The Manga.
Part 1:
My so called Strife.
It was morning and rather peaceful at that, Sixteen year old Duke Hibiki
sat up from his bed and smiled at the morning sun. He stretched his arms
and jumped out of the mattress to open the window across from his bed in
a single bound, he turned and spun through the air as he moved in a
complicated flip that gently pushed the glass panes open and let in a
gentle breeze. Reflexively he moved into his usual morning routine of a
series of stretches and exercises, the whole thing took about a half
hour. He stood and grinned at his reflection cheerfully before he grabbed
a towel and stepped out into the hallway.
He was a handsome young man and very cheerful, he was around six feet
tall and had a slim build, he was muscular but not overly large;
obviously he was built for speed. His messy brown hair hung down over his
face in long bangs, but it was cut very short in the back.
He frowned as his younger brother bolted from his room and charged into
the bathroom laughing merrily. "I got to it first butt wad!" cried the
boy from behind the door.
"Great, I need to practice first anyway." Duke moved down the hall
towards his intended destination from the beginning; a small dojo had
been made from the Garage. He stepped into the room and started a basic
karate kata.
A young girl stepped into the room and smiled at him, she was about
three years younger than he was and watched him intently. It was obvious
she had a crush on him, but he never seemed to notice; after a few
moments she spoke up. "I don't know why you bother practicing, we all
know what's going to happen when you get to school Duke."
"Good morning Katria," replied the boy as he finished up his kata. "It
could be the difference between victory and defeat; that's why I
practice." He spun in one of his trademark moves and grinned with a sort
of evil air. "Burning fist!"
He had gotten a rather odd reputation around the local martial art's
dojo's in the area; as of yet he was undefeated in battle. The one who
had come closest was named Ryu Kago, a Japanese national who had
transferred to the school to settle an old score with him from a
childhood fight. He also had the unusual habit of screaming the names of
his attacks before executing some of the flashier moves in his arsenal.
It stemmed from his hobby of collecting Japanese animation and manga, it
didn't do anything and the moves where nothing more than slightly
modified versions of simple moves, such as a spinning back fist; Duke
seemed to take special joy out of a battle when he used them. It was like
fulfilling a fantasy of sorts, as it was now his life was very similar to
an anime.
He was born in Florida until his father moved them to Japan for business
at the age of four; the man married within a year of his mother's
unfortunate death in a car accident in his fifth year of age. Duke was
adopted by the kindly Japanese woman and the family took her name, she
was a top executive for a large software company that had expanded to the
US.
During that time Duke had begun to study martial arts under an old
master who rarely took students, this caused much jealousy among many of
the local schools and he was often attacked, strangely enough he always
seemed to win in one way or another. He challenged all sorts of strange
opponents and eventually started using his 'Anime techniques' to
humiliate the challengers; then it got to the point where it was just fun
to do them in any fight.
He met Ryu Kago when he was ten, and the boy attempted to copy his
technique of calling the names of his attacks. The only difference was he
was a swordsman as well as a martial artist, Duke had quite a few close
battles with him before he finally defeated him undeniably when they
where thirteen.
His mother grew in status in her company and became head of the US
operations in California, he moved to a small quiet town just outside of
San Diego. Quiet until he became the target of a kidnapping plot by a
rival company; naturally it failed. He found that things grew worse from
there as his reputation grew, people challenged him, he was attacked by
all sorts of fighters and industrial espionage thugs; After a few months
Ryu showed up.
Then something terrible happened; his father was murdered, Duke took
revenge on his murderer, but his adoptive mother had changed. She wasn't
cold or cruel to him, she basically just ignored his existence and turned
her attention to her natural child with his father. He had grown up allot
in the past year since that tragic turn of events, things had quieted
down considerably, mostly he only fought with Ryu and a few scattered
martial artist; it looked like things where finally settling down.
It wasn't that he minded his step mother's attitude towards him, it hurt
a little, but he accepted things as they where. He just found life a
little easier being left alone, he had several girls trying to get his
attention and he had enough money from his father's will to live the life
of a martial artist for the rest of his life without working, hell he
could live the life of a prince without much worry. The girl's attention
brought more fights and more challenges; he liked girls, but he wasn't
really interested in them at the moment.
