[Ranma][Fanfic] The Bet - Dragon's Destiny, Part 3
MetroAnime
DRAGON'S DESTINY 3: Battle Of Light & Dark
a Ranma 1/2 Altered Destiny fanfic by Gregg Sharp
i don't own these characters, that doesn't keep me
from having fun with them.
note: this is planned as a six part, so i'm skipping
ahead quite a bit. the whole thing will be rewritten
if this is the winner in "The Bet" story arc.
ERRATA & CHANGES: Ryouga's wish has been rewritten to
"Stronger than Ranma"
-------------------
A week passed.
The battle between Kuno and Ranma had occurred,
with Ranma grabbing a bokken and dueling Kuno "as befits
a true samurai." Just from making that statement during
the match, Tatewaki Kuno would have been more favorably
aligned with Ranma. As it was, it went from formal duel
to polite sparring match within a week. Nabiki was
giving odds that within a month it would be down to
friendly sparring, especially if Ranma's plans to
introduce Kuno to that girl kendoist from the other
school went as planned.
Shampoo explained the customs of the Amazons,
while Ranma said that things were different in Japan.
Yuka and Sayuri, at Ranma's insistence, had told
Shampoo about the courtship conventions in Japan.
Shampoo was now attending school, and as she
required extensive tutoring, had turned to Ranma for
this. Who better than her husband, after all? This did
NOT sit well with any number of others, resulting in
Ranma teaching classes (oddly enough composed entirely
of girls) after hours in school.
Ranma's twice a day sparring also drew crowds,
with the predictable result. In another week he would
be teaching another class- this in the martial arts.
His mornings were sparring matches with his father, and
occasionally Akane, followed usually by Tatewaki Kuno's
challenge at the school.
Genma sent a letter to Nadoka Saotome, wanting
to get that sword hanging over him out of the way as
soon as possible. Nabiki hid the letter until she felt
she had jockeyed to the best position, when she would
mail it. Kasumi found the letter and mailed it, without
once thinking that it had been hidden on purpose.
Akane tried to cook for Ranma. Ranma, being a
true man among men, complimented her on the "interesting
flavor" before he passed out. Dr Tofu and his stomach
pump arrived shortly thereafter. Akane's reaction to
Nabiki's suggestion that Akane had just killed Nabiki's
fiance was quite predictable. Akane went to her room
crying and Nabiki wore an ice pack.
Kasumi insisted on playing nurse to Ranma after
that incident, though he drew the line at the sponge
bath. The next morning, he insisted he was fine, though
Kasumi and Nabiki expressed numerous doubts about this.
Shampoo showed up at some time during this and proceeded
to vow vengeance against "vile poisoners who do this to
airen!" Obviously she'd spent too much time watching
Ranma fight Kuno and listening to the latter's speeches.
All in all, a relatively peaceful week.
--------------------
"Ranma, prepare to die!"
"Excuse please," Mao Yin said, as polite as
always. "What for you attack tree?"
"Oh, sorry, heheh." Ryouga looked embarrassed
and rubbed the back of his head. "I was just thinking
about Ranma and the hell he's put me through."
"Oh, so knowing me has been HELL?" There were
limits to everything, including the spiritualist's
patience. "You want find your way to Japan on your
own?"
Mao Yin stalked off, waiting to hear Ryouga
apologize. She didn't like yelling at him, but hearing
him go on and on about how he blamed this Ranma for
all his problems...
Silence. She turned around and said one of the
phrases that had been used on her when she was being
beaten for being a witch. There was no sign of Ryouga.
"Stupid Ryouga. He go look for Ranma in, Tokyo,
I think he say. I go Tokyo. He no get off that easy."
-------------------------
Ranma relaxed, one of the few parts of the day
where he could actually be alone. No Nabiki trying to
get him to sign a contract, specifying her as his agent.
No Akane trying to beat on Nabiki, or just about anyone
except Kasumi, to "defend his honor" or somesuch. No
shy and demure Kasumi finding excuses to demonstrate her
traditional feminine charms. No glomping from Shampoo.
"Oh my, did I forget to put the sign out?"
Nabiki smiled from the furo. "Well, since you're
here..."
Ranma slid the door closed again. They HADN'T
been sneaking into the bath. Well, there was that time
Kasumi had brought in extra towels. Come to think of it,
there was that time Shampoo had offered to wash his
hair with some "special" shampoos. Or the time when
Akane had offered to scrub his back before running off
saying something about how perverted SHE was getting.
