The Evolution A Ranma 1/2 X-men crossover by Dragonlord. Original idea by Chilord (praise to the man!) C&C welcome! e-mail: valheru_2002@yahoo.es or valheru@mixmail.com --------------------------------------- Chapter one. --------------------------------------- Morning at the Tendo house. "Ranma no baka!" Silence. "Perverted freak!" More silence. "You perverted womanizer!" Chewing sound. "You... you..." "Say Kasumi do you have more rice?" Ranma asked before Akane started again with her insults. He was simply too tired of it to even insult back. As if that would work! "Why, Ranma, of course. Here you have." "Thanks Kasumi!" "Stop flirting with my sister you pervert!" Nothing. Akane was starting to turn violet as her anger couldn't find an exit. Deep inside Akane was probably a nice girl but at the moment her anger was too powerful and Ranma wasn't giving her the excuse to lash out with all her fury. In other circumstances she would have already sent Ranma on LEO for not paying her attention but Nodoka's presence restrained her and even now Nodoka wasn't too pleased by Akane's behavior, her eyes moving from Akane to Ranma, who was doing all he could to ignore Akane's temper tantrum. As for the younger Tendo she was quickly getting short of insults. Normally Ranma would have reacted way sooner but it was as if he was thinking of other things. "You half girl!" Ranma not even twitched. "You... you... mutant lover!" Ranma gently put his empty rice bowl in the table as he slowly turned to look as his iinazuke. "What are you talking about Akane?" Akane snickered. "Well only a freak like you could like those aberrations." Ranma turned away from Akane, thanked Kasumi, quickly exiting the room. But before leaving he turned and looked back at Akane. "I know what you want Akane but I'm not going to give you the excuse of using your mallet. And that about mutants... That was low even for you. I'm outta here. See you at school Nabiki." That said he was gone. Akane as well as the rest of the family was looking at the exit door. "What a jerk!" she grumbled as she too bolted towards the door. Nabiki finished her breakfast even as Genma and Soun started to talk. "Genma you have to do something about your son! To speak like that to my little girl! And protecting mutants... That can't be!" Genma nodded. "I agree with you Tendo! My son as delayed too much what already should be! Once he returns here we have the wedding after we teach him his place once and for all! The shame! My son... a mutant lover. I can't believe it!" Genma balled his fist only to smash the table, making a web to appear. Nodoka looked at the two grown men shaking her head, sharing a thought with Nabiki. --------------------------------------- Ranma ran across the nerimian rooftops, almost at full speed, burning ki as if there was no tomorrow, nothing more than a blur, too fast to be seen. He supposed that the old ghoul or the leech could feel him taking in count of the amounts of ki he was releasing but, the truth be told, he could care less. Well not totally, as he noticed that as before, he wasn't losing any ki. In fact he was gaining it, slowly and in small quantities but he could feel it continuously. Weird. For some days now he had noticed several changes. Chief amongst them was his sight. It had changed somehow. At first he had believed that it was an aftereffect of his battle with Saffron and somehow it could be but some things made him think it wasn't the case. The epic battle had been more than a month ago and the alterations had been starting, as far as he could guess, since the last two weeks. It had been strange to wake up one day and find his perceptions changed somehow. He remembered the day he noticed it and could find nothing strange happening that could explain it. No fight. No fiancée persecution. No Akane food. Nothing strange, but as soon as he opened his eyes he noticed it. It was hard not to do so taking in count that it was impossible to miss. People, animals, plants even the air around him were surrounded and filled in bright colors, like a soft flame. It had started slowly, almost gently. What surrounded him shone slightly brighter but in the last weeks the change had grown in strength until he reach the peak it seemed he was in currently. He had screwed his brains to find what was wrong, to find an idea about what was going on but he had come with little if no explanation It was almost as if he could see auras. At first he believed that it was so. It was the only answer that his brain could come with. Maybe his ki had been sublimed in his fight with Saffron and now it had it allowed him to see the aura of the people? But that theory had its flaws. One, he had already started training with Cologne (as a compensation for Shampoo's attitude in the "wedding" or so she told him) in aura reading and the sight was different. Auras were changing, showing the emotional state and overall soul state of a being, but what he saw do not change save in intensity. The people he saw had the same aura, the same color pattern. A half feet thick light blue that pulsed from time to time. But human auras showed him green and gray, red and blue, yellow and orange, etc. There was something strange with him though. Differently from what he saw in other people he had instead a dull black pattern instead of the blue one. That alone had made him mistrust his senses. The second flaw was that _all_ around him had a color. Even the lifeless rocks showed a dull, unchanging gray and he knew rocks had not developed feelings in two weeks, so it couldn't be the aura of the living things. Ranma stopped and looked around him. Even if he was anywhere near an answer for now the change had been harmless. It only made things more... pretty. The sky seemed to be filled of a pale, beautiful, light making him at time loose himself in it. Sometimes focusing his mind he could "switch" back to his plain sight but it was an effort of will that disturbed him. Yet it bothered him much more the fact that he had to fight himself to turn back to the normal spectrum. He liked what he saw. Turning back to the normal, plain world was almost disgusting, like if he was fighting something natural. That was enough to make him feel uneasy. He discovered few days after his new sight appeared that other changes, more subtle, had happened. When he was near things, like holding a cup or a bento, or even his clothing, the sensation he got could become uncomfortable. That, he soon noticed, happened more often when he was near living beings. It wasn't painful but it was unsettling. But most of the time holding something was... pleasant. Still the weirdest thing was that when he neared something he could see the color blending toward him slightly almost as if it was awaiting for him to permit it to connect with his black color pattern. That was when the sensation would turn from comforting to the opposite. Not painful (more or less) but something that he wished to be able to ignore. It was disturbing to see his hands surrounded in soft black as were his arms and any part of his body where he directed his eyes. But that wasn't why we he had been running at full speed. He was angry at Akane. He crossed his arms upon his chest as for the hundredth time fought to find an answer to the puzzle that was his iinazuke. He sighed. If it was only him Ranma could have shrugged it all, insults can last that long but once Akane started insulting mutants his temper began to rise. All those mutant comments were starting to piss him off. What she said, those words were directed to him in an effort to make him bite the bait, but this affected more than just him... Why that hate towards mutants? He knew very well what Soun, Genma and Akane thought about mutants. He had heard enough insults since the last attack of the so called Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to know it all too well. Because they were different? He couldn't understand it. He maybe couldn't because he was different himself. He was cursed to change sex with cold water. And that was without speaking of his physical abilities or ki gathering powers. He could fire vacuum blades that could cut through almost anything. He could blast things with a simple touch. He could jump to incredible heights with uncanny ease. He healed twenty times faster than any normal human being. He had attacks that could kill even an immortal phoenix and humble dragon princes. His ki abilities allowed him to be even stronger and faster. Then why would Akane hate mutants? Was she stupid? How would normal people (Ranma not even bothered considering the people in Nerima as such) react with him if he was already more powerful and dangerous than most mutants? Would they hate him even more than what they hated mutants? With a lap he landed in the street before running towards Furinkan upon a fence. Once he spotted the walls of his High School he jumped landing in front of the gates. What greeted him made his face darken. Kuno and his lackeys of the kendo club were all in front of the entrance, as always bullying the other weaker students as they tried to enter. That wasn't new. Even if Ranma kicked their asses time and time again they always returned like bad pennies. By this time Ranma was sure that the IQ of the whole group was half of Kuno's. It was a miracle that they weren't all walking vegetables. For once he choose to ignore them as he walked towards the gates, still his eyes caught a glimpse of some of the papers Kuno and his goons were handing to the other students He stopped dead in his tracks before groaning as he buried his face in his hand. When he looked up it his face had darkened and his eyes glinted dangerously. It was a sight so rare that most of the students that saw it backed off. No sane being would want to stand in the way of a pissed Ranma. What was making Ranma's temper to show was that those blue/black clothed idiots were holding each a panel displaying messages such as "the only good mutant is the dead one!" or "muties freak" or even "die mutant, die!". They were forcing the other students to take what seemed to be panflets and in them Ranma could be clearly see "join the Church of Humanity". That was too much. Ranma had nothing against personal beliefs (unless they had the words Ranma + Fiancee + Genma in them) but messages of that kind made his blood boil. It went against all that Ranma believed and protected. "Hey Kuno care to tell me what is this about?" he called to the upperclassman. He noticed that he had his katana at his side. Kuno turned and looked towards Ranma. "Silence peasant! This is a holy task upon which the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High..." Before Kuno had time to continue Ranma was within the insane kendoist's space glaring at him. "Cut the speech Kuno! I want to know why you are now the lackey of those Church of Humanity jerks, distributing their poison!" Kuno backed of, gaining space. "I should have known that the foul sorcerer Saotome would side with those mutant aberrations! I will..." He couldn't continue as Ranma dug stiff fingers into his chest making the taller boy to step back slightly grunting "Shut up Kuno! You make me sick with all that anti mutant garbage. I can't believe that you would step that low." Kuno snickered. "Mutants are nothing more than monsters that should be exterminated. Freaks! They are a miscarriage, unchecked by nature, that should never had come to exist!" Some of the students backed away as Ranma's face darkened even more. Some had the distinct impression that Ranma was struggling not to pound Kuno flat against the ground. "Have you ever met a mutant Kuno or are you speaking from your own experience?" Ranma's voice was cold but Kuno's face turned red in indignation. "How could you insult the proud house of Kuno? How dare you insinuate that such degeneration could take place?" His grip upon his katana was strong enough to turn his knuckles white. Ranma stepped back looking at Kuno. "And why not moron? You could be a mutant and not know it. Kamis know that you are dense enough." Kuno snarled. "I believed that you had at least a shred of honor curl! But I should have know better. I will make you swallow your own words Saotome! Defending those..." Once again he was cut by Ranma's words. "Will you ever shut up!? You almost shame me from being human. You are the freak Kuno, you are the aberration. An idiot is all that you will ever be." Kuno moved the sword, now free from its scabbard in the front, the blade gleaming under the rays of the sun. "Only one wicked like you would defend that unholy plague upon the sacred land of Japan, nay the world! Prepare to feel the gods' rightful wrath you foul sorcerer! Have at thee!!" That said he unsheathed his katana and as a whirlwind he was upon Ranma. But as fast as Kuno is Ranma is faster. Even before Kuno had time to do anything Ranma had trapped his sword between his fingers even as his right leg flashed sending a combo against Kuno's unprotected body before blasting the insane kendoist away, carried by Ranma's strength, crashing in the wall of the school, out cold. Then something happened. Ranma could see the sword still between his fingers, see its color aura, looking at it long and hard before trying to follow through an instinctive pull that he was feeling suddenly. He saw his black aura connect to the gray one of the sword. The sword still between Ranma's fingers started to glow. And suddenly, with little resistance the sword seemed to loose consistence becoming a mass of white color that flowed through his own black pattern that suddenly became golden. Ranma