First off, I need to thank Mark (Nighfire) for pre-reading
and putting up with all this crazy sh**.
Previous chapters can be found at
http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim/
(sofaspud is swamped and hasn't been able to put up chapter
7)
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: gs8.txt
Disclaimer: I'm not crazy, no matter what the voices say.
Chapter 8: Farewell, and Good Riddance
"Let me get this straight," Deedlit said. "Because of an agreement made unknowingly, and before the age of responsibility in any human civilization, and because of some arbitrary view of being a 'man among men,' Ranma has to disembowel himself and then allow you to cut off his head?"
"Besides," Ryoga commented, "hasn't it been illegal since 1873?"
"The honor of the Saotome clan is at stake," Nodoka explained. "Genma took a cowardly option once he admitted to losing you, but the honor was somewhat fulfilled since the man who was my husband no longer exists. Now that you have returned, I will retrieve him for the ceremony."
"I'm not sure I understand," Emeralda commented. "How is his death supposed to restore honor?"
Nodoka looked down her nose at the green-haired woman. "Of course a gaijin would not understand. I do not have to explain myself to the likes of you."
Ranma turned to Drizzt. "Did your people do anything like this?"
Drizzt shrugged. "While males, or anyone else, could be executed on a whim, they were never required to take their own lives. My people believed that their goddess despised cowards."
Since Deedlit's language spell was still in effect, Nodoka became enraged. Drawing a katana out of the bundle on her back, she leveled the sword at Drizzt.
"How dare you insult the honor of my ancestors!"
Ranma didn't even see Drizzt move. One instance, the sword was and inch from his nose. The next, it was quivering in the wall, and Drizzt was sheathing his scimitar.
"Spoiled children," he said, "should not play with swords."
"I've heard enough," Ranma said, standing. "Where's Pop?"
Nodoka shrugged, ignoring Drizzt. "The man who was once your father is in the care of the local zoo."
Ranma shook his head. "I should have known. He always went panda to escape any blame." Turning to the others, the nodded toward the door. "Come on, we're not welcome here. We'll find another place."
His companions nodded, then followed him to the door. Ranma moved to leave, but Akane blocked his way.
"We need to get by," Ranma informed Akane.
"You're not leaving."
"May I remind you that I have access to many types of destructive magic?"
Akane snorted. "If you think making some empty threats will move me, you're-" Akane cut off as an electrical current surged through her body. The current wasn't much, just enough to make her hair fly out in every direction, but the surprise was enough for Ryoga to pick her up and move her out of the way.
"I don't make empty threats," Ranma explained, "not anymore."
"Stop!"
Ranma turned back to his mother.
"If you leave," Nodoka continued, "you forfeit your honor and the right to bear the name Saotome."
"So I'm to give up my life because of a contract that was signed by Pops?" Ranma gave a bitter laugh. "I'm not responsible for his mistakes."
"Then my son is dead. Leave my sight, nameless one."
Ranma moved toward Nodoka, a scowl on his face. Deedlit saw the expression on his face, and quickly moved back. The others followed her lead.
"Listen to me," Ranma growled, "and listen good, 'cause I'm only saying it once. I am Ranma Saotome, the greatest fighter that this world ever produced. Nothing can take that away, especially not some bigoted psycho bitch."
*******
Once outside the gate, Ranma collapsed against the wall. Deedlit tried to help him up, but he was not interested in standing, just sitting there with a defeated look in his eyes.
Ranma's voice cracked as he whispered his thoughts to Deedlit. "Even when Pops told me she was dead, I kept hoping he was wrong. I always wished she was alive, and we could stop traveling. Later on, especially after arriving here, I saw how other people's mothers were, and kept hoping that there would be at least one person in my family that would just accept who I was, without all the shit other people were demanding of me."
Deedlit could feel the pain Ranma was feeling even without their link. "And now you find out she's just like your father."
Ranma nodded. "In a way, I guess you could say I was disappointed. All my hopes were smashed right here."(1) Ranma sat there for a few minutes as he brought his emotions under control. Once calm, he stood and addressed his friends. "There's nothing left here for me. Once we leave this dimension, I ain't coming back, ever. But there are a few things that I have to do first. I could use a hand or three with those, interested?" When he received the expected nods in return, Ranma continued. "I thought so. Conner, Emmy, how are your computer hacking skills?"
Emeralda smiled. "With the systems on this world? Are you kidding? I could get into any government's files, and not leave a trace."
Ranma returned the grin. "Good. I don't know about you, but I want to leave this world a better place than I found it."
"And how are you planning on doing that?" Pirotess asked.
