Ryouga Hibiki was habitually lost. For someone in his family to
find one another, let alone a particular destination, usually required
a full cycle of the moon. Ryouga had found, however, that he could
remain in the same town if he so desired, whereas the rest of his
family could walk in and out of three different cities without even
noticing.
Of course, there were prices to be paid for even that level of
direction.
He was evil by nature, and thus, unable to use his family's
school's patented Righteous Fist. Secondly, he developed enemies very
quickly, usually by opening his mouth near other lifeforms. Thirdly,
he often ran into said enemies when he was trying to find something
much more pleasureable. And finally, he always assumed victory would
always be his in any given fight (and that all women wanted him).
Akane Tendo was standing outside an ice rink holding a business
card. She had just tucked it away in a pocket when she sensed a vile
spirit nearby. She leapt forward, catching Ryouga's chin with a
crescent kick as she narrowly avoided an ass pat from the lecherous
boy.
"What's wrong, babe? I thought we had chemistry..." Ryouga said,
rubbing his chin. She was indeed powerful. It would make screwing her
senseless even more enticing.
"Yeah, pop rocks and coca-cola." Akane shot back, hopping away.
The more distance between her and Ryouga, the better.
"Where ya been all my life?" Ryouga said, trying to sway Akane
with words.
"Hiding here from you." Akane snorted.
"I just wanna learn more about you," Ryouga said, trying ease her
anger, "like what's your sign?"
"Do Not Enter." Akane retorted.
"How about we spend some romantic time together?" Ryouga
inquired.
"Let's not and say we didn't." Akane shot back.
"How about two of us have a romantic walk on the beach?" Ryouga
pressed, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Sounds great, if you aren't there." Akane snapped.
Ryouga decided that if words couldn't sway the girl to realize
how much she was so OBVIOUSLY in love with him, she'd have to learn it
like all the others did. After they had sex.
Akane, however, had expected someone with Ryouga's type of aura
to eventually try for something physical. After all, Mikado had a
similar aura, but on a much lesser scale.
As Ryouga charged her, she darted forward, slamming her fist into
his stomach before kneeing him in the face. As he clutched his face,
she punched him square in the balls. He hunched forward as Akane spun
to his side and used an axe blow to send him to the ground. She
quickly skipped backwards to prevent him from attacking her from the
ground.
As she suspected, Ryouga got up rather fast and this time, he had
a look of anger on his face. She knew exactly what he would do if he
won a fight with her. That got her own blood boiling.
Ryouga roared as he charged her.
Sabrina stepped out of the terminal and blinked in surprise. For
what should have been a rather busy international airport, the Tokyo
International Airport was very... vacant.
In fact, there hadn't been anyone else on her flight. Sure, 1 AM
flights to Tokyo probably wouldn't have been in high demand, but
still...
Sabrina wondered if perhaps her relatives or Salem had played
some part in it, but they wouldn't have bothered emptying the entire
airport.
Baggage check went by quickly and she got most of her cash
exchanged into yen at a fairly good rate. She found a taxi and gave
the driver the address. She was soon on her way to the apartment where
she would be living in until she finished high school.
Cologne watched the battle with intense interest. Ryouga might
have been worse than slime, but he was a very accomplished martial
artist. His anger, however, limited his intellect and skill. Akane,
though she was almost as mad, used Ryouga's anger against him,
manipulating him into overreaching every strike and capitalizing on
every opening to tear into the lost boy with every bit of viciousness
of a tazmanian devil.
Indeed, had Ryouga not gained the titanic levels of endurance
that he had, the fight would have been over twice over. Akane did not
waste the oppurtunity to deal, what most honorable tournaments would
have labeled 'illegal', moves on the lost boy when he was down. Even
Cologne had to wince when Akane did a double foot stomp onto Ryouga's
left kidney, then ground his face into the mud.
She didn't feel any pity for Ryouga, but rather concern for
Akane. Where on earth could such a vicious and brutal fighter have
come from?
However, the fight was not going in Akane's favor, despite being
as devastating as she was in every attack. Ryouga's endurance allowed
him to soak such a majority of all of the damage she dealt him and it
was becoming more and more obvious that the lost boy was going to win
out on sheer endurance.
The fight had already gone on for roughly fifteen minutes and
Akane was showing clear signs of exhaustion. She was still managing to
dodge Ryouga's attacks and deal out vicious retaliations, but she was
losing strength every second. She was bolstering herself with her ki,
but she couldn't hold out much longer.
She was sweating and breathing rather heavily. Her muscles were
burning. Ryouga was just beginning to look slightly winded and
battered.
Finally, it happened. Ryouga surged forward faster than Akane
could dodge and struck her across the face. Akane responded by kicking
him in the throat just before she land roughly on top of a bench that
broke easily under the impact.
Akane winced as she sat up. Ryouga had just made the mistake of
a lifetime by hitting her. It was all she need to activate her final
and most vicious secret.
