Saint Seiya Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Second Stallion ❯ Taking Flight ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: ironneko 
Anime/Manga: Saint Seiya Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.09.2004 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 704 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Saint Seiya Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.09.2004 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 704 | Status: Completed
The Second Stallion
by RaZiel
Disclaimer: You know the drill right? Check older chapters for this.
" " denotes speech
' ' denotes thoughts
Chapter 2: Taking Flight
----------------
The High Priest was Athena's chosen caretaker, and the head of Sanctuary. His chambers were the final barrier between any possible invaders, and the goddess' quarters. Any and all people who wanted to reach them, had to first cross the twelve temples, each one guarded by its corresponding Gold Saint. If all of them fell in battle, it was the High Priest's duty to stop whoever was attempting to get past him, by any means necessary.
"Worthless..."
An all-encompassing voice sounded within the construct as the pigtailed warrior picked himself up from the floor.
"Absolutely worthless..."
The same voice again, this time a shadow could be identified as the speaker while it approached the struggling teen.
"After all the time I wasted training you... to taste defeat at the hands of such a pathetic fighter... It's disgraceful..."
As the shadow stepped into the light coming from the morning sun, Ranma rose to his full height and came face-to-face with the High Priest himself.
"GALAXIAN EXPLOSION!!!"
An eruption of unimaginable Cosmic power exploded from within the High Priest's hand as Ranma was bombarded with the equivalent of a supernova going off.
The teen held back a scream of absolute pain as he was tossed about like a rag doll. He had tasted the attack more than a few times. The Galaxian Explosion, a technique responsible for breaking many a Saint before, was still too fast and powerful for Ranma to see, let alone withstand. He crashed into several columns before finally stopping at the foot of an ornate throne, where his 'master' usually sat.
Ares turned to look at the entrance of his temple as some soldiers came rushing into the room.
"Your Highness!! We heard a commotion and came as quickly as we cou-"
"LEAVE NOW!" he responded with a commanding tone that stopped the grunts in their tracks, "Whoever disturbs me again WILL face death..."
With a quick reply of "Y-yessir!" both sentries swiftly left the room with panicked haste.
With a small grunt of dissatisfaction, he once again turned to face Ranma and was pleasantly surprised to see he was once again on his feet.
Ranma could almost feel the smirk that was surely appearing underneath the mask he wore.
"Come on boy, give me a reason to believe I shouldn't just kill you now!"
A brilliant corona of Cosmos exploded from within as Ranma unleashed all of the anger he felt at that time right into Ares.
"PEGASUS SUISEIKEN!!!"
His fist turned into a single flaming comet, Ranma streaked towards his opponent. Just as he reached him, he felt an intense pain in his gut, and was truly surprised to find an elbow buried there.
"You haven't earned the right to use that attack."
The High Priest's helmet touched the ground at the same time the teen fell to his knees, having been blown off by the attack.
"Well now..." the Gemini Gold Saint sounded almost amused as watched his student recover his breath, "it seems you might not be totally useless after all..."
"H-hai sensei..." his reply came between ragged breaths as he still struggled to fill his abused lungs with air.
With a minor burst of Cosmos, the helmet was in his hands once again. He slowly made his way to the throne, and sat in his seat of power.
"You will go to China. There is an Amazon Village in the vicinity of the Bayankala mountain range. I have received word that these women are powerful fighters, and our hold over that area has been slipping as of late. Your friend will go there with you..."
As he trailed off his hair slowly shifted from the ashen white into a deep blue and his features softened if only for an instant.
Ranma was already on his way towards the steps that lead to the outside when a gentle voice reached his ears.
"Be careful Ranma, I don't know how long I can hold him back..."
With tears in his eyes, he bid his master a final farewell and quickly departed from the temple.
Saga, the Gemini Gold Saint watched his student leave. He knew it would be the last time he could spare him when he felt the demonic presence overcome his mind once again. He placed the blood red helmet on his head were it belonged, white hair cascading over his shoulders as the blue mask stared out into space, the ruby eyes shining with barely repressed golden Cosmos.
Ares was back.
-----------------------
"So you say Hyouga is the Cygnus Saint?" Seiya asked Shun as he waited around for the next fight to start.
"That's right Seiya!"
Both Saints turned at the exclamation as a teenager jumped from the stairs leading to the main arena and landed between them.
"I am the Cygnus Saint, and I will win the Gold Cloth, got it?" the Saint who controlled the icy winds of the Artic, Cygnus Hyouga, stated with a challenging tone.
While the "reunion" escalated and the Hydra Saint finally arrived, Saori Kido went over some current news with her butler, and caretaker, Tatsumi.
"You say that all of the Saints have arrived?" she asked. Yesterday had been quite an exciting day for all of them, since Seiya had shown up and had been the protagonist of an astounding victory. None of the other Saints believed the scrawny teen could overpower the mighty Bear, so he had gained quite a bit of popularity and respect lately.