In response, Ranma's grin grew.
*******
"Hey, Emmy," Ranma asked, "everything ready?"
Emeralda looked up from the terminal she and Conner were working at. With luck, the library wouldn't be tracing what is transmitted and received by the computer. Of course, Emeralda would wipe those records clean as well. Anything was possible with a mental connection to computer systems that worked with simple logical structures. Even better, Deedlit's spells made sure none could overhear them.
"We're done," she replied, extracting her nanomachines from the computer and removing her hand from the case. "I managed to hack into the police files. Genma Saotome already has a record, mostly several outstanding warrants for petty theft. If was easy to add charges of child abuse, kidnapping, and fraud to that. We also have both him and his accomplice, Nodoka Saotome, wanted for questioning regarding the attempted murder of Ranma Saotome. Both are to be considered armed and dangerous."
"What about evidence?" Drizzt asked.
"Easy," Conner answered. "Most of it was already there, attached to open cases. Those were crimes that Genma committed but the police never found any clues as to the identity of the culprit. Thanks to Ranma, we were able to connect him to the crimes. The questioning entry is the result of an anonymous tip regarding the suicide pact, which Ryoga called in a few minutes ago."
"Good," Ranma said. "Now all we have to do is steal a panda from a zoo. But that can wait until tonight. First, let's get rid of that gem."
*******
"We are being followed," Drizzt told Ranma as they stood outside the Kuno mansion, a half-hour later.
"I know," Ranma replied. "She won't be a problem. I have to talk to her anyway."
Drizzt shrugged, then produced the ruby prison. Deciding that they were close enough to the Kuno home, he handed it to Ryoga. Ryoga examined the gem for a moment, the stabbed his finger at one of the facets.
A bright blue light accompanied the gem's explosion. From the light formed an image of a tall man, dressed in archaic robes.
"At last, I am free from my prison," the specter proclaimed. "Now, I must return to my loves, to give them the comfort they lost so long ago."
Catti-brie quickly turned around, pulling her hood even farther over her face. Conner and Emeralda, never experiencing Kuno in the flesh, just stared in disbelief.
Suddenly, from behind, two other specters appeared. Both were male, but their attire was odd. One was dressed in the armor of a samurai, except for the rabbit strapped to his helmet. The other was wearing a girl's school uniform (the sailor kind), with aviator goggles. (2)
"Come along, Tachi," the samurai said. "Stop embarrassing the family." The other spirit grabbed Kuno, and both disappeared. "I must apologize for my descendants behavior. I hope it was not too disruptive to your quest."
"It wasn't," Ranma said. The spirit nodded, and faded away.
"What the hell was that?" Conner asked.
"Long story," Ryoga replied.
*******
An hour later, when the final detail of their plan had been worked out, Ranma decided it was time to deal with their tail. They were in the park, surrounded by plants in full bloom.
Without one word of explanation, Ranma stopped walking and leaped into a nearby tree. After some brief sounds of struggle, he dropped back down, the gagged and hog-tied form of Ukyo Kounji held in one hand.
"Is your restaurant in the same place it was?" Ranma asked. After receiving a nod, he continued. "Good, we need to talk."
*******
Ucchan's was still in the same place, and the look hadn't changed in two years. Once inside, Ranma untied Ukyo.
"I would have followed you," she explained, "you didn't have to do that."
"I've had too many things go wrong today. I didn't want to risk it."
Ukyo simply shrugged, then headed for the grill. "Can I get you anything to eat?"
"Eight deluxe."
Ukyo set to work on the food. "So why did you come back? Cologne told us something about your destiny, and that you could not return."
"Is that all she told you?"
"Well, she did mention that there was someone you were fated to be with, and that you were using your head for something other than ballast."
Ranma nodded. "That just about sums it up. Though fate and destiny had nothing to do with it. In fact, neither of those exist. The past two years haven't been easy, but at least I have control over my life."
"What happened? I want the full story."
Ranma sighed, and gave his friend a rundown of the previous two years.
*******
To say Ukyo was shocked at the story would be to say that Antarctica is a little chilly in the middle of winter. Even Nerima, where the rules of reality were a little strained, was nothing like the places he described.
"Ranma, if it was anyone but you, I would say they're crazy."
"I haven't ruled that out entirely," Ranma commented. "But what's been going on here? I was over at the Tendo's, and I didn't seen Nabiki or Kasumi anywhere."
"Nabiki is at some university in America. She manages to make enough off of the stock market there to pay her tuition. About a year and a half ago, your mother arrived and took a liking to Akane. Soon after that, Kasumi moved out so she could continue her education. She's at the University of Tokyo."
