Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Nibunnoichi! GXP! ❯ Round two, fingers on the buzzers ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Nibunnoichi! GXP!

By Lord Raa

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Disclaim-me-do: I said “no conferring.” Now you must be punished…

I think reading this will suffice…

Please note that the Tenchi elements in this story are going to be AU, so no complaints about any omissions or major changes this time.

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Chapter 2

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In Nerima, the Tendo and Saotome families were coming to terms with the fact that Ranma had technically been abducted by an alien.

“Who knows what that pervert's doing to that woman!” Akane huffed angrily.

Nodoka sighed gently before steeling herself, lest she show any kind of weakness in front of the visitors.

Urd knew that the short haired girl was just protesting for the sake of appearances and smiled knowingly at Nodoka.

Mara pouted at the loss of a potential boyfriend/love slave, but decided to make the best of her excursion to the mortal plane and dragged Happousai off to the netherworld.

Her exit was timed with a light coming from the Tendo hallway. The mirror shimmering like a pool of mercury, a figure dressed in a blue skirt and mauve sweater emerged from the reflective surface.

“Urd!” a gentle and most pleasant feminine voice called out.

“Belldandy!” the platinum haired goddess recognised who it was and called out to her sister.

“Father really wants to see you. He says that you have a few things to explain,” the figure said, walking towards the table.

“What? I was merely helping Ranma fulfil his destiny,” Urd replied in her best innocent voice.

“Yes, but you told a few lies about your engagement to Ranma. Father is not happy about that,” Belldandy explained as she bowed to the Tendos and sat opposite her sister.

Urd sighed in resignation. “Ok, Sis, it's a fair cop. I'll face my punishment like an adult.”

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“I never realised what a nice view all them astronauts had,” Ranma idly commented as he watched the blue planet beneath him shrink.

“Yes,” Amane smiled as she recalled her first trip off-world. “Take a seat, we'll be leaving the solar system in a minute.”

After the ship completed its FTL jump, Ranma's stomach grumbled at its emptiness.

“Oops, sorry 'bout that,” he apologised.

Amane smiled at the embarrassed martial artist. “I suppose that lunchtime is nearly upon us.”

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In the underworld, Mara was being praised for prize she had returned with.

“My dear Mara, I've been looking forward to some quality time with the new arrival,” her immediate superior gave the hogtied Happousai a smile.

Not just any smile, but one that would cause even the bravest of warrior-gods to reconsider their choice of vocations.

Happousai squirmed, trying to free his mouth to bargain.

He won a reprieve when a new figure entered the room.

Well, it was more like a stay of execution.

“Mara, how was your trip to the mortal plane?” Hild asked her niece.

“I met this cute guy, but he was dragged off by some alien slut. He seemed really nice and innocent,” the blonde demoness grumbled.

Hild smiled then shook her head, well aware that many of the denizens of the infernal realms had “things” for tempting the more naïve members of the opposite sex. The sight of the squirming bundle caught her attention.

“What is that?”

“Happousai. He summoned me, and then tried to back out of the deal. It was one of those `if someone offers their soul to save others, then I have to take a soul' deals. It was that or go on a destructive rampage,” Mara explained.

“THE Happousai? Well, I do believe that we have some special treatments for him. Take him away to the Ironic Punishment Room, D'tesh. I want to talk with my niece,” Hild instructed.

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Elsewhere, Urd was being subjected to questioning with regard to her handling of Nodoka Saotome's wish.

“So then Urd, you maintain that your actions concerning the young Saotome were actually to help him in his destiny.”

“Yes Father. If Ranma had been forced to marry one of the girls from Nerima, then I feel that he would have been shackled either to a dojo, restaurant, rural village or a bed,” Urd explained. “If he is supposed to help bring peace to the galaxy, then being stuck here on Earth is not going to allow it to happen.”

“A valid point, especially if we are to look at just how the events of Ranma's life have made him stronger. And he will need all of his strength.”

Urd smiled at the praise.

“However,” voice of her father rang out in an authoritative baritone, “you deliberately mislead several mortals about your relationship with Ranma.”

`Uh oh,' Urd winced internally. She had just realised that the interview/debriefing/interrogation had been going a bit too well.

“His mother, for example, is under the impression that you are engaged to be married. Is there anything you would to tell us about that?”