"No, not all of them. The Phoenix has yet to appear and..." he trailed off momentarily thinking about whether to mention this last bit of information to his lady.
"Well?.. What is it?" she asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
"You see... Seiya told me he had, in fact, seen Ranma. However, he didn't know anything other than he was severely injured after their fight for the Pegasus Mantle," he replied.
"I see..." she said while thinking about the possible repercussions this might have on her grandfather's plans.
Mitsumasa Kido had left very precise instructions for her to follow since his death but had not once said anything about the "Wild Horse". She had desperately searched through his most private records but still came up empty-handed. Whatever he had in store for the teen was a closely guarded secret.
"DIAMOND DUST!!!"
"That will be all Tatsumi," she said as she witnessed the Hydra Saint being frozen all over, his Cloth cracking in quite a few places due to the extreme cold being generated by the Cygnus Saint.
'Who are you?' she thought to herself even as the announcer declared Hyouga the winner.
'Who are you Ranma Saotome?'
---------------------------
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!"
Ranma turned at the primal scream and was treated to a powerful haymaker to the face that sent him flying into one of the cliff sides of the mountain path between the Gemini and Taurus temples.
Freeing himself from the pile of rubble he was buried under, he directed an angry look towards the one who assaulted him.
"Ryouga..." the word had almost come out as a guttural growl, as the pigtailed teen began walking towards him.
"Ha, I didn't believe it when I heard that you lost your fight for the Pegasus Cloth... but it turned out to be true!"
Ryouga burst into laughter as he thought about his rival's situation.
"Oh... this is just... too rich..." he was almost to the point of tears now, "and to think that you used to mock me for my Mantle."
"Shut up pig-boy," Ranma replied with an annoyed look on his face, "you know nothing of my battle with Seiya..." he trailed off as he realized it would be pointless to try and explain what happened. After all, he did sound like a poor loser when he tried to explain Mu's actions.
'Hmm...' he thought to himself, 'Now that I think about it, I should get some answers from him...'
"Damn you Ranma! I've told you before, I'm no pig. I'm the Wild Boar Silver Saint, and that's more than you can say!" Ryouga's comeback held an angry undertone. Possibly due to the fact that Ranma had begun calling him that since he became a Saint. It did feel strangely appropiate though.
But Ranma wasn't paying attention to his rant. He had quickly gathered up his travelling pack, along with a couple of scrolls that had fallen from the inside and was now heading towards the Taurus temple once again.
"HEY!!! I'm still talking to you!"
"Put a sock in it will you?" he said, "Gather your things. I've got a direct order from the High Priest to go to some remote place in China and you're coming with me."
"What? But I was supposed to begin guarding the temple today as part of my training..." he sounded a bit bitter since he had been waiting a long time for this chance to come along.
"Well, I'm sure yor master won't mind much. Besides we should be back soon enough. Think of it as a training trip."
As Ranma waited for his friend, a fact which he would admit to grudgingly at best, he thought about the events that had ocurred the night before. 'I know there was some sort of rule about seeing a female Saint's face but I can't remember it. Maybe I'll ask Mu about it too.'
Ryouga was preoccupied with thoughts of his own, 'But I like training with Aldebaran-san...'
--------------------
Both fighters analysed each other, searching for any opening in ther stances, any weakness they could exploit. Their Mantles had been discarded long ago, only flesh remained to meet the terrible attacks unleashed onto them.
'Come on Seiya, think. You know that his technique has a weakness, so find it,' the Pegasus Saint thought to himself as he slowly circled the ring while still facing the Dragon.
Shiryu, on the other hand, was having some thoughts of his own. 'Now that I lost my shield the only chance I have of winning is to land a solid blow. I need to be faster than him or I'll be too exposed.'
He remembered the words his master had told him long ago. His attack was incredibly powerful, but it had a terrible flaw. If Seiya hadn't seen it yet, he could still defeat him.
He shifted his stance in preparation for his attack.
'That's it!' Seiya thought. 'I saw it right there... his left hand stops covering his heart the instant before he attacks...'
"I've figured out the weakness in your umbeatable technique Shiryu!" he exclaimed, shocking both his opponent and the crowd observing the fight.
On the sidelines, the remaining Saints watched the battle taking place.
"I can't believe Shiryu has grown this powerful," said Hyouga, who hadn't even worked up a sweat in his battle with the Hydra. The Cygnus Saint had been sure he was, by far, the most powerful one in the running for the grand prize. However, after seeing what the two teens up in the ring were capable of, he wasn't so sure anymore.
"Seiya as well," responded Shun, "he has been able to match him blow for blow so far. But will that be enough?" that last part had come out almost as a whisper.
His chain suddenly reacted and became agitated within his grip.
"What's going on?" The Wolf, Nachi, asked.
"I don't know," Shun was concerned with this new development, "The Andromeda Chain is feeling danger nearby but it can't seem to pinpoint the exact location," he replied.