Ranma smiled. "What's she studying?"
"Pre-med. Most of us thought it had something to do with the local doctor, but she met someone else a few months back."
Further conversation was interrupted by the sound of the rear door opening. Everyone stiffened as an all too familiar voice asked for Ukyo.
Shampoo entered the restaurant proper, and was greeted by a startling sight. Ukyo was at the grill, and most of the people she had seen earlier were scattered about. At the counter was the blond woman, and sitting next to her was...
"Ranma? You came here for Shampoo?" Shampoo's happy dance was cut short by glares from everyone in the room.
Ranma turned to Ukyo. "What's she doing here?" he whispered
"She works here," Ukyo replied, also in a whisper. "She needed a job since the Cat Cafe closed, and I was the only one who would put up with her attitude. I did discover something important, she's more of an airhead then we ever guessed."
"What makes you say that?"
"I think she got hit on the head more than a few times back in her village. She's not stubborn, like we all thought, she's just too dumb to know when to give up."
Shampoo wasn't paying attention to either of the pair talking over the grill. Instead she was starring at Deedlit, trying to make some kind of connection.
"You," she suddenly cried, pulling her maces from who knows where, "You take Ranma away from Shampoo! DIE!"
Her leap was interrupted by the nearest person, in this case Emeralda, snatching her from the air. Conner pulled out a roll of duct tape and immediately began to tie the Amazon to a chair.
"I see Cologne's lessons haven't set in yet," Ranma observed.
"That's the other thing," Ukyo explained. "She's been exiled until she gets her act together."
Ranma just shook his head. "This is insane. I'm glad I left." He gestured to the bound form as the others began to file out. "Do me a favor, and don't release her for about two hours."
"Why not?"
"Because, hopefully, that's the amount of time I'll be in this dimension."
"That's it?" Ukyo looked hurt. "You're just leaving?"
Ranma nodded, and pulled a pouch from his belt. "I don't belong here, I don't think I ever did." He tossed the pouch to Ukyo. "It doesn't make up for ten years, but I want you to know I've always thought of you as a friend."
He was gone for a while before Ukyo opened the pouch. Inside was a collection of gold and jewels, easily worth millions of yen.
*******
"So what's with the Uncle Moneybags act?" Ryoga asked when they were a few blocks away.
"I pay my debts, and keep my promises, so far as is humanly possible. There's one left."
Deedlit smiled. "Jail break."
"I think," Ryoga said, "'jail bait' is a better description."
*******
It was dark by the time they arrived at the local zoo. It was near closing time, but they had no problems getting in. Once at the panda exhibit, there was little difficulty finding the one that was Genma Saotome.
After all, a panda playing with a ball and waving a sign saying 'I'm just a cute little panda' is not something you normally see in a zoo.
"Hello, Pops," Ranma said. He was a good twenty feet away from the animal, yet it still turned to face the voice. When it did so, Ranma had the confirmation he needed.
Of course, when the panda began to throw confetti and dance around the pen, it was a dead giveaway. With a leap the panda cleared the pen's fence, and landed in front of Ranma.
I'M SO HAPPY YOUR ALIVE, BOY! said the sign that was produced from who knows where.
Ranma pulled a small bundle from his pack, while Deedlit conjured a ball of steaming water. After she doused the panda, Ranma tossed the bundle of clothes down to cover his father.
"Get dressed."
Genma was dressed in seconds, then resumed his dance of joy.
"Oh, happy day! You've returned. Now the schools can be united."
"And you can keep your head?"
"Yes! And I can keep..." Genma trailed off, a shocked look on his face.
"Ranma smirked. "The gig's up, pops. I've met her."
Genma dropped to the ground, and immediately started whining. "But I don't want to die."
"Was he always like this?" Deedlit whispered.
"No," Ranma replied, "He's calmed down a bit. Ready for stage two?"
"Yes." Deedlit walked over to Genma, a glow forming in her hands. She touched the glow to his head. There was a brief flash, and the glow was gone.
"What did you do to me?" Genma screamed at Deedlit.
"Back off, Pops," Ranma replied, kicking Genma back a few feet. "My wife simply put a curse of you."
"Wife? Curse?" Genma sputtered for a moment.
"Yeah. A curse to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. For the next week or so, you will be incapable of any sort of deception. You can't lie, you can't clam up, and you can't tell a partial truth to deceive people. What do you think of that?"
"I think I'd be given three life sentences if the police ever get their hands on me." Genma looked shocked at his own words.
"I thought so, Pops." Ranma grabbed Conner's roll of duct tape, and smiled.
