Hikaru Gosenkugi was experiencing a strange sensation. He was happy, excited and looking forward to his immediate future. Mind you, the really strange part of it (from the perspective of most other people anyway) was why he was happy.
Gosenkugi was a wimp, favourite target of bullies, and basically near-to-spineless coward. The bitterness and depression he felt over this state was nothing, however, compared to the burning intensity of the near insane jealousy he felt when he thought about Ranma Saotome being the nonchalant and undeserving fiancé of the sweet Akane Tendou.
Of course, that was their last life, and while they kept its memories, and their old given names, the circumstances that had given Ranma everything and Hikaru nothing were gone now. Ranma was not engaged to Akane, in fact they were possibly not even the same species any more. In one sense, that meant she was free to be courted. Hikaru might well have attempted this if not for two important things:
1. He was still a coward.
2. A much more interesting opportunity had presented itself.
As Athena had explained to several disappointed martial artists sometime after the former Tendou girls left, all their muscles, ki and trained skills were gone. The bodies they had spent years and even decades training were now rotting somewhere on Earth. Oh they still had the knowledge and memories of their old life (though they would discover nearly all of it was pretty much irrelevant now) but the physical skills and abilities they'd had were all reset to level 1... even if there were those like Gosenkugi who'd previously been a comparative level -3. What this meant, in theory, is that if Hikaru chose to become a warrior, and advanced in skill more rapidly than Ranma, then he, Hikaru (formally) Gosenkugi would be able to (and he could still hardly believe this) kick Ranma Saotome's ass!
That idea was so deliciously absurd he just had to act on it. He would dedicate his first life on Azeroth to revenge for the last one. Then maybe next life (after he'd had 60 years to work up his courage) he'd follow Akane to whatever race she chose then and they could fall in love together and hold hands and she'd talk to him and smile at him and maybe even kiss him oh my god her lips looked so soft even if they were kinda purple now and....
Ahem... okay Hikaru, get back on track. Where were we?
Oh right. The only problem with that plan was that Hikaru knew he did not have the personality or mindset of a warrior, and Ranma did, so there was no reason to expect that if they both became warriors, Hikaru would be able to get ahead of him. Maybe if he could think up some way to distract Saotome for long periods while Hikaru continued to train? Well, something to consider anyway, but the main point was that Hikaru wasn’t warrior material. He did, however discover a different vocation that almost seemed as though it had been made with him in mind.
To oppose Ranma and be able to attack him indiscriminately, Hikaru had chosen to fight for the Horde side. To inspire fear, he'd chosen to live as one of the Forsaken. Finally, as the means of achieving his revenge, he would become a Warlock. Spells to weaken and gradually bleed his enemies' lives away, summoning demons to fight for him... Hikaru couldn't have wished for a more perfect class!
No more playing with straw dolls, nails, and candles tied to his hair! Now Hikaru had REAL dark magics to wield against that fool Saotome (well, he supposed it was just 'Ranma' now). This was why he was happy, excited, and very much looking forward to piling so many debuffs (the term Athena had coined for negative status conditions, like curses, diseases and similar; the opposite of 'buffs') onto Ranma's head that he would be completely weak, helpless and dying before he was even aware of it! Why, Hikaru might not even have to fight him directly! He could just wait until Ranma was fighting something tough, then hit him from in hiding with Curse of Weakness, Corruption, Immolate, Life Tap, and maybe a Fear spell to watch him run around in a useless panic (likely screaming about cats that weren't there) while Hikaru's spells gradually sucked the life out of him! Running around like that in an area crowded with monsters would probably draw the attention of a few of them, and when the Fear spell wore off, Ranma would be nearly dead, still weakened, and suddenly have 3 more monsters, the original one he'd been fighting to start, and Hikaru's summoned demon to deal with. If Saotome had any fight left in him at all after all that Hikaru could just pick him off with a Shadowbolt. He'd already decided to wait until the last minute, when Ranma slew the last of his attacking opponents, and was just breathing a sigh of relief, that would be the sweetest time to blast him!
Heheheheheheh! Oh yes! Hikaru was very much looking forward to starting his career as a Warlock... and if he ever did get in over his head picking on the Ranma and his allies in the Alliance faction... well, as an Undead, Hikaru could always just peal off some skin and throw it at the girls. His appearance alone was something of an in-built low-grade fear spell, and if any of the admittedly tough and violent women who followed Ranma around gave him trouble, he could just up that fear factor by doing something absolutely disgusting, like popping out an eyeball. Heck, that sort of thing would at least unsettle most male opponents too, though the likelihood of them running in horror wasn't as high.
For the unlife of him, Hikaru couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want to be one of the Undead!
Now... how did he get to Ranma's home area from here?
~ ~ ~
Later that day, a lvl 55 city guard noticed a little lvl 4 Undead Warlock trying to sneak through the gates to the area where the youngest new adventurers started their training. With a casual backhand slap, the guard lazily separated the Forsaken's head from his shoulders, sending it rolling into the bushes. The guard then yawned and returned to his vigil, muttering something about a lack of excitement in this job.
Standing beside his headless corpse (as opposed to the more-or-less intact corpse it had been a minute ago) in Ghost Form, Hikaru pondered the irony of an Undead dying and turning into a ghost, then decided he should consider going back to his homelands to train more, and coming back when he was stronger and head more spells... a LOT more spells!
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(Posted Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:59)
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