Disclaimer: These characters so not belong to me. I did not create them, nor did I create the original idea for this story. Please don’t sue me, I’m poor and have a bad computer.
Ranma ½ Z Neo: Chapter 7
(…) thoughts ~…~ emphasis on word ^ author’s note
Secrets =====+=====+=====+=====
*At Capsule Corp.*
Bulma: Hey, Trunks, could you hand me that tool kit over there?
Trunks: I’m not supposed to do any moving, remember?
Bulma: Handing me a tool kit doesn’t count! Now give!
Trunks: *tosses her the tool kit* I don’t see why you have to do this in ~my~ room, anyway.
Bulma: I have to do it here, or else I can’t tune it to your body.
Trunks: *sighs, then rolls over and starts reading a Oh My Goddess! manga*
Akane: *walks in, sees the comic* Hey, you like Oh My Goddess!, too, Trunks?
Trunks: *blushes* well…
Akane: Oh, isn’t it great!? I just love how Keiichi remembers his promise to Belldandy and gets to stay with her because of it! It’s so sweet!
Trunks: *interrupting Akane* So where is everybody else?
Akane: They’re all getting ready for bed. I should be going to sleep to. ‘Bye! *walks out*
*in Ranma’s room*
Ranma: Should we tell everyone what’s going on?
Ryouga: No, it’s too risky. We don’t wanna disappoint them if it doesn’t work.
Ranma: Guess you’re right. That wouldn’t be good.
Ryouga: Of course I’m right. G’night, Ranma; I’m going to bed.
Ranma: Whatever.
Ryouga: Of course, you’re the one who really needs rest. After all, you’re such a jerk that everyone cheers when you sleep in.
Ranma: *as Ryouga walks the wrong way out the door* At least I can find my way to my room!
Akane: *walking by* Don’t tease Ryouga, Ranma!
Ranma: He started it!!
Akane: Whatever, Ranma. *yawn* Goodnight, anyway
Ranma: Goodnight, Akane. *Akane goes to bed*
Ukyou: *on her bed, in her room* Goodnight, Ran-chan... *sigh* (I can’t believe he and Akane are getting along so well... I may be loosing him, but even if I do, at least he’ll always consider me his friend. He can’t say that for anyone else.) *she turns over and drifts off to sleep*
*the next morning*
Ryouga: Hey, that’s my egg! *grabs egg off serving plate just as Ranma starts to reach for it*
Ranma: That’s my biscuits! *grabs three biscuits off a different plate, at the same time he gets an egg off the egg plate*
Akane: Those are, Ranma, not ‘that is’. *grabs one of Ranma’s biscuits for herself* And you don’t need three of them...
Bulma: *eyeing the empty plates, as the group finishes* You eat so little compared to Vejita and Trunks... *the group facefaults, seeing their own mess* It’ll be nice to not have to go shopping for lunch.
Ryouga: Lunch!?! I thought all that food was supposed to last a month!
Bulma: Naah. It usually only lasts a meal or two. Well, I’m off to the lab! *leaves room*
Akane: Wow, and I thought you guys ate a lot...
Ranma: We do! I could eat that much, if I wanted to!
Ryouga: Yeah! We could eat more than a Saiyajin if we wanted to!
Ukyou: Umm, hon, I don’t think that’s necessary to try... Especially since it’s about time to go train.
*At training grounds*
Piccolo: Ranma, spar with Ukyou this time. Ryouga and Akane, stay stay here until I return. *Bids Ranma and Ukyou to follow him*
Ukyou: Why’re we going somewhere else?
Piccolo: I’m going to train Ryouga and Akane alone for a while, then I train you two. Until then, you should use that time to spar; you’ll need every chance you get to improve.
Ukyou: Makes sense. *Piccolo guides them to a spot farther away and leaves them sparring there.*
Ranma: Ready, Ukyou?
Ukyou: Well, I want ta ask you something first...
Ranma: What?
Ukyou: Are you going to marry Akane?
Ranma: That kawaiikune tomboy? What makes you think--
Ukyou: Stop it, Ranma. *he shuts his mouth, surprised* Tell me the truth, are you going to marry her? Do you want to?
Ranma: *Quiet for a minute, thinking* Well,... *figures something out, then stammers and looks down, nervously* Y-yes. Yes, I do.
Ukyou: *pauses, regretfully, then speaks* Thank you, Ranma. I had to know. We’re still friends, though, right?
Ranma: I’ve always considered you my friend, Ukyou. *blushes* Umm....
