Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Project I: Zero Ranma ❯ A New Hero ( Chapter 3 )

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

Author's Notes:

First I want to thank everyone who reviewed the fic [I only saw it now... I'm such a--- sorry, PG-13] and I do most of the things I need to improve. And few details I got wrong, and the list goes on... Sigh... I'm gonna make it! Imean, I'm gonna improve it!

-Omega X Present once again-

-Project: Zero Ranma-

-Chapter 3: A new Hero-

"Class, I'd like to introduce to you your new classmate and he came all the way from America," the teacher said. Ranma, standing in front of his classmates, raised an inquiring eyebrow towards the teacher's direction.

(America? I wonder how mom got that idea.) he thought.

The girls eyed him with gusto. The steel will of Ranma [actually, it was titanium] began to falter as the gaze began to make him quite uncomfortable. To only add to his worries were the boys glaring at him.

(What's wrong with them?) he thought again.

"Would you please introduce yourself?" the teacher said, derailing Ranma's train of thoughts.

"Oh, I'm Saotome Ranma, I haven't been to school for... Oh, crap, I forgot... anyway, thank you for your hospitali---"

"Yes, yes, Ranma, thank you. Sit down please," the teacher cut him off. The class was on the brink of laughter and poor Ranma doesn't know why. "Now, let's start with our classes..."

=Later on, lunch time=

Ranma joined Ukyou under a large tree in the left side of a green field. The wind blew gently in his face and the birds whistled. Peace and tranquility loomed in the air. Of course, in a world of anime, it was an omen for disaster.

An explosion took place near the school. The tremors spread throughout the area and the students near the south wall fell down from the shockwave.

"What was that?" asked Ukyou as she felt the air shiver around her.

"I don't know... Ucchan, do me a favor. Hide, and I'll see what's going on," Ranma said.

Ukyou started to protest but Ranma was already gone.

The source of explosion was quite near the school. And one evil looking beast was the cause of this. He looked a werewolf with a silver metallic part in it's right eye, which was color red. What was surprising about the monster was that he threw of energy balls from his hands.

"In the name of Justice, we shall---!" Sailor Moon was cut off as the beast threw two energy balls towards the five figures that appeared in the sky.

"Hey! I wasn't finished!" Usagi declared.

"Forget that! The monster is taking no time in destroying us!" Rei said. She unleashed her Mars Flame Sniper at the enemy. It shrugged it off like it wasn't even there.

Jupiter and Venus attacked it as well. It utterly had no effect.

"Mercury, what kind of armor this guy has?" asked Minako.

"I don't know. I can't analyze it! It's a mixture of living cells and metal alloys. It's weakness, I can't find!" Mercury said.

Usagi looked at the monster glaring at them. "If we can't hurt him with regular attacks, let's see how he likes this! Moon Spiral Heart Attack!!!"

The beast was hit directly and dust flew up in the air. The Senshi celebrated, failing to realize that the beast was indeed hurt, but was now angry. When the dust settled, the beast had his hand cupped together, forming a big ball of energy. In a roar, he threw it towards the Sailor Senshis.

Before contact, a black armored figure with long black hair tied in a loose ponytail appeared in front of them, took his sword from the back and shouted "Raijingeki!"

An electrical energy burst out of the hilt, stabbing the ball head on. Sparks flew away from the point where the ball and the blade contacted, and finally, the ball disappeared, along with the electrical energy.

"Who... who are you?" asked Rei.

The figure didn't answer, as he dashed towards his enemy and said "Shippuuga!" Only a red crescent that appeared in front of the enemy gave clue on what happened. After a moment, the beast glowed and exploded, leaving almost no trace of it.

Ranma narrowed his eyes. He recognized the power scale of the beast, and also recognized the DNA sequence of it. (No doubt about it, it's a Maverick...) he thought. (What the hell is a Maverick doing here?)

"Who are you?" asked Rei again. Ranma looks at her.

(Who is she? And who are they?) Ranma thought.

Minako and Makoto had hearts over their eyes. The figure in front of them had the deepest blue eyes they ever seen, and his face, even if his ears and upper part was covered with a cool looking helmet, he was definitely a 20 in the cute scale of 1 to 10.

Ami was worried. Her computer scanned the two attacks, and she could not believe the electric power of the sword surpassed Jupiter's strongest by 100 times. And the finishing move he did on the beast went off the scale.

Before anyone could react, Ranma turned his back on them and teleported out.

=Later, school grounds=

"Ranchan! Where the heck have you been?" Ukyou asked.

"Sorry, Ucchan... I had to..."

"Did you see that new guy? Man, he beat the monster like it was a weakling!" Ukyou said.

(Huh?)

"Wow, he was also cute... but not as cute as you, Ranchan!"

