Here goes. My first work, delayed at least a week due to an unforeseen
rewrite. Now that I've got (almost) everything covered, I'm infl... ehhh...
presenting this on the FFML.
Enjoy! C&C appreciated.
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
Half a Timeline
by Rui Costa
rsmcosta@netc.pt
Fusion between Ranma 1/2 , Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon and Chrono
Trigger
Begins right before the episodes where Nodoka finds out Ranko = Ranma
By this time the Sailor Senshi have defeated Metallia and are waiting
for their next threat (disregard all other events from that point up,
and Saturn isn't awake).
Chrono Trigger time tables not applicable.
Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Ranma 1/2, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor
Moon, Chrono Trigger or any other works mentioned in any way or form.
The above mentioned series belong to their respective owners, whoever
they are wherever you may be. No infringement intended.
Also, I do not claim to own any other Fanfics either mentioned or
implied in this work. Their respective disclaimers may apply.
Any new characters not present in any of the above series belong to me.
Same for situations.
Now let's skip the rest of the legal babble and get on with it!
Version 1.32 29/Mar/Y2K(2000)
Half A Timeline
Act One: 'The Timeless Threat'
Chapter One: 'Sors immanis et inanis' or 'Fate -- Monstrous and Empty'
January 1999
It was a stormy night in Nerima. Whatever people still outside were
rushing to the relative safety of their homes, away from the hostile
weather conditions and the madness that characterized this particular
ward of Tokyo. No one had any idea of what was going to happen that very
night... an event that would change the course of history...
One of those people was walking down the street which passed in front of
Furinkan High, Nerima's most infamous high school. Being a student in
that same school, he was used to the weirdness. Poet-Samurai wannabees,
super-powered martial artists, cursed people, dried-up old mummies
trying to wed their great granddaughters to aquatranssexuals... the list
could go on. Basically, he was a standard Furinkan High student with
rain whipping against his raincoat and in a hurry to get home.
So, if a girl dressed in very skimpy clothes were to appear out of thin
air right in front of him, that wouldn't get much a reaction out of him
besides a blink. In fact, he would probably try to ask her on a date.
Unfortunately, he didn't realise that a girl had in fact just appeared
out of thin air right in front of the school gates he had just passed
by.
She was dressed in a 'sailor style' fuku with knee-length boots and
gloves. The skirt she wore was very short and was pitch black with
matching boots, which were trimmed with white. Her gloves were white
trimmed with black and she had a dark crimson bow on her back and
another at her front. The gem on her front ribbon matched her heart-
shaped earrings. She had a golden tiara on her forehead, which
contrasted with her flowing red hair nicely. She was also holding a
staff that on one end became heart shaped with a red orb secured inside
the 'heart'. The rest of the staff resembled a key.
She had been recently in a nasty fight, for she had several bruises and
burns. Her clothes were both ripped and singed in various places and she
seemed unable to keep standing on her own as she was leaning heavily on
her staff. The dirt that covered her was now washing off due to the
pouring rain.
She stood for a few seconds, regaining her breath. Then she started
limping away from the school, heading towards the Tendo Dojo. Had he
noticed that, he would have certainly turned around and helped her while
trying to make a pass at her. However, that was not to be.
So, he just kept going on his way home, all the time wishing that the
damn rain could stop even if for just a minute.
Tendo Home, half an hour later
Kasumi was getting into bed when she heard noise from downstairs. She
wondered who it could be, as she knew that after a year of malleting,
demonic floating heads and ill-tempered martial artists with a penchant
for massive collateral damage, the casual thief had learned to steer
clear of the Tendo Dojo. 'Maybe Grandfather Happosai returned... I'd
better go and see.'
Kasumi left her room and started heading down the stairs when she
noticed a staff lying on the ground. Puzzled as to what it could be, she
walked to the bottom of the stairs and picked it up. She examined it for
a moment, realising that it was a very odd staff resembling a key. Then
she heard a soft breathing noise coming from her left. Kasumi turned to
the source of that noise, which turned out to be an injured girl dressed
in a seifuku on her knees, leaning against the wall. She was wet to the
bone and her clothes didn't seem to be on the warm side either. Her
unbound red hair was plastered to her face, effectively concealing her
face from Kasumi's point of view.
"OH, MY!" she said loudly, putting her hand over her mouth while letting
go of the staff, which clattered loudly on the floor. An instant later,
she was kneeling besides the girl in the fuku, checking her injuries.
