This one came out a bit longer than I thought it would, so the Urusei Yatsura one is still in progress. Also, I intend that the next time Ranma 1/2 wins the poll I'll probably focus a lot more on Kasumi. Probably involving Doctor Tofu being possessed.
No matter how prepared a person might be, it is quite literally impossible to prepare for the unexpected. After all, the instant that one attempts to prepare for it, they are in essence expecting it. Lelouch was a cunning young man with a rather brilliant strategic mind, and he was learning that most of what he’d thought was true of strategy and tactics does apply to the real world… But it’s the few things that don’t which will screw him over in the end.
That simple taint of things you can’t see coming. For want of a nail, but who could have guessed that a given horse would be the turning point around which an entire battle would pivot? If that were known then better precautions would surely have been taken to ensure the day could be won! A person can only do whatever they feel is best at the time, even if it turns out to be foolish in retrospect. The historian’s fallacy: The assumption that people living through an event had all the information that those looking back upon it have after the fact. What seems obvious to us was not to them.
For a person with ambition like Lelouch, for one intending to take on the position of the ultimate underdog and prevail, the unexpected was intolerable. Therefore! He wished so very hard that whatever may trouble him would not be unexpected, that he would expect anything that came his way! Alas, he would not get that wish granted for himself… But another would find themselves with that particular brand of precognition.
That particular person was engaged in a different sort of battle with his father as well. To most that might have decided to watch, the pair were a blur of motion. Almost flying through the air, but in truth they did have to land quite often before using their powerful legs to propel themselves back into the air for another exchange of blows. Both throwing their all into it, both trying to knock the other down.
Both rather desperately hungry. Hey, when a person is this active they have a super-fast metabolism!
Unfortunately for the young Mister Saotome, the day was not to be his. A glancing blow was enough of a distraction for his extremely talented (if typically lazy) father to land another series of them that sent him sailing down towards the rather unfortunately positioned koi pond that the Tendos kept in their back garden. The fact that none of the fish within died when he landed is a veritable miracle. Though some might be more distracted by the miraculous instant transformation of a boy into a girl, just add water.
Ranma grunted in annoyance and wrung out the bottom of her shirt. “I’ll be in the bath if anyone needs me for anything,” she said, stomping off and annoyed at being defeated in such a manner. Then again, maybe it shouldn’t have been as surprising as all that. After all, it had been a rather busy day yesterday. Got knocked out. Made a friend. Beat up a monster. Met a superhero. Got engaged. Pretty damn busy, all things considered.
And yeah, that whole thing about the monster and the superhero was especially confusing. Where had it come from? Why had it taken Akane? Where even was she while that thing was causing mayhem at the Tendos? Would others show up? Who was that mysterious masked woman in the sailor fuku? Sailor V just wasn’t enough of an answer to that question.
Without much further thought on what she was doing, Ranma strode into the bathroom still lost in those questions. In all honesty she didn’t even really know what to make of it all, and it seemed quite the perfect bookend to a truly bizarre month. She dropped the last of her clothes, reached for the dividing screen -
And was startled when it opened before her hand could even brush against it.
Standing in front of her was a girl, just a little taller than herself in her current form. The two locked eyes, but Ranma could tell from peripheral vision and common bleeding sense that the girl was completely naked. The face in front of her was cute, pretty. Had brown eyes, an adorable little nose and a pair of lips that looked soft and enticing. Her hair was tied up, and that must have been what was throwing Ranma off, because it was only after a few seconds that she realised she was looking in the eyes of her new friend and new fiancee Akane Tendo.
At which point her heart skipped a beat, and she didn’t have the faintest idea why. She swallowed nervously and, on an instinct lingering from her typically male mind, her eyes flickered downwards -
<i>They were standing just outside the school when it happened. A tall boy growled, his voice becoming more and more animalistic with each passing guttural grunt. All of a sudden his skin turned a strange shade of brown and his fingers seemed to lock together.
“I will not allow this!” the boy yelled, his voice barely recognisable. “I will not allow this! The fair Akane is mine! Mine!”