He moved out of the small training space and passed the starry eyed
little girl patting her on the head as he walked causing her to slump in
disappointment a little; she was cute for her age, she had short cut
black hair and dark blue eyes; at the moment she was waiting for his
younger brother to get ready so they could go to school, they had been
friends since moving to this town. She was a little bit of a tomboy, but
still pretty feminine. His brother seemed to think of her as a boy and it
bothered Duke a little.
He pulled his brother out of the way as he walked into the bathroom and
started to get ready for school. Within a half hour he was standing out
in the front yard waiting on the bus with a few other students next to a
blond haired boy in large thick glasses, he had a military hair cut and a
small black spot in his hair centered on his forehead.
"So, how will you defeat the cur this morning?" asked Phil calmly.
"Huh? Oh, you mean Ryu-sempai? The usual I guess." Duke crossed his arms
and leaned against a small tree that overshadowed the sign for the bus
stop.
"Well, I wish I could say it sounds exciting." said Phil flatly, the boy
didn't show much emotion; but he had become Duke's best friend in the few
years he had known him.
"If manga holds true, this is about the time we should have something
interesting happen to us." Duke stood up straight and smiled as the bus
pulled up and stopped.
At the gates of San Andrea High, Ryu Kago stood waiting calmly with his
Katana hanging at his side. He was dressed in a white silk kimono with a
large crane embroidered on the back, his long black hair blew
dramatically in the wind despite the white band holding it into a loose
pony tail.
"Well, he certainly looks cool today." Duke waved casually at him and
walked by receiving a nod of recognition from the boy.
Contrary to popular belief the two rarely fought their overly dramatic
battles more than once a week, "Ah, victory beckons once again." said
Duke with a grin as he turned to see Phil eating a small candy bar.
"Geeze, don't you do anything but eat? I don't know how you keep such a
figure the way you eat!"
"Ha ha. It takes allot of energy to think the way I do; as you said
another glorious victory on your part."
"Well, I don't know how these rumors get started, people really think we
do that every day?" Duke sat down beneath a tree to await the bells that
would start the day."
Phil only shrugged. "I'd like to know how he wears that sword to school
every day and never gets in trouble."
A dark shadow sat in the branches of the tree in the center of the
courtyard; his target sat directly below him and he smiled darkly. "Well,
that's the boy." he slipped down lower just above Duke and hunched down
in preparation to strike. "If I am to force those plans from the company
I must have him, then I can start my plans into motion and rule the
world." He jumped down and prepared to strike.
Duke was shocked as he was shoved aside by a white blur of motion in a
tackle that left him winded on the ground; he coughed and gasped for
breath as he staggered for a moment to face his attacker. Ryu was
standing with his back to him and his sword drawn, between him and a man
dressed in a strange black metallic armor rather like one of the boomers
from bubble gum crisis, instead of a skull was a helmet that left the
man's jaw exposed, his eyes where behind a black visor; he was also armed
with several guns and blades at various point on his body.
"What the hell" Duke managed to stand finally and stared at the two men
in confusion.
"Tell me who you are fiend! Why did you attack my sworn enemy, he is
mine! No one will defeat him until I have!" Ryu seemed pretty angry at
the moment and Duke could see why; there was a long slash in the tree
where he had been standing a few moments ago.
"I am called Dr. Metala, I must ask young Hibiki to come with me I'm
afraid." said the man calmly as he pulled some sort of lazer gun from his
side.
"Another kidnapping? Are you insane!" Duke stepped forward and got into
his own fighting stance. "Don't you people ever learn?"
"Kidnapping? My dear boy look at that tree, this is a murder. It is my
intention to send the pieces of you to your mother and threaten the rest
of your family if my demands are not met." the man stood calmly and
leveled the gun at Duke with an insane grin.
"What?!" said both boys as they charged forward and prepared to counter.
The world flashed a bright white and Ryu stumbled causing Duke to trip
over him with the bolt of energy from the gun sailing over their heads
harmlessly.
Duke stood immediately and took up a fighting stance spinning around
looking for his opponent in a rage; He stopped cold when he realized he
was not at the school, he was in somebody's bedroom. A small shrimpy
looking boy stood before him in absolute terror, "Y-your not
Katria-chan!" he whined pathetically.
"What the?" said Duke dumbly as he realized it was just him and the boy
in the room. "Who the hell are you?"
