[Ranma][Fanfic] The Bet - A Different Art, Part 1b
MetroAnime
A Different Art, brief treatment given BY REQUEST
Ranma 1/2 by R.Takahashi, other char by other
people and i could see a LOT of crossover possibilities
with this one. Not only Gold Digger (Ranma as the up-and-
coming young mage investigated by Dr Diggers on
behalf of the wizard's council) but traditional fantasy
literature and even Chris Stasheff's Warlock series.
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chapter 1b: "A mage in Nerima"
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Ranma, Kasumi, and a moment later,
Nabiki all looked down at the passed out figure
of Soun Tendo and wondered what this meant.
Ranma snapped his fingers and his
carpetbag immediately waddled into the room.
This brought stares from both
Kasumi and Nabiki, who were understandably
concerned about luggage moving around
under its own power.
"Uhm, Ranma?"
"Yes, Nabiki?"
"Your luggage has legs?"
"Yes, Nabiki. Don't worry. It's
housebroken."
"Uh-huh." Nabiki flopped down
in her chair and stared at the man. "Is it
robotics of some sort?"
"Hmmm?" Ranma opened the
carpetbag and thrust the length of his arm
into it. That his arm was considerably longer
than the height of the bag was not lost on
either of the Tendo sisters present. "Oh, no.
Nothing like that. It's just magic."
"There's no such thing as magic,"
Nabiki said, though her eyes weren't moving
from the odd bag.
"Magic is just doing something that
the other guy doesn't know how to do. Does
your father faint very often?"
"No," Kasumi said in a quiet voice,
not entirely sure how to handle that the nice
young man she'd met earlier was now doing
the impossible and acting as if it were
commonplace. "He's very emotional, but he
generally doesn't collapse like that."
Nabiki conquered her fear enough
to approach the bag.
"Bag, behave yourself. This is
Nabiki, she's a friend." Ranma turned back
to waving a metal tube under Soun's nose,
and was rewarded with a groan.
Nabiki looked inside and was
disappointed to see the apparently empty
interior of a normal carpetbag.
"Close your eyes," advised
Ranma. "Think of what you want to find
and reach inside."
Nabiki blinked, drew in a deep
breath, then closed her eyes and shot her
hand down into the bag. She felt something
settle into her hand and withdrew her arm.
"What is it, Nabiki?" Kasumi
looked at the leather pouch that Nabiki had
in her hands.
Nabiki was puzzled too until she
opened the pouch and looked within. Her
eyes shot to the size of dinner plates and
her knees nearly buckled.
"Oh, that's just some of my ready
cash. You'd be surprised how many times
a little of that can make problems go away."
Ranma put the vial back in the bag.
Nabiki estimated that the little
bag weighed about five pounds. The coins
inside were gold and about twice the thickness
and size of krugerands. "Uhm, you've got...
more...of this?"
"Yeah. A little. Why?"
Nabiki replayed earlier conversations
she'd been listening to. He was looking for his
home, didn't have a place to stay, eh? "Say, Ranma,
you need a place to stay for awhile, don't you? Why
not give me one of these coins, and...we can put you
up here for a couple of weeks!"
"Well, I don't want to put you out."
Kasumi watched the young man and
decided to trust her instincts. He was strange, and
he was quite obviously used to dealing with things
she wasn't, but the young man she had been
speaking with had struck her as being kind and
quite honorable. "It's no problem, Ranma. We
have a spare room you can use."
"Excuse me," Soun managed to get
himself up. "Did you say your name is Ranma
Saotome, and that your father's name is Genma?"
Ranma nodded. "Yes, and yes. Look,
if he stole food from you, I can pay for it."
Ranma abruptly found himself swept
up and being crushed in a hug.
"Oh my boy! Your father thought
you were dead! Now our two houses can be
united! How happy you have made me!"
"Excuse me?" Nabiki blinked.
