In the universe, especially when it comes to the types full of extremely powerful beings, there is a constant law: opposites attract. Of course this is a very dumb down version of the law, the whole thing goes on and on about the correct amount of attraction and frequency, showing why Batman didn’t run into Darkseid during the alien’s first attempted conquest of Earth, and so fourth. But long story short, now that Ranma could change into someone who could withstand a five-megaton explosion, he would run into enemies that were pretty much walking nukes.
Case in point: the giant nuclear powered robot who was pointing a glowing cannon at the village Ranma happened to be in.
“Demon!” one of the Amazon’s shrieked. “The Musk have released a demon to destroy us all!”
“EEEEeeeek,” another Amazon concurred before joining the others who were in retreat.
“We must defend our homeland,” one of the more suicidal Amazons shouted as she rallied those of like mind around her.
The pigtailed boy simply summed up his feelings before the Mega Man from hell fired a blast at the village. “This sucks.”
There was a deafening boom as the front half of the village, and the group of women that tried to attack the giant monster were instantly vaporized in the explosion caused by the giant skull creature’s ray gun. Everyone else that was still in the back of the village were sent flying into the air, along with a tidal wave made of dust, rocks, and bits of houses that were far enough from ground zero to survive complete annihilation.
Ranma hit the ground rolling to try and minimize the damage and avoid breaking any bones. When he finally stopped, the boy let out a sigh of relief at still being alive and somewhat obscured from sight. Ranma knew that any hope he had of getting away from that thing to live another day lay in the ability to fly faster than any human aircraft. So, intent upon his own survival, the pigtailed boy took in a deep breath…
…and choked on the wave dirt that was still washing over him. Oh crap, Ranma thought before getting his face as close to the ground as possible and letting out retching coughs to clear his soot filled throat. Another explosion sounded the end of the Amazon village, and Ranma closed his eyes, put his face the ground, and covered his mouth before another wave of debris flew over the land.
After slowly drawing as much as air he could with his hands over his mouth to avoid sucking in dust, Ranma raised his head to the sky and shouted his transformation phrase. “SHAZAM!”
The was a loud boom, and Ranma opened her eyes to see the explosion from the bolt of lightning had created a zone clear of dust. From the look of things, no one else had seen her transform thanks to all the dust in the air. Although she had gotten by before with people knowing about her curse, that was something that happened without her consent, and was just that: a curse. Ranma didn’t know if her fragile male ego could take the whole world knowing that she willingly turned into a girl, and wore what she had on while doing it.
With the transformation in place, Ranma’s perspective changed. It wasn’t just the height, or how everything she saw seemed clearer. Solomon’s wisdom let Ranma look at things from a whole different angle. Although, she still couldn’t understand why a flying super heroine wore a skirt that let anyone get a clear view of her panties while fighting crime.
Ranma Saotome was usually very selfish. Thanks to his upbringing by Genma, unless the consequences of his actions had a human face, and stared back at him when the proverbial crap was about to fit the fan, the only thing Ranma thought about was himself. It wasn’t that he was an inherently bad person. It was just after stealing things for almost ten years to keep himself fed, warm, and fulfill any other needs that needed to be met, Ranma had learned to ignore the problems others suffered because of his actions, or that nagging voice that told him it was wrong.
With the wisdom of Solomon, and the almost automatic forethought that was included in the package, combined with the courage of Achilles to remove that lingering bit of doubt that she might actually die, Ranma had a clear mind to think about this instead of a panicky one that told him to get the hell out of Dodge. Oh, there was still the knowledge that this thing might actually kill her, but it was under control.
A second after transforming, Ranma knew she couldn’t actually just take off. She might be able to keep the guilt of leaving these people to die down for a few days, maybe a week. But Ranma also knew the lingering doubt that she could have done something to keep the handful of people that were still alive from being turned into ash would claw its way up from the back of her mind and drive her insane with guilt.
So with a heavy sigh, although whether it was over the fact she had to put her life on the line for a bunch of people who probably wanted Genma dead (and with his luck, Ranma by association) for the theft of food they needed to starving stomachs, or the fact she had even considered running away, Ms Marvel took off into the sky towards the creature with the giant flaming skull.
Ranma just hoped the stupid thing didn’t decide to shoot her before she got in range to fight it.
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(Posted Fri, 17 Nov 2006 05:17)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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