It took Ranma a while to realize that when he used his external armor, no one recognized him.

"C'mon! We're late for class!" Ukyou said.

"Class? After what happened a few minutes ago?" asked Ranma incredulously.

"You silly! After all those accidents and the appearances of those Sailor Senshi, thinks like that are pretty normal."

"That's weird... I wonder if there is a town similar to this."

At this point, the whole Nerima town sneezed.

Meanwhile, Ukyou dragged her new brother to class. Some girls glared at Ukyou with daggers, while others whispered how lucky she was, having a hunk as a brother. Ranma was clueless as ever.

Class started normally, which means Ranma slept the whole class day.

=After the dismissal bell=

Ranma was dragged again by Ukyou. They seemed to act so normally, like brother and sister. It must have been the fact they were friends before that's why they felt comfortable in each other's presence. Ranma also felt sorry for Ukyou, the way she lived her life as a boy, her father dying.

Ukyou also felt sorry for Ranma, after being put through the Neko ken, and disappearing in the Chinese Jungles, where he hunted for raw food, and avoiding wild animals [Ranma fabricated his story].

"Come on Ranchan! Let's go home!" Ukyou said, grabbing his arm.

"Oh, alright, as long as you don't tell mom I slept the whole day..." Ranma said.

They passed over the Shinto shrine, where five girls were discussing the events that took place a few hours ago. They still tried to think on how the monster easily survived Sailor Moon's final attack, and how the mysterious [but cute, as Makoto and Minako added] easily defeated.

"Look," Ami said, stopping the two from describing how good looking was the black armored figure, "I did not want to cut class, but this is important. The power readings that I took from him were outstanding. The electrical attack he did was about 100 times stronger than yours, Makoto," Ami said and the statement made Makoto stare.

"This is fishy. How come today, the youma was tough," Rei said, "and this new guy comes in and destroys it like it was nothing."

"I know," Ami replied.

"That is why I've come to warn you," a voice said behind them.

"WAH!" Usagi said, jumping up. Turning around, she complained. "Don't do that!"

Behind them was a familiar green-haired woman, the Senshi of Time.

"Sorry princess," Setsuna said. "I've come to warn you. The black armored figure is dangerous. He is the threat to the formation of Crystal Tokyo."

=Saotome's house, about one and a half hour later=

Nodoka was doing some katas with her shinai [bamboo sword]. Moving with fluidity and grace, she slashed, stabbed and blocked invisible opponents. Finally, she jumped up, turned and slashed twice diagonally, making an 'X' mark in the air.

She took a deep breath, dropping her stance to a relaxed one. She wiped the sweat of her forehead, and sat down.

"Honey! I'm home!" a muffled voice said outside the dojo. Nodoka's eyes narrowed.

(What the hell is Genma doing here? He should be at work, paying back all the things he stole and bargained when he used Ranma as his collateral,) she thought. She went out of the dojo, back to her house to change.

After changing, she went to the living room, and she was surprised by the sight. There was Genma, and beside him was no other than Soun Tendo, and his three daughters.

"Oh, this is a surprise. Good afternoon, Soun," Nodoka greeted.

"Good morn, I mean, good afternoon, Nodoka-san," Soun said smiling. "I thought we could visit."

"Yes, it's nice to see you again," Nodoka said, and shot a look to Genma. "Can I tak to you for a while, daring?"

When Genma was dragged out, Nodoka put on a scary face. "What is he doing here?" and Genma put an I-don't-know-what-you-mean face. "Genma, I remember the agreement you and Soun had about uniting the schools, but we agreed that all engagements you did with Ranma will be cancelled because of your breech in agreement. Will I have to face those families again? I told you, I want Ranma to choose for himself who he wants to stay with his whole life."

"But, honey, they just wanted to visit!" Genma lied. Nodoka wasn't convinced, but she didn't show it. she just went back to entertain their guest, while Genma followed pursuit.

It was a few more minutes when Nodoka realized something. Ranma and Ukyou haven't returned yet, and it was getting dark. She began to worry, and was about to go look for them herself, when Ranma came back.

"Mom! I need some bandages, and some wood, hurry!" Ranma said with worry in his voice.

Nodoka stood up, fearing something was wrong and something was definitely wrong. Ranma was carrying Ukyou who was unconscious in his back, and slid her down in the sofa.

The three Tendo daughters looked at the newcomer with different thoughts.

(Oh my, quite a handsome young boy) thought Kasumi.

(Wow, look at that bod) Nabiki thought.

(Pervert, carrying that girl like that) guess who.

"What happened to her?" Nodoka asked.

"She accidentally tripped, fell down, broke her ankle and got knocked out," Ranma said. "I need some bandages and a hard stick. I need to make a support for it."

