Ranma 1/2: A New Awakening Alternate Continuation (minor crossovers) By: Dani Yanega yanega@mindspring.com http://www.mindspring.com/~yanega/index.htm Co-author & Concept by: "Jerry" starfire@brainerd.net Chapter Twenty Eight Ranko and Micca spared at the training ground she and her pupils had been using since they started their training. Ranko was working with Micca on the Anything Goes Style and he was teaching her his Hidden Weapons Style. Their parents looked on with proud smiles, and listened while the two explained what they were doing and how they accomplished the feats. Raist watched Micca closely as his technique intrigued him more then any he had learned thus far and he mimicked the teacher and his student. Micca seemed to catch on to Ranko's style fairly quickly, their parents assumed it was due to the fact he already was a martial artist and understood much of the concepts to begin with. Ranko danced around staying out of the reach of her brother while he tried to land a blow on her. She moved quickly sometimes using her wings to enhance her speed, the other Sylphs notice this and were surprised at Ranko's ability to incorporate her wings into battle. Ranko was getting ready to duck the spin kick headed her way when she froze, the hair at the nape of her neck stood straight up. She did not see her brother's kick when it connected with the side of her head. Micca's kick knocked his sister back into a boulder some twenty yards away. He stared at his still raised leg then at his sister as she slid down the boulder. Micca and his parents ran to the downed martial artist, they began to check her for permanent damage. Her wings were just a little scraped, which amazed her father and Raist as they knew any normal Faerie would have lost her wings. They then noticed Ranko's expression. Her eyes were large with unchecked fear, while they darted around the training ground looking for something. Her parents and Raist are confused as to what was happening but Micca knew, since he had seen this before. "The Neko-ken!" He stated coolly, while looking around the training area for the cat Ranko was sensing. "Who would be stupid enough to train a human in a technique designed strictly for cats!" The group turned at the deep resonant voice only to come face to face with a golden saber- toothed tiger humanoid and a cross between a mountain lion and human. "C..C..CAT!" Ranko tried to back away from the cats in front of her but the boulder behind her would not permit it. "You might want to leave quickly before she goes into her full Neko-ken! She generally attacks what triggered her fear!" Micca warned the beings while looking at his sister over his shoulder. "If we are to repair the damage of who ever did this we must confront her cat side, boy. Allow her to see us, we will be responsible of what occurs." The humanoid cat told the small group. Micca did not want to allow that, he had seen the Neko-ken in full force and had been on the receiving end from time to time and he didn't want his new parents to see that side of his sister. Nodoka took Micca's arm and pulled him away from his sister, if these beings could help her daughter then she wanted her cured. Ranko's eyes widened even larger as the large golden saber-tooth came up to her followed by the human looking cat. Micca tried to get away from his parents he wanted to protect his sister but they had a tight grip on him. Cerulean watched with curiosity, deciding to wait and see what happened since the parents of his soul bonded seemed eager to allow them to try this. "C..C..CAT! C..CA..CAT!" Ranko kept repeating over and over like a litany, her eyes wide and unstaring. The saber-toothed tiger reached Ranko and put his face right up against hers. They faced each other nose to nose, and he growled low at her. This pushed Ranko over the edge as her family and friends watched mouths gaped when Ranko responded to the tiger. "MMMMEEEEOOOOWWWWW! PFFFSSSTTT! PPPFFFFSSSTTTT!" She lashed out with her clawed hand only to find it stopped by the tiger's claw. "RRRROOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!" Came the tiger's reply to Ranko who backed down and cowered against the rock. "That is Majha he is of the Smilod clan of the Caiteny his companion is Romj she comes from the Beas clan" Seran told his nervous wife and son. Majha reached down and took Ranko by her arm and pulled her to her feet. Ranko continued to hiss and meow while trying to get away. Romj came up next to Ranko and began to purr in her ear. This startled the cat girl and she growled at the Beas cat. The deep angry growl from Majha brought Ranko's attention back to the larger cat person. His body was covered in a golden fur and had two prominent fangs, they were about three inches long. His had golden hair the same color as his fur which he wore short. His eyes were dark hazel and he stood about 6' 1" tall. He had a muscular build and cat like features his hands taper into powerful finger like claws. He was wearing a tight fitting forest green tunic and brown pants, neither of them wore any type of shoes on the cat paw feet. Around his forehead was a gold circlet with a single oval emerald in the center. Ranko stared at the Smilod her blue eyes flashed red with feral anger. Majha took Ranko in his arms and jumped to the top of the boulder, Ranko howled in anger and frustration while trying to escape. Once on the boulder