Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Big Break-Up ❯ Chapter 2

This story contains scenes of explicit sex, naughty words, and other horrible, offensive things.  If you are underage in your house, village, town, city, community, state, province, country, or continent: READ NO FURTHER!  If that type of thing offends your tender sensibilities, or you are stupid: READ NO FURTHER!  All characters are the copyright of their respective creators and/or owners; no copyright infringement is intended by this story.  Any resemblance to people, places, or situations alive, dead, or otherwise is purely coincidental.

 

The Big Break-Up

 

Chapter 2

One Week Later

 

Ranma was once again surprising various residents of Tokyo with his unusual means of travel as he returned from yet another Saturday training session at his mother's. He was frowning in thought as he made his way back to Nerima, trying to mentally fit his most recent swords lesson in with his other martial arts skills. The thing was that his weapons training was all coming from the hands of more traditional martial arts masters, who dwelled quite a bit more on formal styles and approaches than Ranma was used to. Thus, after each of his sessions he nearly always returned home to modify those stiffer systems into his own, Anything Goes form of combat.

 

Passing through the park where he had broken up the fight, well beating actually, the week before, Ranma was surprised to see someone waving and shouting at him, obviously trying to attract his attention. Bouncing off a convenient branch the teenager landed in front of the man, quickly realizing it was the same guy he had rescued the previous Saturday. “Hey, buddy!” Ranma greeted the small man cheerfully. “You feelin' OK? You sure look a lot better!”

 

“Yes, indeed,” The `man' replied, a bit more fluently than before as Zendiff and his mother had made some adjustments in their translation system. “Indeed, thanks to you, young Ranma Saotome, I am indeed much better. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed!”

 

“Hey, no prob,” Ranma shrugged off the little guy's enthusiastic thanks. “So, did you want to talk with me or somethin'? I saw you waving up at me so…”

 

“Ah! Yes, indeed, young Ranma Saotome, I did indeed want to talk with you.” Zendiff bobbed his head repeatedly, making Ranma bite back a laugh at the man's odd behavior. “I wanted to thank you, to thank you very much indeed, for my life that you saved. Deeply in your debt is what I am. Indeed.”

 

“Don't worry `bout it,” Ranma waved off the other being's protests. “Like I said before, it was no prob.”

 

“But my thanks I indeed owe you and the thanks of my family. My mother also would like to thank you. Indeed she would. Will you come with me so she may thank you also for my life?”

 

Ranma winced, not really wanting to bother. “Uh, ya know…ya don't really gotta…”

 

“No! But indeed I must!” Zendiff carefully laid a hand on the taller human's arm, gently tugging him in the direction of the surrounding trees. “Will you come to see my mother?” He pleaded.

 

“Will this take long?” Ranma asked with a sigh even as he began to follow the strange little man into the thick bushes, ducking and weaving among the clasping branches. With my luck, his mother's gonna want to `reward' me by marryin' me off to some daughter or something!

 

“Indeed it will not!” Arriving at his favorite tree, Zendiff peered around carefully, making Ranma frown and also begin looking around. When the teenager's head was turned the alien pulled out his transportation device, hit the correct combination, and…

 

With a sucking sound they reappeared on the spacecraft orbiting the Earth. Ranma blinked in surprise and shouted, “What the fuck!” as he stumbled backward simultaneously shaking his head when his ears popped at the change in air pressure, which was noticeably lower on the spaceship.

 

“Please do not be worried,” Zendiff tried to reassure his guest. “Indeed you are perfectly safe. One moment please.” Ranma's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw his smaller companion's disguise removed, revealing his true, extremely odd form. “As you may see, I am indeed not a resident of Japan. I am here as a researcher. Indeed yes, the beings of my system send many ships out to see the varieties of life that dot the universe. Extremely fascinating it is for all of us. Indeed. Will you please follow me now, young Ranma Saotome? My mother awaits us.”

 

Ranma watched the alien sluggishly ooze its body toward the exit, still blinking his eyes in amazement at his current situation, then shrugged his shoulders and followed. The teenager certainly felt a degree of tenseness due to the strange situation, but his constant experience with bizarre beings and occurrences had pretty much dulled away what would be any normal person's response: shocked denial, the possibility of a paradigm-shifting experience, and so on. That this was a scientifically-based oddity rather than a magical one didn't really change matters all that much.

