I've been sitting on this story for a few months now and I've been meaning
to post it for a while. I don't know if anyone read this back in the day,
but I hope you like it.
C&C always welcome.
OH!!! I also got my web site going at:
http://ajchome.freehosting.net/ (sorry about all the ads)
Enjoy!!
A New Life Chapter 1
-----------------------------------------------------
Fear
Fear is an emotion that all humans feel at one time.
It makes us cautious, careful. Many humans run when
they confront fear. Fear can be a barrier, a
challenge, an obstacle.
Ranma Saotome learned the power of fear the first
time he was thrown into the neko-ken training pit. He
tried to escape, but to no avail. Ranma would learn,
after many attempts, how to escape that fear. He
would escape into a cat persona, a danger to all
around him.
Life will be a little different for this Ranma. With
the aid of a wandering stranger, Ranma would be given
the chance for a new life.
An Anime Junkey Confederation Production:
A New Life Chapter 1
By: Dev Hunt
"And so our story begins"
It was a peaceful day in the small Japanese town.
People went about their daily business. Work, school,
home life, whatever they did on a daily basis. In
this average town, an important event was occurring
that would forever change the life of one of the
greatest martial artists ever to walk the earth.
"Papa," a young boy whined, "don't put me in the pit
again, please." This child, looking about the age of
6, was covered with half healed scratches and a few
bandages.
"Ranma, it is for your own good. Once you learn the
Neko-ken, you'll be unbeatable." Wrapping another
fish sausage around Ranma, was a fat man in a white
gi. This man was none other than Genma Saotome,
Ranma's father.
The young, battered boy started crying when he
realized his father wouldn't change his mind. "I
don't wanna' go, It's too scary."
"Scary?!" Genma yelled, "A real man would face the
fear and sacrifice his life for the art. Stop being
such a girl Ranma and stop crying. Crying is for
girls." He put the last of the sausages on the now
struggling child and dragged him over to a nearby
pit.
Ranma started kicking and screaming. "NOOOOO!!!
PLEASE DADDY!! DON'T PUT ME BACK!! PLEASE!!" He tried
to break free, but Genma kept his grip strong and
kept Ranma from running.
Genma reached the pit and lifted the cover. Inside, a
hundred eyes looked upward. All feline, all common
cats that were stolen by Genma. They licked their
lips in anticipation, waiting for the food to drop.
Cats everywhere tensed their muscles, and prepared to
pounce.
Ranma saw the cats, screamed louder and redoubled his
efforts to get away. Genma picked Ranma up with one
hand and tossed him into the pit. "This is for your
own good." He yelled to Ranma as he fell. Genma then
slammed the door and waited for the screaming to
stop.
---
Nearby
"Kaia!! Kaia!! Now where did she get to?" Readjusting
his backpack, Ryuu Kakugari continued his search for
his friend. Everyone assumes that the brown and black
cat that he traveled with was his pet. It reality,
Kaia was not your usual cat. She was a master of
magic, having trained under some of the greatest
mages in the world.
During a recent fight, Ryuu and Kaia were separated.
Ryuu wouldn't normally be worried but Kaia hadn't
eaten in a while and might be low on energy. When
hungry, Kaia was literally weak as a kitten. She is
vulnerable then and could easily be beaten by anyone.
Ryuu had looked all over town, but he just couldn't
find her anywhere. Calling out a few more times, Ryuu
hoped he'd run into Kaia, somewhere. He had heard
news that multiple house cats have gone missing.
There are rumors that it was done by some madman.
City Police have yet to catch the man.
Continuing to wonder, Ryuu passed some vacant lots by
the outskirts of town. He had felt some weird
energies being released here. He was trying to find
the source when he heard a scream. It sounded like
some kid was being thrown to their death. Then, as
abruptly as it started, the screams stopped.
Ryuu had long ago promised to protect those who
couldn't protect themselves. Someone seemed to be in
trouble and Ryuu decided to see what was going on. He
took off running toward the screams.