Before she could use it, however, Ranma appeared in front of her
and Haruka appeared next to him. Michiru was at her side.
"Are you all right?" Michiru asked.
"I'm fine. But what about-" Akane began.
"They've been dealt with. Please let Haruka handle this."
Michiru told her.
Akane turned to Haruka. Even from behind, Haruka's rage was
obvious. If anything, Akane could pass on what she'd learned in the
fight, "Haruka! He's got thick skin and a ton of endurance! You'll
have to hit hard if you want him to feel anything and DON'T worry about
being too dirty! I was giving him shots to the kidney and he barely
noticed!"
Haruka couldn't hold back. She launched herself forward. Ryouga
snarled at the intrusion and lashed out at Haruka, who slid inside his
guard and struck him in the gut with as much force as she could use.
Her strength was bolstered by her sailor powers, meaning that Ryouga
was forced to notice the attack and curl around Haruka's fist.
Haruka backed up just enough so that she could grab Ryouga's head
and slam her knee into his face over and over again. Finally, she
gripped Ryouga by the back of his head and slammed him facefirst into
the nearest source of cement, the street.
"Remember me, Ryouga? The girl you 'helped' back in Junior
High?" Haruka asked, adding as much venom to her voice as she could.
Ryouga could only look up at her.
"I'm here to pay you back for your 'kindness'. Prepare to feel
every moment of it and know that this was brought on by your own
actions." Haruka told him.
Ryouga had never suffered true defeat. Mostly because no one,
even when he was a child, could ever compete with his endurance and
ability to soak up damage like a living sponge. However, an enraged
magical girl who's skills at fighting were comparable to his own and
could deal out damage beyond what he could ignore lead to a very
vicious beatdown.
Akane whistled in appreciation, "Nice kidney punch. Wish he'd
gurgled and had his eyes bug out like that when I was doing my double
foot stomp on it."
Michiru sighed while Ranma almost felt sorry for Ryouga, almost
being a substitute for 'not at all'. After six brutal minutes, Haruka
dropped the battered lost boy.
"Finally, I feel better." Haruka said, pausing to kick Ryouga in
the head again.
She'd just turned away from Ryouga and was halfway to Michiru and
Akane when she saw a look of worry cross Michiru's face and a grimace
cover Akane's as both of them rose to their feet. Glancing backwards,
Haruka saw that Ryouga was glowing with a very unhealthy-looking green
aura.
"Thanks... I needed that..." Ryouga told them, a mixture of blood
and saliva running out of his mouth as he grinned at them, "NOW IT'S
TIME TO DIE! DEMON'S FIST!"
Cologne could only watch as the poisonous aura blast sent all
four teenagers flying backwards to hit the outer walls of the skating
rink building. The aura was that of evil gone out of control. She had
to act to save her two students and their friends. Meanwhile, the
quartet were recovering their feet and trying to figure out how to deal
with that sort of power.
However, something beat all five of them to the punch. Namely, a
golden cane slamming into Ryouga's gut. It flung him upwards into the
air, where a woman appeared and slammed him down towards the earth. As
Ryouga cratered the cement, the cane reached the woman's hand.
"Iha...durca... we.... had..... a deal....." Ryouga said weakly,
coughing up more blood.
"I'm cancelling that deal, effective immediately." Ihadurca told
him, smiling grimly. She had never expected such a ripe oppurtunity to
get rid of Ryouga to pop up so quickly, but she was going to capitalize
on it immediately. She pointed her cane at him, "GO TO HELL!"
Seventy magical blasts filled the crater before Ihadurca
vanished. Hesitantly, Cologne leapt down to inspect the crater.
Nothing was left of the lost boy, save some shredded pieces of cloth
and black scorch marks.
"Oh, hell." Cologne commented as she recalled the name that
Ryouga had spoken.
"What? What is it?" Akane asked, approaching the crater and
blinking a few times, before assuming a neutral look.
"The name he said..." Cologne began.
"Yeah, I thought it was 'Ee-ha-do-ka' or something like that."
Akane responded.
"Then I must say it again. Oh hell." Cologne sighed.
Kasumi hummed a melody to herself as she hung up the day's wash.
With Akane helping out with cooking (and actually not making a mess of
things as she once had) and both Nabiki and Akane chipping in on
various other chores, Kasumi found that she had a lot more free time.
She'd rediscovered some favorite soaps that she'd been forced to
ignore ever since Akane had begun breaking things, but she'd also found
a lot of bad or boring daytime TV inbetween. As such, she had spaced
out a lot of her chores over the day to make the time pass by faster.
Life was better now that Akane had calmed down and become a much
more rational person. Ranma and his friends Shampoo and Cologne were
certainly very interesting. Shampoo was pleasant to talk to, even if
her lingual skills weren't the best at the moment. And Cologne could
always entertain both Kasumi and Shampoo with her knowledge of tales.