The transformation continued. It creeped along his hands, up his neck and around his face. The texture of his flesh was becoming… Almost like wood! The boy’s hands were changing as well, fingers melting into one another, extending into a single hard point almost as though his hands were turning into bokken…</I>
- Akane’s breasts which were barely covered with a towel before the slap hit. And it hit like God himself had reached out to do it. Ranma spun around a full three hundred sixty degrees in place, blinked exactly twice, pointed to the ceiling with his index finger and said three words.
“DoWn I gO!”
At which point he crumpled into a heap on the floor at Akane’s feet, completely unconscious.
<hr>
For a full ten seconds there was no movement in the bathroom. Akane stood exactly where she had been when the slap hit, one hand gripping the towel and the other extended just above her head with its fingers out straight. After that ten seconds had expired, she brought that hand down in front of herself, looking at it in mild shock. She hadn’t hit him that hard.
<i>Should’ve hit him harder! He’s a pervert! He tried peeking on you just now! See? They’re all the same!</i>
No. No, that didn’t fit. Ranma wasn’t like that. He… Or rather, she had been surprised to see someone else there.
<i>He’s a boy! Boys are all perverts! Every last one of them!</i>
Even assuming that were true, there was only one problem with that argument: Akane couldn’t see a single solitary boy in that room at this time.
“Ranma!” she yelped, dropping to her knees to examine her new friend. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!”
“Ugh…” Ranma moaned, pulling herself to her feet while rubbing the slapped cheek. “I’m OkAy, mIsTeR tOmAtO, I WiLl PiCk YoU uP aT dAwN!” The pigtailed girl shook her head, no doubt making the cobwebs flee, and gave a low whistle. “Wow. I’d swear I’d been hit by a truck, but I don’t see any tire marks. Hey, are you crying about something? Gee… Sorry, I didn’t know you were in here. I’ll look away while you get changed, alright?”
Which seemed about as good a cue as any for Akane to collapse forward and embrace her friend, saying, “I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry!” Oh! That was terrifying! All she’d done was slap him - er, make that her- for walking in, and she’d wound up knocking her out cold! Since when was she that strong?! She didn’t even feel the contact between their skin.
“’Kane?” a muffled voice said from just below her head. “Can’t… Breathe…”
Which is right about when Akane realised that in her moment of panic she had wrapped her apparently more-powerful-than-she-thought arms around Ranma’s head and pulled the girl right into her cleavage. The youngest Tendo couldn’t let go fast enough, and both of them were blushing brightly enough to safely bring in ships through the fog.
“I’ll just -”
“We should -”
They both stopped, having spoken in unison even though neither could look the other in the eye right about now. Akane broke the silence first. “You have your bath, change back to normal. No peeking while I get changed. Alright?”
Ranma nodded, and they both got on with their business without another word. Though Akane did have to admit, there was a small part of her that wished she could get a look at what lay behind that screen door now that Ranma had submerged into the hot water….
<hr>
It was about half an hour later, and Ranma was staring at what appeared to be a school bag full of school supplies that had been handed to him by his stupid old man. No. No way. No way could he have finished all the paperwork and bullshit required to get him into a new school within a freaking day. Not gonna let him unwind a little, get the lay of the land? Gonna kick him off to school the first chance he gets?
“It’s the same school your lovely fiancee goes to,” read the sign held up above the panda’s head. He flipped it over. “I’m sure she’ll show you the way if you ask nicely.”
Ask nicely. Yeah, right now Ranma was having a bit of trouble with that. Especially now that he was a guy again. So many damned questions needed answering, and the new one was… What was it about Akane’s breasts that were making him see things?
Okay. Not a question he’d be saying out loud. But twice today in the bathroom he’d seen… something. Really weird somethings at that. A boy turning into some weird tree monster, then that same tree monster demolishing a wall as easily as your average person tears through a sheet of paper. And that slap! Man, he was suddenly rather glad that he’d not let her tag him during that spar, otherwise he might well be in the hospital! Girl plain doesn’t know her own strength!