"You are in such a mess. Here, let me help you to the couch."
Kasumi put the girl's arm around her shoulder and led her to the couch
where she helped the girl lie down. At the same time, Kasumi heard noise
from upstairs. She guessed that the noise the staff clattering on the
ground made woke up someone.
"There, you should be more comfortable there. Don't worry, I'll get a
doctor. What is your name, miss?"
The girl turned to face Kasumi, while removing the hair from her face.
Without the hair covering her face, the Tendo daughter had a perfect
view of her wounded guest. For a moment Kasumi just stood there,
unmoving. Then she spoke, raising her right hand to her mouth.
"Ranma-kun? Oh, my... those clothes are so... tiny."
"Kasumi..." Ranma-chan breathed out, "Don't worry about that. That's the
least of my problems right now... Go upstairs and wake them up.
Everyone."
"If that is what you want, Ranma-kun..." Kasumi turned to the stairs,
just in time to see Akane climbing down the stairs with a bokuto in her
hands.
"Kasumi?" Akane said, as she noticed her sister. "I thought someone was
trying to rob us... Is everything alright?" As she looked around the
room, her eyes fell on the person lying on the couch. Her bokuto fell
from her suddenly nerveless fingers and she couldn't close her mouth, no
matter how hard she tried.
"Ranma!" Akane yelled while running the short distance separating her
from the couch. She kneeled in front of the couch, grabbing Ranma-chan's
right hand. "What happened?". She then noticed her fiance's attire and
her eyes doubled size.
"RANMA, YOU PERVERT!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING DRESSED LIKE THAT??" Ranma-
chan winced at the remark. Akane, now on the verge of tears, softened
her tone "And what happened to you? Who did this to you?"
At that time, chaos ensued. Soun, in his pajamas, ran down the stairs.
He noticed the way Ranma-chan was dressed and, in a leap of logic which
defied logic itself, started one of his usual crying fits, while saying
things like "WAAHHH!! My son-in-law dresses like a girl!! The Schools
will never be joined now! WAAHHHH!!!" and ignoring the obvious injuries
she had sustained. Needless to say, the waterworks were impressive.
Ranma-chan got the distinctive feeling that things were getting out of
hand.
Nabiki, clad in her pajamas, came downstairs next. When she caught sight
of Ranma-chan's attire, her eyes filled with glitters in the shape of
Yen symbols, which made the redhead's anxiousness go up another notch.
She also noticed that Ranma-chan was injured and, after an exchange of
words with Kasumi, ran up the stairs and headed to the bathroom to get
the medical supplies, just missing who was coming out of the guest room.
That someone climbed down the stairs. Someone everyone in the room knew
well, or thought they did.
Someone who answered to the name Ranma...
By then everyone was in shock. So everyone just stood there, looking at
each other, in a very awkward moment. Except both Ranmas. Nabiki chose
that time to run downstairs, almost bumping into Ranma, who sidestepped
to avoid collision. She stopped, flaggerbasted. She looked at him, then
turned to Ranma-chan, who was on the couch. Her brain decided that a
vacation were long overdue and called a strike.
The male Ranma immediately noticed his female counterpart and her
condition. He furrowed his brows in obvious disapproval. He then looked
into her eyes, as if daring her to speak first.
Ranma-chan tried to get off the couch but only suceeded in barely
sitting straight. Then she spoke.
"I lost my powers..."
All color seemed to drain from Ranma's face as his mouth suddenly went
dry. "You... you lost them? H-how?"
Ranma-chan's facade shattered at that point. Unable to contain her
emotions any longer, tears began to fall down her cheeks. Her strength
also seemed to fade at that moment, as she fell back on the couch.
The shock of seeing his female self crying, out in the open and in front
of everyone, was pushed aside as Ranma saw her fall back to the couch.
Ranma sprinted the short distance separating him from the scantily
dressed girl and, dropping to his knees, hugged her and offered a
shoulder to cry on.
Sometime later...
