While preparing to finish ch2, I revised this. Biggest changes in the end.
Unless someone notices something, I consider this to be in its final form.
C&C requested, appreciated and archived.
Ties of the Ghost, Branches of a tree.
Disclaimer: I own a white desk. Ranma ½ however, belongs to
Takahashi-sama, and whoever she sold the rights to. Also,
some things came from Masamune Shirow's imagery, namely
from Ghost in the Shell.
**********************************************************************
"So how have you two been? How is Akane?"
"Fine, as always. We finally found someone who knew the
Hiten Mitsurugi... or at least bits and pieces of it. She's been
busy workin' on recreating it."
"Hiten Mitsurugi? The sword style she wrote about?"
"Yeah. Personally I don't see what's so great about an armed style.
I guess it's the principle of things, getting all styles recorded,
and improved upon. But nevermind that. How've you been doing here,
in this huge city?"
"Well, we finally managed to buy off Megatech, but there has been
some problems... Say, what is your pigtail doing? It's moving."
"Oh, it's been like that ever since I had to help one of the
Dragon Prince's ancestors. You remember Herb, right? He's all scaly
nowadays. Oh, His old man died, so I guess that makes him a King
actually... Not that there are many left of the Musk. Anyways,
I hadta drink this potion made out of a dragon pearl. Made me
lotsa tougher, but my hair's been like that ever since. The
color too. Not that I mind white, but the pink stripe is kinda
embarrassing.
"Dragons? Well, it seems like your life hasn't been all that calm even
living in the middle of nowhere. Still, you do look very handsome for
someone who is supposed to be over seventy."
"Blame it on Akane. You don't look bad yourself. Didya find a
fountain of youth or something?"
"Nah. This is one of Megatech's products. Like it?"
"It?"
"The body. It's artificial."
"..."
"Brother? you okay?"
"...Yeah. I think you should know, I still have some problems with
machines."
"...Am I safe?"
"I think so. See this? This bracelet is one of the gifts we got from
Joketsuzoku. It seals off the spirit within the body, and
also protects it from the outside."
"Oh. Lucky that you decided to take it with you, then."
"Luck has nothing to do with it. You know I can't go near these
modern brainy cities. Still, since this is meant for normal humans,
it only helps with about two thirds, but I can manage the rest."
"Stupid Happosai. Stupid thunder beast."
"True. Still, no-one deserved to die like that, not even him.
At least I learned the Raijinken."
"Is martial arts still all you think about, Saotome?"
"No, of course not! There's Akane, eating and sleeping. Oh, and keeping
the valley safe, and Akane."
"You already mentioned her."
"I know."
"I wish she would visit on occasion."
"She can't leave the valley, you know that. It was the price we... she
had to pay. Why don't you come see us instead?"
"I'll think about it. Anyway, since you decided to visit, how about
helping
me with something?"
"I know I'm gonna regret this, but... Sure, what do you have in mind?"
**********************************************************************
As Ranma returned to his room at the top of the building,
one of the many owned by the Tendo corporation, he wondered what he
had actually agreed to. Most of what Nabiki had said had gone over
his head, but the gist of it seemed to be that someone had stolen
something, but it couldn't be proven so he was needed to go check if
the supposed thieves had what... whatever it was they had stolen.
As Ranma closed the window behind him, he wondered why this kind of
apartment was called a 'penthouse' and whatever that meant. Still, it
was roomy, so he figured he could do some exercising there.
But first...
Ranma took his backpack from the closet, opened it and
took a small box out. It was an otherwise plain wooden box, except
that it had a peculiar ornate lock and a pattern carved on the lid.
Ranma had always thought it was slightly disturbing, since it seemed
to look slightly different every time you looked at it. He unlocked
the box and looked at the array of rings, jewels, vials of liquid
and various other items, many of which seemed to shine, as with
internal light, much like his hair did nowadays.
"Who woulda ever thought I'd be carrying around this much jewelry!
Not even Pantyhose had this much..."
Ranma shook his head, dismissing the sad memories, took out
a translucent bottle and a silver plate, on which he poured the
contents of the bottle.
Kneeling in front of the plate of clear liquid, he spoke:
"Through the bond that binds us, I call upon the seal, the guardian
of the springs, answer my call and appear before me!"
The water shimmered, and a translucent apparition appeared,
floating above the plate; An image of a woman, of an unearthy beauty,
with long, deep blue hair. Truly, a visage of greatest beauty...
only marred by the fact that she was wearing a worn gi.
"To my protector's call I answer. Hello, Ranma."
"Hello, love. Caught you on a bad time?"
"Not really," she said, then closed her eyes. As she opened them,
she was wearing a pastel yellow sundress. "I was finishing, anyway."
"Nabiki misses you. She even considered visiting."
"I suppose that's an improvement. She used to be so afraid of all this."
