In fact, he probably wouldn't have believed it if it was being proven right in front of his face.
The weresmilodon's eyebrow twitched more as water ran down his head. "Aren't you tired of this, yet?"
Julia look down at him from her position: standing on the bed, holding a teapot of hot water. "Not really; it's pretty interesting even after the first twenty changes," she remarked, causing Ranma to groan, then glower after Julia picked up a pitcher of cold water and dumped it on him.
"Trust me, Julia, it stops being interesting after a while," she growled between her teeth. It probably would have been a bit more threatening if she wasn't in her cute human form.
The aura mage looked at the pitchers and buckets that were scattered around the floor. "Dear... I think you've had enough for now. Besides," he pointed out, "our bed's being ruined."
The warrior merely rolled her eyes as she hopped off the bed. "Theo, the bed was ruined hours before," she said lightly, before bending over to begin gathering up several of the containers. "No you two help me out here."
Ranma rolled her eyes, though relieved that she was finally done. "You made the mess, you clean it up." Theo deigned to respond, due to the fact that he was busying himself with watching Julia's shapely...
"Message-for-Ranma-Saotome!" a voice called out rapidly, causing the three to jump up in... alarm. Quickly regaining their composure, they turned, ready to fight, only to see...
Probably one of the strangest figures they had ever seen, except for Ranma, who had meetings with divinity before. The man standing before them appeared young, though that could be denied by his ageless qualities and eyes; his body was tanned and slim, though obviously a runner. He wore a plain white shirt, and white shorts, with a pack that seemed to be full of documents. Probably the strangest thing about the man, however, was the fact that he was wearing an ancient styled helmet and sandals, both with wings on them, and a strange staff capped with a stylized set of wings.
Of coure, there his rapid manner of speaking was odd, as well. "Huh-so-you-really-are-Wonderboy-aren't-you-you're-really-popular-with-all-of-the-chaotic-gods-up-there-they-were-kinda-pissed-when-Bastet-got-her-paws-on-you-"
The man finally seemed to notice the stunned looks on the three mortals. "Oh, sorry," he said, seemingly straining to speak at this slower rate. "The name's Mercury," he said, sketching a short bow, before continuing with, "God of Travel, Thievery, and Communication, 1st Class Unlimited, Greek Pantheon, Head of Divine Communications Department." This admitedly slower, though just as confusing, introduction had all three blinking.
"... God?" Theo managed out. The dark haired god grinned.
"Yep, just one of a couple hundred," Mercury responded, glad that the mortals finally caught up with him. "I'm here to relay some news to 'Wonderboy', here," he continued, jerking a thumb at Ranma, who was still lost around the pantheon part.
Mercury took a deep breath, then began, in a businesslike voice unlike the one he was speed talking with second earlier. "Approximately three hours, eleven minutes, and," he paused a bit to pull out a golden pocket watch and study it, "... fifty-four seconds ago, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Diggers of Decatur, Georgia, United States of America, Earth, Asgard, and child were attacked by Mr. Jonathan Diggers, who was turned into a lich by a magical experiment. Mr. Ranma Saotome, avatar of Bastet, intervened, and helped banish Mr. J. Diggers. Mr. J. Diggers, before banishment, fired a specially made death spell, intended for his son, Theodore."
Here, he paused for the sudden gasp by the three others.
"Mr. Saotome intercepted the spell, which, if left alone, would have banished him to his home dimension. This would have interfered with his prime directive, so his 'mistress', Bastet, Goddess of Cats, Women, and Fertility, 1st Class Unlimited, Egyptian Pantheon, instituted changes in the magical coding placed within his body upon his installment as her avatar. Several complications forced Bastet to destroy several codes with Ranma's matrix, which include the codes blocking the curse known as 'Jusenkyo.
"After the danger was over, Bastet was punished for violation of Act 3.2. In addition, the subject Ranma Saotome has been released from divine involvement, until further notice, or in case of dire events."
Mercury finished his message, and looked at the three mortals. When he saw their dazed expressions, he sighed, and decided to grab a snack from their kitchen.
The three arose from their temporary coma, and were surprised to see the god sitting on the remains of the bed, polishing up what had been an entire chocolate cake, with a few mugs of coffee surrounding him. He grinned, and said, "Well-since-you-guys-hadn't-recovered-I-thought-that-you-wouldn't-mind-me-snacking-a-bit." At their confused looks, he repeated himself, abeit much more slowly.
Ranma stared at the god. "So, what this means..."
Fortunately for him, Theo was able to grasp onto the message more easily. "Apparantly, you're no longer able to get help from any... gods," he explained, uncomfortable with the fact that deities really did exist, and the fact that he believed that Ranma was slightly delusional.
"Got it in one," Mercury said. "It really means that, us gods and goddesses aren't allowed to interfere with Ranma's life. We're allowed to talk to him, though, like I am right now." However, Julia was still frowning. The messenger of the gods decided to address this. "Any questions?"
The red-head jerked a bit, then shook her head. "Actually, I was just thinking of something that my Mom taught me when I was a kid, about legends and things like that. I was sure that you were... Roman?" she explained, unsure if she had her facts straight. By Mercury's darkening mood, she hoped that she hadn't said anything that set him off.
"Actually, the 'Roman' pantheon is a rip off of the Greek pantheon. But a couple-of-decades-ago-I-decided-to-change-my-name-from-Hermes," he lectured, obviously getting upset from this topic. His dark mood vanished abruptly. "Doesn't-matter-I-have-messages-to-deliver-see-ya!" he said, seemingly vanishing in plain sight, leaving only the coffee mugs and the plate with crumbs as evidence of his existance.
After a few moments of staring at the bed, Theo cleared his voice, and turned to Ranma. "Well... I guess I owe you an apology... for not believing you."
Ranma vaugely waved a hand in his direction, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she was, for all intents and purposes, released in "hostile territory". "No sweat, Blondie..." she mumbled.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Wed, 14 Jul 2004 06:51)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.