[Ranma][Fanfic] The Bet: featherbrite's tale 1b
AnimeToo
by Gregg Sharp based on Rumiko Takahashi's situations/char
Metro...@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/greggsharp/index.html
1b: A Nervous Child (ANC)
-------------------Japan------------------------------------------------
Ranma explained his curse, that he'd gotten
mixed up in some magic during his training journey,
and then that fateful plunge into Jusenkyo. He was
prepared for the disbelieving looks. Then he splashed
himself.
The sound of jaws dropping simultaneously
around the room could be heard in what was otherwise
near-total silence. Genma was the only one who didn't
react.
"Wings?" Kasumi stared at the pastel wings
that vaguely resembled those of a dragonfly.
"A girl?" Akane looked disgusted. Bad enough
that she'd almost gotten engaged to a boy, but to a boy
who turned into a girl? She'd begun to think he was kind
of cute, she should have known he was a pervert.
Nabiki blink-blinked. The slender elfin form
was looking directly into her eyes with eyes that seemed
to see right through her and managed to convey a sort of
sad understanding. It was that conveyed mood, the
expectation that Nabiki would be disgusted and horrified
by this change that cut through all the reactions swirling
through her. She shouldered those reactions to the side and
forced a neutral/friendly expression into place.
"So," Nabiki finally managed. "Are those wings
functional?"
Ranma blinked. She could feel...sympathy? Not
pity exactly, but the middle girl was sorting through her own
feelings. Ranma began a slow smile. "Do you want to see?"
Ranma stepped out into the backyard and held out her hands.
Maybe this would work out, she hoped so, she could really
use someone to talk to right now. Featherbrite just didn't
understand the human experience too well, and his father
wasn't the sort to inspire confidence.
Nabiki was quite hesitant, taking the sylph's
hands out in the yard. She was rewarded with a bright smile
from Ranma and an odd tingling sensation that seemed to
pass from Ranma through her. Then she noticed that the
sensation was almost of freefalling and the ground was no
longer pressing against her feet.
Looking down, Nabiki saw that both of them
were merely a couple of feet up.
"I noticed that if I'm carrying something, I can
make it lighter and carry it, unless it's metal. I seem to have
problems with anything metal." Ranma's voice was very
calm and soothing, as if she half expected Nabiki to begin
freaking out.
Nabiki found the loss of control unsettling,
but the possibilities of this mode of transport were already
beginning to register. An old line in a manga about the
Faerie Folk being slain by the touch of cold iron came back
to her, and she looked with concern at her transformed
iinazuke.
"What are you doing with my sister, you
pervert!" Akane had been frozen with shock for a moment,
then started stalking forward. Boys were all perverts, and
the idea of becoming something like THAT was completely
perverted. Nabiki didn't know how to fall, she could get
easily injured from even a short drop. The stab of jealousy
was ignored.
Kasumi found herself feeling something else,
something almost completely new to her. Watching the
two lift off, their hair drifting up as if both were weightless,
to stand there drifting in midair...Kasumi actually felt a
brief stab of jealousy. To effortlessly fly...
Ranma tightened her grip as Akane stalked
forward, spreading her wings slightly. The two shot up
into the air to almost rooftop height.
Nabiki thought about this, she hadn't felt any
acceleration, as if inertia had been suspended here. More
ideas began to flick into place. How fast could she go?
How high? How far out did this weightlessness go? How
much mass could Ranma negate?
Nabiki glanced down as they drifted in place,
then shut her eyes. Every instinct said that they were
about to fall, that nothing was supporting them, that
they'd get hurt when they hit.
Seeing Nabiki close her eyes and clench her
jaw, Ranma slowly lowered the two down again. She
watched carefully, seeing more with the violet eyes of
her cursed form than merely reflected light. Nabiki
flinched slightly as her feet touched the ground, then
she started breathing again.
"Sorry, Nabiki, I guess you weren't ready
for that..." Ranma was suddenly interrupted by having
Akane grab her shirt.
"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE
DOING!" Akane pulled Ranma off balance in order
to shout in her face. "NABIKI DOESN'T KNOW HOW
TO FALL, SHE'S NOT..." Akane stopped as Nabiki
placed her hand over Akane's mouth.
"Next time, Saotome, I want to be held a
little bit closer and I am NOT looking down." Nabiki
had thought of dozens of ways to make money on
this sort of thing, and had surmised something that
Ranma hadn't realized yet himself. This last was that
the legends of Faerie generally represented them as
being very open emotionally, if not quite human.
