Matrix Dragon Presents....

    Ocarina's Love Part Three B

***

    Nodoka Saotome looked at the beam of energy that could be seen in the 
sky. "Husband, isn't that coming from the direction of the school
Ranma attends?"

    "Yes it is. It must be someone challenging Ranma." Genma wasn't looking 
at the energy, as Soun was and he had the perfect chance to cheat.

    "Oh my, I hope it isn't someone else engaged to Ranma. There's always 
such a mess made when they visit," Kasumi said, thinking of the
reaction.

    Nodoka and Soun glared at Genma, who had splashed himself and was now 
playing with a beach ball. Kasumi smiled.

***

    The small group searched through the rubble, praying that Ranma survived 
the blast. Link looked at Akane. "Would you mind telling me just
what the hell was wrong with Ranma there?"

    "It was the Neko-ken. I'll explain it later."

    "Right." <Man, no wonder Ranma didn't want to talk about it, considering 
the size of his ego. The great Ranma Saotome afraid of cats!>
Despite how funny that sounded, Link wasn't laughing. Ranma had flicked her 
hand and gutted Ryouga like a fish. He swore to himself that he
was going to find out what was going on.

    "I found Ryouga," Hiroshi called out, followed by a sound the elf could 
not make out. Link and several others ran over. Hiroshi was throwing
up. Next to him was a charred skull, all the flesh burnt off. Even at a time 
like this, Link was amused at the sight of a bandanna on the skull.

    "Where's Ranma?" Akane asked.

    "There!" Kaji pointed to the small hand sticking out of the rubble. 
Quickly everyone began to pull everything off, praying she was still alive.
At last Kaji and Link pulled her out and lay her on the ground. She was 
alive, her chest moving up and down. The men in the group tried to stop
the nosebleeds as they noticed that all her clothes had been burnt off. 
Cologne pulled a robe out of nowhere and covered the girl. Kaji took her
in his arms, and carried her to the Tendo Dojo. Cologne told Hiroshi to take 
Shampoo to the Nekohanten, but leave Mousse in the rubble, then
followed the others.

    "Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed as the group entered the house. From her point 
of view it looked very bad. Ranma-chan was unconcious and
being carried by some mystery boy, Akane was limping, Ukyo was leaning on 
her spatula for support, Cologne looked tired, and Link seemed
lucky to be in one piece.

    She was wrong.

    It was much worse.

***

    After Ranma-chan had been placed on her futon, everyone else sat down 
around the table.

    Link pulled a small book out of nowhere, and cast a spell from it. 
Instantly everyone felt a lot better as many of their wounds healed. He then
explained the battle, having been the only one who was there at the start. 
It also included an explanation of the curses to Kaji, which involved
tossing Genma in the pond (He had been a panda beforehand, but Link tossed 
him in anyway). At the end, Nodoka's first question was "What
is the Neko-ken?" Kaji and Link had been thinking the same thing, but Link 
had another question.

    "Where the hell did Genma dissappear to?"

    "The Neko-ken is his fault," Akane replied. "He saw it in a martial arts 
book when Ranma was six. It was supposed to be the most powerful
style in the world. In his rush, he didn't bother to read the next page, 
which said only a moron would do it."

    "What happened?" Navi asked.

    "He collected a lot of cats and put them in a pit. When they were really 
hungry, he tied Ranma up with all sorts of meats and tossed him into
the pit. When it didn't work at first, he tried it again and again."

    The room was totally silent. Those who hadn't known about the Neko-ken 
were in various stages of shock. Link recovered first, and activated
his lightsword. "ALL RIGHT YOU FUZZBALL!! COME HERE NOW!!"

    "Calm down Link," Nodoka said. "Killing him won't get you anywhere. The 
same goes for you, Kaji." Kaji put away the pokeball.

    "Sorry Miss Saotome. It's just that the thought of someone doing that, 
well, I'm sure you know what I mean."

    "Indeed, and as he is my husband..... GENMA SAOTOME!! COME HERE THIS 
INSTANT!! DON'T MAKE ME COME AND FIND YOU!!"
Kaji's eyes widened at the sight of the katana.

    A panda could be seen near the pond, playing with a tyre and holding a 
sign that said 'Just a cute little panda.'

    "It gets worse Aunty Saotome."

    "It can get worse then that?!" Link exclaimed.

    Akane nodded. "Ranma now has an incredible fear of cats. When it gets 
too bad, he thinks he is a cat. And he has a lot of power. You saw
how easily he killed Ryouga."