immediately felt energy fill him, his own aura blasting to life with a golden glow upon his blue one. The pig-tailed martial artist could barely understand what was happening. He always felt strong with the flow of his ki rushing through his being but this was something else. The rush was so strong that for a moment he was unaware of nothing else but the power that cursed through every part of his body, his mind lost focus lost in the rush. He hadn't felt so strong since the fight with Saffron! Little by little he regained bits of self consciousness, enough to allow hiss mind to start working on what was happening. He could feel the energy that was previously Kuno's sword within his ki, becoming one with it but still a separate entity within it at the same time in and out. Concentrating he could feel it even as it merged with his own power, felt it. opening his eyes he could see his battle aura still surrounding his frame, cursing through his skin at full swing. He closed his eyes, again trying to regain control upon his inner energies but he was badly surprised when he found a resistance to his mental command. The act that until now had been easy, now is an incredible struggle. For two good minutes the aura continued blazing like flames as if happy from its seeming unstoppable freedom. For two good minutes Ranma fought for control until, with a last stubborn command, he drew the dancing aura within him. He dropped to one knee, panting even as he fought to tame the wild power that was now within, to control his own ki that seemed to be screaming at him to be released. Ranma then looked to his peers that were gazing at him their faces showing no emotion. Quickly he realized that this was weird even for his standards. He didn't knew why but he felt that he needed to disappear and fast! Calling to the Umisen-ken he cloaked himself in the thief mantel, fading from view. He didn't knew why but his danger sense started to buzz. --------------------------------------- Miles away, in an ultra secret military base the Japanese scientists were finishing the last preparation for the activation of the first squad of Japanese Sentinels. Though similar to the other versions of the sentinels, the Japanese kind distinguished itself by a sleeker design, giving more speed and freedom of movements to the gigantic constructs. Also the color pattern had been changed from violet to black and the dark pink to bloody red. Inside of the command the one man responsible of the new sentinels was checking the last data in the main computers of the base. As he was updating the information the double metallic doors opened with a hiss, allowing a tall man to step in. "Well Doctor Masao, are your creations ready?" Keitaro Masao, chief of the project looked to the general Yamashida of the Japanese Air Defense Force, switched to the Sentinel's unit as military counselor, before returning to the data on the screen Yamashida neared him and looked through the crystal at the twelve new Sentinels. "Are your creations ready Masao?" Without looking at him Masao nodded. "Of course general. This new models that I have updated following Professor Bolivar's original design are ready to take off towards the first mission. In fact I was awaiting for you information about the first Sentinel strike upon the mutant elements of our country." Yamashida peered to the machines awaiting to the orders to be introduced into their main program. Until then the sentinels were, lacking any better word, lifeless. But that was about to finish. The general handed the professor a folder. "Here you have the information about the first strike. All you need to know is within that single page." Masao looked at it. "Nerima?" Yamashida nodded. "Since some time we have information of possible mutant activity in that ward. We could have started with other suspect zones of the country but we have decided to attack the most active point. Differently than the elements in areas like Juuban or Tomobiki the suspects in Nerima are extremely violent. The police and other units are powerless to stop those terrorist acts. The first strike of the Sentinels, if mutant activity is detected, will be there." The scientist nodded, quickly introducing the data within the main computer and by extension into the Sentinels. As one the giants' eyes started glowing even as the restrains were pulled back, allowing the Sentinels total liberty. The announce of the start of the Sentinel's activity was announced through the whole base, the advertisement sounding as soon as the computer orders had put in movement the Sentinels. The main gates, hidden behind a waterfall, opened as the gigantic machines exited one by one; all the twelve of them. Attentively looking at the display the general asked the man at his side. "Is there any possibility that they could be stopped?" Masao almost snickered. "How? No single mutant would be able to stop one of these new sentinels, let alone a dozen of them. We have re-designed them to withstand most of the known mutant powers as well as psionic/telekinetic energy. They are made of elements immune to all kind of waves, even magnetic fields. They are faster, stronger and more resistant than the previous series used in the Unites States recently. Nothing can stop them." Yamashida looked grimily to the man. "I hope so. We are risking much allowing the creation of this new Sentinels to hunt down the growing mutant population. If something goes wrong the consequences would be dire for both of us." That said he exited the room. Masao stood there looking to the door before introducing a new code in the computer. At once double tempered adamantium doors and windows covered the few exits to the command room even as a new, hidden door appeared. Masao walked towards it even as it opened with a hiss, only to close after the scientist. After walking a while he arrived to a room that only he knew. As he stepped within the limits of the chamber a single screen came to life. Masao dropped to his knees even as he looked down in submission. "Master the task that you had given me is fulfilled. The Sentinels are on the loose ready to attack the unsuspecting mutants. Once they have shown their efficiency they will be constructed in mass, giving you a powerful army." "You have done well. Ozimandas foretells me of a danger in the land of the gods, even as I prepare an overall strike against the forces arrayed against me. Xavier that embraces a dream that soon will turn to be a nightmare. Magneto with his mindless crusade. The Hellfire club wishing to own a world that is mine to have. Even that traitor Sinister. Of them all, Xavier and the those that follow him are the greatest threat to my plans. Too many mutants seem to embrace that fool's dream. I won't allow other mutants to strengthen Xavier's forces. The mutants of Japan will die along the one that could be a threat to me." For a moment the powerful voice stilled. "But of course only the strong survive." --------------------------------------- Upon the rooftop of Furinkan High. The bell calling to class had sounded a while back but Ranma could care less for it. This was more important than any class could be. The you martial artist looked at the white ball of energy hovering upon his hand. It shone softly, a foot and half ball of pure energy as far as he knew. He continued probing with his physical senses, and those that weren't. He looked more closely to the ball in his hand scanning tilting his head as if to look at it from another angle. He did it allowing his aura to grow, careful as he remembered the incident before. Even more Carefully he expanded some of it, blue thin tendrils of confident ki reached towards the sphere. In the last moment those tendril recoiled before plunging into the depths of the energy hovering upon his hand. The sphere seemed to shudder before starting to expand gaining some blue tint. Ranma powered even more the aura and by extension the blue-white ball that grew even more, gaining more light as he did so. And as he summoned more ki within the ball the sensation of power grew exponentially to the point that even Ranma became alarmed by it. Ranma drew some deep breaths trying to calm himself. That done he looked again to the ball of energy that was now almost three foot large. Even as he continued looking at the manifestation he started to feel some sense of... connection to the mass of power. Nothing happened. Ranma frowned at the shimmering blue white ball in front of his face. He moved his hand up and down, the ball following his move humming. Ranma looked at the ball, eyes narrowing as he concentrated searching for the connection he felt before and once he found it he send it towards the nexus of the energy. Willpower. For a moment there wasn't any visible reaction but then sort of... tremor passed through the surface of it. Ranma could feel the connection growing, strengthening. Ranma thought back to the moment he purged the alien energy from his body. He had done so thanks to how different it felt from time to time. This being so, he was able to "move" it from his body only to form into the ball upon his palm. But how had he done so? He closed his eyes and started to apply his will upon the mass of energy. Suddenly it shrank until it was of a tennis ball's size but the sensation of power grew as did the light it gave off. Unconsciously he closed his fist upon it. The contact was smooth, pleasant even. In his fist, in his mind, the energy was like clay. He opened his eyes. The energy had switched form, now a three foot long blue white blade of glowing power. A sword. He took a swing of it and it hummed as it moved through the air. His eyes moved round him searching somewhere to test it. There near him was a post made of stone. Ranma neared it and with a fluid notion sank the energy blade in the stone. It did so like if it was made of butter instead of hard stone. With a pull the blade was free. Then with a swing his arm lured as did the blade as it passed through the stone, cutting it in half. "Whoa..." he whispered. "Now what to do? What to do?" He looked at the energy sword in his hand. He looked at it closely and with a simple mental command and a slight use of his will upon the blade, the energy, was reabsorbed within his ki system. His body only glowed for a second, outlining his muscles, lines of light flowing through his body before disappearing into his skin. But inside it was like if a fire had been started, roaring through his body. Yet this time Ranma was able to hold on, in part because he knew what would happen. Still it didn't made things easier. He blinked furiously before turning his attention to the other problem. Some minutes later he was more or less at ease with the energy flowing through his body, now able to think things through. He breathed deep as his mind now in its usual focus returned to his problem. How did he do it. He looked around him and found some small rocks. He took one in his hand, weighed it, looked at it. Again that sensation of connection to the color pattern. Ranma breathed deeply before following his instincts. The rock shimmered and turned white like the sword did before. Before his own widening eyes the small pebble loosed its cohesion. Ranma stilled himself as what he could think only as pure energy melted flowing through his fingers like molten snow before sinking in his fingers as if it had a mind of its own. He braced himself but the rush was weaker. Even so he could feel becoming stronger. This was starting to seriously freak him. It wasn't any unknown martial art or ki power. This... he didn't knew what it was. Still... it felt right somehow but he had never been of those that accepted anything if it wasn't through training, blood and sweat like when he learned the Mouko Takabisha. This was something... He gathered the last input of energy flowing through him in his hand, and exercising his will upon it, fired the power from the rock with a roar. The power, like a ray of plasma, blasted through his hand like a comet, losing itself in the blue sky. Even after the energy had been lost in the blue sky Ranma continued gazing at it. But as he was about to jump from the rooftop a thought came to him. He passed his hand upon his face, cold perspiration drenching it as he realized what he could do. "Oh crap." That said he jumped from the rooftop to the emptiness under, snatched the windowsill, and with a twist entered his classroom spinning only to land on his chair. The teacher (that wasn't Miss Hinako thank God) simply looked at Ranma, sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and pointed to the corridor. "Saotome. Half an hour late. Out." He didn't bother to look even as Ranma exited under the glare of Akane and the curious looks of his classmates. --------------------------------------- Up in the skies of Nerima the Sentinel squad passed their mutant genotype scanners upon the unsuspecting suburb of Tokyo in their mission to purge the mutants from the populace. Even as they crossed half the country they had found few mutants but those found had been brutally dealt with. Already Nerima had been attacked in several points leaving but smoking houses and broken corpses. They respected no age, no sex, nothing that would stop them in purging the x-gen from the populace. The roar of their engines increased as they neared on of the points of supposed mutant activity: Furinkan High. --------------------------------------- Ranma was nervous. It was almost as if he was in a room with ca-ca-caa- blast! The damned feline things! But apart from the gazes from the people and the one of Akane that could peel