[Ranma/SM][FanFic] Sailor Ranko Tunnel Vision, Chapter 7
Bill Heineman
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium"
by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun"
by Arthur Hansen
By Bill Heineman
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held
by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of
Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and
Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James
Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My
purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement
intended.
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Unimo was playing Deep Dark Dungeon. It was the latest Massive
Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) on the Internet. He
played it almost every evening after school on days he didn't get a
date with Naru. Unimo didn't have many friends other than Naru, but it
didn't bother him. Usagi once dated Unimo, but it was to make Mamoru
jealous. Sadly, just about everyone else always made excuses to be
somewhere else when he was around.
In this virtual world, Unimo had many friends. He joined bands of
adventurers in fighting demons and dragons and had high adventures.
One such friend popped up in an instant chat box and started asking
him about his life. His friend went by the name of Stalker.
Unimo replied how he lived in Japan, he loved school, he had few
friends and wished Naru would go out with him more often. He shared a
great deal of personal information to Stalker. Unimo started asking
questions about Stalker so he can get to know him better. He found out
that Stalker was a guy in his late teens, American but typed perfect
Japanese, and a loner.
"So, Unimo, how do you feel about Americans?" Stalker asked.
"I like them."
"How do you feel about Africans?"
"I don't know. I've never met one." Living in Japan gave few
opportunities to see people who were not Japanese.
"Do you feel uncomfortable around them?" Stalker continued the
queries.
"Why do you ask? Are you prejudiced?" Asked Unimo. He was getting
concerned since Stalker seemed to be asking questions probing Unimo
about his dislikes rather than his likes.
"Me? Oh, no. I was just asking." Stalker went on. "How about people
who are Jewish? Do you trust them?"
"I thought we were going to talk about tonight's campaign? I don't
base my trust on anyone's beliefs, and I wouldn't dislike them for
such a shallow reason as their religion!" Unimo was unusually upset.
He was the victim of stereotyping for most of his life. The thick
glasses, being an outcast and the teacher's pet only reinforced
people's perceptions of him. He had a life of misery from his
classmates for being the class geek.
"Ok, well I have to go now, my mother is calling." Unimo's friend cut
the chat short. Unimo thought, good riddance.
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"REPORT: CANDIDATE UNIMO GURIO IS NOT SUITABLE. PERSONALITY NOT
COMPATIBLE."
"COMMAND: REMOVE UNIMO GURIO FROM CANDIDATE LIST. ADD UNIMO GURIO TO
SUBJECT MONITOR LIST. IF POSSIBLE SECURITY BREACH, RESOLVE WITH
GENERAL ORDER 4."
In seconds, the user account for Stalker on Deep Dark Dungeon was
deleted. All email records were erased and all traces of the fictional
friend of Unimo Gurio were blanked from existence. Unimo's phone,
email account and Internet connection were tapped. All information
obtained was sent to a log file for future review.
Survival is assured.
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Ryoga had been staying at Akari's home for a while now. Every time
grandfather sent him on an errand. He always returned. This pleased
grandfather to no end, he was ecstatic. Grandfather was now committed
to making sure that Ryoga married his granddaughter.
Akari annoyed Ryoga by ending most of her sentences with "like a pig."
Ryoga just didn't have the heart to tell Akari that he really didn't
like being a pig, but he transformed into P-Chan for her just to make
her happy. Ryoga wanted to wake up from this dream he felt he was in.
He had never in his life felt the warmth and love that he was feeling
now. It both terrified him and gave him hope. He even dared to imagine
what it would be like to call Akari his wife.
Wife? No! Thought Ryoga, images of Akane flashed in his head, but then
he finally pushed her away from his mind. Akane was now Mrs. Saotome
and she was happy. Ryoga only wanted Akane to be happy, and if her
happiness was a life with Ranma, then so be it. Ryoga accepted it, and
then he embraced the thought. Akane loved Ranma and despite his
rudeness, ignorance and just plain thoughtlessness, he made her happy.
He drifted out of his dream state to the lovely face of Akari who was
holding his porcine form. "Oh Ryoga, you are such a cute little pig!"
A pig? Was she only in love with a pig? Or was the love for Ryoga?
P-Chan jumped from her arms and ran to the farmhouse. "Ryoga! Come
back! What's the matter?"
