Ranma ½ Zero Interface
- Thread starter goldenarms
- Start date
1500 replies exactly.
I hadn't realized there was that many replies to this thread since I made it.
And here I am breaking up that numeric harmony by making a post about said story.
No, the story isn't dead. I had, however, been stalled on the point after the assault on LA Rochelle, where I couldn't really decide what to do with the story at that point. I had ideas, threads, things that I wanted to do, run on, but the problem always seemed to lie on just what it was I was trying to accomplish with certain scenes. Looking towards the ending of the story I have already in mind (yes, wrote the basics chapters down and everything for those), I still couldn't define the next direction of the journey. Basically, they were wandering along a road where every path could lead them to the end, but it didn't make anything clearer for me as a writer. So, yes, I struggled with this bit for over two years now.
And then I decided to go back to the beginning of it all, read what i had. And what I read, I wasn't happy with. There are chunks of story where I basically cut and pasted from the light novels to expedite matters along, but it only made the flaws that much more obvious. So, I've been rewriting stuff, breaking up certain parts that didn't make sense to me, or old ideas that don't have much to run on. By the time I'm done, I'm hoping things will be more streamlined, less cluttered, and overall more enjoyable.
So, first chapter of the rewriting after this post.
I hadn't realized there was that many replies to this thread since I made it.
And here I am breaking up that numeric harmony by making a post about said story.
No, the story isn't dead. I had, however, been stalled on the point after the assault on LA Rochelle, where I couldn't really decide what to do with the story at that point. I had ideas, threads, things that I wanted to do, run on, but the problem always seemed to lie on just what it was I was trying to accomplish with certain scenes. Looking towards the ending of the story I have already in mind (yes, wrote the basics chapters down and everything for those), I still couldn't define the next direction of the journey. Basically, they were wandering along a road where every path could lead them to the end, but it didn't make anything clearer for me as a writer. So, yes, I struggled with this bit for over two years now.
And then I decided to go back to the beginning of it all, read what i had. And what I read, I wasn't happy with. There are chunks of story where I basically cut and pasted from the light novels to expedite matters along, but it only made the flaws that much more obvious. So, I've been rewriting stuff, breaking up certain parts that didn't make sense to me, or old ideas that don't have much to run on. By the time I'm done, I'm hoping things will be more streamlined, less cluttered, and overall more enjoyable.
So, first chapter of the rewriting after this post.
Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. Familiar of Zero (Zero no Tsukaima) is owned by Noboru Yamaguchi. All rights reserved.
Zero Interface
Chapter 1
Goodbye and Hello (And Goodbye)
Life sucked, Ranma thought, nodding firmly to himself. True, most people say life sucks, but he was certain he had the proof to back his claim. He turned into a girl every time he met cold water, thanks to an old Chinese training ground, was on the lam from an angry Chinese Amazon warrior who wanted to take his life for beating her in a fight, and now he was stuck with an unwanted engagement to a violent, obnoxious, uncute chick in an effort of his Pop to "unite the families."
Really? "Uniting the families" was much more important than tearing up the globe in search of a cure to this curse, Pop? Really? If that didn’t prove just how much life sucked, Ranma would buy a hat, and then eat it.
"Man, all I freaking want is to get rid of this stupid curse!" he groused to himself, making his way to the school he was supposed to be attending, Furinkan High School, instead of doing something more important. Like restoring his manhood to full-time status.
"We're not going to get married, you know!" the girl Akane Tendo started, interrupting his thinking process.
"You're tellin' me?" he shot back, his annoyance with her almost tangible.
"So don't hang around me in school."
He snorted. "Don't worry! I can't stand macho chicks like you!"
Seconds later, he took a shot to the back of his head. For the moment, Ranma thought that violent chick had hit him with something.
Again.
Turning around, he blinked in surprise and annoyance at his irate father standing on the fence with him.
"Pop! What're you—"
"You're in no position to be choosey about women!" the older Saotome roared. "Listen, Ranma, I'll tell you only once—"
Ranma's foot snapped out to knock his father off the fence and into the canal with a loud splash. Staring at the resulting panda bear sitting in the murky water, he called down to it. "What's wrong, Pop? Weren't you going to say something?"