Or… No, that didn’t quite sit right either. She could interact with things around her easily enough. Didn’t tear doors out in her grip. Didn’t break teacups or bend cutlery whenever she picked it up. Mysteries upon mysteries. And somehow, it all had to tie back to that mysterious beauty Sailor V. He could feel it in - His pigtail was rather cruelly yanked, and all of a sudden Ranma was staring up into the face of his friend/fiancee.
“Come on,” she said. “I’d better show you to school.”
Not much else for it then. With a great big pile of resignation dragging behind him, Ranma followed Akane out onto the street. Then, without really thinking about what he was doing, he hopped up onto the fence running parallel as part of his balance training. The silence between the two of them was unbearable.
“Listen, sorry about earlier,” Ranma said, appearing to all the world to be casually strolling along the top of the fence. Yeah. Yeah! This would make pretty good balance training. Spot of this every day was just the trick. “I mean, I didn’t know you were in there, so -”
“I figured. Can we not talk about that right now? I’d rather forget that even happened.”
For the first time since it had happened Ranma allowed himself to look deliberately at Akane, and it provided him his first sight of her in her school uniform. It was a faded blue dress, nothing particularly fancy about it. The sort of girl’s uniform you’d see just about anywhere. The girl herself was staring at her feet with the kind of unshakable intensity a sniper might be jealous of.
“Eh, fine. Be that way,” he said. “What <i>do</i> you want to talk about?”
“That monster that knocked me out yesterday,” she said. “What happened exactly? My memory isn’t too clear. The last thing I remember was entering the bathroom.”
Yep. That was right. She entered the bathroom with nothing in front of her except a towel while he was getting out of the bathroom with nothing in front of him but air. Honestly, she shouldn’t have been so pissed off at him for walking in on her, when she’d done the same exact thing yesterday… Then again, she apparently couldn’t even remember the event. “It was a big ugly thing,” he said. “Big, long arms. Covered in muscles. Hands like hammers. Man, you should have seen it! That fight was kinda neat! It swung its hands out, looking to clobber me into the wall. But then I gave it some of this,” he emphasised the point by leaping from the fence in a bit more of a showy manner than he’d actually dodged the attack. “And the attack went wide. So it tries again with the other hand, but I duck and roll out the way, and I get inside its guard, and then -”
Splash.
So much for dignity. Akane wasn’t exactly helping matters either, stifling her laugh behind her hand and the sight of Ranma rolling right into the path of some water that an old lady had tossed onto the street. “Serves you right for trying to show off,” Akane said. “Come on, I know where we can get some hot water to change you back. You probably don’t want to show up at school like that, do you?”
“I’d rather not be soaking wet either,” Ranma said. “But I would rather be a guy. Lead on.”
And lead on she did, to what appeared to be some kind of doctor’s office. Akane went in, leaving Ranma waiting outside. Hoo boy. What a start to the day! Everything else, then this, and now she had to deal with the bony fingers resting on her shoulder.
…
“Oh, pardon me,” said the man holding a skeleton like it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. “Nothing to worry about. This is just my skeleton, Betty.” On second thought, Ranma decided she might not be trying to scale this wall quite fast enough.
“Ranma, I’ve brought your hot water!” Akane said, appearing with a kettle procured from the building. She stopped in her tracks, and a peculiar expression passed over her face. “Oh. Good morning, Doctor Tofu”
“Good morning, Akane!” the skeleton carrying Doctor said. “I haven’t seen you in a while. No new injuries?”
“N-No sir, I’ve not been doing anything that would… You know…”
Huh. Weird reaction there. And that guy… Definitely a martial artist. No question of it. No way he could sneak up on Ranma like that undetected. Must be pretty skilled… Ranma dumped the hot water over her… Himself, grabbed Akane’s hand and said, “Come on, we’re gonna be late!” and pulled her off down the street at a blistering pace. Doctor Tofu, huh? It may be worth keeping that guy in mind. “Thought you didn’t like guys?” he said.
“I… I… I’m not sure,” Akane said. “Ever since I woke up this morning, I’ve felt so confused. Yesterday, I hated the boys at school, but now I just sort of feel sorry for them.”