“Well, I err, needed to,” Urd fumbled for words momentarily. A flash of inspiration hit her. “What I meant, Father, is that I needed to ensure to Saotome-san's safety at a critical point in his life.”

“Yes, I'm aware of the incident just before the Saotomes visited China. But you are aware that divine and infernal promises are not to be made or taken lightly. You engaged yourself to a mortal, that's not something I would have expected from you, Urd,” Urd's father said, his voice calming the goddess.

“So now what?” Urd asked, bracing herself for punishment.

“This is an awkward situation to say the least. On the one hand,” the seated male gestured with his left hand, “you promised that you'd marry Ranma, a promise which you don't seem too upset about. However, on the other, he offered himself to Mara in order to save the others in Nerima. It would seem that Ranma has made his decision for us, that Mara's contract is the binding one.”

“But there's something else,” Urd interrupted. She would do everything she could to prevent a loss to Mara. “He's not with Mara right now, he's with some alien woman that's trying to convince him to join their police force.”

“I know. Could you possibly have put me in worse position over this boy?”

Urd laughed nervously, deciding that it was not a good idea to say “at least we're not pregnant with his children”.

“I know what you're thinking Urd, and yes it's a good thing that you're not with child. I'll have to speak with Hild, perhaps she will be able to suggest something suitable.”

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At the same time, Ranma was being given the “dime tour” of the nearest Galaxy Police installation to Earth.

“And over there we have the holding cells,” Amane pointed to her left.

Ranma saw that the cells were sparsely populated, though the inhabitants were dangerous looking.

“Ah, Detective Kaunaq, it's good to see you again. Is this the young man that helped you catch Saffron?” A woman who appeared to be around thirty years old with green hair rose from her seat and approached Amane and her travelling companion.

“Yes, Ranma Saotome, meet Chairwoman Airi of the Galaxy Police,” Amane introduced the pair.

“A pleasure to meet you, Saotome-san,” Airi said with a bow.

“Please, call me Ranma,” Ranma replied, matching the bow.

“Ok Ranma-san. If you'll be so kind as to step into this office, we can have our discussion.”

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In someplace unpleasant for most creatures, Mara was explaining why she felt a bit gypped at losing Ranma to the Alien Floozy or even worse, her rival Urd.

“The way he jumped in to save the others without a thought to his own safety was so noble,” the younger demoness gushed.

Hild sighed, it seemed that her niece had a major crush on this Saotome kid.

“That's one way to put it. Another is that he's a bit stupid.”

Mara snorted. “Stupid? He's learnt enough techniques to beat Saffron!”

“That doesn't mean that he knows how to program a VCR, Mara. But let's see what he looks like again.”

Mara handed the unconvinced relative a picture of Ranma in a fighting stance, the same one he was in when she was summoned by Happousai.

“Perhaps he might not be totally irredeemable,” Hild casually commented. Though she wouldn't have said “no” to Ranma if he was to ask her out.

Mara easily saw through her aunt's dismissive façade. “Yeah, well look at this.”

Hild was now handed a picture of a shirtless Ranma working out.

“Oh my.”

“Yeah. Can I have that back now?”

“In a moment.”

A minor demon knocked on the door. “Excuse me, but Mistress Hild has a call for her. I believe that it's important.”

Hild nodded, before reluctantly handing her niece the picture of Ranma back.

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“If you don't mind me asking, Ma'am, why is the Chief of the Galaxy Police here at this outpost and not at headquarters?” Ranma asked, the politeness causing him to sweat slightly.

“Well, normally I would be at the main facility, but I was conducting a minor morale boosting tour out here,” the woman answered.

The response made some sense to Ranma, who had recently read the Art of War at the request of his mother. Nodoka had hoped that the ancient strategy guide would help the pigtailed martial artist plan for his future a bit better. And for Nodoka, that future included a number of grandchildren running around the house.

“I hear that you had a bit of a run in with Saffron. Could you tell me anything about that?” Airi asked.

Ranma took a deep breath before explaining about the latest incident involving a kidnapping attempt on Akane.

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“Yeah, what'd ya want?” Hild spoke with a noticeable disdain for her caller.

+Hild, it's me,+ the being known in some circles as Kami-sama barely introduced himself.