Panda-Genma sprang up several feet over the fence, intent on paying his son back for his insolence. Ranma hopped off quickly, tucking himself into a small ball in order to avoid the bear's swipe. Having successfully dodged the attack, the younger Saotome made to land lightly on the ground several feet away.
"Ha!" he called out from over his shoulder. "Check this—"
And he suddenly fell into blackness.
[hr]
"GROWRF?"
Akane and Panda-Genma blinked as a greenish oval appeared just in front of Ranma's path of descent. The boy never had a chance to see it, nor be warned. He fell into it, and suddenly disappeared.
"GROWRF!" Genma lunged forward to grab the boy, but it was too late. The floating oval ring disappeared before Genma made contact with it.
Akane blinked again. "Uh, what just happened?"
Panda-Genma turned to Akane, opened his mouth...
Only to remember: pandas couldn't talk.
[hr]
"The hell happened to me?" Ranma grumbled, blinking rapidly. One moment, he was flung into darkness; the next, he was thrown into the light, hitting ground in the process.
His eyes caught sight of the bright azure sky overhead, fluffy clouds rolling across. The warm and soft grass beneath his body lightly tickled his bare arms. A gentle breeze flowed over his face, the air smelling much cleaner, crisper, than it did a few moments ago.
"Where am I?" he wondered aloud.
A head entered his visual frame, wavy strawberry blonde hair dripping down all around her face. Her expression was puzzlement, disapproval, and a hint of concern, all rolled into one package. Her eyebrows furrowed deeply, as if she was trying to sort out a complex math problem just by looking at it.
"Um, yo," Ranma said to her, feeling slightly lame. Had he known someone was present, he wouldn’t have shown off his uncool side like he was doubtlessly displaying now. The girl was pretty cute, but the last thing he wanted was to hear his old man gripe at him over that stupid fiancée issue again. "You're in no position to be choosey about women!" his Pop’s words echoed. Yeah, right, like he asked for the old man to decide his life for him. He’ll choose whoever the hell he wants for his girl, no "ifs," "ands," or "buts" about it!
"Who are you?" the girl asked.
Something about the way she spoke to him seemed... off. She didn’t look Japanese, not by a long shot. American? Her skin was pale, like porcelain, though her hair was a strange pinkish color. "Ranma Saotome," he spoke. "Where—"
"Where are you from, commoner?" the girl asked sharply. "And why are you here?"
Kinda rude, interrupting him. And commoner? What did that mean? "What’re you talking about?"
"Louise, what were you thinking, calling a commoner with 'Summon Servant'?" The girls face brightened with a shameful blush as she snapped her head up, mouth stammering. Ranma sat up as well, though, inwardly, he was cursed himself for letting his guard down. Seeing the crowd of people dressed in what appeared to be more Western version of a school uniform, plus the added cloaks that draped off their shoulders, looking at them while he remained oblivious to their presence was a bigger blow to his ego than just getting engaged to a violent tomboy.
"I... I just made a little mistake!" she snapped back at the crowd,
"A mistake? What are you talking about?"
"It’s not like something odd happened!"
"Of course! After all, she's Louise the Zero!"
The laughter roared to life once more, and the little girl shook with anger. "I did not summon a commoner!" she shouted, jabbing a finger at Ranma, who finally understood being called a "commoner" was not a good thing.
"Hey! Who're you calling a commoner!"
The girl Louise glared at him. "You!"
Ranma jerked back a fraction at that, then glowered. Subtract all thoughts of this girl being even somewhat cute. She was just as obnoxious as that macho chick he'd been saddled with.
"All right, all right! What's the commotion?" A bald man wearing glasses and a heavy cape asked as he waded through the crowd of young faces, a big wooden staff in hand. "Miss Vallière, what seems to be the matter?"
"I’ll tell ya what’s the matter—" Ranma started.
"Mr. Colbert! Please, allow me to try summoning one more time!"