"I've got to put you back! This is terrible! I was supposed to go, not
the other way around!" the boy rushed forward with a nail and a hammer in
his hands. Duke punched him dead in the face and jumped out of the window
into the street. "What the hell?! This guy is nuts!"
It didn't take him long to figure out he was in Japan, his clothes where
relatively normal; the same as he always went out in; He was wearing a
pair of blue jeans and a plain white shirt with a flannel jacket; his
dark sunglasses hung out of his shirt pocket and a single ink pen sat
beside them. The people around him stared in confusion and disgust and he
couldn't figure out why; a few of them where even laughing at him as they
passed. Only one question passed through his mind "How the hell did I end
up here?"
He was wandering around looking for some sort of bearing on exactly
where he was when the strangest thing happened. A boy dressed exactly
like Ranma Saotome walked by him on the street and smiled laughing a
little. "Nice costume!" he said as he walked, with that he spun around in
a few complicated kicks as he moved that where obviously meant to show
off.
"Who are you to talk?" muttered Duke flatly as he continued. "Must be
some weird party or something."
He stopped in front of a large 'grand opening' sign and sat down on the
curb, behind him was a restaurant with a large crowd in front of it made
up of young children and slightly older boys and girls in their teens; as
near as he could tell he was fairly close to Tokyo; perhaps he could get
in touch with his mother's offices there and get a little help. An old
man rushed out to him, "What are you doing?! Get in here your late
already!" The man pulled Duke to his feet and shoved him against the wall
lightly.
"Thank god you showed up, they are gonna lynch me!" cried the man
angrily.
"What? This is a lynch mob?" Duke wasn't sure what was going on.
"Just do what I paid you to do!" cried the man as he threw his arms up
in the air. "Entertain these kids!"
"What am I a baby sitter?"
"No way are you getting more money out of me kid! Just do your job!"
cried the old man angrily.
"You haven't paid me a dime! I'm not the guy your looking for!" Duke was
getting upset and this man was pushing his luck faster with each moment.
"Look your the Duke Hibiki impersonator right?" snorted the old man as
he glanced at the crowd by the doors of the restaurant; the old man had
pushed the conversation into a door way and they could not see them. He
appeared nervous at the moment.
"I am not an impersonator!" cried Duke in shock, "What the hell are you
talking about?"
"Funny, now here, it's ten thousand yen! Do your job!" the old man
shoved money into his chest and Duke held it in confusion.
"This guy is nuts! Money is money though, I can go out there and pretend
to be me for an hour or so." Duke could not believe his luck.
He stepped out from behind the door way and walked towards the crowd.
"Here goes. Uh, Hi. I'm Duke Hibiki, you wanted to see me?" he smiled and
was frozen in fear as a few angry parents turned to see him. The children
where a different story, they barreled towards him like a herd of buffalo
screaming and squealing, a few of the teenage girls seemed disappointed,
others where almost too happy.
"I was hoping for the older Hibiki-chan." said one of the girls near to
Duke.
"Wow are you really him?" cried one of the children gleefully.
"No you retard it's a guy they paid to dress like him, it's still cool
though! I want a job like that, you get to pretend to be a hero!" a
slightly older boy moved forward and stood proud with his vastly superior
knowledge of the facts.
"Hero? What the hell are you talking about kid?" said Duke as the
situation became stranger and stranger.
"Cool it even sounds like him!" cried one of the little girls in the
back. Her mother blushed slightly and shushed her.
The kid grew slightly annoyed with Duke. "Haven't you even seen it?
Everyone watches it! If your gonna dress up like someone you should at
least watch the show!"
"Show? I've been in America for a while kid enlighten me." Duke leaned
down with a predatory smile.
"It's only the most popular show in Japan! Duke Hibiki! Karate Master!"
the kid performed a few clumsy punches. "I bet you don't even know
Hibiki-samma's wife's name!"
"Wife? I'm sixteen years old, I'm not married!" Duke was getting very
unnerved by all of this. "They made a show about me and I didn't even
know? What the hell is going on here? I'd better be getting some
royalties or something!"
A few of the parents laughed a little at this; Duke smiled and turned
back to the children. "Well my little know it all, what if I really am
Duke Hibiki?"
The boy stared belligerently, "You probably don't even know martial
arts, Hibiki-sama did em since he was a kid."
