The disclaimer, practically every character here is NOT mine.  They all belong to their respective company.  I am using a lot of them, so I can't list them all.  Beside, I am gonna add more series to the story later on.  Don't sue me.  You won't get a penny out of me.  Trust me, you won't.  For others, there are SOME characters I made up, but who cares?  I don't.


Ranma Crossover fanfic

first fanfic alert!!!
draft alert!!!
and...
Ah heck, read at your own risk.





STALLION

Chapter 9.

< Calm before the storm... at least, they though it was calm... >




Part 2




The breakfast table of the Outers was never a noisy one.  Today was no different.  In fact, today was even more quiter than usual.  That was because two of the normal three occupants of the table were absent this time.  Hotaru silently chewed her toast, wondering what could caused her poster parents to oversleep.

When she heard footsteps from behind her back, she quickly spun around.  "Good morninarrggghhh!  What happened to you guys?  You look like hell!"

"Don't wanna talk about it..."  Bloody-eyed Haruka answered in barely audible voice, whereas tired-looking Michiru just nodded in agreement.  Hotaru had never seen them so out of it before.  Both sat down on the table and began to dig in to the breakfast plates which Hotaru hurriedly put in front of them.  They kept their silence throughout the whole time.  Hotaru couldn't determine whether they were too busy eating or too embarassed to talk.

When she finished her breakfast, Haruka put it in the sink and sat back down on the table.  She eyed at her poster-chlid consciously, then asked in rather cheerful tone.  "Well, you seem to be in a good mood today.  What happened yesterday?"

"Eh?  Oh, me?  Heheheh."  Hotaru smiled.

Although this smile confused Haruka and Michiru a little, they were happy to see the girl looking so happy.  Indeed she was.  Hotaru had enjoyed her visit to the Tendo Dojo very much.  She made a new friend in Sasami, and got an almost-brother figure in Ranma.  For the one who had spent the most of her life alone, it was a very exciting event.  She couldn't wait to tell her guardians about it.

"Well, you see..."  Hotaru went on explaining about how she met Ranma, how he had protected her from the monsters, how welcoming his family was to her, etc and etc.

Haruka and Michiru quietly listened to the girl's words, nodding occasionally to show that they were still interested in her story.  It was very interesting actually.  It was nice to hear that Hotaru made some friends outside of her usual limited circle of acquaintances.  They kept nodding off approavingly, their minds elsewhere, thinking how happy Hotaru looked today and how that began to brighten their day...  "Uh-huh.  Uh-huh..."

"Oh yeah, and remember that boy at the ice cream shop?  He was there too.  He was Ranma-san's cousin.  And get this!  That lady who was with that boy?  She's an alien!"

"Uh-huh.  Uh-huh..."



Outside their home, silence lasted only a moment, as it was soon broken up by a upset scream of a short-haired senshi.

"SHE'S WHAT?!?!?!?!?!!!!!"




"...huh?"

Tenchi blinked.  He just felt the sense of dread running through his body.  He looked around his surrounding in confusion.  'No sign of Ryoko... check.  No sign of Ayeka-san... check.  No sign of Washu(briefly shuttered)... check.  No Mihoshi, no Kiyone-san, no grandpa or old man...  Not a trace of any intergalactic criminal after me...'

Tenchi wondered what could possibly had caused him to feel so scared.  There was nothing around him that remotely resembed a disaster.(3)

Right now he was inside the train going to his town.  Sasami was sitting on the other side of the train from him and Minagi sat on her next.  Ranma sat next to Akane, who sat across Minagi.  His martial artist cousin was currently busy telling the little girl some crazy tale about an island full of only men.  Tenchi never knew that his cousin could be so imaginative, creating all those unbeliveable stories.(4)  'Well, at least Sasami seems very interested.'

"...then he flashed his sword at me, and next thing I know, BOOM!  I was surrounded by flames!"

"Wow!!  *gulp* So what did you do, Ranma-niichan?"

'Well, Sasami-chan is really into it.  Gotta give Ranma credit.  I've never seen her so excited by a story before.'

Tenchi warlmy glanced at the excited girl.  She seemed to have forgotten all about yesterday when she almost faced the moment of her death.  He was glad to see her so cheerful after such a traumatic experience.  He did notice that her cheefulness seemed to be due to his pigtailed cousin.  Apparently Ranma had that kind of effect on people, making them forget about their current problem or crisis.  He somehow suspected that the Tendos' nonchalance towards Minagi's identity might have come from living with the young Saotome.(5)

Then the Juraian prince took a moment and thought back to when he was about to leave the Tendo Dojo...