"Son, I hope you have a good explanation for this.", Soun said from his
place at the end of the table, after exhaling the smoke of his pipe from
his nostrils. He looked at both Ranmas, who were sitting side by side on
the left side of the table, along with Genma. Ranma-chan, now covered
with a blanket, was between them and leaning on Ranma, who had his left
arm around her. Her eyes were puffy and swollen from crying and conveyed
perfectly the fact that she had seen something terrible. Kasumi had made
some makeshift bandages after she had stopped crying, but the injuries
still needed proper medical treatment. The Tendo sisters were all lined
up on the right side of the table, Kasumi closest to Soun and Akane
furthest away. On the table was Ranma-chan's staff.
Ranma looked at his female counterpart. She was still zoned-out, so he
would have to entertain them for now. After all, he didn't know the
answers. Only Ranma-chan knew what had happened. But one thing was for
sure... her powers had vanished for real. The fact that the Tendos could
identify Ranma-chan as such was enough to let him realize that her
powers had truly vanished. Ranma then turned to Kasumi.
"Kasumi-san, could you please get a glass of water? Cold, please."
"Of course, Ranma-kun." Kasumi replied, while rising to her feet and
heading to the kitchen.
Ranma turned to Ranma-chan again. After nudging her he spoke. "Hey...
how are ya hanging in there?" He smiled.
She looked at his face and smiled. "I feel better now, thanks. Be
careful with the nudges, though... ya almost hit straight into one of
the nastier bruises."
"Whatever. Could you tell me what happened now?" Ranma pressed.
Ranma-chan's smile faltered and her eyes looked down. "Not yet. Gimme a
minute or two... besides, they need to know it right from the start."
Ranma grimaced. "No excuses this time, eh? Well, I think I can handle
this. I don't know about them, though."
Genma merely sighed.
Kasumi returned with the water and handed it to Ranma. After thanking
her, Ranma rose to his feet and stepped away from the table. He
addressed everyone. "Like you guys know, I've had this Jusenkyo curse
for a year now... None of the cures I've tried have worked so far. At
least not permanently."
He eyed the reactions of everyone in the room. Soun kept smoking his
pipe, waiting for the revelation. Genma remained impassive, already
knowing what his son was about to tell. Akane was obviously annoyed at
the seemingly useless banter about his curse. Nabiki, being more
perceptive, got curious at what he had to reveal. Kasumi... well...
Kasumi merely sat there, seemingly oblivious to the world.
Ranma continued. "Well, they never worked because I've always made sure
they wouldn't."
At this statement everyone but the Saotomes blinked.
Ranma continued, cutting off any possible reply. "I've kept this curse
for a reason and I needed to act like I hated my curse. Finding 'cures'
that were not permanent was one of the many diversions I came up with to
fool everyone."
He eyed everyone in turn. By now he had the undivided attention of
everyone. Even Genma and Ranma-chan, who had recovered somewhat, were
curious as to how he planned to reveal it to them.
"I can't say I like my curse, though. But as I said, I kept it for a
reason..." He splashed himself with the water in the cup , thus
activating his curse, and laid it on the ground. "The reason... is
this!" Ranma summoned a small, jeweled rod with a round orb topped by
what seemed to be a star from thin air. She then raised it high above
her head and said, "Pluto Planet Power, Make Up!"
Ranma immediately glowed and her clothes disappeared, leaving her as a
naked silhouette. She spun once on herself and a funnel made of greyish
wind rose from the ground up around her, reminding Akane of the Hiryuu
Shoten Ha. When the whirlwind stopped, she was in a fuku similar to what
Ranma-chan was wearing, holding a staff just like the one on the table.
Even the earrings, tiara and haircut were identical. Akane could have
sworn that when the whirlwind stopped there had been a momentary
distortion in the air around Ranma, but dismissed it as a trick of the
light, not realizing that it had been a disguise field kicking in.
Ranma stood there, gauging everyone's reaction.
Ranma-chan was depressed by her recent loss of that same power, yet
relieved by the knowledge that someone else would carry on and,
hopefully, succeed where she had failed.
Genma remained unfazed, even though respect was evident in his features.
He had seen it only a few times in the past, but that was enough.
Akane was dismayed. She was probably thinking something along the lines
of '*this* is my *fiance*?'.
Nabiki was scowling. How could Ranma, of all people, hide something like
this from her? Worse, she didn't even suspect it!
Kasumi was covering her mouth with her hand. This turn of events had
clearly gotten to her.
And Soun...
Soun was on the ground twitching with giddy eyes and a stupid grin.
Maybe it had something to do with the transformation sequence.