He caught sight of a shadow that was lingering near the case that held the Gold Cloth. It dissapeared immediately, and the chain fell limp once again.
'Who was that?' he thought to himself as the fighters in the ring began moving after what seemed an eternity.
'Now!' thought Seiya, as he witnessed Shiryu's hand uncover the right paw of the dragon tatoo painted across his back.
"PEGASUS RYUSEIKEN!!!"
'No! Not now damn it!' Shiryu thought desperately as he approached his opponent, 'Well, if I'm going down... then so are you!'
"ROZAN SHORYUHA!!!"
Unnoticed by anyone due to the collossal battle taking place below him, a man scrambled outside the arena.
'That was too close, I underestimated the power of that chain and almost gave everything away,' the shadow the Andromeda Saint had seen was now standing on top of the Coliseum staring at the clear night sky. 'You're giving me a hard time, little brother, but it will all be over tomorrow,' with those final words Ikki, the Phoenix Saint, dropped out of sight.
-------------------
"Hey Ranma!"
The teen in question turned around at the mention of his name. He could see a man in his early twenties approaching him, clad in nothing more than some simple training clothes and some leather armour.
"Aioria?" he said, almost wondering out loud as the Leo Gold Saint caught up with him, "What is it?"
Aioria had been one of the few friends Ranma had made while training in Sanctuary under the watchful eye of Ares. One of the most honorable of Saints, the Lion had been like an older brother to the pigtailed teen, perhaps attempting to fill the void left by his own sibling, after his execution for the kidnapping of the last incarnation of the goddess Athena.
To others, Aioria seemed a merciless warrior, who pursued his enemies relentlessly and was ruthless when dealing with invaders, like the golden lion he represented, but to Ranma he was just a playful cat.
"Where are you going?" he finally asked, curious about the large travelling pack Ranma carried over his right shoulder.
"Well, I'm supposed to go to China. Sensei's orders. I was heading over to the Aries temple because Mu and I need to finish a discussion," he replied while staring back up the stairs towards the Taurus temple, "I thought I'd make the most out of my time since Ryouga's still packing,"
Aioria was somewhat bothered by the fact that Ranma was leaving so soon after his battle for the Pegasus Cloth. He then suddenly recalled something he'd heard earlier.
"You're out of luck then, I've just been told that Mu's left for Jamir already,"
"What?" the disbelief was evident in Ranma's tone as he thought about this new development, "But what about the first Temple? Isn't he supposed to guard it?" he inquired.
"Kiki's still here... I guess the telepathic link he and Mu share is enough to assure him that everything will be all right. Besides, Mu can teleport here at a moment's notice. You know he is a master of Psychokinesis right?"
Aioria watched Ranma's shoulders slump in defeat.
'I didn't think he wanted to speak with Mu that much. Must be something important if he is so worried about it,' he thought.
"Well," he said, "since you have some free time now... why don't we spar for a bit before you go?"
Ranma's face brightened considerably at the suggestion.
"Sure," he replied, dropping his backpack on the ground as he began to stretch, "Ryouga is probably still trying to find his way into his room anyway..."
As soon as he finished talking, his chin met his opponent's fist as the eldest of the two wasted no time at all in breaching his defenses.
Tilting his had back with the blow, he absorbed the impact and countered with a backflip that eventually became a crescent kick. However, the Lion was ready for it as he quickly backed away and evaded Ranma's right leg by less than a hair.
As soon as he regained his footing, Ranma tore into Aioria with a powerful kick and punch combination that could not be countered, and both of them began trading blows.
A leg sweep was negated with a jump kick just as a haymaker ended up as a perfect throw candidate. The two fighters kept the pace for more than half an hour, none of them gaining a clear advantage over the other.
Aioria broke the stalemate as he cleared some space between Ranma and himself.
"So... ready to up the ante?" he asked the teen as a faint golden glow began to surround him.
"Always,"
A cyan coloured aura enveloped Ranma as he mentally steeled himself and drew as much Cosmos as he could from within. He was pretty banged up from the earlier massacre against his master, but that still didn't deterr him from going all out here.
At an unseen signal, they exploded into colourful blurs. With renewed intensity, they mercilessly tore into each other in an attempt to find an opening.
'Here he comes,' thought Ranma as he felt a slight buildup of Cosmos from his opponent.
"LIGHTNING BOLT!!!"
Focusing all of his will into a defensive barrier, he braced himself for impact as the Leo Gold Saint rushed towards him and unleashed what could only be described as a bolt of lightning.
Unknown to both fighters, a spectator was witnessing the battle.
'Such power... How could I not notice him before?' the Cobra was angry. Angry at her student, for failing to win the Pegasus Cloth. Angry at Seiya for escaping Sanctuary with that very same Cloth. But most of all, angry at herself for underestimating the awesome power of the pigtailed teen she now beheld with calculating eyes.
'How can it be? This kid, barely seventeen, matched me blow for blow... Not even a Bronze Saint, yet he can stand up to me?' Not much could stand up to a Silver Saint, however, Ranma had done it, and he'd sparked something within Shaina she hadn't felt in a long time.
