[Episode 22338] [Episode 22338]Onna-Ranma's eyes open into near-pitch darkness. The sensation of being flat on her back quickly registers with her mind, then she tries to focus on what now surrounds her. A chamber, twenty-five square metres in size, the wall in the direction of her feet composed of floor-to-ceiling, thick glass windows divided every metre or so by a metal frame bar. Beyond that, a sea of stars, the only source of light in this place.
Where am I...? she squints, then slides up onto her hands as she looks down at herself. Quickly noting the lack of clothes covering her body, she shudders, then glances around. Damn, so hard to see in this...
Wait.
Her eyes narrow as her well-honed chi senses pick up the bright spot of another person lying two metres away on a raised, rectangular slab. Sliding herself around to stand up, she slowly approaches the other person. She doesn't have to take more than three steps to realize something.
A man. Also nude.
Onna-Ranma gasps, then shudders as something deep inside her reacts strongly to the presence of this strange man, whoever he was. She stumbles back, hitting the slab from where she had woken, then tumbles over to land flat on her face. "OWWW!!!" she grunts as the rest of her body joins her.
"Oh, man...! Whatta party...!"
Her voice catches in her throat as she tries not to scream out, then quickly remembering the Umisen-ken, quickly makes herself invisible to the naked eye. Rising, she watches as the man slowly slides into a sitting position, then swings around to get to his feet. "Where the hell'm I...?" he grunts, then looking towards the windows, walks towards them.
Onna-Ranma's eyes follow him as he emerges from deep shadow, then her eyes widen as his facial features and shaggy hair ring an ominous alarm deep in her mind. That's...! she nearly chokes. Ataru Moroboshi...?!
A flash of outrage instantly billows deep in her mind as all the ecchi tales about this creep replay in her mind -- given his association with aliens, there seemed no doubt in Onna-Ranma's mind that he HAD to have something to do with whatever brought her here -- then she catches herself as he whispers, "I'm in space again..." a faint smile crosses his face, then tears stream down his cheeks as a fist smacks into the window. "Gods, WHY?!?! Why did they have to die...?!" he shrieks to the ceiling, then drops to his knees as he jams his palms into his eyes. "Lum..."
Sobs steal his voice as a shudder runs through Onna-Ranma before her mind flashes back to the last thing she remembered before waking here...
"...you betray me like this, Ran-cha-...?!"
Ukyou's shouted question disappeared as a curtain of sparkles flooded the Tendou dojo, they melting like the transporter from Star Trek into a floating, black spheroid of metal, approximately a metre wide. Silence fell over the potential scene of confrontation as the ball simply hovered there for a moment, then it twirled around to reveal a red dot the size of the average hand at its widest point. Seeing that, Ranma automatically moved closer to Akane. "What the hairy heck's that...?!" he demanded...
...then gasped as a beam of energy lanced at him as a metal-tinged voice announced, "Target Ranma Saotome located. Commencing retrieval."
Seeing this, people screamed out as Ranma was coccooned from head-to-toe in that crimson energy. "What are you doing to Ran-chan?!!" Ukyou, quicky forgetting the real purpose of her presence at the dojo, wound up with one of her special explosive okonomiyaki, then pitched it...
...just as a ball of bright white energy burst forth from the "back" of the sphere. Hitting Ukyou, it encompassed her, then vanished, leaving nothing behind. "Target Ukyou Kuonji: terminated," it announced.
Hearing that, Konatsu screamed out as he lunged out of nowhere, his gaikatana zinging for the sphere. In another blast of energy, the cross-dressing kunoichi vanished. "Target Konatsu Kenzan: terminated."
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!?!" a Demon Head lashed out.
ZAP!!
"DAD!!!!"
"Target Souun Tendou: terminated."
Watching as the others, both the official wedding party and the would-be gatecrashers, started to panic, Ranma trembled as the damned thing holding him fast cut them down again -- and again -- and again...! No matter what sort of tricks the Nerimians try to bring to bear on this demonic machine, they were simply too slow. Genma, Mousse, Shampoo, Ryouga, Happousai, Hinako, Nabiki, Nodoka, Kasumi, Kodachi, Kunou...