"Tenchi-chan."

Tenchi turned around to see his aunt smiling at him.  "Yes?"

"Can I talk you for a minute?  In private, I mean."

"Um, sure."

Tenchi wondered.  'Now, what could she possibly want?'  He couldn't come up with any guess, even when he entered the dojo with Nodoka.  He sat across Nodoka, who patiently waited until he settled down.

"Tenchi-chan, I know you are a little worried about Ranma coming with you, especially with Ryoko roaming around there..."

'You have no idea...  It surprises me to say, but Ryoko is the least of the problem...  Washu, on the other hand...'  Tenchi shuttered briefly.  Fortunately, Nodoka didn't notice it as she continued her talk.

"...you did notice something wrong with Ranma, right?  I mean, he can't remember his own grandpa, nor his aunt!  After all those times he spent with them!  There is definitely something wrong with him.  I am deeply worried..."

"Aunt Nodoka..."  Tenchi took a sad glance at his aunt.  He knew how much she had worried about her son during his 10 years training trip.  She had every right to be concerned about Ranma.

"So, please, Tenchi-chan  Take Ranma to the shrine.  Father might know what to do.  Or maybe... he could get the sacred tree to help.  It always had some mysterious power."

"Well..."

"Please, Tenchi-chan.  We don't know how serious Ranma's condition is.  If it just stops at memory loss, we might be able to deal with it...  But if it doesn't... oh, I wouldn't know what to do if I lost him... again..."  Nodoka's eyes began to water and her fingers started to tremble slightly, making Tenchi slowly nod his head in sympathetic eyes.

"I'll see what I can..."



'*sigh* But what can I do?  I doubt the sacred tree can help, and grandpa really isn't much of an expert about this sort of things.  Well... Washu can help... but... I really don't know which is worse, Ranma having a problem or Ranma being treated by Washu...'

Tenchi again sighed deeply.  Last two days had been really difficult for him.  Sure, he had faced villains of the galaxian magnitude once in a while, but he rarely had to deal with such delicate situation.  In some ways, the task in his hand right now was harder than anything else he had encountered so far.

'Maybe I can ask Tsunami or something...'




"Urd!!"

"Huh?  Whatcha want, Keiichi..."  Urd couldn't finish her sentence when she saw Keiichi bursting into her room.  It wasn't his angry voice or upset scowl that made her stop though.  It was the fact that currently Keiichi was small AND female.  She nervously scratched her head.  "Eh... I guess the antidote didn't work, huh?"

"Darn right it didn't!  I have to go to work tomorrow, or Chihiro-sempai will eat me alive!  You got to turn me back to normal, quickly!"

"Alright, alright.  I will try again.  I don't know what went wrong though...  I was sure I used the right formula..."  Urd read through her chart again to find her mistake.

"Well, just do it right this time...  This is already fourth time you screwed up.  You don't usually make this many mistakes."  'You only screw up the first one, really really bad...'

"Okay...  Come back in an hour..."

"?"  Keiichi blinked.  For some reason Urd seemed less cheerful and playful. Normally she would joke a bit about Keiichi's predicament before going back to work.  But instead of being a smart mouth like she always did, she quietly went back to her work.  Although it was relief to see her serious about his, eh, her cure, somehow Keiichi was beginning to feel uneasy about this.

Not noticing the worried look on Keiichi's face, Urd put a glass filled with dark liquid over her burner.  "Well, I heat up this potion... and then I'll put that capsule...  Wait.  Where is it?"  Urd began to shuffle through her desk looking for something.  "Ah ha!  There it is.  Now, I put this in this potion... there you go..."

"Um, Urd?"

"Yes?"

"You are not heating up the potion.  That's your coffee."

Urd looked down to see that Keiichi was indeed right.  Unfortunately, the capsule had a specific chemical that would react with caffeine and form a substance that would...

Boom!!

...explode in intense heat.

"......"

"Eh, Urd.  Are you okay?"

"...fine.  I'm going for a walk.  I'll make you a cure after I come back..." Urd headed out towards the door.

"Eh, okay..."  Truefully, Keiichi didn't want to stay in the current form not a minute longer.  But seeing Urd so out of herself made him, eh, her unable to object.  The goddess was very upset about something, and was doing her best not to show it.  It would be best for both Keiichi and her to let her lose some steam.  'Or there is no telling what she might put in the potion.  *shudder* I might turn into something worse than a girl...'

