Note: Arcs 2 and 3 will contain spoilers for the previous Arcs.
Prologue
In an ancient land filled with mystery and wonder, magic
still ruled supreme and science had yet to gain a foot hold. There a
man embarked on a great training journey with his son, planning
travel the world, teaching his son the noble art of combat.
Unfortunately for him, he lost the boy after only a week of
travel. Vainly he searched high and low for the boy, but of him he
could find no sign.
The boy himself, being naught six years of age, wandered
aimlessly through a dark forest, following a will-o-whisp, his
innocent heart not knowing of the mischief it intended for him. He
may have drowned in the bog if it had not been for the cave that he
had discovered.
He was not the first to visit this cave, for it was marked all
over with runes that proclaimed this to be a dangerous place,
imprisoning a powerful demon. But the boy, being curious and
unable to read, pressed on regardless.
This was a prison made long ago. The iron gate had rusted
completely, falling at his touch. The traps had moldered and did
nothing to impede his progress. It was not long before he had
reached the main room, a vast chamber mostly occupied by the
gigantic crystal at its center.
The boy was still weak from his travels and his struggles in
the bog. His clothes dirty and damp. He bled from a dozen cuts all
over his body. With the last of his strength, he crawled towards the
crystal.
Up close, he could see that there was a woman inside the
crystal, eyes shut, arms crossed, looking as if she were resting
peacefully. She looked to be no more than a girl, but there was
something about her face that made her seem old, older than
anyone the boy had ever met before.
He reached out to touch the crystal, surprised at its sudden
build-up of warmth. As it began to glow, black spots began to fill
his vision. The last sight he saw before passing out were green
eyes staring back at him.
It was the same sight that he awoke to some time later. The
same eyes, though now the woman appeared older, around the age
of his mother when he had left her with his father. As he lay there
cradled in her arms, he began to realize that he was clean again and
all his wounds had been healed somehow. Even his torn and ratty
clothes were pristine and new again.
"What is you name, little one?" the woman asked softly,
running a free hand through his black hair.
For a while the boy only stared back at her, mesmerized by
her bright green eyes. Her red hair. Her pointed ear. "Ranma," he
said finally, his voice shaking.
"Ranma," she repeated with a smile. "You can call me
Washu."
Story Arc 1
"So let me get this straight," Washu said after sipping at her
tea. "You were traveling with your father when you were
distracted by a pretty light and ended up in the bog. There you
found a cave where I was imprisoned in crystal."
Ranma nodded seriously. They were currently sitting in a
large study, the walls lined with heavy books, dusty with age and
misuse. They were currently having tea while relaxing in large,
though soft, padded armchairs that were too big for either of them,
Washu having returned to her child form. Little creatures that
looked somewhat like dolls made to resemble Washu fixed the tea
for them.
"Okay, it shouldn't be too difficult for the greatest sorceress
in all the realms to locate your father."
"Washu-chan is the greatest!" one of the dolls shouted
suddenly.
"Washu-chan is a genius!" the other answered.
Washu acted as if this was all perfectly natural, but Ranma
stared at them in wonder. It was enough that dolls could move, the
local magus in the village he had grown up in had often put on
puppet shows, but it was quite another thing for them to be able to
talk. Ranma tried to touch one of them, but they stayed out of his
reach while going about their duties.
Ranma was concentrating on them so much that he didn't
notice that Washu had come over to him, than is until she plucked
out one of his hairs.
"Ouch!" Ranma said, rubbing the spot. "What did you do
that for?"
Washu only chuckled in reply and made her way to another
table in the room which was stacked with a few achemical
ingredients. Washu took out a bowl and added a few liquids to it,
adding the hair, and mixing it well. Carrying the bowl in one hand,
and a small box in the other, she walked back over to Ranma,
setting them down in front of him.
"As you can see this is an ordinary compass," Washu
explained, showing it to the boy, "Pointing always to magnetic
North like all good compasses do. But if we drop it into this
locator potion I've just made, it should point the way to your
parents."
This Washu did, and Ranma was surprised when in a poof
of purple smoke, the bowl was completely dry again, the compass
sitting at the bottom.
"See, no problem," Washu told the boy as she snatched up
the compass once again. "All we have to do is follow the direction
this compass is pointing and it'll lead us right to one of your
parents. Probably your father since you saw him last."
"Can I see it?" Ranma asked a bit nervously. He wasn't
sure how to deal with a wizard who wasn't a short, old man.
"Sure thing," Washu told him, handing him the compass.