Based on her limited exposure to both forms, she
could see where the cursed form was much more
expressive and open.
Being held at arm's length though, that
had to go. She wanted a better safety margin. A
glance over at her younger sister brought Nabiki
a brief smile. A guy was paying attention to HER,
not bowing and scraping to the little princess.
She'd have to (subtly) rub Akane's face in it later,
it was one of those things that Akane had always
held over her...
Kasumi looked down and realized she'd
dropped a cup. "Oh my. That was one of the good
cups too."
"Allow me," Ranma walked over, giving
the still angry/concerned Akane a wide berth. Quite
obviously she would have to be careful around the
youngest. "I can fix this."
Kasumi looked at all the tiny pieces of the
cup. "I'll just get a broom."
Ranma held her hands over the cup and
began concentrating, finding the parts that were once
together and convincing them to rejoin.
Kasumi took a step back, but smiled as
the pieces of the cup moved together, fitting back into
a whole. The cracks finally smoothing over as the pieces
fused as if it had never broken.
Nabiki whistled. More money to be made,
even better, now they didn't have to buy a new cup to
replace the broken one. Even Akane blinked at this.
"Ah, to have such talent in the Art, but
to waste it on such trivial things, Tendo!" Genma made
a pleading gesture to the heavens. "What did I do to
deserve such an ungrateful child!"
Soun opened his mouth to reply then caught
the looks Nabiki and Kasumi were giving Genma. Wisely,
he shut his mouth. For some reason he could see the idea
of adding panda steaks to the menu floating briefly on the
air between his middle and eldest daughters. Surely that
was just his imagination...
Kasumi picked up the cup and turned it over
in her hands. Her eyes caught Ranma's as the sylph reached for
the kettle. "Can you do this on other than cups? Any other
substances?"
"Well, yeah, as long as it's a simple object and
it isn't metal. I can't do metal too well for some reason."
Ranma yanked at her ponytail in a nervous gesture,
especially as Akane smirked. Ranma had a bad feeling
about the look in her eyes.
Nabiki leaned against a wall and had an
entirely different smirk. Simple objects, as long as they
weren't made of metal? Seamless repair of breaks? Yen
signs began to dance in her vision. Museums, archaeologists,
wealthy people with expensive breakables...
Her gaze flicked back to Ranma as he restored
his masculinity and his humanity with a splash of hot
water. Her gaze swept up and down his frame in an
appreciative survey. She had expected some dumb
lout, that the best she could hope for was that he was
cute. She began tallying up the pluses and minuses
and found, overall that she could live with the
inconvenience of the minuses and enjoy the pluses.
"So, Ranma," Nabiki still wasn't sure about
this whole engagement thing, but a short term
relationship didn't seem too unattractive, "I've got some
research to do, but don't forget you owe me a longer
flight tomorrow."
Ranma nodded, a faint smile showing on his
face. He couldn't read her emotions as easily as when in
his faerie form, but she didn't look nearly as angry or
unhappy as she had earlier.
Two others watched with very different
feelings on the whole thing.
-----------------------China--------------------------------
Featherbrite continued to watch the
purple haired girl, who continued to peer into
shadows as if she felt something was...off.
"<Ah, Shampoo, and you have brought
the Old One.>"
Shampoo nearly jumped into the air. "<Where?
What is it? I have felt like there was something there...>"
Cologne sighed. "<Child, relax. The Old Ones
were often mischievous, rarely malicious, though often
alien. I'd judge that this one offered you no harm.>"
"True," Featherbrite replied, noting again that this
small and old-appearing figure was quite capable of seeing
her. "I am called Featherbrite, a wind-faerie of the Cor Mai
Tal tribe, honored one."
"<Honored one, eh?>" Cologne hopped over to
where she could get a better look at the tiny figure. It was
not often that she ran across one smaller and more ancient
than herself. She rather enjoyed this. "<Translation effect, eh?
That's handy. Mind telling me what's going on, little one?>"
"<Okay, Great Grandmama. It's...>" Shampoo's voice
trailed off as Cologne shot her the dreaded Grandmother Look.
Featherbrite began to tell her tale, that of her friend
Ranma returning to be told by his father that the amazon had
gone back to her village, but that both Ranma and Featherbrite
had felt that the panda wasn't telling the whole story.
