Carrot Glace, a poor victim of the "This idea won't leave me alone"
syndrome. Here is my latest, and most original Ranma fic to date.
Ranma 1/2
Liquid Fighter Gold!
Prologue...
Liquid fighters, the newest sport to take the world by storm.
Created by German scientist Ludwig Von Krugen in 1965, it involves using
special units that when attached to the nervous system of a human give
that person the ability to control the Liquid Units. The Unit itself is a
semi-solid holographic image that can perform feats no human could
possibly match, they can in any situation at any time. These super
powered Units can do no real damage to property and cannot harm human
beings in any way because of their semi-solid form. However their
usefulness is not discounted as various models are created for labor work
and public service.
The result being their popular use in street fights and betting matches.
Unfortunately the superior units, known as Liquid fighters also take a
tremendous will and total concentration to manipulate beyond very basic
functions. People like this are rare, and the units themselves are
expensive keeping only a select few individuals who can own one. These
fighters often never reach near the potential of the units, but on the
very rare occasion that it does happen, the controller may attempt to
prove his or her worth by competing in the ultimate tournament.
The Liquid Fighter Gold competition, with a cash prize of more than ten
million US dollars. This event is run by a US company and is held in a
specialized mega-dome in Tokyo each year. Legends are born and fall there
as the brutal competitions test the abilities of the contestants to the
limit.
The year is 1982, now another legend is about to be born...
Ranma Saotome sat waiting for his father to return, he had gone into a
nearby town and left him sitting here on a rock, alone. "How long is he
gonna take?" muttered the boy lazily as he licked his fingers clean of
the Okonomiyaki sauce. He snorted to himself as he lay back staring at
the sky through the treetops that lined the side of the path. "I wish
Ucchan didn't have to leave so soon."
Genma Saotome walked lazily from a ramen booth patting his stomach. "I
would have brought the boy with me, but he has to learn the hardships of
the road if he wants to be a true martial artist." The explanation was
enough to quiet his conscience as he strolled back towards the path out
of town with a single apple in his hand for his son. He had more money to
buy food with if need be, but it was unnecessary to tell the boy about
it. Suddenly he passed by the window of a small pawnshop and stared into
the window. "Is that what I think it is?" he wondered out loud.
The proprietor of the store stopped sweeping and smiled to himself.
"Yea, it's a liquid unit. Combat model too, unfortunately it's useless
without the machine to put it inside of the body. I'm sorry I bought the
damn thing. Who would be fool enough to put it in manually? You'd have to
slice someone's back open and risk paralyzing them. No self-respecting
company will install one that they didn't sell you either. It's just a
worthless hunk of junk." He eyed Genma carefully and smiled to himself as
the man turned to face him.
"Maybe I can take it off your hands?"
Genma whistled to himself as he strolled along the path towards his son,
in his hands was a bottle of Sake and on his back was a leather bag with
the unit inside. "Tonight Ranma, you drink well!" laughed the man
cheerfully.
The next morning...
Ranma Saotome lay in tears as his body refused to move, he had been this
way since he had woken up. All he remembered was his father giving him
some strange tasting drink and practically forcing it down his throat.
After about an hour he passed out, when he woke up, his entire body was
on fire and his head felt like it was about to explode. He looked up
lazily and realized he was moving, glancing down at his feet he saw that
Genma had created a stretcher of sorts and was dragging him along behind
him.
"Pop?" whimpered the boy pathetically.
"Oh, so you're awake son?" said the man merrily.
"Ow, don't talk pop, my back..." whispered the boy.
Genma roared with laughter that sent waves of aching pain into the boy's
head. "Don't worry about it son! It's just a hang over, it'll feel better
in a few days!"
Ranma's eyes went wide as he unwisely shouted out in alarm. "DAYS?!"
"That's right son, take it like a man!" said the elder Saotome with a
dark look in his eyes.
Genma cheerfully continued on his way dragging the boy behind him. In
truth it would probably be another month before he could start to train
him again, but now they had a way to fund the training trip. With Ranma
possessing a real Liquid Fighter, they could easily make enough money to
travel around with. Once he got the boy trained with it, but that
couldn't take very long; besides, his son was sure to have the mental
abilities to control such a unit. He was a Saotome after all.
"Pop, who's that following us?" said the boy groggily.