 

To accommodate their human visitor Zendiff and his mother had kept Earth level gravities and atmosphere in the rooms and corridors that Ranma would need to travel through, even though they were fairly uncomfortable for the physiques of the aliens. Thus, the young martial artist had no problem following the slithering Jell-O-like creature as they made their way through the spaceship. As a matter of fact the higher-than-normal gravity by Zendiff's standards significantly slowed him down forcing Ranma to keep to a fairly leisurely pace as they moved through the winding halls of the spaceship.

 

Several minutes later, the alien and the teenager were stepping through the control room's door, Ranma giving a slight whistle of awe at seeing Zendiff's bluish mother towering several feet above him. “Welcome, welcome, indeed, young Ranma Saotome. You can call me Dall'an. I am the mother of Zendiff, indeed I am. Many thanks do we owe you for his life. Indeed that is true.”

 

“Uh, you're welcome, but it's no big deal,” Ranma said depreciatingly. “Those guys workin' him over were easy to beat up and it's a martial artist's duty to help out the weak. So don't worry about it, ya know?”

 

“Indeed no, that is not so, young Ranma Saotome,” Dall'an replied, her body quivering and her internal objects gyrating wildly in agitation. “Honor demands that we repay you for your actions. Indeed we must.”

 

The teenager reluctantly nodded, knowing more than most about the demands of honor even if he didn't know what particular honor code these aliens followed. “All right, well, I guess ya could buy me dinner or somethin' if you guys feel like ya gotta…”

 

“Indeed no!” Dall'an and Zendiff's voices sounded simultaneously, signaling their rejection of Ranma's suggestion. “A life debt is owed to you, young Ranma Saotome,” The mother tried to explain to their human visitor. “Double a life's value must indeed be repaid to you to meet the demands of honor. Indeed,” one of her tentacles snaked out to flip a switch, activating a large section of a wall behind her. “We have been observing you, young Ranma Saotome. Indeed we have.”

 

Damn right they have! Ranma thought in shock as he looked at the wall. The switch had caused a large number of recorded clips to start playing, each stacked next to or on top of the others like a bank of TV screens in an electronics store, but in this case each one was three dimensional and each was a scene from Ranma's life. Row after row of Ranma training, eating, turning into a girl, fighting with his father, turning into a boy, running away from Shampoo, fighting with Kuno, quarreling with Akane and so on was displayed in crystal clear 3D. In fact, as everyone was silent watching the displays, Ranma though he could not only see and hear the scenes, but also smell them!

 

“We have indeed been observing you over the past few days, young Ranma Saotome,” Dall'an explained after sufficient time had passed. “Indeed we wanted to see how our life debt to you could be repaid, and you indeed do seem to have many needs we can help you with. Do you desire physical power?” The scenes involving Ranma fighting and training grew in size until they dominated the others. “Indeed with our science we can make you the strongest being on Earth! Do you desire love?” The fighting scenes shrank, as other ones involving the women in his life got bigger. “Indeed we have the ability to make any of these human females love you totally indeed! Or do you instead desire the removal of the ones who are indeed very annoying in your life?” Now gigantic scenes involving Genma, Happosai, Mousse, etcetera covered the far wall. “Say the word, young Ranma Saotome, and these ones will indeed disappear from the Earth. What is it you desire so that we may repay the life debt that we indeed owe you?” There was complete silence in the control room as the aliens waited for the teenager's response.

 

Ranma scratched the back of his head, his brow furrowed in thought. So, what do I want? The killing he immediately rejected, he definitely wasn't that kind of guy. The love thing also wasn't very tempting. He had had enough experience in his young life with various love potions, magical mushrooms and every other love-connected item to know it always came back to bite you in the ass. The physical power thing was kind of tempting at first, but then he remembered when Ryouga had gotten the Mark of the Battling Gods. Total power didn't make pig-boy too happy! Ranma recalled with a smirk, before he turned his mind back to his current situation. So, what do I want? He thought again, and then-Of course! It's so obvious!!

 

The aliens prepared themselves when Ranma turned to them, obviously ready to make his request. The young martial artist's face was a combination of happiness, but also worry. I've been disappointed so many times! But I gotta…Ranma, took a deep breath before slowly asking; “Could ya…I mean, do ya…Do ya think you guys could…Maybe get rid of my curse? Please?”

 

Dall'an and Zendiff were silent for a few moments, causing the tension in Ranma to rise unbearably high. Finally it was the mother who spoke, “By curse you indeed mean your ability to change into a girl with the application of cold water? You do indeed mean that, do you not?”

 

“Yeah, of course!”