the paint from the walls all was normal. Akane had been giving him the death stare since the morning. He refused to acknowledge her presence. He ignored her. Each time he saw her walk towards him he ducked in the nearest place and used the umisen-ken trick. That instead of making Akane relent in her anger seemed to only increase it. Righ now a huge dark red bonfire surrounded her like a corona of rage powered ki. Akane he could manage. But since the... whatever he did to Kuno's sword the people around him only stared at him. Each time he appeared near some of his comrades silence would great him and soon Ranma could see that wherever he went people tended to move as far as they could without seeming suspicious. Evidently Furinkan being Furinkan, they achieved just the contrary making plain as day that they were nervous around Ranma. The pig-tailed youth even believed to have seen in their eyes the single emotion that he wasn't prepared to deal with. Fear. They were afraid of him. Why he couldn't know. But he could understand some of it as he too was afraid of this new power. He had no idea of its limits, or if it would start to work alone. Would he harm people? Could he control it? Would his body resist the power rush each time he absorbed the energy? And how did he get this new ability? Those were some of the questions running in his head. Right now his lack of knowledge about that strange ability was what bothered him. He had been able to nail down some of the basis of it but he was walking upon quick shifting ground here. With ki he had Cologne's advice and his own knowledge of it through the martial arts, but this? No one would believe that he could turn stuff into raw energy! That was just plain crazy. Who would help him? No one around here that was for sure if this was the result of the _first_ use of this new power. They were too afraid. Ranma groaned as he buried his face in his hands. He continued thinking. Someone had to be able to help him. Shudder. Suddenly his danger sense screamed like mad. Then a roar like a thousand motors filled the air. --------------------------------------- Mere moments before in the internal computer installed in each Sentinel the same message could be seen. **MUTANT GENE: CONFIRMED** **PROCEED WITH TERMINATION** As a wind of dead the sentinel squad dropped upon Furinkan High ready to deliver oblivion to the unprepared mutants that could be within the structure. --------------------------------------- Even as the roar of the sentinels engines filled the air, the students as one bolted from the room in a mad stampede, some dropping as they ran soon to be passed over by the other students in the rush. But Ranma wasn't the best martial artist of his generation if it wasn't for his tactical skills and battle speed. As soon as his danger sense had started buzzing at full blast he had summoned his battle aura giving some precious moments to his comrades to exit the room even as screams could be heard coming from all over the High School. Ranma knew his adversary, as everyone in the planet was aware of the Sentinels, those gigantic soldiers bent in the complete control of the surging mutant race, a control generally brought by complete annihilation. He knew very well that the Sentinels would not stop killing innocents if they could fulfill their primary command: the destruction of all humans with the mutant gene. The fact the he, maybe, was a mutant never crossed Ranma's mind as he rushed towards the first sentinel. He reacted accordingly to his code, to protect those that couldn't even at his risk of his life. He crashed through the window of his class in the third floor and, summoning all the ki he gather so quickly, fired a blast to the robot's face. "MOKO TAKABISHA!!" The blast came bigger than anything Ranma had seen in his life, with such power that it surprised even him. The blue energy blasted forward in an enormous wave leaving the Sentinel without his head and half of its torso, sparks flying everywhere. Slowly it crashed backwards upon the floor with incredible violence, cracks could be seen in the ground. Ranma landed not even breathing hard. For a moment he was there standing, mouth open, as he beheld the destruction that his ki wave had done. He couldn't believe it. It was almost surreal. He looked to his hands to his body not only looking to the blue corona of power surrounding him like a living flame, blasting pure confidence and power but also with his new sight he could see his black aura that shimmered between grey and white even as if he was draining some energy. His mental speech was cut by a blast of energy that buried him in the other side of the high school, under a mass of rumble. His body was smoking even as his Chinese shirt was now ashes. His skin was blackened by the intense heat of the Sentinel's blasters. He should be dead, vaporized by such blast but apart from a slight ache in his body he was as well as he could tell. Struggling he rose, pushing back pieces of the different walls he had crashed with. He was alive and more or less fine but the blast and the impact of it had left him somewhat shaking. Slowly he exited the tunnel that his body, along with the blast, had made. He had indeed been blasted through most of the structure of the High School. When finally he exited the tunnel the view that greeted him wasn't good to see. Ravaged corpses, classmates of his that he could no longer recognize anymore lay in the ground between pools of blood. It wasn't hard to figure what happened after he had been knocked into the building. As they exited they surely had become an easier target to the killing machines. Panic had made of them a mindless mob; an easy prey to the cold logic of the Sentinels. That, along with the clear election between a short or a long painful dead, had made them exit the meager protection the walls of the building offered. A fatal mistake. His eyes wandered through his other, still living comrades taking count of the people kneeling, weeping or calling to some disappeared friend. Those with a mind clear enough were searching for their loved ones. Ranma's eyes returned to the students massacred. To his eyes they still shone but it was subdued now, like looking to lifeless beings. Lifeless. Ranma's mind was numb. People that he should have protected. Some were cursing the Sentinels that were only standing there unmoving. The most brave or anger driven were throwing them stones at the mechanical assassins. But the Sentinels paid no heed to them as they were simply humans, not mutants. But at the same time the eleven machines turned towards Ranma. As one their hands moved, aiming towards the pig-tailed youth that was standing there, closed fists at his sides, features hidden under his dark bangs. He was shaking. Then in a roar that had nothing to envy to the engines of the Sentinels he shouted as purple flames exploded from him quickly switching into a column that seemed to stretch to the skies. "Get out of here! All of you! Out!" The rage was unmistakable, and most knew that what was about to follow would be an unique sight. The people that had neared the school grounds, backed some under the exodus of the students that knew Ranma. None of them had seen him so angry end less with that burning rage and hate. The grounds near Furinkan High, or what remained of the once proud school that had seen countless battle between the super powered martial artists, weren't safe anymore. As soon as Ranma's words were lost in the air the Sentinels fired their rays of death but the heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes was already moving, dodging the blasts that tore the ground and damaged even more the remaining of the school. A rain of energy blasts crashed around Ranma as he danced between them nearing his gigantic enemies. Even as the blasts send waves that rammed in his body his battle aura lessened the possible damage they could inflict on the pig tailed boy. Ranma ignored it as he jumped between two sentinels that where near each other, using them as a spring boards, climbing. Even as the sentinel moved Ranma dug his fingers into the hard metal alloy gaining impulse as he propelled himself up, spinning in the air, landing near the head of the Sentinel. Immediately the other Sentinels aimed towards the unit where Ranma was standing, unleashing their weapons upon the unfortunate Sentinel that even in the last moment tried to catch Ranma. Seconds later it was rend apart by the force of the blasts, exploding moments after. >From the flames appeared Ranma surrounded by enough bio energy to seem a >shooting star. With a silent roar Ranma unleashed a ki blast that tore the Sentinel's head off, but even as the recoil send him backwards he spun facing the headless machine. In an heartbeat he channeled his ki in his arms. True he could not use the power of the neko-ken but Ranma was smart enough to be able to duplicate the move in the heat of the moment. His hands dug into the metal, only to allow gravity to pull him down even as his fingers cut the Sentinel from chest to crotch. But even as he landed the sentinels were upon him trying to squeeze him like a bug. Ranma saw the massive foot of the nearest Sentinel descend upon him like the mallet of doom, shadowing him. Without even breathing he moved flowing upon the ground as if he was gliding as if he was stepping upon ice. The foot missed him by a scant of space. Using all his rage Ranma jumped until he was at knee level and kicked as hard as he could. All the muscles of his body, all the ki he could put and more, was behind the blow. The Sentinel dropped to one knee, but even so was able to strike back. Ranma had only the time to brace himself and hope that his body holds when he saw the fist of the Sentinel rush towards him like a speeding train. The blow send him flying, the metallic taste of his blood filling his mouth as Ranma groaned, his body shaking in pain even as he crossed the school grounds like a dark bullet. In the last moment as he was to crash in the ground he forced his body to obey, the mental order making his whole body to scream in pain. His feet touched the ground even as his fingers dug into the cold stone and with a dry sound Ranma continued tearing the ground as the strength of the blow drove him further away. All was pain as his muscles protested sending red hot knives through his brain Little by little he was able to stop, dropping to one knee, panting hard. He looked at his hands, still covered by the ki aura that was flickering less stronger than before. They were covered in blood from countless cuts. He gritted his teeth pushing back all that was pain and exhaustion. He looked up knowing that any mistake would mean death. The once school grounds, full of trees and gree, were now a vision straight from a battlefield. The ground was torn apart, three quarters of the School facilities had collapsed and the rest seemed about to follow suit. The broken bodies of his classmates and the blood shed were still present but with them was the mute testimony of Ranma's rage as several Sentinels were in the ground, sparking, destroyed beyond repair. It was beyond anything Ranma had seen before. In the intents to nail him down with their energy blasts the Sentinels had added more collateral damage transforming the area into nothing recognizable anymore. Ranma quickly counted the number of remaining Sentinels. Ranma closed his eyes for a moment, bringing even more ki forth, pushing himself to his limits and beyond. Then without accord both parties rushed against each other, the nine sentinels moving to surround their prey Ranma rushing against the oncoming onslaught. He would win or die in the intent. Moving with a speed that was almost inhuman Ranma moved through the grounds, jumping, twisting as he evaded the blasts as he rushed against the killing menace. If he had been fire before now he was ice. He could not allow himself to loose focus letting his rage run free. Even as he run he examined the position of the Sentinels, holding back his attacks as he evaded the attacks. It was time to improve, to test himself in the fire of battle, where he was in his element. He jumped as he was missed by a blast from one of the Sentinels even as he closed distance with one of them even as his senses searched for another, searched for the right moment. Once he was close enough, once the time was right, he reared his hands back and with a one fluid motion, not even braking his pace towards the machines that had killed some of his friends, unleashing his attack. "KIJIN RAISHUU DAN!!" Twin arcs of vacuum raced towards two Sentinels that neared each other trying to close his way. Just as Ranma wanted. Gaining size the blades moved towards the gigantic machines. Realizing the danger they started moving to evade the strange energy but they were too slow or weren't able to grasp the meaning of the strange energy. The vacuum blades passed through the metal alloy as if it wasn't there. One dropped to its knees its head cleanly cut in half, even as the other "only" lost his left arm cut in two places, in a shower of sparks. Ranma moved to the side, his attention focused in the armless Sentinel. It wasn't destroyed but it was weakened, a hole in its defense. As quickly as he moved the sentinel had no chance to evade the martial artist as Ranma closed in. The pig tailed boy jumped to evade a last blast from the sentenced machine, a blast that tore the ground in a futile attempt to stop the unstoppable. Ranma slammed his hand in the ground, blue light streaming from them. "HA!" The ki wave send Ranma flying up in the sky