Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Adventures of Jusenkyo Man ❯ Chapter 2

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

The Adventures of Jusenkyo Man


by Lord Raa


Chapter 2



**********


For reference:

“Blergen” = Japanese.

“{Quartz}” = Foreign language.

[Yedden] = Sign or other written note.

‘I wonder if there’s any jam left’ = thoughts.

*BLAMMO* = Sound effects.


*********


"Ranma," Jenny gently tried to wake the young man.

"Yeah?" was the groggy reply.

"It is time that I prepared you for the mission."

"Just let me get cleaned up and fed first, ok?"

"Of course, Ranma."


**********


A fresher smelling and much more contented looking Ranma sat down for his briefing. "So what am I up against?"

"Magical constructs that harvest life energy, your culture called them 'youma.' I don't recommend that you take them on unarmed, they can be coated in unpleasant substances."

"Mmm, acidic goo," Ranma rubbed his stomach. "What do you recommend I use?"

"I have forged a doutanuki that would cause the finest swordsmen in all of creation to develop drooling problems," Jenny replied. "A steel blade of the same strength would weigh 100 times more than this."

"Sounds good," Ranma was now interested in the weapon. Though this was a side effect of the "spring of drowned engineer" rather then his interest in swordsmanship. "When can I practice with it?"

"After the briefing. You need to put these youma down quickly as they tend to come in hordes. Go for the heart or a decapitation. Unless you have a few magical attacks up your sleeve."

"There is that new ability I picked up. Ki attacks any good?" Ranma asked.

"Possibly, but keep your Jusenkyo related abilities as a last resort. You don't show your opponent all of what you do, do you?"

"I never did," Ranma chuckled.

"Another thing for you to consider is that your presence will have a major impact on the timeline. Remember the 'butterfly effect'?"

"Will my presence affect the timeline more or less compared to me not showing up?" Ranma asked.

"If you consider that by not doing anything, humanity will be destroyed then, yes your arrival in that reality will have a great impact."

Ranma was now getting confused. "But how can that be? If I don't go, then everbody will die."

Jenny's graphical simulation of a face smiled at her charge's puzzled expression. "But the more people you come into contact with, the more lives you affect. Not just those that you meet, but the people that have contact with those that you interacted with. For example; you make someone smile, they're in a good mood so the good mood is passed on to others."

Ranma eye's started to glaze over. "I'll take your word for it, Jenny. Can I practice with that doutanuki now?"

"Yes. Head out to the training area."


***********


As the pigtailed martial artist stretched his muscles, Jenny activated a holographic training partner.

"The program will automatically adjust as your skill level improves. Any questions?"

"What school are you teaching me?"

"Does it matter?"

Ranma thought for a moment. "Not really. Anything Goes is flexible enough to warrant its own armed combat branch. But saying that, I've had problems with the name Anything Goes."

Ranma was quiet as he took a few practice swings with his sword. 'Heavier than I thought it would be.'

Taking a strike at the dummy to get a feel for the balance, Ranma found that it was perfectly weighted. "Nice."

As Ranma spent the rest of the morning practicing, he thought about the name for the sword school he was being trained in. 'I recognise certain elements from my travels, but some of it is out of this world. Heh, I wouldn't be surprised if some of it is alien in origin.'

"Time out, Jenny. How about Hisui no Taka Ryuu (1). For the name of the sword style, I mean," Ranma spoke around a few deep breaths.

"I suppose so. It does have a lyrical quality, and it doesn't have the stigma of Anything Goes. Not that Anything Goes is a bad style, but let's be honest here: it was founded by a thieving pervert."

"A pervert I'll never see again," Ranma said wistfully as he realised he'd never see his friends, enemies or family again.

"Enough slacking, Ranma. It's time for you practice your special techniques."

A 3 metre monster took the place of the training dummy. It had a chitinous covering over its heavily muscled torso. The four arms flexed, causing the beast's biceps to ripple menacingly. It was a creature that generally radiated power and fear.