Ranma's shoulders slumped. He really needed some
time alone. The only thing he really wondered is why it
had taken Nabiki that long to try something like this?
She was usually MUCH more forward.
Behind him, Shampoo stuck her head in the
window. "Nabiki strike out as well."
"Like your little battleplan worked out." Nabiki
toweled herself off without looking at the amazon. "This
hasn't worked out for any of us."
"Akane lose nerve. Kasumi go off into
fantasyland and Ranma sneak away. Nabiki too obvious.
Shampoo not fool airen. Girls at school keep trying,
so what we do?"
Nabiki finished dressing. "What do we do? We
keep united in our resolve! Shampoo, we will not rest
until Ranma has made a choice!"
"Oh brother," muttered Ranma as he crept away
from where he'd been listening. This was getting WAY
out of hand. And his mother was coming tomorrow. Such
joy he felt at the prospect of his mother seeing this
nonsense.
------------------------
The morning was shaping up as usual. Kuno giving
a nod of the head, indicating that he'd wait for the
formal match later. He had not given up on Akane, but
knew that Ranma would give him honorable combat, samurai
to samurai, later.
The usual routine was broken by a yell. "Ranma,
at last I have found you!"
Everyone looked around for the source of the
voice until Akane tracked where Ranma's gaze was
focussed. "There he is," she pointed to the top of a
nearby building.
Silhoutted by the rising sun, a boy pointed down
at Ranma. "Ranma Saotome! Now you shall pay for running
out on our man to man duel! For the HELL you have put me
through, you shall DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"
With that as his battlecry, the figure leapt.
Despite it being a three story drop, and over forty feet
away, there was absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind
that this boy would survive the attack. That he had a
projective aura similar to Ranma's (without the heroic
or manly referents) did not occur to anyone save Nabiki,
who had worked out that aspect of his transformation
just a few days ago.
The boy's impact opened a three foot wide crater
where Ranma had been standing a moment before.
"Who?" Ranma analyzed the image of the boy
before him. No exact match was found, though the
bandana... "Ryouga?"
"So you DO remember me," Ryouga snarled showing
his prominent fangs. "Now you shall pay for leading me
on that wild goose chase through China!"
"I don't get it, Ryouga, I waited for you for
three days, and if it's about the bread..."
"ARrrrrgghhh." Ryouga screamed. "I arrived on
the fourth day but you'd already fled to China! How
dare you run out on a man-to-man duel?"
There was muttering from the crowd as Ryouga's
comments were repeated. "Four days late for a duel?"
"Ranma, prepare to die!"
<WHAM!> Ryouga staggered forward as something
struck him in the back of the head.
Akane had grabbed Kuno's bokken. "You stop
threatening MY Ranma!"
Ryouga turned towards Akane.
<WHAM!> Ryouga staggered to the side.
Shampoo glared over at Akane as she pushed away
from Ryouga after doing a flying dragon kick from the
third floor. "He not YOUR Ranma yet! Shampoo no lose!"
"Would you stop that!" Ryouga began to build
up his power. A brick, thrown by Yuka, slammed into his
nose. Various women in the crowd began hurling
projectiles. "Cut it out!"
"Everyone, run!" Ranma watched Ryouga's power
level building, at this rate... "Get to cover, quickly!"
"Huh?" Everyone glanced around. Ranma was
telling them to run, but why?
Ryouga's growl clued the vast majority in as a
glow flickered into place around him. His shirt burst
open in a fashion almost exactly like Kenshiro from
"Hokuto No Ken"- a resemblence not lost on all of those
watching. The crowd fled, exercising the better part of
valor and having either made their wisdom check or
having failed their morale roll.
Kuno directed the others back, confident in
Ranma's ability to deal with the intruder. After all,
was not Saotome a samurai like himself?
Then there were the others. Shampoo and
Akane taking battlestances. How dare this interloper
threaten not only Ranma, but their school?
Nabiki left the protection of the school, her
family was perhaps the only thing she'd put above her
own personal safety. She stared at the tattoo on
Ryouga's chest, so similar to Ranma's. Instead of a
coiled oriental dragon, this was a western dragon with
five heads, each a different color. The white head was
moving, twisting, and silently threw back its head in
a howl.