The front gate creaked slightly, signalling that someone had
entered. The creak was a faint one that Kasumi's well-trained ears
could pick up from anywhere on the grounds, so long as she was outside.
She walked towards the front gate to see who it was.
Hopefully it wasn't another door to door salesman. They didn't
seem to understand that it was a family policy never to buy from
wandering salesmen. Nabiki had spent many weeks chastising their
father when he bought a bunch of bargain perfume as a surprise gift and
was unable to return it. Kasumi rarely thought of Nabiki as anything
other than her younger sister, but Nabiki had shown that she could be
quite forceful with everyone in the family concerning financial
decisions.
"Kasumi?" came a hesitant call.
"Oh, Akane, you're home." Kasumi said pleasantly, noting that
Akane looked younger and slightly shorter than she had that morning.
Akane looked at her older sister, "That's all you can say? I've
been gone for over a month!"
Kasumi blinked. She considered Akane's tale and then recalled a
few stories that Cologne had told her, "You wouldn't by any chance have
stumbled across the legendary Nanban Mirror, did you?"
"The what-what mirror?" Akane asked.
"Hmmm, then I'm afraid you must have the wrong dimension. We
already have an Akane." Kasumi informed her.
Again, Akane stared at her older sister, "Kasumi, I vanished over
a month ago, remember?"
"No..." Kasumi informed the obviously confused dimensional
traveler, "...our Akane has never vanished. You're just confused.
Would you like some tea?"
Since the Akane that was in front of her was obviously not her
own little sister Akane, Kasumi had shifted into 'new guest' mode.
Akane clutched her head and groaned, wondering what had happened.
Meanwhile, a different Akane was with Ranma, Haruka, Cologne,
Shampoo and Michiru, discussing the sudden murder of Ryouga Hibiki and
the strange woman who'd appeared to finish him off. Only the two
amazons had looks of worry and fear. The japanese quartet was mostly
confused.
"You know that woman, Cologne?" Ranma asked.
"If it's who I think it is, then not personally, but I know OF
her." Cologne sighed, "She's an evil woman from over three thousand
years ago."
"And here I wouldn't have placed her a day over forty." Haruka
commented, arching an eyebrow.
"She's not actually three thousand years old." Cologne
admonished, "Though, when she died, she was well into her middle two
hundreds."
"But wait, if she's dead, how can she be back again? I mean,
there's no way someone who's been dead that long can suddenly come back
to life." Ranma inquired.
No one seemed to notice the quick glances that Haruka and Michiru
exchanged.
"Hmmm, I'd best relate the tale." Cologne announced.
Cologne took a few deep breaths and began the tale, "Over three
thousand years ago, there was a rather overly oppressive kingdom. The
men of that kingdom sat on their asses while women in that kingdom were
given no rights or freedoms. The women were forced to do everything
from farming to building to fighting in the wars.
"But a powerful sorceress by the name Lea Feil, lead a revolt
against the kingdom and slaughtered all the arrogant men, but the boys
who were too young to know anything were spared. With what they could
gather, Lea Feil lead them to a beautiful valley and established a new
village.
"However, peace was not to last. Lea Feil passed on her arts to
one of the young girls in the village named Ihadurca. Ihadurca had
grown up despising all men, but Lea Feil hoped that she would calm
herself when she noticed how limited even magic was. Ihadurca didn't
accept the concept of limitations and..."
Cologne paused in her tale, "Around this point in the story,
there's a lot of jabbing at what Ihadurca did to gain the knowledge for
even greater magic."
"The point was, Ihadurca soon surpassed her mentor and went on to
gain unimagineable power. Mixing both mythology and the knowledge that
the warriors of the village had, Ihadurca left the village around her
sixteenth birthday, after an arguement between her and Lea Feil
revealed that Ihadurca had no compassion for anyone of the male
gender." Cologne continued, "Six years later, she returned even more
powerful. Lea Feil decided that she needed to stop her student, who
had grown powerful and arrogant. The fight, sadly, was futile as
Ihadurca had long since outstripped her mentor's abilities in nearly
every field."
Cologne took looked down, "After that, Ihadurca was free to do as
she pleased. She enslaved the minds of the women and slaughtered all
the men, sparing not even the male children, then moved to the next
nearest village and did the same. For many long years, she held the
women of the small villages in her grasp, finally choosing a student of
her own, named Kakurine. Much like Ihadurca had been to Lea Feil,
Kakurine shared none of her mentor's sentiments, having lost her only
family member, her brother, to Ihadurca's slaughter. However, unlike
Ihadurca, she did not voice her hatred. She stayed by Ihadurca's side
and from there, plotted Ihadurca's downfall. It took many years, but
Kakurine managed to gather enough allies with magical talent that they
felt they could win in a fight.
"The battle was fierce, as Kakurine decided to keep her betrayl a
secret, at least until she was certain of Ihadurca's powers.
Eventually, Ihadurca and Kakurine were forced to flee and made their
way to a cliff, at the bottom of which, a large spring-fed lake lay.