Ranma sweatdropped. She hadn't been expecting THAT one. Using the Time
Key, she rapped Soun a couple of times, enough for him to snap out of
his daydream and sit upright again, straightening himself out. No one
could tell he had just been perved-out afterwards.
Composing herself, Ranma said, "I am Sailor Pluto, Guardian of the Gates
of Time and Heir to the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling." She
flashed a grin and did the 'V' sign with her free hand. "Of course, the
last part I usually hide."
Nabiki smirked. "So... you really are a Sailor Senshi? How cute... the
great Ranma Saotome, a Magical Girl.", she said, in a sing-song voice.
Pluto and Ranma-chan gave Nabiki the evil eye, but she was unaffected by
it.
"Oh, my!" quipped Kasumi.
Akane seemed to make the connection as well. "What? Sailor Senshi? Like
those mystery fighters based in Juuban? They're real?"
Pluto smirked. "Very real, I'm afraid. I usually don't participate in
the fighting, though. I just watch over them and intervene when I need
to."
Nabiki saw an opening and decided to take a shot at it. She wanted pay-
back for being fooled around all that time. "So... you basically hide
from both ally and enemy. What happened to the knight in shining armor
attitude you have towards Akane?"
Pluto turned to Nabiki and shot back. "It's in everyone's best interests
that they learn to fend off by themselves. While I'm watching over the
Senshi, no harm will come to them."
Nabiki countered immediately with a smug look. "Is that why you spend
all the time watching the TV and goofing around the house?"
Pluto blinked. "Hey! Who says I goof around? And I don't watch over them
from the TV!"
In an irritating sing-song voice, Nabiki replied "With all the time you
spend watching the box, I wouldn't be surprised. You pay so much
attention to it that sometimes it looks like you are getting in touch
with the higher cosmic forces of the universe and all that is good."
Pluto's eyes glazed over. "Huh? How'd you... never mind."
Her reaction startled Nabiki. With wide eyes, she merely said "Wha..."
Soun, who had been watching the proceedings, was surprised at the lack
of reaction from Genma. He then put two and two together and got four.
He said, in a surprisingly calm voice, "Saotome, my friend... you
knew... you knew all this time, didn't you?"
Genma grimaced. "Yes, Tendo-san, I knew. It's a long story, though.
Maybe later... the kids have something to tell us and it's important."
Soun didn't shut up, though. "Don't tell me that..."
Genma, thinking that Soun was talking about China and, more
specifically, Jusenkyo, nodded.
Soun, not aware of the misunderstanding, reacted immediately. His head
immediately took the dreaded Demon-Head, with serpent-like tongue et
all. Turning to Pluto, he bellowed, "I WILL NOT ALLOW IT! YOU WILL MARRY
AKANE!"
Pluto yelped and immediately replied, "NO WAY! I'm NOT marrying that un-
- wait a minute." She blinked. "What brought this on?"
Akane was thoroughly confused by now. Nabiki wasn't much better.
Soun pressed on. "I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO MARRY THIS GIRL! AKANE IS YOUR
FIANCEE!"
At that, everyone facefaulted, except Kasumi who merely blinked.
Ranma-chan was the first to recover. She yelled at the top of her lungs,
which was, unfortunately, not much due to her weakened state. "Hey! I'm
not another fiancee! Why would I want to marry myself? Ewww, that's
disgusting!" Looking towards the younger Tendo, she added, "Although
there's someone else that would like to have that honor..."
Akane, not noticing the last part of Ranma-chan's speech, turned to
Soun. "Dad! Don't scare me like that! Ranma wouldn't marry himself... Or
would he?" Pluto twitched.
Nabiki remarked, "Gee, this makes a lot of sense..."
"Oh, my!" Kasumi interjected.
Pluto shot up and cut everyone off before anyone else could give their
two cents. "Alright, TIME OUT! Everyone quiet!" She turned to Ranma-chan
and said "Alright you, it's high time you introduced yourself properly
and then cleared things up."
Soun deflated his Demon-Head and turned to Ranma-chan, along with almost
everyone else. She gulped. This was NOT going to be fun...
Nabiki prodded her. "Well?"
Ranma-chan sighed. "Well, I'd better introduce myself first."
"I thought we knew who you were already..." Nabiki remarked.