"<Shampoo, didn't you tell the boy why you had come
after him?>" On seeing Shampoo shake her head, Cologne gave
an exasperated growl. "<Well, why not? I can't believe you found
the boy intimidating!>"
"<Great Grandmother, something did not feel right. It
just...felt strange. Then the strangeness followed me!>"
"<Little one, can you show yourself to my Great
Granddaughter?>"
"No, only some people can see me. Usually it is the
pure of heart, or a child, or those who are mages." Featherbrite
thought briefly. "It would be difficult to do this without either
using a spell or an infusion of faerie magic."
Cologne sighed and found a rock to sit on. "<Well,
Featherbrite, you said? Let me tell you what is going on with
that friend of yours and my Great-Granddaughter here.>"
Shampoo moved carefully, watching Cologne's
eyes as she addressed...nothing. Shampoo continued to stare
and noticed that there was a point about three feet in front
of her Great-Grandmother where her own eyes refused to
focus. There was a...ripple in the air, almost a heat shimmer.
"<So when Shampoo was defeated, she gave the
boy the Kiss Of Marriage.>"
"Marriage?" Featherbrite thought about it. There were
so MANY confusing human customs. "That means an arrangement
between exclusive mates, doesn't it? I'm not sure I approve."
"<Don't tell me, you think he should wait till he's older?>"
"Hmmm? No, no, he's an adolescent. Old enough. I just
don't understand exclusive mates. Favored mate, THAT I could see."
"<First mate? Most favored mate?>" Cologne knew from the
bits and pieces of stories that faerie viewed things much differently from
humans. How could she explain marriage to someone who likely didn't even
understand the human need for ceremony?
"DEAL!" Featherbrite exclaimed, bobbing in the air happily.
She'd gotten a good deal for Ranma, and maybe this girl would help take
away some of his father's influence!
Cologne's face went blank momentarily, then she groaned.
Maybe the son-in-law would be able to explain this.
-------------------------Japan---------------------------------------
"School?" Ranma shuddered. His father had gotten fairly
nasty earlier about time spent away from martial arts training, so now
being all but shoved out the door to go to school just seemed to be
more of his father's doublespeak at work.
"You're going to the same school as Akane and me,
I'll meet you there." The shock had worn off, and now Nabiki was
feeling serious doubts. Ranma's splash in the pond this morning had
convinced her that the last evening was NOT a dream.
Yesterday morning, magic had been the stuff of empty
headed people's fantasies, a convenient mechanism in manga,
foolish dreams born of the desire that life not be the dog-eat-dog
world that Nabiki knew it was. Yesterday morning, and every
morning before that, Nabiki had well known that there was no
magic, no miracles, nothing beyond the rational world.
Today magic was looking rather sullenly at her
as she prepared to leave him behind and go meet with her
factors.
Nabiki walked quickly from the house, putting
distance between her and the impossible. She'd seen it,
but it couldn't be. It could NOT be. Changing forms, he
violated conservation of mass without even considering
where the energy for the process came from! Flying in that
faerie form had no regard for such factors as gravity or
inertia. Making that cup come together as if it had never
been broken?
It was all impossible. It couldn't be done. She'd
seen it last night, and then saw almost everything again
the very next morning. Nabiki shook slightly as she ran,
not even realizing that she was running away in more than
one way.
-----------------------------------------------------
Ranma watched sadly, seeing the fear and
confusion swirling around his erstwhile iinazuke. He'd
mishandled the situation, gone too fast, he now
realized. With his father and Nabiki's father pushing
for a fast engagement and marriage, they'd likely push
any chance for that eventuality out the door.
Ranma sighed and gathered his things,
putting his flute within the case that Kasumi had
handed him. Thanking her for the kindness, he
waited for Akane to show him the way to school.
Now if she could just go five minutes
without insulting him, Ranma would count the day
as being at least not a total loss.
----------------------China---------------------------------------
"<I really wish I could see you,>" Shampoo
noted to her invisible companion. "<Great Grandmother
told me that I should open my mind, try to see with my
mind or my heart and not my eyes. Now if she had just
told me HOW I'm supposed to do this.>"
Featherbrite sat on the amazon's head and
smiled. Without knowing why, Shampoo had gone into
a long-distance loping run that she could maintain for
hours at a time. Also without it really registering on the
warrior's mind, she had taken each branch and turn that
would eventually lead her to Ranma.