When they were near the edge of the cliff, Kakurine struck, disabling
Ihadurca's ability to fly and pushing her to her demise.
"However, Ihadurca did not want to die and tried with all her
might to change the shape of the lake, so that she might land in a pool
deep enough that she might live. Kakurine saw what Ihadurca was trying
to do and did what she could to counter, resulting in hundreds of
separate springs."
Cologne's eyes rose to meet everyone else's gaze, "Ihadurca's
death was not the end of her influence, though. She had, in her final
moments, managed to curse the springs that Kakurine had made so that
she could be resurrected should another fall in. Kakurine could not
undo the curse, but she did manage to manipulate it."
"You're talking about Jusenkyo, aren't you?" Ranma asked.
"Of course, and the villages became the Jokuketsuzoku, right?"
Akane concluded.
Cologne nodded, "Ihadurca's magic was so great that the curse
would last for all eternity, so even if she were killed over and over,
she would always be able to resurrect herself. Kakurine's manipulation
allowed all, but the spring Ihadurca had fallen into, to be prepared to
do the same thing as it had to Ihadurca. The difference was, they
would copy whoever fell into that particual spring next, so all who
fell in after that first person would change into that person and not
Ihadurca. However, for some reason, many of the pools became generic,
such as the pool of drowned girl. No one is sure why."
"Well, at least I don't have some weirdo talking in my head."
Ranma murmurred to himself.
"Say, wouldn't that mean that Ryouga's curse was..." Michiru
began.
Haruka snorted, "He probably got suckered in with promises of all
the women he could ever want or something, then let her use her magic
to separate herself from him. Once that was done, she waited until he
was weak, then iced him."
"But why would she wait? If she was as powerful as the legends
say, she could've killed him once she'd separated." Ranma inquired.
"Creating a second body is very difficult and despite her magical
talents, her spirit would still be very weak. As such, her body is
even weaker. She probably used a magical projection to kill him."
Cologne explained.
"So, what do you think she'll do now that she's free?" Haruka
inquired.
"Probably lay low for a while. But, if she's decided to hold a
grudge, she may hunt down our village and enslave us again. Otherwise,
I haven't a clue. She'll definitely be looking to increase her power
and resources." Cologne explained.
"Well, be that as it may, we should probably head home, seeing as
it's unlikely for her to do anything so soon. We can all meet again at
the Tendo Dojo tomorrow." Michiru declared.
With a nod of agreement, the group split up. Ranma was again
looking upset, because it would probably be weeks before Akane was in
the mood to go out on a date.
Sabrina looked around her apartment. Her aunt Zelda had tried to
warn her that japanese apartments were small, but she'd been expecting,
from Zelda's explanation, that the apartment would actually be smaller.
But, then again, the place was moderately expensive as apartments
went. Sabrina considered that. She'd have to apply for the Japanese
equivalent of a green license so she could get a part time job. She
didn't really need the money at the moment, but working up some
shopping money for later was always a good idea.
With a small sorting spell she'd researched at her uncle
Quigley's request, she had all of her things neatly sorted and put away
in...
Sabrina sighed as her things fell to the floor. She kept
forgetting that she hadn't brought her furniture with her. A quick
levitation spell got all of the items off the floor and a decent
distance from where she conjured her furniture. She repeated the
sorting spell and it was almost identical to home.
"Hey Sabrina." came Salem's smooth voice.
"Salem? When did you get here?" Sabrina inquired.
"I was sleeping on your be-er, dresser when you conjured it."
Salem explained.
"Oh. Sorry." Sabrina apologized.
"Kid, you gotta break that nasty habit of apologizing every time
you screw up. To be honest, every warlock and witch in the known
universe has boofed it in their youth. Hell, most of them continually
boof it, from kid to the grave." Salem admonished, mentally adding [It
can be quite a short trip for some of them.], before continuing, "So
what if you caught me in a conjuration? I can always teleport back."
"Yeah... but... I don't want you to feel angry with me if I ever
interupt something important. And I don't want to get like some
witches, where when they make a mistake, they're all snotty about it,
like it was the fault of someone or something else." Sabrina told him.
"Those _are_ good reasons, but trust me, you'll never be like
those witches. And we'll always forgive you. Trust me, when I was a
warlock, I once accidentally zapped the Marquis De Sade into my buffet
table when I was trying to conjure up some more Sadis punch." Salem
replied, "And don't ask what Sadis punch is. It was hugely popular
back then, but it's illegal now, 'cause it's weakens the inhibitions of
the drinker and De Sade managed to get his hands on some. After that
book came out, it was like the hot potato. No one wanted to touch the
stuff. But it was always funny seeing the pope moon an entire crowd
after he drank a few cups. He had this REALLY ugly wart-"
Sabrina stared at Salem, who quickly stopped his rambling.
"Oh, right. Too much information." Salem apologized.
"WAY too much." Sabrina declared.
