Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Why Sailor Pluto Hates The Bet ❯ Episode 7 - The Traveler, Part 1 ( Chapter 8 )

Key:

< > indicates English speech

" " indicates Japanese speech

[ ] indicates Panda signs

Ryouga = native Ryouga

Ryoga = the Ryouga from 'Sailor Ranko'

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is the property of Takeuichi Naoko. Ranma belongs to Takahashi Rumiko. Evangelion belongs to Gainax. The Bet concept and the accompanying cast and background of Mimir's Well belong to Metroanime.

Note: This episode is a bit different from most. More serious, less focused on humor and silliness. But it's very necessary, as it sets up a great many things. ^.^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a fine day in Nerima: the sun shone brightly overhead, and the air was clear as crystal. A pleasant breeze rustled through the area, whispering its secrets softly in the tongue of the four winds. Yet for one Ranma Saotome, the day was far from `fine.' Though he was not yet aware of it, for him, this particular day would NEVER be `fine' again.

We must focus on one particular street in the ward of Nerima, perhaps a mile from the Tendo Dojo. It would have been a normal enough street if not for the strange group gathered in it. Traffic had ceased to flow on this street the moment the group gathered - the people in Nerima are used to this sort of thing, and upon seeing what was going on, quickly chose alternate routes to get to where they were going. The aforementioned `strange group' stood as if struck dumb, martial artists, civilians, youma and dark generals alike all staring at Saotome Ranma, and at the sigil that glowed there on her forehead.

A tumbleweed rolled by, and the silence stretched on.

Strangely enough, it was Kasumi who finally broke it, sending her words echoing through the wells of silence. "Oh my," she said, just so that everyone could be absolutely certain that they knew who it was that was talking, "Luna, Artemis, just what did you do to poor Ranma-kun?" Her voice was strange - full of command, somehow. Not at all the voice of a meek Japanese housewife.

Nabiki and Soun looked at her with strange expressions, not entirely sure what to make of this sudden change in her demeanor.

For a few seconds, no one spoke, and then... everyone began talking at once.

"WHAT FOUL SORCERY IS THIS!?" demanded Kuno Tatewaki.

"RANMA, JUST BECAUSE THERE'S SOME RUNE GLOWING ON YOUR FOREHEAD DOESN'T MEAN I'VE FORGIVEN YOU FOR MAKING MY LIFE HELL!" That was Ryouga. Wait, no, it was Ryoga, my mistake. ^.^

"Oops," said a certain black-furred moon cat.

"Luna, you already said that," came Artemis' reply.

A minute or two later, Roseite finally recovered from her shock. "Sucker!" she cried, glancing towards her youma, "Seize this girl and retreat to the Dark Kingdom!"
Disturbingly phallic lollipops in hand, Sucker turned towards Ranma only to find her path blocked by none other than... Tendo Kasumi!?

No, gentle reader, your eyes do not deceive you. Tendo Kasumi, paragon of domesticity, stepped in front of the scantily clad youma. "I'm terribly sorry, Ms. Youma, but I can't let you take him," she said, a sympathetic smile on her face.

Sucker drew back one of her lollipops, preparing to throw... and suddenly she stopped, her expression uncertain. She looked at Kasumi for a loooong moment before looking towards Roseite, confusion written all over her face (DAMN THOSE MEDDLING KINDERGARTENERS WITH THEIR MARKERS!).

Roseite frowned. "Sucker, do as I command!"
Sucker looked at Kasumi again. Kasumi frowned.

Sucker's eyes widened at that. She backed away slowly, as if trying to placate a dangerous animal. When she had reached what she considered a safe distance (about twenty feet from the eldest Tendo daughter), she turned around and vanished into thin air.

Shock flashed across Roseite's face. Yet though she was evil (and quite insane), Roseite was not stupid. With her backup gone, she was quick to make her own escape. Just before vanishing into a swirl of black rose petals (accompanied by a VERY annoying laugh), she took the time to tell the assembled martial artists: "Don't you DARE think that you've won! I'll be back!"