P-Chan reached the back door and started to move the latch on the
piggy door when the entire door opened for him. Grandfather was
holding a kettle of warm water. "Follow me Ryoga." Grandfather then
led Ryoga to the bathroom where his clothes were waiting. P-Chan
jumped into the tub and Grandfather poured the water.
"Ryoga, talk to me," said grandfather as he held out a towel for
Ryoga. "You know she loves you with all her heart."
"She loves P-Chan!" Ryoga stammered out, "how could anyone love me?"
"P-Chan you say?" Grandfather found an opening. "Who was calling you
P-Chan?"
"Akari was, while she was holding me." Ryoga went into his usual
depression.
"Funny, I thought she called you Ryoga. Right Ryoga?" Grandfather
never missed a thing.
Ryoga froze. She did call him Ryoga. It was only when he was thinking
about Akane did the words P-Chan came into his mind. He was so spaced
out that he confused Akane's affection for P-Chan to Akari's love for
Ryoga.
"I don't recall Akari calling you P-Chan during your entire stay here.
When did she call you that?" Grandfather put Ryoga on the spot.
Ryoga traced his time at the farmhouse. He really couldn't remember
when Akari called him P-Chan either as human or pig. "I.. Uh..."
"You don't remember eh? So," Grandfather reclined on the toilet he was
using as a chair. "Who was it?"
"Who was what?" Ryoga felt like he was a prisoner of war undergoing
questioning.
"The one you seemed to care about. Who was one that called you P-Chan?
Was it this girl Ranma?" Grandfather began to probe for info on the
other woman.
"RANMA! That jerk! He loved to call me that! He was the reason I turn
into a pig in the first place!" Ryoga vented his anger by punching the
wall making a fist-sized hole.
"Please don't do that. I'm not rich and fixing the bathroom is not
what I want to spend my money on." Grandfather had struck a nerve. Ok,
so he hated Ranma. It must have been someone else. There was still
more since his actions about the word P-Chan seemed to be more for
affection than someone who was just picking on him. "Anyone else
called you that?"
Ryoga whispered, "Akane."
"Akane? You mean Akane Tendo?" Akane was trying to get Ryoga on dates
with Akari and had met limited success. Grandfather saw that Ryoga had
feelings for Akane.
"No, it's Akane Saotome now. I was her pet pig." Ryoga confessed. He
didn't know why he told Grandfather this. He never normally would tell
anyone about his dirty little secret, but Grandfather was emitting an
aura of trust that Ryoga was succumbing to.
Grandfather put it together. He was Akane's pet pig, he developed
feelings for her but she then went into the arms of another. Akane
tried to hard to match up Akari and Ryoga. Now Grandfather understands
where the chip on the shoulder came from. Grandfather decided that
this guy was never going to ask Akari to marry him. He was too much of
a wimp. He would waffle on the issue to the end of time. It was time
to take matters into grandfather's own hands. "Well, Akari is in love
with you. Not P-Chan."
Ryoga turned into a block of ice. His mind was racing, smashing into
guardrails and aiming for the nearest cliff.
"And you love her too, don't you?" Grandfather cut to the chase.
Ryoga's eye watered, he didn't move. He was a human statue. He was a
deer in the headlights waiting for the truck to finish him off.
"I'll take that as a yes." Grandfather went for the kill. "So, then my
son, what do we do about this?"
Ryoga mind careened into a passing car as it continued laps around his
skull. It spun out of control and the room began to spin.
Oh, this is too easy, thought Grandfather. "As I see it. She loves
you, and you love her. So," Grandfather reached into his pocket and
placed a small box into Ryoga's hand. "Why don't you ask her to marry
you?"
Ryoga mind hit the retaining wall and exploded. It took a few moments
to recover. The smoke began to clear and he saw Akari. She held her
arms out for him.
"Marry me?" Ryoga softly spoke. Still recovering from the total
destruction of his mind.
Akari, who was really sitting in front of him with her arms held out
for him was overjoyed. Her eyes turned into hearts and she swooned.
"YES! I will marry you Ryoga. That was so sweet, like a pig."
Ryoga immediately came back to reality. The first thing he saw was
Akari taking the little jewel box from his hand and opening it. She
said, "Oh Ryoga! It's beautiful!"