Ranma-chan suddenly got a strange look. She looked at Nabiki as if
evaluating something, then looked at Pluto. She stood up and said,
"Well, you aren't exactly right..." Ranma-chan grabbed onto Pluto and
started rubbing her... assets on Pluto's side. Pluto immediately paled.
"I'm not just Ranma's fiancee. I'm Ranma's lesbian lover from the
future! After all, we, the Sailor Pluto's, have to stick together..."
Nobody noticed the grin she had painted on her face.
Soun's hair went straight up as if he was in the middle of an electric
storm while Genma's left eyebrow twitched. Akane felt faint and leaned
on Nabiki for support. Nabiki herself mimicked her father's reaction.
Kasumi commented, "Ranma-kun, you shouldn't be doing that in public.
It's just not proper!"
Pluto panicked and pushed Ranma-chan back to her place. "NO!! That's a
lie!! I'm nobody's lesbian lover!!"
Ranma-chan burst out laughing at that point. After a couple of minutes,
a wheezing, but visibly happier, Ranma-chan sat back up. "Sorry about
that, but I couldn't help it." After composing herself and, incidentally
allowing enough time for everyone else to do the same, she said, "Well,
let me introduce myself then. I'm Ranma's future counterpart, not
engaged to him, and I came from the end of this year..."
Pluto's eyes widened considerably. "What? Already? Why haven't I
foreseen it?"
Ranma-chan replied, "I'll get to that soon. As I was saying, I came from
December 31st, 1999. But the nightmare started before."
Ranma-chan shuddered, but held back the tears. "On Christmas Eve, a
creature that had been asleep deep inside the Earth woke up. It had been
there for millions of years, absorbing the power of Earth. When it woke,
it burrowed its way to the surface and made a rain of fire fall from the
sky." Ranma-chan shuddered again, barely holding back a sob. "It
destroyed most of Earth's surface. Entire cities were swallowed by the
flames. Only Mars' warning saved the Inner Senshi. She felt the beast
before we did. But the Outers... we were not so lucky. Neptune and
Uranus died on the first volley before they even knew what was
happening. I survived only because I had been on the roof and I saw the
blasts coming down. I had just enough time to transform, create a
passage to the Gates of Time and direct the Senshi before the blasts
started tearing up the city. The Inner Senshi teleported to the Dojo and
from there they quickly entered the gate I had created."
Ranma-chan couldn't hold back the sobs now, and her voice broke
constantly as she spoke. "I... I closed the g-gate a second before the
Dojo blew up... No-one survived... no-one could..." She then broke down
crying.
Genma surprised everyone by hugging Ranma-chan in a tender embrace,
letting her cry on his shoulder.
Ranma-chan's revelation elicited many reactions. Akane blanched. Nabiki
swallowed hard. Kasumi looked a bit shaken, which for all intents and
purposes was a sign of the Apocalypse. Pluto lowered her head and
muttered a prayer. And Soun? Well, he did the only thing he knew well.
He started a major crying fit. Nothing out of the ordinary.
No one dared to say a thing for several minutes. Only when Ranma-chan
stopped crying (and Soun had stopped flooding the room) did the
conversation resume.
Ranma-chan sniffed, wiped her eyes and resumed. "I remember that
Jupiter's skirt caught fire because of a burning flinder that got stuck
on her. That's how narrow our escape really was. Can you imagine Jupiter
jumping around, trying to put the fire out?"
Both Ranmas shared a snicker at that.
"Once at the Gates of Time <sniff> I set my Sight to find out who dared
attack us. After finding who it was, we teleported to its location,
unaware of the danger we would soon face." She then looked directly at
Pluto with haunted eyes. "It was a giant... urchin of some sort. We
started fighting it, but we seemed to be doing little damage. Then it
got tired of us and retaliated. It... it killed almost everyone on the
first strike. Only Moon with the aid of the Ginzuishou, Mars because of
her partial resistance to fire and I, because of my training, survived."
Pluto was shocked. Anyone who had the ability to kill most of the Inner
Senshi with one strike after pulling a stunt like that to Tokyo had to
be powerful indeed. Ranma-chan continued. "But it didn't stop. It fired
some sort of beam-like attack which killed Moon and Mars. I managed to
escape it, otherwise, I wouldn't be here now..." Ranma-chan wasn't
dwelling on details though. The beam had actually vaporised them. "The
beam... it also hit the Ginzuishou. When the Ginzuishou hit the ground
it turned to dust... I felt my connection to Pluto lost right there and
then... I beat a hasty retreat back to the Gates while I still had
enough power in me. I used the Gates to go back in time to issue a
warning."