 

“But that indeed is an easy task,” Zendiff commented. “A simple application of-”

 

“Yes, indeed my son is correct,” Dall'an interrupted. “Removing your female human side is indeed a task of supreme simplicity for our level of technology.”

 

“Ya sure?” Ranma asked dubiously, hopeful but not wanting to be let down yet again. “I mean I've tried all kinds of stuff, but it never works for me.”

 

“Ah, you indeed mean these `magic' techniques I have heard mentioned,” Dall'an's voice was clearly dismissive of this. “Indeed magic is nothing in the face of science. Time consuming the process indeed is. Annoying in its requirements, but it is indeed not difficult. Indeed not.”

 

“Yeah!! I can finally be a real guy!! I can't believe it!!” Ranma jumped in the air for joy, startling the two aliens who watched the deliriously happy human in shock for several minutes as he bounced uncontrollably around their ship's control room.

 

Finally, the older alien interrupted the celebrating teenager. “Ranma Saotome? This task is indeed not enough to suit honor. Indeed we must do more for you!”

 

“Nah,” Ranma declared. “This is more than enough for me. You got no idea how I feel about this!”

 

“But, indeed,” Zendiff murmured tentatively. “There must be something else? Indeed, for a life debt…”

 

“Well, could you guys maybe help out the others? Ya know, the ones who got curses like me? Shampoo, Pop, and those guys?”

 

“Indeed not,” Dall'an declared sharply, her bluish bulk rising sharply upward. “Life debts must be paid to benefit the life of the savior directly indeed, not that of others.”

 

“Well,” Ranma shrugged. “Trust me on this, if you guys cure my curse but not theirs, it ain't gonna do my life much good. All those idiots will be poundin' at me for the rest of my life sayin' I betrayed them or somethin'.”

 

“But indeed, perhaps another thing…”

 

“There ain't nuthin' else I want!”

 

Dall'an wanted to protest again, but observing the human's scowl and body language, she wisely decided to let it rest for the moment. “Perhaps we can discuss this matter further at a later date. For now, we indeed must conduct some examinations of your body and obtain samples of the place in which you received your curse. It was indeed a spring where this took place, was it not?”

 

“Yeah,” Ranma confirmed. “It's a place in China called Jusenkyo where they got a bunch of cursed springs that can turn you into other things with a splash of cold water.”

 

“It sounds rather interesting, Mother,” Zendiff suddenly observed. “It would indeed make a fascinating addition to our records on this planet.”

 

“Perhaps you are correct, Son. But for now take young Ranma Saotome to the laboratory; you know what tests that must indeed be conducted.” Dall'an shuffled her bulk deeper into the control room, her tentacles lashing out almost at once activating various devices in order to begin the task now set before them.

 

“This ain't gonna hurt, is it?” Ranma asked as he followed his small Jell-O-like guide out of the chamber.

 

“Indeed not, young Savior,” Zendiff reassured him. “Indeed our level of technology means that no puncturing of your skin is required. No draining of your fluids is necessary. No rearrangement of your cellular structure will occur. No-”

 

“OK, OK, I get the picture!” Ranma blurted out, not wanting to hear what other things could possibly happen to him. I just want to get this curse fixed! Ranma thought as he once followed the little alien to another destination in the huge spaceship. To do that, I'll try almost anything!

 

One-and-a-Half Weeks Later, Early Afternoon

 

Ranma looked around carefully as he approached the large cherry tree where he had first been transported to the spaceship a week and a half earlier. On his back was a backpack crammed full of clothes, camping supplies and other such things as would be necessary for an extended training trip. That was the excuse he had used in order to get away from Nerima; that he was off to train on his own for a couple of weeks. It had worked remarkably well, his father being to lazy to go with him and none of the Tendos being much inclined to follow him either. Yes, it had all gone quite smoothly that is until Mr. Tendo had suggested that Akane go with him to help him, an idea Genma had quickly seconded. Ranma had objected of course, as had Akane, a dispute that swiftly turned into yet another bitter quarrel that had ended up with Ranma getting pounded by the youngest Tendo daughter's mallet again. As usual.

 

The young martial artist had left the Tendo house early that morning and spent the next several hours doubling back and swiftly changing his direction in order to make sure he wasn't being followed and couldn't be tracked. The reason for such cautious behavior was that the true purpose of Ranma's absence from Tokyo was to get his curse removed. He didn't want anyone to mess up this chance.

 

Hands trembling in anticipation, Ranma rooted about the various leaves and branches on the ground until he found the silvery disk the aliens had told him to look for. Picking it up he discovered that it was heavier than he had expected and cool to the touch despite the burningly hot weather of mid-July. Looking around a final time to ensure he was alone, Ranma pressed the middle section of the disk and instantly disappeared from the Earth's surface.