"Well, I guess she's bored, too. I mean, our lives haven't been exactly
dull, have they? It's been, what? at least two years since the last
crisis."
"Two and a half. Oh, Ranma, I wish you would return, I miss you already."
"Me too, Akane. It'll only be a few weeks, visiting everybody. Besides,
we have the plate and the water."
"...I guess. Still, be careful not to get any of that water on you!
I don't want more people looking like I used to around."
"I will. Farewell, for now, my lady"
"Farewell, my champion. I love you", Akane said, reaching with her hand
towards Ranma.
"I love you too." Ranma responded, also reaching out, until their
fingertips touched...
And then, the image faded. Ranma stood still for a few moments, before
shaking his head. He then carefully, ever so carefully poured the
contents of the plate into the bottle and placed both of the objects
back into the box, closing and locking it.
Later, the phone rang. As Ranma instinctively reached out towards
it, he was unprepared as tiny arcs of electricity lashed between his
hand and the receiver, causing him to retract his hand. Now more awake,
he tried again, with better success.
"Hello?"
"Ranma! It's me, Nabiki! I just thought of something and, well, just
come to Megatech R&D lab 16 - no, you don't know where that is... Wait!
I'll just send someone to pick you up. Byebye!"
Puzzled, Ranma closed the phone. What was that all about?
Nabiki was giddy with excitement. It had been so long since
the last time she had seen what her old friends were capable of,
and now...
Who knows, maybe she would actually visit the valley. She hadn't
actually even been there ever before.
"Upload Complete. If I may ask, miss Tendo, why did we just insert
our advanced close combat protocols to a prototype," A woman in a
labcoat, technician of some sort, Nabiki didn't bother with the
details, asked.
"Killing two birds with one stone," Nabiki said softly, then
with a firmer voice "I want to see whether the new synthetics are
worth the investments we placed in them."
The hydraulic door to the lab opened, and two people entered:
A pigtailed man with white hair and a tall woman with red, spiky
hair.
"I hope you're not planning on wrecking my creation," the woman
stated. "I'd hate to see anything happening to this, even if
it's just a concept prototype."
"Oh, don't worry, Hakubi-sensei, if it breaks, I'll grant you
that research money you've been pleading for" came Nabiki's
reply. She was going to grant it anyway, but now she'd get
an excuse.
"So, what's up, Nabiki?"
"Evening, Saotome. Rude as always," Nabiki said, grinning.
"Actually I was hoping you could give me a demonstration.
This is our latest prototype, made with the technology
that was stolen," Nabiki explained, gesturing towards
a figure lying on a table. "It's our fastest and strongest
model, also, well armored, being a model built for combat."
Nabiki paused, grinning like the cheshire cat.
"I'd like you to fight it."
"What?!" the technician exclaimed, "You can't let a human fight
that thing! He'll be ripped to pieces!"
"Oh, Ranma's no ordinary man. I think he can handle it, can't
you, Ranma?"
"Sure, I never lose," came the automatic reply, even before
he'd had a chance to look at the thing. It was white, humanoid
and pretty stylish, like a miniature mecha from one of those
animations. It had a T-shaped cross of what looked like some
sort of dark glass, covering the area where eyes and nose would
have been on a human, ending where it's mouth would have been.
"But why?"
Nabiki took a few steps closer, speaking silently.
"Because I'd be much happier if I knew you'd had some experience
with fighting machines. Also, we'd get to test both our latest
technology and latest combat software in practice, I'd get to
see you in action, a treat even for an old woman like myself,
and... because I ask you to. Please?"
What reluctance Ranma might had have, dissolved as he heard
Nabiki, of all people, using the word 'please'.
"Well then, shall we go to the testing area. Hakubi-sensei?"
The aforementioned scientist, who had been watching Ranma
intently trying to figure out what model he was, which was hard to
determine, since his face had the slight asymmetry, which kept the
face from looking synthetic, a sure sign of expensive custom design,
shook out of his reverie.
She sighed, berating herself for being so unattentive. The shining
hair should've been a dead giveaway in the first place. She must
have been tired from all this late-night work, if she missed an
obvious sign like that. She acknowledged hearing her boss's command,
took a remote used with the test models and commanded the android
to start moving.
***
Ranma faced his opponent in a large, gunmetal gray chamber,
which was only brightened by the yellow crosses painted on the
walls. His opponent had taken a contemporary stance, legs
shoulder's width apart, hands held loosely in front of him. The
perfect balance of the thing was pretty creepy. Sure, he had
fought people with battlesuits before, but they had always had a
human in them. This thing gave him the creeps. And Nabiki had asked
him to not wreck it too badly. with a snort, Ranma took a crane
stance. Nabiki had wanted a show, and it wouldn't do to dissappoint
a lady, especially when she was his sister-in-law too. A crackle
from a hidden speaker, Nabiki's voice asking whether he was ready.