“… Not making a whole lot of sense, there. What do you mean?”
“You’ll see in a second,” Akane said, nodding up ahead at what must be the school building. So this was the place, huh? “Every morning! The same thing!” Akane yelled as she broke away from Ranma and stormed inside the grounds. Up ahead of her within the grounds itself there was a large movement, and several voices yelling.
“No, Akane!” a boxer yelled. “Let me be the one to defeat you!”
“No, me!” a baseball player yelled. “I won’t let anyone else!”
The sentiment was shared by almost all of them, or at least as near as Ranma could tell. The bizarre sight - another to add to the list of them that seemed to grow by the hour - descended upon Akane like a swarm of locusts and time itself seemed to slow to a crawl. It was the only way to make the remotest bit of sense about what happened next. Akane stopped in her tracks, planted her feet, and drew back a fist, letting it fly into the face of the first of the boys to reach her. The boy flew backwards…
To best explain what happened next, it might be best to imagine someone strapping a rocket to a bowling ball. That one boy from that one punch sailed through the air, colliding with the swarming mass with much the similar effect. The energy from the blow diffused through the group, and sent them all to the ground. Conscious, but with their momentum and passion sucked right out of them.
Since Ranma had watched this unfold from just outside the entrance to school grounds, the only one standing at the end of that was now staring at her hands in a mixture of shock and terror.
“Truly such a boorish lot,” said a voice that was trying to sound much more dignified than it really was. Ranma’s eyes flickered over towards the direction it came from, just in time to see him standing there. The same boy from his vision. The one that turned into some weird wooden monster right before his very eyes.
<hr>
It was about half an hour later, and Kuno was seething in front of a handheld mirror, staring intently at the bruises on his forehead. They formed a word. “Bufoon”.
“And to think I thought Ranma Saotome was good,” he said, more to himself than to the mercenary sitting in front of him. True, the boy had rather tremendous agility. Certainly greater than anyone else in the school. But even so! “He cannot even spell! Does he not know it is b-o-o-f-u-n?”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure he meant b-u-f--f-o-o-n.”
Kuno glowered at this irritating classmate he was saddled with. Oh, but she was a ruthless sort. Anything for her own amusement, anything for a little quick cash. In some ways it was to Kuno’s benefit. So long as he could make it in his own benefit for her to derive more enjoyment from assisting him than taunting him, she was worth having around. But on a personal level? “I detest you.”
In all honesty though, Kuno’s mind did keep on wandering back to that fight. It was a strange thing. After Akane’s incredible bout of strength, defeating those unworthy weaklings with but a single blow, she had stood stock still. Staring at her hands. That boy, that Ranma Saotome, had expressed concern over her well being, and it had all started from there. Out of the corner of his eye, even as he swung his mighty blade at the irritation he could see that Akane was too lost in thought to pay any real attention. Curious. Had this fiend done something to her? What was he to Akane, to be living under the same roof as her?
“That’s a shame,” Nabiki said sarcastically. In all truth he knew she hated him as well. “I suppose you’re not interested in finding out a little more about Ranma, then?”
“Tell me what you know,” Kuno growled, slapping down the money as almost an afterthought.
“Oh, not much. Some monster apparently attacked the dojo yesterday, and Ranma fought it off. Then our dads agreed to engage the two of them.”
An engagement? <i>No, that is not right. Not right at all! Akane is yours!</i> This could not be allowed to stand! All of Kuno’s frustration came out in a single terrible roar. “Ranma Saotome!”
“Kuno,” the teacher casually said. One might almost think he was used to such outbursts, and gave no damns about it at all. “Stand in the hall.”
<i>Stuff him. You were going out there anyway. Deal with him. Deal with him now!</i>
No question about that. Kuno charged off down towards Akane’s classroom, where he soon found the pair standing outside holding buckets just like he was. He threw the water at his hated target, and snarled when the pigtailed menace dodged out of splashing distance.