*******
It was the end of the day shift when a bundle was dropped from the roof of the Nerima police headquarters. The officers investigating found a middle aged man bound and gagged. The strange thing was, the man seemed to resist the officers pulling off the gag.
When it was off, the officers asked him who he was and what happened to him.
"My name is Genma Saotome," he replied, his eyes reveled some internal struggle while his voice spoke at a normal level. "I was brought here in this condition to prevent me from trying to escape apprehension."
Another officer approached. "We have several warrants for someone with his name."
"That would be me," Genma said before the officer could continue.
The police were astounded. A full confession to so many charges, they were bound to get some kind of recognition, and promotions to someplace away form Nerima. Someplace safer, like holding targets so the SDF artillery could practice.
*******
They managed to sneak back to the Tendo place around midnight. They didn't have time to draw a transportation circle, so Deedlit, drawing power from Ranma and Pirotess in the process, opened the dimensional portal.
Ranma and Ryoga were the last to jump through. They had to make sure no one would jump in before Deedlit could close the vortex. Screams of outrage were heard as the portal began to close. Ryoga jumped through, disappearing from the dimension. Before he joined his friend, Ranma looked back at the door. Standing there, in awe, was everyone that had caused him trouble two years before. Giving them a wave and a shrug, Ranma jumped into the vortex an instant before it became too small for him to fit though.
*******
"We thought you'd get stuck there," Ryoga commented on the other side.
Ranma could only shrug. "I had to make sure none of them would follow me."
"That makes sense," Conner commented. "When are you going to try to anti-curse-whatever?"
"Tomorrow," Deedlit explained. "Pirotess and I have to recover our energy first."
"We've waited three years for a cure," Ryoga said, "we can wait another day."
*******
The ritual was held in the garden. In the central clearing, Pirotess painstakingly drew the proper runes in a circle, both runes and circle were made of powdered diamond. Deedlit carefully extracted the two vials of cursed water from the storage case (similar to the storage boxes used in the twentieth century to transport plutonium).
"How's this work?" Conner asked.
Ranma smiled. A native to a world where magic was as common as high technology (and sometimes the two went hand in hand), it was often surprising that Conner had the least amount of working knowledge of magic out of all the companions.
"Simple, really," Ranma had to concentrate on his answer, both to put it in terms Conner could understand, and to make sure he understood it himself. "In fact, after she studied the scroll, Deedlit was rather upset that she hadn't thought of the solution. Every one of us has an aura. It's kind of like a side effect of the interaction between a person's body, mind, and soul. The curse's also show's an aura. What Deedlit is going to do is use the magical aura coming from the water to figure out what to remove from ours."
"So it's like you're trying to cut one wire in a bundle. All you have to do it know the markings on the one your looking for."
"That's about it."
"So what happens if the wrong wire is cut?"
Ranma shrugged. "I don't know. I also don't want to find out. Besides, that shouldn't be a problem. Unless the curse's magical aura is different from the water's, it should be simple to find."
"You hear that?" Conner suddenly asked.
"Hear what?"
"I thought I heard thunder for a second there."
"I didn't hear a thing."
*******
[Author's note: I was thinking of cutting off here, just to be evil, but I didn't have enough material for another chapter.]
*******
By the time everything was ready, Ranma and Ryoga still had not decided who would go first. Catti-brie suggested that they simply flip a coin. Once they agreed to that, she pulled about a dozen small coins out of her pocket and tossed them into the air. Snatching one out of the glittering rain, she slapped it to her wrist and revealed the results to the others.
"Ryoga's first," Ranma said after seeing the coin.
"You never called it," Ryoga objected, "what makes you say that?"
Catti-brie showed the others the coin. It was an old American three dollar coin. Ryoga recognized the face from the news years before. It was the president during the final years of the twentieth century.
"It's a sign, the pig goes first," Ranma explained, earning him a punch in the shoulder from Ryoga.
Escaping further heckles from his friends, Ryoga walked over to Pirotess, who splashed him with cold water, triggering the change. As his view moved down to ankle-level, Ryoga prayed that the cure was real, and that he wouldn't have to put of with the change anymore.
Pirotess placed him in the center of the circle. Two smaller circles were located at the five and seven o'clock locations, with Deedlit sitting at six o'clock. In one of the circles was placed the cursed water, while a bowl of normal water was placed in the other.