he sat her down and took a swipe at her. Her green outfit across the stomach showed four claws marks. Ranko howled in pain and both Seran and Raist had to keep Micca, Nodoka and a blue duck from attacking the Caiteny. "Romj what is he doing?" Seran asked his feline friend. Romj stood on pawed hind legs her body was covered in a light golden fur, she stood about 5' 10" tall and had long dark golden hair down to her thigh. Her eyes were emerald green. She was well developed and had an athletic body. Her features were also cat like in appearance, she had fingers they taper into long slender claws. Like Majha she wore a tunic and pants but her tunic was red with white trim and her pants were black. She also did not wear any footwear on her pawed feet. "It is the first step in helping a victim of Neko-ken training." She started, when an angry male voice cut her off. "By attacking her?" Romj turned to see a 6' 2" man with long blue hair glaring at the two combatants. "Where did you come from? Oh, never mind, yes the victim must be made to realize they are not a cat and to do that they must fight a true Neko-ken warrior. I can't believe someone would teach this to a human it was _never_ designed to be used by any race other that Caiteny!" Ranko's family and friends looked to the Beas warrior with surprised expressions. "Then how did manuals get printed with the training instructions." Nodoka asked anger rising as the she watched the battle between her daughter and the Smilod. "Who knows for sure probably some idiot saw us using the Neko-ken and decided to try and either learn it or teach it." Romj turned as a howl of anger and pain come from the boulder. She smiled slightly at the fact that Majha was on the receiving end a very fast swipe from the redhead. The Smilod stepped up his attack as a cat shaped aura appeared around him. He lashed out with his enhanced claws and knocked Ranko from the boulder. The boulder like Ranko and Majha are covered in multiple claw marks. Ranko tumbled over the side but quickly flipped and landed on her hands and feet. She then jumped back onto the boulder to finish her fight. Romj smiled when she saw the blank Neko-ken glaze began to leave the eyes of the infected girl. "It is starting to work! Look her eyes are losing that blank animalistic stare!" The group looked as saw what Romj was talking about. "You said this was the first step how many steps are there and what is the next step?" Raist watched with worry across his face. "Just one more it will be the hardest on her though. We must take control of her dreams and force her to face what ever training was given to teach her the Neko-ken. One of us will walk with her and as observers will explain what happened and try to get her to come to grips with the event." She explained with a sad look toward Ranko. "Will she still have the Neko-ken when you have finished?" Came the whispered question, Romj turned and stared at Micca with a raised eye brow. "She will retain the strength, speed and agility, but she will lose the chi claws and other benefits of the Neko-ken. She will also lose that fall into madness, where she may hurt someone she cares about." She told Micca who nodded sagely, Nodoka marveled at this show of maturity, it took a bit of getting use to the children when they did that. The scream of a frightened child brought the group back to the fight on the boulder. They watched as Majha stood his full 6' 1" and glowered down at Ranko who was torn between being frightened of the cat in front of her and the fact she had just been beaten. "The first part is complete, prepare the child for the next step Romj. I will need to know more about how she was trained before I can take her back to that time." Ranko looked from the human cat with a set of fangs Ryoga would be jealous of to the woman cat joining them on the boulder. Majha jumped down and landed so lightly he did not even leave a foot print in the dirt. He stormed to the Aurora patriarch rage flashing in his eyes. His way was blocked by Cerulean and Micca as they stood protectively in front of those Ranko cared most about. "Do not interfere humans I want to know what made Seran to try and train that child in the Neko-ken!" Majha raged at two in front of him. "POPPA DID NOT TEACH HER THAT!" Micca yelled at the Caiteny, who looked down at the young boy with curiosity. Micca then took the lead since he felt he knew more about Ranko's ten years with her father then his mother. He was sure that Genma never told her any of the training she had been through but he knew from when he would listen to Cologne question her about it. Majha eyes grew wide with surprise then narrowed with a rage that frightened even Cerulean. Micca told the Smilod everything he knew about the Neko-ken training. Nodoka listened with tears streaming down her face. She had remembered Queen Titiana telling her of the training but she had glossed over most of it she guessed to protect her. Romj came up behind Majha she had caught the very end even though Micca had spoken in just slightly above a whisper. Cradled in her arms was a sleeping Ranko. She trembled as her body was touched by the fur covered woman, in her sleep she warred with the fear of the cat holding her and the strange sensation of finally being protected from the pit. The two Caiteny looked at Nodoka a mixture of pity and rage but they realized the rage was directed at