“Never, Ranma Saotome!” Kuno bellowed. That feeling, that heart-pounding sensation felt like it was spreading his hate and his anger further and further throughout his body. “I shall never accept your engagement to Akane!”
The classroom behind them exploded into activity, a predictable reaction to this piece of gossip. Kuno cared not one whit. His concern was with this… pest and so he ignored the insignificant people with the intention of cutting his newly acquired rival down to size.
<I>That’s right, cut him down! Show Akane how much of a man you really are, then take her. Make her yours. Enough fooling around! Just take her already! Show her what a real man is like!</i>
“Follow me!” Ranma yelled, backing off down the corridor. “This place is a bit crowded. Someone could get hurt! Let’s find a better place to fight.”
Without a second thought, Kuno followed the coward. Even out of the window, when he hopped on through. Except, of course, this was the third floor so that was a really stupid thing to do, ah! But the pool was out here! Very well, perhaps this opponent was not quite as suicidal as appearances might lead one to believe! Even so, a fall from the third floor into a pool was a hell of a landing. The water may break the fall, but that much force has to go somewhere. Could anyone blame Kuno for being a little dazed and confused upon landing? It took him a little time to adjust, and of course he would believe the black and red blur down at the bottom was his nemesis. He reached down, around the chest with the intention of hauling him to the surface, and upon doing so noticed something amiss. Something that felt like -
“Pervert!”
<i>She has us pegged… Why not embrace it?</i>
<hr>
So here she was, sitting in a tree wringing out her trousers. What a day. What a damn terrible first day of school this was turning out to be. “Well, I guess he knows about me,” Ranma sighed. “Great. A guy that hates me figures out about the curse. It’ll be all over school within the hour.”
“Well, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself,” said a voice just below him. Ranma looked down to see Akane holding a kettle. Another one, huh? Turned out to be her job for the day, apparently. “Jumping into a pool like that? What <i>were</i> you thinking?”
“I was thinking something like ‘Hey let’s get this clown out of the building before he hurts someone.’ You gonna give me that kettle, or not?”
But there was a terrible sloshing sound coming from nearby that drew Ranma’s attention, and Akane’s as well. There he was, the big idiot himself. Sloshing around in his sodden clothes, yelling, “Coward! Show yourself!”
“Here, take this,” Akane said, casually tossing the kettle over her shoulder and up into the tree. “I’ll stall him while you change back.”
Only problem was, she was a bit too careless in where she chucked it. Now Ranma had to lean out of the damned tree with the thing barely in her grip. But no, she was not going to let it drop! No, sir! Not happening!
<hr>
Something was up with her today, Akane could feel it in her bones. That slap. That punch. She had held back both times, yet it had been as though she had given it her all. Perhaps even more than that. Whatever. She was here now, to give Ranma a little time to change back. Stalling Kuno wouldn’t be much of a problem. She had fought him every day before now, and in all honesty? He kind of deserved to be hurt way more than either Ranma or that boy from earlier had.
“My fair Akane,” Kuno said, a sinister twang to his voice that seemed rather out of place. “How gracious of you to meet me here! Come to me. I shall make you forget all about that wretched worm you have been forcibly affianced to.”
“We didn’t fight this morning,” Akane said, cracking her knuckles and preparing herself mentally for this fight. One punch ought to do it. Just the one punch, not even very hard. It’ll send him reeling, and if it doesn’t, hit him a little harder next time. That’ll do it. “I intend to end this once and for all.”
Kuno tilted his head, and… dropped his bokken? Huh? He was no bare-handed martial artist by any means as far as she could tell. With that bokken in his hands, he was a force to be reckoned with. Bare handed… Akane honestly had no idea how talented or not he might be.
“You wish to end this? Ha! So do I! You have such spirit, such fire in your soul. How could any man hope to resist? You are mine! I shall have you! Give yourself to me, it shall be much easier for you!
“An engagement to another man… Preposterous!” Kuno yelled. Was it her imagination or was his voice becoming more scratched, deeper, maybe even evil sounding? Kuno growled… All of a sudden his skin turned a strange shade of brown and his fingers seemed to lock together. Fusing together.