'I swear by my honour as a Saint, I will defeat you Ranma. Last time was nothing more than a fluke. I underestimated you, but that won't happen again,'
She turned to leave, feeling the need to attend to other matters, such as the condition of Cassius. A final thought ran through her mind at that time.
'And if I don't...'
She walked away from the scene, still unnoticed by the fighters.
"PEGASUS RYUSEIKEN!!!"
"Still too slow Ranma!" Aioria shouted as he lazily dodged around the blows. 'He's quite a lot faster than last time though,' he thought to himself.
'Damn it, I need more power,' Focusing his Cosmos like never before, his battle aura gaining an incredible shine, Ranma began to actually speed up. Aioria was caught off-guard as he received a punch to the face.
'My God! I can't believe it... He's beginning to access the seventh sense...'
Almost as an automatic defense mechanism, the Gold Saint immediately classified Ranma with a new threat level, and responded accordingly without thinking.
"LIGHTNING PLASMA!!!"
The Lightning Plasma, the Leo Saint's most powerful technique was actually a myriad of blasts that travelled at the speed of light towards his opponent and created a kind of energy web that wreaked havoc across anything it encountered.
Ranma, having been totally wiped out by the insane amount of effort of empowering his attack, was powerless to defend against an attack he'd only seen being used on other people.
He was, once again, sent flying backwards and ended up embedded in the cliff wall.
'Uhh, today hasn't been a good day for me and walls...' he thought as he slipped into unconciousness.
"RANMA!!" Aioria immediately powered down and headed over to his fallen friend and began checking his injuries.
At that time Ryouga approached both warriors, holding his own travelling pack tied over the box that held his Mantle.
"Hey Aioria!" he called out.
"Oh, Ryouga, hi..." he missed the first signs of stirring from Ranma as he greeted the Silver Saint.
"What happened to him?" the newcomer asked, noticing for the first time the state his rival was in.
"Well... I went a bit overboard while sparring with him..." he admitted as the pigtailed teen sat up.
"Ow... Guess you won this one right niisan?" he said while struggling to stand.
"Heh, I think you're right about that one squirt," he replied while helping the injured fighter to stand.
He allowed him to drape his arm over his shoulder as he walked with him where the discarded pack lay.
"I just need a moment to catch my breath and then we can go," he told Ryouga.
Said person looked at him with an amused smirk on his face, "You're getting soft on me Saotome?"
He picked Ranma and dumped him over his right arm as he slung the bag over his left one. "Come on you girl, let's get going,"
"I'm... no girl..." he replied just before falling into unconciousness once again.
He turned around to leave and felt Aioria's hand grasping his left shoulder.
"Take care Ryouga, both him and yourself,"
"Don't worry," he said, "If anyone's gonna kill him, It'll be me," with a smile on his face he set forth into the dirt path that lead away from Sanctuary and into the open world.
The Gold Saint watched them go until they were nothing more than a speck across the horizon. Turning back into Sanctuary he suddenly froze as he finally caught on to what he'd done.
'What the hell was I thinking??? They'll never get there with Ryouga in the lead!!!'
---------------------
Author's notes:
Well, here it is. The long awaited chapter 2. (Although you guys didn't have to wait all that much when compared to my older updates)
Ranma's master has been revealed, the plot is beginning to develop and more of the Ranma 1/2 crew start appearing. Tell me what you think about the "flashback" sort of style. I plan to keep doing scenes that show the original storyline moving forward until they merge (not too sure about when that will happen yet).
I want to get this out of the way right about now. I have no plans to include the Asgard Saga in this fic, (hell, I don't even know if I'll ever be able to finish the Sanctuary arc) but I might change my mind somewhere along the line.
Now we get to the big question... Should I curse Ranma? I want reader's response here because I feel Ranma is not really complete without his curse, but he's cursed in all my other fics so it could be a nice change of pace (nevermind the fact that I havent shown Ranma-chan in a single scene ever before ^_^). Of course the final decision will be up to me but I would like to know how you feel about it. I don't want just a simple yes/no answer, give me reasons!!!
Well, I took some time off my midterms (since they aren't over yet, in fact I've got one in just under four hours from now...) to whip this up for you as a kind of apology for taking so long in updating. Expect updates to be more regular from now on (not this regular though...) I'll probably do one or two more chapters of this one and go back to AGDM (I haven't forgotten about that one, it's just that I'm on a roll, if 2 updates in the last 7 months can be called a roll).
So, anyway, you know the drill. Comments, flames (I'll stop asking for these pretty soon :P) anything to let me know you read this stuff. Email me at ironneko@hotmail.com (msn messenger address) or ironneko@yahoo.com.ar (use this one for comments since I have more space).
For those reading this on ff. net, check my profile for my Email addresses since I don't know why the system deletes them.