The older man shook his head sadly, never once registering that someone else was speaking. "I’m afraid I cannot allow that, Miss Vallière."
"Why not?" Louise asked.
"It is strictly forbidden. When you become a second year student, you must summon a familiar, as you’ve just done here."
Ranma had a weird feeling he just fell into a group of cosplayers acting out scenes from a video game, what with all this talk about "summoning" and "familiars." "Uh, hey—"
Again, he was ignored as Mr. Colbert continued, leaving him to seethe. "Your elemental specialty is decided by the familiar that you summon. It enables you to advance to the appropriate courses for that element. You cannot change the familiar once you have summoned it, because the Springtime Familiar Summoning is a sacred rite. Whether you like it or –"
"Hey!" Ranma snapped, breaking up the conversation and drawing both of the strangers' eyes to him. Satisfied that people were now paying him some attention, he cleared his throat. "Look, I have no idea what's going on, and I’m sorry if I busted up your gameplay or whatever, but right now, I really gotta get back to Furinkan High School, so if someone can tell me where I am and how to get there from here, I'd be really grateful."
Silence followed his words. After several seconds, it turned from awkward to uncomfortable.
"Well, don't everyone speak all at once..." Ranma said, scratching the back of his head.
Mr. Colbert opened his mouth to say something, closed it, then opened it again. He turned to Louise. "At any rate—"
"Hey!" Ranma cried, suddenly and doubly ignored.
"Commoner, though he may be, he was still summoned by your spell. Never in history has a human been summoned as a familiar, true; however, the Springtime Familiar Summoning takes precedence over every rule. In other words, he must become your familiar."
Louise’s face fell. "Ugh!"
Ranma gave up on the two and asked someone in the crowd. "Hey, you know how to get to Furinkan High School from here?"
His only response was a blink and a contemptuous frown.
He didn’t accidentally land in dog shit or something, did he?
Mr. Colbert turned Louise to face Ranma, then roughly turned the pigtailed boy to face her. "Well then, continue with the ceremony."
She made a sour face. "With him?"
Ranma looked at Louise, then Colbert. "Ceremony?"
"Yes, with him. Hurry up and form a contract. The next class will begin any minute."
Various people chimed in.
"Yes, Louise, hurry up!"
"Form the contract!"
"We don't have all day for you try yet again!"
Ranma fumed. This was going way too far. People kept talking as if he wasn’t here, or were ignoring him altogether for no good reason. Fine, whatever. He started to just pick a direction at random and go with it until he found Louise standing before him.
"What do you want?"
"You should count yourself fortunate."
Ranma blinked. "Oh, you’re talking to me now?"
"Normally, you'd go your whole life without a noble doing this to you."
He perked an eyebrow at the girl. "Uh, what? I just want directions outta here."
Louise closed her eyes, shoulders slightly slumped in resignation. She twirled the smooth wooden baton in her hand in small circles.
"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar."
Ranma frowned, watching her as she chanted those same words over and over. Elemental? Blessing? Familiar? None of it made sense. And man, did she have a long, weird name. "Uh, lady, I don’t know what you’re saying but I’m not—"
The wand tapped him on the forehead, making him blink in surprise. What was that supposed to be? For a moment, he thought he felt something creep up within him, almost like a resonance.
This whole place was weirding him out.
Ranma snapped back to reality when he found a pair of pinkish lips on a collision course for his face.
"Wh-whoa, hey now!" he jerked away from the girl, blood rushing to his face. She wasn't about to do what he thought she was going to do, was she? He barely even knew her name! And man, he'd never hear the end of it from Pop if the old man found out about this!
"Just stay still..." Louise moved in on him again, face drawing near. Ranma again dodged.
The strawberry blonde growled in irritation. "Stop moving! I have to complete the ritual!"
"No way! I'm not going to let you!"
The crowd snickered.
"Geez..." Louise lunged for Ranma, but he sidestepped her. Quickly she gave chase, shouting at the pigtailed boy, who continued to dodge and evade her for a full minute. The laughter swelled, Louise's face burned from exertion, mortification, and good old fashioned fury. Mr. Colbert palmed his face in embarrassment.