“I will not allow this!” the boy yelled, his voice barely recognisable. “I will not allow this! The fair Akane is mine! Mine!”
The transformation continued. It creeped along his hands, up his neck and around his face. The texture of his flesh was becoming… Almost like wood! His fingers were fully fused by now with the very ends of them sharpening to a single deadly point. Points that were now extended directly towards Akane.
“And I, Ventina, shall do with her as I wish!”
The creature that had once been Tatewaki Kuno extended its hand, and then in the next moment Akane’s clothes were torn to shreds by the wind pressure. And she screamed.
<hr>
The struggle with the kettle suddenly seemed quite a bit less important when a high-pitched noise made her blood turn to ice. Without even really thinking about it, Ranma’s legs released the tree branch and she tumbled to the ground, dropping the kettle in the process. Screw the curse. There were bigger problems to deal with right now. That sounded like Akane. To make her scream like that something terrible must have happ-
Which was when she caught sight of it. The monster from her vision, like a walking, lumbering tree person. Human in rough shape only, and in all other ways completely wrong. It was leering down at Akane, who had dropped to her knees with her arms across her chest, the tattered remains of her school uniform all around her. On closer inspection, Ranma realised that she was in her underwear, but how -
<i>”What have we here?” the tree monster asked. “Another beauty with tremendous spirit! How wonderful! Why not join the fair Akane in her new fashion statement?”
Ranma tensed up, ready for battle but not knowing what to expect. Then the tree monster pointed at her and a sudden rush of air tore her clothes to shreds, leaving her in nothing but her boxers…</i>
“What have we here?” the tree monster said. “Another beauty with tremendous spirit! How wonderful! Why not join the fair Akane in her new fashion statement?”
The tree monster pointed at her, but Ranma was already rolling out of the way when the blast of air struck the area she had been standing in. Some sort of air pressure attack? Incredible! Ranma leaped up and planted a firm pair of kicks right into its face only to rebound with every instinct in her saying it had done exactly nothing.
“My goodness,” the scratchy, unnatural voice of the tree man said, smirking triumphantly at Ranma when she landed. “You have more spirit than I first thought! If you would prefer to play it rough, then I am certainly quite willing. And then I shall take both of you, and make your bodies belong to Ventina!”
“You want our bodies?” Akane snarled, drawing attention back towards herself. “Start with my fist!”
The nearly naked girl sprung up like a jack-in-the-box and struck like a wrecking ball with a punch right where the creature’s solar plexus would be, assuming its anatomy was remotely similar to a human being’s. This monster, Ventina, flew up into the air as high as the school building itself but then at the very height of its rise it did not turn and fall even a tenth as fast as it should have. Instead the creature was spinning in place with its arms extended, controlling its descent.
“Mareusu!” the creature snarled once it was low enough. “I recognised your punch! You should have told me sooner! Come now! Let us embark upon a rampage this human school will not soon forget!”
“No, no, you’re mistaken,” Akane said, stumbling backwards. “I am Akane Tendo! I -”
“Oh, come now! You can drop the act!” Ventina cackled. “Come, let your hatred of perverts free! Do you not despise those other boys for lusting after you so?”
Just outside her peripheral vision, Ranma could see Akane clutching her head, furiously shaking it and at that point he’d finally had quite enough of this. Time to employ the Saotome secret technique. Step one: Grab Akane. Step two: Run for the hills.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’ll get you away from that thing!”
“Ranma… Tell me the truth. Was I really…”
Which was right about when Ranma realised she’d scooped up a nearly naked girl into her arms, and that said girl was snuggling in her shoulder. Also that she smelled <i>so</i> nice and -
<i>”You fool!” Ventina yelled. “An aerial assault of this manner makes you an easy target!”
The wooden beast pointed its arm at Ranma, who was high in the air over the creature. A blast of wind flew out, and -</i>
“You didn’t think it would be that easy to escape, did you?”
