[ranma][fanfic] Magical Interludes - Spontaneous Avatars Ep1/Pt1

[Jon K. Hayashi]

Magical Interludes: Spontaneous Avatars
Fanfic by J.K. Hayashi

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The story so far:
December's End, then Day In The Life.
The Saotomes have since moved into their new house. During a
break in the supply lines, limited rationing occurred and there was
some rioting in Japan.

It is Friday, February 10 of Ranma and Akane's Sophomore year.
*******************************************

Chapter 1: House Calls and Updates

Kasumi quietly swept the Clinic's front porch as her husband tended
to the last of the day's patients. It was still strange to think of any
house other than the Dojo as 'home', even though it had been a month
since she returned from her honeymoon.

She smiled at the children playing in the streets. With the schools
being used as temporary housing by the government, she knew they
saw it only as an unexpected vacation. The clinic had been used as a
station to help feed the people during the rationing, but with the re-
opening of the supply lines, things were beginning to get back to
normal.

Next door to the clinic, in what was once a large empty lot,
something unusual was happening.

There seemed to be a large building being moved there by the
government, as well as several protesting tenants. Kasumi thought
that later she should go over to welcome them to the neighborhood,
even if they were a little weird. The government had started moving
all the "weird" people to Nerima recently.

**************

Midori looked at the rock in frustration.

Midori: "Rrrg! I just can't do it!"
Keiko: "Shut up! I can't do it either."
Ayuki: "C'mon, Midori. I know you can reach the Breaking Point."
Cologne: "So you aren't as good as I thought you were, great-great-
granddaughter."

Ayuki looked up to see Cologne looking down from the wall.

Ayuki: "What do you mean, you old ghoul?"
Cologne: "You should be able to tell that those two can't learn the
Breaking Point. But you've obviously been wasting time
trying to teach it to them."

Midori and Keiko sprang into the air as they attacked Cologne.
Ayuki joined them, though Cologne easily countered each of their
attacks with her staff.

Midori: [insulted] "What do you mean I can't learn it?"
Cologne: "Nearly all students are limited in what they can learn.
Neither you nor your father can learn the Breaking Point. In
the same way, Ryoga does not have the correct qualities that
would allow him to learn the Chestnuts technique."

Cologne started to land some blows on the three girls, clearly
enjoying the sparring they gave her. When the three had first
appeared she had been caught off-guard by their skill and they had
defeated her. But now, in what would have seemed inconceivable for
at least the last fifty of her years, she found that her own fighting
abilities improving again.

Cologne: "The primary reason why your father -Ranma- has such
potential is not because he is able to learn a number of
techniques. It is that he is intelligent enough to recognize
when those techniques will not work and creative enough to
adapt the techniques into new forms of attack."

The girls hissed and Cologne watched the slight change in expression
that marked Cat-Fist fighters. She abandoned her staff (her favorite -
she didn't want it to get shredded) and waited for them to make their
move. The three moved to surround her.

The three girls leapt simultaneously, each slightly off center to catch
her in a whirlwind of their "claws". Cologne flipped over onto
Ayuki's back, quickly tapping her in her shiatsu sleep spot. Keiko
was able to catch Cologne's clothes in her hand and started to shred
her way to the body.

Cologne used Keiko's momentum to throw her straight up into the air
and turned to face Midori. As Midori attacked, Cologne started to
throw up handfuls of dirt into the air, similar to what she did to
Ranma when they fought at the beach. Midori stalked through the
dust cloud for her prey.

Keiko's head hit Midori's as she fell from the sky. Both were
knocked unconscious from the impact. When the three woke up, all
they heard was Cologne's laughter as she victoriously left the
Saotome's house.

Ayuki, Keiko, and Midori: "That Old Ghoul!"

**************

Kasumi's eyes sparkled a little more than usual when Dr. Tofu led his
elderly patient to the front door. Dr. Tofu and his patient bowed to
each other and the patient started his walk to his home.