allowing him to near the opening in the Sentinel's armor. Ranma smiled grimly. But in the last moment from the corner of his eyes he noticed a shape moving towards him at great speed. Immediately, Ranma called forth that domination upon mid air combat was his legacy. Seemingly at the last moment, making the impossible very possible Ranma twisted evading the moving fist and used it to gain even more impulse, jumping with more power towards the opening. In the very moment he was in front of the opening he pulled his arms apart his battle aura swarming towards his outstretched hands before violently bringing the palms towards the sparking circuits. "MOUKO TAKABISHA DOUBLE!!" He was blasted backwards both by the force of the wave he unleashed and by the explosion of the Sentinel, sharp pieces of metal rushing towards him, cutting him in several places making his blood to flow. But that wasn't the problem. As he was send flying uncontrolled Ranma's danger sense that was already buzzing loudly, started screaming like if there was no tomorrow. His blood run cold as he realized where he was going straight to. He spun contracting his muscles, facing the menace with little hope to survive. He was just in the way of the glowing blaster of the sentinel he had evaded to destroy the damaged one. Ranma thought The next thing he was aware was of a roaring sound as the Sentinel fired his weapon, blasting him away crashing into the ground. The cuts he had sustained before opened even more before sealing due to the heat of the blast. The impact itself was hard enough to make Ranma spat blood. His body was nothing more than almost unbearable pain. Anyone else would have been transformed into ash by the force of the energy blast, anyone but Ranma. Yet the blast that had send him to the other side of Furinkan had been a low level one. He had survived but he had been hurt. This one had everything the Sentinel had to give. Black spots covered his sight for a moment preventing him to see anything but dark shapes. He forced himself to overcome it. He almost regretted being able to see again. A Sentinel's immense fist covered the sky as it rushed towards him. With a boost of ki and adrenaline he jumped backwards, dodging the crashing fist with the slightest margin. Even so the unleashed winds and the shock wave send him rolling backwards. Even so he was able to end up upon his legs. He winced. Ranma knew his body well enough to know what was broken and what not. Not good but even so he couldn't help but grin. His danger sense hurled even stronger. A Sentinel had moved fast enough to try to squeeze him between its two hands. Ranma saw the danger coming and with an impossible twist of his body evaded the pressing move. A possibility came to him. It was risky but it could pay off. He landed upon one of the monster's wrists and with all the speed he was able to use in his state he rushed towards the head of the machine. Then he awaited and sure enough at least two of the others Sentinels were aiming at him, firing their weapons only seconds after. But too late as Ranma had jumped using the falling Sentinel to reach the ground in record time before the impact. A shadow loomed above him as soon as his feet touched the ground. Ranma spun facing a new sentinel that was sending its fist towards the puny human. Ranma lost in a sea of ki and powerful emotions, concentrated his aura in his fist and with all his strength and anger he could summon send it flying towards the sentinel's own. The shock was uncanny in its violence and power, sending a backlash that pulverized part of the standing wall and utter limits of the school compound. Ranma's knees nearly bucked under the strain of the power of the Sentinel's fist. The ground around him had cracked and the only thing that allowed Ranma to stand, more or less intact, was his indomitable will to win. But even so it wasn't enough. Ranma knew that he could not resist the pressure that was exercising the killing machine. Already his chest was on fire and the shock from the impact between the two fists some of his broken ribs has surely moved. Pain in one of his lungs and a growing sensation of lack of air told him quite clearly that at least one of them had pierced his lung. He was as good as dead if he couldn't finish the fight in the next minute. Something impossible with six remaining Sentinels. Already the pressure coming from the one he was fighting increased. His other hand, burning with blue ki, came to the rescue of the first and, with all his muscles in his body tensed to their limits, he was barely holding the growing pressure. He was not fighting a single adversary, the Sentinel, but also against his own broken body. He called upon more ki, more power to hold on. His reserves were almost dry. He was perspiring even as the ground started to give in. The other sentinels seemed to e awaiting around him and the one he was fighting as if they knew he was loosing and it was a matter of minutes until his body gave in. He could taste the blood in his mouth. His chest was beyond burning; it was agony. Soon he was knee deep in the ground of the school and it was a question of time for him to break. To lose. He needed an exit and fast! He opened his eyes. If another Sentinel choose to help its buddy he would be worst than death. He looked up searching for an answer. A solution. And he saw it. The arm of the Sentinel was also surrounded in that strange color pattern. He had been so focused in revenge that he had forgotten about it. If the pattern was there then that would mean that he had to be able to change it in energy. Mentally, even more easily than before, he called upon the other pattern to fuse with his own and as soon, as he wished it, the power rushed towards him, in him. It started slowly but little by little the power rushed in, giving him even more strength and power that he imagined was possible to have! It started. His eyes started pulsing with golden light even as the Sentinel realized that something was wrong. It backed away but it was too late. Part of its arm had vanished, the transmutation from its metallic arm with all its electronic components expanded, soon reaching the chest of the machine, its circuits unable to come to a logical explanation of what it was happening to its structure. Meanwhile Ranma was struggling to hold on all that massive power rushing within him, threatening to overload his system. The sword was nothing compared to the power that was rushing into hi. Too much power indeed. Maybe with time he would be able to hold on all that raw power but right now it was eating him alive! He needed a release and looking to the closing Sentinels he blasted it outwards, even as more power rushed in. Instinct guided him. Tendrils of black energy exploded from his body all guided towards the other machines, destroying them even as the first Sentinel was continuing to loose its material form giving Ranma more and more power that he used back. Little by little as the number of black tendrils grew, the totality of its atomic structure collapsed; leaving only a bright form behind. Tangible energy that soon was absorbed. The unit disappeared in a flash of shining particles. Annihilation was in the air as the tendril multiplied, as more power was passed through Ranma, a power with the sole purpose of destroying all the Sentinels. To the observer, and they were many, it seemed as if the whole High School, Ranma and all the Sentinels were absorbed within a dome of blue-back energy. It rose silently engulfing everything in its wake only to implode in a tower of light and dark tendrils that rose to the sky, tearing apart clouds even as it turned the day to night for one moment, finishing in a roar that left only silence. But even if silence rushed to cover the sound of the finished battle, within Ranma all was chaos. It was as if he had been energy forever and power the sole reality of his existence. With a last struggle the last of the energy was expelled from his body in blue flames as he dropped backwards like a string less puppet. He just laid there pulling deep breaths, pigtail undone, most of his clothing gone. Perspiration rushed by every pore in his skin. He was drenched, his hair plastered against his scalp. He felt exhausted. He was so tired and his whole body ached. His hand reached slowly to his chest and he slowly touched his ribs awaiting to the pain. None came. "I'm... healed?" His voice was coarse, his throat was hurt after the shouts of rage that he had released. How had he done that? There was only a possible answer to it all, to the reason why the Sentinels attacked him even as they left the others, well most of them, alive. The Sentinels were designed to only one thing: Kill mutants. That could only mean only thing. "I'm a... mutant?" Then he passed out. --------------------------------------- The first thing that greeted him was darkness. Panic sized him until he realized, in a detached way, that his eyes were simply closed. He tried to open them but found that even trying to move his eyelids was beyond his strength. Trying to form thoughts was even more difficult. Even so he stubbornly tried to move, to fight against his deranged mind and rebel body but it was like if both had other ideas. Still some reaction should have happened because he felt a cold hand rest upon his chest. He tried to push it away but it was like trying to move the moon. He was simply too tired. "You are sick Ranma." He tried to gather his wits still the only thing he was able to come with was rather useless. Again the voice sounded. He knew that voice but he could not recognize it. He should be able to but his mind was blank. "Relax Ranma you won. You are safe." That alone helped him. He knew it was important but he couldn't remember why. Then he felt a hand move until it was holding his head pushing him gently. He felt something cold, moist, touch his mouth. "Open your mouth Ranma. Drink." He did so, cold water rushing through his mouth, down to his sore throat. He never tasted something as sweet. The hand released him, letting him to repose against the pillow. "Rest Ranma. Heal. Sleep. You need it. I will take care of you." The voice was gentle, soothing so powerless to do anything else allowed his thorn mind to fall down in the darkness. --------------------------------------- He didn't know how many time passed. His lips were dry and it hurt to move. He was tired, so tired but he felt that he had more strength than before. With some relief he found that moving wasn't the impossible task he dreaded. His mind was clearer somehow and with some growing urgency he knew that he had to find what had passed. His brow crossed inn concentration as he pulled his memory together. It hit him like one of Ryoga's blows. He remembered it all. The new ability, his weird sight, the attack, the Sentinels, the deaths, the battle. The power. All of it with crystal clear clarity. "Where am I?" he asked to the darkness, his voice but a broken sound, barely understandable. A gentle hand touched his chest preventing him to rise. In his weakened state he wasn't able to resist. Suddenly the light filled the room, rushing through his closed eyelids. Blinking he opened them, fighting against the sting that overcome his eyes. But bit by bit he regained his sight and Ranma could see that the hands holding him down upon the bed was Nabiki's. "Please Ranma stay still. You are too weak right now. Wait till your mother comes back." Ranma groaned. His dry tongue passed upon his lips trying to wet them but he couldn't. It was painful. He had to try several times before he managed to form the words into something recognizable. "Where am I Nabiki?" His eyes quickly covered the unfamiliar room. "This is not your house right?" Nabiki nodded. "What happened?" He asked. Nabiki sighed and leaned back on the chair. She looked tired, pale. Dark circles under her eyes. Ranma noticed it. It could mean only one thing but he had trouble believing it. "You've been looking after me?" Nabiki nodded. "After what you did for us all that was the least I could do. And taking in count what followed I think that you deserve a break." Ranma smiled some. Even that was difficult. "That bad?" Nabiki nodded. "What happened after my battle Nabiki? Please tell me." Nabiki sighed. "As I said you should wait for your mother Ranma you need to know some things." "But I..." As in clue Nodoka entered the room and quickly bent to hug her son. Ranma embarrassed by the motherly display of affection tried to stop his mother but in his state was unable to do anything. "Mom. Please. I need to breath." Nodoka backed some but still held her son at arm length. Ranma looked at his mother. "Mom, please I need to know what happened." Nodoka exchanged a look with Nabiki that nodded. "Very well my son. But first you need to eat some." Ranma tried to protest but Nodoka was adamant. "Son I know you are strong but you need the food. Now stay there while I go fetch you something." Ranma sighed passing a hand upon his face. Then he looked at Nabiki but the look she send him spoke clearly that she would follow Nodoka's wishes. Then he noticed something. His hand quickly moved under the blankets finding what he dreaded. He had no clothing. Ranma blushed furiously realizing that someone had to strip him from the rags of clothing he knew he had when he fainted. he pulled the blankets tighter around him as Nabiki smirked realizing what was the source of Ranma's discomfort. After a while Nodoka appeared producing a tray filled with food and drink, the delicious aroma filling Ranma's nose, making his mouth to water. She put