The room was silent as everyone digested this piece of news. Pluto broke
the silence.
"How come I didn't see it?"
Ranma-chan responded. "The... thing emanates so much power that it
actually influences the Time Stream. I don't know if it's on purpose or
not, but it seems to act as a cloaking device of sorts. Any kind of
premonition skills are useless as far as that monster is concerned."
Pluto digested this particular bit of info. That meant she couldn't rely
on her Time Vision skill to dig up anything about the monster.
Pluto then spoke to everyone. "It seems that I'll have to beat it
personally then." Pluto turned to Ranma-chan. "Could you pose as myself
so nobody gets suspicious about my absence?"
Ranma-chan perked up. "Sure." Then she did something unexpected. She
smirked and said, "Why don't you take Akane and Nabiki with you?"
That took everyone by surprise. Pluto was the first to react. "What? ME?
With that uncute tomboy? Are you insane?"
Akane responded in kind. "What did you say? I can take care of myself,
you know!" Then she realized just WHAT she would have to fight. "Eeep!"
Soun interjected, while waving fans around. "But what a splendid idea!
Akane, you and Ranma are going together!"
Pluto and Akane turned to Soun and, at the same time, yelled, "Stay out
of this!"
Nabiki put her own voice in the matter. "Hey, why me? Do I look like a
Senshi to you?"
Ranma-chan interrupted the discussion before it could go any further.
"Stop it all of you! Ranma!" Pluto looked at Ranma-chan. "You are taking
them both with you. And that's final."
Pluto narrowed her eyes. If Ranma-chan was so adamant about such a
seemingly unimportant matter, then it was because she knew more that
what she was saying. Seeing Ranma-chan wink at her only seemed to
reinforce that thesis.
"Alright, they can come with me. But how are you going to explain their
absence?"
Ranma-chan smirked. "I thought you'd say that. And I have the perfect
plan. Care to hear it?"
Some time later, at the dojo
"I can't believe you actually roped me into joining this mad entourage."
"Shut up, Nabiki. You're not the only one."
Akane and Nabiki were both wearing jeans and shirts. Each one of them
also carried a backpack with clothes and other gear. Pluto was there
with a backpack slung over her left shoulder, while her right arm was
holding her trademark staff.
Both Akane and Nabiki had been reluctant to join Pluto in her quest.
Akane was rather easy to convince in that it only took an assault of
both Ranmas and Genma. Soun's initial enthusiasm turned to opposition
against his daughters' joining the party and it took Genma's entire
efforts to diffuse him. Predictably, Nabiki was a tougher nut to crack.
Only Pluto's veiled threat in the form of a grumble containing
'Jusenkyo' and 'Nabiki' together convinced her that maybe it would be
for the best to come along.
Pluto turned to Ranma-chan. "Let me get this straight. I was challenged
by a weird maniac who, as usual, wanted to sate his honor for some evil
deed of mine. At the end of the fight, I knocked him out, but I fell in
the pond and hit my head with some rock. I got partial amnesia or
something and I started thinking I was Ranko Tendo, Akane's cousin. Then
Akane and Nabiki, at Tofu's advice, headed toward some remote place to
find a rare herb that would cure me..."
Ranma-chan nodded.
"That is hardly believable, you know. But... this IS Nerima, the
weirdest district of Tokyo. In here, anything is possible. Yeah, it'll
work."
Ranko nodded. "Yup. Now go! Oh, I almost forgot. Cologne has access to
an artifact called The Wings of Time. It's in her village back in China.
You'll find it to be very useful...<wink>"
Pluto nodded. She would have to get her hands on it, using whatever
means necessary.
Soun approached Pluto and hugged her fiercely. "Oh, Son! You make us
proud! Take good care of my daughters."
Pluto managed to say something despite Soun's hug-of-death. "Ack!
Need... to... breathe..."
"Daddy, I think you are killing Ranma with that hug..." Nabiki
deadpanned.
Soun, realizing Pluto's condition, immediately released her. Pluto stood
there, gasping for breath.
"Dad, we need him alive, ok?" Akane remarked.