"Oh goodness," Kasumi said with
a blush. There was no doubt in her mind who
her father would pair up this tall stranger with.
"Huh?" Ranma managed, beginning
to turn blue.
"Daddy, you might want to turn him
loose before he goes back to being dead."
"Oh, sorry." Soun released Ranma,
who immediately started gasping to get air
back into his lungs.
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A few minutes later, everyone was
sitting around the dining room table after a
number of explanations had been given.
"So," summed up Soun, "we
promised each other that the two schools
and our families would be united by marriage."
"I...see..." Ranma was more than
a little shocked by this. He caught the way
the two girls were watching him and made
an effort to control his reaction. He couldn't
help but notice that Kasumi was back to
studying her hands and Nabiki was giving
him a purely speculative look. He could
almost see the wheels turning in the
younger girl's mind.
"So all you have to do is pick
which of my three daughters will be your
new fiancee!"
"Oh my, that's right. Akane
should have been home by now."
"Well, she's not, Kasumi.
Her loss. Say, Ranma, you said you
know magic, right? Could you show
us a little something?"
Ranma blinked. "Okay,
I suppose. What would you like?"
"Say," Nabiki seemed to
be in deep thought, "oh, something
like turning lead into gold? Producing
money out of thin air? How about
using magic to influence the stock
market?"
"No, sorry. Metal is always
tricky to manipulate. The other two are
illegal and have serious repercussions."
Nabiki blinked. He'd just admitted
that he could do all three.
Ranma thought about it. Their
reaction to his carpetbag had brought to his
attention that they just weren't used to things
of a magical nature. Whatever he did had to
be completely nonthreatening.
Ranma brightened and stood up.
"I know!" He brought his left fist up to be
cupped by his right hand, two fingers pointing
up. This might also have other uses.
"Spirits of magic, far and near,
Enlighten now, make choices clear,
Reveal within your shifting light,
The talent for magic burning bright!"
A brilliant plume of light erupted
from Ranma, green/blue flickering. He noted
that Soun Tendo had only a fitful blue radiance,
while Kasumi had a brilliant white corona and
Nabiki had a fiercely burning golden light.
Their reactions were everything
he had hoped for. Soun was so overcome by
the glowing daughters he didn't even notice
that his own power rating was poor.
"So," Nabiki said. "This means I
can do magic? Or, no, that I have the potential?
Why is my coloration different from yours, and
Kasumi is different from both of us?"
"Oh my." Kasumi was rather taken
with the warm glow that surrounded her.
"Inner nature shapes what forces
you can tap into the easiest. Kasumi looks to
be best at healing and what is generally referred
to as 'white magic.' You, Nabiki, look to be best
at 'divination' or information-gathering magic.
That you have a single pure color indicates that
you have no actual training in the Art."
The sound of a door opening caused
Ranma to make a gesture and the brilliant colors
stopped.
Akane walked in, and looked relieved
when she saw Kasumi. Then her gaze fell on Ranma.
"YOU!"
"Shield," muttered Ranma, switching from
ritual magic to Chinese sorcery.(1) A kanji formed in
orange appeared in midair, then melted and stretched
into briefly visible armor.
"Akane, do you know Ranma?" Kasumi
smiled at her younger sister. She had so much energy.
"Know him? I saw him trying to kidnap
you earlier!"
Ranma snorted. "Kasumi fell down. I was
just getting a healing potion ready."
Nabiki twitched. Healing potions? Again
the impression of yen signs floating by, ready to be
caught. She gazed at Ranma across the table. She
HAD to make sure he didn't simply vanish. Just the
one coin she'd gotten as rent money would clear
their bills for the month and put them in the black
for next month. And he'd treated fifteen pounds of
gold as not a big deal!
Nabiki prided herself as being a good
judge of character. It was a necessary skill when
you made money extorting people, being a bookie,
or any number of other ways she went about
making sure the house stayed afloat. Ranma was
a nice guy, but not one you wanted to cross. Also,
from what she had seen so far, if he'd tried to kidnap
Kasumi, Kasumi wouldn't be here now.