the tray in front of Ranma, producing a pair of legs from it allowing her to put the food in front of ranma that was still in bed. Ranma looked at the food in front of him, his stomach rumbling loudly making the young martial artist to blush and both women to giggle. Ranma was about to dig in the food but in a last, and somewhat surprising gesture of you knew him well stopped his unleashed attack upon the innocent food. He looked to the several plates of food and then to his mother and Nabiki. "Um... Do you want some?" He asked sheepishly. "It is all for you, son. Both me and Nabiki have ate before." Ranma's face brightened. "Oh if that's so..." The food was doomed. Rice balls, misu soup, shrimp tempura, teriyaki, tonkatsu, two super deluxe okonomiyaki even some Chinese ramen. A true feat to the eye that was slowly (for a Saotome that is) devoured with gusto. When he finished Nabiki couldn't help but snicker. "That was almost civilized Ranma." Ranma grinned before putting the tray away, upon a table near him. He was feeling way better now almost feeling new energies rushing through him. He looked at his mother. "Mom please tell me what happened after..." He paused. Nabiki supplied. "Razed the school grounds? Destroyed bare handed a squad of new brand Sentinels? Brought Armageddon upon us?" Ranma looked at her. "Was it that bad?" Nabiki snickered but her voice held something near awe. "Bad is not the word Ranma-kun. But I never saw anything like that. I was tempted to think that those histories about you defeating a god were an exaggeration but after what you did..." Ranma looked at his mother that nodded. "The shock wave was reported to have touched half Nerima. Your High School is no more. Where Furinkan before stood is now a huge crater instead." Ranma swallowed some, slowly nodding. "But what happened?" Nodoka sighed. "Very well son. You already know that you are a..." Ranma cut her. "A mutant. I'm not to happy about it but if it wasn't for that... power I would be dead by now." Nodoka nodded. Then turned to Nabiki that continued. "Well Ranma the fact that you are a mutant was quite evident when the sentinels charged after you after the massacre..." Started Nabiki but she was cut too. "How many died?" Asked Ranma his face hard. Nabiki paused. "Thirty-eight students. Some died in the first wave of the attack. The rest were butchered once outside of the building." Ranma closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Thirty-eight... it's madness. All because they were mutants..." "Not exactly. As far as the news go this Sentinels that you fought were a new model. They perceived the possibility of the X-gene to be activated. In other words..." Ranma hands closed in fist, his knuckles white by the strain. "In other words they not knew they were mutants. They may not even be mutants. They were killed due to what they MAY have become." Nodoka put a hand upon her child's shoulder. "Ranma please calm yourself. This is not it all." Ranma looked at his mother. "What else mom, what happened after I lost consciousness. Tell me." But it was Nabiki who spoke. "Well about ten minutes after you defeated the Sentinels the authorities arrived, ready to arrest you for the destruction of the Sentinel patrol. "What then?" Nabiki's eyes were locked with Ranma's. "That's when things turned ugly." "What?" "Most of the students, scared to death by what happened, were too numb to do anything. Others were ready to help the authorities, mostly Kuno and his fellow members of the kendo club blaming you for what happened. And a group was ready to help you." She paused "It's thanks to them that you are here. But right now you are searched for presumed terrorist and damage of a Japanese government's propriety." Ranma's eyes opened wide, not believing what he heard. "It's crazy. They are blaming me for that? But if I was just defending myself!" He paused. "Who helped me?" "Well there was Daisuke and Hiroshi, Sayuri and Miss Hinako. Some other students started to riot to give time to those four to take you from the school premise. Ukyou helped keeping in check Kuno and his boys. And as strange as it may sound the principal Kuno was on your side. It seems that seeing some of his students killed had given him some of his sanity back." "And you?" "Well I..." Nodoka chose that moment to place a word or two, beaming proudly at the middle Tendo daughter. "Nabiki-chan is the one that allowed your friends to sneak you out of the grounds of Furinkan after they retrieved you from the crater you were laying, unconscious. She quickly organized the ones willing to help you stop the authorities. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her." For a while Ranma remained looking at Nabiki right into her eyes. After some moments Nabiki broke the gaze blushing some. Ranma put his hand upon Nabiki's "Thank you Nabiki, for that and everything else I... wait a sec. Crater? What crater?" Nabiki smiled. "I don't know which is your mutant ability but you whipped everything within the school grounds and half a mile radius to nothingness. When the fireworks ended nothing remain but a huge crater. You were at the bottom of it." Ranma sighed, closing his eyes. "I can't believe that. A mutant..." "Are you bothered by that Ranma dear?" Asked Nodoka concern in her voice. Ranma looked at her. "Uh? No way mom! Do you believe that with a life like mine being a mutant is something to be ashamed? I was already more "weird" than any mutant so why should I be bothered by some so called "flaw" in my body? That's just plain stupid." Nabiki smiled. "Why Ranma-kun that was pretty deep for someone like you..." Ranma blushed slightly. "Ah, well, it's that... well I'm not some dumb jock you know?" Both Nabiki and Nodoka smiled at that. "What I mean is that I can't understand the hate that would push some men to create stuff like the Sentinels. Why kill people that have done nothing wrong, not even thought about it?" Nabiki nodded before looking at Nodoka. "Well even if I would like to continue with all this chit-chat there are other things to take in consideration. You should tell him auntie." "Tell me what mom?" Asked Ranma, now looking concerned to his mother. "Well you see Akane..." Ranma, pushed the blankets out of his way, bolting from the bed, a frantic look in his face. "Akane! Please tell me that she is safe! Nabiki..." For a moment both women remained there looking at him before Nodoka started giggling while Nabiki started blushing not able to tore her sight from Ranma, mouth hanging open. Or better yet from a precise part of his anatomy. Ranma looked at them before looking where Nabiki was looking. "Ack!" With a jump he spun grabbing one of the blankets, quickly pulling it around his waist, face crimson. Nodoka laughed loud even as Nabiki gathered enough will power to look away still blushing to the roots of her hair. "Mom!" Nodoka put a hand upon her mouth, looking somewhat embarrassed by her too humorous display. "So... Sorry son but you should have seen your face. It was priceless as Nabiki would surely agree of she hadn't been looking somewhere else." Her eyes were full of mischief as she looked towards the younger woman that was making all that was possible to hide the fact that she was as red as a tomato. "Akane remember? What happened with her?" Ranma still blushing , called back the attention of the two women that sobered immediately. Nabiki looked at Nodoka. The older woman nodded. "Relax Ranma she is safe and sound, but..." "But?" "You better sit for this Ranma." Ranma looked at her at his mother and then sat, pulling the blanket even closer. "You see Kuno and his lackeys weren't the only ones blaming you of the disaster... Akane..." Ranma looked at her as the idea sank in him, his face growing pale as milk "She blames me for this right?" Nabiki snorted, anger showing in her face. "If only it was only that! Sometimes I feel shame being related to her. When it was clear that you were one of the mutants that the Sentinels searched for, she lost it. Once you defeated them she started to shout that you would be better dead, she almost started a mob against you. She positively hate your guts now Ranma." Ranma buried his face in his hands. "Then all was for nothing? All I did count for nothing? The battles, the pain... Taro, Herb, Kirin, Toma, Saffron... Nothing counts anymore?" Nodoka passed an arm upon Ranma's shoulders. "I'm afraid it is so my son. Akane can't control her anger and fear towards you. And this new issue, the fact that you are a mutant is giving her sanction to her anger and rage." Ranma looked at his mother. "Akane afraid of me? That can't be I would never strike her!" Nabiki shook softly her head as she sat aside Ranma, her arm closing upon one of his hands. "Yes Ranma. She is afraid. It's not your fault. If someone is to blame its daddy for not being there to teach her some control upon her fear and anger. The fact that you were better than her in what was a source of pride for Akane only made her anger to grow." "So she lashed out with her damned mallet? Because she was afraid?" He asked. Nabiki nodded. "That and her anger. And now with you being a mutant..." Ranma looked down. "Is there no end about how screwed up my life is?" "Well now that you mention it..." Stared Nabiki. Ranma looked at her, puzzled. "What something more happened while I was out cold?" Nabiki swallowed. "Well yeah, the good thing is that you will not have to bother anymore about some of you fiancées. In fact the only one that may still hunt you down is Shampoo." Now she was looking very nervous and that alone was enough to make Ranma start to sweat. There was little that could spook Nabiki. "What is it?" Nabiki looked at Nodoka. "Well your mother is the most... how to say it... oh to hell with it. Tell him." Nodoka pulled Ranma to make him face her. "You see Ranma... Genma and I.... oh dear... this is not easy to explain... "Pops and you what mom?" Noodka was blushing. "The truth is..." Nabiki cut in "The panda is not your father, that's what you're trying to tell him, right auntie?" she said in exasperation. Nodoka looked at Nabiki disapprovingly. "That wasn't the way to tell him something like that dear!" Nabiki simply shook her head. "And when would have you told him auntie? Next year? Because all that spinning around the truth without telling him that the fat bastard isn't his father wasn't helping, right Ranma... Ranma?" Ranma had fainted. "That's not too manly." "Do you think? I believe he took it rather well." --------------------------------------- Ranma groaned even as his eyes blinked as he exited the unconsciousness. "Ranma?" It was his mother, her voice soothing even in the single word. His name was never as filled of love as when his mother said it. He smiled. "Mom? Is that you?" "Yes dear," the voice sounded relieved. "How are you feeling?" Ranma snuggled a little more against the warm blanket, his face pure happiness. "Just fine mom... I had the strangest dream... I dreamt that you and Nabiki.. You will find it so funny! I dreamt that you and Nabiki told me that Gemna isn't my father! Isn't it funny mom?" Silence. "Mom?" More silence. "... ..." Ranma didn't even dare to ask. It had to be a dream! But if Ranma wasn't something it was a coward. He would face life as it came. He opened his eyes, blinking a little under the light that assaulted his senses. He looked at his mother that was clearly uncomfortable, then at Nabiki that was silent her face a blank mask. He looked back to his mother, his face grave. "Mom answer me. Is Genma Saotome my father? A simple yes or no. Tell me mother." Nodoka's face was pale but in her eyes a light of determination could be seen and to Nabiki that light was the same that always shone in Ranma's eyes when facing a worthy, generally stronger, opponent. "No. Genma Saotome is not your father." Ranma's face palled before laying again against the bed where he was, looking to the ceiling, his hands balled into fists, knuckles white. For a moment only Ranma's hard breathing could be heard. Then little by little his hands relaxed. "Does... Genma know it?" Nodoka shook her head. "No, he doesn't know. I never told anyone until..." Ranma looked at her. "Ranma you better relax. You're not going to like what we are about to tell you." said Nabiki as she neared her chair to the bed where was laying Ranma. He moved his head looking at her. "Why am I not surprised? He sighed. "Very well speak. Let's get it over." "When we managed to take you out of the authorities' reach with the help of the other students we took you to my house. As you were hurt and unconscious it took us more time than Akane to reach it. When we arrived the house was in an uproar. Daddy was practically pulling his hair out, claiming that he would never allow your "mutant taint" to contaminate any of us. To him the Saotome-Tendo pledge to unite the families is dead. Genma wasn't any better raving about the injustice of it all, cursing your very existence." "And Kasumi? What did she said? And what of Akane?" "You better hear what Genma did..." "What happened with Kasumi and Akane?" Nabiki paused. "Very well. Kasumi first. To her, dad is the clan's head so his decisions are absolute. She can't do anything. She tried to calm him to make him understand that there is no shame in being mutant. But was soon as she said the mutant word daddy threatened to disown her. I never saw Kasumi so hurt since mom died." Ranma's muscles tensed. "He said that to her?" His eyes narrowed dangerously, his voice thick with anger. Suddenly the blanket started to shine, turning into liquid light that seemed to be absorbed