"I want you to take this youma out with the bare minimum of effort. Remember - only decapitation or removal of its heart will do. Oh, and these things aren't too picky when it comes to choosing their targets."

Ranma smiled. It was not the most attractive facial expression he'd ever shown the world at large.

Circling the holographic construct slowly, Ranma thought back to his training and what it said about fighting much larger and stronger opponents. 'Go for the weak points and use your speed to your advantage.'

Ranma charged in, his sword held at shoulder height for a single, piercing strike to the heart. The youma readied two of its arms to block Ranma's attack and knock him away.

Only Ranma wasn't where he should have been. He was behind the target, holding the sword in place. The attack had pierced the torso, nearly cleaving the heart in two.

"How was that?" he asked in his arrogant tone as the youma disintegrated.

"Impressive. Let's take this to level two."

The youma reformed and snarled as it charged Ranma.

Ranma parried the series of claw strikes that would have injured his old self. He jumped back and smiled. "This calls for a new strategy. How about this, I read it in a manga."

Ranma sheathed his sword and took a battoujutsu stance.

Jenny's electronic face raised an eyebrow. "Amakekeru no ryuu no hirameki?"

"Heh, why not? I need a laugh," Ranma smirked.

And so the rest of the day went, with Ranma trying out various special techniques on holographic youma with varying degrees of success.


**********


A young girl stared into a sacred fire, trying for a glimpse of the future. She was intrigued when the image of young man with a pigtail and a sword appeared. Her intrigue turned into a gasp when she saw him butcher several mean looking youma.

When the fiery vision subsided, the priestess in training decided that it was a good time for a refreshment break.

"Hello Rei."

The raven tressed girl jumped in the air. Landing in a fighting stance, she relaxed when she saw her friend. "Setsuna!"

The green haired woman nonchelantly waved off the threatening growl. "I needed to speak with you. Have you had any strange visions lately?"

"Yes," Rei answered when her heart calmed down. "I just had one. It was a guy with a sword, he mopped the floor with a few youma."

"Did he look familiar?" Setsuna asked.

"Never seen him before in my life," Rei answered. "Not that I'd mind seeing him again," she mumbled quietly.

Setsuna pretended not to hear the other girl's lament. "I detected several disturbances in the time-stream. I think this person might be related to it."

Before Rei could comment, her communicator beeped - it was Sailor Mars.

*Rei, we need your help. Youma are attacking downtown Juuban.*

"I'm on my way." Rei turned to Setsuna who frowned.

"Something's not right, I'll see you there."


**********


Setsuna appeared on a rooftop overlooking the battle. The level of property destruction was much greater than anything that the senshi had ever been resopnsible for.

The corpses of three youma lay messily on the scorched tarmac. Sailors Moon, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter were all breathing heavily.

"Sorry I'm late guys," Sailor Mars apologised. "I was talking with Pluto."

Mercury looked concerned. "What did she have to say?"

"That something new has come up, one that cause me great concern."

The battle weary senshi still managed an impressive jump when they heard the voice from behind them.

"Pluto! How many times have I told you about doing that!" the future ruler of Crystal Tokyo complained.

Pluto waved off the whining and got straight down to business. "Something is disrupting the timestream. Was there anything strange about this attack?"

Mercury nodded. "Yes, the youma showed a new kind of intelligence - they were actually supporting each other."

Jupiter stood up, and winced in pain. "Damn. My knee's going to be sore for a few days."

As the rest of the outer senshi arrived, a blood curdling howl rang out and caused all but the emotionally closed off guardian of time to cringe momentarilly.

"What hell was that?" Uranus demanded as she removed her arms from her lover.

"I'm not sure," Pluto answered.

"Ok, now I'm worried," Mercury turned her attention to the Mercury Computer. "It looks like more of those things are coming. A lot more."

"And just how many is a lot more?" Venus asked.