“What can I do you for?” Hild asked, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

+It's about your niece, Mara. Something's come up.+

“Let me guess, it's about that Saotome kid?”

+Got it in one. Now what do you want to do about him? The divine contract should take precedence, as it was made first, but the infernal agreement was made by his own free will. However, you have Happousai as a sacrifice and Ranma is currently keeping an extraterrestrial company on her ship.+

“Crap. This kid's a real trouble maker, isn't he?”

+ I wouldn't worry about that too much: I have a feeling he won't be returning to Earth anytime soon.+

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At the GP outpost, Ranma was finishing up the vastly abridged version of his most recent adventure.

“Well, you certainly have led an interesting life, Ranma,” commented the Chief.

“Yeah, well, you know how it is,” Ranma smiled as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Well, having met you at last, I would like to offer you a role in the Galaxy Police. I won't lie to you Ranma, it's not an easy life. You'd be risking your life on a regular basis.”

“The pay's good, though,” Amane added, hoping to convince Ranma to join the GP.

Before Ranma could answer one way or the other, the whole station started to shake, causing everyone on board to be thrown to the floor.

Amane whipped out her laser pistol, and gestured for the others to stay down. “I'll take a look, you stay here.”

Creeping to the door, the detective opened it, only to be confronted by the muzzle of a laser rifle.

“Don't move, babe. I'd hate to ruin those looks of yours.”

“Shit,” Amane cursed.

A shout of “Mokou Takabisha!” sounded from behind the crouching woman.

The blast of green energy slammed into the chest of the invader, knocking him to the floor and leaving the would-be raider unconscious.

”What the hell was that?” Amane asked, turning around to face Ranma.

“A ki blast. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. We need to find out what's going on here, stay close.” Amane led the others out of the office.

Crouching as they covered the ground to the command post, Ranma noted that several of the unformed officers had been killed and many more wounded in the attack.

Not wanting to allow the women he had just met to get hurt, Ranma quickly took point and disabled several raiders in a matter of moments.

“He's good,” the chairwoman commented. “He'd be an asset to the force.”

Amane got the hint. “I'll do what I can, Chief.”

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Elsewhere, away from the prying eyes of mere mortals, an agreement was being hammered out with regards to the future of on Ranma Saotome.

Kami-sama sat with his daughter to his right and Hild and her niece to his left.

“I have good news and bad. The bad news is that having reviewed both of your cases, I'm declaring them both null and void.”

Mara was understandably upset about this. “What do you mean `null and void'? He made his choice to come with me! And I need a willing sacrifice!”

“And I'm supposed to be engaged to him!” Urd added. “You keep drumming the importance of divine promises into me.”

“Wrong, my dear Urd. We did some research, just to be sure about the whole situation.

What you did was engage your DAUGHTER, who apparently is called Urd, to Ranma,” Hild explained. “And there is a slight problem with the contract, there was a misprint, ANY soul will do as the payment. And payment has been filled with the soul of Happousai.”

This deflated the girls slightly as planned, and Kami-sama decided that he'd give them the opportunity to get what they wanted.

“The good news is that both Urd and Mara will be given the chance to court Ranma, if that is what you desire. He will make the decision using his own free will. If he chooses neither of you, then I'm sorry, but it'll be a case of `better luck next time'. Are there any objections?”

As both Urd and Mara considered the deal, a thought occurred to the demonic suitor.

“How will we be in the right place at the right time to meet up with Ranma?” Mara asked. “It's all very well and good saying `go for it', but he's on the other side of the galaxy and that does not make for an easy commute. I don't have to remind any of you about the mechanics of summoning infernal beings.”

“I am allowing a modification to the Yggdrasill system. When it has been completed, you will both have been `written in' as natives to the inhabitants with a complete historical record and memory of everybody that works around you. You will retain all of your knowledge but your powers will be limited.”

“So basically it's `Anything Goes' when it comes to convincing him?” Mara asked. “Assuming that we can convince him on our own, that is.”

“Yes.”

“Is there a time limit?” Urd asked.

“No, there is not. The contest, for lack of a better term, is over when Ranma makes his choice about whoever he wants to spend the rest of his life with.”

“Ok, I'll give it a go,” Urd confidently smiled at the others in the room.

“I'm not going to give up Ranma to you without a fight,” Mara sneered at the goddess, “I'm in.”

