I've tried to send this three times now, from my dejanews account,
but it just doesn't want to go out. So, I'll try from hotmail, and see
how it goes.
Dragon's Destiny
Part 7
By:
The DragonBard
**********************************************************************
When I first read this story for the bet, I knew that this was
definitly one I wanted to continue. So, since it didn't win, I figured
I would make a permanent series out of it myself, with MetroAnime's
permission. That is the origin of this story. There are a few others
in the bet that I'm planning on continuing, but if someone else wants to
do so, they can. I want this one for myself though.
If this story has any problems with the word wrapping, I've talked
to the people at Deja News, so it's out of my hands now.
**********************************************************************
I can still be reached at dragonbard@hotmail.com as well as
dragonbard@my-dejanews.com
**********************************************************************
Shen Long hovered in the Limbo that existed between Heaven and
Hell, outside of the various alternate timelines. When he had heard
about the bet that the entity known as Toltiir had set up, and found out
how most of them were involved with this Ranma Saotome, he decided to
look into things for himself. What he found, reminded him of those
Saiyjin who kept on summoning him with the seven dragonballs.
"Stupid name that, dragonballs. Why not Spheres of the Celestial
Dragon? I always hated that name." Shen Long muttered to himself.
Being one of the most powerful beings in Creation had made him a
bit on the overly serious side, as well as giving him a slight ego
problem.
Well, anyway, Shen Long had noticed a number of interesting
timeline appear in this bet. The first timeline, where the human Ranma
was a sorcerer instead of the superhuman martial artist he was in most
timelines. Shen Long had pretty much left that timeline alone, except
to alter some things that happened towards the end.
In the second, Ranma had been given the training and experience
necessary to take him to a level where he was beyond anything most
martial artist, no matter what their race, ever accomplished. Shen Long
had altered almost everything about that one. The idea had
been sound, but why bother with fouling someone else up, when you had
the tools you needed on hand anyway? Then there was the third timeline.
In fact, he had discovered that he was connected to that particular one.
In that one, Ranma, and his father, Genma, arrived at the Cave of the
Dragon's Fist, which was in fact a portal to the dimension where Shen
Long usually lived. Genma had made a wish, making Ranma a man among
men, as well as being greater than that.
As fulfillment of that wish, Shen Long infused Ranma with some of
his own essence. Shen Long had more than enough to spare, and quickly
recovered. However, Shen Long, among other things, was also the
embodiment of the force of Yang, of the male principle in the universe.
Thus, Ranma had not only been transformed into a genetically perfect
being, but into basically the very pinnacle of manhood. Of course, as a
side effect of the infusion, Ranma had gained superhuman levels of chi
and certain mystical/spiritual potentials, but that didn't matter.
Later, Ranma had accidently transfered some of his essence into four
young ladies. They had also gained certain enhancements (not the
masculine ones) gaining some of the chi/magical powers of Ranma. An old
rival of Ranma's, named Ryouga, made a wish to be stronger than Ranma,
so he was given some of the essence and powers of the demon-dragon
Tiamat. Add to all of this, some of the earth-bound demigods of this
dimension, known as the Sailor Scouts, had gotten into the act.
Everything
was going crazy. One thing was certain, it would be interesting. Shen
Long thought to himself.
**********************************************************************
Nabiki slid into the hot water of the Tendo family bath. All of
Ranma's fiancees had an interesting few days; with Ranma infusing them
with a portion of his dragon-enhanced essence, then Ranma coming back
from a near-death coma. Now, after Kasumi's wish at the Dragon's Cave,
even the new fiancee, Ukyou, had a portion of the dragon's power. Also,
they had to add the legendary Sailor Scouts to the mix. Fortunatly, the
Scouts hadn't gained the link to Ranma that the others had from being
healed by him. Nabiki sighed to herself, at least Kasumi's wish had
also restored Ranma to full strength. However, who knew what was going
to happen when you involved a spirit capable of doing the things that
she had seen?
Nabiki sank lower into the waters. As soon as she had recoved from
the chi infusion Ranma had given her, and found out about its effects,
Nabiki had given her subordinates the job of finding out all info on
dragons, especially ones with five heads, each of a different color.
Maybe they could figure this out, some way to help them better
understand things. At the very least they would have some information
on Ranma's opponent.
Also, there was that mysterious phone call that had informed them
that Ranma was given a special dispensation to marry multiple women.