Nabiki yelled and threw herself flat on the
ground. "Take cover!"
"FREEZE WAVE!" Ryouga struck the ground. A wave
of mist sped out from him, ice forming over every
surface as it passed.
"Now, Ranma, without interference," Ryouga
snarled, eyes seeming to blaze, "we can settle this..."
"K-Kasumi?!"
Both Ryouga and Ranma turned. A woman stood with
Genma near the gate to the school, staring at the pillar
of ice a few feet ahead of them.
Ryouga straightened up and looked around him,
at the frozen front of the school, at the various
icy pillars seeming to thrust up out of the frozen
ground. "Oops."
"RYOUGA!" Ranma slammed into Ryouga, "go NOW,
I have to fix what you've done here. If you STILL need
to fight me, do it some other time!"
"Oh no, Ranma, you're not getting out of this
fight that..." Ryouga's eyes widened as he saw that the
ice pillars actually had people in them. Fighting a
gagging reflex, Ryouga managed to stammer out an
agreement. "Yeah, um, I think I better get going."
"Ranma?" The woman with the long bundle watched
Ryouga go with a frown.
Ranma stepped up to her. "You must be my mother,
I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to know you."
Genma looked around the schoolyard. "Damn, what
that boy did..."
"Those over there just need to be chipped out
of the ice, father," Ranma pointed at the crowd.
"Mother, please assist him. Ryouga's ice attack went
mainly to his sides and front. They were behind him
and were spared the brunt of the attack."
"What will you be doing, son?" His mother eyed
him carefully, was this truly her son?
Ranma sighed. "First I break the ice. Shampoo
and Akane stood by me, Nabiki tried to protect her
family- Akane. Kasumi saw her family in danger and
got in the way too."
"So that's why she ran ahead of us." Genma
grunted and brought a fist down on a sheet of ice,
cracking it.
Ranma nodded, while finding his wa, his center.
"They paid the price, I can feel their lifeforce almost
gone. There's only one thing to do. Give them mine."
Nodoka Saotome glanced over at her son and
smiled but wiped away a tear. Her first impression
WAS correct. He truly was a "man among men."
Ranma arched his back and gathered power. The
resemblence to Ryouga's earlier ki buildup was almost
exact. His shirt burst open. The "tattoo" of the coiled
oriental dragon writhed as the power built.
Ice shattered. Kasumi, Akane, and Shampoo
slumped in the remains of their prisons while Nabiki
finally reached the ground.
Ranma smiled, a little bit wistfully, fully
aware of the hurry. He reached Kasumi first,
replenishing her ki with his own. He moved on to the
next, a little unsteadily. Nabiki, Shampoo, Akane all
receiving a replenishing of their own life force from
him, all warming as the increased ki flowed through him.
Ranma heard his mother shout as things went
black and he felt himself fall on top of Akane. As
everything faded out, he hoped he had been successful.
------------------------
"Akane, you're awake!"
Akane slowly got up, groaning as she did. "Ow."
"You ought to rest a little longer," Kasumi
tried to smile. "We all had to before we got our
strength back."
"What happened? Did we..."
"You don't remember, Akane? The white light,
the presence, the sense of peace?" Kasumi shook her
head. "Though it may seem to be like a dream now."
"Yeah, kinda, it was...oh no."
"Yes, Akane, we were dead." Kasumi sighed and
got up. Her joints still hurt from that terrible cold.
"We got better, but Ranma..."
"It couldn't be. Not Ranma! Ranma could never
be beaten by that..." Akane looked at her sister's
griefstricken expression, waiting.
"No, Akane." Kasumi sat on the bed next to her
sister. "We've already heard this several times as
Shampoo and Akane and I were all filled in on this.
Ranma strengthened our lifeforce with his own. He
just didn't have anything left for himself."
"No..." Akane felt tears welling up.
The door nearly burst off its hinges. Shampoo
leaned in. "RANMA ALIVE!"
--------------
Downstairs the body had put on a futon. It
had been Shampoo who had stared at the body and realized
something about it.
"Look, see!" Shampoo pointed at the body.
Nabiki scowled. "He isn't breathing and I don't
feel a heartbeat, so what are you pointing at?"
"Look at tattoo!" Shampoo couldn't believe it.
Didn't these Japanese know anything about magic?
"That's weird," Akane said thoughtfully. "It's
almost completely faded out. Why would that happen?"