Ukyou: *grins* Thank you, Ranma. *suddenly looks serious* Well, ready to spar? *Ranma answers by taking a fighting stance.*
*Where Ryouga, Akane, & Piccolo are*
Piccolo: Attack me, together. *Akane moves to comply, but Ryouga’s lack of motion stops her*
Akane: Ryouga, come on. He said to attack.
Ryouga: Ganging up on someone isn’t fair.
Piccolo: I admire your ethics, but there’s something you need to consider.
Ryouga: What?
Piccolo: *charging him* These people don’t play fair! *punches him in the gut; Ryouga doubles over*
Akane: Ryouga, you okay? *blocks punch that Piccolo throws at her, then kicks with one foot*
Piccolo: *catching her foot* Worry about yourself first. *uses her leg to throw her*
Ryouga: *standing back up* Just fine, Akane. *his eyes glint with determination, and he charges Piccolo*
Akane: *picking herself back up and joining Ryouga in attacking* Great. *She punches out, but hits Ryouga’s fist instead. The two constantly find eachother in their way.*
Piccolo: Learn to work together. *ducks under Akane’s high kick and Ryouga’s punch*
*The battle speeds up. Ryouga flings a bandana at Piccolo, who merely moves his head out of the way. It scrapes Akane, and Ryouga looks horrified-- until she lands a kick on Piccolo, proving herself fine. Ryouga attacks with a sudden spurge of energy, throwing out punches and kicks at a rate that lets Piccolo block only most. However, Ryouga quickly wearies and must fall back to avoid serious damage. Akane, seeing him in danger, starts to cover him. Unknowingly, they begin to do what Piccolo had originally instructed them to: work together to fight him. Akane gets a punch in face, but Ryouga blocks the follow-up and uses Piccolo’s distraction to land one of his own. When Ryouga punches at Piccolo’s face, Akane sweeps his feet from under him, letting both attacks do damage. They work in this way for several hours, eventually tiring. Suddenly, Piccolo flies back.*
Piccolo: That’s enough for now. Take a little rest, then go and get the other two. *Ryouga and Akane sit down on a nearby boulder*
Akane: *pant, pant* Ryouga... thanks for... covering me.
Ryouga: *wiping his face* No... prob. *not breathing quite as hard as Akane* You... did the... same. *the two catch their breath, then follow Piccolo to where he left Ukyou and Ranma*
Ryouga: Where’d they go?
Akane: Maybe they drifted while fighting...
Piccolo: No way. We’d see, or at least hear, them.
Akane: *concentrates* Ukyou’s over that way... but where’s Ranma?
*The three fly to Ukyou, finding her in a forest*
Ukyou: *not sensing them at first, she’s so distracted* Ranma! Ranma!!!
Akane: Ukyou....
Ukyou: *starting* Oh, Akane! It’s you!
Akane: Where’s Ranma?
Ryouga: Yeah, where’d that coward go? Did he chicken out?
Ukyou: *glaring at Ryouga* No, he’s.... gone.
Akane: Gone?
Piccolo: People don’t just disappear. (Except Goku.... but Ranma doesn’t know teleportation) Where is he?
Ukyou: Ranma... went Neko...
Akane: *eyes widening in worry* Oh, no! He didn’t!!!
Ukyou: It happened just a little bit ago....
*thirty minutes earlier*
Ukyou: Com’on, Ranma, is that the best you can do? *grabs his fist and kicks out*
Ranma: Hey, I’m TRYING not to hold back, but old habits die hard, ya know. It just comes naturally.
Ukyou: I know, but it still bugs me when you feel you have to hold back on me. What does that say about your trust in me?
Ranma: Give me a break! I’m not ~trying~ to, I told you that!
Ukyou: *sighs* Alright, alright. Thanks for trying, anyway. Or should I say not trying?
Ranma: *laughs* not trying, definitely. *blocks kick*
*Suddenly, the two hear a small noise from nearby*
????: m-mew?
Ranma: *turns white* T-that’s not a c-c-c-c-c-c-cat, is it?
Ukyou: I’ll go check it out. *flies over* Awww, how cute!
Ranma: What?
Ukyou: *pauses* Uh, don’t come over here, Ranma.
Ranma: What is it?
Ukyou: a couple of mountain lion cubs. Definitely feline.
Ranma: *shudders* I don’t wanna see.
Ukyou: I’ll move them away... *picks up something, carefully hiding it from Ranma* Be back in a sec. *flies away*
Ranma: I’ll wait here. *sits down against a small ledge*
????: Rrrrroooooowwwwwwrrrrrrrr!!!
Ranma: ... *turns around & looks up* eep....