That meant that both the clinic and her husband were entirely hers
again. Tofu put his arm around her shoulders and they walked back
into their home. Kasumi locked the door behind her, not only
because she didn't want to be disturbed, but because she wanted to be
a little naughty.

She was still a young wife, after all, having been married only a
month-and-a-half, and just as enthusiastic about physical intimacy as
the first time. But a bit more careful about birth control, especially
after that fortune teller at the New Year's Festival. Prophecy could be
avoided through proper preparations, and she wasn't ready to become
a mother... yet.

Kasumi: "Tofu?"
Tofu: "Yes?"
Kasumi: "Do you think we should visit our new neighbors?"
Tofu: "We should let them settle in for awhile... we could visit them
after dinner or tomorrow..."
Kasumi: "Tofu? Would you mind if dinner was a little... late?"

Kasumi let her dress fall to the floor. Dr. Tofu kissed her, then
carried her upstairs to their bedroom.

Tofu: "I don't mind at all."

**************

Keiichi Morisato watched the movers as they lifted his house (it
wasn't exactly his house, but an abandoned temple, but it was
included in the "weird things to move to Nerima" list) into position.
With Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld now relying on their "moon-rock"
bracelets for their life-energy, there hadn't been any real way of
stopping the move.

Keiichi gloomily contemplated the trips across Tokyo that he'd now
have to take to finish off the school year at Nekomi Tech, and then
trying to find a decent university in Nerima to finish off his degree.
Hopefully, they'd lose Mara and the rest of the weirdness that seemed
to follow them around school for awhile.

The movers finished their job, and Keiichi watched as Belldandy
slipped on five more bracelets in her attempt to make sure that their
transplanted cherry tree didn't die. Urd had already gone inside the
house to make sure all her stuff was all right.

Keiichi: "Belldandy, are... um... are you okay?"

Belldandy wiped at her tears.

Belldandy: "I think I was able to save him."
Keiichi: "Good. Why don't we go out to eat tonight?"
Urd: "All right! Where're we going?"
Keiichi: "Why don't we ask our new neighbors where there's a good
place?"

Skuld knocked at the locked clinic door.

Skuld: "I don't think anyone's home."

Urd looked at the lights on the upper level of the building.

Urd: "Someone's gotta be home."

Urd brought forth one of her small dopplegangers and watched as it
made its way to the closest lit window. Mini-Urd peeked in through
the window and mentally kicked herself. She should have guessed;
she was the goddess of love, after all.

Urd: "They're busy."
Belldandy: "Oh?"
Skuld: "What do you mean, they're... oh."

Belldandy looked at her younger sister with concern. She, of course,
had known exactly what Urd had meant. As the "antenna" for the
Goddess Technical Help Line, part of what many people wished for
included sex, and it was her job to monitor how the wishes were
carried out to their conclusion.

But Skuld was too young to be thinking about such things. It must be
a side effect of her growing up temporarily, that she gained the
knowledge and memory (and desires) of a mature body. Belldandy
knew that she should talk to her younger sister about it later, puberty
being different for goddesses than for humans.

Belldandy wished that her mother was still around to guide her.

**************

Cologne looked at the trio of goddesses standing in the once empty
lot with Keiichi. The boy was utterly normal, but the three had
something about them that she couldn't identify, though she
instinctively knew that it wasn't anything in the martial arts.

As a soon-to-be-general, she understood the need to remain
incognito; even the yakuza knew that lesson. Be important when you
needed to be - but otherwise blend into the background, deprive your
enemies of a target. So she remained at the Cat Cafe, and Hinako
was going to be assigned to Furinkan High School as an english
teacher.

She invited the group to join her at the Cat Cafe for further study.

**************

Inspector Kentaro Muramoto entered the Captain's office. Sitting in
front of the desk were two female officers obviously from Traffic.

Captain: "Ah, Muramoto. Sit down."
Kentaro: "Yes, sir."
Captain: "I'd like you to meet our two new transfers from Bokuto
Station. Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa. They'll be
added to investigations as your trainees."
Kentaro: "Trainees..."