Moving quietly and watching for danger, Ryuu went
forward on his guard. He's been led into to enough
traps in his lifetime to figure out to be careful.
Some of his enemies would try something just like
this. A realistic call for help to try and lure him
into an
ambush.
Ryuu slowed when he came across a small camp. There
was a single person there, standing by a piece of
wood that looked like a poorly constructed hatch.
Probably a pit or something. Ryuu silently crept up
on the man. It looked suspicious, but it was too open
to be a good trap.
When Ryuu was close he cleared his throat. "Excuse
me, sir?" As the words left his mouth the fat balding
man quickly turned around.
"Uhh.. What do you want??"
"Let me introduce myself, I am Ryuu Kakugari, master
of the Rising Dragon School of Martial Arts." Ryuu
said, bowing politely, "I have been wandering in
search of knowledge and have seem to misplaced my
traveling companion. I was wondering if you have seen
her."
"I don't think I can help." The man moved, trying to
hide the pit behind him. "I haven't seen any women
around here."
Ryuu chuckled a little, "You seem to misunderstand
Mr. Uhh, what was your name? I don't think I caught
it."
The man looked strangely at him before quickly
saying, "Genma."
"Well, I'm looking for a cat." Genma's eyes darted
back towards the pit. "She disappeared a few days
ago. I'm worried the cat-napper got her." The more
Ryuu said, the more nervous Genma looked.
"I have no idea where your cat may..." But before
Genma could finish, a feral roar was heard, coming
from the pit.
They both turned and watched as the hatch exploded
upwards. A red and black blur flew into the air. In
it's wake the missing cats flew upwards, and as
gravity came back into play, they fell back to the
earth.
Ryuu looked up and instantly recognized a falling
cat. It was a light brown with a white belly, and a
black circle around the right eye. "Kaia!!" Ryuu
leapt past Genma and ran to catch the falling cat.
As soon as he caught Kaia, he established a
telepathic link with the cat. With practiced ease he
asked "Kaia? What's going on?"
A female voice echoed in his mind, "I'll live Ryuu,
but we have bigger problems. We need to stop that kid
before he hurts someone." A second feral roar caught
Ryuu's attention, and he turned just in time to see
Genma be mauled by the same red and black blur that
exploded from the pit a few seconds ago.
"Before you ask that is Ranma Saotome. He's dangerous
right now, you need to knock him out before he hurts
an innocent."
Slipping Kaia into a special pouch on his backpack,
he started running after Ranma, who was bounding away
at amazing speeds. "What happened Kaia? Why is that
boy acting like a cat?"
"It was the training he just finished, the dreaded
Neko-Ken."
"I think I've heard of it somewhere. Is that the one
where you thrown the young child into the pit of
starving cats?" Ryuu asked, following the retreating
boy.
"That's the one."
"Great." Ryuu started gaining distance on Ranma.
"Wasn't that banned because it turned the person who
learns the technique into an insane, near unstoppable
killing machine?"
"Indeed it is."
"Just my luck." Ryuu sighed and started focusing his
energy. "Well... I'll just have to get his attention
before he run's into an innocent." His arm started
glowing and he punched forward and released the
stored energy. "Energy spike!" When Ryuu called out,
a ball of energy shot out towards the retreating
figure.
Neko-Ranma sensed the danger and leapt into the air,
dodging the attack. He spun in mid-air and landed a
good 50 feet away from Ryuu. Ryuu halted and the two
watched each other intently. Neko-Ranma growled and
then sprung into action. He charged forward, claws
glowing, screaming a feral battle cry.
Ryuu wasted no time. He tossed his backpack out of
the way and settled into a conformable, defensive
stance. His aura was tightly focused around his arms
and were sounded in a golden fire. "Bring it on cat-
boy."
As soon as Neko-Ranma came into range, he started
attacking like a berserker. His arms blurred as he
reached speeds faster than most people can track.