    "Has he done that before? Killed someone while in the Neko-ken, I mean?"

    "No, he hasn't. I can't understand why he did it either."

    "I can," Navi said. "There was something in Ryouga's aura, something 
inhuman."

    "Could it be that demon again?" Link asked. Kaji's shock increased 
ten-fold.

    "I don't think so," the fairy replied. "It wasn't like what happened 
with Kuno last week. It was different in some way. My best guess is that
Ranma sensed it."

    They were interupted by Ranma's screams.

***

    Ranma looked around. She was in a gi, with all sorts of meats tied to 
her. "What's going on?" Genma appeared next to her and pushed her
into a pit. As she hit the ground she knew. "No... Please, not again," she 
begged.

    And then the cats were on her, their claws tearing at her body, slicing 
at her face, tearing through her gi, down her legs, everywhere. She
screamed in pain. <Please, let me go cat soon! Please!> But the pain 
continued, and Ramna realised that for some reason, she was not going
into the Neko-ken.

***

    Nodoka simply stared at her son/daugher, her face completely white. Kaji 
turned away, not wanting to watch something like this. Everyone
else simply watched as the confidant young martial artist thay all knew 
screamed in terror.

    "No! Please stop! Poppa, it hurts, get them off me! Poppa!" Link gritted 
his teeth as he heard the fear in Ranma's voice. He and Nabiki had
been the first to figure it out. Ranma was remembering the Neko-ken 
training. He closed his eyes as Ranmas fingers tore long holes in her futon.

    At last the screaming stopped, and Link opened his eyes again, praying 
that it was over. Then he realised Ranma wasn't awake yet. Then she
began to scream again, this time something about Ryouga.

    "He's remembering killing Ryouga," Akane said with no small amount of 
dread in her voice. Link stormed down the hall, lightsword in hand.

    "Genma!"

***

    Ranma-chan's eyes opened, the memories of a place worse then hell still 
tormenting her. She looked at the figure above her. "Mum? Is that
you?"

    Nodoka nodded. "Are you all right Ranma?"

    Ranma shook her head. "I killed Ryouga. What kind of monster am I? We 
could have stopped him another way, couldn't we?" Tears streamed
down her face. "We should have found another way."

    "There was no other way," Nodoka said, "and if you want to blame 
someone, blame your father. He was the madman who taught you the
Neko-ken."

    "But it was my hands," she replied. "I can still see it, still smell his 
blood on me. I couldn't stop..." her voice trailed off as sleep claimed her
once more, this time a dreamless sleep.

***

    Genma slammed into the floor, nearly breaking the sound barrier as he 
did so. "Show some respect for your betters," he groaned.

    "Did I just hear you right? Did you say _betters_?" Link growled. 
"Bull-fucking-shit! You make me sick!" He threw a single punch that
shattered several of the older man's ribs. "How could you do that to your 
own son?"

    "A.. martial artist... must be-"

    "-Willing to sacrifice everything for the art. You've said that five 
times already, try something a little different."

    "Excuse me Link," Nodoka interupted. "Do you mind if I talk to my 
husband?"

    "Of course not." He turned back to Genma. "The only reason you're still 
alive is because I believe there's been enough killing today." As
Genma looked into Link's eyes, he knew that that statement was not a bluff. 
Link could and would kill him easily.

    He was so busy worrying about the danger Link could be to him that he 
didn't notice Nodoka until she slapped him across the face. "What
were you thinking, doing that to Ranma?" she demanded.

    "You wouldn't understand," he replied.

    "I don't understand you at all anymore, Genma Saotome. I thought you 
were honorable, yet you engage my son to kami-only-knows women,
take him away from me for ten years, and make his life a living hell!" She 
glared at him, her eyes showing him the extent of his betrayal. "No
more. It's over Genma."

    "W-what do you mean?"

    "I'm getting a divorce. It's over." She stalked away, not paying any 
attention to her soon to be ex-husband, who simply stood there in shock.

***

    "So, you have killed before?" Cologne's voice was quiet.

    "Many times." Link looked at the Lightsword, at the moment looking like 
nothing more then a sword hilt. "In my quest to kill the Evil King, I
killed his surrogate mothers. I also killed him, but he came back. After I 
arrived in Brittania- well, I was only thirteen, and a lot of bandits learn
their lesson the hard way. Or don't learn at all."

