Sailor Pluto, as Guardian of Time, had a magical link to the Gates of Time, an ancient artifact located in a phase-space dimension on Pluto. It was through this link that she was able to access the Gates - the only person who was able to do so; even her Queen couldn't access them without her permission.
As well as providing her with access, the link also served as a conduit through which she could sense ripples in the timestream. A ripple, or divergence, occured when a low probability event took place - interference from another place of existence, for example.
The effect was similar to placing a rock into a stream - its presence diverted the flow of the water; in this case, time. Most ripples, thankfully, were too small to be felt; a good thing, considering that hundreds of thousands took place every day. But every once in a while, a larger 'rock' was dropped and Pluto would investigate.
Pluto stiffened and froze in the act of lifting her coffee cup as she felt the disturbance. Her senses were almost overwhelmed as the massive divergence hit; not so much a ripple as a wave.
She was vaguely aware of her blonde housemate's stare as she let loose a stream of vile invectives, but she didn't particularly care. The last time a divergence this big had hit, her Kingdom had fallen.
She had failed one queen. She would not fail another.
Consciousness returned slowly to Ranma. He just as soon wished it hadn't, as his head felt worse than the time he'd tried that precognition trick of Pluto's. Grey magic was not his strong point. A soft glow surrounded him as he reflexively invoked a ki pain relief technique.
He blinked; he didn't know anyone called Pluto, or any magic. But he did.
Ranma's improved brain analyzed the quandrary and came to a conclusion. It was likely he'd been affected by a memory alteration spell - the source appeared to be benign, since his old memories hadn't been affected, as best he could tell. He was still Ranma, though his personality had shifted somewhat.
A few centuries of life as a princess, master magus and defender of the realm would do that to a person.
Ranma sighed. He needed to get in contact with Pluto, if she was still around. There was no way he'd be attempting a teleport to Mercury or the Moon in his current state, his energies were all different to what he was used to; much more ki, and his Air affinity was gone too, though he did still have a Water affinity - ironic, really.
"Ranma! You're awake!"
He winced and grabbed his head, swearing under his breath in Mercurian. Someone was going to pay for this.
But for now, he had loose ends to tie up.
"What do you mean, you're leaving?!"
Ranma stared coolly at his biological father, his centuries of experience dealing with idiotic nobility providing ample calm. "Exactly that. Things have changed, father, and I can no longer afford to waste my life here."
"Boy, you have an obligation as my son to join the schools! It is a matter of family honour?"
"Is that so?" Ranma's eyes flashed dangerously. Of those seated at the table, only Nabiki and Kasumi picked it up. The former shivered - reading people was one of the areas she was particularly proficient in, and she knew that this new Ranma was not someone she wanted to tangle with.
As for Kasumi, she just knew that Ranma had grown up. While she was glad for him, she was going to miss having him around - he had brought a spark back into her life that had been missing since her mother's death.
Ranma stood, regarding Genma calmly. "In that case, I hereby renounce my heritage as a member of the Saotome clan. Let my name be striken from the clan register."
Turning away from the man, who had frozen in shock, he bowed to the eldest Tendo. "I thank you for your kind hospitality, but I must depart."
Soun, to his surprise, didn't burst into tears. He seemed to be more resigned than anything. Perhaps he recognized that this time it was different. So, instead of protesting, he just nodded.
He turned his gaze to the Tendo daughters. Nabiki stared warily at him, aware that the game had changed and not willing to move without more information. Kasumi just smiled sadly. And Akane...
Akane was looking at him with anger clear on her face - but he was experienced enough to see the signs of sadness as well. She did care for him at some level, apparently.
Ranma calmly blocked his former-fiancee's mallet strike and dismissed it with a flare of ki. He regarded the stunned girl with a touch of regret. He had might have loved her, once.
He bowed to her. "You have my apologies, Akane Tendo. Live well."