Genma froze and slowly turned around, "I hope it's not that Konji kid
again," he thought, the man had been pressing on him to engage Ranma and
the girl together. He didn't see any real incentive to do so with the
Tendo Dojo in his future.
Standing behind them was a young red haired girl of about ten years old.
She stared blankly at them and stopped. "Who are you? Are you lost?" said
Genma gently.
The girl blinked and stared at him. "What is your designation?"
"What?" asked the man in confusion.
The girl stared at him in an unnerving emotionless daze. "What is your
designation?"
Genma stepped back and turned around with a shrug continuing onward with
the boy in tow. The girl continued to follow them silently. The man
frowned as she sped up her pace and walked along beside Ranma staying no
more than a few feet away from him. The boy looked bewildered but not
very upset by her.
Finally despite the pain involved he spoke to her. "Who are you? Why are
you followin us?"
"Designation, Combat Unit 000371, you are designated operator," replied
the girl in a soft emotionless voice.
Genma froze and slowly turned to look at her. "You're the Liquid Unit?"
"Yes," replied the girl.
The older man frowned slightly at the sight of the girl. "I remember
now, you have to develop the unit! Train it!" he mentally slapped himself
and frowned at her. In time she would grow a personality based off of her
son's emotional pattern. Suddenly an idea formed in the back of his mind.
"Oh, I remember now! Son, this girl is uhh...Ranko! She'll be your
sparing partner!"
The boy blinked and tried his best to pay attention despite the pain in
his back. "He is suffering from the insertion of the unit more than
normal, perhaps anesthetic should be administered," said the girl looking
up at Genma expectantly.
"We don't have any," replied the man with a frown. "My son can take the
pain, it's training."
"I do not understand," replied the girl simply. She did not push the
matter any further.
"So, you're Ranko huh?" said the boy weakly offering his new friend a
smile.
"Is that this unit's designation?" said the girl calmly. It didn't
really sound much like a question.
"What a weirdo," muttered Ranma as he closed his eyes and tried to go
back to sleep while he could.
A few months pass...
Ranma jumped into the air and was struck square in the chest as the girl
performed a complicated air punch that slammed into his chest. He felt a
slight pushing against his chest and frowned as he returned the blow with
a full force strike to the girl's head. "That is another point for me,"
said the girl mechanically.
Genma noticed a small smile on her lips, she started doing that after
about a week of operation. The boy took some convincing in order to get
him to train with her, he didn't realize that she wasn't real at first
and still had some doubts.
"Pop, how come I gotta fight this girl?" snapped the boy a little
bitterly.
"Son, you know she isn't a girl, she isn't even real!" the man scratched
his head and sighed. "Besides, if you lose it's your own fault, you're
the one making her beat you."
The boy blinked and looked at the girl silently for a moment. He knew
every move she was going to make and yet somehow it still got through to
him.
The old man smiled to himself as he realized it was a wonderful idea to
allow Ranma to train with the unit. He still sparred with the boy on his
own of course, but this way Ranma didn't have to pull his punches no
matter how good he got. The unit was easily his son's better at the
moment and probably would always be that way. It still gave him a sense
of pride that the boy could even keep up with the base unit functions. He
had heard that it was impossible to do so for just a normal human.
"Get back to work boy! Don't be lazy!" snapped the man as he realized
his son had stopped training in order to inspect his partner out of
curiosity. Genma turned to see his son putting his hand through the
girl's chest and laughing to himself.
"It feel's weird pop!" he cried cheerfully before jumping back and
taking up a combat stance.
"Are you prepared?" asked the girl.
"Anytime!" retorted the boy as he rushed forward.
Genma Saotome stood directly across from the group of construction
workers holding Ranma by the shoulder. The small red haired girl waited
patiently nearby in clothes exactly like the boy's with a blank
expression on her face.
One of the larger men stepped forward and smiled at the boy slamming a
wad of money on the table. "This kid? You're on old man!"
A hulking man appeared behind him dressed in a bright orange vest with a
gaze that matched Ranma's unit easily. He was probably around eight feet
tall and appeared to be made of nothing but muscle. The two older men
realized that he wasn't really made from anything at all, but the boy
gaped at him in shock.
"Pop! Ranko can't beat him! He's huge!" said the boy as he pulled at the
bottom of his dogi.
Genma frowned and leaned next to the boy. "Ranma, Ranko can't be hurt!
She's not real. Now come on boy, she's just as strong as he is, he just
looks that way because he's a construction unit!"