"Well, anyway, I'll leave you to it. If you ever need anything,
don't be afraid to ask. We're always there for you." Salem told her.
"Thanks, Salem." Sabrina responded.
With that, Salem teleported back home.
Akane was on the verge of exploding. Kasumi kept called her
'Akane 2' and asking 'what her world had been like'. However, Akane
did not want to explode at her eldest sister. Nabiki, maybe, but never
Kasumi. Kasumi was the one Akane never wanted to hurt.
Nabiki kept giving her 'the eye' as Akane called it. It was
given to people who were lying in Nabiki's eyes. The most annoying
thing was that both Nabiki and Kasumi kept trading ideas on who or what
'Akane 2' really was.
"I really think she might be a dimensional traveler." Kasumi
reiterated.
"She could be a pod-creature. You know how those things were."
Nabiki suggested, "Or she could be a man using a magic cloth to
disguise himself as Akane."
"I'd believe she was a witch or a demon in disguise before that,
Nabiki, and we can plainly see she's not bright enough or calm enough
to make a passing imitation of our Akane." Kasumi responded.
"But what if she gathered her information a few months ago?
Akane wasn't as calm back then." Nabiki pointed out.
"Hmmm, that's possible..." Kasumi agreed.
"Or she could be a doppleganger. I've heard they frequently do
childish things like this." Nabiki stated.
"She could be an alien trying to infiltrate our household using a
holographic projection of our sister in order to ascertain our human
traditions and rituals." Kasumi shot back.
"OOH! How about a magical girl using disguise magic, who's
trying to get a magical artifact that's hidden somewhere in our home?"
Nabiki inquired.
"What about a magical animated ninja from a video game, who's
trying to send us spiraling into misery and despair at the request of
an evil demoness named Marla?" Kasumi asked. (1)
"Now THAT'S pretty far out there." Nabiki commented.
"Hmm, you're right." Kasumi noted.
"I'm home!" another Akane called, with a male voice echoing the
same statement.
"Oh, Akane 1 and Ranma are home." Kasumi said.
"Who's Ranma?" Akane 2 asked.
Just then, Akane 1 and Ranma stepped into the room.
"You're just in time for some tea. We've got a visitor, who
happens to be you, Akane. We've been calling her Akane 2 to avoid
confusion." Kasumi explained, in the same tone that one might said "I
made some waffles and cinnamon toast, just the way you like it."
"Huh?!" both Akane 1 and Ranma inquired.
Akane 2 and Akane 1's eyes met. Ranma looked between the two.
Save for Akane 2 being slightly shorter, there were no physical
differences. Their auras, however, were completely different. Akane 1
radiated calm with some concern and confusion while Akane 2 radiated
hatred and anger.
"I'll be right back. I've got to make a phone call." Akane 1
declared abruptly.
A few minutes later, Akane 1 returned from the phone with a cat-
headed woman trailing behind her. Everyone quickly noticed that she
was wearing a white dress with only one shoulder strap and she was
carrying an opened laptop, but no one seemed to notice Ranma shying
away from the strange woman.
"I figured as much. This could only happen to someone with HER
record." the woman declared, before addressing everyone, "My name is
Bast, Goddess First Class. I'm here to resolve some of the confusion
over these two Akanes."
Everyone save Akane 1 looked to Bast with intense curiosity while
Akane 1 turned to study the koi pond.
Bast pressed a few buttons on her laptop, "A few months ago,
Akane Tendo made a wish, using the Shooting Star entry access point.
Ordinarily, for a wish to be accepted in such a fashion, the person has
to have built up enough 'credit' to gain a wish. However, a bug got
into the system and several wishes came true that night. Two people
became cats, one person is now a broadway performer, another person is
dying of a chocolate overdose, a quadrapeligic is no longer a
quadrapeligic and is in better physical condition than he's ever been
in, and then there was Akane's wish."
"Akane's wish was that she could be someone else. However, since
there was no one specifically stated, another person was chosen at
random. Since the wish was stated in such a fashion, she had to remain
herself while becoming someone else. Thus, there was a mind, spirit
and soul transfer between the two people. The other person gained
Akane's body while Akane gained their body." Bast continued.
Bast scrolled down on the laptop before continuing, "The other
person was due for a wish using the Birthday Candle access point.
However, the records had gotten screwed up and Akane was allowed usage
of a second wish. This one she used to wish, and I quote, 'I wish I
had the body of Akane Tendo, age 16'. This resulted in Akane's new
body changing into a copy of Akane Tendo's body at the age of 16. This
resulted in the destruction in the last anchor point for the file for
the other person. The file is listed under 'Annihilated'."
"So, what does that mean?" Nabiki inquired as Akane 1 turned
around to face the group.
"It means that even if the newer Akane wanted to, she could never
become who she was without using _two_ wishes. She'd have to wish for
her file to be removed from the Annihilated folder, then wish to have
that particular body." Bast explained, "However, it would take a
lifetime to regain enough 'credit' to do so by our system. She would
have to rely on Genie wishes."
