[Episode 212470] [Episode 212470]It was a bright sunny day, and Akane and Ranma were walking down the street heading home after school. Suddenly, red and green light began to swirl around Ranma, and he clutched his chest in pain.
Akane backed away from him a few steps, and said in concern, "Ranma!"
Parts of his body began to become transparent, some of these becoming blurry and seeming to spread away from his body like mist. His face scrunched up and he grit his teeth, letting out a pained growl.
Akane put out her hand tentatively towards Ranma, but the moment it touched the colored light a pain shot through her hand like she had reached into the heart of a fire. She instinctively pulled her hand back, and was amazed when the pain instantly stopped. She looked at her hand, and it seemed fine; touching it with her other hand also produced no pain.
Ranma curled up and fell to the ground in a fetal position. His eyes closed and his mouth opened and he let out an unending scream of pain.
Akane's face hardened. She had to do something. Hoping the energy wouldn't just follow him (as it had when he fell to the ground) and that she could withstand the pain, she reached into the energy and tried to grab Ranma to pull him out. Pain shot through her hands again for a moment, then Akane found herself stumbling back, her hands having passed right through Ranma.
Again the pain had stopped the moment her hands left the energy, but now they felt wet; she looked down at her hands and her eyes widened in horror to see them coated in blood. She quickly looked to Ranma, fearing she would see huge bloody holes where she'd tried to touch him; instead she saw that most of him was rapidly fading away.
"Ranma, get out of that energy!" Akane cried, not knowing if he could even hear her, let alone do something to protect himself. In any case it was too late, as the energy glowed more brightly, then there was a brilliant flash of light. Akane was forced to look away to avoid being blinded; a chill went down her spine as Ranma's scream cut off unnaturally. As the light faded, Akane heard a sickening splat upon the pavement.
Akane slowly turned her head to look at where Ranma had been; she had to rapidly turn her head away again to avoid throwing up upon what was left of him. Once her stomach was empty, she turned back to Ranma's remains and fell to her knees in front of them, staring wordlessly.
The Police, Amazons, the Tendo and Saotome families, and the rest of the fiancees all took part in the search for Ranma. The Amazons used their tracking skills and Cologne used mystical means as well. Nabiki used her information network. The Police of course, used conventional police investigation techniques.
The biggest hurdle to the search was the way in which Ranma had disappeared. He had literally vanished into thin air in front of Akane and several other witnesses - and no one had a clue how that was possible or what it might mean. Even those familiar with Genma's sealed techniques didn't know what to make of it, as they didn't explain the swirling lights or the pain both Ranma and Akane had experienced.
The fact that Ranma had left behind what appeared to be about a sixth of his body mass, including parts of bones and internal organs, was both puzzling and disturbing. With injuries like that, Ranma would have needed medical attention quickly wherever he had gone. Unfortunately, no one matching Ranma's description (male or female) had checked into any Tokyo hospitals within the hours and days following Ranma's disappearance.
After a month, the Police concluded he was nowhere nearby, and ended their search. Running low on funding, Nabiki was also forced to scale back her search.
Finally forced to accept the possibility Ranma might not be coming back, Genma and Nodoka had the pieces of himself Ranma left behind cremated, then held a memorial service at the Tendo Dojo.
Ranma found himself floating, upside down, over the Tendo compound's Koi pond. "Ha ha, yeah! Home!" He then realized that for some reason, he wasn't falling.
After several minutes of futile kicking and arm flapping, Ranma discovered that he could move around in the air by willing himself in a particular direction. He wasn't quite sure why he was now able to fly, but assumed it had something to do either with the experiments Washu performed on him, or on the way she sent him home.
Ranma floated down to the ground, and landed softly on his feet. He was just starting to walk towards the door to the house, when he realized he heard talking coming from inside the Dojo. Ranma headed towards the Dojo to investigate.
As he drew closer, Ranma recognized his name being said solemnly. "Huh? What's goin' on now?" Ranma wondered as he neared the door to the Dojo.
Ranma slid the door open, and saw his family, the Tendos, Shampoo, Cologne, Ukyou, Kodachi, and a priest all gathered together, looking solemn and in some cases teary-eyed.
"Hey, whatcha guys doin'?" Ranma asked. Everybody turned and stared at him in shock.
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(Posted Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:58)
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