PS: I think this will be the standard length of chapters from now on (between 20 and 30k), too many complaints about how short chapters were really made me work to make them longer.
Ja Ne...
RaZiel
by RaZiel
Disclaimer: You know the drill right? Check older chapters for this.
" " denotes speech
' ' denotes thoughts
Chapter 2: Taking Flight
----------------
The High Priest was Athena's chosen caretaker, and the head of Sanctuary. His chambers were the final barrier between any possible invaders, and the goddess' quarters. Any and all people who wanted to reach them, had to first cross the twelve temples, each one guarded by its corresponding Gold Saint. If all of them fell in battle, it was the High Priest's duty to stop whoever was attempting to get past him, by any means necessary.
"Worthless..."
An all-encompassing voice sounded within the construct as the pigtailed warrior picked himself up from the floor.
"Absolutely worthless..."
The same voice again, this time a shadow could be identified as the speaker while it approached the struggling teen.
"After all the time I wasted training you... to taste defeat at the hands of such a pathetic fighter... It's disgraceful..."
As the shadow stepped into the light coming from the morning sun, Ranma rose to his full height and came face-to-face with the High Priest himself.
"GALAXIAN EXPLOSION!!!"
An eruption of unimaginable Cosmic power exploded from within the High Priest's hand as Ranma was bombarded with the equivalent of a supernova going off.
The teen held back a scream of absolute pain as he was tossed about like a rag doll. He had tasted the attack more than a few times. The Galaxian Explosion, a technique responsible for breaking many a Saint before, was still too fast and powerful for Ranma to see, let alone withstand. He crashed into several columns before finally stopping at the foot of an ornate throne, where his 'master' usually sat.
Ares turned to look at the entrance of his temple as some soldiers came rushing into the room.
"Your Highness!! We heard a commotion and came as quickly as we cou-"
"LEAVE NOW!" he responded with a commanding tone that stopped the grunts in their tracks, "Whoever disturbs me again WILL face death..."
With a quick reply of "Y-yessir!" both sentries swiftly left the room with panicked haste.
With a small grunt of dissatisfaction, he once again turned to face Ranma and was pleasantly surprised to see he was once again on his feet.
Ranma could almost feel the smirk that was surely appearing underneath the mask he wore.
"Come on boy, give me a reason to believe I shouldn't just kill you now!"
A brilliant corona of Cosmos exploded from within as Ranma unleashed all of the anger he felt at that time right into Ares.
"PEGASUS SUISEIKEN!!!"
His fist turned into a single flaming comet, Ranma streaked towards his opponent. Just as he reached him, he felt an intense pain in his gut, and was truly surprised to find an elbow buried there.
"You haven't earned the right to use that attack."
The High Priest's helmet touched the ground at the same time the teen fell to his knees, having been blown off by the attack.
"Well now..." the Gemini Gold Saint sounded almost amused as watched his student recover his breath, "it seems you might not be totally useless after all..."
"H-hai sensei..." his reply came between ragged breaths as he still struggled to fill his abused lungs with air.
With a minor burst of Cosmos, the helmet was in his hands once again. He slowly made his way to the throne, and sat in his seat of power.
"You will go to China. There is an Amazon Village in the vicinity of the Bayankala mountain range. I have received word that these women are powerful fighters, and our hold over that area has been slipping as of late. Your friend will go there with you..."
As he trailed off his hair slowly shifted from the ashen white into a deep blue and his features softened if only for an instant.
Ranma was already on his way towards the steps that lead to the outside when a gentle voice reached his ears.
"Be careful Ranma, I don't know how long I can hold him back..."
With tears in his eyes, he bid his master a final farewell and quickly departed from the temple.
Saga, the Gemini Gold Saint watched his student leave. He knew it would be the last time he could spare him when he felt the demonic presence overcome his mind once again. He placed the blood red helmet on his head were it belonged, white hair cascading over his shoulders as the blue mask stared out into space, the ruby eyes shining with barely repressed golden Cosmos.
Ares was back.
-----------------------
"So you say Hyouga is the Cygnus Saint?" Seiya asked Shun as he waited around for the next fight to start.
"That's right Seiya!"
Both Saints turned at the exclamation as a teenager jumped from the stairs leading to the main arena and landed between them.
"I am the Cygnus Saint, and I will win the Gold Cloth, got it?" the Saint who controlled the icy winds of the Artic, Cygnus Hyouga, stated with a challenging tone.
While the "reunion" escalated and the Hydra Saint finally arrived, Saori Kido went over some current news with her butler, and caretaker, Tatsumi.
"You say that all of the Saints have arrived?" she asked. Yesterday had been quite an exciting day for all of them, since Seiya had shown up and had been the protagonist of an astounding victory. None of the other Saints believed the scrawny teen could overpower the mighty Bear, so he had gained quite a bit of popularity and respect lately.
"No, not all of them. The Phoenix has yet to appear and..." he trailed off momentarily thinking about whether to mention this last bit of information to his lady.