 

On the spacecraft Zendiff met the teenager and escorted him through the labyrinth of corridors that made up the interior of the spaceship. Ranma, not being directionally-challenged like Ryouga, quickly realized that they were entering a new section of the ship that he hadn't been in before. Suddenly the small, green gelatinous alien stopped and a section of the wall slid back to reveal that it was actually a door. Looking in, Ranma could see that the room was arranged much like a typical Japanese room with a section on the other side of the door to remove one's shoes, a slightly raised floor set with tatami mats, a low, central table and so on. Only the fact that the walls were the same bronze-hued metal that the corridors consisted of would make anyone realize they weren't in a Japanese home.

 

“This will be your accommodation while you are with us, Ranma Saotome,” Zendiff informed his guest. The aliens' continued dealings with Ranma had improved their ability to translate their speech into Japanese so that now it was nearly perfect, although at times a bit formal sounding to the teenager. “Please place your belongings inside and then follow me.” Ranma did as he was bid and quickly sorted his things out of the overfull backpack before exiting the room to resume walking beside the Jell-O-like alien.

 

A few minutes later the hallway they were in ended before two massive doors that slid apart at their approach with a hissing shrill almost like a train whistle. While Ranma shook his head to clear it from that annoying sound, Zendiff entered the room the open doors revealed, soon followed by his guest. Inside Ranma found a huge chamber, probably the size of the entire Tendo house. It was layered with numerous clumps and cylinders of what the teenager assumed were computers and other technological devices, although they were all far beyond what he could understand. He trailed after the small alien as he led the way through the maze of machinery, the martial artist's head constantly turning and moving, craning to get better glimpses of the wondrous sights. Abruptly the two beings came to a large open space in the generally crowded room.

 

In the middle of this bare patch of metal were two thick cylinders, which at first glance appeared to be empty. A closer look, however, revealed that both were full close to their tops with some kind of liquid. The one on the right was perfectly clear, while the left one contained numerous small particles that made the fluid appear cloudy.

 

“Ah, welcome, Ranma Saotome.”

 

Ranma looked to the side, surprised at the sound of Dall'an's voice. His attention had been so focused on the two large devices in front of him he hadn't even noticed the large female alien. “Oh! Hi, Dall'an.”

 

“As you can see,” Dall'an said, gesturing to the cylinders before them. “We are ready to proceed.”

 

“Great!” Ranma's enthusiasm suddenly faded slightly. “Um, are you guys really sure this is OK? I mean,” He hastened to reassure the aliens, “I know you're really smart and all that, it's just that…”

 

“Please trust us, Ranma Saotome,” Dall'an said, a slight degree of aggravation evident in the tone of her voice. Clearly this was a topic they had covered with the human before. “This is the quickest way to remove the curse from you and is perfectly safe as well. When you enter the right-hand cylinder,” A tentacle indicated the one filled with the clear liquid. “We will removed your curse and constitute it within a new body in the left.” Here the cloudy cylinder was indicated. “Both of you will be in perfect health, I assure you, Ranma Saotome.”

 

“Yeah, I know,” Ranma admitted. “You guys said that before. And it ain't our physical health I'm worried about. I've had my female side split from me before and it never worked out too well.” Ranma winced as he remembered the various debacles such as with Happosai's Personality Splitting incense and that strange Mirror from Mirror Mansion.

 

A high-pitched purring came from Zendiff, a sound Ranma had learned to recognize as laughter. “Really, Ranma Saotome! One can not compare the effects of some barbaric, half-baked, so-called `magic' with the efforts of superior researchers and technological experts such as Mother and myself.” A pseudopod gently touched the teen's shoulder in attempt to reassure him. “We're scientists; trust us! We're here to help!”

 

“Yeah, sorry,” Ranma agreed, shrugging aside his doubts. If it means a cure… “So, whadda ya need me to do?”

 

“Well, first we'll give you some…medicine to drink. It will allow you to obtain oxygen from the surrounding liquid while you're in the cylinder, as well as aiding in the physical and mental separation of your cursed half. Zendiff,” The bluish gelatinous alien turned to her son imperiously. “Go get that now.” While the smaller alien made its way to do as he was ordered, his mother continued to explain the procedure to Ranma. “Then you'll have to remove all of your garments and enter the cylinder. You'll soon fall asleep and when you awaken you'll be cured.”