The pigtailed boy turned and walked out of the dining room. Genma leapt for his son's apparently unguarded back, but froze in place mid-way through his jump. Literally.
Ranma never looked back.
Ukyo looked up as the door to her restaurant opened and someone walked in. "Ranchan!"
She immediately knew something was up when he responded with a simple, "Good morning, Ukyo." Ranma was never that polite; he always called her Ucchan.
"So, what's up Ranchan?" she asked, trying to convince herself she was getting worked up over nothing. "You here for some okonomiyaki?"
He hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure. I'll have the usual."
Silence descended as Ukyo fired up her grill and got to work cooking up his order. She was unnerved by Ranma's behaviour, but didn't really know what to say. Ranma, for his part, seemed completely unbothered by the silence, remaining uncharacteristically quiet.
Finally, as she served him the completed okonomiyaki, which he began eating like a normal person, Ukyo could stand it no longer. "What happened, Ranchan? This isn't like you at all."
The pigtailed young man looked up from his meal to regard her, a bitter smile briefly flitting across his face. "A wise woman told me something once. 'All things end. Love and hate, joy and suffering, life and death. Only change is eternal.'"
The chef didn't really understand the quote, but she had a horrible feeling she knew what he was getting at. "You're leaving, aren't you?"
"Straight to the heart, Ucchan." Ranma mused, chuckling softly before. Sobering, he continued, "Something happened again, and this time I can't just shrug it off."
Ukyo's lower lip trembled as she tried to control herself. "And what about the engagement?"
He looked at her sharply. "Your engagement was to Ranma Saotome, son of Genma Saotome. He no longer exists." His gaze softened. "Ucchan, you were my first friend, but I never thought of you as more than that."
Ukyo swallowed. She didn't know what was happening, but she was sure of one thing; Ranma Saotome was gone, his place taken by this stranger. Her Ranchan... he would never act like this.
She didn't say anything more, nor did she have to. The tears running down her cheeks spoke eloquently enough.
"Nihao Airen!" The amazon's enthusiastic greeting came as soon as Ranma stepped past the threshold of the Cat Cafe. Ranma nodded in reply.
"Good morning, Xian Pu."
His reply gave the purple-haired warrior pause. Since when had her airen known the correct pronunciation of her name? She didn't get a chance to ponder the matter further, however, as her grandmother came pogo-ing out of the kitchen, looking unusually serious.
The ancient matriach and young man stared at one another silently. Mu Tsu arrived, but like Xian Pu he felt a strange tension in the air, and refrained from his usual antics, for once respecting the confrontation between two warriors.
Or perhaps it was a bit of Nerima-developed survival instinct coming into play.
The tension was suddenly broken as Khu Lon blinked, shook herself and then slumped, her body language suddenly indicating resignation. "Well met, Ranma."
The pigtailed youth inclined his head. "You fight well, Elder."
She waved him off. "Bah, it comes with age. But I would really like to know where you learned that, child?"
Ranma smirked, the expression a remnant of his former attitude. "Tell me, Elder, what do your legends say about the founding of the Amazons?"
The matriarch frowned thoughtfully. "It is said that we were once warriors from the stars, descended to Earth after a great calamity swept us from the sky."
Ranma's grin widened fractionally. "Well, they do say legends are rooted in truth... though you might want to look a little closer to home." With that, he turned and left, leaving two confused amazons and one thoughtful matriarch.
Ami sat on a rooftop, looking at the screen of her Mercury computer. Her friends were currently somewhat... indisposed as a result of their training session, so she was using the free time to investigate the other energy spike the computer had detected. Unfortunately, the volume of energy was so large that the computer had trouble pinpointing its location.
She was still in civilian form, as while her senshi form had a disguise field, it also had a powerful magical signature, and she knew that the residents of Nerima rarely reacted well to magic.
And if it came down to it, she was more than good enough to defend herself even while 'depowered'.
Humming to herself, she shut the computer and returned it to subspace before leaping off the rooftop.
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(Posted Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:09)
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