Ranma studied the object intently, though it looked to be no
more than an ordinary compass like the one his father carried,
though this one was a bit fancier. That was when the hand started
to spin, slowly at first, but then faster and faster.
"What the...?" was all Washu could say before the compass
suddenly exploded in both their faces.
"Are you all right, Ranma?" Washu asked with some
concern as she waved away the smoke.
The boy in question coughed and said, "Fine. What
happened?"
"I'm not sure," Washu told him, studying the now soot-
stained boy with an intensity that made him nervous.
"Quick, come with me!" she said suddenly, grabbing his
hand and dragging him along. Ranma had no choice but to follow.
Washu brought him to a large chamber made almost
completely out of white marble. The high arched ceiling was made
of glass and supported by heavy pillars. Bright yellow sunlight
poured in from above. In the center of the room a circle had been
carved an inch into the floor. It was this that Washu had Ranma
stand in the middle off while she stood outside of it herself.
Warning him not to move, Washu closed her eyes and
began chanting under her breath in a language that Ranma did not
understand. After a few minutes the chanting faded away and
Washu opened her eyes again. After a few moments she only
stared, then shouted a single word in that other language, her eyes
wide.
Ranma badgered her with questions of what was going on,
but Washu refused to speak until they had returned to the sitting
room and made themselves comfortable again. And when she
spoke, instead of an explanation, it was a question.
"Ranma, do you know what is the major difference between
non-magical beings like humans and magical ones like myself?"
Ranma slowly shook his head, puzzled by the question.
"What are they teaching kids today?" Washu muttered
under her breath with a frown.
With a sudden twirl of her cape, they were suddenly in
another room. Ranma now sat behind a desk while Washu at a
podium.
"Ranma, please pay attention," she told him and began
instructing. "Every mortal being is composed of two opposing
forces, order and chaos. What separates the magical being from
the non-magical one is the degree of these forces. A normal
human, for instance, will have a balance of these forces, while a
magical being will have an excess of one or the other. For
instance, my kind have an excess of chaos. Any of this getting
through?"
Ranma nodded a bit uncertain. Washu took this as
acceptance.
"Now occasionally a being will have an excess of one of
these forces, even more so if she was suppose to have one to begin
with. In my case, I have a excess of order, so not only do I tend to
be methodical, but it also creates a certain potential for magic
beyond what my race can normally perform.
"Humans can also have an excess, and those who normal do
become wizards. You, Ranma, have an excess of chaos, which
means not only can my spells mess up with you, but you also have
a great potential for magic yourself. Would you like to learn
magic?"
Ranma thought for a moment. "I thought we're going to
find my mom and dad."
"We are, however, since most of my spells won't work on
you, we may have to do this the hard way. We will find them
eventually, but it's going to take some time. Wouldn't you like to
learn magic while we're looking for them?"
Ranma thought again. He was supposed to be training with
his pop, but since he couldn't find his pop, he couldn't really do
that. "Can you teach me martial arts instead?" he asked.
Washu face-faulted. "But magic is so much better than
martial arts! With the spells I could teach, you could easily defeat
the greatest martial artist in the world."
"Pop said I got to learn to be the best martial artist in the
world because... because... I forget why, but I still have to learn."
Washu could feel her greatest potential pupil starting to slip
through her fingers, even if he was aligned to chaos. Then she had
a sudden inspiration. "Well, I happen to have created the greatest
martial art ever known to elvenkind, or other lesser beings like
yourself. And I'll teach it to you if, and only if, you learn some
magic first."
Ranma thought it over for a bit more before nodding. He
sealed the deal with a handshake.
Washu was smirking on the inside. She knew that once he
had his first taste of real magic, he'd forget all about this martial
arts stuff.
"When are you going to start teaching martial arts?" Ranma
asked for what had to have been the hundredth time. Washu had
been teaching him the very basics of magic as the made their way
out of the forest where she had once been imprisoned. It was a
good thing that her castle was stored in a pocket dimension that she
could reach whenever she wanted to. She didn't relish the thought
of sleeping on the ground. She wasn't really an outdoors sort of
person, preferring the comfort of stone, comfortable furnishings,
and a roaring fire.
Washu was disappointed that she could find no sign of the
path that Ranma had originally taken. She was further
disappointed that no matter how much her new pupil had taken a
liking to magic, he still practiced his martial arts every day. He
still nagged her about it at least once a day too.
"I'll begin teaching you martial arts once you've mastered
your first spell," she said finally.
"Yay!" Ranma declared, sure that he'd be able to do magic
very soon. It didn't seem too difficult to him.
