The cats backed away as the grinning… thing in front of them suddenly lurched forward, a unmistakable look of pain passing across his face. Indeed, something had gone very, very wrong with their day, and by the looks of it the ‘fun’ was far from over.
Back inside Ranma’s mind, a kind of battle of wills took place. If it hadn’t been for the small amount of mental discipline that Genma beat into his son, the battle would have been short and one-sided. Indeed, if Ranma had not been the son of Nodoka, the battle would have been over almost before it began.
Images, then sounds as well, continued to disorient him. Visions of being a cat for what was, perhaps, millennia mixed with images of being tossed, as a human child, into a pit of starving cats.
Twitching, Ranma ‘watched’ himself confuse a blond-haired girl perhaps four years his elder, if that.
Next, he saw images of men made from playing cards, running around with strange spears in their hands, as a hideously overweight woman shouted about offing people’s heads.
More and more images assaulted his mind, causing his small wounded body to twitch and convulse like an epileptic, sending mud and offal flying around the tight confines of the pit.
And then, the final battle of wills, as two minds clashed against each other. One mind, that of a strong-willed six-year-old human. The other, of a millennia-old Cheshire Cat.
In the end, neither outright won, for the Cheshire had no desire to win, such was the unusual nature of his madness. And so, the two personalities blended, making something both greater and somehow even more flawed than either had been on their own.
The cats watched as the body convulsed one last time, then fell prone to the ground. Unsure of themselves, they decided to stay back for now, lest it be some kind of a trick.
”Ranma?” game the voice of a slightly irritated Genma from the opening of the pit.
Looking down, the stocky man saw his son laying motionless in the ground below. A look of worry, which he would deny vehemently, crossed his face as he leapt down into the pit. Gathering his son into his arms, he leapt back out again, before any of the cats could think to attack him.
Gently laying his unconscious son on the ground, he checked first for a pulse, then for any life-threatening or manliness-marring wounds. Finding none, he let out the breath he had been holding, and sat back on his heels.
“You shouldn’t scare your father like that, Ranma,” Genma muttered.
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(Posted Fri, 29 Oct 2004 16:40)
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