<Of course, that part was very nice.> Nabiki thought to herself, as she
mentally calculated where Ranma could get the best deal for multiple
engagement rings. His mother had been adament that, since it was legal
now, he would have to marry both Shampoo, Ucchan, and at least one of
the Tendo girls. Though it had been obvious that she was hoping that he
would marry them all. And since he couldn't hurt his mother, Ranma had
agreed. Then all the Tendo sisters had demanded to be his wife. With
his mother looking on happily, Ranma couldn't help but agree to marry
them.
Nabiki slid out of the water, and began to dry herself off. She
stopped in the middle of toweling to look at herself. While she didn't
have the body of Shampoo or Ukyou, she still considered herself a very
attractive young woman. In fact, she seemed to be even better looking
than before. Her body slimmer, and everything seemed firmer. There was
a gleem to her eyes, skin, and hair, almost as if she was glowing.
Which was always possible, she admitted to herself, given the abilities
her sisters had gained from the chi infusion. So far, Nabiki hadn't
gained any 'physical' chi manifestations, like Shampoo, Akane, and
Kasumi had. What she did have, was the ability to 'see' things, making
her what some people called clairvoyante. Though, they still didn't know
what gifts that Ukyou had gotten from the dragon.
With a single finger, she traced her dragon tattoo down the length
of her body. It felt like normal skin to the touch, but it looked like
there were actual scales, dancing under the light. Nabiki shivered. She
had found out a couple of days ago, that
her sense of touch seemed to be enhanced along the tattoo, though there
wasn't a coresponding increase in the amount of pain caused by being
poked, or bumped. A few . . . judicious experiments, had confirmed
that. Nabiki sighed, and regretfully, pulled her fingers away from the
tattoo. <The others will be waiting to take their baths.> She thought
to herself. She went into the changing room, and began to put on her
fresh clothing, when a passing fancy made her grin.
"I wonder what Ranma thinks of premarital sex?" She murmured.
* * *
Ranma stared at the pile of notes in front of him. After his
recovery, he had asked Nabiki to gather any and all information, that
she could, on dragons.
("Anything my fiance wants." Nabiki said, while giving Ranma look
that implied just what she 'hoped' he wanted.)
Anyway, she had delivered the information just that evening, and it
now lay around him. It was mostly bits and pieces of legends and myths,
but it was all that they had to go on. The Dragon Notes collected all
of the information into an organized form.
1. Dragons are the manifestations of Yang, the masculine principle
of the universe, which embodies order, light, life, creation, etc.
2. Dragons are associated with the elements of air and water,
which are the elements of Yin, the feminine principle.
3. In Europe, dragons are usually symbols of great power,
sometimes having the ability to spit fire, acid, or poison, and shoot
thunderbolts from their eyes. They also have a tendency to gather large
hords of treasure.
<Nabiki probably just loved to find out about that!> Ranma thought
to himself, with a chuckle. There was a bit more information, but
mostly it was myths from around the world, such as where an Aztec god
called Quetzalquatal used to take the form of a giant winged serpant.
Another myth told how a god named Marduk killed the giant dragon called
Tiamat, and created the world from its body. <Probably holds some
meaning, but I just can't think of what.>
With a bit of regret, Ranma turned to a single sheet of paper.
Nabiki's informant had used a copying machine to get this bit of
information, but it was exactly what he needed.
On the piece of paper, was a picture of a five headed, winged,
reptilian creature. In other words, a dragon. The exact type of dragon
on Ryouga's tattoo. Ranma quickly read through the information on the
page. According to the title of the page, it was a picture of a
'Chromatic Dragon.' Something created by a 'role-playing game' called
Dungeons and Dragons. Each head came from a different race of dragons,
each with its own breath attack. You could tell what kind of breath
attack the dragon race had by its color; blue-lightning, red-fire,
white-ice, green-poisonous gas, black-acid.
Ranma pondered this. He had seen three of these attacks, and
noticed that there was a reaction from the appropriately colored head
when it was used. Ranma shuddered. If Ryouga had used his acid attack
instead of the ice one, it was unlikely that the Tendos and Shampoo
could have survived, even with Ranma's chi infusion. There would simply
have been too much damage. The deep freeze had mainly sapped the girls
energy. Being eaten by acid or fire, or burned by lightening would have
killed them, or at least scarred them for life.
Ranma put the paper down, and extended his senses beyond his body.
It was an ability he had discovered a couple of days ago. He could
'feel' the chi auras of his fiances, though it sometimes took a few
moments to get an accurate reading on them. Ranma quickly found them,
and grinned. They were in the dojo, and from what he could sense, they
were practicing martial arts, even Nabiki and Kasumi. Apparently, since
bits of his personality had been given to the Tendo sisters, Nabiki and
Kasumi had started to take up martial arts. Kasumi only trained in Tai
Chi, 'for her health,' she said, while Nabiki studied judo.