Washu grinned. She knew it would still be a while before
the boy could perform his first spell, no matter how eager to learn
he was. "On that note, let's see how well you have the basics
down. What is the source of all magic?"
"Mana," Ranma replied immediately. Everyone knew that.
Washu nodded and asked, "What are the different types of
mana and where do they come from?"
This was more difficult and it was some moments before
Ranma started to reply. "Pure mana, which comes from the soul of
Gaia in the center of the world. Processed mana, which is pure
mana channeled by the elements."
"What are the sub-types of processed mana and their
origins?"
Ranma counted them off on his fingers. "Water mana,
processed by the rivers and oceans. Earth mana, processed by the
fields and mountains. Air mana, processed by the sky and clouds.
Fire mana, processed by the trees and all things green. Solar mana,
processed by the sun's rays. Lunar mana, processed by the
moonlight."
"You forgot one," Washu pointed out with a small smile.
Ranma screwed up his face in thought. "And spirit mana,
processed by the hearts and minds of all creatures great and small."
"Good, good!" Washu declared with a proud grin. "And
your reward will be an extra helping at lunch."
Washu smirked as Ranma danced around in joy. It hadn't
taken her long to find his weakness. He seemed especially partial
to fairy food, but that was probably do to the chaos in him.
Find it extremely difficult to locate the trail that Ranma had
originally started from, Washu decided that over lunch she would
try to ask him a few questions to narrow the search bit. She had no
worries about losing her pupil once his parents were found since
she knew that any human would be thrilled to have their offspring
trained in magic by a sorceress of her stature.
"Ranma, where were you staying before you and your father
left on your training journey?" she asked.
"At our house," Ranma replied around a piece of bread.
Washu sighed. Great potential, but not terribly bright. "I
mean the village or town where your house was located."
"Yes, we lived in a village."
"What was the name of the village?"
Ranma thought for a moment. "I don't remember."
Washu sighed again. "Okay, what were your parents
names?"
"Mom and pop."
"No, their real names!" Washu shouted, beginning to lose
her temper. "What did other people call them?"
Ranma thought a while. "Mr. and Mrs. Saotome."
"Don't know their first names?"
Ranma shook his head.
Washu let out a breath. "Well, that's something to go on at
least."
Story Arc 2
Washu stared down in shock, her brain having just shut
down leaving her mouth hanging open. Never in her life had she
ever had such loss of what to do.
She wasn't the only one. As he knelt on the muddy ground,
the sun finally coming out from behind the clouds, Ranma could
only stare at the tombstone that marked the last resting place of
Genma and Nodoka Saotome, his parents.
"Please tell me this is just another one of your twisted
jokes," Ranma finally said at a hoarse whisper.
Washu put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I really had
no idea. I'm sorry, Ranma."
Ranma brushed her hand away in anger as he stood up
again. His face was full of rage, but tears were forming in his eyes.
"Are you trying to tell me that after traveling all this time, over ten
years, and all this way, going through all those hardships, searching
for my parents, only to find out they're dead?!"
"It looks to be that way," Washu replied, staring down at
the tombstone again, the odd attitudes of the villagers who had
given them directions there finally making sense.
Ranma's hands circled into fists. "No, I can't... I won't
accept it! There has to be something we can do! Washu, can't
you...?"
The elven sorceress slowly shook her head. "There are
limits to even what I can do, Ranma. Resurrecting the dead is
beyond the scope of magic. It's impossible."
"Then what good is it then?!" Ranma shouted as tears
streamed down his cheeks. "All you've taught me, all of my hard
work learning, struggling with this spells, and all I ever wanted was
to see my mother again. And I can't even do that!"
Washu could feel when Ranma drawed on air mana, though
his normally gentle touch was harsh, practically forcing the mana
from the sky, and with a low whisper he was gone. She knew
better than to try and follow. He always could hide from her when
he wanted to. Besides, she knew that he needed to be alone right
now.
Washu had only been truly angry a few times in her long
life, and this one of them. She was outraged. *How dare someone
do this to her? How dare someone kill Ranma's parents and
destroy ten years of hard work in an instant?* Selfish thoughts
perhaps, but Washu was admittedly not the most selfless person in
the realms.
Noting again that the date of death was only three months
ago, Washu turned back to the town to find clues on who had done
this. When she found them, she would make them suffer like no
one had ever done. Seven hundred years of torment would be too
short a time for them.