"Enough," the elder man finally said, gesturing with his thick staff
The next thing Ranma knew, his feet no longer touched the ground, leaving him running on nothing.
"What the hell!" He tried to flip over and grab the grass with his hands. Just as his fingertips brushed the blades of greenery, he was suddenly snapped away from contact. "What the hell!!" He tried to turn, twist, anything to get back to the ground, to no avail. He could just see the bald instructor pointing the staff at him. "What the hell is this!"
The teacher made another gesture, and Ranma suddenly found his body bound, arms locked to his sides, and legs pinned together, much like a wooden toy soldier. Panic began to rise within the martial artist. "This isn’t funny!"
"Gotcha!" Louise gasped, arms latching onto him like a starfish with a mussel. A sheen of sweat adorned her brow, a trickle flowing down her cheek. "I'm going to kill you for making me chase after you..."
Mr. Colbert smiled bemusedly. "Please, continue, Miss Vallière."
Ranma struggled in vain to resist the weird force, to break free. "Put me d—"
Louise cupped his face with both hands, disrupting his outcry. Within that second, she dove in and pressed her lips to his, completing the silencing of any further protest. Ranma froze even more than what Mr. Colbert had done to him, his brain reeling in stunned shock. He could only blink as Louise finally pulled away, a scowl slowly covering up whatever face she had made during the kiss. "It is done... you stupid familiar," she breathed vehemently.
"Now, now, Miss Vallière, this is a first for history, a human familiar," Mr. Colbert spoke solemnly before his expression brightened. "Besides, while you may have failed 'Summon Servant' several times, you managed to succeed with 'Contract Servant' on your first try!"
"It's just because he's only a commoner," someone jeered.
"If he was a powerful magical beast, she wouldn't have been able to make a contract."
"He's a commoner, and she just barely made that contract! What does that tell you?"
The laughter swept over the field, making Louise turn red all over.
Ranma's brain rebooted. "What the—you kissed me!"
Louise's glare returned. "Shut up; it's not like I wanted to..."
The pigtailed boy started to retort when a wave of fire ripped through his entire body, making him tense all over. The most unintelligible sound squeaked through his throat.
Louise regarded him with a hint of satisfaction in his suffering. "Settle down, it's only the Familiar's Runes being inscribed. Quit being such a baby."
"Fuck... you..." Ranma growled. It felt like someone was pouring molten steel into his body.
Louise colored scarlet as the rest of the crowd "oooh’ed" in shock. "Wh-what kind of commoner are you! Speaking so coarsely among nobles!"
The burning sensation ebbed away and his body cooled. Ranma stopped clenching up, only to glare at Louise. "YOU get set on fire and tell me how good it feels!"
"Why, I—"
"That was remarkably fast," Mr. Colbert replied a little too loudly as he tromped over to check out Ranma's left hand. He blinked in surprise. "These runes..."
Ranma snatched his hand free to examine it, and his mouth fell open. "Wh-what the hell is this!" he cried out as he stared at the bunch of strange lines that looked as if branded into his flesh. However, there was no indication of scarring, or injury, for the matter.
The older man clapped his hands together, a small bout of sweat on his temple. "Well, let's go back to class everyone!"
"Wait a minute!" Ranma turned to face Mr. Colbert, only to be treated to a bewildering sight - everyone from the crowd, including Mr. Colbert was flying from the field. Flying! Like birds!
He stared, watching their figures shrink into the horizon, completely ignoring anything else.
"They're flying," he said dumbly. "Shit... they're really flying..."
"Who are you and how dare you embarrass me so!"
Ranma snapped out of his stupor to see that the strawberry blonde was still there, buzzing madder than an upset hornet’s nest.
"How the who the what huh?" He shook his head hard. "Where the hell am I? And why are those guys flying!"
"This is Tristain! And this is the renowned Tristain Academy of Magic!"
Ranma blinked. "Academy of Magic? Like spells and stuff?"