Ryuu kept up with the ferocious attack and was able
to dodge or block the berserker attacks. His entire
body started to blur as he twisted around slash after
slash.
Ryuu stayed on the defensive until Ranma extended too
far and opened up his torso. With 4 quick strikes to
key pressure points, the battle was over. Ranma's
muscles started locking up and he fell over, face
first. He tried to struggle, but couldn't move at
all.
The pressure points would only last about a minute,
but that was all Kaia needed to sprint form the
discarded backpack and leap towards the paralyzed
boy. She was glowing of white energy and when she
touched Ranma, the glow expanded to cover Ranma's
small body as well. The battle then moved to inside
Ranma's mind.
---
Kaia appeared in the great nothingness that was the
subconscious mind. Here, anything could be made,
anything could happen, and everything was real. This
void was where everything a person had experienced
was kept. All of their dreams, fears, goals, and
memories.
In the mind, a person could take any form. Kaia chose
a hybrid between human and cat. Her fur was the same
and she was covered in a skimpy two piece for
modesty's sake. After focusing for a moment, Kaia
sent out a challenge to bring out Neko-Ranma.
In a couple of moments Neko-Ranma materialized before
her, one hundred percent cat and madder than hell.
There was a danger in the most important of places
and the intruder must die. It didn't give a warning
it just attacked.
Kaia waited for the last possible moment to twist
around the attack. Behind her, she left a green ball
of energy that Neko-Ranma plowed into. As soon as
Neko-Ranma touched the ball, his body froze and the
ball expanded to surround him. Neko-Ranma looked
frozen in time.
"Well that was easy." Kaia said to herself as she
started weaving another spell. One that would prevent
Neko-Ranma from escaping the prison she just created.
She spent a few moments focusing her power as a
yellow net added an extra layer of support to the
seal. "That should keep the neko-ken locked away
until it can be dealt with it." She then cast the
sealed technique into the dark recesses of Ranma's
mind. Locked away where it couldn't effect the
victim.
Kaia then broke connection and returned to the real
world.
---
Back in the real world, the energy surrounding the
two faded. The whole mental battle took about 5
seconds but this didn't bother Ryuu. He had seen kaia
do this a few times before and this was about what
ito expect. So when, the energy dissipated he pulled
Kaia away from Ranma and went to get his backpack.
Slipping Kaia into her pouch and situating the pack,
he gathered up the small boy. He waited until Kaia
awoke and re-established their link. "So how is the
boy?"
"He will live." The cat said tiredly. "For now he
sleeps and will awaken in time. For now, I am
famished. Be a dear and setup camp, away from the
boys' father, and make me something to eat. I'll be
resting." Kaia then broke the link, not waiting for a
response.
Ryuu shook his head and stared off to find a place to
setup camp. He'd hopefully figure out what to do with
this new bundle of trouble before said bundle woke up
from its forced slumber.
Little did Ryuu know that the precious cargo in his
arms would effect all around him.
---
Some time later
There is a place between sleep and consciousness that
all people pass through before they wake up. It's as
if your mind is slowly turning on, kind of a "boot
up" sequence. Your senses are active but you don't
recognize what is going on. Ranma was in such a
place trying to get a few more seconds of sleep
before his father would always wake him up. His mind
was on standby and his body was relaxed, but ready to
move at any moment. Usually he
would wake up being thrown from his bed. In the air
his body and mind woke up the rest of the way and the
day started for Ranma.
This time, there was no morning flight out of bed.
Instead there was the smell of delicious food. This
perked Ranma's interest. A martial artist eats when
he can, especially when there's good food around.
Ranma's brain finally kicked into gear and Ranma
opened his eyes. A simple tent greeted him as he
slowly sat up. He wondered what was going on. Pops
never let him sleep in, said it was good discipline
and would help make him a man. Real men awoke with
the sun.
He got off the sleeping roll he was sleeping on and
ventured outside to investigate. Outside the
tent, he couldn't recognize where he was. Did Pops
move camps while he was sleeping?