Luna and Artemis (and everyone else, for that matter) stared at Kasumi with their jaws hanging open.

"Onee-chan?" Nabiki asked, looking at her as if she didn't even recognize her own sister. For his part, Soun began to tear up, but said nothing.

Kasumi's voice cut through the sound of the mob like a gust of wind dispersing a cloud of mist. "We'd better get Ranma back to the dojo. Would you help me please, Nabiki? The rest of you should go home."

Much to their own surprise, those assembled nodded and did exactly what they had been told, wondering all the while at who in the world this girl was, and where had the meek future housewife gone?

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Ranma 1/2: WHY SAILOR PLUTO HATES THE BET

by P.H. Wise

Episode 7: The Traveler

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Ranma regained consciousness slowly. Her sense of touch returned first. Gradually she became aware of the futon beneath her, of the feel of her sheets against her body, the temperature of the air, the uncomfortably hot, damp object pressed against her forehead, and so on. Hearing followed. Two or three song-birds were chirping merrily to one another just outside the window of the room that she shared with her father. She could hear the sound of voices, their resonances strangely distorted on account of the closed door, coming from downstairs. She heard the sheets rustling as she brought a hand to her head and opened her eyes. Light and colour flooded her mind; with it came pain.

Something was wrong, she knew. She felt... odd. Had she been wanting to explain it to someone else, the only way that Ranma would have been it would have been to say that she felt like a rubber band that had been stretched almost to the breaking point before snapping painfully back into shape. Alas, she was not able to put it into such terms, as she had a much more pressing matter to attend to - namely, the towel that had been pressed to her forehead. While still damp, it had become uncomfortably hot. Very quickly the heat was approaching the point that would leave minor burns. Yelping faintly, she pulled the towel off and dropped it on the floor.

She sat up. `What the hell happened to me?' she wondered. `The last thing I remember was... we were all arguing... something hit the back of my head....' There was something strange in her peripheral vision. The towel. She glanced down at it, her eyebrow furrowing slightly as she tried to make some sense of what she saw. A sigil of some kind had somehow been BURNED into the part of the towel that had been covering her forehead. She didn't recognize it, but at the same time, it struck a chord in her. Though she had never seen it before, something about it was naggingly familiar.

"What... the hell...?" she wondered aloud. Before she could get any farther in her ponderings, vertigo came pouring into her, starting in the pit of her stomach and then rising into a maddening swirl behind her eyes. She collapsed.

She figured that the collapse must have made some noise, because a few seconds later the door opened, and a voice called, "Kasumi! She's awake!"
Whose voice?

Girl. Mercenary?

Oh, right. Nabiki.

Ranma grimaced. Her head hurt, and her sense of balance was seriously off. It was like... like... she frowned, trying to recall what it was like. Her brain didn't quite want to make the connection.

She attempted to clench a fist, and there was a delay of several seconds before her hand actually responded to her will.

...

It felt like she had just emerged from Jusenkyou; like she was not at home in her own body anymore. And it frightened her.

And then there was the ice. It was thicker now. More concentrated - more extensive. And beneath it, she could feel the liquid fire of hatred that had made its presence known but rarely.

Footsteps. Someone was approaching. A moment later, Kasumi's clear, concern filled voice came filtering down through the cotton that Ranma was certain his head had been stuffed with. "Ara, Ranma-kun, how are you feeling?"

"... Dunno," Ranma managed to reply with somewhat more effort than it should have taken, his voice coming out as little more than a mumble. She opened her eyes, and this time it didn't hurt quite as bad. Her gaze lingered on Kasumi's face. Well, that was odd. When did Kasumi get tattoos? Three tattoos on her face? Oh well. Not important. "What happened?" she asked. "The last thing I remember was everyone yellin' over some pink haired chick being Akane's daughter or somethin'."

Kasumi nodded, smiling sadly. "Yes, that was Chibi-Usa. She says that Akane's her mother, and that she's from the future. We're letting her stay here for the time being. ... Ara, Ranma-kun..."