by Ranma's skin, thin lines of light traveling through his body like a living tattoo, outlining his frame, until definitively being absorbed by his body. Both Nabiki and Nodoka backed away, not knowing exactly what had happened. Ranma's sprang out of the bed, his face turned to angry to shocked, then to fearful. "Back off! Go as far as you can from me!" Both women obeyed the order, getting as far as they could, which wasn't much taking in count the dimensions of the room. Both stood there expecting, looking at Ranma, his face deep in concentration. Suddenly his aura lit up, the ki flames, casting a blue glow to the room. Nabiki had never seen it manifest so violently even in his battles with Ryoga. Then as suddenly as it appeared it disappeared, the only mark of it was Ranma's body. It seemed more defined; his muscles were even more outlined, seeming to burst with strength. As for Ranma he was looking at his hands, his face concerned. He flexed his hands, then his arms, stretched a little before looking at them. "Don't come closer. I still don't know how this works. As for now I'm a danger to those near me." "What do you mean?" Asked Nabiki. "I.... I... what I did, I can do it to humans too. I'm dangerous as long as I don't know how my mutant power works." He sat in the bed, looking at it for some moment as if ready to bolt if the reaction started again. Absently he noticed that he had a pair of boxers on but it was a small comfort against the dejection he was feeling. After a few moments he breathed deeply, somewhat more relaxed. He looked at his mother and at Nabiki that slowly were nearing him. "I believed that I had it controlled but it seems that it's not." "What happened? What did you do to the blanket?" asked Nabiki. "I dunno. All that I know is that if I want I can make stuff, rocks, swords, even Sentinels, into energy, raw energy that somehow I can use. I don't know how, or if there are limits, but I know that I can do it to pretty much anything..." Nabiki's eyes gleamed. "You mean that you can do it to human beings too?" Ranma, without looking at her, nodded. "Do you understand? When I realized it I was afraid! Me afraid! I faced Saffron and Herb, the Orochi and I wasn't that scared. I believed that if I was careful I would be able to control it. But when you told me what your dad said to Kasumi... My anger, without any wishing for it, made me change the blanket into energy." "And now? Where is that energy?" Asked Nodoka. Ranma seemed doubtful "I'm not sure about it. The first time I used my power the energy fused in the flow of my ki. I..." "You what?" asked Nabiki. Ranma's face darkened. "It was incredible. It's a rush of power like little else. My aura grew to the point where I equaled the power I used against Saffron." "Then where is the problem. If you are careful..." Ranma shook his head sadly. "You don't understand it. I was careful but a strong emotion and I changed the blanket. What would have happened if it was your hand I was holding? Then what? Would you die? What would happen? So far I have absorbed the energy of lifeless things. But what would happen if I did so with a living, ki charged being?" He paused. "I don't even want to know. I get the shivers each time I think I that. Now what happened with Akane?" The change took Nabiki by surprise. She wanted to know more about Ranma's new abilities, if only to help him. But for now she respected his silent wish to leave his mutant condition apart. She took her chair under Ranma's gaze. He said nothing even as he sat cross-legged in the bed, his hands resting in his lap. She sat noticing that Nodoka had done the same with another chair in the room, Ranma's old room at the Saotome house. Both of them were meters away from Ranma as he asked to, but she knew that Nodoka would want nothing but go and comfort her son. Nodoka knew that Ranma was scared but not for himself; for the others his mutant ability could harm. "Well, remember when I said that the house was in an uproar? The reason is that Akane was already there, telling both my father and you... I mean Genma what happened. When I appeared after telling the others to stay outside Akane started screaming at me, demanding to know where you were, that you had to be delivered to the mutant control authorities. My father was between screaming against you and lamenting the end of his dream, cursing all that was mutant in the world. Your father was no better. I can honestly say that this is the first time I saw him produce a battle aura." "Pop, I mean, Genma was producing a battle aura?" asked Ranma almost disbelieving it. "Quite impressive too. Well that's when your supposed father jumped on me, demanding me to know where you were, screaming that you were such a disgrace, blaming you for all the bad in his life..." Ranma wove his hand in a dismissive manner. "Save it. I think that I have an idea of what the old fart said Nabiki." Nabiki seemed about to do as he said, but then shook her head. "You must know this. You are no longer a Saotome, Genma has thrown you out of the Saotome Clan." Ranma's mouth hung open, disbelief in his pale face. "He did what?" The pig tailed youth asked in a whisper. "He disowned you from your clan. You're now a ronin. To never walk again upon Tendo or Saotome grounds under the risk of a blood feud. He seemed even eager to do it, to spill your mutant blood, or so he said. I never saw him so angry, nothing to do with the coward panda we're used to." Ranma looked at her with a blank face. "I'm... so that's the way things are going to be? So be it." He turned to his mother, then to Nabiki. "Why are you helping me? You are risking too much for someone that has caused nothing but trouble for you and your family." Nabiki looked at him, at the hurt he was trying to hide in his eyes. She advanced, even as Ranma seemed to back off. She was about to put her hand upon his bare shoulder but she was stopped by a single word. "No." She looked at his face where only concern for her safety appeared. "That's my choice Ranma. I trust you. I know that you would never hurt me, willing or unwillingly." "You trust me? After all the destruction, all the problems that I brought to you and your family, you trust me?" Nabiki nodded and smiled. Nothing to do with her predatory, Ice Queen, smile, but a smile of friendship. "Yeah you big lug, I trust you. Even after all that chaos that you brought us I can say that our lives would have been worse without you. Don't you realize it Ranma?" she asked as she towered upon him "The lives that you touch become better, more fulfilled. Who can say to believe or even to have seen true magic? Powerful princes, dragons, phoenixes, ghosts, martial arts combats like nothing else in the world. I can say that I have seen it all with you. Thanks to you. You make people wonder if there's a limit to their dreams. You make people believe that with enough will all is possible. You make people believe that they can do anything with their lives if they so choose. You give them hope and faith that the following day will be even more incredible, more exciting, and that is something rare, precious and unique." Then she smiled. "And I'm also protecting my investment in you, of course." Ranma smiled "Of course." Nodoka neared the two youngsters. "What are you going to do now Ranma?" Ranma looked at his mother. "I'm not sure. A training trip perhaps. I need to get to know my power, to understand it and I can't do it here. What I know is that I can't stay here in Nerima. Or in Japan. Those mutant hunters won't stop even after what I did to those Sentinels. As long as I remain here, the danger will only increase." He paused, seemingly deep in his thoughts. "I can't remain with you mom. Genma had banned me from Saotme grounds and this house is one of those. If I stay I'll cross paths with Genma and that would bring you troubles. I need to move but I don't know where." He looked down "My days in Nerima are ended that's for sure. I don't want to remain here where I can cross paths with the others. Akane, Genma, Mr Tendo, Kuno, Kodachi, Ryouga... But those mutant hunters, the men behind the sentinels, are the main concern right now." Nabiki nodded. "You're right. If the Sentinels have attacked, the government has sanctioned the use of lethal force against the mutants upon Japanese ground. You and all the other mutants here are outlaws. By now they'll know that you are the last mutant survivor in Nerima. They'll search you. It wouldn't surprise me if they paid for any information they could use..." Ranma nodded. "That means that Genma could sell me. Again." He got up and looked at his chest. Not trace of his injuries against the Sentinels remained. Nabiki commented it, even Nodoka seemed surprised by his even faster recuperation. Ranma touched his chest. "It seems that this mutant ability helps my healing abilities. For now this power is both a blessing and a curse." He looked at his hands, then continued "I'm stronger with a charge of energy in my ki stream, same with my normal attacks. That may give me an edge. I need everything I can to survive." His eyes moved towards Nabiki and his mother. "As long as I don't find a safe place my life will be a battle for survival. I need my clothes." Nabiki grinned. "We already though about that. Some people helped us to gather your things. You have some clean clothes in that closet the rest is in your backpack." she pointed to the single furniture in the room. "Put them on. You have to move and fast." Her face turned serious "We don't know how many time we have before they realize that you may be here. I will wait you down with the others." "The others?" asked Ranma. Nabiki nodded. "The people that helped me sneak your things out of your room. I called them when you were out, telling them that you would soon leaving. Now hurry up." Then she exited the room leaving both Ranma and Nodoka alone Ranma turned towards the closed and opened it. Inside where his clothes. His usual Chinese ensemble, but all in black. Quickly and efficiently he put on a new set of boxers, a white tank-top, pulled on his trousers, white socks, black shirt, quickly closing the wooden straps. Last he put on the black sleepers. The he turned to his mother. Nodoka put her hands upon the shoulders of her son. "I knew that this day would arrive, and I feared it. I left you in Genma's care because I knew that above everything else, he would be able to make a fighter of you. Genma may be an idiot, but at least that he could do well. I knew that one day you would find yourself alone, not only for your life filled of chaos but also because I knew that you would be a mutant. The sons of a mutant have great chances to be mutants as well." Ranma looked at her, disturbed. The concept that Genma wasn't his father was still alien. "You mean that my... father is also a mutant? How do you know?" Nodoka laughed. "Well it's not everyday that you see a man with a set of three adamantium claws in each hand." Ranma's eyebrow rose a little. "Adamantium claws?" Nodoka smiled. "I should say that his whole skeleton is lined with adamantium. As you I was forced into a marriage between Clans, but before marrying Genma I had a relationship with your true father: Logan." "Logan?" She nodded. "I was returning my home one night when I heard the sounds of a fight. I neared it, ready to help, but instead I met Logan, wounded and half dead, his claws extended even as his clothing was shredded and his wounds were opened, bleeding. I took him to my house and looked after him in the following weeks even if he healed incredibly quickly. I was still young and Logan impressed me, not only by his powers and abilities, but also by his burning spirit and will to overcome all odds. I knew he was a mutant even if the issue never appeared between us." She paused lost in her memories. "Logan was all that I could wish in a man. Mysterious, strong, honorable and with some deeply hidden kindness that from time to time shone through. He was also loyal to the extreme towards his friends. In fact that's what he was doing before I met him, avenging the death of an old friend killed by the Yakuza. It nearly cost him his life, but his dedication to avenge the life of his friend pushed him to do it." She looked at her son, her hand tenderly stroking his cheek. "The same burning spirit, the raw power that you both show when moving, the honor, the compassion, you have much of him in you Ranma... He knew of you of course, but he believed that the two of us would be safer without him." She sighed even as she continued gazing lovingly at her son. "I announced to him that I was pregnant with his child few days before he left me. He was tempted to stay with me and I would have asked him to, but as with many dangerous men, had enemies, powerful enemies and his presence would have put you and me in grave danger." "So he left us to better protect what he loved. As you are doing right now. It broke my heart even knowing that he was right, and it is breaking again right now. You must go and fulfill your destiny, find your path in the world, maybe follow in your father's footsteps." Ranma had his eyes brimming with tears, but he resisted the impulse to cry. He didn't want his mother to have that as her last image; him crying. "Mom I..." She put two fingers upon is lips, silencing him. "Shhhhh... Don't say anything. You don't have to. I only wish life would have left us some more time, but we must cherish what we had. Don't be sad, this is not the end. I'm still your mother and you are still my son even if you are a Saotome no more. That will never change." For a moment, Ranma