
between mother and son... and I do love you, Mother. Blood calls
Blood. That's how I got this far... But I need something, *physical*,
from *this* Time to get back to the *proper* time frame..."
"That something," Peter injected, "must tie your son and you
together."
"The Saotome family sword," Nodoka realized out loud. Since she
was preparing to leave, she was carrying the sword on her back as she
did whenever she left the house. She reached behind her back,
uncovered the sword and passed it onto Ranma without thought.
When Ranma's ghost hands touched the sword, the sword began to
glow the same color as Ranma did. Nodoka absently noted that Ranma's
touch was both soothing and warm... like her father's was. After a
brief flash, the Saotome family sword became as transparent as Ranma.
"Thank you, Mother," Ranma said heart-fully. "I hope I'll make you
proud..."
With that the ghost of Ranma disappeared.
"Ranma," Nodoka cried at seeing her son disappear. Master Po took
Nodoka into his arms until she regained control over herself.
Once she was more composed, Nodoka asked Peter about what he knew
of Ranma. Peter told her about how Ranma had also helped his father when
he was Peter's age and what he knew about Ranma's life before these
events befall him. He told her about Ukyou, the Neko-ken, Jusenkyo --
mention that Genma turned into a panda, Shampoo, and about his love
and forced engagement with Akane Tendo.
When Peter finished, Nodoka excused herself, got a thermos filled
with hot water, and said, "You understand... I have to check *this* for
myself..."
Peter and Master Po just nodded as Nodoka headed towards the Tendo
Dojo.
= - = - = - = - =
Akane smiled when Nodoka said that Ranma loved her... and she
loved the baka too. After Nodoka finished, Akane asked, "So when
will Ranma be home?"
"I don't know, Akane," Nodoka replied. "As I understand it, the
sword will only point Ranma in the right direction. He will have to
find the natural bridges that connect the various realms together on
his own. Caine-san called them, 'portals' and 'gateways,' and some of
them must be used in the certain order..."
"Certain order, Auntie?" Nabiki asked intrigued. "What happens if
Ranma doesn't..."
Akane shot her sister a dirty look and quickly waited for
Nodoka's answer which was, "According to Caine-san, these 'bridges'
not only connect between here and there, but between the Past and the
Future..."
"The Future?" Nabiki exclaimed as she thought of what she could
do with the money she could make if she knew the Future.
"Yes, and the Past," Nodoka stated. "That's how Ranma was able to
help Caine-san's family. Ranma will have to go through a number of
'bridges,' some which connect to the Past others to the Future, in
order to get home."
"So it's just a question of time," Akane stated out loud. To
herself she thought, //Of when *my* Ranma will come back to *me.*//
[=== End of Part 2 ===]
Appendix: Kung Fu Series
[KF1]
_Kung Fu_ (The Original Series)
Characters Used:
Kwai Chang Caine and Master Po (kind of)
_Kung Fu_ (The Original Series) Episode Guide
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/9015/kftos.htm
Note: The character in this story "Master Po" is in honor of
similar character in the Original Series of Kung Fu.
Series Overview: The time is the 1870s. The place is the
American Southwest and, in flashbacks, China. The
stories follow Kwai Chang Caine, a half-Chinese, half-
American Shaolin priest, an expert in the ancient
Chinese art of Kung Fu ("It is said a Shaolin priest
can walk through walls. Looked for, he cannot be seen.
Listened for, he cannot be heard. Touched, he cannot be
felt."). Caine had been raised/trained mostly by
Master Kan and Master Po at the Shaolin Temple in the
Honon Province of China. But he had to leave the
country after killing the Emperor's nephew (who had
shot and killed Master Po).
[KF2]
_Kung Fu: The Legend Continues_
Characters Used:
Kwai Chang Caine and Peter Caine.
_Kung Fu: The Legend Continues_ Online FAQ
http://members.aol.com/debwalsh/kffq1.html
Note: _Kung Fu: The Legend Continues_ is currently running on
the TNT cable network five nights a week at 6:00 p.m. EST.
Series Premise: Kwai Chang Caine is the Temple Master of a
Shaolin Temple where he raises his son, Peter, there.
(Peter's mother died when Peter was very young.) For
revenge against the Caine family, an "evil force"
destroyed that temple. Father and son each believed the
other had perished. Peter Caine became a cop and Kwai
Chang Caine wondered around America. Fifteen years
after the temple's destruction they were reunited in
the series pilot episode.
[=== End of Appendix: Kung Fu Series ===]
End Include