Ranma grimaced and sits up. She actually managed to stay sitting up this time. She spake then, interrupting Kasumi. "Ne, Kasumi," She glanced down at her own female body, "Where's Akane? And could ya get me some hot water?"

Kasumi's smile faded. "Ranma-kun, nobody's seen Akane-chan since Chibi-Usa kidnapped you and rode away on her tricycle."

Ranma's eyes shot wide open at that. "Why didn't ya say so earlier?" She asked as she struggled to climb to her feet. Her body wouldn't quite respond to her commands, though, and she ended up falling flat on her back. "What the hell?" she asked for the third time that day as she stared down at her unresponsive limbs.

Kasumi glanced over her shoulder to where the two moon-cats were waiting in the doorway. "You can come in now, Luna, Artemis."

They were in the guest room, Ranma realized suddenly - the room that she and her father shared. Once more she struggled to rise, and once more her body responded with a noticeable delay that threw her balance off, sending her crashing to the floor. On the plus side, the delay was less now than it had been a minute ago.

The moon-cats padded up to where Ranma and Kasumi sat, looks of guilt etched onto their faces.

"Listen carefully, Ranma-kun," said Kasumi with a tone in her voice that would permit no argument.

Ranma nodded, a strange sense of dread creeping into her heart. Something had happened. She knew it. She didn't know what, but she KNEW that something bad had happened.

"Do we have to, Kasumi-sama?" asked Artemis.

Kasumi nodded, and Artemis hung his head, which in turn only served to increase Ranma's fear. The pig-tailed girl felt her mouth go dry.

"Ranma-sama," Luna began, her tone a supremely uncomfortable one, "I'm afraid that Artemis and I have made a terrible mistake."

"Artemis and I?" said Artemis, interrupting his companion. "It was YOUR idea to begin with, you know."
Luna glared at him, but continued. "We... I was SURE that you were really the moon-princess."
Ranma pikupikued, now totally nonplused. "...oookay..."

"And... well..."

Kasumi stood and walked to the door. There she retrieved a kettle full of hot water that she had placed there when she had walked in.

"And what?" asked Ranma, now growing downright paranoid, her imagination running away with her.

"Maybe it'd be better to show you," said Artemis. Luna nodded to Kasumi, who promptly poured the hot water over Ranma's head.

There was no change.

Ranma's eyes widened. Quickly, she snatched the kettle out of Kasumi's hands and upended the entire thing over her head, drenching herself with hot water.

No change.

No tingling, no peculiar sensation of *shifting*, no returning to male form.

Nothing.

Ranma's scream shattered the windows of houses two blocks away.

********

Nabiki blinked, looking up at the ceiling. Sounded like Kasumi had told Ranma what had happened. Kami-sama help him.

Nearby, Genma and Soun sat playing a game of Go. Neither one of them looked up at the scream. Nabiki grimaced, though it wasn't immediately obvious as to whether she was grimacing at Ranma's scream, or at the fact that it had not interrupted Chibi-Usa, who was (and had been for the last two hours) telling her all about how wonderful the future was going to be, and how much she'd LOVE being Chibi-Usa's aunt. The world was at peace, and everyone loved each other, and money had been abolished, and it was all big and happy and oh but there were parties every night and everything was free for anyone who wanted it!

Nabiki was in hell.

********

As her scream faded into sobs, Ranma felt herself being gathered up into Kasumi's arms.

Luna tried to explain. "We thought you were the Moon Princess, and we... we couldn't imagine our Princess being happy as a male, so..."

Artemis picked it up from there, "So we kinda destroyed your male form and made your female form the permanent one. Except... we were, um, dead wrong."

Luna nodded. "Sorry about that. ... Our bad." And with that, both moon-cats shut their eyes and cringed, knowing what was coming next.

The ensuing cry of "NEKO NO BAKA!" could be heard more than ten miles away. Although the two cats that went flying out of the roof of the Tendo home went quite a bit further than that, Ranma didn't particularly care at that point. Shuddering, she fell back into Kasumi's comforting embrace, and wept.

