The America's were of little importance, at least as far as Izaho cared.
However, the small prefecture that, no matter the dimension, was attributed with such weirdness remained relatively the same all things considered. Nerima was still a focus point of such insanity, mind boggling events, radical misunderstandings and misconceptions one might never be able to tell the difference between this worlds Nerima, and any other worlds.
However, there was a key difference. In most other Universes Nerima welcomed with open arms the arrival of a duo who brought with it a whole new slew of problems to deal with. A certain boy cursed to turn into a red headed girl would normally bring about so much angst, ridiculous events, unbelievable happenings that inadvertently shape and define the ward, as well as the people living within, into something akin to M. H. Shamalan's 'The Village', at least in retrospect to people braving the outside world enough to leave their homes.
I digress, as that's not the point. In this Universe, Ranma Saotome was born like in all others to Nodoka and Genma Saotome (At least officially), but he was not the eldest son. Akira Saotome, his older brother (by all of three minutes) earned the right as Heir to the Saotome Ryu of the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling, and he was the one taken away for a long, ten year training trip to which most readers out there already know the details there of while Ranma was left at home, to be raised by his mother Nodoka.
Genma and Akira had been gone nearly 11 years, neither Ranma nor Nodoka had heard anything about the missing Patriarch and heir for a whole year, ever sense their last post card came in the mail detailing a plan to visit Jusenkyo, a legendary training ground deep within the wilds of China, before finally coming home. It worried them both just a tad, of course, but they had gone nearly three years before with out receiving a letter from the duo, and this wouldn't be the first time Genma had 'lied' about coming back home, so to them it was hardly much to worry about.
This was where Izaho found himself now, hidden behind a veil of magic as he examined his 'client' in full detail. The boy was up in his room, sitting at a desk with his nose buried in a book.
---
"You.. are.. very.. beauty.." Ranma mouth the words slowly as he wrote them in English, frowning in annoyance as he realized he had messed up the translation again. Erasing that last word, he leaned back in his chair, idly nibbling on the pencil as he stared of his work and the English book he was studying. It was at time's like this he wished he had a tutor of some kind. One that wouldn't give his mom the wrong idea's.
He grimaced, the memory of the only time he brought a tutor home, who happened to be a rather pretty girl he had a crush on, his mother had practically proclaimed her his Wife and had them married on the spot. While it was understandable, it still hurt when the girl practically ran as if the fires of hell were nipping at her heels. At least they still talked at school, but even he noticed how.. distance she was from him since then.
He shook his head, dispelling that memory. "No time to think about Ami, Ranma." he said to himself. Sighing, he gave a rather old picture hanging over his desk a long look. The picture was black and white, taken while he and his older brother were playing in a sand box with two other girls, and another boy with glasses. Try as he might, he never could remember those other kids names, except for something about going to Tokyo-U. He sighed, "Wonder what you're up too, bro. I miss you."
---
Izaho made a note.
---
Sparing the clock a glance, the young boy sighed as he stood up. Pushing his work aside, he retrieved a clean, if well used, bokken from behind his desk. Gripping the practice sword, he gave the weapon a few tentative swings, testing it's weight and balance, before flipping off the lights and heading out the door.
"Mom! Time to practice!" he called just before shutting the door.
---
Izaho frowned a little, crawling up over the house. One thing was for certain, this boy was far different from the various 'Wonder Boy' incarnations he had watched during that silly Bet situation. Glancing down, he saw as Ranma armed with that Bokken of his, and his mother, Nodoka who also had a bokken, came out into the yard.
"Have you been practicing your forms, son?"
"Yeah." he grunted, stretching out a bit. "I'll be ready for the next Tournament." he looked a little apologetic at that point, bowing his head slightly, "I'm sorry.."
"Don't be." the woman grinned a little, showing her pearly whites. "I was there, I know what really happened."
He sighed, "Just gets my goat the Judges ruled in that baka's favor."
"Kuno Tatewaki is a very influential young man, Ranma." his mother sighed, patting her son on the shoulder. "Remember what I always told you? Whenever things don't go your way..." she trailed off.
Which he picked up on, "Learn why it didn't, examine your mistakes to better prepare yourself should the occasion rise again." he nodded, smiling a bit. "I hope you don't mind all the practice, Tanaka-sensei's been busy.."
"Think nothing of it." she waved his concern off, backing up a bit. "I'm not as good as I use to be with the sword, but I think I've got a trick or two I can show you." she finished that off with an enigmatic grin.
"Oh really?" he responded, a little mischievously. "Let's see what you got then, mom."
Izaho didn't pay their sparring much mind after that. Bringing up the MasterPC program while his 'Client' trained, he typed in the boy's name.
Instantly information began to appear across the screen, along with a perfect 3-D likeness of the boy. The differences between this version of Ranma and the others were obvious. Physically, at least on the surface, things were for the majority unchanged. Lean body, slightly muscular with out being over muscled, with angular features, thin lips, expressive blue-grey eyes and hair done up in a pony tail, though the MasterPC user didn't doubt he let it hang free most of the time. That was were similarities ended, however.
Bringing up Akira Saotome's portfolio, he wasn't very surprised to find him within Nerima, at the Tendo Dojo to be precise. Girl Curse, Karmic 'gift' of interesting times due to his chosen Martial Arts, Neko-ken. Izaho was rather surprised that aside from Dragon Hair Soup that Ranma would have suffered under, Akari was almost an identical duplicate to the old Ranma. At least as far as curses and the like go. Heck, Shampoo was even after to marry him! Ukyo too. Weird.