"I've achieved my tenth dan in Karate-do." Duke performed a few kicks
and did a back flip to show off. The other kids 'ooohed'. The boy was
undaunted however, "What about the special moves? If you where really
Hibiki-sama you could do the burning fist, no one could really do that,
so I know your a fake." This confused Duke a little, even if this kid did
know about the 'Burning Fist' it was just a spinning back hand with a
little more flash to it.
"Sure I can do it," He spun around and screamed "Burning Fist!" A Flash
of orange surrounded his fist and an arc of flames shot from his arm as
he spun and left a trail of light in his path, he finished the move and
his arm cooled down immediately leaving a few strands of steam. The kid
and a few of the parents stepped back in shock, everyone started to clap
as Duke simply watched his arm in awe. "What the?!" he said quietly and
stood up as the people clapped at what they thought was a magic show.
He turned and looked at them in silent horror, "Where the hell am I?" he
thought as he jumped onto the roof of the restaurant and dashed away into
the streets.
Duke stared at the pages of the phone book and settled down to face
reality, "The company is either gone, or it never existed. This is not my
world, how did I get here? What the hell is going on? Why am I here?"
He walked around the streets a little more hoping to get an exact
position on where in the Tokyo area he was, the Phone book said Nerima
district, but it didn't really look much like it to him. "I guess I'd
better trust it and find out how I'm gonna get home."
It was just a corner like one of the many others he had turned around
over the past few hours; the night had been long and boring but he had
continued his search despite the late hour in the hopes of finding some
sort of clue about getting home, he was not expecting to run into a
morning jogger the way he did; right into her face as a matter of fact.
Duke frowned as she fell on her butt rather unglamorously, she grunted
and he offered his hand to help her up. "Sorry, I wasn't looking..." The
girl grabbed his arm and flipped him over her shoulder in anger.
"Leave me alone!" Duke righted himself in the air and landed on his feet
looking at the girl in shock.
"What the hell are you doing you psycho?! I was trying to apologize!" he
cried in English.
The girl turned and looked at him in confusion, "Gaigin?"
"Yea, wanna make somethin of it?" replied Duke indignantly as he looked
her up and down, she was cute real cute, but unfortunately she was also
very familiar.
"Otaku." she turned in disgust and started to jog away.
"I do believe I've just been blown off by Akane Tendo." Duke watched her
turn the corner and frowned as he placed his hand to his chin
thoughtfully. "Interesting, first Ranma and now this..." a dark smile
formed on his lips as he turned to follow her.
By the time they reached the Tendo Dojo he was not surprised at all to
find it existed. Akane's path had lead him by both Ucchan's and the Cat
Cafe. Duke was not happy at the moment, "how the hell did I end up here?"
His mood was improving with each moment as things started to become
clear.
He stood before the gates of the Tendo Dojo for a long moment before
stepping back and watching the house from a short distance away. Ranma
walked by a few moments after his arrival and looked at him for a moment
on his way to school, Duke suspected he jumped over the wall from the
back yard on his way out because Akane walked out of the front gate and
looked at him a little angrily. Duke shrugged his shoulders and followed
behind them, he wasn't sure just yet about what to do, following these
two was really nothing more than a way to pass the time at the moment.
"They could be helpful, I don't know what brought me here, I doubt if
Gosunkugi could do it on his own." he had realized who the boy was at the
house he had come here in a short while ago when things started to fall
into place. He had also not failed to notice the amount of merchandise
with his image on it and the strange looks he was getting on the street.
Children seemed to think it was alright, but the adults where either
unnerved or amused by him and he was getting a little tired of being a
spectacle. "It may be to my advantage to keep my appearance for now,
especially if I have to convince someone of my identity."
Duke failed to notice Ranma sneaking up behind him, "Why are you
following us?" asked the boy. Duke jumped slightly and smiled.
"Because your in front of me of course, if you where behind me you would
be following me."
"You know what I meant fan boy." Ranma was becoming angry and Duke
wasn't sure how to answer the question just yet.
"Who are you callin a fan boy?" growled Duke as belligerently as
possible.
"Did you think it made you look cool? You stick out like a sore thumb
following us dressed like that." Akane stepped up beside Ranma and
cracked her knuckles.
"I am not dressed up." replied Duke flatly. "I'll have you know I've
dressed this way for years!"
"Look pal we don't want no trouble Ok?" Ranma snorted and turned away
from Duke towards Akane.
"See you around Ranma," said Duke as he turned in the opposite
direction.