Kasumi smiled tenderly, and wiped the tears from Ranma's eyes, and leaned down to kiss the smaller girl's forehead. Immediately, Ranma was overcome by a sense of peace. Both the ice and the liquid fire beneath it faded beneath that peace, almost, but not quite to the point of vanishing completely.

Feeling both safe and warm, Ranma drifted into a dreamless sleep.

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

*** Meanwhile ***

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

Toltiir sat before Mimir's well, watching the happenings in the new timeline. Within the well, the image of Akane Tendo walked through the front door of her home.

All things considered, he was actually quite pleased with this timeline. Sure, it wasn't quite up to par with Titania's entry, but at least it hadn't bored him. Caught up as he was in the events being shown by the well, Toltiir almost didn't notice Sailor Pluto's arrival by means of a small rip in the space-time continuum.

"What can I do for you, Pu?" he asked, not looking up.

Pluto's eye twitched slightly. "You can start with not calling me `Pu.' Next, you can come with me. Since you're partly responsible for the mess that was made of my timeline, you have to help me fix it."

Toltiir frowned. "Why should I? I haven't had to help any of the OTHER Sailor Plutos fix THEIR timelines. Why should you be any different?"

Pluto smiled. "I thought you'd say that."

At that moment, a blast of lightning stabbed down from above, carving a message into the ground right at the cat-god's feet. He yelped and leaped backwards, his fur singed by the proximity of the lightning. When he had calmed down enough to look at the message to see what had been written, he read the following:

>Do as she says, or else.<

> Love, Dad <

Toltiir glared.

**********

In her throne room, hidden within the depths of the Dark Kingdom, Queen Beryl listened to Roseite's report with growing concern. Displayed within her crystal ball was Onna-Ranma, surrounded by a strange glow, a planetary symbol clearly visible on her forehead.

The very image of the Demon-Queen Ayanami, and yet a Senshi. How was this possible? A SENSHI WORE THE FACE OF THE DEMON-QUEEN! Queen Beryl seethed with rage just thinking about it. And yet... perhaps she wore more than just the face? She had not forgotten the AT fields that they had been detecting lately.

At length, Beryl realized that Roseite had completed her report, and was now standing before her expectantly (and nervously). "... Well done, Roseite." she said at last, "You did well to return and report this... unexpected development."

"Thank you, my Queen. In addition to the emergence of this new senshi, I have one other thing to report."

"Proceed."

Roseite looked troubled. "I was feeding my pet crocodile the other day, when I noticed something strange - an energy signature coming from the city that bore a striking resemblance to..." she trailed off.

Beryl raised an eyebrow. "To what?"

"Lillith, your majesty."
Beryl's eyes narrowed. "I see. Very well, Roseite, if there's nothing else, return to Terra and observe this... Ranma. If Lillith IS there, she will most certainly be drawn to the one who wears the shape of her daughter. Now go!"
Roseite quirked an eyebrow. "Actually, your malevolence, there was one more thing..."

"Oh?"

"Why was it that when you first summoned Giovannite, you claimed that there were 16 youma, and yet ever since then have maintained that there are only 13?"

Beryl grimaced. Her eye twitch had returned. "... Shut up."

**********

Dusk deepened. A light mist lay upon the land, brooding on the edges of the district of Nerima, but the sky was clear. Stars came out. The waxing moon rose in the west, and the shadows of the buildings were black. Sitting in the darkness of her room, Ranma paid little heed to the unfolding splendour of the night. She was doing something that she considered to be FAR more important: she was moping.

There was movement at the door. The sound of the door sliding open. A face in the doorway. Nabiki.

"Dinner's ready, Ranma." she said, a concerned look having replaced the calculating one that usually adorned her face.

Ranma didn't answer.

Nabiki stood there, watching Ranma for about a minute, her face unreadable. Silence stretched out. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but then shut it without saying a word. A moment later, she left the room, heading downstairs to join her family at dinner.

Ranma didn't follow.

As Nabiki descended the stairway, the front door opened, and in walked Akane. "I'm hooome!" she called.