There it was. Perched on top of a wall, sneering down at them triumphantly. What would it take to bring that thing down at this point? Her best kick to the face did nothing, and Akane’s megaton punch did little more than make him a bit annoyed… Hang on… There was a bit of a crack in its torso where it had been hit. Alright. That was something, at least. That was usable… If only she could get close enough to do so…
“Hold it right there, creature of evil!” a familiar voice called out. Ranma’s heart skipped a little bit at the sound of it. Maybe they did have a chance after all! “I am Sailor V, protector of love and beauty!”
It was the same girl without question. That same blonde hair, that same mask, that same kind of cute sailor fuku. Ranma put Akane down on her feet again. “Run and hide,” she said. “We’ll deal with this. Wouldn’t wanna give the pervert a free show, would we?”
“Nuh uh! I sat out the last fight. I can handle myself!”
Sailor V skipped forward, landing in between the two of them with grace, style and poise. “It is a pleasure to see you again, Ranma. This must be that friend you were so adamant on rescuing the last time, yes? My goodness, but this is no condition to be in while out in public! Normally, I would not do this, but please do borrow this pen. It will give you a sense of modesty for a little while,” she explained, handing the small device to Akane.
“Well, well, well! What do we have here?” Ventina said. “Another pretty little thing, with spirit and fire! Oh, how they do flock to me today!”
“Watch out for his wind pressure attack,” Ranma said to their reinforcement. “That’s what did in Akane’s uniform earlier on.”
Sailor V nodded, just as a flash of light on the other side of the superhero caught Ranma’s attention. She peered around, and saw-
<i>”Crescent Beam!” Sailor V yelled, holding up her compact towards their enemy. A blast of light shot out of it, but Ventina merely pointed his arms into the air and shot over the incoming energy like a rocket…</i>
Akane Tendo dressed up in a sort of cross between Sailor V’s outfit and her school uniform. “So cute…” Ranma whispered, then slapped herself and got back to what was important. Namely, Ventina sending another one of his damned blasts of air right at them, prompting all three to scatter. Sailor V whipped out her compact, just like she’d just seen… Which meant…
“Crescent Beam!”
Ranma was already bouncing off the wall with a startled Akane in her grip once again. She heard the gust, she felt the backblast, she spun around and caught the look of realisation in Akane’s eyes. As one they lashed out, striking Ventina in the chest just as he shot up towards them.
All three tumbled to the ground, Akane landing on top of Ranma in such a way that the two of them were staring into each other’s eyes.
<i>”Love Me Chain!” Sailor V yelled. A chain of hearts lashed out, and -</i>
After an embarrassed moment she scrambled away with a blush on her cheeks. Ranma was quite certain there was one on hers as well.
“Oh, you two! Playing hard to get like this!” Ventina said, already back on his feet and rubbing the spot where the crack had grown quite a lot. “Sit right there a moment while I teach your friend why a sneak attack is not likely to work on me a second time! Take this!”
He struck forward with both arms and the wind sliced clean through the wall right where Ranma and Akane had just been standing a moment ago. Damn this guy! What would it take to bring him down! How was he so tough?! There had to be something they could do, some way they could- The wall behind Ranma crumbled, and at the same time she saw Sailor V being sucked forward towards Ventina, who whirled around and struck her across the face and stomach with a force that even made Ranma feel a bit dizzy. Her gaze flickered towards Akane, who seemed to be a bit dazed but still standing. Alright. She tossed a rock from the rubble at Ventina, who easily destroyed it with a smug smile. So he was learning, huh? Well. So was Ranma. And she had an idea that might just put this thing to rest.
“Oh my goodness,” she said, adopting what she figured was probably a rather flirtatious kind of body language. “Your considerable martial arts prowess has won me over!” Ventina hesitated, so Ranma took the opportunity to slink forward, and when she was just outside of the monster’s reach, she dove off to the side towards Sailor V. “I have an idea,” she whispered to the barely conscious superhero. “But I think I’m gonna need your help.”
“Hmph! Attempting to take advantage of my libido, would you?” Ventina snarled. “Not a mistake I’ll make a second time! I will beat you into submission, then take you when you are too broken to fight back!”