the wrong person. Majha turned to his companion and took the sleeping Sylph from her. Ranko moaned slightly then snuggled closer into the grasp of the saber-tooth tiger that held her. He smiled down at the little redhead then looked up to see Micca standing in front of him looking at his sister closely. "Don't worry boy, she is fine she is in a hypnotic trance, now I will need to be left alone with her. I will need to take her back to the training pit and help her face what happened and to over come it. Majha nearly dropped Ranko at the booming response to his statement. "I FORBID IT! YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER ANYWHERE WITHOUT MY BEING THERE!" Majha turned and looked into the foot of an ancient blue dragon. Romj drew her sword and stood in front of the Royal Caiteny and young girl. She turned at the gently hand placed on her sword arm forcing it down. She looked into the face of the child's mother, her tears still flowed but they traveled around her smile. "That is Cerulean he has soul bonded with both Ranko and Micca, I am afraid I must agree with him. I will not let you take her away unless he is there with her. She has gone through a near death experience recently and I will not let that happen again. I am afraid you must also take Kiri, she and Ranko have become inseparable." Nodoka finished pointing to the fluttercorn that peeked around the leg of the blue dragon. Romj just laughed at the sight. She put away her sword and nodded. Cerulean glowed golden orange and shifted from a dragon to his human form then to his duck. Both Caiteny watched with amazement, they didn't think blue dragons could do that. Nodoka smiled again at them. "I will explain it later, but for now please help my child!" The two Caiteny nodded and headed away into the woods with their precious cargo a blue duck and fluttercorn close behind them. "Micca dear with your and Ukyo's connection to Ranko won't the two of you feel what she is going through?" Nodoka asked her son with a slightly worried frown. "Yes and I am worried if Ukyo doesn't know what is happening it may cause her to do something she might regret but I don't have the same type of link Ranko has with her and I can't contact her." Micca explained with a worried look toward the forest. "Maybe I can help there, son. When Ukyo nearly killed herself I was able to take Ranko on a dreamwalk and stop her. We can do that now and let her know what is happening." Seran told his son with a warm smile, Micca nodded. The to male Aurora members walked over to the boulder which held the fight between Ranko and Majha. His mother and Raist followed close behind them. Micca sat down and Seran sat next to him Raist stayed close to both in case he was needed. Seran took Micca's hand in his then placed his other hand on Micca's forehead. They then began to glow a dark blue as Micca's eyes fluttered closed. /*\*/*\ Ukyo was cleaning up after her last customer, it had been a busy lunch and in a couple of hours she would have to do it all over again. She smiled at the memory of her male customers telling her how pretty she looked in her new red kimono and red ribbon. Ukyo yawned suddenly feeling very tired and she took a seat at one of the booths. "Wake me in an hour would you I need some sleep?" She asked the Faeries that fluttered about her she never saw the worry on their little faces or the dark blue glow that formed around her. Ukyo woke with a start she looked around her restaurant, it was dark and a thick fog covered the floor. She was surprised the Faeries hadn't wakened her. She got up and felt a presence near by. She turned toward her kitchen but all she saw was a wall of thick fog. She could see movement from within the fog heading toward her. She reached for her spatula and found it was not there. "Don't be frightened Ukyo it is me!" Ukyo raised an eyebrow at the voice it sounded familiar but who, then it hit her. "MOUSSE!" She screamed as the figure came out of the fog and into her view. "It is Micca now Ukyo, but please don't tell anyone that I have joined Ranko as her brother. Promise me!" Micca asked the chef with pleading eyes. "Alright Mous..Micca I promise, but why are you here and I..I am dreaming again aren't I?" She asked as the feeling of déjà vu washed over her. She jumped slightly when Seran came from the fog and into the main room. He stood behind Micca and placed a hand on the boys shoulder. Ukyo marveled at the love and pride that filled the man's face for Micca. It was the same when he brought Ranko here when she tried to..! She wished she could have someone look at her like that. "Yes we came because of Ranko." Micca explained, Ukyo jerked her head up and looked at the boy her eyes wide with fear. "She isn't d..dying is she?" Ukyo asked choking on the question. "No, she is being helped to over come her Neko-ken training and I am afraid that she must go back to where it started. I was afraid you might misinterpret what was happening. So poppa brought me here to let you know." Micca told Ukyo placing his hands on her shoulders. "Can we go to her? Let her know we love her and want to help her?" Ukyo asked with pleading eyes. Micca turned to his father with questioning eyes. Seran shook his head no. Micca turned back to Ukyo a small frown on his lips. Ukyo could read the answer in his face but she wanted to hear him say it. "No Ukyo we can't the Caiteny need to do