did not move , his eyes wide, then he nodded before hugging her. When they separated Nodoka spoke again, "I wish I could do more for you but the only thing that I can tell you is that your father might be able to help you with your powers. Have you ever heard of the X-men?" Ranma nodded. "Yeah, a group of mutants supposed to try to help other people. Or something like that." Nodoka nodded. "I wasn't able to stay in touch with your father but he's part of the team, that much I know. That may help you on your quest my son. Now let's go down, to say farewell to your friends." --------------------------------------- When he descended whit his mother a singular sight greeted him. In the main room were a group of people clearly waiting for him. Nabiki was there, of course, but also Kasumi, Cologne, Happosai, Ukyou, Konatsu, Gosunkugi, Daisuke, Miss Hinako, Hiroshi and Sayuri. "What.. What are you all doing here?" He asked surprised. Happosai was the first to answer as he neared the pig tailed youth that looked at him wearily. "Well my boy we all suspected that after what happened yesterday..." "Yesterday?!" He looked at his mother, in surprise. She nodded. "You were unconscious for a day and half, with a high fever most of it." Ranma turned to the people gathered there. "And... and you were all expecting me? Why?" Cologne neared him with a single lap. "Well Ranma after the display you made we knew that you would move from Nerima. We wanted to make you understand that we don't blame you for what happened." "That's right man," said Hiroshi, "No one here blames you for what happened. You always defended those that couldn't and we know that if you'd been able to do something you would have. We're only sorry that you're on the run." Ranma looked to Cologne who was looking at him with her piercing gaze. "There had been no one like you Ranma in thousands of years. Both Happy and I believe that in you is embody the very essence of the martial arts. We are proud that we had something to do in your training. I only wish that you had been able to enter in our tribe, but that's not possible anymore." Ranma looked at her. "Why?" Cologne looked at him silently. "Saffron." "Uh?" Happosai couldn't help but bust in. Cologne was too damn serious sometimes. "You defeated Saffron my boy! Do you have any idea of what that means? During all the Amazon history no warrior would have dared to even think about doing what you did. My, even when I was a young lad the sole name of the phoenix king would have been enough to send shivers in the spine of any of those amazon babes. Right Cologne?" The old amazon nodded. "Even my mother spoke of Saffron with fear. What you did is so beyond human limits that it send the council into hysterics. They have communicated me the decision that you are not to be brought into the tribe. Right now Shampoo and Mousse are on their way to the village. I stayed because I wanted to see you one more time son." "But what about Shampoo's honor?" He asked. Cologne smiled. "Intact. I have to thank you Ranma. I knew from some time that you would not follow our laws and marry Shampoo, in that case her honor would have been lost forever. You defeating Saffron has changed the situation totally." Ranma looked intrigued. He knew how persistent the Amazon were. It had to be a big thing. Cologne laughed dryly. "Well sonny boy they have the silly idea that you are a god." Massive facefault. "I'm a what?!" Cologne chuckled. "Oh yes Ranma, can you believe it? Anyway it helped me save Shampoo's honor. I thank you for that." Her face grew serious. "I'm only sorry that you have been expelled from your clan. I know how important it was for you the Saotome name." Ranma's face showed some sadness, but also resignation. "Yeah. But it's like I'm still numb to it. To many things in so little time... even for me it's a little hard to adapt." "I know boy!" Nodded Happosai " My two idiot students have been too far this time. You can count on me that they're going to regret it. To drive away my beloved Ranma chan, Whoa baby let me comfort you!" That said and with uncanny speed Happosai produce cold water in a flask, quickly sending the water flaying towards Ranma. In reflex Ranma threw his arms as to stop the water. But before the liquid had a chance to touch his skin, Ranma's mutant ability kicked in. Even as the water was closing upon Ranma the change began asa they color patterns fused. The water, still moving, started to shine brightly as it passed from its matter state into its energy one. Even so the energy already liberated as well as the water still changing continued moving. Then stopped in the air, no more a clear liquid but a white mist of energy that moved backwards as if drawn towards Ranma's body as it was still touching it. Then suddenly, in a flash the energy moved backwards, seemingly alive, eager to be absorbed within Ranma's frame. All took place in seconds. Then it was as if liquid light penetrated his body, this time passing through his dark clothes that turned white for a moment before Ranma's aura burst forth, in a blue corona of incredible intensity. Ranma roared even as his eyes shone like stars, a shockwave blasting forth from him, sending everybody and the furniture against the walls, pinning them there for a moments before Ranma started controlling the surge of power. Little by little the aura reduced to the point it seemed to be like a second skin upon his dark clothing and body before totally disappearing finally absorbed. Ranma breathed deeply for a moment before looking at the others. As one Daisuke, Hiroshi, Sayuri and Gosunkugi looked at each other then at Ranma before shouting: "COOL!!" Ranma looked at them like if they had grown two heads. "Cool?!" Hiroshi nodded. "Totally man! The way the water turned into that light stuff and then your aura! I could feel your confidence wash over me! It's like I could take the world!" Daisuke nodded. "That was awesome!" Gosunkugi looked at them and then at Ranma awe in his face. "I wish so much to be like you Ranma. To be that confident... I could never be as strong as you are." He shook his head sadly. Ranma looked at him uncomfortable. "Look Gos, you have to stop feeling that sorry for yourself. You have all your life before you. I... what I mean is... if you work hard to make your life what you wish it to be then it's possible. The moment you accept defeat then you're finished. Work for your dreams and it will work." Gosunkugi looked at him for a moment before nodding. "Thank you Ranma and sorry for everything." Ranma smiled. "Don't sweat it. It was great to know you Gos. Take care." Then he turned to his two buddies. "Hiroshi... Daisuke... it was great to know you two." Both lads looked at Ranma with grins. "Ditto for us man," said Daisuke. "Things will get pretty boring without you here." Hiroshi nodded. "Yeah. We can't say that things were dull with you around Ranma. Take care." Then he grinned. "Better yet, let the world be careful. Here comes Ranma!" Some in the room chuckled. Ranma smiled slightly then he turned to Sayuri, but before he had time to say anything she spoke. "Ranma-kun I wish to thank you for what you did at the school. You see Yuka, she... she..." She looked down, not able to speak. Realization hit the young martial artist. "I'm sorry Sayuri... If I had been able to stop them before... I should have been able to do it!" His eyes burst with sparks of blue-white energy as anger overcome him. "Ranma calm down! Remember your room!" shouted Nabiki. He looked at her for a long moment before nodding and powering down. Then he looked back at Sayuri. "I should have stopped them as soon as I realized that I wasn't the only one hunted. If I could I would trade my life for hers, for any of those that died." Sayuri smiled. "Thank you Ranma. You did what you could. You avenged her death. Now please continue with your life, don't let anyone stop you. Live for all those that died." Ranma nodded. "I will do that. I promise you." Sayuri nodded. Then Ranma turned to Ukyou. She was looking fairly embarrassed. Konatsu then pushed her lightly. "Ukyou-sama...you must..." Ukyou looked at him. "I know Konatsu. Thank you." Then she turned towards Ranma. "I'm sorry that you are no more a Saotome. With you losing your name my chance to have you is gone... It made me realize that if I had been more ready to think about what you wanted instead of what I wanted then maybe you would feel what I feel for you. I love you Ranma and I don't care if you're a ronin or if you are a mutant. I don't care! I love you!" Ranma looked sadly at Ukyou, that was about to cry. "Ucchan. You don't have to excuse you... It's I that should excuse. I'm sorry that you had to lose all that time, those ten years, after me. I simply don't deserve to have you as a fiancée, less even as a friend. I'm not worthy of it at all. I can't gave you back those ten years when you should had a normal life, with friends and loved ones." She was about to cut him but he silenced her with a gesture. "Please let me finish. I'm sorry Ucchan and if I could do anything about it I would. Ukyou you deserve better than me; a jackass like me, with a life full of chaos and danger. You have so much to live for! Don't you realize? To you the world is open! It still has all its wonders open to you. You're still young Ucchan. You can still find someone worthy of your love." "But... but you Ranma, what about you?" she asked her hands together. Ranma smiled a sad smile. "Me? Since I was little I realized that my life was not like others. Pretty soon I understood that the only constant thing in my life would be the stars and the battle. Each day was a battle. Not only against Genma, but also against the loneliness, against the envy I felt towards other normal kids' lives." He paused. "But I also realized that I wouldn't change it for anything. It's my life and even as chaotic as it is, its mine. I can't change that. Being mutant doesn't change that. I can only live my life as it is." Slowly Ukyou nodded. "Then... then can... we can be... we are still friends?" She asked unsure. Ranma smiled. "Of course. You're still my best friend Ucchan. And nothing is going to change that. Nothing!" Ukyou smiled and then, instinctively, she threw herself at Ranma, hugging him fiercely. For a moment Ranma was still but then answered Ukyou's hug with equal emotion. When they separated Ranma looked at Ukyou a long time. Then he kissed her brow. "Take care of yourself Ukyou." He said gently. Then he looked at Konatsu, who was looking at them with tears in his eyes. "Hey Konatsu! Be a friend and look after her will ya?" Konatsu looked a moment at Ranma before bowing. "Of course Ranma-sama. I will you can be sure of that." Ranma grinned. "Thanks Konatsu, you're a pal!" Then he turned to Miss Hinako that was still in her adult form. She smirked. "Well Ranma, it seems that I will not be able to drain you anymore, you delinquent." Ranma swallowed. "Ah, yeah teach. A real... pity. Thank you for everything anyway." "You're welcome. But, before you go out to face the world, I want you to have this." She handed him a file with a single label. **Ranma Saotome** He opened it. And found that inside were all of his academic records, copied in Japanese and in English. All his grades from the few times he had been in school. From the kindergarten to his days at Furinkan. Even the couple of months he passed in that all boys school was there. Ranma looked up to her, simply amazed. "I don't know what to say... I mean where did you find all this stuff about me?" Hinako grinned before switching to her ever lustful smile. "When I first came to Furinkan and after our first fight the principal asked me to be very careful about you, and to do my best to... tame you. He was obsessed about disciplining you, so he gathered all the information he was able to get on you, all about your previous academic records and gave them to me. Now that you are moving I thought it would help to have some records if someday you went to finish your education." She paused as if considering something else. "I sincerely feel sorry for your teachers if that chance ever presents itself." she finally said grinning again. Ranma blushed while some of the others laughed. "Ranma-kun?" asked a sweet voice. Ranma turned to see Kasumi. "Yes?" Kasumi looked embarrassed and unsure. "I... I am very sorry that you were thrown out of your family and of my house. I feel responsible for it. If Akane hadn't told father and uncle Genma... You would still have a home. And now you are forced to run away... and I'm really sorry." She looked down. Ranma sighed before putting a comforting hand upon Kasumi. He stopped once, almost an imperceptible pause before touching her but he touched her nonetheless. He wouldn't allow a part of him to keep him from doing what he felt was right. "Kasumi, it's not your fault. Even if somehow the fact that I'm a... mutant was a secret I wouldn't have like to live in a lie. I realized that the problem isn't in the mutants but that people that can't accept a difference. Look at me. Can anyone here say that my life was even stranger than any mutant's?" As expected no one spoke. "The problem is in people like Akane or my... father... they now see me as a freak even if in Akane's case it' s something else... I'm not sure of what it is but to be honest I doubt that she even knows herself." His eyes locked with Kasumi's. "You don't have to be sorry for what happened because its not your fault. You're asking forgiveness for something that's not your fault. I won't accept that. Kasumi, for a long time you were the one to show me what