*The mother of the cubs is right above his head. The two stare at eachother for a second, then the lion pounces. Ranma screams, but his voice changes to a roar. His eyes become slitted, and his hands curl up into fists. Claws of ki poke out, and he growls. The mountain lion does a double-take at him, then slowly starts to back away. Ukyou returns in time to see it turn on its tail and flee. Ranma proudly licks himself, then turns around to see Ukyou. He trots up to her on all fours and starts rubbing against her legs, purring.*
Ukyou:... (oh, Ranma... Not again.) *she looks around for some water to change Ranma into a girl and break the curse, but sees none. She picks up Ranma and carries him to the nearby forest* There ought to be some water out here, ne, Ran-chan? *finally, she comes across a stream. She puts the purring Ranma down and scoops up some water in her hands. Unfortunately, Ranma chooses that moment to see something off to the side, and starts chasing it. Ukyou turns around to see him gone.* Ran-chan! Ran-chan! Ranma, where’d you go?
*the present*
Ukyou: Now I can’t find him. He won’t come when I call him, or anything like that.
Piccolo: ... He... acts like a ~cat~ when he gets scared?
Akane: It’s not his fault! His dumb dad did something to him when he was just a little kid, called Neko-ken. Now whenever he gets close to cats, he starts acting like one. It makes him fight better, but it also makes him utterly unreachable except by a few people! *at that second, Akane fell flat on her face*
Ranma: *from on top of Akane’s back* mrow?
Ukyou: Oh, Ranma! Thank goodness!!! *she promptly splashes him with water that she had gotten from the stream. Ranma-chan sits up, confused.*
Ranma-chan: Where am I?
Akane: Get off me!!
Ranma: *looks down; blushes* oh, Gomen, Akane! *gets off*
Akane: (did he just apologize???) I-it’s alright. You couldn’t help yourself. *stands up*
Piccolo: ... (a-ano...) *keeps his usual poker face*
Ryouga: Now that Ranma’s had his break, let’s get back to work.
*Piccolo agrees, and starts training Ukyou and Ranma-chan like he did Ryouga and Akane. Ryouga has some trouble fighting Akane, though...*
Akane: Ready, Ryouga?
Ryouga: (How can I fight Akane? She’s just so... so... so... I can’t!!! I just can’t fight her!!!) *meanwhile, Akane takes his silence to mean that he is ready, and attacks. Ryouga reflexively blocks and punches back. He hits her, and she’s thrown back a bit.*
Ryouga: A-Akane! Are you all right?
Akane: Of course!!! This’s a spar, isn’t it? I’m just glad that I can trust you to fight back, unlike Ranma. It’s really so annoying when he won’t fight back. Of course, he’s working on it, but I hate it when he looks down on me like that! And just because I’m a girl! I’m stronger than most guys out there! *Akane catches herself before she starts whining* Oh, sorry, Ryouga. You probably don’t want to hear me complain about Ranma. You’re just such a good listener... Thanks. Well, ready to fight some more?
Ryouga: (How can I fight her now??? I don’t want to hurt her! But if I don’t fight back, I’ll hurt her feelings!) *Ryouga decides her feelings outrank trying to avoid sparring* Uh, sure. *he gets an idea.* But I’m going to work on the defensive, okay? I need to improve some on that.
Akane: Sure!
*Akane kicks at him, and he blocks. She doubles around and makes him spin around to keep his eyes on her, then takes advantage of putting him off balance by sweeping his feet out from under him. He stumbles, and only barely manages to avoid falling. She takes that moment to elbow him in the ribs. He gasps as the breath is almost knocked out of him, and is thrown into a rock close by. Rubbing his head, he notices Akane standing next to him.*
Akane: Are you okay?
Ryouga: *blushes* Y-yeah, Akane.
Akane: Great! C’mon, then, we’ve got to train to save this world. If we give up now, the people will be lost! We can’t let that happen!
Ryouga: Right!!
*The two leap out at each other again, straining to improve themselves. They spar on for hours, until Ukyou appears.*
Ukyou: Hey, guys! It’s getting dark, so we need to go back to Capsule Corp! *Sure enough, the sun is getting low in the sky, though neither Ryouga nor Akane noticed. They see the sunset, then go with Ukyou back to the place where she had trained with Piccolo.*
Piccolo: You’re doing okay, but I expect you to do better tomorrow. There’s no slacking off now, no matter how tempted you are to take a break. I will meet you here at dawn. *Piccolo flies off*
Ranma: Well, guess we better get back. Otherwise, Bulma-san will kill us.
Ryouga: I agree, we’d better hurry back. *Group flies off to Capsule Corp*
Bulma: *sarcastically* Welcome back. You know, I’ve been working on fixing the mess you made of the gravity room all day!