Ryoga was wondering what was so beautiful. He saw Akari put on her
finger an engagement ring. Ryoga didn't know whether to jump up and
kill her grandfather or shrivel up and just die.
Akari admired the ring on her finger. It was a simple ring with a
single gemstone.
Grandfather thought, I wished I could have afforded a diamond, but
cubic zirconium will have to do.
Ryoga just sat there taking this in. Akari gazed into Ryoga's face
with heart shaped eyes. Ryoga could actually see little hearts
bubbling away from Akari's head. Ryoga simply melted at the vision of
beauty before him and the walls came down. He reached for his new
fiance and gave her a hug.
"Well my boy, I guess you're no longer a lost soul." Grandfather got
up and started out the bathroom door. He was going to savor this
moment for the rest of his life.
Ryoga stood up, "Hey, who said I was a lost soul!"
Grandfather turned and smiled an evil smile that would make the devil
green with envy. "Save that for the honeymoon." He winked and left.
Ryoga was taken aback by that remark, Akari giggled and Ryoga noticed
that his towel had fallen off and he was naked.
He shriveled up but didn't die. He just wished he were dead.
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Luna, Artemis and Rei had been performing fire readings for the last
few days. They had not seen anything they could actually use. Just the
same images of total chaos was what was in the fire.
Rei was frustrated. "Let's call Setsuna. Maybe she can contribute
something."
Luna and Artemis agreed. They called up Setsuna on the communicator
and she said she would be over. They all thought that maybe together
they could figure things out.
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Death Valley California, in area number four according to Corporal
Gonzalez's map, four Sailor Senshi were practicing coordinated attacks
on hostile boulders. The first rounds were with Sailors Sun and Venus
attacking from above and Sailors Jupiter and Io attacking from the
front.
The two pairs of Senshi took half an hour before they could time their
attacks to hit at the exact same moment for maximum effectiveness.
Once Sailor Sun was satisfied that each pair was comfortable with each
other's timing, she had them pair off differently with Sun and Venus
in one pair and Io and Jupiter in the other.
They selected a new set of boulders and continued to train with
coordinated attacks again. Now, it took only ten minutes to get the
timing down. Venus and Jupiter were overjoyed at how their newest
members to the Senshi were helping the entire team. Venus and Jupiter
felt that any youma that dare show up now would be toast in seconds.
Venus sent a Crescent Beam attack at close range, almost getting
blasted by Sun's Searing Plasma Blast. "Don't get overconfident!"
instructed Sun.
Io burst out laughing at that comment. She stopped her practice run
and fell to the ground.
"What's so funny?" Asked Sailor Venus.
"Sun, that's who! Overconfident is her middle name!"
Sailor Sun was upset and raised her battle aura. She stormed over to
Io. "Take that back!"
"It's the truth!" Io calmed down a bit, but was still giggling.
"No it's not!" Sun was getting torqued.
"Yes it is!" Io was enjoying the reaction.
"Tomboy!" Sun blew a gasket.
"Pervert!" Io was getting into this.
"Uncute!" Io pushed Sun's buttons beyond the breaking point.
"Cross dresser!" Io knew this would set Sun over the edge.
Sailors Venus and Jupiter watched those two Senshi exchange insults.
"I hope I never have a friend who treats me like that." Sailor Jupiter
stated.
"I was thinking about Io, she could really get violent. How does Sun
put up with her?" Sailor Venus wondered.
Sailors Sun and Io now went to blows. They stuck with ki attacks and
martial arts. Sun flipped Io over her shoulder. Io landed on her feet
and pushed into Sun's back knocking her to the ground. Io produced the
infamous hammer O'Chi and flattened Sun. "Fire bug!"
Sailors Jupiter and Venus looked at each other and said at the same
time. "It's got to be love."
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In Juuban, a flash appeared and Sailors Io and Sun were standing in
their living room. Sun then released Io and flashed out. Io would have
to wait for her husband to return. Sailor Sun had been practicing
teleportation for a while and now was able to do it without passing
out. She was going to be busy for a bit since she still could only
transport one passenger at a time and she needed to get Venus and
Jupiter home in time for school.