"Well?.. What is it?" she asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
"You see... Seiya told me he had, in fact, seen Ranma. However, he didn't know anything other than he was severely injured after their fight for the Pegasus Mantle," he replied.
"I see..." she said while thinking about the possible repercussions this might have on her grandfather's plans.
Mitsumasa Kido had left very precise instructions for her to follow since his death but had not once said anything about the "Wild Horse". She had desperately searched through his most private records but still came up empty-handed. Whatever he had in store for the teen was a closely guarded secret.
"DIAMOND DUST!!!"
"That will be all Tatsumi," she said as she witnessed the Hydra Saint being frozen all over, his Cloth cracking in quite a few places due to the extreme cold being generated by the Cygnus Saint.
'Who are you?' she thought to herself even as the announcer declared Hyouga the winner.
'Who are you Ranma Saotome?'
---------------------------
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!"
Ranma turned at the primal scream and was treated to a powerful haymaker to the face that sent him flying into one of the cliff sides of the mountain path between the Gemini and Taurus temples.
Freeing himself from the pile of rubble he was buried under, he directed an angry look towards the one who assaulted him.
"Ryouga..." the word had almost come out as a guttural growl, as the pigtailed teen began walking towards him.
"Ha, I didn't believe it when I heard that you lost your fight for the Pegasus Cloth... but it turned out to be true!"
Ryouga burst into laughter as he thought about his rival's situation.
"Oh... this is just... too rich..." he was almost to the point of tears now, "and to think that you used to mock me for my Mantle."
"Shut up pig-boy," Ranma replied with an annoyed look on his face, "you know nothing of my battle with Seiya..." he trailed off as he realized it would be pointless to try and explain what happened. After all, he did sound like a poor loser when he tried to explain Mu's actions.
'Hmm...' he thought to himself, 'Now that I think about it, I should get some answers from him...'
"Damn you Ranma! I've told you before, I'm no pig. I'm the Wild Boar Silver Saint, and that's more than you can say!" Ryouga's comeback held an angry undertone. Possibly due to the fact that Ranma had begun calling him that since he became a Saint. It did feel strangely appropiate though.
But Ranma wasn't paying attention to his rant. He had quickly gathered up his travelling pack, along with a couple of scrolls that had fallen from the inside and was now heading towards the Taurus temple once again.
"HEY!!! I'm still talking to you!"
"Put a sock in it will you?" he said, "Gather your things. I've got a direct order from the High Priest to go to some remote place in China and you're coming with me."
"What? But I was supposed to begin guarding the temple today as part of my training..." he sounded a bit bitter since he had been waiting a long time for this chance to come along.
"Well, I'm sure yor master won't mind much. Besides we should be back soon enough. Think of it as a training trip."
As Ranma waited for his friend, a fact which he would admit to grudgingly at best, he thought about the events that had ocurred the night before. 'I know there was some sort of rule about seeing a female Saint's face but I can't remember it. Maybe I'll ask Mu about it too.'
Ryouga was preoccupied with thoughts of his own, 'But I like training with Aldebaran-san...'
--------------------
Both fighters analysed each other, searching for any opening in ther stances, any weakness they could exploit. Their Mantles had been discarded long ago, only flesh remained to meet the terrible attacks unleashed onto them.
'Come on Seiya, think. You know that his technique has a weakness, so find it,' the Pegasus Saint thought to himself as he slowly circled the ring while still facing the Dragon.
Shiryu, on the other hand, was having some thoughts of his own. 'Now that I lost my shield the only chance I have of winning is to land a solid blow. I need to be faster than him or I'll be too exposed.'
He remembered the words his master had told him long ago. His attack was incredibly powerful, but it had a terrible flaw. If Seiya hadn't seen it yet, he could still defeat him.
He shifted his stance in preparation for his attack.
'That's it!' Seiya thought. 'I saw it right there... his left hand stops covering his heart the instant before he attacks...'
"I've figured out the weakness in your umbeatable technique Shiryu!" he exclaimed, shocking both his opponent and the crowd observing the fight.
On the sidelines, the remaining Saints watched the battle taking place.
"I can't believe Shiryu has grown this powerful," said Hyouga, who hadn't even worked up a sweat in his battle with the Hydra. The Cygnus Saint had been sure he was, by far, the most powerful one in the running for the grand prize. However, after seeing what the two teens up in the ring were capable of, he wasn't so sure anymore.
"Seiya as well," responded Shun, "he has been able to match him blow for blow so far. But will that be enough?" that last part had come out almost as a whisper.
His chain suddenly reacted and became agitated within his grip.
"What's going on?" The Wolf, Nachi, asked.
"I don't know," Shun was concerned with this new development, "The Andromeda Chain is feeling danger nearby but it can't seem to pinpoint the exact location," he replied.
He caught sight of a shadow that was lingering near the case that held the Gold Cloth. It dissapeared immediately, and the chain fell limp once again.