A few seconds later Genma approached Pluto who had, by now, recovered
her breath. "Ranma... Setsuna... take care. And come back alive, you
hear? I don't want to wait over thirteen thousand years to see you
again. Not that I'd be alive..."
Pluto let Genma envelop her in a hug and hugged back. "I love you, pop.
You may have made plenty of mistakes in the past and stuck me with more
fiancees than I can poke a finger at, but I love you all the same."
"I love you too, Ranma." They both disengaged from their hug and Genma
said, "Oh, and Ranma... take this." Genma gave Pluto a few scrolls. "The
only remaining copies of the Umisen-ken and Yamasen-ken. If you need to,
don't hesitate to use them. After all, we didn't promise never to use
them again, only to destroy the original scrolls." He smiled. "They may
be of more use to you than to this foolish old man..."
Both Pluto and Ranko stared at Genma wide-eyed. Then Pluto said with a
smile, "Alright, who are you and what did you do to Pop?"
Everyone laughed at the joke.
"Ah, well... time to go." Pluto leveled her staff away from everyone and
summoned a portal there. She stepped to just in front of it, turned back
and said, "Are you coming or not?"
That prompted Akane and Nabiki to act. They ran to the portal and
crossed it. Pluto followed after them. When the portal closed, Soun
said, "Will we ever see them again, Saotome?"
Genma merely said, "I hope so... either way they are this world's only
hope."
No one could argue with that.
Kasumi yawned, reminding everyone of the late hour. Soun said, "There's
nothing we can do to help. I'm going to bed. You can tell me all about
Ranma tomorrow."
"Well, I can't argue with that." And with that, both Soun and Genma
headed to their respective rooms. Only Kasumi and Ranma-chan remained.
"I'm going to call Dr. Tofu, Ranma-chan. Will you go to bed now? I'll
send him there once he arrives."
"Just a moment. And it's Ranko, please. Remember that."
"Sure, Ranko-chan. <yawn> Well, let's call the doctor... Oh, where are
you going to sleep? If you are posing as a girl, you can't sleep with
your father..."
Ranko thought for a moment. Then she said, "Do you mind if I use Akane's
room then? She won't be using it for a while."
Kasumi smiled. "Sure, I'll start working on it right after I call the
doctor. Tomorrow we'll move everything there and we'll shop for clothes.
Especially underwear. After all, a girl needs to use girl's underwear."
Suddenly, a HUGE sweat droplet mysteriously appeared on Ranko's head.
-----
Notes:
The title is in Latin and is a wonder of foreshadowing. I took it from
the lyrics of "One Winged Angel", FF7's Final Boss music. You know, the
one playing while Sephiroth is blasting you with his 'Super Nova'
attack. :)
Neptune and Uranus were found by accident somewhere between the present
and Ranko's time. No relation whatsoever with any of the original
series' events.
I want to thank my wonderful pre-readers, whose input made this chapter
a hell of a lot better than it was before.
earthbind@usa.net
James Merritt <delta@qx.net>
Louis-Philippe Giroux <dragon@anime.sobhrach.com>
Lunaludus Scribex <lunaludus@yahoo.com>
"William M. Dix" <wdix@uvg.edu.gt>
Eric James <azhrael@crosswinds.net>
'tsuki-chan <sekhmet09@BonBon.net>
MinakoRei@aol.com
Shadur t'Kharn <shadur@dwagon.sandwich.net>
KingofDucks@cs.com
Rebeka Thomas <beka_thomas@yahoo.com>
Emmanuel Luk <pbthhhht@yahoo.com>
Jorge Pratt Blanno <al709382@academ01.ccm.itesm.mx>
Damien Hailey <samas_1@hotmail.com>
Robin Etcheson <superpinay@hotmail.com>
Jefferson Natividad <the_prince_of_chaos@hotmail.com>
Chester Albert G Casta�eda <gab_ab@edsamail.com.ph>
GunKnight <GunKnight@home.com>
I'd also like to remind the following pre-readers that their mailboxes
are filled to the limit and so I was unable to contact them.
earth1st <earth1st@goplay.com>
If I missed anyone (I doubt), don't hesitate to contact me.
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
---
See ya later!
Rui 'Fragger' Costa
rsmcosta@netc.pt
"Martial artist + chick + going to Tendo Dojo = Another Fiancee for Ranma"
Extracted from Half a Timeline, Act One, Chapter One, v1.2 .
Sorry folks, it was removed...
---