“Right then, I'll allow you to make your preparations.”

After the friendly rivals departed, Hild turned to her old acquaintance.

“There's more to this then you're telling them, isn't there?”

“Yes.”

Hild was quickly reminded of her dislike of Kami-sama's mysterious ways and glared at him. “That was a hint for you to tell me what Ranma's destiny is. I know that Urd mentioned that it was to bring some more order to the galaxy, but I don't think that you'd be involved unless there was something else.”

“You are quite right, Hild. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to swear you to secrecy on this.”

“Ooh, now I have to know,” Hild insisted.

Kami-sama sighed. “Well, it involves both Urd and Mara…”

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Aboard the GP outpost, Ranma was watching the blonde detective interrogate one of the captured pirates.

“Well, what are you after?”

“I ain't telling you nuthin'!” The pirate defiantly spat in Amane's face.

Ranma moved the seething detective to one side as he stepped up to the restrained man.

“Really. Perhaps we should talk in private,” the pigtailed martial artist suggested as he cracked his knuckles.

“You can't touch me, you have rules!”

“They do, but I don't,” Ranma smiled evilly. “You might want to start talkin' very soon, I took down Saffron.”

“What THE Saffron?”

“Yep.” Ranma smirked when he saw the yellow puddle form.

“Now where were we?” Amane asked the prone man. “Ah yes, you were telling me what it was that you were looking for.”

“A seed.”

“Seeds?” Amane asked sceptically. “You expect me to believe that you came and attacked this out post just for a shipment of seeds?”

“Not a shipment, but one seed. A special one.”

This caught Airi's attention. “What's so special about this seed? Why would you risk your lives for it?”

“I don't know what it's supposed to grow into, but I know that it's worth a lot of money,” the pirate confessed.

Airi, however, knew what the seed would grow into. `This is not good,' she thought, panicking slightly.

“And who told you that there'd be a seed here?” Amane demanded.

“I ain't telling you!”

“Ranma, would you be a darling and help me get some answers, pretty please?” Amane turned to the pigtailed boy and pouted cutely.

Ranma ignored the come-on, but stepped up and grabbed the pirate's left hand. “How many people died in this raid?”

“A dozen or so, it depends on who survives surgery,” Airi answered. “Why?”

“Just curious,” Ranma replied innocently as he selected the raider's little finger and tugged.

“AAARRRGGGHHH!”

“Ranma!”

“I only dislocated his finger!” he protested before turning to the man on the floor. “Is there anything else you'd like to tell the pretty ladies?”

“I don't know anything, `cept there's a mole!”

“Mole?” Amane asked the injured man.

The pirate added nothing more until his ring finger was selected by Ranma. “There's a mole in the GP headquarters that's been feeding us information. I don't know who it is, or where he's based. Honest!”

Ranma smiled at the panicky man. “Thanks.”

Airi turned to Amane. “This is not good, Amane. I'm not just talking about the spy.”

Amane was curious about what kind of seed would cause Airi to panic. “What's so special about this seed?”

Airi Masaki moved Amane to the corner away from the others before whispering her answer. “We've got a third generation Jurain tree seed here on the station.”

“What? Why? When? How?” Amane asked, flabbergasted.

“There's been a foul up with some paperwork and it was sent here. I've been to retrieve the seed for Lady Seto,” Airi explained.

“So that's the real reason for your visit.”

“Officially, I'm on a moral boosting tour and I'm interviewing the man who helped you capture Saffron.” Airi sighed. “I'd like to get back to Academy space before the pirates try again.”

“I don't blame you.”

The ladies turned back to Ranma and asked him if he wanted to join the GP.

“It would mean leaving home, Ranma-kun,” Airi pointed out, “Possibly forever, but you would be helping people in need.”

“Pops did say that protecting the weak is a martial artist's duty. I'll do it.”

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To be continued…

This chapter was pre-read by Chi Vayne.

Why am I included O!MG elements? Well, I am of the opinion that there aren't enough Ranma/Urd match-ups. I was trying to write one with Mara as Urd's rival for Ranma, when I had the idea of adding in GXP.

There will be a few AU elements for O!MG as well as Tenchi. You will see them in later chapters, assuming you want me to continue this story.

Until laterer comes.