"And it would be a waste of time trying to find a genie just to
get my old body back." Akane 1 sighed, "Regardless of whether I wanted
it or not, who I used to be is now dead beyond resurrection."
"I don't understand, couldn't she just wish to have her old body
back?" Kasumi inquired.
Bast shook her head, "When a file goes into the Annihilated
folder, it's impossible for anyone to assume that exact form ever
again, even by accident, until it's been removed from that folder. And
unfortunately, that requires either the approval of whatever dieties
guided her fate, five hundred years to pass or a wish. And the dieties
of fate are nearly impossible to convince."
"Why five hundred years?" Ranma asked.
"Well, after five hundred years have passed for a file in the
annhiliated folder, it gets reviewed for potential recirculation. Body
profiles are always placed back into circulation."
"Say," Akane 1 began, glaring harshly at Akane 2, "I just
realized something... how did you get back to Japan?"
"I bought a ticket." Akane 2 responded.
"And what about a passport? You can't leave a country without a
passport." Akane 1 growled.
"The Japanese embassy gave me one, seeing as I AM a citizen of
Japan." Akane 2 replied.
"You've never paid municipal tax, Akane, you're not technically a
citizen. Besides, didn't anyone ask how you got to America without one
in the first place?" Akane 1 demanded.
"I told them I'd been kidnapped and gave them some bogus
profiles. Tall, hairy-faced, always wearing a brown hooded jacket and
black sunglasses whenever I saw them. Don't worry, I didn't tell them
anything about your family." Akane 2 told her.
"All right, I suppose you could have faked your way through all
that, considering that you're here. But what about my family? What
did you tell them?" Akane 1 inquired.
"Huh?" Akane 2 asked.
"MY FAMILY. WHAT DID YOU TELL THEM?" Akane 1 queried louder.
"I didn't tell them anything. I took off once I got my body
back." Akane 2 responded.
"YOU _WHAT_?!" Akane 1 shouted.
If looks were like tiny lasers, Akane 2 and ten miles behind her
would have been reduced to ash on the atomic level.
"They aren't my family. Why should I care?" Akane asked.
Akane 1 gripped Akane 2 by the front of her school uniform and
hauled her up so that their noses were almost touching, "So you swapped
our bodies, wasted MY WISH, destroyed any chance of ME regaining MY
original body, used MY MONEY to come back home, left MY family in a
state of worry, panic and confusion and now you're telling me that you
don't care?"
Akane 2's blaise attitude wilted under the furious gaze of her
elder counterpart. Everyone else watched the bizarre face-off in
silence.
"Meanwhile, I've been taking care of YOUR family by reducing
financial strain, improving YOUR family's house by helping out with
your sister's chores, raising YOUR school grades, dealing with YOUR
morning fights, and doing my best to keep YOUR friends and family from
undue anguish and confusion by being the best darn Akane Tendo I could
be, seeing as I am NOT you, and now you're telling me that YOU
shouldn't have to care about MY family." Akane 1's voice was calm, but
it was a terrifying calm, like just after a rattlesnake's tail shake, but just before it bit. And though her voice was calm, her face held
barely restrained rage.
Akane 1 shoved Akane 2 backwards to land on her rump.
"I should kill you, but you aren't worth the effort." Akane 1
declared, marching out of the room.
Bast looked after her, then announced, "She took that much better
than I originally thought she would."
"Is there any good news for her?" Kasumi inquired.
"For the original Akane Tendo, yes. Since both of her wishes
were used by proper access, even if it technically wasn't, she gets to
keep her age 16 body, but it will begin to age, so no immortality. As
for the Akane you've come to know... not much. Once one of them
chooses a new name, and I'm doubting the newer Akane will want to keep
hers, their records will be sorted out. After that... there's not much
we can do." Bast apologized.
"But shouldn't she get a wish?" Kasumi asked.
Bast shook her head, "Unfortunately, it's not an automatic thing.
Wishes are dispensed to only those who build up certain requirements.
We can put it up to a review board, but the likelyhood that she's going
to get one is very low."
"Then can you at least give her a background?" Nabiki requested.
"Why are you bothering?" Akane 2 huffed.
Akane 2 wilted again under the combined disapproving glares of
Kasumi, Nabiki, Ranma and Bast.
"I don't need this. I'm going to go practice." Akane 2 declared,
deciding that to stay would cause her further embarrassment.
Ranma thought he heard Bast mutter, "Never gets any better,
regardless of the timeline." but decided not to inquire. It was
probably beyond him. Or something he wouldn't like to find out.
"Anyway, we can help her get a new background, but we will need
an official name for the new file. Here's the card for one of our
historical accuracy offices. Just tell them the case file number that
I've written on here and then her new name and they'll handle the
rest." Bast explained, handing Kasumi a card.
Kasumi and Nabiki bowed to the goddess as she turned to leave.