true kindness is. You were one of the few people that made me feel at home in Nerima. I owe you Kasumi. You're a wonderful person, never let anyone tell you the contrary." He paused. "I only want to ask you one thing Kasumi." "Yes?" His eyes gleamed with strength, a strength that he wanted Kasumi to have. "Live your life. You've already done too much for your family. That you obey your father's orders because he's the head clan is one thing, but the dreams that you've sacrificed for your family... You can still make them a reality, if you fight for them. You've got to end being your family's caregiver. You've already done it. They don't need you anymore, not in that way. Please do it for you Kasumi. "I... I... I will try." Ranma sighed, not too pleased by Kasumi's answer. "All right, but I hope that you realize, it wouldn't only be the best for you, but for them too." That said he turned to his mother and Nabiki that were awaiting for him next to the door frame. "One moment please." Then, he turned towards Cologne and Happosai the pair looking at him attentively. He gestured to the window that let out to the garden. "Out. Now." Both of them nodded. --------------------------------------- Ranma looked down to the shrunken old masters. "Very well you both saw it. Now tell me what you know." His voice wasn't hard or demanding but there was some hidden feeling in his words that left clear to the two old masters the distinct feeling that Ranma wouldn't stand for half truths. Cologne looked at Happosai a silent message passing between them. They both knew that Ranma despite all the events in his life in Nerima, respected Cologne as far as the fiancée business was out. Since the latest developments, that issue had been severed clean. Cologne hopped to her oak cane and neared Ranma with several small jumps. When she was near enough she started to look at him up and down. To her eyes his body was practically saturated with ki energy, filling him down to cellular level. The ki flows in his body were rushing with power. Then she switched back to her normal sight and looked at ranma as a whole. It was almost imperceptible but it was there if you knew what to search for. His body was growing, adapting little by little. Already he was a bit taller and she could guess that his muscle mass was augmenting. "Tell me how are you feeling?" She asked. Ranma raked his fingers through his thick , dark hair. "Physically? I feel like I could take on both you and the leech and win. I feel... it's hard to tell but since I found this... ability, I feel that my body is stronger. I already saw what happened with my ki, when in the battle against the Sentinels. I fired a Mouko Takabisha... it was like a Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan! And the weirdest thing was that I felt like it was nothing." "And how are you feeling?" She asked again. She wasn't asking about his body and he knew it. He paused and looked at the old amazon. "I feel... I'm scared Cologne. Scared to the bone. But, not for me, for the others. What if I did it to a living thing? To a human being? I'm confused, frustrated, angry. My emotions have been through the blender. It was like I've lost the ground and I am falling. I don't know who I am really any more. Genma... Genma is not my father." Both shrunken masters looked at each other. "I should have know that the panda couldn't be your father lad. Nothing like you could come from that fool," Happosai said. Cologne looked at him for a moment. "As much as I hate it I can't help but agree with you Happy. That idiot couldn't be your father boy. But how do you feel about that?" Ranma looked up, at the darkening skies upon Nerima. "I feel... I can't stop thinking about all the times he sold me, that he brutalized me, that he abused me because I was his son. What If he had know that I wasn't his son? I must believe that it is not the case, that he is still ignorant of it... but he doesn't and that makes it harder." He paused breathing deep. "I feel angry and I have no one to lash against. And now this power. If I loose control I can hurt somebody. As far as I know, I can do what I did also to living things. And since my awakening it seems that I have lost some control upon it. What will I do?" Cologne put a shrunken hand against Ranma's chest. It was easy to forget that Ranma was still so very young, little more than a child more compared to her, with three hundred years under her belt. He had faced so much, gained and, at the same time, lost so much that it was so easy to forget his youth. But if her suspicions about his power were accurate then all of that would change with time. "Well son-in-law..." Ranma chuckled. "I thought that we were done with that old ghoul." Cologne smiled. "Yes we have. But I would have loved to have you in my family. You are such a pleasure to teach and to see you fight... ah how I wish to have seen you fight Saffron! But who knows? Maybe one day I will see you fight, this time with your power by your side. I don't doubt that you will dominate it." "You think so? Because right now I can't make myself believe it." Cologne nodded. "I don't doubt it. Now, about your power, there is little that I can say to you that you don't know. Mutants powers, as far as I know, are all extensions of one single ability. By what I have seen you are able to transform matter into basic energy, an energy that you're able to use." Ranma nodded. "I'm able to use it to form weapons too." "Most impressive. The fact that you can absorb it into your body, within your ki flow may be a side effect thanks to your own powerful aura but it also makes your ki to increase in its strength. The fusion of your ki whit that energy is making you more powerful. As for now your body's cells are continuously filled with your ki, not the confidence fuelled one, but pure raw ki." "Should I become worried about it? I mean is my body going to suffer from that increase of ki?" Ranma asked concerned Cologne put to rest that fear with a dismissing gesture. "I don't think so. For now as it is, more or less, a natural process so your body will not have problems to hold that increase. I suspect that with time the amounts of power that you can introduce in your body will grew. The problem will happen if the energy absorbed in your body is too much in a single time. "Like when I faced the Sentinels." his eyes narrowed. Cologne nodded. "The mutant powers pass through an evolutionary process, divided in several steps. I don't know the full extent of your mutant ability. You must seek someone with more knowledge about mutants to help you understand your power. Understanding it will be the first step in dominating it." Ranma remained silent for a while, then nodded. "Thank you for everything Cologne." His eyes turned to the grandmaster of the Anything goes. "And I know that I would never have said this but thank you too pervert. Things were never boring with you around. Take care." That said he returned to the house. For a while both masters remained silent. "Why didn't you tell him the rest of it?" asked Happosai once he was sure his words would never reach the young man. Even so he did it but with a whisper. You never knew with Ranma. Cologne seemed to not have heard him as she continued to gaze towards the house, even as her senses were reaching far within, sensing the different ki patterns, "seeing" all that moved beyond the door, next to the entrance of the Saotome's house compound. Then she spoke. "Tell him what? That with such quantities of ki in his body his aging will bit by bit stop at the same time making him heal even faster? Tell him that above everything else, apart all the battles that he had done and the ones that he will come, he'll have to charge with the weight of immortality? That with time he will become less and less human? Things are already so hard for him. Let him be ignorant of it. Better let him find that truth by himself. It will take time, maybe decades but that change, that evolution, will take place." She sighed, sorrow in her eyes. "Good luck young warrior." --------------------------------------- Moments later, Ranma stood before the gates of his childhood home. A soft, cold breeze played with his bangs and pigtail as he suddenly wondered if he would ever again look upon it. Before him stood assembled the few friends he made in the last year, the people that accepted him as one of them, as a friend. For that alone Ranma loved them. Resting at his feet was his old leather backpack, worn by countless training trips and ten years on the road learning martial arts. It was filled with his few possessions and some that his friends had put in, things that he would need or that they wanted him to have. Most of it all were his clothing both old and new, the new one provided by Nabiki. His camping gear, some food from his mother, Ukyou and Kasumi, and several miscellaneous items. He wondered how they had gotten it together so quickly. He could care less and took it as what it was a sign of love and friendship shared. He looked at his mother that was straining not to cry as was he. He didn't want this to be a tears filled farewell, but it was in this moments that he realized how wrong some of Genma's teachings had been. He exchanged hand shakes with Hiroshi, Daisuke, Konatsu and Gosunkugi. He bowed to Hinako. Then he briefly hugged Sayuri and hugged longer Kasumi that wept, and finally Ukyou wondering once again at what could have been as he pulled her close, as she hugged him fiercely. He turned to his mother, remembering that he could not call her like that anymore. To her, by Genma's orders as head Clan, Ranma was as good as dead due to what nature had given him. Inside he raged against Genma's heartless wishes. It was not the moment to go and face him. However one day it would come. That day he would return to Nerima and he would face again his once father. And Soun. And Akane. As for now, he did the worst thing he could think of. He left them alone, to their own means. For now that was all. He hugged her, hugged her with all the love his young heart could give to the one that gave him his most precious belonging. Life. Then finally, he turned to Nabiki. Before he had the chance to say anything she handed him a envelope. He slowly opened it. What he saw inside left him astonished. A passport under his name. Ranma Toushin Also within the envelope were several pages, seemingly a list or something like that. Also was a smaller envelope that was closed. Finally there was a blue wallet, within which he found a huge sum of money in several currencies, mostly American dollars and some yen. There was even a credit card. Ranma could only mutter. "Why... I mean how? Why are you so kind to me Nabiki?" For a long time Nabiki looked at him, her face clean of any expression. All her emotions seemed switched off then slowly she neared him and putting her hands upon his shoulders drew his face to hers, meeting in a passionate kiss, as if satiating a hunger within. Then as quickly as she started she stopped, but put her mouth near his ear, her warm breath caressing his skin. "I did it for what could have been if only I realized sooner how special you are." That said she left him, moving faster than what he would have guessed. He was only aware of Nabiki's last words and his heart beating madly as she disappeared into the darkness, along with Kasumi that was holding her sister close, an ar upon her shoulders. Even long after both sister were gone Ranma continued looking to the spot where Nabiki disappeared, wondering too what could have been. When he finally regained his sense he noticed with surprise that apart him and his mother all the others had since long gone. He turned at last towards Nodoka as he sighed. He picked up his backpack, opening a pocket where he put Nabiki's last presents, closing it once safely introduced. Then with a flick of his wrist he was passing the heavy pack upon his shoulders accommodating it with life long familiarity, making it to rest comfortably upon him. Nodoka looked at her son, even as her tears brimmed in her eyes smiled. She was so proud of him, even with all that had happened in his life her son was well loved, even with all the hardships he never let it keep him down. He continued relentlessly becoming stronger with each test life put in his way. She knew that he would do the same, she knew that he would rise to meet these new difficulties and follow with his life. She knew that Logan would like his son. They were sometimes, she noticed with some surprise in the little time she shared with both of them, so alike that it was almost uncanny. She ached to be able to do more for Ranma in his quest for his true father, but Logan, in his decision to stay away from her and his son to protect them, had covered well his tracks. In the last ten years she had heard little from him, but what she heard filled her with pride, a pride she knew Ranma would share once he came to know Logan. Finding him was but the first step Ranma had before him. She hoped that the information that Nabiki gathered would help him, she could only hope that it was enough for him to find his long lost parent. So after a last embrace Ranma turned his back to her, moving upon the path that would lead him to a new life, a life far away from Nerima where all started not so long ago, a rainy day with a young redhead chasing a huge panda. Silently, as in blatant opposition to that day, Ranma, who once was known as Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, exited Nerima to find a place in the world. ---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------