Kentaro looked at the two women and started to feel slightly sick. He
had expected to start establishing his cover identity for the smuggling
case, and now he was expected to train new inspectors?

Captain: "Something wrong, Muramoto?"
Kentaro: "Sir, my case..."
Captain: "Take them undercover with you. It'll be a good learning
experience. Just don't forget the Grand Opening tomorrow."

Kentaro became even more depressed; he had hoped to use his case as
an excuse to not show up at the Genom Tower opening. He hated the
idea of...

Captain: "And remember, dress uniforms, all of you."
Kentaro: "Yes, sir."

**************

Nodoka smiled at the noises coming from the bath, taking off her
clothes to join her new "family". She had found it easy to love these
"granddaughters", after being alone for ten years while Genma and
Ranma were out training.

Still, it wasn't quite the same as raising a daughter of her own. She
hoped it was a girl growing inside of her, though she would be just as
happy with another boy. Nodoka had made it clear to Genma when
she told him about the pregnancy (after he regained consciousness):
no more long training trips. Being assigned a school to teach should
keep him at home.

Nodoka opened the sliding door and watched as the girls made room
for her; they were so thoughtful. Nodoka sometimes thought that
these girls would do anything for her, they were so thrilled and happy
when they found out about her condition.

She thought that she was closer to them than Ranma was, though
Ranma was their "father". But whatever Ranma may have become in
those other universes, he was still only sixteen years old in this one.
And he still had problems expressing his feelings.

Nodoka warned them to be careful on their training trip, but she
really didn't have any worries about them. She knew they could take
care of themselves. She was a little saddened at that, there were some
innocences that shouldn't be taken from children.

**************

Ukyou felt that she made a mistake.

When Ucchan's had been destroyed in the riots, Akane had offered to
let her stay in Kasumi's room, and she had accepted. Even though
she had tried dating some other boys, watching Ranma and Akane
become closer hurt more than losing Ucchan's. She could always re-
open Ucchan's. She couldn't stop loving Ranma.

Still, she and Akane had become close friends over her stay at the
dojo. She was happy for them. Well, kind of.

Akane knocked at the door.

Akane: "Ucchan? Are you ready?"
Ukyou: "OK, Ne-chan."

Ukyou picked up her backpack and joined Akane in the hall.

**************

Cologne sat her group in one of the Cat Cafe's booths and resumed
her normal place behind the restaurant's cash register. Pink quickly
moved to attend to the new customers. Cologne reasoned that
Shampoo must be getting ready to leave on her "training trip".

Probably a waste of time in terms of Shampoo's abilities, but it was
good to keep a line of contact with the Saotomes. Perhaps in the
future the natural abilities that the bloodline represented could be
joined to the village. If Ayuki were representative of the potential of
such descendants, it would be worth the effort.

Pink and Link rapidly serviced the customers. Despite their arrival
during the riots and their attacks on Shampoo, they were now
working out well as the Cat Cafe's waitresses.

Cologne was confused in her study of her guests. The three girls
seemed japanese, but obviously weren't at the same time. They
referred to each other as sisters, but the oldest had skin the color of
bronze. The youngest carried a hammer that was as tall as she was.
And there was something about the middle one, the one that seemed
to be involved with the boy, that seemed familiar, though she couldn't
quite identify it.

Then Cologne realized that the three were divinity, or at least had
some type of extra-ordinary powers. The forehead markings clearly
identified them as such. In her lifetime she had come across the
marker several times, and though some had assumed it only with
paint, her encounters with a Wu and a true divinity taught her to
recognize the signs of the true mark.

**************

Akane and Ukyou heard the sounds of Ranma teaching a class of the
Dojo's students as they walked to the front gate.

Ukyou: "Aren't you going to tell Ran-chan good-bye?"
Akane: [blushing] "No. We've... been fighting."
Ukyou: "What?"
Akane: "He didn't want me to go... or he wanted to go along. I don't
want to get into another fight."
Ukyou: "He didn't say anything to me about it."

**************