 

“Sounds good,” Ranma looked at the two side-by-side cylinders, barely able to believe he might finally be curse-free. His thoughts, however, were interrupted by Dall'an.

 

“Ranma Saotome, are you sure we can not do more for you? This truly is such a simple if time-consuming task. Honor-”

 

“It may be simple for you guys, but it's like a miracle for me,” Ranma said, cutting off the larger alien before she could continue to press him. “Ya got absolutely no idea how much I want this. It's way more than enough for what I did.”

 

Dall'an's internal organs spun in agitation, but she made no comment. It was a subject she had brought up numerous times with the teenager only to have him continuously reject any further payment for his actions in saving Zendiff. The uncomfortable silence was soon broken up when the small alien returned with a metal cup in a pseudopod that he extended toward Ranma. “Drink this quickly, Ranma Saotome,” He instructed.

 

Ranma nearly dropped the container when he took it from the alien as the metal was so cold it nearly burned, but he managed to hold on and quickly gulped down its contents. The liquid inside was also extremely cold and somewhat viscous, almost like a milkshake. The taste, however, was definitely not sweet. In fact, it tasted rather like the underwear he had used in his Man Musk trap for Happosai had smelled. Since he had experienced Akane's cooking, though, he was able to choke it down. Nothing tasted all that bad compared to the absolute abyss of Akane's cooking. Nothing at all.

 

“Please remove your garments now, Ranma Saotome,” Dall'an instructed the teenager as he finished downing the liquid with a grimace. “Then enter the right-hand cylinder.”

 

In moments Ranma was naked and perched on the top lip of the indicated device. He carefully lowered his body into the liquid, discovering that it was quite warm, probably about the same temperature as his body as it felt strangely comforting as he sank into it. It definitely wasn't cold enough to trigger his curse. Soon the young martial artist was suspended in the middle of the cylinder his body density heavy enough not to allow him to float at the surface, but not dense enough for him to sink all the way to the bottom.

 

When his body was in equilibrium with the surroundings a lid descended from the ceiling, completely sealing the top of the cylinder. The covering allowed for absolutely no air pockets. Through the absolutely clear fluid he was floating in he could see the two aliens regarding him calmly, not moving or doing anything as yet. Ranma was in excellent shape and had physical and ki skills superior to most other people on Earth, but even he needed to breathe. Minutes passed until finally he could help it no longer, he released the last dregs of air in his lungs and was forced to gulp down the surrounding fluid. Despite what the aliens had told him, the teenager was still surprised when he found himself able to `breathe' through the fluid. It felt strange, beyond strange really, but it worked. In a fairly short time his body became accustomed to the new way of obtaining oxygen and Ranma felt a strange lassitude sweep over him. He knew he was falling unconscious and the last image he remembered before his eyes closed was that of the two aliens finally beginning to move; their tentacles and pseudopods swiftly manipulating the various devices dotting the room.

 

While Ranma's body floated peacefully the effects of the aliens' actions swiftly became evident. Various lines and tubes began injecting chemicals and other substances in Ranma's tube while a hum of hard working machinery soon could be heard resonating throughout the chamber. The liquid in the right-hand cylinder soon began to bubble slightly in reaction to these efforts, a result seconded in the left-hand one. In that tube, however, one could see that the roiling fluid was also causing the particles suspended within it to change. Slowly, ever so slowly, those minute particles began to rotate around one another, then to clump together.

 

Zendiff and Dall'an, however, were not looking at the cylinders. Instead their focus was completely concentrated on the machines they were using and the various readouts surrounding them that gave them much more information than one could obtain simply through the visual wavelength band, even the slightly expanded one available to the aliens compared to human sight. Zendiff's attention was on one particular screen when he saw something that made him pause.

 

“Uh, Mother? What are you doing?”

 

“Just helping Ranma Saotome as honor demands, Son,” Dall'an responded even as her tentacles whipped about, pressing buttons, turning dials and flipping switches as necessary.

 

“I see.” There was a short period of silence while the younger scientist regarded his mother's actions. “But I don't believe Ranma Saotome actually requested this, did he?”

 

“No,” Dall'an admitted. “But he never said we couldn't do it either. Besides, simply curing this childish curse of his is not even close to enough to repay a life debt. This will make his life better and be a further step towards payment. And he'll never even know we did it.” The larger alien's tone sharpened, “Now, activate the Turlonquer Crystallizer. It's time.”

 

“Yes, Commander.” The two aliens continued their work; one confident in the repayment of honor, the other doubtful but obedient.