Keiichi paused briefly, before stepping out of Urd's room to see the back of the goddess as she walked off.  Keiichi had never seen her so look helpless. 'I am worried...'

"Keiichi-san?"

"Huh?  Ah, Belldandy."  Keiichi smiled at the goddess who now stood behind him... eh her.  A brief question popped up in her head though.  'How did she know it was me?'

"How is Urd-neesan?"

"Um... she looks fine, but she doesn't act like it.  She already screwed up her experiments couple of times.  It's so unlike her..."

"...I see.  I guess she's more worried about Mara than I thought..."

"I guess so..."  Quietly the mortal and the goddess watched down the hallway where Urd was walking off a moment ago...



"*sigh* What is wrong with me?  Geez..."  Urd sat on a rock in the backyard of the temple.  She told Keiichi that she would go out for a walk, but when she stepped out the front door, the goddess no longer felt like it.  So she just walked around in the yard, until she got tired of that too.  It didn't make her feel any better though.

"Why should I be worried about that idiot?  Heh, a first-class demon getting kidnapped.  A passing-by dog would laugh at the story.  How stupid do you have to be?"  Urd continuously belated the missing demon.  "Just like when she was young.  That idiot didn't know when to get out of trouble.  Feh, lots of times it was her who got ME in trouble.  I can't believe I was a friend with that moron.  That dumb, insensitive, clumsy..."  Urd's words trailed off as a bead of tear ran down on her cheek.  Her mouth tried to move, but it didn't.  Even her voice refused to leave the throat, and only trembling squeal made out.

Urd hurriedly rubbed her eyes.  "Wha, what the?  Wh, why am I crying?  Heh, I am not worried about that disgusting demon at all.  Yeah, that's right.  I am not worried.  She got herself into this.  Why should I rattle my head over her?  I ain't got the time..."

"Oh really?  I am so hurt, Urd.  After all I have done for you..."

"Heh, what did you do for me, Mara?  You've been nothing but a...  AAAAARRGHHHHH!!"  Urd jumped off the rock in shock.  She quickly spun around when a figure launched itself on her.  "Aaaaaack!!"

"Oh Urd.  There is nothing to be afraid of.  It's just me... your best friend... let's get FRIENDLY..."

"Ma, Mara??"  She quickly grabbed the shoulder of the woman in her arms.  'Eh?  Wait, the voice is Mara, but she isn't her.  She's...'  "Aaaaack!!!!  Mo, mom?!"

"Oh my, you called me mommy!  I am so happy, my daughter!"  Hild(6) tightly embraced Urd again with a full grown smile.  Urd was in no condition to react as she was frozen in shock, but she quickly recovered and pushed the demon off of her.

"Wha, what are you doing here?!?  I got nothing to do with you!  You are not supposed to come here!!"

Hild put on a mock hurt look.  "What?  What's wrong with a mother coming to see her daughter?"

"That's not the point!  This is a temple!  You shouldn't come here!!  In fact, how did you get past all the wards?!"

The high demoness snorted.  "What kind of demon do you think your mother is? Those scribbles on some papers can't stop me.  I am, after all, a ruler of demon world."

"Whatever!  What do you want anyway?!"  Urd hmphed and crossed her arms across her chest.  Hild was a trouble and she knew it.  Urd knew that Hild sincerely cared for her, but Hild's status as the high demon prohibited her from any contact with her mother.  Urd liked being a goddess and wanted to stay as one.(7)

Again Hild pretended to look hurt by Urd's attitude.  "Oh dear.  My daughter doesn't want me around.  I am so hurt."

Hild wiped her eyes as if there was any tears on them.  Urd knew it wasn't true, but the pretence still bugged her.  She still held her ground though.

"Aaah, grow up.  You ain't fooling anyone."

"*snicker* Oh alright.  You have always acted so smart, ever since you were young."

"Feh, flattery will get you nowhere."

"Who said I was complimenting you?"

"Hey!"

"Just kidding!"

"Grrr...  Get out of here before I get angry!  You got no business here."  Urd turned around and started to walk away.

"Hmmm... that's a hell of an attitude, especially to someone who is about to give you a big tip on your current problem~."  Hild smirked when she saw Urd stop in mid-step.  The goddess just stood for a couple of seconds more, then quickly turned to face her.

"What do you mean "a big tip?"  About what?"

"About Mara's disappearance, of course."

"Hah!  Why would I care about that stuck-up arrogant demon?  It's none of my business!!"  Urd belated herself when she felt her eyebrow twitching.  'Damn.'