At the same time, Ranma flew into town with a similar
mission. He growled and demanded answers, but the villagers only
trembled and fear and fled from his anger. He could learn only one
thing, that the villagers were more afraid of who had done this than
they were of him at the moment. Considering her was there and
quite capable of doing them direct harm, they must have been truly
frightened indeed of this person.
"Ranma, is that you?" said a decrepit voice from behind
him as he turned a corner.
Ranma spun around to found a shriveled, tiny old man who
more than matched his voice in extreme ancientness. "How do you
know my name?"
The old man laughed weakly, ending with a slight cough.
"Don't remember much as I used to, but there are some things I
never can forget, like the little boy who was always asking me to
show him more magic every time he saw me."
"Cherry? Is that you?" Ranma asked in surprise. He could
only remember the wizard dimly, but he had been an old but
extremely lively old man. The man before him now seemed like a
pale shadow of that.
"Old age will do that to you, suck the life right out of you,"
Cherry replied, guessing Ranma's thought. "I lived a long time so I
have no regrets, but I'm glad I could see you one last time, Ranma."
"Cherry, do you know what happened to my parents?"
The old monk nodded. "I tried to talk your mother out of it,
but she was always too stubborn to listen to anyone. And your
father, well, he wasn't going to let her face them alone."
"What happened?" Ranma demanded.
"Well, it all started about six months ago. Seems there was
a coup of some sort in the nearby kingdom of Jurai. The only king
killed, his relatives joining him or fleeing for their lives. The new
ruler wasn't satisfied with what he had, so he decided to expand his
empire.
"About three months ago his enforcer came to this village.
Now there's a woman I hope to never see again. More demon than
maid I think. She had glowing red eyes and her voice was always
filled with evil, mocking laughter. She came here and insisted we
voluntarily give ourselves over to the new king of Jurai, also
paying a tax and providing a few of our able men and women for
his army.
"Out of the town council, your mother was the most
strongly opposed to this, and decided to take her case directly to
the enforcer. She killed you mother just to make an example of
her, and when your father tried to get his revenge, she killed him
too, just as easy. All of his years of training in martial arts didn't
help him any in the end."
With a snarl, Ranma picked up Cherry by the throat and
demanded, "And why didn't you do anything, old man?! Why
didn't you try and stop this enforcer?!"
"Don't you think I tried?!" Cherry shot back. "Nodoka was
like a daughter to me! I tried every spell and magic trick I knew,
but nothing even scratched that demon girl. She only laughed and
kicked me away, saying I wasn't even worth her time to kill."
Ranma threw the old monk back down to the ground. After
a few moments he spoke again in a voice that was only barely in
control. "What was her name?"
"Why do you--?"
"What was the name of the enforcer who killed my
parents?"
"Ryoko, she said her name was. I hope you're not--"
"And where can I find this Ryoko?"
"Well, if you go to Jurai, you're bound to find her
eventually. But why--?"
Ranma ignored him, walking away.
"Ranma!" Cherry shouted at him. "I hope you're not
planning on revenge. Don't, it's suicide! I've seen that woman take
hits that could kill strong men with a smile. Don't throw away your
life like your father did!"
Cherry shrank back when Ranma turned around to face him
again. His eyes were flat and cold, devoid of life. His voice was
icy when he spoke. "I will find Ryoko and kill her. Nothing else
matters."
Washu met up with her pupil again on the road away from
town. He didn't look in her direction or acknowledge her presence
in any way. "I suppose you already found out who killed your
parents and plan to avenge their deaths."
"Yes."
"I don't suppose there's anything I can say or do that would
convince you otherwise."
"No."
Story Arc 3
"Shit!"
Ranma had been raised to always be polite and never swear,
but there were just some times when he had to ignore such lessons.
Hurtling towards the ground with his speed increasing
exponentially was one of those times.
Quicker than he thought he could, Ranma reached out for
the air mana and tapped it into a spell that he wove around him.
"Feather weight!" he shouted, completing the casting. Abruptly his
speed diminished and he floated gently down to the ground, where
he knelt, gasping for air.
*This is all that old woman's fault!* a somewhat sinister
female voice in his head shouted bitterly.
*Now, Mara,* said another, altogether more pleasant
female voice. *Ranma's sensei had no way of knowing that this
would be the result of her incantation.*
*Cram it, Bell,* Mara shot back. *That woman is always
acting like a lunatic with her crazy experiments! Why do we have
to be the genea pigs?*
"Could you two please be quiet?" Ranma asked a little
forcefully as he rubbed his head, invoking a cantrip for headaches,
using some leftover air mana from his previous spell.