“Gonna have to hit me first,” Ranma said, taking the time to smack her rear end in a taunting manner. “And the way you’ve been going about it, I bet you couldn’t even hit me if I did something stupid like this!”
And so she leaped into the air. It hadn’t made sense why she’d do this earlier, but now… Given what she had seen during this fight so far, it all made perfect sense. This fight was already over, and Ventina would be the means of his own end.
<hr>
Akane watched in horror as Ranma leaped into the air with the most transparent attempt at a flying kick she had ever witnessed in her entire life. She was a sitting duck up there! And Ventina apparently knew it as well.
“You fool!” Ventina yelled. “An aerial assault of this manner makes you an easy target!”
The wooden beast pointed its arm at Ranma, who was high in the air over the creature. A blast of wind flew out, and -
“Love Me Chain!” Sailor V yelled. Akane had to admit, this so-called superhero hadn’t really impressed her that much yet. But the call did draw her attention just in time to see a chain of hearts snake up, and wrap themselves around Ranma’s leg. With a simple tug, Ranma’s momentum completely altered and pulled her out of harm’s way.
Ventina, on the other hand, was very much in the line of fire. The rubble behind Ventina, the remains of the struck wall, sprung into life the moment it had begun the attack. They flew in the direction the monster had directed its attack, being pulled along by the sudden and powerful difference in air pressure. In an instant, and because of his own actions, Ventina was almost entirely buried under rubble.
At the same instant Ranma was pulled back down to solid ground, Akane was already dashing forward at full pelt. She damn near bowled the pigtailed girl over with the grateful hug. “Don’t scare me like that!” she said, relieved that they had somehow come through that fight unharmed. “Just… Don’t. Alright?”
“Nothing to it,” Ranma said. “All in a day’s work!”
<hr>
Sailor V (aka Kasumi Tendo) had to admit, her little sister and her fiance had impressed her quite a bit today. While she could have probably defeated Ventina by herself eventually, those two had made it a great deal easier than it might have been otherwise.
Still. Two monsters in as many days, both incidents involving these two. She did hope that pattern did not continue any further in future. She hated the idea of the two of them getting into such danger on a consistent basis.
Under the rubble, Ventina stirred. “I… Fight… On…” he mumbled. Sailor V sighed and strode forward, resting her hands on her hips in what she hoped was a suitably dramatic pose and stared down at the pitiful creature.
“Why?” she asked. “Why do you fight?”
“To… Make Akane Tendo mine, of course!” Ventina mumbled, raising its head to look up at her. Hopefully not up her skirt. Perhaps standing back a little would be wisest?
“Then you fight in vain,” Sailor V said. “I have seen her love line. It lies… Elsewhere.”
Ventina looked past her, with an expression of dawning sorrow. Tears streamed down its face and where they went, the wood was washed away to be replaced with human flesh. “No… To lose them both like this… To one another… It is unthinkable!”
Sailor V cast a glance back at the pair. Akane with her arms around Ranma. Ranma not quite certain where to look or what to do with her hands. They were kind of adorable like this, she supposed. Sailor V looked back down, and saw a perfectly normal human boy save for the fact that he was unconscious and partially buried under rubble. Oh dear. Probably ought to get him to the doctor, then… She pulled him out quickly enough, but as she picked the boy up a voice stopped her.
“Um… Sailor V?” Akane called. “Was I… Am I Mareusu?”
“That depends,” Sailor V said. “Do you think all boys are perverts?”
It was a bit of a relief to see her little sister shake her head like that. “Then worry not. You are not Mareusu.
“Oh, and… Ranma, wasn’t it? How did you know about my Love Me Chain ability? I don’t believe I’ve used it in front of you before.”
“Huh?” Ranma said. “Oh, right. Well, I dunno why, but Akane’s breasts give me prophetic visions.”
“… They what now?”
Sailor V sighed and left with the boy before anything else happened. The path of love was not an easy one to travel, and even though she was quite certain those two would make it in the end that didn’t mean it would be a smooth journey. Hopefully they wouldn’t encounter too many more monsters along the way.
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