"Ranma, he knows you?" said Akane as the boy continued walking off.
"I've never met him." Ranma glared daggers at Dukes back and the boy
stopped cold.
"I know you too Akane Tendo, ya wanna make somethin of it?" he turned
and stared them down.
"Oh, I get it, you think your really him." Ranma smiled a little as he
said this and turned away from Duke dragging Akane towards the school. "I
got enough weirdo's in my life thanks."
Duke realized this was the perfect opportunity, not only because this is
how hero's usually meet in a cross over; also because everyone seemed to
know his so called 'signature moves' he could prove he was really Duke
Hibiki.
"It's just some stupid cartoon show anyway, kid stuff." Ranma pulled
Akane along behind him and she seemed flushed. "No wonder Akane likes it
so much."
Akane jerked away from him, "What's that supposed to mean?" she screamed
as she belted him over the head with her bag.
"Wha'd ya do that for?" retorted Ranma angrily.
"I know you watch that show every week Ranma! You think you can hide it
by going to Ucchans to watch it occasionally? You've never missed an
episode!" Akane was suitably pissed off. "I sure didn't buy all those
video's of the show!"
"Uh..." Duke was uncertain of what to do, but he was enjoying this a
little.
"Those are Nabiki's tapes! Why ya gotta be so uncute about it?" Ranma
was halfway between confused and angry; it was painfully obvious he
didn't know what he'd done.
"RANMA YOU JERK!" cried Akane in anger but her foot stopped cold as it
met Duke's hand just beside Ranma's head.
"This is all very entertaining, but I do believe we have business to
discuss." said the boy as he shoved her leg to the ground. "You can beat
up on your fianc�e later."
Ranma and Akane jumped away in shock, "Who the hell are you?"
"Why, I'm Duke Hibiki, and I need help to find out why I'm here and how
to get home. Most things of this nature center around you two in this
area as of late and I'm afraid this probably does too."
"Your nuts!" said Ranma angrily as he relaxed his stance.
"I can prove it to you if you'd like." Duke took up a solid Karate
stance opposite Ranma and stood there motionless. "Well?"
"I ain't gonna fight no nut job!" retorted Ranma as he turned away.
"Turning down a challenge? How unlike you, it seems a bit odd that you
would do something like that in front of everyone."
Ranma froze in place and then slowly turned around. Duke continued to
taunt him, "What would everyone think? Ranma Saotome, the coward?" He
knew he was pushing his luck, but if he could get into the little martial
arts circle with his real identity intact he had a better chance of
finding out what had happened to him quickly. "After all this sort of
thing rarely last more than a few episodes."
"Fine, have it your way." said Ranma as he took up a stance in the
street, a small crowd of students where gathering around them from the
school yard that was within sight of the battle.
Duke was the first to react, he rushed forward full speed and threw a
punch he knew would be blocked, to his surprise it still sent Ranma back
a few feet. Ranma was surprised to say the least, he wasn't expecting him
to be a real fighter, just some hallucinating fan boy.
Duke rushed to press his advantage and spun to a stop sending his fist
in a wide arc that took Ranma across the face. "Burning Fist!"
Ranma was laid out on the pavement and sent sliding across the asphalt,
he jumped back onto his feet and stared at Duke in shock. "Come get
some." said the boy to him.
Ranma looked at him and got into a fighting stance again, this time he
was prepared. "I don't care who you are!" he roared as he charged forward
blindly. Duke tried to block all the punches and failed miserably, he
staggered back under the force of the blows and gasped for breath. "Well,
I guess I have to overpower you then." he grumbled as he realized they
where well past the chestnut fist story line.
"Slashing Uppercut!" screamed Duke as is fist became a ball of white
light and slammed into Ranma's jaw despite being blocked, the pig tailed
boy was sent sailing into the air and flipped into a recovery only to
find Duke was already moving in on him in a jumping side kick. "Mirror
Kick!" screamed the boy as he seemed to appear behind Ranma at the same
time and then vanish in front of him leaving the illusions of two of him
in the air; Ranma jerked back and slammed into the ground as if he had
been struck by a powerful blow that had not been seen. Duke turned
shakily as he landed and faced Ranma down, if the boy got up he only had
one card left to play, and he wasn't sure if he could do it just yet.