"Okaeri, Akane-chan," came Kasumi's response.

Soun was quick to rush out and greet his daughter. Tears in his eyes, he cried out at the top of his lungs, "My baby girl is finally home!" Lowering his voice (slightly), he continued, tears still fountaining out of his eyes, "Don't run off without telling us where you're going ever again, Akane-chan! I was so worried!"

Akane smiled. Even if he WAS an emotional wreck, she loved her father.

"MOMMY! Welcome back!"

Her smile faltered. She loved her father, yes. The girl claiming to be her daughter, on the other hand... "I'm not your mother, Chibi-Usa," said Akane as she sat down at the dinner table.

"Yes you are," Chibi-Usa insisted cutely. "Or at least, you WILL be. I'm your daughter from the future, remember?"

Akane smiled thinly. "Actually, no. I'm not your mother, Chibi-Usa."
Nabiki quirked an eyebrow. "What, is that where you were all this time? Getting a genetic comparison between yourself and Chibi-Usa?"

Akane nodded. "And it's a match. She's definitely my daughter from the future."

"I told you so! You shouldn't be so silly, mommy!"

"Ara, is Ranma-kun really her father?"

Akane blinked. "I knew I'd forgotten something. I... kinda forgot to check. But anyway, there's more. After the doctors came back with a positive match between the two of us, I decided that I should never be allowed to have children. So I got my tubes tied."

Chibi-Usa's eyes widened. "What!? You can't do that! If you can't have children, then I..." She vanished in mid-sentence, and thus ended the Pink Menace.

Akane smiled brightly. "So, what's for dinner?"

**********

Oblivious to the `timely' demise of a certain pink spore, Luna and Artemis sat on the roof of the Tendo home. The mist that had been on the edges of the district was now moving inwards, coming towards the Tendo home in every direction. As they watched the oncoming walls of mist, Luna and Artemis talked.

"Well, we've certainly made a mess of things," said the white-furred moon-cat. He paused a moment. "... Luna, do you remember ever seeing Ranma's sigil before?"

Luna nodded. "It's familiar. I KNOW that Ranma is one of the Senshi, but I can't remember which one! And I certainly don't have a transformation pen for her. Do you?"

Artemis shook his head. "The only one I've got is for Sailor Venus, and I haven't found her yet."

"The ones I have are Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and a compact for... um... I can't remember. Moon something. Sailor... Moon? Yeah, that must have been it. I've already given Mars her henshin wand, but none of the others have appeared yet..." She grimaced (as well as a cat is able), scratching her claws against the tiles of the roof. "If only our memories hadn't degraded so badly while we were in stasis!"
If only.

**********

Meanwhile, in a space-time continuum not far removed from the `Ranma sector' of reality, Toltiir, wearing a human shape, sat in front of the desk of a lovely young woman. Her name was Mikura, and she had short orangish hair, gold eyes, and was dressed in skin-tight clothing that made no secret whatsoever of her generous endowments. Inexplicably, Toltiir found that he had a hard time keeping his mind on his appointed task. More than once he had to remind himself of what he had come here to do.

If only what he had come here to do wasn't so embarrassing!

"So you can have it ready within a week?" he asked.

Mikura nodded. "The 33-S will be ready in seven days, made to the specifications that you provided. If there are any problems with the unit, bring it back within thirty days and we'll repair it for free!"

Toltiir nodded, blushing more heavily than he ever had in his entire life. Damn Setsuna for making him do this! What she wanted a 33-S for was quite beyond his reckoning, but he would do as she had asked. Kami-sama had told him to, and the Almighty wasn't exactly someone you could say `no' to.

**********

There exists a place where all is now - where past, present and future are equally accessible to those who know the way, and the normal rules of space-time no longer exist. It is a vast expanse of nothingness, stretching out infinitely in all directions. It is from here that, at Kami-sama's command, another grand explosion will find its birth, bringing about the creation of a new Heaven and a new Earth. It exists for but an instant, and it is eternal. It is the zero point; our universe, post mortem.