    "I know the feeling. Killing someone is something no-one should go 
through, no matter how old they are." Cologne was quiet for a moment.
"Mousse returned from my villiage last night. He brought all the information 
we have on Elves."

    Link raised an eyebrow. It seemed that the Amazon had been finding out 
everything she could about his species. "And?"

    "It seems that the Triforce was an artifact of this universe as well as 
yours. It was the object of a savage war between the Avatar's."

    "Avatars?" An image of the Avatar of Virtue popped into Link's head. 
"What do you mean by that?"

    "Each fragment chose someone who it would bond with. Sadly, they failed 
to consider the power emotions such as greed would have on
them. The Avatars of Courage and Wisdom seemed to survive, but the Avatar of 
Power attempted to take over the world. It wiped out much of
the race. It was what led to their destruction."

    "How?"

    "Years later, after the Avatar of Power had been killed, and the other 
two had died of old age, a creation of the Avatar of Power returned,
thirsting for revenge on the world. Fate had known about this, and chosen 
another Avatar of Courage. But something went wrong."

    "It was bad?"

    "Very. The beasts weapon pierced the Avatars chest, just missing his 
heart. In a last ditch attempt, he did the same to the beast. And this
blade found it's target, banishing the demon from this world. The aftershock 
was a series of earthquakes referred to as the Breaking. Few
survived, and humans became the new rulers of the world."

    Link looked at his palm. There was something about this, and he didn't 
like the idea of it one bit. "What do you mean the Triforce chose it's
Avatar's?"

    "Exactly that. The Triforce fragments are alive, at least the ones in 
this universe are. They bond with their Avatars. That is all I know, but I
believe that they become one being."

    "I don't think that happened with me."

    "Even so, I suspect that you have been responsible for a few events that 
occured over the last few weeks."

    "Ryouga's not my fault!" he said quickly.

    "In a way, you are. The Triforce of Courage has an effect on people is 
around. It gives them more courage. Not just in a fight, but in
everything they do. That is why Ranma went off at Ukyo and how Akane figured 
out Ryouga's curse. They had the courage to admit it to
themselves. Nabiki, Ukyo, Kaji, don't listen in the next room, feel free to 
sit down." Kaji, Ukyo and Nabiki blushed and sat down.

    "Kuno had the courage to admit that Ranma was cursed, although he thinks 
that his girl-form is his uncursed form." Nabiki's eyes lit up with
yen-signs.

    "That's because he's stupid. I suspect it also had something to do with 
how easily you were accepted, and why Akane offered you a place to
stay. She actually had no right to do that, it was her fathers decision."

    "So you're saying that the Triforce is the reason I was so easily 
accepted here?" Link had to admit he hadn't heard anything like this before.

    "Yes.

    "Although the fact you weren't trying to kill or kidnap anyone helped a 
bit," Ukyo piped up.

    "So that's the short-term benefits. What can we hope for in the long 
run?" Link asked.

    "I'm suprised you thought about that," the Amazon replied.

    "Last time I didn't plan ahead, Gannon managed to enter the Sacred 
Realm. I learnt my lesson after that."

    "There are two things that could happen. Things could finally calm down 
around here, or the magic that is focused in the Triforce fragment
could cause more chaos. Focused on you."

    Link did not like that. "And why would that be?"

    "Magic is formed from the energies of Chaos. These energies pride 
themselves on strange events and happenings. At first, the energies used
by a beginning mage are not enough to have any effect, but sooner or later 
strange things begin to happen around them. By that time, they are
usually skilled enough to negate those side effects."

    "I've been practising magic for years," Link said, "And I've never had a 
problem before."

    "As I said, it might happen."

    "Volt vol orb." Link stared at the bouncy ball as it chewed on a power 
point. Kaji picked it up.

    "Voltorb, what have I told you about chewing on people's power supplys?"

    "Volt."

    "That's right." He pulled a battery out of his pocket. "Chew on this." 
The pokemon floated away. Kaji sat back down and sighed. "They're
taking it pretty bad."

    "You mean losing Haunter?" Ukyo asked.

    "Yeah. I grew up in Lavender Town, where there's a lot of ghost pokemon. 
Haunter was the first pokemon I caught. He's like an older brother
to them."

    "We continue to think that Ryouga was the only one who died, but there 
were others," Cologne said quietly.

    "They died because Ryouga blamed Ranma, simply because he thought he had 
lost the woman he loved, when he never had her at all." Link
was silent after that comment.

    "And we're left to pick up the pieces."