"Yes! I'm a second year student, Louise de La Vallière. I am your Master from now on. Remember that!"
"So, if you can do magic," Ranma continued on, having completely ignored everything past "Yes." "Does that mean you can like... break curses and stuff?"
"I- er-um, w-well, yes, b-but—"
In an instant, Ranma held out a bouquet of flowers. "Louise, was it? We may have begun on the wrong foot. My name is Ranma Saotome. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
She blinked, a small blush appearing on her face. "Uh, um..."
He took her hand and looked into her eyes warmly. "Please, allow me to escort you back to your place."
She shook her head clear and jerked away. However, it did nothing to erase the blush on her cheeks. "That's not funny, familiar!"
Ranma made a weird face. "Familiar?"
"Yes, familiar! I summoned you into this world; therefore, that makes me your Master."
He blinked owlishly. "Isn't slavery outlawed?"
"Slavery? This is a time-honored service to a noble; you should count yourself blessed, being the only human familiar in the history of Halkeginia."
"'Honored' wouldn't be quite the word I'd use here," he said flatly before turning on the charm. "Anyway, I just want you to do one little favor for me so I can go on my merry way back to Furinkan. Wherever that is from here."
She looked at him aghast. "'Favor?'" Her face reddened as he scowled. "Favor! How dare a familiar talk so disrespectfully to his Master!"
Ranma nearly did an eye roll. "Uh, yeah... whatever you say. Look I gotta get going, so—"
"Wh-what! You're not going anywhere you ignorant familiar! I'm your Master, and you're my familiar! Listen to your Master!"
"Y’know... I don’t really need that favor now, so, I’m outta here."
"Wh-what~!"
"See ya!" He picked a direction at random and started walking.
"Where do you think you're going!" Louise shouted at his back.
"School. I already got enough problems as it is without having to deal with you..."
"W-Wait! Stop! You can't leave me!"
"Oh yes I can."
She tried to tackle him from behind. Not that it did much good, as he continued to walk on as if unimpeded.
"I order you to stop!"
"Nope."
She tried to tug him down to the ground like a wrestler, despite lacking the strength to even slow his gait. "I said stop!"
"Not happening."
"Stop, you stupid familiar!"
He sighed in exasperation as the girl had climbed up on his back and was squeezing her arms around his neck as if to prevent him from going. At worst, she was making him itch; maybe it was the material in her shirt? He just hoped she didn't decide to bite his head or something.
"Look, I really don't care much for this crazy notion you got about you 'owning' me or something. So, bye."
"You can't do this to me~!"
"No, really, I can." He took a hop up into the trees. Twenty feet, forty feet. Louise squealed and clutched onto him tighter.
"You stupid~! Don't let me fall!"
Ranma made a face at that, continuing his ascent and travel. "What're you worried about? You can do magic; just fly or something."
She squeezed harder. "I can't!"
"What're you talking about? Aren't you some sort of mage?"
"Y-yes, b-but..."
The girl stopped talking and Ranma kept flying from tree limb to tree limb.
This was getting tiresome. He briefly thought about tossing the girl off his back. Not real hard, just enough so she’d have time to whip up a spell and save herself from a bad landing. Given all the issues he had to address with his own life, there was no way in hell he was going to play up to some deluded chick’s belief that she somehow "owned" Ranma Saotome, even if she did hold a possible cure to his curse; he really wasn’t that hard up for a solution.
At least, not yet.
"T-the truth is... I... am a failure at magic."
Ranma caught hold of a tree, stopping his travel as he glanced at the girl clutching to his back. Her eyes were shut tighter than a pair of clams. A quick glance down revealed he was at least a good seventy feet or so from the forest floor. "Say what?"
Her fingers dug into his flesh, legs clamped tightly around his waist. "I... I can't do magic... I barely was able to summon you! And you're a commoner, which really shows how much of a failure I am!"
"...you mean, you can’t fly or anything?"
"No!"
He could feel the girl shiver against his back, and it wasn't from cold. Ranma sighed, biting his lip. "All right, all right, I'm sorry. I didn't know, really. Hang on tight."