Ranma struggled to his feet and laughed, "That wasn't so tough," it was
obvious he could barely stand. Duke smiled, he was not looking good, but
he was in far better shape than Ranma was; he walked over to the
pigtailed boy with a pronounced limp and smiled warmly. "You need more
techniques than the chestnut fist to beat me Ranma, your speed is
unmatched and I commend you on your skills; this fight is over."
"I'm not down yet." snarled Ranma as he swooned slightly.
"I don't need to fight you anymore Ranma, you know I'm telling the
truth." said Duke calmly.
"We are going to finish this." spat Ranma as he put up his fist and hit
the boy with a hard right hook. Duke's ruse ended and he collapsed on the
ground, Ranma smiled and passed out, "I...won."
Akane rushed to Ranma's side and picked him up in her arms. "You stupid
jerk!"
"Not half as stupid as I am." muttered Duke as he staggered to his feet.
"I shouldn't have gotten that close to him in my condition."
"You, how dare you! I..." Akane stopped as she realized that Ranma had
lost the fight.
"Come on, I think we should visit Dr.Tofu." said Duke calmly as he
staggered back towards the clinic. "Now that is out of the way, I think I
could become good friends with a man like him."
Akane stopped in her tracks as she had begun to realize that everyone
was staring at them, some of them where in shock and others where
slapping themselves as if they where dreaming. It took her a minute to
figure out why, this man really was Duke Hibiki. The most popular anime
hero in history had just beaten the crap out of her fianc�e and now he
wanted to be friends; in an odd way, it made sense.
Tofu was a little unnerved by the large crowd outside his office,
"Shouldn't they be in school?"
Akane frowned as Ranma sat and watched with a sort of humble pouting.
"At least it wasn't Kuno." he muttered to himself.
"I've got allot more active combat experience Ranma." Duke allowed his
arm to be bandaged; he sat and smiled at them cheerfully.
"I suppose, I've just been training, but you've been fighting for your
life since you where little, right?" Ranma was not happy with being
beaten and Duke didn't think he'd rest much until he did defeat him.
"I think that's the basic difference between us, that and the fact that
the people who try to kill me don't try to marry me after a while, I just
get even more people trying to kill me." Duke frowned as he thought about
the vicious cycle of his life over the past ten years or so.
"Marry?" asked Ranma in confusion.
"Sure, I know all about you Ranma, every thing from your enemies to your
curse; probably more than you know about yourself; your like I am here on
my world." Duke smiled as the doctor ignored the conversation and spoke
to him.
"You should be more careful, dressing up like a martial arts anime is
bound to attract unwanted attention."
"Dr.Tofu, this really is Duke Hibiki." said Akane quietly.
"Oh, is that so?" said the Dr. it was obvious he was humoring them.
"I don't care if he believes me or not, the important thing is I have
you two believing me. That means I can move pretty freely around the
martial arts circle in this area. I also need a place to stay for a
while." Duke frowned and looked thoughtful. "Cat Cafe has Mousse staying
there, that's out...Ucchan's probably hasn't been established enough to
hire extra help yet."
"You could stay with me I suppose, I mean I could use an experienced
doctor. If what you say is true then..." Tofu smiled slightly. "I have an
extra room and my previous boarder went to work for her family."
"Oh, yes...You mean Shampoo! I hadn't thought of that!" Duke slapped his
fist into his palm. "Wait. Did you say experienced Doctor?" Duke froze
and stared at the man a little nervously.
"Yes, you went to medical school three seasons ago didn't you?" Tofu
smiled brightly at the boy.
"I'm sixteen years old! I'm not even out of high school!" Duke was
perplexed. "They know more about my life than I do by now! Medical
School?! I'd hate being a doctor!"
Akane laughed a little, "Silly, we know you just did it so you could be
with K..." Ranma grabbed her shoulder and shook his head no.
"So I could be with? A girl? I'd become a doctor for a girl? Must be one
hell of a woman." Duke hung his head in his hands and frowned deeply.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have." stammered Akane as she blushed deeply.
"Don't be, you aren't the only one who knows what happens in someone
else's life. I know what's going to happen to both you and Ranma until
you the day the two of you get married." Duke gave them both a knowing
smile.
"We...get married?" said Akane as she glanced over to Ranma nervously.
"Who said anything about who you marry?" Duke glared at the both of them
and they both seemed to collapse as the tension ended suddenly. "The both
of you have quite a bit to go through before you even have to imagine
that happening."