Ranma's stomach decided then to make itself known and
remind Ranma the it wanted some attention. He looked
around the camp, looking for the source of the
delicious smell that woke him up. Glancing around the
camp, Ranma spotted a fire pit a few feet with two
pots keeping warm on the edge.
Rubbing his stomach, Ranma walked over to the fire
pit. There was a low wooden table by the fire that
was just big enough to hold a bowl and a pair of
chopsticks on it. Ranma
looked around to see if anyone was around. The camp
appeared empty and Ranma rationalized that he should
eat while he can. If someone got mad at him, he could
just run away. It smelled good and he was hungry
anyway. Serving himself some food, Ranma ate quickly
as he kept watching for someone to show up and start
yelling.
The food was unfamiliar. It was some kind of thick
soup packed with large chunks of vegetables with a
small amount of beef mixed in. It was different but
good.
Ranma stiffened as something brushed his leg. He
looked down and watched as a light brown cat made
another pass on his leg. Rubbing its body against it
and purring loudly.
"Hey, where did you come from little kitty. Are you
hungry?" The cat sat down and meowed. Ranma knelt
down and held out a piece of meat, "Here, have this."
A smile spread across his face when the cat took the
meat and started tearing it apart. Giving the cat a
friendly pat, he went back to eating.
Suddenly, the cat looked up from its food. It then
leapt past Ranma and ran away. "Kitty? Where ya'
goin'?" Ranma turned to follow the cat. It ran into
the waiting hands of a strange man. Ranma froze, and
tensed his muscles, readying himself to bolt if the
man turned angry.
"Hello Ranma, how are you feeling today?" The strange
man smiled and walked slowly to the other side of the
fire pit to serve himself some food. "No pain,
dizziness, or anything like that?"
Ranma remained silent but slowly continued eating,
keeping his eyes on the stranger in front of him. He
needed to find father, he'd know what to do with this
strange man.
The man paused, waiting for Ranma to say something.
Since the young boy didn't seem to want to be so
talkative, he went on. "You had us worried Ranma. We
feared that with the accident and all..."
"What accident?" Ranma asked.
"You mean you don't remember?" Ryuu asked as Ranma
shook his head slowly. "The Neko-ken training that
you father has been putting you through. He was
convinced that you would make a breakthrough before
the accident." Ryuu paused briefly, trying to keep
himself from smiling as he watched Ranma give Ryuu
his undivided attention. "But now... I'm just glad to
see that you are still alive. You've been through
quite an ordeal my young friend."
"Neko-ken training?" Ranma asked quietly, "Papa said
yesterday that he had found the ultimate technique
that we were to start called that."
"You mean to say that you don't remember anything?"
Ryuu looked at Ranma with concern. "I know that it
was a traumatic experience for both of you, but
you've been learning the neko-ken for at least quite
some time now. If your father was here, he would say
that.."
"Where's Papa?" Ranma interrupted again. "Why isn't
papa here?"
Ryuu sighed and looked down sadly. "Ranma, I'm sorry
but your father is most likely dead." He watched as
the small bowl slipped from Ranma's hands and fell to
the earth.
Ranma stopped listening to Ryuu as the simple words
filled him with a feeling of dread. He didn't know if
the stranger's words were true, but he couldn't shake
this feeling in his gut that something terrible has
happened. His eyes watered as his mind filled with
the image of a bloody Genma covered in gashes and
laying face down on the ground. It was as if the
image came from deep within his mind, a memory of
something terrible that he tried to push away.
He felt something deep inside start to tremble, call
out to him. Something terrible and deadly. Something
that delighted in the sight of a Genma soaking the
ground with his blood. Who craved the madness to
descend upon Ranma again. It felt as if he had a
monster trapped within him, screaming to be let out.
Ranma felt himself begging to sink into this new
terror. His mind slowly being filled with a red haze.
As Ranma descended into his madness, oblivious to the
outside world, a sudden voice called out in his mind.