Hild smirked.  "Being a goddess is so much trouble.  You can't lie as freely as we do.  Now, if it was me, I wouldn't have a twinge of guilt of saying that, inside or outside."

"I don't care!  I am still not gonna hear your mumbo-jumbo!!"  Urd again turned away from her mother.  But before she could walk away, Hild spoke again.

"Well then your loss.  I am sure my minions will enjoy tearing your sisters apart."

"!!"  Urd quickly turned around with flames in her eyes.  "You wouldn't dare!!"

"Oh I would.  After all, I am a high demon, or have you forgotten that?"  The menacing grin on the demoness' face both upsetted and scared Urd.  Hild was right.  She had both power and position to destroy any goddess.  Even Belldandy wouldn't stand a chance against her without removing the seal.

"But the doublet system..."

"So what?  Unlike you goddesses, we don't care that much about our underlings.  If they die because of that stupid system, then what a pity, life goes on.  At least there is two less goddesses to get rid of."

"You are bluffing."

"Maybe, or mabye not..."  Urd froze in fear as a scowl slowly formed on Hild's face.  "Do you really want to risk it?  If you do, I will personally chop off those wenches' heads for you...  What do you say?"

"Over my dead body!!"

"Oh, so you will stop me?  How?  You are only a second-class, my sweet daughter.  You wouldn't last a second against me, much less stop me.  You know that, don't you?"

"......"  Urd clenched her teeth, but couldn't retort.  She knew well about Hild's power.  She wouldn't even be able to make an escape if the demoness seriously attacked her and her sisters.  Hild might let go of Urd, since she was the demoness' dear daughter, but Belldandy and Skuld wouldn't be so lucky.  Hild might not actually do it, since such an action would mean an all-out war between heaven and hell, but it was not a risk Urd was willing to take.  Defeated, Urd quietly spoke.  "...what do you want from me?"

Hild hummed a little as she took some steps around her daughter, then began to speak in a very cheerful voice.  "Mara was on a mission when she disappeared.  She was assigned to do a little research on a certain disturbance we picked up a couple of months ago...  I am sure you picked up on that too?"

Urd didn't reply but the silence was an enough answer.

"I was right then.  Anyway, Mara couldn't figure out what was going on, even though she was one of our best information agents.  So she looked through our old records to find similar occurances in the past.  Apparently she found something, since she went out looking for a clue instead of being cooped up in her room.  Very enthusiastic, she was.  In fact, the most of the council who ordered her to do this in the first place had already forgotten about that."

"Including you?"  Urd asked in sarcastic tone, but Hild didn't seem to have taken offence as she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey, do you have any idea how many documents I have to take care of everyday?  Ruining human lives are not as easy as it sounds.  Let's not get off topic.  Well as you know, she somehow disappeared off the face of the earth, so we got on alert.  I mean, how often a demoness as powerful as her just disappear?!  After a small research, we the high council had concluded there was something fishy."

"Geez, you think?"

"Yeah yeah, you smart-mouth.  There wasn't many clues left.  For all we know, heaven could have snatched her to find out our secret or something."

"Hey!!"

"Now, now.  I didn't mean it that way.  It was just a hypothetical suggestion.  Now back to Mara... we had discovered that just before she disappeared there were a few... abnormalities in her behaviors."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for starter, she stopped hanging around with Senbei.  In fact, she literally kicked him out of her place."

"Eh??"  Urd widened her eyes in surprise.  Senbei had been Mara's sidekick since... as long as she could remember!  It was very unlikely for Mara to dismiss him so easily like that.  "Why would she do that?  Senbei was one of her best minion!"  'Not that she had many.'

Hild shrugged her shoulders.  "I don't know.  We only got that piece of information when we found Senbei partying away in one of the hell's bars.  When we interrogated him he told us that Mara evicted him about a week ago.  At first we thought maybe Senbei did away with his former employer due to his grudges, but he doesn't have power nor resources to do such a thing.  He couldn't tell us anything much about Mara's wereabouts.  But it wasn't a total loss.  He told us that Mara's goal seemed to have derived from her original mission."

"Meaning?"

"Somehow she got very interested in... GINZUISHOU."

"What!?!  Ginzuishou?!?"  Urd staggered back, her eyes widened with shock.  Then she narrowed her eyes and quietly spoke.  "...what's that?"

Bonk!

"Ouch!!  What was that for?!"

"Didn't you learn anything in your history class?!  How can you not know about Ginzuishou!?  It is one of the most powerful magical artifact in the solar system!!  I didn't raise you to be such a slacker!!"