Akane: Gomen, Bulma-san. We really didn’t mean to hurt anything.
Bulma: *relenting* Well, I wasn’t really that mad. It’s not as bad as when my husband and son do it. You should see it then! It’s like... No words to describe it. I’m nearly finished with the repairs now. If it was them, I’d take a week or so.
Ranma: You’ve already almost finished fixing it!? I thought it would be impossible to fix, after what we did! *Trunks is seen in the background, walking around. He hears what Ranma has just said, and starts waving as if to tell him to cut off his words before he says something stupid. Ranma, however, doesn’t see* And how the roof was split! How ever did you fix it?
Ryouga: *also not seeing Trunks* Yeah, personally, I’d think a woman of your age might have some trouble doing all that herself... *Trunks can be seen in the background, hitting his head against the wall, which dents*
Bulma: *dangerously* A woman... ~my~ age?
Ranma: *unfortunately, has the same sense of tact as a bullet* Well, yeah, I mean, you’re not exactly young anymore... You could easily be a grandmother! *Trunks is seen trying to find a place to hide*
Bulma: *despite the fact that she ~is~ older than Chichi, who is a grandmother* That’s it! I took you into my house, fed you, gave you a place to sleep, and what do you do? Insult me! You destroy my gravity room, train with that green guy, and do nothing useful to help me out! *The scene fades out with all of Team Akane cowering from a wrath almost as terrible as Akane’s when Ranma says something he should have learned long ago not to.*
*In the main room of a now-familiar space ship, Syme is holding what looks like a CD. Argos is relaxed in his chair, when the doctor approaches him*
Syme: Argos, I have discovered something quite unusual from my surveillance of the Earth warriors.
Argos: Yes, Syme? What is it?
Syme: Part of it, I have caught on this tape. *inserts CD-thing into slot on his console*
*A screen comes down from the ceiling^, and a scene unfolds in front of the Zeal warriors.*
^If you’ve ever watched the Jetsons, it’s rather like that. If not, well, I don’t blame you; it’s not anime.
Sounds from video: Rooowwwwwwrrrr!!!!!!!!
???: eep.... YYYYAAAAAAAAAAOoooowwwwwrrrrrr.......
???: Ranma! Ranma! RANMA! Ran-chan, where are you?
*splash*
???: Where am I?
???: Get off me!^
^no, that’s not ~all~ they heard on the video, but you’ve read it all before.
*Video ends, and Argos has a thoughtful expression on his face*
Argos: Tell me, Syme, how do you plan on using this information?
Syme: Well, I suppose we could lock the one called Ranma into the feline mind set. Apparently, water snaps him out of it, but also changes his gender with the effect. There is some way to reverse this, because later surveillance shows he is again male. I believe that the gender switch may wear off with time, but it is possible that some other factor is involved.
Argos: And being near felines activates this unusual behavior?
Syme: Hai.
Argos: Are the others also afflicted?
Syme: From the dialog, I do not believe so.
Argos: And if we could use this to get that one out of the way, how would it help us?
Syme: He is the strongest of the group, besides the Namek. His power is great for one of his age.
Argos: *obviously interested* How could you arrange for this to happen?
Syme: It would be possible to lock him in a constant state if I use a dream-mask, especially if he was also given arthen, the hallucinogen that we found on Las 5.
Argos: Can you achieve this?
Syme: *pretending offense* Of course. I wouldn’t suggest it if I couldn’t!
Argos: *laughs at their old joke: He would question Syme’s abilities, and Syme would pretend to be offended* Alright, then, do it.
Syme: As you say, Argos.
Argos: *Calls out to him* If you need assistance, take whomever you you like.
Syme: *calls back* I probably won’t, but maybe I’ll just take Tempo for the fun of it.
======+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======
Author’s notes:
How will Syme try to disable Ranma? Will the Zeal ever discover the truth behind the Jusenkyo curses? Will Ranma’s friends be able to save him from certain fright? Tune in next time for the exciting continuation!
Alright, that’s out of my system. I apologize for the delay in getting this out, but hey, I ~got~ it out. Be thankful for that! And I managed to add some excitement, too... Don’t you think Ranma will look good in a flea collar? But poor Akane will always have to take him to the vet and all.... And considering how Ranma was almost forced into marrying a duck when he thought it was Akane, just imagine how their parents will react when she brings him home! *Suddenly, Lynn screams as readers start reaching through the computer screen to throttle her* Just kidding, just ~KIDDING~!!! As to what will really happen, you’ll have to wait until next time to find out. Well, gotta go, so ‘Bye for now!
Send all Comments/questions/etc. to Fanime_Lynn@hotmail.com