Bast paused and looked into Ranma's eyes. She then gave him a slightly
slap on the forehead, then nodded before exiting the room.
Cologne arrived in Akane's room, intending to look up on her
prized student. She became concerned when she instead saw Akane
packing a traveling pack.
"Going somewhere?" Cologne asked.
"Away." Akane replied, stuffing more clothes into the pack.
"This wouldn't have anything to do with Ihadurca, would it?"
Cologne inquired, trying to guess what could make one of her two newest
pupils so angry.
"No. It has everything to do with who I'm not." Akane responded.
"So the original owner of your body came back." Cologne noted.
That made Akane pause, then she remembered that she was talking
to an amazon elder. She nodded, "Only she used a wish and wound up
permanently destroying my original body while changing my former body
into a copy of her body at the age of sixteen. And I've been told that
I need TWO wishes to be able to regain my body."
Cologne winced. Body-swapping was never a pleasant experience
for those unfortunate enough to experience it. In rare cases, one or
both of the people actually liked the body they'd been swapped into,
but that was usually not the case. But for one of the two to lose the
chance to go back to the body they'd had...
"So, you're leaving to be away from the other Akane." Cologne
commented.
"No, from Akane." the girl growled, "I was disgusted with her
when I just saw into her notes, but upon meeting the real person, I
find that I don't even want to have her name. I've decided to instead
take the name Cerl."
"Cerl? I don't believe I've ever heard of that one." Cologne
noted.
"It's a name I got from a game. A girl who was torn apart inside
by what others had done to her. Seemed appropriate, given what Akane
has done to me and my family." Cerl responded.
Cologne was silent as she watched Cerl pause in her packing and
clench a fist, "She just DITCHED THEM! No letter of explanation, no
trying to explain what had happened... once she got her body back, she
ran off. Who knows what sort of panic and grief she's inflicted on
them? I COULD KILL HER! THAT STUPID BITCH!"
Cologne noticed a hastily written letter, but it wasn't written
in japanese.
"A letter to your family?" Cologne inquired, hoping to help keep
Cerl's mind away from anger. The less she dwelled on the anger, the
better off she would be.
"I did the best I could. Hopefully, I'll be able to at least
calm the worst of my family's fears by telling them I ran off to elope
with a nice girl and the crazy girl they saw run off was a hired
distraction. Probably not the best explanation, seeing as my family is
very open to every race, color and creed, but it's all I can manage."
Cerl explained.
"And what about your new family?" Cologne inquired.
Cerl was quiet for a minute, "I don't intend to leave them the
same way Akane left my family. But I can't stay under the same roof as
Akane. She's pissed me off too much. It's for everyone's own good
that I leave. I'll probably camp out in some abandoned lots until I
can find an apartment I can afford or someone to room with."
"Well, regardless of what has transpired, Cerl, you are still my
student and I will continue training you." Cologne told her.
"Thank you." Cerl responded.
"AAAAAH!" came Akane's scream.
Cerl snapped to attention, "That came from the dojo."
"Should we really check it out?" Cologne inquired.
"Considering she's a clumsy moron? Yes. Even if I hate her, we
don't know what might have happened and I'd hate for it to be
Ihadurca." Cerl responded.
The amazon elder and newly renamed girl both arrived at the dojo
within seconds.
"What's the matter, child?" Cologne inquired.
"All of my boards and bricks are gone! There aren't even any
blocks!" Akane cried, "How am I supposed to train?!"
Cologne quirked an eyebrow, wondering if the girl was working on
a bakusai tenketsu-style training, because otherwise, she couldn't see
the point of having so many different things. Cerl, on the other hand,
quickly shifted from concern to extreme annoyance.
"OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! You screamed bloody murder for the
lack of construction materials?!" Cerl demanded.
"I need them to train!" Akane shot back haughtily.
Cerl glared at her, "An _untrained_ _monkey_ can do the same
board and block-breaking that you can, Akane. Besides, if that's all
you do, you don't need to train anymore. You'll never improve as a
martial artist, so you should just stop now."
"How dare you!" Akane growled.
"How dare I point out the obvious? Face it, Akane, you suck at
just about everything. Just give up and practice saying 'Would you
like fries with that?'." Cerl responded.
"THAT'S IT!" Akane cried, charging at Cerl, intending to the
throttle the, in Akane's eyes, haughty body-snatcher.
Cologne moved to intercept the youngest Tendo, but Cerl motioned
her to stop before calmly walking toward the charging Akane until they
were within striking distance of each other. With one clean motion,
Cerl knelt down and slammed a fist into Akane's stomach. Akane let out
a whurfling noise before doubling over and clutching her stomach.
"You... you hit me!" Akane huffed out.
"Yes, and that was the most obvious attack ever, Akane Tendo."
Cologne admonished the downed girl, "She could have disabled you a
hundred different ways and there would have been nothing you could have
done that would have changed the fact that she's superior to you in
every way. Your level of martial skill is pathetic next to hers."