Ranma glanced towards the thick glass separating the control room
from the testing space, and gave a thumbs up sign.
Doctor Hakubi wondered what was the point in all this. True,
it might be useful to see the prototype's performance in a more
practical situation, but since it was the ultimate high-tech, at
least five years ahead of the competition, it didn't make much of
a sense to test it against an inferior model, e.g. anything older
than what it was. And this guy had a ghost, was an associate of
miss Tendo's, even!
"Uh, Miss Tendo, I guess we'll be doing the repairs on your...
friend, afterwards, or is his body contracted elsewhere?"
"Repairs? Oh, yeah. We'll do all the repairs he needs. Just watch
and record everything. This should be interesting."
The scientist watched in amazement as her employer leaned back
in her chair and started munching popcorn.
"Hit it."
As the order came, the technician tapped a button and commanded the
android to attack.
***
The android charged, it's movements swift and sure. Ranma
leaped, using the android's outstretched hand as a stepping board,
deciding to visit it's head on the way and somersaulted from there,
landing to face the back of the thing. It wasn't too shabby. Very
strong and fast, nowhere near his level, though. It's form was
unnaturally perfect, though. not a single wasted movement, he thought,
waiting for it's next move.
As the two continued their melee, Ranma went to his trademark
'dodge and weave' routine, occasionally opting to take more
interesting routes. Spinning, jumping and sliding past his mechanical
opponent, he was reminded of the more human challenges he'd had,
whatshisname, Kuno something, being the worst example of the primary
weakness of his mechanical opponent. Although it seemed to know at
least four or five complementary martial arts styles close to their
mathematical perfection, it's form was too perfect. All the variations
from the textbook forms were small, only adapting to opponent's size
and location, with no consideration for style. Still, it was kinda
fun to watch.
With the next pass of his opponent, Ranma decided to hit it few
times, in order to determine it's defence. It managed to block the
spinning roundhouse and the following palm heel, but missed seven of
the following thirteen kicks and punches, as well as the leg
sweep-flip kick combination which threw it back for decent seven
meters, landing with a resounding clang.
"Heh, how 'bout that," Ranma commented, grinning. A decent
exercise, Though he wasn't even sweating yet. Then... he felt,
something. A presence. Something like a spirit, but a bit more. There!
In the corner! A shape of a man, dressed in a worn dougi, wearing a
red headband, was looking intently at the fight. As he noticed Ranma
staring at him, he slowly vanished, turning translucent before
disappearing. Then, the fist of the android impacted on Ranma's cheek.
From the newly-created dent in the wall, Ranma looked at the
android with bit more respect. It had some serious strength! Probably
around what Ryoga had had before he settled down. Still, he frowned,
he hadn't really felt a thing. Barely something like being hit by a
feather. Must have been because of the pearl potion. Even then, it had
made him look bad in front of audience, family, even!
Pulling himself free from the wall, all thoughts about keeping
the android intact forgotten, Ranma leaped in front of the offender.
"Now you've done it! They wanted a show, I'll give them a show, even
with a little dance! TENMA RANBU!"
With that, Ranma charged at the android, hitting it with an
unorthodox combination of hand slaps and heel stomps, each hit
decorated by a bright multicolored flash of ki. When he finally
stopped, after what must have been hundreds of blows, no piece larger
than his palm remained.
"And THAT's what you get for messing with the Grandmaster of Anything
Goes martial arts!" he finished, with a smug grin.
**********************************************************************
Back in the control room, there was a yelp of pain. "Are you all
right, professor?" Nabiki inquired.
"I think I just dislocated my jaw. The records! Do we have all that on
disc?"
"Yes, professor," the technician replied. "Full set of sensory
records, already sent to your workstation."
"Good, good. If you'll excuse me, I'd like to check them right away."
Nabiki chuckled. "Go knock yourself out. Be sure to notify me if you
can come up with something new based on the information."
"Thank you. I will..." The red-haired scientist trailed off. She was
already scribbling furiously on a PDA when she left room.
Nabiki, a wicked grin plastered on her face, activated a microphone.
"Well then, shall we leave? Call some people to clean up the testing
area."
The technician returned the grin, and started turning the lights off
in the chamber and the control room.
In the darkening chamber, Ranma was still gloating over his fallen foe.
"How 'bout that, Nabiki. Nabiki? Um, hello? Anyone there?
***
Kinda cheap, re-releasing this, even if it is revised... *sigh*
Got accointed(sp?) with a thing known to many as "writer's block".
I... *think* I'm past it, now, though. With good luck, ch2 will be out in
2-3 days. *sigh*
Hm. Lots of sighing, not uncommon for me.
Oh well, at least I learned not to set any dates. Seventh of june,
indeed...
"Tomorrow sees undone what happens not today.
Indecision brings delays,
days lost lamenting lost days"
http://www.ratol.fi/~eruuska/
Martial arts.
Enlightenment.