"Ranma." This gentle female voice broke through the
haze forming in his mind.
"Ranma" It called again, pulling Ranma away the bad
feelings while filling him with a warmth that he had
never felt before. It was as if the gentle voice was
pushing away the madness and Ranma clung to it like a
drowning boy clings to anything afloat.
"Ranma, you'll be okay" the voice continued. "There's
nothing you can do to change what happened here
today. You'll be save here. I'll keep the bad things
away from you. I'll protect you Ranma, do not worry."
Ranma slowly peaked over the hands that have found
it's way to his tear-streaked face. He saw the cat,
sitting at his feet looking at him intently.
"Yes Ranma," He heard as the cat tilted its head. "I
am talking to you. Do not be afraid, you are safe
with me."
Ranma felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to
see the man looking at him kindly. "Ranma, I'd like
to introduce you to Kaia. She's the one who healed
you after the accident. Looks like you almost
relapsed, but she was able to stop it in time."
"Wha... What am I?" Ranma cried, "There's something
in my head that wants to be let out. I... I don't
understand." Ranma slowly sank to his knees, full of
despair and hopelessness. "Why me?"
As his tears fell, the same soothing voice called to
him again. "You are a very special person Ranma,
though I fear that the road ahead for you will be a
terrible burden. Do not worry, I will be here to
guide you through your storm and you will survive."
Again Ranma looked to the man. He smiled and dried
Ranma's face with a handkerchief. "Keep your chin up
Ranma, I can't have my new apprentice be all tears
and sadness."
"You're... what?"
"Apprentice. I can hardly leave you out all alone in
such a state. Besides, I've been looking for an
apprentice for quite some time and you may be the one
that I'm looking for." Before Ranma could give a word
of protest, Ryuu lifted the young boy back to his
feet and pulled him to the fire. "Oh don't worry
about answering today, you've been under a lot of
stress and I think you should get to know me before
making such a big decision." Ryuu filled another bowl
food and handed it to Ranma. "For now, eat, relax,
and think about it. Kaia and I will have to move on
in a few days and I hope you come with us." with
that, Ryuu served himself some food and sat down to
eat.
Taking the hint from Ryuu, Ranma began to eat his
food and sat down, overwhelmed. His father never gave
him choices, it was always orders with papa. Ranma
didn't know what to do, with papa gone, there was no
one to take care of him. Sure the training was tough,
but papa always knew what to do. It was comforting,
and without it, Ranma felt lost. Without direction or
hope of finding his way.
So for the first time in his life, Ranma sat and
thought about his life, about his new friends, and
about what he was going to do next.
---
Over the next two day, Ranma took Ryuu's advice and
relaxed. His body had been pushed to the limits and
needed time to recover. He had chatted with both Ryuu
and Kaia about random things to pass the time, and
Ranma got to know a little more about this mysterious
duo.
When Ryuu started packing up his simple camp, Ranma
stood by and idly watched. When Ryuu was done, he
turned to Ranma and asked, "So Ranma, are you
coming?"
Ranma stood there and thought about it one last time
before bowing deeply and said, "Yes sensei, I have no
where else to go."
"Alright, let's go then. You and I are going to have
quite the adventure, I'm sure of it. Welcome to your
new life Ranma, I hope you enjoy it."
With that, he turned and started walking, with his
new apprentice in tow.
---
End of chapter 1
::Author's notes::
Wow... finally got this revised... It's been forever
since I've had a chance to write. Hopefully, since I
now have a laptop, I'll be able to spend more time
writing. I have chapter 2 almost done and I'm going
to revise it a bit to make sure that everything fits.
Contact the author at:
MSN E-mail or IM � numair42@hotmail.com
Yahoo IM � Numair042
AOL IM � Numair42
ICQ IM - 212049653
Comment about the story or just chat, can't assure
that I will reply but will try
Revision history
Original: July, 2002 -ish
Revision 1: June 2005
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