Neptune stepped away from Uranus and looked at the swirling gateway. "About FIFTY of them."

"Just how tough are they?" Saturn asked.

"Too tough," Sailor Moon replied. "Pluto, any ideas?"

"DEAD SCREAM!"

The first of the youma fell to the ground on fire. This was a good start.

But what gave everyone a sinking feeling was the fact that it rolled on the floor to put out the flames, stood up and charged the puzzled looking warriors of love and justice.

"Crap," Jupiter grimaced as she put her weight on her injured knee. "Jupiter Oak Evolution!"


**********


Ranma took a deep breath as he prepared himself for the journey to this strange new world.

"Good luck Ranma. Come back in one piece."

"But of course, Jenny."

Ranma stepped through yellow and green portal into the unknown.


**********


The senshi were learning the true meaning of the term "exhausted". Jupiter had passed out, the youma had noticed the warrior favouring her right knee and attacked her percieved weak spot.

Venus was trying to keep the two metre by 1.5 metre masses of muscle from Mercury so she could find a weak point, but they would not allow such an advantage to the poorest fighter there.

Moon and Mars were fighting back to back, looking ready to fall over at any moment while the outers were having difficulty in dealing with a tactically aware opponent.

Half of the youma had fallen to the brave young warriors, but that still left twenty five smart, strong and bloodthirsty monsters left to cause untold havoc.

Or so it seemed.

'Not good, these girls are going to get creamed,' Ranma thought to himself. Slipping silently towards the nearest youma, he unsheathed his doutanuki and struck a surgical blow, severing the neck cleanly.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

Everyone capable of conscious thought turned to the new arrival with differing opinions as to his reason for being there.

Pluto frowned as she realised that this was the one of the factors that was causing disruptions to the timeline.

Mars and Venus blushed slightly as the took in the sight of a handsome young man with the body of a Greek god and swoon inducing smile.

"I'm sorry ladies, but unless I'm much mistaken, I need to kill a few of these monsters."

The youma decided that the pigtailed man was a much greater threat to them.

Ranma became a blur as he hacked and slashed his way through the rest of the magically constructed troublemakers.

After two minutes of frenetic activity, Ranma wiped the thin sheen of perspiration off his forehead. Turning to face the slightly shaken schoolgirls, Ranma asked, "are you all right there?"

"Who are you?" Venus asked, hoping to get to know the man better.

"Ranma."

Jupiter stirred and for the first time caught a glimpse of the senshi's saviour. "Oh yes, don't mind if I do!"

"Wha?"

Not giving Ranma a chance to finish his question, Jupiter charged at Ranma.

"Oh no you don't Jupitart. I saw him first!" Venus made her play.

Ranma was still a little puzzled by the reaction he got and so failed to dodge the twin tackle. "Hey, stop that!" he protested at the groping he received.

Pluto's actions were most unexpected. "You two can play with Ranma later, I need some privacy with him first."

"Hey, that's not fair, Pluto!" Mars complained.

Pluto smiled evilly at the senshi of fire. "Get over it, I have. Now Ranma, what is it you want?"

"It's a long story. But the gist of it is this - you guys need some help and I'm in a postion to offer some. Will you accept it and stop these two from rooting through my pockets?"

Pluto smiled as she nodded. "Let's go back to my place."

"Ok," Usagi agreed.

"Not you, just Ranma."

The senshi of time managed to help Ranma to his feet before the rest of them realised what she had said.

"WHAT!?!"


**********


To be continued.


(1) Falcon of Jade - of course my Japanese skills are somewhat mediocre with only a year and a half of night school lessons.


Well, what can I say about this other then it was my first attempt at adding Sailor Moon with Ranma. As this is a continuation of Unexpected Effect, I want you to all know that this is not meant to be taken seriously at all.

It's just a bit of fun, that's all.

Thanks go out to my pre-reader, Chi Vayne.

Laterer folks.