No one knows exactly how it came about, but in the midst of this infinite nothingness, there lies a small courtyard. In the center of this courtyard is a lamp-post, eternally flickering fitfully. Off to one side lies two small buckets. One contains the day of the universe's end. The other contains the energistic remnants of the universe itself, compressed down into a single glowing mote of light. A pathway leads away from the courtyard, and should one follow it, one would come to another, smaller (and yet infinitely huge) courtyard, this one filled with shafts of light. If one was to step into one of these shafts, one could then travel to any place at any point in time that they wished. But that is a matter for another story; this place connects to our story only by means of the old man who sleeps leaning against the lamp-post in the main courtyard.

Even as Toltiir finalized the agreement with Mikura, Setsuna appeared before the old man in a swirl of temporal energy. As the eddies left in the wake of her Gate subsided, she smiled at the old man and greeted him by name.

"Hello, Melchior," said Setsuna.

Melchior awoke and gazed about blearily. When he saw Setsuna, his gaze immediately cleared, and he stood up straight. "Hello again, Setsuna," he said. "And what brings the Guardian of Time to the End of Time this..." he smiled faintly, "... time."

Setsuna graced him with a look of emotionless stony-faced-ness. "Do you have the egg?" she asked.

Melchior nodded, producing a small spherical crystal. "I have it, and let me tell you, it was no easy feat to make a second one of these."

"Your sacrifice is greatly appreciated, Melchior," she said as she took the egg. Melchior's goodbye was met only with another swirl of temporal energy as Setsuna Gated out. He smiled ruefully. "Never could figure out what goes on inside that one's head."

**********

The mist now surrounded the Tendo home on all sides, pressing in against its walls, but unable to penetrate them to fill the building itself. Shapes appeared hazy and indistinct, and there was a queer sense of... watchfulness, in the air, almost as though there were a will and purpose behind the mist.

Ranma sat still within her room, the window open. Streamers of mist flowed into the room, curling around her in a spiral that never actually reached her.

She didn't seem to notice.

There came a knock at the door. She didn't answer. A moment later, the door slid open to admit one Tendo Akane. Seeing Ranma sitting there on her futon, a sullen look on her face, Akane frowned. Still, she was undaunted. She strode across the room with purpose, sat down right in front of Ranma, and looked her directly in the eyes.

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air between them, and for a long time, the two just stared at each other, neither wanting to speak first.

Ranma won: Akane found that she didn't have the patience to wait. "Ranma," she said, staring directly into the pig-tailed girls eyes, "It's OK."

Ranma glared at her, but it was gone a split second later, vanished behind her stoic mask. "... I guess the kid ain't mine, then," she said softly, "So who do you think the father is, Akane?"

"What?" Akane asked. When her brain had finally process what it was that Ranma had asked, she blushed. "Well, about that..." she began.

That was as far as she got. Ranma shook her head and spoke again before Akane had a chance to continue. "Nevermind. Akane, what am I gonna do? My life is ruined!"

Akane blinked, immediately putting what she had been about to say out of her mind. Ranma needed her here and now. "How is it ruined, Ranma?" she asked.

Ranma looked at her as if she had grown a second head. "What kind of question is that? Isn't it obvious? I'm stuck as a GIRL!"

Akane nodded. "Yes, yes you are."

Ranma looked nonplussed for a moment, but it quickly passed. Akane wasn't reacting the way she wanted her to, and it annoyed her. She was supposed to agree, damnit! "Those damned cats told me that they had permanently destroyed my male form! And I can't be a girl, Akane, I just CAN'T!"

Akane quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? You seem to be doing a pretty good job of it right now, Ranma."

The pig-tailed girl sputtered, so surprised by Akane's statement that she completely forgot what she had been about to say. "What?" she asked, not entirely sure that she had heard that right.

"Well, you're Ranma, and you're a girl."

"I'm a GUY!"

"Not from where I'm sitting."

The pig-tailed girl frowned, not liking what Akane was saying one bit. "What do you mean?"