"Hey, if I've got these abilities, I might as well learn how to use
them." Nabiki had said. "Besides, it helps the figure, and I still
want to pay that jerk Ryouga back for what he did!"
Ranma gathered the papers and notes together into a pile, and went
to join the ladies. When he reached the dojo door, he heard a lot of
giggling, which quickly stopped when he entered the room. The ladies
were all sitting in a circle, with their eyes trained on their mutual
fiancee, and all of them were blushing, especially Kasumi and Akane,
while Shampoo and Nabiki had rather large grins are their faces.
"So, what were you ladies talking about?" Ranma asked. The young
women exchanged glances.
"Oh, nothing. Just girl talk." Nabiki said.
"Oh."
* * *
Cologne, the Head Matriarch of the Amazon Village, sat on the roof
of the Tendo Dojo. It had taken a while, but she had tracked down her
great-granddaughter. However, something was different
about her. Before, Shampoo had been very strong physically, but the
strength of her chi was nothing special. Now, Cologne could almost
'see' the chi aura around her now, even without using her aura seeing
technique.
It was almost impossible for anyone to have reached that much of an
increase in power in such a short time just from training, no matter how
intensly.
Especially considering Shampoo had never mastered any chi techniques.
Cologne had been planning to begin her in them after the Tournament, but
since she had left immediately afterwards, there hadn't been time to
begin her training. <The only way for Shampoo to have grown
that strong, this fast is with magic. Strong magic!> Cologne thought
to herself.
This worried her, as she wondered what power had given her that
strength, and why? That young man, Ranma Saotome, seemed to have an
even 'stronger' aura of power about him.
Cologne frowned. The last time she had seen an aura of power like
that, she had caught a glimpse of the ruler of the Musk Dynasty, Herb.
<Of course,> Cologne thought to herself, <this young man must be of
dragon's get!> Now, it was obvious to anyone with half
a brain, that Cologne's great+-granddaughter, Shampoo, had the hots for
Ranma like you wouldn't believe, also, the other four women staying at
the house had the same look to them, and also shared the same great aura
of power. <Perhaps this young man may be just what we need.> Cologne
thought as she watched Ranma practice his kata.
"However, he must be tested, first." Cologne muttered to herself.
* * *
Continued in 7b
______________________________________________________________________
Well, how do you like it? For those of you familiar with 'the bet'
and the original Dragon's Destiny series, this diverges just after
Kasumi makes her wish. It had similar effects, but it wasn't identical
to what happend originally. For one thing, Ranma was returned to full
strength, and the girls didn't get any power ups from the wish. Also,
as mentioned, the Scouts didn't get the side effects that the others
did. Though they do have a kind of bond with Ranma, it's nothing to
what the other girls have. What is the same however, is that the wish
allows Ranma to marry the five girls. Basically, since he is now able
to, he must marry at least one of the Tendo girls, Ukyou, and Shampoo,
for honors sake. As to why he marries the others, he can't hurt them,
this is still Ranma after all.
Also, if your wondering what Cologne is up to, she just wants to
get Ranma and the girls back to the Village. Since they've all agreed
to the group marriage, she's not as focused on it as in the manga/anime.
Also, she knows that Ryouga is still a danger to be dealt with, so they
have to either get rid of him, or get him to stop attacking Ranma,
otherwise he'll cause a lot of problems in the Amazon Village. So,
she's trying to get Ranma to the point where he can finally stop the
guy.
Sorry this took so long, but my prereaders (who I want to thank
again) gave me some great ideas for this chapter, which caused me to
rewrite a good portion of it. And you thought I was slow before!
(PS: To my prereaders, blame Eugene Powers)
Anyway, part b is taking a while, and since I've got about a ton of
stories in the works (now I know how Lord Archive feels) don't expect
anything from me for a while.
---
You can find my fanfics at Stardancer's Homepage
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/4630/
"To see a world in a
grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a
wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the
palm of your Hand,
And Eternity in an hour."
William Blake (1757-1827)
"Lord, What Fools these Mortals Be."
Shakespeare
You can find my stories at:
Stardancers Homepage
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/4630/
RanmaS's Archive
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/3007/fanfics.html
>From the Pen of the DragonBard:
****************************************************
*"There are more things in Heaven and Earth . . . *
*then are dreampt of in your philosiphy." *
*Hamlet *
* *
*Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep!*
* *
*Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; *
*But will they come when you do call for them? *
*Henry IV *
****************************************************
Yes I am crazy, I don't just act that way!
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com