And with that, he hopped down from branch to branch, ignoring Louise's squeaks of fright until he touched ground.
As soon as he felt the girl light off of his back, she was in his face, her cherub face red and wet with smeared tears. She beat her tiny fists against his chest, repeatedly shouting, "Stupid!" and "You jerk!"
"Hey, I’m sorry! What do you want me to say?" Ranma said, his hands up innocently as he let her beat on him; after all, he did make her cry. And now, he felt really bad for considering tossing her off his back.
A minute or so passed before the girl took time to catch her breath. Her fists didn’t hurt him, but he figured telling her that would only piss her off even more.
"So, we good?" he asked.
She frowned at him. "Are you dense?"
Ranma sighed and took a seat on the ground. "Look, let's start again from the top. What exactly is going on, how did I get here, and what's up with this 'familiar' business?"
Louise started to say something, but took the time to visibly will herself to join him in the sitting. "Fine. I can do that."
"Good."
So they sat, and they talked. And talked. And Ranma was fast getting that sinking feeling that he wasn't anywhere near Nerima. Or Japan for the matter.
[hr]
"Wow," Ranma idly commented, munching on a bread roll as he looked at the night sky from Louise's bedroom window. "Who'd've thought there could be two moons in the sky at once?"
"There aren't two moons where you're from?" Louise asked. She eyed the boy with a hint of suspicion from her seated position on her bed. Another world? She summoned someone from another world? And from a world without magic? Preposterous!
"Nah, just one." He chewed slowly. "I'm really far away from home..."
She frowned and did not answer.
"All this way, just to be some sort of gofer for you... what a waste."
In all of her life, she never once heard of a familiar that just up and left their Master. She had no designs on becoming the first, either. This, Ranma guy was much, much stranger than any familiar that she had ever known of. Worse, he was virtually impervious to commands or any power that a normal Master/familiar relationship would have enabled her from all that she had read. This was like a nightmare.
On the bright side, this guy was going to stay with her. For the time being, he said, a statement that left her feeling ill-at-ease. Just what was she supposed to do now? Cater to his whims? She’d be even more of a laughingstock of nobility!
None of it made any sense!
"As I said, I only cast the spell. It's supposed to pick out whoever fits best with the caster's affinity." She looked decidedly dejected. "And since you don't have any special abilities, like say, flight or firebreathing..."
He threw a cocky grin at her. "I'm the best martial artist you'll ever meet."
"...I'm not even certain what that is or how that would count for something."
Ranma made a face, but shrugged her comment off. "Eh, you'll see." He yawned. "Okay, so where's my room?"
"There isn't a room for you. Familiars..."
"My name's Ranma, Louise."
She bit her lip. "Ranma. Familiars sleep with their Masters."
Ranma blinked, turned red, and looked away. "I don’t even want to think what my Pop’ll say if I knocked up some girl in another world..." he mumbled to himself.
"Over here, idiot." Ranma scowled at the insult, but glanced over to see Louise pointing to the pile of straw placed in one corner of her room, close to her bed. "That was where I was going to let my cute and mighty familiar sleep. Until someone ruined all my hopes and dreams."
Embarrassment washed over Ranma for the mistake, and he grimaced at her words. "Oh. Look, I’m sorry about that, okay. Why I’m here, I ain’t got a clue. But I promise, I’ll figure out how to get out of your life so that you can have your cute and mighty familiar, okay?"
Louise huffed. "Fine, you win."
"Cool," Ranma said with a slight smile. "So, where do you guys keep the bed mats?"
As Ranma rooted around her room, Louise almost wished that Ranma guy got struck by lightning. If this is what it meant to have a human familiar, she'd just as soon rather have a cockroach. She went to sleep, hoping that this was nothing more than a bad dream she’d wake up from come the morning.