"Ranma, you're a girl. From what Kasumi and Nabiki told me, you're stuck that way, and there's no way to fix it. Kasumi said that you haven't even come out of your room since it happened! You have to deal with this, Ranma. You can't just sit in your room moping for the rest of your life!"

Anger flashed in Ranma's eyes, and Akane was glad to see it. It was MUCH better than looking into those same eyes and seeing only a stoic apathy. "Damnit, I'm a GUY! I can't be a girl! I'm not weak or stupid or silly or..."

As Ranma went on, Akane found that her sympathy was rapidly dwindling. In its place, a far more familiar emotion was making itself known.

Ranma continued her rant, not seeing the doom that hung over her by a thread. "... I don't like guys, I don't like shopping, I don't like clothing, and I'm not about to start liking frilly clothing and all that girly crap." Her voice grew louder. "I'm Ranma Saotome, man amongst men! I can't be no sissy girl!"

Akane was nearly glowing with rage then. She GLARED at her fiancee (1). Yet for all her anger, her voice was completely neutral. "Is that what you think being a girl is? Weak, stupid, frilly and boy-crazy?"

"Well, it IS, ain't it?"

Akane clenched her teeth. "Not gonna happen, Ranma. I don't care how angry you try to make me, I am NOT going to punt you away. You're not getting out of this that easily. What's the real problem?"

Ranma's expression cracked, and the terror that she felt flooded visibly into her expression like water through a shattered dam. "I... I'm s'posed ta marry ya and combine the schools, ya know? But... if I'm a girl forever, then I can't... we can't... It's impossible ta fulfil our obligation now." Ranma broke down into tears. "I was just gettin' used to the idea... maybe even startin' ta like it a little... but now... we can't..."

She trailed off, and looked at Akane, a tiny glimmer of hope in her eyes. Would Akane accept her as a girl? Or was it over now?

Akane's expression softened, and she shook her head sadly. Her own eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. "No." Her voice cracked on the word. "We c..c..can't. I'm sorry, Ranma. I'm... I can't be with another girl that way." She began to cry.

That glimmer of hope in Ranma's eyes faded. She spoke then, and her voice was small, and crushed, and full of heartbroken resignation. "We really made a mess of things, didn't we?

"You and I. It could have been different, ya know. It should have been."

"I know..."

*FADE TO BLACK*

**********

**********

**********

The next day was not particularly fun for Ranma. Despite the fact that she could no longer change forms, she didn't get splashed any less. After getting drenched three times on the way to school, she finally arrived only to be sent to the assistant principals' office (Principal Kuno was in Hawaii, and thus was unavailable). The school administration didn't quite comprehend why a girl had come to school claiming to be Ranma, despite the fact that she had brought a note signed by both Genma AND Soun that said that yes, this was Ranma. In the end, Ranma had had to call home and get Kasumi to confirm her identity. Kasumi's word seemed to carry a lot more weight than either Genma's or Soun's; after hearing her confirm Ranma's identity, the assistant principal relented, though not before informing Ranma that she was expected to come to school in uniform from now on.

Onizuka-sensei, on the other hand, was QUITE understanding about the whole thing. When the situation had been explained to him, he smirked in an excessively annoying fashion and said, "Sucks to be you, Ranma. But look on the bright side: anything that brings another cute girl into my classroom can't be ALL bad."

He then went back to hitting on Asuka, who was doing her level best not to transform into Sailor Mars then and there to blast him.

Ranma tried not to grind her teeth.

Later, during PE, Ranma tried to go into the boys' locker room to change, but the coach kicked her out. Muttering under her breath, she then went into the girl's locker room, only to find an enraged, mallet-happy Akane Tendo crying, "Pervert! Peeping tom! DIE!"

Akane then malleted Ranma into low earth orbit. Observing this, Asuka decided that maybe Akane wasn't ALL bad.

As Ranma went sailing over the horizon, Akane came to her senses, and her heart sank into her toes. She had reacted without thinking, and just at exactly the moment that Ranma had needed her trust and understanding the most. She shuddered faintly, hoping against hope that she hadn't destroyed any possibility of remaining friends with the pigtailed girl.