this with her alone they need to keep her focus on what they are trying to do. Don't worry though Cerulean and Kiri went with her. I am afraid the Caiteny didn't have much of a choice on that aspect." Micca told her with a wry grin. "We must go son, I sense your mother is getting a bit worried." Seran told his son. Micca nodded and leaned forward and gave Ukyo a hug. He then kissed her on her cheek and turned to follow his father out. He turned back with the happiest grin Ukyo had ever seen on him. "I like you in the kimono Ukyo it suits you, and be prepared momma will be stopping by to see you tomorrow after her meeting with Cologne." Then he disappeared into the fog. Ukyo jerked awake at the table a feeling of dread filled her. She began to feel the pain of Ranko, her connection with the martial artist Faerie had come back stronger then ever. She also felt the link with Mouss..no Micca and though not as strong she still felt it. She looked up and saw the Faeries looking at her with worried looks. She smiled at them then went and put up the closed sign. She felt she was not going to be able to concentrate on cooking tonight. Ukyo climbed the stairs to the upper floor, but instead of staying in her room she gathered the spare futon, her pillow and blanket and went instead to the roof. She laid the futon down on the roof then laid down on top of it covering herself with the blanket. She was glad there was no school tomorrow because she knew she was not going to get much sleep tonight. She felt the pain hit her like a sledge hammer. The Faeries tried to help her but she waved them off. The sprite began to play softly and eased her worry some. Ukyo laid there feeling the total despair coming through the link with Ranko. The anguish became stronger and Ukyo buried her face into the pillow tears flowing from the pain she was feeling. /*\*/*\ Nabiki entered the restaurant keeping her eyes peeled for anyone following her. She told the hostess who she was and was promptly led to a table in a dark corner of the restaurant. She sat down and waited for her _date_. He arrived five minutes later. "Miss Tendo? I am Jackson, Daniel Jackson." He told her holding out his hand to her. Nabiki took the offered hand from the gajin, then stood and bowed slightly to him. He bowed back and they both sat down. When the waitress arrived they ordered drinks then looked over the menus for their selections. Daniel was tall, he stood six feet, and he had auburn hair and hazel eyes. Nabiki looked at him over the menu a lustful smile crossing her face. He had sharp chiseled features with a well tanned complexion. He looked to be about twenty five. Even under his suit Nabiki could tell he had a muscular build and he walked with the grace of a martial artist. Nabiki was sure though he was more at the level of Akane maybe a little better but no where near the other martial artists in Nerima. "Alright, Miss Tendo, you asked for this meeting. What can I do for you?" Jackson asked a slight smile on his lips as he knew she was checking him out. "I just want to make sure all the arrangements for Sunday are ready and complete. You must realize that Ranma is the best martial artist in Nerima and won't be easy to capture." She told him while putting her menu down. They stopped talking when the waitress showed with their drink orders. They then ordered their meal and waited for her to leave. When she left they each took a drink of their beverages. Then Daniel started talking again. "Well I thought we would drug them to make it easier to get them into the cages." He was surprised when Nabiki started laughing heartily. "You're going to have to do better than that Mr. Jackson. Ranma has been drugged by every wacko in Nerima and has built up an immunity to them." "Then how do you suggest we capture him?" Nabiki smiled, her smile cold and calculating. "I suggest you go for _HER_ mother first threaten her and Ranma will do anything to protect her. Even surrender." Nabiki explained, taking a sip of her drink. "How do we do that?" The scientist asked her with a little disgust showing for the woman in front of him. "Simple I will get her to another part of the house you take her and Ranma will follow like a puppy." Nabiki told him catching sight of the look he was giving her but unable to read it since it was gone as soon as it arrived. There dinners arrived and Daniel just merely played with his food. He was excited at the chance to get a hold of two real Faeries but watching this girl coldly sell out two people who hah been a part of her family for more then two years bothered him. He knew all about Ranma Saotome he had read the file on the boy. He just didn't like the idea of having to dissect living thinking beings. He hoped with himself in charge he could avoid what they really wanted to do to the two subjects. "We will go over what you have told me and call you later with how we will do this. It was _nice_ to meet you Miss Tendo but I need to get some work done. Good night." Daniel threw the money for the dinners down on the table and walked out. Nabiki watched him leave her eyes narrowed with a slight bit of anger. She then found the waitress at the table picking up the money for the meals. Nabiki asked her to box up Daniel's dinner for her as well as her own. No sense in wasting it and with Akane cooking it would be safer. She would just have to hide it from a curtain panda pig.