Ranma got a determined look on his face as he turned back towards Ranko,
"You can do it!"
She looked at him blankly for a moment. "This unit is superior in
strength and stamina, our speed is the only way to win."
Ranma blinked and pat her on the back, "Right, how about we just hit
him?"
"That is acceptable," replied the girl simply.
A moment later the two units stood facing each other in the center of
the construction lot. Two round golden bars appeared in the air over the
boy and the construction worker's head. The older man sat cross-legged
deep in concentration as his unit put its fists up. Ranma looked at him
blankly and frowned. "What's he doing pop?"
"I don't know boy," replied Genma with a shrug.
The man started to get a strained look on his face as the battle began.
Ranma merely stood there relaxed and watched.
Rakno jumped aside as the much larger unit's fist slammed into the
ground creating a dust cloud. She pulled back and kicked him in the face
knocking a small amount of yellow away on the construction worker's bar.
It was replaced by a red portion of bar of the same color. This continued
for several moments while Ranko jumped around dodging the construction
unit's blows easily as it attempted to box her. Her face was calm
throughout the battle even after the unit picked up a board to use as a
weapon. Raising her arm she blocked a strike from the unit's weapon and
Ranma looked up to see a tiny portion of his own bar was gone.
However, since the construction worker had picked up the board the
operator's face had grown red as he strained for some strange reason.
The boy jumped up and cheered as his unit punched the larger one in the
gut knocking off another small portion of it's energy leaving it with a
small amount.
Suddenly the Construction unit lashed out with a powerful blow that sent
Ranko flying across the construction yard. Ranma looked up in shock as
almost half of his energy bar vanished in an instant. "What? No way!" he
growled and stared the man down noticing a smirk on his face despite the
amount of strain he was putting out.
Ranma felt a strange rage boil up inside of him and Ranko shot back
across the lot like a bullet. She sailed over the counter strike into a
kick that slammed into the hulking construction unit's face sending it to
the ground. In what appeared like a wave of energy the unit vanished from
the field and appeared behind the construction worker as he let out a
breath and almost fell over in exhaustion.
The boy walked over to Ranko and smiled at her. "How come you lost so
much energy? That's not fair!"
"I must build stamina, speed, strength, and skill. That is the way these
games are played," she looked over at the other unit and said nothing
more.
"He doesn't even look hurt!" said Ranma in annoyance.
Ranko replied again. "Units cannot be damaged, clothing and battle
damage is only used for show; to make matches more interesting. Once the
battle is over all systems are returned to normal."
"Oh, that's good I guess," said the boy simply. He walked over to where
his father was standing with the men. The were arguing with him angrily.
"I'm telling you man, there's no way that kid was controlling that unit!
He didn't even break a sweat! This is some kind of scam!" cried one of
the man's fellow workers bitterly.
"Are you implying that my boy..." started Genma as he lifted the man by
his shirt.
"You're damn right!" snapped the man angrily unafraid.
"Shut up!" snapped the tired looking man who had faced Ranma. "I've seen
this before."
Everyone became deathly silent. "This boy isn't cheating, he's gifted. I
wouldn't be surprised if I saw him in the Liquid Gold a few years from
now."
"What do you mean?" asked Genma as he dropped the man.
"Your son can control the unit without much effort, I've heard of
prot�g�'s like him before. Supposedly there's even a boy in China who can
control his well enough to spar with it. You've got quite a fighter
there, and with a combat unit to boot. Old man, you have no idea what
you've just stumbled onto do you?" the man smiled and faced Ranma who
didn't quite understand what the big deal was.
"Good enough to spar with his own unit you say?" he looked over at Ranma
and saw yen signs hanging around the boy's head.
"No freaking way! That's just some stupid tabloid story!" snapped one of
the other workers as he walked away in disgust.
The man handed Genma his money and turned on the men around him. "Get
back to work! Break's over!"
TBC... C&C required to keep this one going as well. There's no point in
writing it if there is no interest.
This is what I got when I crossed Ranma 1/2, with Pokemon and Variable
Geo. Tres strange no? Anyway, it'll be a good story once I get it going.
A lot of characterizations will change and things will be mixed up
despite the inclusion of the trip to the Tendo house and the appearance
of the rivals. You might understand once I get to Ryoga in a few
chapters. This will also change the China trip some as well.
For once a genuinely original Ranma idea.