A little Halloween Treat for y'all.
..my god, I said y'all. ::slaps self:: What was I THINKING?
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Ranmazoku Chapter 2 - First Contact By PansutoTarou5925
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DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I own the rights
to Ranma �. Long live the rightful owners of these two fine anime. This work
is non-commercial and is done only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and
Hajime Kanzaka. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by
Viz and Software Sculptors.
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Author's note - This story originated from an idea on Nighthawk's page and is
some guy named NesTea's fault. So there. C&C, MSTs, random comments,
letters of praise, hate mail, and accidental clicks on the reply-send button all
welcome. If asked when the next chapter will be out, I will bob and weave, lie,
stall , and bend more truths than a drunken Senator. So there.
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events, characters and
the like may not resemble canon. People who are rabid canon-thumpers
beware!
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"Master!" the pitiful little reject of an apprentice says, grovelling at my feet.
"Please, Master -" I glare at him. "Er, respected Master, when will you teach
me more magic? I offer only my humblest thanks and gratitude for teaching me
the mysteries of the Lighting spell, but I beg of you, teach me more!" he
whined, taking a posture remarkably similar to the "Crouch of the Wild Tiger"
my father employs on Happousai. Is this why Happousai took on such pathetic
fools as students? If so, I almost respect him.
"Get up, Gosunkugi." He rises, anger still smouldering deep in his eyes. If he
thinks he can really hide his anger from me he's a fool. Of course, if he weren't
a fool, he wouldn't be nearly as useful. " You realize, Gosunkugi, that for
black magic you must draw off of a mazoku. And, as the only mazoku around,
I am the only source to draw from. Smiling, I continue in more harshly, "So if
you wish to be stronger, you've got to help me become stronger. I won't
bother teaching you otherwise. You need me far more than I need you." Again
the repressed hate in his sunken eyes. I lean back on the roof - the roof of the
kendo club's building, ironically, where that idiot Kuno can be heard below
ranting about the demon Saotome and not having any clue just how right he is.
"Well, I'll tell you what. Here," I tell him, producing a thick grimoire. It's a
book I lifted from Phibrizzo's study, just a basic text on black magic, without
anything really special. I doubt Phibrizzo will ever notice it's missing, and if he
does I'll just steal it back from Gos and claim I borrowed it. "You can study
this. But I need you to get more photos of the other girls, OK? Nabiki's quite
upset that she has a competitor in photo sales here." I smile inwardly. It's quite
fun being on the other end of the manipulations with the middle Tendo
daughter.
"Er.. if I may ask.. what is the purpose of pissing off Nabiki?" Gosunkugi
asked with a slightly frightened look. He still fears Nabiki... guess I haven't
done enough to him yet. I'm about to tell him it's just revenge when I have the
idea to try a different tactic.
"Well, since you ask Gosunkugi," I said, tilting my head back and putting a
finger "That.. is a secret."
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
I arrive in the mountains to see both Phibrizzo and my father talking,
presumably about that Lina Inverse girl they seem obsessed about. "Hey, Pop,
you're right. They really do get all pissed off if you say that." I call out,
deciding to butt in.
"Say what?" my mentor asks.
I wag my finger at him. "Now that's a secret." The look on Phibrizzo's face is
priceless. It seemed that the thought of my father's signature line coming from
anyone else's lips was something he was totally unprepared for, because his
face went from annoyance to realization and back to annoyance.
"Very amusing." he says, turning pointedly away from me. "Now leave us
alone for awhile. We need to discuss our plans." Hmmph. Well, if they want to
ignore me...
The mountain village is so different from Nerima. No cursed martial artists, no
angry kawiikune tomboys, no Amazons, and no hentai grandmasters on panty
raids. In other words, a thoroughly boring place. 'How can Phibrizzo stand
waiting here? I'd go mad...' The afternoon sky is overcast and gloomy; there is
the distinct scent of coming rains in the air. Which means staying a guy is out.
Giving in to the inevitable, I sit, eating a cone of ice cream. It's the one
pleasure I have in both bodies, though it's muted now, somewhat
dissapointing, now that I've acquired more sophisticated tastes. The sweet
tang of fear from terrified students, the heady intoxication of Akane's
unsurpassed anger, the bottomless ecstacy of Ryouga's peerless depression,
the mild flavor of Gosunkugi's resentment... those were the real treats, because
they were a taste of power.
"Power." I state, clinically, as I pause from my destruction of the ice cream
cone. What is it about power - the ability to shape one's own destiny - that
made it so irresistible? Why couldn't I resist it?