At lunch, after a long hike back from the area of Doctor Tofu's clinic, Ranma sat in the (admittedly small) shade provided by a large palm tree, eating from the bento that Kasumi had prepared for her. As she ate, a boy with a ponytail and a giant spatula strapped to his back approached her. For several minutes, the boy just watched her silently.
Eventually, Ranma got annoyed. "Whaddya want?" she demanded to know.

You're Saotome Ranma?" the boy asked, sounding somewhat doubtful.

When Ranma responded with a "Yeah," the boy frowned.

"Do you have a brother?"

"No."

Somewhat put off by Ranma's one word answers, the boy hesitated a moment before asking one final question. "...Is your father Genma Saotome?"

"Yeah. What about him?"

The boy shook his head. "That's all I wanted to know." And with that, he left Ranma to finish her lunch in peace.

**********

The land stretched out in all directions, a hodgepodge of bits and pieces of boulders, trees, and entire landscapes being swept up in a torrent of water and other murky liquids, buffeted by strong winds and encapsulated in pockets of air. Chaos reigned supreme throughout this mish-mash of the primal forces of air, fire, earth, and water.

And yet, in the midst of this chaos, there stood a massive temple surrounded by breathable air. Within the grounds of the temple was a scene out of a nightmare.

The githzerai monks, supplicants to the order of Maketrex, were now dead. Shubs and Zhuuls ran screaming as a giant Sloar rampaged through the temple grounds, fully intent on devouring them to the last. Flames burst from above and below, scouring the grounds clean of whatever the Sloar missed: the stench of roasted flesh was thick in the air. And it was into this scene that Sailor Pluto came.

She appeared some distance behind the giant Sloar with a confident smile on her face. Concentrating, she focused her power on the Sloar, opening a portal to within its body where, even now, hundreds of Shubs and Zhuuls were learning what it was like to roast within the depths of a Sloar. After a few seconds, she closed the portal, and with a satisfied look on her face, disappeared.

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

*** FINALLY ***

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

Shampoo and Mousse sat in the park. Or at least, one would assume that the warm water penguin on a leash and with a choke-chain around its neck was Mousse. In any case, Shampoo was currently chugging a can of Yebisu. "Nnnnnchaaaa!" she said as she finished it and tossed it over her shoulder. By skill or by luck, it landed in a trash can. "That much better! Only good thing about Japan is beer. Hard to get in Joketsuzoku village."

Mousse warked.

Several minutes passed before the one they were waiting for arrived, and you, gentle reader, should consider yourself lucky for not actually having to look upon what showed up then: an unspeakably ugly, ancient, withered old troll of a woman pogoing about atop a staff that was three times as tall as she was.

For her part, Shampoo only smiled at the withered old trol... OW! The author winced as the old woman smacked him upside the head with her staff. Damnit, I'm just being descriptive! ... Fine, fine, I'll go on.

"Welcome, Great-Grandmother," Shampoo called cheerfully.

Mousse waaaarked, and the old woman bopped him on the head. "Respect your elders, boy. Just because you're not human right now doesn't mean I can't understand you."

She considered the scene for a moment, glancing from Shampoo, to Mousse, and then back. "Why the choke-chain, Shampoo?"

"Aiyaa! Mousse attack Ayanami! Leash for his own protection!"

The old woman shook her head, giving Mousse a disapproving look. He seemed to wilt under her gaze. "Have you found her?" she asked.

"Mist did too too good job, even though stupid rose-girl and her youma try to interfere. Shampoo know where Ayanami live! Can take you there now, yes?"

The old woman - Cologne - cackled. "Let's go. I'm looking forward to seeing what my daughter has been up to all these years..."

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

END OF EPISODE 7

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

Author's notes:

1 - I mean exactly that. Fiancee, as opposed to fiancé. Ranma can no longer claim the title of a man engaged to be married.

Comments? Criticisms? Do you like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know! Let's keep it civil, please. Flames will be laughed at. MSTies will also be laughed at, but in an entirely different manner than flames. 8)

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