Ranma and Akane left Duke at the office and said their good-byes. "I'll
see you both tomorrow; Believe me we need to talk, there is no way I can
keep you from being involved; everything like this in Nerima centers
around you two; this has to be something or somebody you know or are
going to meet."
"What do you think Akane?" asked Ranma after a long walk of silence.
"About him? He could be a clever impersonator, but I doubt it. He knows
too much about us. I don't like that very much, it worries me."
"I agree, but if we can help him get home we must." Ranma frowned and
jumped down beside her.
"Why should we? I like the show and everything, but he seems so
different when he's really here! He's kind of a jerk." Akane held herself
in a sort of uncomfortable moment.
"Akane, have you seen that show? He's a hundred times worse than our
lives could ever be! We can't deal with the sort of trouble he'll attract
here! Espionage, murder, alien invasion, and worse! Sure he wins in the
end and it's not usually caused by him, but lots of people die in that
show! Akane? What if he brings it with him?" Ranma frowned and stuck his
hands in his pockets. "Or worse yet, what if he gets stuck here and isn't
there to stop it in his own world? He's only sixteen years old right now
Akane! Most of the really bad stuff hasn't happened to him yet."
"Ranma?" gasped Akane in shock.
"I've thought about it myself, what if I'm not here to stop something
terrible from happening? How would I deal with it? I can understand how
badly he wants to get back, even if it doesn't seem like it to you; and
then there's what you said, what if something came with him? What if an
alien race attacks us and starts killing people? Can we blame it on him?
It's not his fault Akane, he doesn't even know how he got here, you heard
him back there."
"We don't know if it's even really him Ranma." Akane stopped and the
words seemed distant to her. "Let's be realistic here, the most popular
fictional character in decades just shows up one day in the middle of
Nerima? It seems a little off to me."
"Well, I had no idea you two where so deep. Quite interesting
deductions, even if they are wrong. I suppose you could call me an alien
of sorts, but I doubt if I bring these races of destruction upon your
planet that you won't be begging me for help." Duke stepped from the
shadows and smiled at them.
"You followed us?!" snapped Ranma angrily.
"Relax, I have as much reason as you to be suspicious. This could be
some sort of dream or a trap, I was in a fight when this happened to me.
It was against some sort of black metal armored guy, a poor description
at best, but I only saw him for a second when I was brought here."
"You where fighting Dr. Metala?" Ranma looked confused.
"You know who he is?" Duke looked hopeful.
"Sure he was the first major villain after you grew up, it was after the
end of the Duke-chan series, when it became more serious." Ranma looked a
little perplexed.
"Well, it seems my life is more along the lines of Dragon Ball than this
place, interesting." he scratched at his chin a little and walked up to
the pair.
"I need to see this Manga of yours, up to the point in my life where I
fought this thing you call Dr. Metala. It's rather important I find out
just how close they are, do either of you know where I can get a hold of
this manga?" Duke smiled a little and crossed his arms.
"My sister has the whole thing, she's a big fan." Akane was a little
reluctant at first but she brightened up. "She'd love to meet you."
"Akane, you don't have to pretend you like me. I know I'm imposing on
you and I am sorry, but you two are my only hope right now! I have no
clues, no friends or money, and no identity here. The moment I think what
I'm doing is unnecessary or if I find a way to get through this without
you I will. Until that time your just going to have to put up with me,
I'd rather be friendly about it, but I'm almost sure this involves you;
besides, Ranma won't let me leave until we have had a rematch."
Duke winked at the both of them and walked away whistling merrily to
himself. "Wow, if he's an actor he's really good." noted Akane out loud.
"Next time you won't win, I don't care how famous you are." Ranma had a
strange smile on his face as he said this and he turned back towards the
Tendo Dojo with Akane smiling like that until they reached the home.
TBC.....
C&C to CarrotGlace@juno.com
This is a fic that I wrote just for fun it is intended as a comedy and
an parody of a self insertion; This guy is supposed to seem perfect
outwardly; After all, he's Ranma's favorite Manga character after all. I
had fun with this and parodied several movies while writing it. [Ch. 1-6
are finished as of now] This was intentional so don't flame me for
stealing things blatantly, after all that's what half of fanfiction is
all about isn't it?
P.S. in case you didn't catch it the title [and the plot] is a -very-
loosely based joke on the Matrix.
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