"You kidding, right?" It was Shampoo's turn to
scowl. "Tattoo is not tattoo! Tattoo move when airen
stand still! You get now?"
Blank looks rewarded Shampoo's efforts.
"Aiyaaaaa! Shampoo no believe this. This prove
that Shampoo should just take Ranma and run for Amazon
Village where airen have at least fighting chance."
"I'm afraid I can't allow that," Nodoka Saotome
said sadly. "He'll be cremated and interred in proper
Japanese fashion."
Shampoo would have torn her hair out if such
a thing wouldn't reflect badly on her amazon roots.
"Airen NOT dead! Tattoo linked to Ranma's lifeforce!"
"Ohhhhhhhh." Comprehension finally clicked.
"How do we know that's true?" Akane wasn't going
to give the amazon any credit.
Shampoo thought about this. "If airen give his
life for us, then he have..." She looked shocked as a
thought occurred to her. "Shampoo got to go check
something."
Nabiki watched Shampoo run down the hallway.
"What's gotten into her?"
There was a slam, as of a door closing, a brief
pause, then the sound of someone running back down the
hall. Shampoo came running into the room.
Soun's eyes couldn't have popped open any
further. Genma stared only to find his wife's hand
suddenly blocking the view.
"Shampoo, put your shirt back on!" Akane stopped
abruptly as she realized what else she was looking at.
Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo think everyone else
check too!" One of her fingers traced the faded dragon
tattoo which curled sinuously up her body.
"Oh my!"
"Damn."
"I wonder if I can..."
"Genma, I think you ought to leave the room.
You too, Mister Tendo."
"But, dear..."
"Mrs Saotome, I..."
"Now, boys." Nodoka Saotome escorted the two men
out of the room without once having to draw steel. Both
knew it was there, however, and this did have some
intimidation factor.
"Shampoo thought so." Shampoo looked down at
Ranma, resting her hand on his chest.
"It looks like," Akane didn't want to admit that
Shampoo had something right. It wasn't fair that Shampoo
was a better martial artist, was cuter, and a better
cook than her. If she couldn't hold a superior
intelligence over that "Chinese bimbo" what could she
use to assert her own superiority?
"Yes, it looks just slightly more solid. It
has certainly stopped fading." Nabiki, ever the
pragmatist, was working it out. She didn't understand
magic, but seeing Ranma throw ki blasts and levitate
were enough to indicate that there was more to the
world than in old Horatio's reckoning. Cause and effect,
whether linked by physics or ki or this magic stuff, was
a familiar enough framework for her to begin working out
the basics.
"What if two?" Kasumi laid her own hand next
to Shampoo's. "Was that a little more color?"
Nabiki and Akane each knelt down, taking
Ranma's hands. There seemed to be a twitch but nothing
else.
Nabiki directed the others through a few
actions, some moving away, some touching, some leaving
the room. Finally she thought she had an idea of how
the whole thing worked. "Proximity seems to be the key
here, as opposed to physical contact." Nabiki
nodded. "Kasumi, you and I will gather extra futons. As
long as one of us keeps in physical contact with him,
there's a resonance between our 'shared lifeforce' for
lack of a better term. We should all stay here for the
night."
"Nabiki! You're kidding! Right?"
"Akane, if we accept that the dragon tattoo
is, in fact, tied to Ranma's lifeforce, then the degree
of fading would indicate how low it is. Do you remember
when you first noticed it, that it looked more like a
water trail than anything else?" Nabiki pointed to
the hint of coloration that might have had a vague
resemblence to a dragon. "The ones on our bodies are
far more solid than his."
"So we..."
"Sleep in the same room," Nabiki assured her
sister. "It's not like he's going to get up and ravish
us." Nabiki watched her sister's face turn completely
red. The odd thing was that Kasumi's blush was only
slightly less prominent.
"Shampoo stay too!" Shampoo glared at Akane,
just daring her to say anything.
"By the way, Shampoo, you can put your shirt
back on now. We've all observed how the dragon seems
to move when you touch Ranma and I appreciate the
information."
Shampoo shrugged. "Well, Shampoo remain here
with airen. Shampoo think it going to be long night."
On THAT there was no disagreement.
===============================
next: "Oh no. Kodachi? Martial Arts Rhythmic
Gymnastics? We don't have time for this nonsense!
Next time on Dragon's Destiny: Tool Time,
we'll see you there."