Sailor Io went to her bedroom. She was about to change back into Akane
Saotome when she looked at herself in the mirror. "Uncute she says.
Bah!" Io had grown her hair back to the length it was before this
whole Sailor business started. She liked the real short haircut she
used to have, but felt the previous style was a more natural look. She
looked good. Her arms and legs were solid muscle; her weight training
and exercise routine had really made her into a formidable opponent in
either human or Senshi form. Sailor Io really liked her fuku and how
it looked on her, her yellow skirt, her blue bows and her golden
tiara. She really liked it.
A flash announced the return of her part-time female husband. She
heard the sound of someone falling to the floor. Io went to the living
room and saw Sailor Sun curled up in a ball sleeping again. "Well,
you're getting better. Oh, I am not uncute!"
Sailor Sun popped awake at that statement. "Are so."
"Am not!"
"Look at you, you're a tomboy! That fuku makes you look real silly!"
Sun was still fuming from the fight.
Io was not happy about being insulted about her clothes. "Well if
that's how you feel!" She kicked Sailor Sun out the window in classic
style. "And don't come back!"
Sailor Io was angry. How dare she! Errrr!!! Io regained her senses and
glanced at the clock. "I'm going to be late for school!" In record
time, Io changed to Akane, got dressed and dashed off to school.
Moments later, Sailor Sun teleported in. She removed the tree branches
from herself and changed back to Ranko. Bathroom, warm water, and a
change of clothes later, Ranma dashed off to school where his
detention notice awaited him.
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"Well Mr. Saotome, it's nice of you to grace us with your presence."
Miss Hinako said.
Ranma sunk in his chair, he silently thought, "Oh please, not her. Why
did it have to be her?"
Akane was grinning from ear to ear. Even Usagi managed to come in on
time today. Hinako was going to play with Ranma today.
"I'll expect you at detention tomorrow Mr. Saotome." Miss Hinako
giggled.
Ranma turned to Akane who raised her battle aura. Ranma saw that he
was in the doghouse; he had better find a place to stay tonight until
she chills out.
"Oh, I detect battle aura." Hinako pulled a five-yen piece from her
pocket. Akane instantly dropped her battle aura, sat up straight and
became a model citizen.
Usagi asked, "What's with the five-yen piece?"
Ranma replied, "I'll tell you later."
Miss Hinako giggled, "No talking in class. Now open your books..."
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At lunchtime, Ranma called his mother. "Mom, Akane and I had a little
fight, is it ok if I came by tonight?"
Nodoka was not happy about the circumstances, but she welcomed any
excuse to see her son. "Of course Ranma. I'll see you tonight."
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That evening, Ranma used his Sailor Sun teleportation to take him to
Furinkan High school. He wandered the deserted grounds looking at the
life he left behind. He wondered why this life didn't seem to want to
let him go. First Happosai showed up, now Miss Hinako. He wished that
that madness would just stay in Nerima where it belonged. He had a new
life now, a new destiny. Old business should just stay in the past.
He was walking towards the Tendo dojo. It was a familiar path. It was
just like old times. As much as Ranma wanted to cut the past out of
his life, there were a lot of good memories tied to it. He stopped in
front of Ucchan's. "Mmm... Food!" Ranma's stomach took control and
carried him inside.
The restaurant was empty now, it was late in the evening and Konatsu
and Ukyou were putting things away for the night. Ukyou saw Ranma and
waved, "Hey Ran-chan! What brings you here?"
"I'm on my way to visit my mom and I was just passing by." He smelled
the air, "Couldn't resist your cooking." Ranma smiled.
Ukyou grinned, "So did Akane cook today? Is that it? Want some REAL
home cooking?"
Ranma sat down on a stool, "You could say that." Konatsu gave him a
glass of water and napkins.
"What'll it be? Your usual?"
"As always." He drank some water. He was thirsty from walking.
Ukyou pulled out her batter and began to pour. Konatsu stood by Ranma
and made a gentle bow. He asked quietly, "So, Ranma what's it like
being Sailor Sun?"
Ranma gagged on the water and fell to the floor.
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Author's Notes: Thanks to all you who have written me about this
story.
It really means a lot to me.
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue
planned. This is a huge story.
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor
Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!
Bill Heineman
October 5, 2002
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bur...@contrabandent.com
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