Nodoka brought out her first aid kit and one of the shinais, which Ranma broke it so easily with his hands, impressing all the people except one, as they watched Ranma skillfully make a temporary cast to Ukyou's ankle, and finally bringing her in the bedroom.

When Ranma came down, Soun was flabbergasted by the boy. So were his two daughters.

"Impressive son!" Soun exclaimed.

"Thank you, Mr...?" Ranma said.

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Soun Tendou, and this are my three daughters," Soun replied, introducing the three young girls. "Here is Kasumi, my oldest, age 19. This is Nabiki, age 17, and my youngest, Akane, age 16."

Ranma politely bowed and smiled at three of them. Kasumi was impressed by the young man even more; Nabiki was intrigued, while Akane had the same thought [which you can guess...].

Ranma had some casual talks with the three sisters, while Genma was trying to give a hint to the boy without Nodoka catching on to it, but no such luck.

(What are you doing boy! Choose one!) he thought over and over again.

Ranma's thoughts were in another place though. His face showed full attention, yet his thoughts were on the encounter with yet another Maverick he met during his walk home.

-Flashback-

Walking home, both Ukyou and Ranma passed by the park. The green scenery made Ukyou point at everything, saying the history of the old cherry tree, and some others, when Ranma's danger sense came on at full level. He looked around, trying to figure out what might happen, when another explosion rocked the place. Ukyou tried to keep in balance when she tripped, and her ankle got twisted, and she fell down on the park bench, knocking her out. Ranma tried to get her away, but then, he saw those girls again, trying to fight a new monster, which showed a strong resistance. It was squirting out mini missiles, it had almost triangular wings, and a tail. Even it's head was triangular.

Ranma glowed grey and his armor came back to him. He dashed to save the girl with the orange skirt, and also saving the one with a green skirt beforethe monster could blast it to smithereens.

"You girls okay?" he asked, only getting heart eyes as a response. Dashing back to the one with red skirt, he said to her "I'll take care of this." And he gently dropped the two girls.

Rushing back to his enemy, he came skillfully dodged the missile it through to him. Immediately scanning the projectile, he was surprised to see it was a mini stingray. Ranma remembered an enemy who fires something so similar, and he remembered Jet Stingray.

(Kami-sama! It looks exactly like Stingray guy! But he looks tougher) he thought, as he slashed the monster. It roared in anger. Ranma adjusted his R-Sabre to 75% capacity and continued to slash, avoiding the monster [or Maverick]'s attacks. Every slashed, the monster roared, showing it's bits of armor falling off. That's when Ranma knew it was his time. Dodging a punch, he drove his blade up, launching is opponent up in the air, where Ranma used his Anything Goes Style, hitting it with slashes and when finally came for the last two hits, he did his deathblow.

"Hyouretsuzan!" and his blade turned to pure ice as he slashed the enemy. The enemy turned to ice and fell to the ground. Ranma, using his Kuuenbu technique, delayed his landing, todeliver the final blow to the frozen figure, shattering it like glass.

Ranma knew and feared what it was. (Another Maverick...) he thought.

"WAIT!" the girl with blue skirt said. "YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!"

Ranma wouldn't hear it. Ukyou was just left lying in the bench, and she needed help. Turning around, he teleported out, just to appear behind the tree behind the bench where Ukyou lied, without any armor. Carrying her, he walked around for some time getting no direct answer where to find a doctor. He finally went home.

-End of flashback-

Ranma reviewed his situation. Ukyou statement that no one recognized him while in his armor opened a new opportunity. His first plan on the trip home was to settle down and live peacefully until the Reploid Revolution. But now that he just destroyed not one, but two medium level Maverick, he had to think back. Was it worth to risk the lives of the people because they don't have the technology to generate a weapon of such power to break through the armor of the Mavericks and leave them alone to deal with it? Or would he take on the responsibility as the armored warrior?

Ranma decided. He was going to be this world's Maverick Hutnter, with the name of Zero.

=Meanwhile=

A figure in the shadows watched as the Maverick was destroyed in his television. He smiled.

"This is interesting..."

=Somewhere in the sub-space pocket, another dimension=

(That power reading again! Why can't I lock into it?) Washu thought.

=In the time gate=

Pluto narrowed her eyes as the power reading came again. Crystal Tokyo's timeline was slowly but surely being cut off. She needed to destroy the figure before Crystal Tokyo permanently disappears.

To be continued...

Notes: People who don't know what the Kuuenbu skill is, it is an air technique allowing Ranma to double jump in the air.

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W hew, long one... Any way, next!

Juuban's Zero! Ranma takes the responsibility of a Maverick Hunter, helping the Sailor Senshi, although he may get to fight the Outer Senshi, and he doesn't know why...

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