"But... she is me..." Akane protested, still trying to regain her
breath and keep down the rising bile.
"Wrong. Even though I've been training at much higher levels
than you ever had, you could have at least dodged that attack using the
knowledge I had. I took everything you knew and incorporated it into
what I knew, thereby becoming infinitely better than what you had been.
You had the same chance, but you threw it away." Cerl told Akane, "And
what's more, since I have become this hybrid of you and me, I refuse to
take your name anymore. I'm Cerl now."
"And what do you intend to do, Cerl?" came the voice of Soun
Tendo.
"Dad!" Akane cried, "She hit me!"
Soun glanced at Akane, then back at Cerl, "I can see that. She
is obviously worthy to be the Heir of the Tendo school of Anything Goes
Martial Arts."
"WHAT?!" Akane demanded.
"Quiet, Akane." Soun told his youngest daughter, "When Cerl
showed the calm and peace of mind that I'd hoped that you would
eventually display, I was filled with pride. Teaching both of you was
always a joy, but you, Akane, let yourself be consumed by your
emotions, while Cerl, who is just as emotional, has used her mind to
keep them in balance."
Soun walked forward and placed his hands on Cerl's shoulders, "I
know Akane has caused you much grief and what I will ask is not an easy
decision, but Cerl, will you please remain? Though you are not my
daughter by birth, you are my daughter in spirit."
Cerl looked up into Soun's eyes. They reminded her of her own
father's eyes. She closed her eyes and thought. Though it was not her
own, she'd grown to feel at home with the Tendo family. It would be
difficult coming to accept the most annoying member of the Tendo
family, she really didn't want to leave.
"All right. I'll stay." Cerl agreed.
She sat on the roof, looking up at the stars. Ranma-chan didn't
particularly care for her female side. It was difficult to get used to
the sudden height reduction, changed center of gravity and the breasts,
but it was helping her become a better martial artist.
It also felt more natural to ponder her emotions in her female
body, especially when the thought of a certain member of the Tendo
family. Ranma-chan felt very very fortunate to be able to change
between her two bodies. If the Jusenkyo magic had been different, who
knew what might have happened?
"Ranma?"
Ranma-chan turned, "Akane?"
"It's Cerl now." the girl explained.
"Oh." Ranma-chan stated.
"Since it's not my given name, I felt I should let the original
have it." Cerl half-lied.
Ranma-chan nodded. Silence filled the air for several moments.
"Ranma, I'm sorry. Please forgive me." Cerl declared.
"Huh?" Ranma-chan asked.
"All this time, I never told you the truth about who I was. And
we were friends. That's inexcuseable." Cerl apologized.
"Well, you didn't really know, did you?" Ranma-chan inquired as
Cerl sat down next to her.
"Sort of. A few months ago, I'd eaten some bad food and joked
with my friends that it had been poisonous. The next morning, I woke
up in Akane's body. I thought the food must REALLY have been poisonous and I'd died from it. Then I realized that I had been reincarnated.
But I was confused as to why I was in Japan, I was a teenager and it
was only the next day." Cerl answered.
Cerl continued her explanation, "I tried to rationalize it out,
but the idea that I'd swapped bodies seemed too preposterous. I mean,
in most stories, people swap bodies with other people that they know,
or at the very least, have seen. But Akane and I have never left our
respective countries prior to this. So, I decided that Akane must have
wished for death so greatly that she'd died. It didn't really explain
how I'd been reincarnated into her body, but it was all I could come up
with. So, I did the best I could to be Akane Tendo."
"It's kind of funny." Ranma-chan chuckled.
Cerl blinked, "What is?"
"Who knew that a guy who swaps genders at the touch of water
would fall in love with a person who'd swapped bodies." Ranma-chan
responded.
Cerl stared in bewilderment as Ranma-chan leaned over and kissed
her.
=======================================================================
(1) - This is from Ah! Megami-sama (or Oh! My Goddess).
Chapter 5, Complete.
Stay tuned!
Next chapter:
Someone with a flame for Shampoo!
Ihadurca's power expands!
All this and more on the next episode of Akane Revised Z!
Just kidding!
How it could have been:
Ryouga's Curse...
Idea #1 - Angel (see NXE for name). Very powerful in
beginning. Angel's energy reserves have been building for centuries.
Worst part: Ryouga's personality with Angel's knowledge. Unmonitored
Angel could draw attention of Goddesses, though.
Idea #2 - Sorceress. Powerful and ruthless. Dominates
Gosunkugi as he has some hidden magical talent. Sorceress had mostly
female slaves over three thousands years ago, who later became the
Chinese Amazons.
Mikado & Azusa - No longer the Golden Pair (they were removed
from the team after Azusa stole all the hockey equipment and burned it,
calling it 'icky'), Mikado's decided to use Azusa's stupidity to pick
up girls.
(
geocities.com/tokyo/island) (
geocities.com/tokyo)