Once Pirotess was clear, a blue glow filled the area. The bowl of cursed water had a black glow to it, while Ryoga gave off a multitude of colors. From the pig came a tendril of blackness, matching the aura of the water. The tendril was guided to the bowl of plain water, and began to fill that part of the circle with another black glow. As that happened, Ryoga began to slowly change form. It wasn't evident for a few moments, but it soon became obvious that he was growing. His standing position as a pig has become a crouch, adjusting as his limbs were reshaped. By the time he was the size of a dog, the black hair began to thin and fall out. When his hooves reformed into hands, the companions could see that they were clenched in fists, and his body was quivering slightly. A few minutes later the glow faded, and Ryoga crumpled to the ground.
Pirotess rushed to Ryoga's prone form. With great care, they removed him from the circle. Laying him on the grass, Ranma looked over to Pirotess.
"You want to test now, or when he wakes up?"
"Now," Pirotess replied. "I'm betting that the spell was very painful. I want to know whether or not his pain was for something before he wakes up." Not saying another word, she poured two flasks of water over Ryoga's form. Neither the cold water, nor the hot produced any reaction, save causing him to wake up faster.
"Did it work?" he asked.
"Yes," Pirotess replied, tears in her eyes.
With a laugh, Ryoga jumped to his feet and swept Pirotess up in an embrace. After a minute, he put her down and turned to Ranma.
"Brace yourself, pal, it'll feel like you're being ripped apart."
Ranma smiled as he doused himself, them took her place in the circle. "If it takes the right part away, I don't care."
The procedure was repeated, with Ranma sitting in the center of the circle. The glow returned, as did the auras. Deedlit studied the light show for a few moments before letting out a scream. The scream was the cue for the glow to fade as well.
"What's wrong?" Ranma asked.
"You remember what you said to Conner?" Deedlit replied.
"About the magic being changed? But how can that happen?"
In response, Deedlit grabbed Ranma's pigtail and dragged it around so the shorter woman could see it's color.
"Does that answer your question?"
*******
In a distant part of the astral plane, there is a place called the Casino of the Damned. It is a large place, decorated to resemble the greatest Casino's of the twentieth century. Here, all manner of currency is accepted, including the patrons very life force.
Play was halted for a moment as a piercing scream was heard. Anger, frustration, grief, and hopelessness were all conveyed with that tortured sound.
A few prayers were said for the maker of that sound, then play resumed.
*******
A soft knock came at the door. Ranma ignored it.
The knob was rattled, but the door would not open.
A blast of magical energy destroyed the door, and punched through the force field Ranma had erected just inside the room. Ignoring the scattered debris, Deedlit walked into the room, a wave of her hand causing the door to repair itself. Ranma continued to stare at the wall.
"I though you were asleep."
Ranma jerked a thumb at the wall behind him. "How can I sleep with those two going at it?"
"What do you expect? Ryoga wanted to wait until the situation with Ashram was finished before they pursued a relationship. I'm surprised Pirotess was able to wait this long."
"And the cure," Ranma practically spit the word, "made even happier."
"Is that what you're worried about?"
"Worried?" Ranma asked. "Deed, you should know me better than that. Right now I'm up to twenty highly painful deaths I want top put Miang through."
"Only twenty?"
"I have to be extra creative here."
"Why?"
Ranma was taken aback by the question. "She took away the only cure I we've ever found. Because of her, I'm stuck as a freak."
"Freak?" Deedlit laughed. "After all we've seen, all we've been though, you call yourself a freak? Come on, Ranma, we've seen things ten times weirder than you."
"Yeah, that doesn't mean I like this."
"They don't call it a curse for nothing," Deedlit sat down next to her husband. "The question is whether you learn to live with it or if you let it rule your life." A kiss was exchanged. "I've heard enough of this foolishness. Miang has to die, but you're not the only one with a claim to vengeance."
A small globe of water formed above Ranma's head, turning him into her. Another kiss was pushed away.
"Deed, not like this."
"Not like what? All I see is the person I have loved in two different lifetimes."
"But-" Ranma's objections were cut off by a finger to her lips.
"No more talking."
End Hero's Journey: Guardian's Soul
Notes
1: I have a running theory that this is also the reason why Nodoka is portrayed OOC in a great many fics.
2: Kenko, if you're reading this, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.
To answer the questions that are sure to come:
Yes, I am planning on continuing this.
No, there will not be another book. Instead, I'm taking inspiration from another author, D.F. Roeder, and having further continuations be in the form of short story arcs, consisting of one or two (three at the most) short stories.
Yes, Ryoga got off easy here because he and Pirotess won't have large parts in the continuations. Since Ashram is gone, there isn't much else I can do with the two of them.
No, they most likely won't ever go back to Nerima. Though I might have them drop into other worlds.