Urd stared at Hild with skeptic look.  "You didn't raise me at all."

Bonk!

"Ouch!!"

"I also didn't raise you to be such a rude child!!"

While Urd rubbed her sore head, Hild rolled her eyes and began to explain.  "There was an ancient kingdom about ten thousand years ago.  It ruled over the entire solar system absolutely, and peacefully.  Needless to say, it was a pain in the ass for us hell but we couldn't do much about it.  After all, messing with that kingdom would have meant a direct confrontation with heaven.  The reason wasn't just that though.  The Moon Kingdom had a powerful artifact that even we high demons couldn't ignore.  THAT was Ginzuishou."

Urd blinked.  "The Moon Kingdom?  There were people living on the moon?"

Bonk!

"Ouch!!"

"Don't interrupt your mother when she's talking.  Anyway, the kingdom itself was destroyed in a war with a faction called Negaverse.  But the queen used Ginzuishou at the last moment to fight off the enemy.  In the end, that one single crystal sealed away the entire army of the Negaverse.  Even I wouldn't be able to do such a thing."

"Wow!  Really?"  Urd was very surprised to hear this.  Hild was one of the most powerful beings the goddess had ever known.  If this 'crystal' had power that could do things even her mother couldn't do, it must be really powerful.

Seeing Urd so interested in the story, Hild snickered at her daughter.  "Not so much to be surprised.  Ginzuishou is what we demons call "a White Artifact."  Its power comes from white magic, such as healing, sealing evil, or protection spells.  Its nature is completely opposite of demons' power so it works more effectively against opponents who use dark magic such as us.  If it used the same attack, it would be more damaging to Mara than to you or your sisters.  That is all.  If a powerful being such as I was to go against it, it would be no contest."

Urd rolled her eyes when she heard her mother's last sentence.  "Geez, someone surely has a high opinion of herself."

"That's rich coming from you."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing dear, ho-ho-ho."  Hild put on a mock innocent look.  It was quite a disturbing sight for Urd though, Hild being a demon and all.

But Urd's expression turned serious again as she crossed her arms.  "So what's this Ginger-ale Crystal got to do with Mara?"

"Ginzuishou."

"Whatever.  What was Mara intending to do with it?"

Hild shrugged her shoulders at her daughter's question.  "We have no idea.  She certainly wasn't trying to acquire it.  If she did, she would have made quite a mess here on earth."

"Huh?  Why would she?"

"Because Ginzuishou is here on earth."

"Eh?  Since when?"

"Well before she perished, the queen of the Moon Kingdom banished the Negaverse in their little prison.  She also used Ginzuishou to send some of the members of the Moon Kingdom to the future in hope of preserving her kingdom.  Recently both the Negaverse and the survivors of the kingdom woke up and battled each other.  The Sailor Scouts, I think that's what those brats from the Moon Kingdom was called, barely managed to win using Ginzuishou.  Sure you have heard of them?  They must have been on the news more than once."

"...eh..."

Hild sighed at seeing Urd fidgeting her fingers.  "Are you still doing that dumb competetion with your younger sister over who gets to watch TV?"

"It's not dumb!  And how do you know about that?!"

"Senbei told me."  Then Hild had this very sly look on her face.  "He also told me about your little... adventure when the Yggdrasil shut down briefly."

Urd blinked in confusion.  "Huh?  What are you talking about..."  Then her face hit a look of recogniton.  "Ah!  You mean when I shrunk..."

"Oh I meant something MORE than that, my dear."  Hild smiled menacingly as she produced a photo out of her pocket.  "Senbei was kind enough to provide me with some... moment of truth."

"What in the world are you talking about..."  But when Urd saw the picture, her face paled with dreaded look on it.  "Wait a minute!  It's not what you think!!"

Before Urd could snatch the photo, Hild quickly retrieved it and began to rub it on her cheek.  "Oh you have nothing to be ashamed of, my daughter.  After all, it's in your blood.  Like mother, like daughter.  We both have similar taste in men, you know.  One who's much younger, naive, and innocent...  Ohohohohoho!!"(8)

"It's not what you think, I said!!  Gimme that!!"  Urd struggled with Hild for a while, until she finally took it off the demoness' hand.  When she sighed with relief, Hild grinned slyly.

"Oh you can keep that as your momento.  There is a lot where it came from!"  Then she produced dozens of photos which were the exact copy of the very same photo in Urd's hand.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!"




Part 2 ends.
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