There was communication, and then there was
communication. Since the amazon could neither see nor
hear her companion, the companion was using other
methods to get to know the amazon and lead her to Ranma.
Featherbrite listened to the girl's story during
the periods where Shampoo was walking, and found that
the barbarian princess was not as simple as she appeared.
The faerie "tweaked" a few things, and Shampoo found
herself relating major events in her life to the invisible
companion. All the while, Featherbrite tried to remove the
amazon's uneasiness towards her- the result of faerie not
precisely being of the world that Shampoo's senses were
so highly tuned to.
Shampoo found herself in a circle of toadstools
after six hours of her pace, yawning and wondering why
this felt like such a good place to take a nap.
----------------------Japan------------------------------------
"Good thing there was a pool there," said
one of the students as Ranma and Kuno continued to
fall from the third floor of the school.
Ranma's yelp said otherwise.
"You idiot," grumbled Akane. "What, did you
think you could fly as a boy too?"
"What did you say, Akane?" Hiroshi glanced
at Akane, wondering what the heck THAT comment had
meant.
The waters of the pool erupting a moment later
gave answer. Wings spread and with the sparkling glow
that meant her self-control was currently shot, Ranma
shot out of the pool.
"That idiot groped me!" Ranma shuddered in
mid-air.
"RANMA! YOU IDIOT! Did you want everyone
to know about your curse?!"
Ranma blinked, realizing where she was. Also
realizing all of the classmates were currently staring at Akane.
"Way to go," she mumbled.
"Oops," managed Akane as she realized the
same thing. "Well, it's your own fault, you pervert!"
Ranma glided to within a few feet of the
open window. "I thought we settled that already! It's
a curse, curses are not something you CHOOSE to get.
Curses are inflicted. About the only thing this curse
has going for it is this flying! (Which is a bit of a rush,
but that's beside the point.)"
"Look at you," Akane wasn't quite yelling
but it came close. How dare he argue with her! "Not
only are you a pervert, you're a perversion! You're a freak!"
The crowd looked from one to the other,
not quite understanding what was going on but some
of it was beginning to penetrate.
"So Ranma turns into some kinda elf girl,
cause of some curse." Daisuke summed up for the
even slower members of the crowd. "Least she's cute."
Both Ranma and Akane looked disgusted
at this last observation.
Far below them, Tatewaki Kuno was making
his own observations, staring up at the winged girl
above him. A pig-tailed goddess, a waterborne sprite,
a vision of otherworldly beauty. Now, how was he
going to catch her?
------------------------------------------------
next: (maybe)
Kuno issues a challenge!
Akane gets introspective!
Kasumi decides that if Nabiki doesn't want him...
Nabiki gets a VFR flight!
Shampoo in the Faerie Realms!
Ranma and the magic flute!
and the dangers of a Glamourie field!
Featherbrite's Tale, chapter 2: Annoying New Challenge
<delete from below this line for archiving purposes>
NOTE#1: has anybody seen a fic dealing with Ranma making a wish
and ending up going through Jusenkyo, etc. all over again? Need
the URL or title/author.
NOTE#2: The most recent votes are as follows: (just the ones with
over twenty points)
A Different Art: 48, Civil War: 32, Crippled: 24, Featherbrite's Tale:82,
Grand Tour:57, Purple haired Mtn Majesty:32, Ranma Muyo:56
Little Orphan Kasumi, Enslaved, and Kimiko's Legacy got a lot of votes
before the official voting period began last Fri, but did really poorly
when the votes were needed. i have done a rewrite of Legacy, as i
expected it to do a LOT better. will probably post the rewrite to
Shadowdancer just to replace the older version.
For everyone who voted, thank you. For everyone who wants the breakdown,
i'll be posting it on my webpage as a txt file, replacing the zip of my Bet
files,
prob within the week.
NOTE #3: according to Harijubal, "Random" is already being done by
Catbert (need THAT webpage addr too) and another take on the story
occurred to me that will eventually have a rewrite just to throw out there.
Nodoka & Genma lose custody of Ranma due to the injuries their child
received during the cat fist. It is revealed that Nodoka at one point was
fed up with Genma "playing the field" and got back at him by doing the
same thing. Ranma is the result of an affair with a gaijin that she met
when both were held hostage by a supervillain (Joker?). Said Real Father
takes custody of Ranma. His name? Bruce Wayne.
Can we see the scene with "Robin" meeting Catwoman for the first time?