'Who was that?' he thought to himself as the fighters in the ring began moving after what seemed an eternity.
'Now!' thought Seiya, as he witnessed Shiryu's hand uncover the right paw of the dragon tatoo painted across his back.
"PEGASUS RYUSEIKEN!!!"
'No! Not now damn it!' Shiryu thought desperately as he approached his opponent, 'Well, if I'm going down... then so are you!'
"ROZAN SHORYUHA!!!"
Unnoticed by anyone due to the collossal battle taking place below him, a man scrambled outside the arena.
'That was too close, I underestimated the power of that chain and almost gave everything away,' the shadow the Andromeda Saint had seen was now standing on top of the Coliseum staring at the clear night sky. 'You're giving me a hard time, little brother, but it will all be over tomorrow,' with those final words Ikki, the Phoenix Saint, dropped out of sight.
-------------------
"Hey Ranma!"
The teen in question turned around at the mention of his name. He could see a man in his early twenties approaching him, clad in nothing more than some simple training clothes and some leather armour.
"Aioria?" he said, almost wondering out loud as the Leo Gold Saint caught up with him, "What is it?"
Aioria had been one of the few friends Ranma had made while training in Sanctuary under the watchful eye of Ares. One of the most honorable of Saints, the Lion had been like an older brother to the pigtailed teen, perhaps attempting to fill the void left by his own sibling, after his execution for the kidnapping of the last incarnation of the goddess Athena.
To others, Aioria seemed a merciless warrior, who pursued his enemies relentlessly and was ruthless when dealing with invaders, like the golden lion he represented, but to Ranma he was just a playful cat.
"Where are you going?" he finally asked, curious about the large travelling pack Ranma carried over his right shoulder.
"Well, I'm supposed to go to China. Sensei's orders. I was heading over to the Aries temple because Mu and I need to finish a discussion," he replied while staring back up the stairs towards the Taurus temple, "I thought I'd make the most out of my time since Ryouga's still packing,"
Aioria was somewhat bothered by the fact that Ranma was leaving so soon after his battle for the Pegasus Cloth. He then suddenly recalled something he'd heard earlier.
"You're out of luck then, I've just been told that Mu's left for Jamir already,"
"What?" the disbelief was evident in Ranma's tone as he thought about this new development, "But what about the first Temple? Isn't he supposed to guard it?" he inquired.
"Kiki's still here... I guess the telepathic link he and Mu share is enough to assure him that everything will be all right. Besides, Mu can teleport here at a moment's notice. You know he is a master of Psychokinesis right?"
Aioria watched Ranma's shoulders slump in defeat.
'I didn't think he wanted to speak with Mu that much. Must be something important if he is so worried about it,' he thought.
"Well," he said, "since you have some free time now... why don't we spar for a bit before you go?"
Ranma's face brightened considerably at the suggestion.
"Sure," he replied, dropping his backpack on the ground as he began to stretch, "Ryouga is probably still trying to find his way into his room anyway..."
As soon as he finished talking, his chin met his opponent's fist as the eldest of the two wasted no time at all in breaching his defenses.
Tilting his had back with the blow, he absorbed the impact and countered with a backflip that eventually became a crescent kick. However, the Lion was ready for it as he quickly backed away and evaded Ranma's right leg by less than a hair.
As soon as he regained his footing, Ranma tore into Aioria with a powerful kick and punch combination that could not be countered, and both of them began trading blows.
A leg sweep was negated with a jump kick just as a haymaker ended up as a perfect throw candidate. The two fighters kept the pace for more than half an hour, none of them gaining a clear advantage over the other.
Aioria broke the stalemate as he cleared some space between Ranma and himself.
"So... ready to up the ante?" he asked the teen as a faint golden glow began to surround him.
"Always,"
A cyan coloured aura enveloped Ranma as he mentally steeled himself and drew as much Cosmos as he could from within. He was pretty banged up from the earlier massacre against his master, but that still didn't deterr him from going all out here.
At an unseen signal, they exploded into colourful blurs. With renewed intensity, they mercilessly tore into each other in an attempt to find an opening.
'Here he comes,' thought Ranma as he felt a slight buildup of Cosmos from his opponent.
"LIGHTNING BOLT!!!"
Focusing all of his will into a defensive barrier, he braced himself for impact as the Leo Gold Saint rushed towards him and unleashed what could only be described as a bolt of lightning.
Unknown to both fighters, a spectator was witnessing the battle.
'Such power... How could I not notice him before?' the Cobra was angry. Angry at her student, for failing to win the Pegasus Cloth. Angry at Seiya for escaping Sanctuary with that very same Cloth. But most of all, angry at herself for underestimating the awesome power of the pigtailed teen she now beheld with calculating eyes.
'How can it be? This kid, barely seventeen, matched me blow for blow... Not even a Bronze Saint, yet he can stand up to me?' Not much could stand up to a Silver Saint, however, Ranma had done it, and he'd sparked something within Shaina she hadn't felt in a long time.