"I really doubt that, sis," was Nabiki's
only comment out loud.
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Well, this was just ONE of the ideas
put forth at the end of the Notes&Votes, but
I got three requests to write it up a little further,
hence the two parts of this.
As to where it can/will go:
Ranma's got enemies, allies, etc.
As far as magic goes, he's really good. Martial
arts, he's not so good but has potential. Still
has the catfist, didn't meet Ukyou or Ryouga
yet. Ranma also isn't as eager to get into a
fight.
The other amazons will figure out
where he is when Shampoo contacts Cologne
and relays she is staying in the dojo.
This Ranma has other rivals and
allies and fiancees. How about an evil sorcerer,
brave (but young and clumsy) dragon, magic
swordswoman, timetravelling anarchists,
a witch named Selina, and a headstrong
Harley-riding half-demon named Akunin?
Throw in a few adventures where
he's after spell components or magical artifacts,
and you have him crossing paths with Gold
Digger, Mimi Masters, Vampire Queen Natasha,
and/or Laura Croft.
Kasumi Tendo, heart of the home,
going on a magic carpet around Nerima on
her first date. What does Kasumi see in Ranma?
Mature, intelligent, tall, handsome, not only
worldly but otherworldly. With a gesture and a
word he can bring magic forth... She likes him,
will she keep him?
Nabiki goes out with Ranma. She
sees someone intelligent, but is used to doing
things she considers impossible. Her entire
worldview gets shaken from hanging around
him, but finds so much of this fascinating that
she's also reluctant to let go. Plus there's money
to be made off of this guy in so many ways that
even Nabiki's mind boggles.
Akane goes out with Ranma, very
reluctantly. Catching a glimpse of someone who
is very thoughtful and prone to random acts of
kindness. Can she overcome a really bad first
impression?
Shampoo finds someone who is
deeply caring, sexy, and is extremely powerful.
She isn't entirely too sure how to deal with this
Ranma though, as he's not a warrior first and
foremost and he's got some odd ideas about
how amazons should act...
Tatewaki Kuno attacks the foul
sorcerer. Only to find that Ranma IS a powerful
mage and is quite capable of turning his bokken
into a pink balloon. Worse is when Kuno
interrupts an experiment with that Jusenkyo water
and finds now that cold water turns him into....
It is demonstrated when the amazons
appear that Ranma is VERY powerful when given
the chance to prepare. Even a few seconds can
be used to great effect with Chinese Sorcery. If
he isn't given any time, or he's drugged or otherwise
disabled, he becomes much easier to handle.
Well, onto one of those other ideas i
felt i needed to sketch out. Which was the one
where the Tendo mom turns out to be an amazon.
(This explains where Tatewaki got the idea about
having to defeat Akane in order to date her.)
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(1) Chinese Sorcery is based on something
i've seen in a number of videos/old stories. Forming
a pattern in the mind of one of six elements (earth, air,
fire, water, spirit, wood) the mage uses their own chi
to ignite the pattern. Visual effects of the kanji flaring
into life as the spell goes off. Ritual Magic is traditional
Western-style RPG/Fantasy magic, with spell components,
rhymed phrases and mystical gestures all of which form
the n-dimensional matrix while the mage gathers the
necessary forces. This gives Ranma (and other mages
in this setting) a wide range of responses. Chinese
Sorcery becomes fast but tiring and very obvious.
Ritual Magic is also obvious, not as tiring, but consumes
spell components and often requires lengthy preparations.
Alchemy is even more consumptive on times, components,
and bears a resemblence to cooking. This Ranma knows
bits and pieces of all three, and improvises. This is a
different system of magic than the one used in Bet Too
Far (blue side). Chinese Sorcery was the style used in
the original Art.
ja ne,
gregg