[Episode 51477] [Episode 51477]And was surprised by the figures standing over him. His mother and the old ghoul! He had figured that they had left by now, though by their sweating and battered appearances, and by Nodoka's change of attire from her usual kimono to a loose shirt and pants, it seemed as though they had stayed in the battlefield! It took him a while before he comprehended that they were speaking to him. Instead of lying back like he should have, he tried to sit up.
Tried being the key word; his muscles refused to work. "Now, now, Ranma," his mother said, kneeling down by his side, concern projected on her face. "Don't strain yourself; you'll need all the rest you can get." Ranma blinked up at her in confusion; what did she mean?
Cologne decided to help. "You gave Saffron quite a fight after your change, but he's still alive, though resting as you should be." That sentence prompted Ranma to realize what had happened, and it made him burn with rage. Quietly, he closed his eyes as his blood boiled.
It had been a fine day, for most people at least; for him, it was the same fuck up that had been occuring for nearly a year. Saffron had appeared out of nowhere, and easily destroyed the Tendo dojo with a few fireballs. Luckily, everyone was able to get out alive, though they had gotten a bit banged up. Ranma had gone against the Pheonix King head on at first, then quickly realized his disadvantage: he did not have access to any cooling artifacts or techniques other than the Soul of Ice, and the Soul of Ice was no match for Saffron's intense heat. Therefore, Ranma quickly resorted to hit and run tactics, a lobbed chunk of wall here, a Moko Takabisha there.
That, however, made Saffron use other tactics as well. A saying goes that power corrupts, and the demigod proved it, blasting houses and innocent bystanders with his fireballs. His heart ached and roared at the same time whenever he saw a civilian erupt into flame, ashes, and bone. Fortunately, the weaker martial artists, and other people with more common sense than them, had begun evacuating the ward. Strangely enough, some of the normal folk had tried to help Ranma out. Few were successful, but few of them actually died; he was quite thankful for the firemen, who decided to use the fire hydrants against the Pheonix King, and those people in the helicopter owned by some company called "Lendosan".
It still wasn't enough to defeat Saffron; he continued to destroy, and the rage within Ranma continued to grow, until finally...
... He couldn't remember. That was the last memory he had before waking up here, with the scent of blood and soot clinging to him...
His eyes shot open. The scent of blood and soot? How the heck could he smell it so vividly. He glanced over at his mother and the Chinese crone, who both looked into his eyes, and saw the confusion. Sighing, his mother leaned over and placed her hands on the sides of his head. Clearly, he could tell that her touch was obstructed, as though she was trying to touch him through his clothing or hair...
"Ranma, there's something that you must know," she said, with sorrow in her tone. She glanced at Cologne, and the older woman nodded, and walked out of his vision. "When you were born, I had a friend surpress some of your heritage. You see, you are not what one would call 'human'," she explained.
Idly, Ranma noticed that his wounds seemed to throb less, and tried to speak. Though it pained him to utter anything, especially with the strange burning sensation persisting around his mouth, he managed to ask, "wa... wa de... een?" After a moment's thought, Nodoka translated his question as "What do you mean?" and sighed, looking over in the direction that Cologne had vanished to.
"When the Elder gets back with the mirror, you'll see, my son." For some reason, Ranma felt an uplifting of the spirit at her last two words, something that he had needed lately. A few moments later, Cologne did return with a mirror, though it seemed to have broken off from a larger one. His mother helped him to a sitting position. With his mother supporting him, Ranma saw his new self for the first time.
Well, first off, he was a fucking mess. All the pains he felt were identified by the wounds he saw; a cut here, a piece of shrapnel there, a burn over yonder. His jaw and mouth was the worst, with burns and blood covering it. That wasn't the surprising part, though.
What caught him off guard was the fact that he seemed to have erupted fur everywhere. His body was covered in light brown fur, except for his face and what he could see of his front, thanks to his shredded shirt; that, isntead, was white, with two dark brown stripes over his eyes. His hair, too, changed, for it was slightly darker than the light brown, though it was spotted with the same color brown as his new eyestripes. His torn lip revealed slightly longer and sharper canines, his ears were pointed like a picture he had seen of a wolf, though he somehow noticed that it seemed not as long, and a bit wider, and his eyes were now an eerie yellow-green.
The mother of the changed boy continued. "You see, my family and I were never human, and neither was your father." His mind now acting quite surreal, he noticed that several of the wounds were healing faster than usual, though there seemed to be a problem with the nastier looking wound on his face.
It still had healed somewhat, allowing easier conversation. "Heh, nuu bobs ain' noma a'edi," he mumbled. To his surprise, Nodka smiled while shaking her head. She then proceded to rock his world for the upteemth time that day.
"Ranma, dear, Genma is not your father." She smiled sadly as she looked at his shocked expression. "You see, your true father, I had met in Tanzania..." she trailed off, then shook her head. "Never mind, I'll tell you later. Cologne, do you happen to have any of those healing potions?"
Cologne nodded as she pulled out a small bottle, with only half of it filled by a blue liguid. "Unfortunately, there's only this left, and I am no alchemist," she lamented as she removed to stopped, and proceeded to pour the remaining fluid onto Ranma's mouth, chin, and jaw. Immediately, the fires burning in the nerves began to recede, and Ranma could see his wounds healing. He watched the flesh reknit itself in sick facination, then looked at his mother.
"What am I?" he asked, pleased that he could actually speak coherently.
Nodoka seemed to freeze for a moment, then answered. "Simply put, a lycanthrope, a magical creature." Even Ranma could tell she was hiding something, but a new thought put that out of his mind.
And Cologne easily caught the thought as well. "You did quite a number on the Pheonix King, boy. Right now, he's several miles away, licking his wounds, though I expect that he'll be back. Fortunately, since you're, in a way, magical, you can hurt him badly. Unfortunately, he can hurt you as well, especially with his blood." She pointed at his healing face. "Pheonix blood is like magical lava; even the Pheonix Pill won't save you against it."
Ranma nodded slowly, just trying to grasp these new developments. "How many people died?" he asked, depression beginning to kick in.
The depression didn't set in very deeply, for the numbers surprised him. "Only thirty, so far. With your actions, as well as the evacuation, firemen, and the helicopters, we were able to save thousands of people," Nodoka answered, a grim look of pride on her face. That number was still unsettling, but Ranma refused to let it take hold, and instead stood up, ableit very warily.
Gone was the look of confusion; now his face was furious. "Show me where he is," he said flatly, promising vengeance against the insane god.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Mon, 26 Jul 2004 09:01)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.