***

    In a dark room in the middle of nowhere.....

    "This can not be," a voice said.

    "Indeed. The Hibiki bloodline can not be destroyed. For thousands of 
years they have wandered the world, influencing events."

    "And now, with the death of Ryouga Hibiki, they are no more," a third 
voice said.

    "This was not planned for! This battle should never have occured!" Yet 
another voice said.

    "Yet it did, and the cost has been great. Without the Hibiki blood, 
control over the scenario will be much harder."

    "I have always found it strange, that a bloodline that has no control 
over where they go could have such an influence on humanity."

    "We have no time for your irony. Saotome's status is unknown, Hibiki is 
dead, and a pokemon trainer has entered the equation."

    "At least those unnatural beasts shall be destroyed soon."

    "But now we must be more careful then ever. Saotome may be influenced 
more then we fear by this."

    "He can never remember the Neko-ken. It will have no influence."

    "He still killed someone."

    The voices faded out.....

***

    The Lord of Darkness lay on the beach, simply enjoying himself. His 
immortal life had been hard lately, with the balance of good and evil
swinging all over the place. It had been over four hundred years since he 
took time off, he figured he deserved a break.

    "Excuse me. Scott Summers?" He opened his eyes to look at a familar 
face. The hair was blond this time, but he knew who it was.

    "Long time no see. Nice clothes. Finally give up on those old robes?" 
The woman was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

    "Haven't worn those for a few decades now. How's things going down 
below?"

    "The usual. Y'know, demons who, even after all these millions of years, 
still think that Chaos is greater then Order, trying to take over the
mortal world and Heaven is their duty in their enternal life. Nothing but a 
pack of idiots."

    "More or less the same up there, only the other way round." She sat down 
beside him, and 'Scott' noticed that her figure had improved.
Those robes had been hiding way too much.

    "Mind telling me what this is all about? While I love seeing you, we 
can't do that too often these days."

    "Take a look at this." She handed him a paper.

    "Gas explosion destroys school? In Nerima, I doubt it was gas."

    "The offical story. Read the first few paragraphs."

    "Hmmm... Gas main..... fire.... 20 wounded, 6 dead, never heard of a 
death where this lot's involved, except for Saffron, and he had it 
coming.....
dead include marital artist RYOUGA HIBIKI!!"

    "Knew that would get your attention."

    "But.. the contract said that-"

    "- I know. But it seems that somehow it has been broken. the Hibiki 
bloodline is no more. We'll dicuss this futher tomorrow. At the usual
place. I personally don't think that the beach is a perfect place for talk 
like this."

    'Scott' noticed all the men staring at his old friend. "You exposed your 
aura, didn't you?"

    "A girl has to have a little fun," she giggled, then walked off, the 
eyes of hormone-driven teenagers following her. 'Scott' pulled his eyes away
from her, something he found hard to do, even after all these years.

    "Farore, the Goddess of Courage, and the sexiest of the trio. At least 
that explains where all the demi-gods came from." He stood up and
walked back to his hotel.

    The holiday was over.

    End Part Three

***

    Matrix stepped out of the shadows, his eyes shining in the light

    "What can I say, I'm a little crazy. So, we have Ranma 1/2, Pokemon, 
Legend of Zelda, Ultima and Neon Genisis. I'm not going to add any
more, as I'm going to have a hard time keeping everything under control."

    "Seele and Kaji will be the only characters from NGE for quite some 
time, after all, Second Impact hasn't occured yet. Gendo and Yui may turn
up one day, if I can figure that bit out. No one will come over from the 
Ultima universe, but Link called it home for a few years, so it will have
some presense."

    "Pokemon? Ash and his friends will not be involved here, although it 
takes place a few years after their adventures. With this world,
Pokemon are found in many places, but since Tokyo became so large they have 
become rare in that region."

    "Genma will be leaving for a while and may return later. It depends on 
how I feel. Ryouga is gone for good, and I am not bringing him back.
Sorry to all his fans, but it was vital to the story."

    "Part four will include a meeting at the South Pole, a bit of ice 
skating, and the demon strikes again! It's all shaping up for the explosive 
end to
the first story arc in part five!"

Matrix Dragon
"Which is worse; Akane's cooking or an N2 Mine? Akane's cooking. At least 
with an N2 mine you'll probably die quickly."
"MATRIX NO BAKA!!" *WHAM!*
"Okay.... I've been using too many mallet jokes.... ow....."


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