Maybe it was the fact that I never had power over my life before. Genma had
made sure of it. He wished me to become the Master of Anything Goes and
carry on the school. To marry Akane, to be a great martial artist. But what did
I want to do? I held the power now. But I didn't know what I wanted to do
with it. Absently wiping the melted ice cream off the back of my hand, I drop
the cone and rest my chin on my hand. What could I do? There were only two
paths I could possibly take from here.
I could go back to just being Ranma Saotome, martial arts whiz. But that really
wasn't an option anymore. There was another Art here, a more powerful and
mysterious Art. Anyone could be a master of the martial arts. But this Art took
something more.. something unique.
Or I could more fully embrace my dark heritage, become a full member of the
Mazoku society. I could ask Phibrizzo to become his general soon - that would
grant me additional power, and Phibrizzo was sure to grant it, as he had lost
his general in the War so many years ago. I might even be able to eventually
move into the renegade Gaav's position, if father manages to defeat him. I
think he will... after all, Gaav the Chaos Dragon could nicely be replaced by
Ranma the Chaos Demon. I stopped cold.
I had thought that my mother wasn't Nodoka. But that name.. it was
suspicious. Ranma meant both Wild Horse and Chaos Demon. Could she truly
be my mother, and have snuck one by Genma? At least then she would have
taste... Or maybe it was just fate that I would have such a name? Perhaps it
was a sign telling me which way to go.
I dropped the crushed remains of my cone and walked back out of town.
Those two should be done by now.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
Xellos was gone when I got back to Phibrizzo. "Hey," I yelled out, Phibrizzo
turning around.
"Hey yourself, Ranma. I'm still not going to teach you for that smartass remark
eariler." He drew himself up, tightening his belt and managing a stern face
totally at odds with his childish exterior. "You should learn to respect your
elders!" he said, imitating what the shopkeeper would tell Phibrizzo every time
we ate in town.
"Yeah, right." I said, laughing. "You really aren't going to teach me anything
today? Aww man, I don't wanna have to go back to Nerima yet." I said,
grumpily and pouting as only a cute redhead can.
"Well, you can help me then, I don't care." He paused and gave me an
appraising look. "You know, if you wore a cape and an orange shirt, you'd be
a dead ringer for Lina Inverse when you're a girl."
I looked suprised, although I actually already knew that. "Really? What's with
all the interest in this Lina girl anyway? You and Pop are always going on
about her and her friends, the rocky guy and whats-her-face."
"And Gourry Gabriev. I think Gourry's the key to Lina, actually.. but anyway.
She's a powerful human sorceress, very skilled in black magic. She seems to
have the favor of the Lord of Nightmares. In any case, she's sucessfully used
the Giga Slave before." I whistled.
"Isn't that the spell that can destroy the world or something?" I asked.
"Yeah. She might be confident enough to cast it again. At least I hope so." he
added. " Anyhow, we're using her as a cat's paw against Gaav. We'll bring the
renegade back to justice." Among other things, I added silently. You're
certainly interested in seeing that Giga Slave used again. I've seen that look
before.. on the old lech whenever he had a bucket. Granny will definitely be
interested in hearing this.
"So, she's a danger to us?"
"A danger to you, maybe. I'm another matter." he said, puffing his chest out.
"No mere mortal can beat me. I'm the greatest of Shabranigdo's lieutenants,
the invincible Hellmaster who led the forces of darkness to victory over the
Water Dragon a thousand years ago." He pointed a finger at me, admonishing
me. "A little thing like a Dragon Slave or two will barely slow me down. You,
though, you're still young and relatively weak. You'd be toast if you went
against this Inverse."
"Whatever. " I looked around. "Hey, it must have been later than I thought. I'll
head back to Nerima. You won't see me 'til day after tomorrow, I have an
English test and Hinako will kill me if I don't pass it." I walked around the
mountain and back to the gate Phibrizzo had constructed and opened it.
Picking up a nearby boulder, I figured that it would do quite nicely, and threw
it in. "There ya go. You'll never suspect a thing." Grinning madly, I started to
fly off to my true destination.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
I entered quietly, noticing the smoke curling gently towards the roof. "Hiya,
Granny," I said, knowing how much she hated being called that, "I've got
some news for you."
"Oh, really? And what is our esteemed Hellmaster up to lately? He's been
keeping us in the dark." my grandmother replied, snubbing out her cigarette on
the arm of her chair. "He's been less careful around you, I think. We should
make him pay for that."
"Of course." Playing double agent is difficult. Of course, what in my life isn't?
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I have to thank everyone who sent letters after the first chapter was sent out. I
really got more of a response than I expected, and I'll be happy to answer even
more questions people ask me. If you want to see the first chapter of the story,
it's on Nighthawk's page
www.geocities.com/NighthawkTM/index.html
and Crossover Corner
www.geocities.com/animecrossovers