'I swear by my honour as a Saint, I will defeat you Ranma. Last time was nothing more than a fluke. I underestimated you, but that won't happen again,'
She turned to leave, feeling the need to attend to other matters, such as the condition of Cassius. A final thought ran through her mind at that time.
'And if I don't...'
She walked away from the scene, still unnoticed by the fighters.
"PEGASUS RYUSEIKEN!!!"
"Still too slow Ranma!" Aioria shouted as he lazily dodged around the blows. 'He's quite a lot faster than last time though,' he thought to himself.
'Damn it, I need more power,' Focusing his Cosmos like never before, his battle aura gaining an incredible shine, Ranma began to actually speed up. Aioria was caught off-guard as he received a punch to the face.
'My God! I can't believe it... He's beginning to access the seventh sense...'
Almost as an automatic defense mechanism, the Gold Saint immediately classified Ranma with a new threat level, and responded accordingly without thinking.
"LIGHTNING PLASMA!!!"
The Lightning Plasma, the Leo Saint's most powerful technique was actually a myriad of blasts that travelled at the speed of light towards his opponent and created a kind of energy web that wreaked havoc across anything it encountered.
Ranma, having been totally wiped out by the insane amount of effort of empowering his attack, was powerless to defend against an attack he'd only seen being used on other people.
He was, once again, sent flying backwards and ended up embedded in the cliff wall.
'Uhh, today hasn't been a good day for me and walls...' he thought as he slipped into unconciousness.
"RANMA!!" Aioria immediately powered down and headed over to his fallen friend and began checking his injuries.
At that time Ryouga approached both warriors, holding his own travelling pack tied over the box that held his Mantle.
"Hey Aioria!" he called out.
"Oh, Ryouga, hi..." he missed the first signs of stirring from Ranma as he greeted the Silver Saint.
"What happened to him?" the newcomer asked, noticing for the first time the state his rival was in.
"Well... I went a bit overboard while sparring with him..." he admitted as the pigtailed teen sat up.
"Ow... Guess you won this one right niisan?" he said while struggling to stand.
"Heh, I think you're right about that one squirt," he replied while helping the injured fighter to stand.
He allowed him to drape his arm over his shoulder as he walked with him where the discarded pack lay.
"I just need a moment to catch my breath and then we can go," he told Ryouga.
Said person looked at him with an amused smirk on his face, "You're getting soft on me Saotome?"
He picked Ranma and dumped him over his right arm as he slung the bag over his left one. "Come on you girl, let's get going,"
"I'm... no girl..." he replied just before falling into unconciousness once again.
He turned around to leave and felt Aioria's hand grasping his left shoulder.
"Take care Ryouga, both him and yourself,"
"Don't worry," he said, "If anyone's gonna kill him, It'll be me," with a smile on his face he set forth into the dirt path that lead away from Sanctuary and into the open world.
The Gold Saint watched them go until they were nothing more than a speck across the horizon. Turning back into Sanctuary he suddenly froze as he finally caught on to what he'd done.
'What the hell was I thinking??? They'll never get there with Ryouga in the lead!!!'
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Author's notes:
Well, here it is. The long awaited chapter 2. (Although you guys didn't have to wait all that much when compared to my older updates)
Ranma's master has been revealed, the plot is beginning to develop and more of the Ranma 1/2 crew start appearing. Tell me what you think about the "flashback" sort of style. I plan to keep doing scenes that show the original storyline moving forward until they merge (not too sure about when that will happen yet).
I want to get this out of the way right about now. I have no plans to include the Asgard Saga in this fic, (hell, I don't even know if I'll ever be able to finish the Sanctuary arc) but I might change my mind somewhere along the line.
Now we get to the big question... Should I curse Ranma? I want reader's response here because I feel Ranma is not really complete without his curse, but he's cursed in all my other fics so it could be a nice change of pace (nevermind the fact that I havent shown Ranma-chan in a single scene ever before ^_^). Of course the final decision will be up to me but I would like to know how you feel about it. I don't want just a simple yes/no answer, give me reasons!!!
Well, I took some time off my midterms (since they aren't over yet, in fact I've got one in just under four hours from now...) to whip this up for you as a kind of apology for taking so long in updating. Expect updates to be more regular from now on (not this regular though...) I'll probably do one or two more chapters of this one and go back to AGDM (I haven't forgotten about that one, it's just that I'm on a roll, if 2 updates in the last 7 months can be called a roll).
So, anyway, you know the drill. Comments, flames (I'll stop asking for these pretty soon :P) anything to let me know you read this stuff. Email me at ironneko@hotmail.com (msn messenger address) or ironneko@yahoo.com.ar (use this one for comments since I have more space).
For those reading this on ff. net, check my profile for my Email addresses since I don't know why the system deletes them.
PS: I think this will be the standard length of chapters from now on (between 20 and 30k), too many complaints about how short chapters were really made me work to make them longer.
Ja Ne...
RaZiel