Physically they were far different, however. Akira's muscle mass far exceeded Ranma's. They looked a lot alike, but Akari's muscles were far more condensed, a perk of his extensive martial arts training he guessed. Ranma's muscles were starting to condense much like his brothers had, but he was still far behind the older Saotome boy in terms of raw strength. As far as personal energy went..
Izaho sweat dropped, bringing up Nodoka's portfolio along side Akira's and Ranma's. Akira possessed the energy of wind, life, spirit, whatever you called it; Ki, in spades. Even more so then the original Ranma had even after defeating Saffron, though it was mostly untapped potential as he was. Ranma on the other hand possessed no such thing, which was weirding the hybrid out a bit. Most everything on the planet held life energy, from plants, to a drop of water, to those nasty crabs that infested one's groin. The kendo-ist didn't possess any, at least, not in the same sense Akira did. Now that he looked over Nodoka's portfolio, he understood just why.
As Akira held untapped potential for Ki manipulation in spades, a gift from a long dead Ancestor of the Saotome line that happened to be a Half Demon himself, Ranma possessed a far superior, if harder to manipulate energy source that left the Hybrid a little leery of the boy. Jurian Energy, a gift from his Mother's side of the family. Some how, some way, when both children were growing in her womb, each had absorbed certain traits of their parents. Normally everything is shared, but Akira took all of talent for Ki manipulation, while Ranma inherited the Jurian power. Thinking about it, he wondered if the reason Genma took Akira on that training trip instead of both of them simply because Akira was the first born held even an iota of truth to it. Jurian energy wasn't Ki, obviously, thus it would be highly unlikely Genma could ever sense the untapped potential in his younger son.
A shame, really. Not that he was going to do anything to change it. Last thing he had on his mind was giving anyone a power up, dreams or no. The laws of Balance held by both Gods and Demons wouldn't stand for it.
Turning back to Ranma's portfolio, the MasterPC user nodded to himself. Akira was the more impulsive one, while this Ranma had grown learning to examine his situation, read people, and formulate plans of action whether in a fight or out of one. He didn't doubt Nabiki would find a rather kindred spirit in this version of the boy, even if he wasn't prone to using underhanded methods to acquire what he wanted or needed. Just as he was about to turn away, he noticed something peculiar. In the original time line, Nodoka had taken to the Tendo's home on numerous occasions to look for her wayward child and husband. Yet, clearly from the Portfolio's summary on this time line, she hadn't due to her own efforts in raising Ranma. She didn't know about the Tendo's, she hadn't yet seen Ranma or his curse form, and strangely enough Ryu Kumon had posed as Ranma Saotome, since neither Genma or Akira had seen the boy since he was really small, in order to 'steal' the Umi-sen-ken, a plan which was thwarted when Nabiki had discovered that Ranma was in Kobe taking place in a Tournament at the same time he was suppose to be in their home. While she had managed to get a picture of the younger Saotome, it was far away, and not the best for discerning many attributes.
"Fascinating." he grinned, turning away from the two just as Nodoka, who had been hard pressed their entire spar, began to twirl her blade in a peculiar manner, a soft, nearly invisible glow surrounding the blade as she went.
---
"Hey! Stop stealing my dinner pops!" Akira scowled, deftly warding off the fat bastards chop sticks with his own. "Bad enough ya and that freak had to try an steal my cure and trash the wedding, now yer goin after my food?"
"Oh the shame!" Genma crowed, not ceasing in his ploy to gain ill gotten food. "Such an ungrateful son!"
Akane just ignored the both of them, almost mechanically lifting the food from her plate to her mouth. She would not get angry. She would not get angry. She would not get angry. She will calmly finish her dinner and smother all impulses to smash that baka's father into the ground. She would not get angry.
Being very careful to hide his presence, Izaho stared at the dinner gathering while making notes on his PDA. So it was already post Saffron here, another tid bit of information he was glad for. Bringing up Akane Tendo's portfolio, he was marginally disappointed to find there really wasn't much difference between this one and all the others he had watched in the past. Anger problem etched deep in her mind due to the trauma of loosing her mother, though it wasn't nearly as bad as it was when she first met Ranma. Martial Artist with more skill then she should of had, but it figured Akira had taken a different approach to teaching the girl instead of always dodging in their sparring. Another difference of the Saotome youth's, but not all that bad. She also loved Akira, it seemed, though that fact was hidden behind anxiety and hopelessness of the situation with the fiancée’s. Poor girl.
Nabiki's portfolio came up next. He paid close attention to the girl as she ignored the two Saotome's fight over food, cool as a cucumber despite the brawl about to take place. Nothing different at all, aside from a little crush she had on Akira.
Kasumi was by far the most changed, and considering her other selves, it was a good change. Oh, she was still the dutiful housewife, but something happened between Akira's coming and now that had her reevaluating her life. The Portfolio showed she was more open with her feelings in general, and even getting out from time to time for some silly girly fun. She didn't have a crush on Akira, but viewed him as one of those annoying little brother types.
"Speaking of weddings.." Soun not so subtly hinted.
"NO WAY!" Akira and Akane screamed in tandem.
Izaho smiled then. Those two were cute. Bringing up Soun's Portfolio, he quickly brushed it aside. Nothing had changed, aside from a mischievous streak when it came to tormenting his children a mile wide. While he was serious about the wedding and joining of the two school's, he mainly had fun with all those hair brained schemes.
Jumping off the wall, the hybrid godling/demon whistled merrily as he wandered down the street, a plan on how to make Ranma's dreams come true forming in his mind.
Bow your heads Mortals! For DOOM has come to your world. Fear ....
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(Posted Tue, 18 Jan 2005 09:42)
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