"Target Akane Tendou: terminated."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...!!!!"
"Target Ranma Saotome: retrieval complete."
"Is there someone there...?"
Onna-Ranma jolts on hearing Ataru's pained question, then she sighs, realizing that, regardless of his reputation, something similar to what befell her at the Tendou dojo must've hit him in Tomobiki. With that, she drops the Umisen-ken cloak, then walks over to stand by the window. His eyes widen surprisedly as she comes out of the shadows, then he whispers, "Kawaii..." before his eyes go wide with surprised recognition. "Hey! I know you!!" he snaps his fingers as he points at her. "You're Ranma Saotome, aren't you?! What the hell are you doing here, man?!"
Onna-Ranma jolts, then flusters for a moment, trying to consider what to say before he rises to his feet, giving her the full monty. Seeing THAT hanging from between his legs makes her throat instantly dry up. Before she could realize what she is saying, a whispered "Kirei" escapes her.
Hearing THAT, Ataru gulps, then gives her a concerned look. "Hey, hey, HEY, hold off a minute here, man!" he waves her back. "I KNOW you're a guy deep down!! You're not supposed to say THAT to another guy...!"
"Imagirl!"
Silence.
"Say what?!" Ataru stops, staring concernedly at her.
"I..." Onna-Ranma shudders for a moment, then hugs herself as she focues once more on him. "I...!" she sputters, then lowers her eyes. "I'm a girl..." she finally exhales, her voice barely above a whisper.
He blinks several times as he tries to absorb what she just said, then he puts hands to hips. "Is it something about your curse?"
She looks up. "How the hell...?!"
Laughter responds. "Oh, relax, relax!!" he waves her down, then wipes his cheeks clean. "I know all about you, you know! The curse, all those really gorgeous babes who wanna marry you..."
His voice fades as a stunned look crosses his face for a moment before sadness returns. "Oh, shit..." he hisses, then sighs. "I take it that..." he bites his lip as he looks for the right words to say, "...when you got dragged to wherever we are now, it was 'cause some black ball came outta nowhere to zap you here. And when your friends tried to stop it..."
"They were all killed off," she completes, then gazes up at him. "Every last one of them. It happened to you, too, huh?"
"Yeah..." he hisses, then turns away from her.
Seeing new tears flow down his cheeks, Onna-Ranma winces as it dawns on her that despite all the idiocy and lechery the man before her was reported to have been involved with, he still cared a lot for those people whose lives had intersected his. Without hesitation, she walks over to gently grasp his shoulder. He looks at her, then blinks as she slides up to embrace him, she leaning her head on his chest. Ataru quakes as the VERY nice feeling of her -- Damn!! Are they REALLY that big?! -- breasts press into his lower chest. Instantly, a too-familiar rush thunders into his lower abdomen, but unlike those other times, the gory images of his classmates, parents and everyone else being butchered before his eyes...
Lum...
"Lum-chan..."
Onna-Ranma blinks as sobs steal his voice, then she relaxes herself as he moves to hold her tight. She traces her hands over his back as he weeps, guessing that what Ataru just been through was the most traumatic experience he had ever faced. Realizing that, she then blinks as she calls up the images of the butchery s/he witnessed in the Tendou dojo.
Odd.
Why didn't she feel sad about what happened?
What about Akane...? Kawaiikune otemba!
Ukyou...? 'U-chan?!' Give me a break! Some best friend!
Shampoo...? Stupid Amazon and her damned laws...!
Onna-Ranma blinks as it starts to dawn on her that whatever had brought her here had done something else to her: totally wipe away any positive feelings she might have held for those self-centred jerks back in Nerima. Oh, yeah, sure, they certainly didn't deserve to be slaughtered like a heard of cattle facing the abattoir, but still...
I'm better off without them! she grunts...
(Posted Sat, 11 Jan 2003 14:11)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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