Zero Interface
Chapter 1
Goodbye and Hello (And Goodbye)
Life sucked, Ranma thought, nodding firmly to himself. True, most people say life sucks, but he was certain he had the proof to back his claim. He turned into a girl every time he met cold water, thanks to an old Chinese training ground, was on the lam from an angry Chinese Amazon warrior who wanted to take his life for beating her in a fight, and now he was stuck with an unwanted engagement to a violent, obnoxious, uncute chick in an effort of his Pop to "unite the families."
Really? "Uniting the families" was much more important than tearing up the globe in search of a cure to this curse, Pop? Really? If that didn’t prove just how much life sucked, Ranma would buy a hat, and then eat it.
"Man, all I freaking want is to get rid of this stupid curse!" he groused to himself, making his way to the school he was supposed to be attending, Furinkan High School, instead of doing something more important. Like restoring his manhood to full-time status.
"We're not going to get married, you know!" the girl Akane Tendo started, interrupting his thinking process.
"You're tellin' me?" he shot back, his annoyance with her almost tangible.
"So don't hang around me in school."
He snorted. "Don't worry! I can't stand macho chicks like you!"
Seconds later, he took a shot to the back of his head. For the moment, Ranma thought that violent chick had hit him with something.
Again.
Turning around, he blinked in surprise and annoyance at his irate father standing on the fence with him.
"Pop! What're you—"
"You're in no position to be choosey about women!" the older Saotome roared. "Listen, Ranma, I'll tell you only once—"
Ranma's foot snapped out to knock his father off the fence and into the canal with a loud splash. Staring at the resulting panda bear sitting in the murky water, he called down to it. "What's wrong, Pop? Weren't you going to say something?"
Panda-Genma sprang up several feet over the fence, intent on paying his son back for his insolence. Ranma hopped off quickly, tucking himself into a small ball in order to avoid the bear's swipe. Having successfully dodged the attack, the younger Saotome made to land lightly on the ground several feet away.
"Ha!" he called out from over his shoulder. "Check this—"
And he suddenly fell into blackness.
[hr]
"GROWRF?"
Akane and Panda-Genma blinked as a greenish oval appeared just in front of Ranma's path of descent. The boy never had a chance to see it, nor be warned. He fell into it, and suddenly disappeared.
"GROWRF!" Genma lunged forward to grab the boy, but it was too late. The floating oval ring disappeared before Genma made contact with it.
Akane blinked again. "Uh, what just happened?"
Panda-Genma turned to Akane, opened his mouth...
Only to remember: pandas couldn't talk.
[hr]
"The hell happened to me?" Ranma grumbled, blinking rapidly. One moment, he was flung into darkness; the next, he was thrown into the light, hitting ground in the process.
His eyes caught sight of the bright azure sky overhead, fluffy clouds rolling across. The warm and soft grass beneath his body lightly tickled his bare arms. A gentle breeze flowed over his face, the air smelling much cleaner, crisper, than it did a few moments ago.
"Where am I?" he wondered aloud.
A head entered his visual frame, wavy strawberry blonde hair dripping down all around her face. Her expression was puzzlement, disapproval, and a hint of concern, all rolled into one package. Her eyebrows furrowed deeply, as if she was trying to sort out a complex math problem just by looking at it.
"Um, yo," Ranma said to her, feeling slightly lame. Had he known someone was present, he wouldn’t have shown off his uncool side like he was doubtlessly displaying now. The girl was pretty cute, but the last thing he wanted was to hear his old man gripe at him over that stupid fiancée issue again. "You're in no position to be choosey about women!" his Pop’s words echoed. Yeah, right, like he asked for the old man to decide his life for him. He’ll choose whoever the hell he wants for his girl, no "ifs," "ands," or "buts" about it!
"Who are you?" the girl asked.
Something about the way she spoke to him seemed... off. She didn’t look Japanese, not by a long shot. American? Her skin was pale, like porcelain, though her hair was a strange pinkish color. "Ranma Saotome," he spoke. "Where—"
"Where are you from, commoner?" the girl asked sharply. "And why are you here?"
Kinda rude, interrupting him. And commoner? What did that mean? "What’re you talking about?"
"Louise, what were you thinking, calling a commoner with 'Summon Servant'?" The girls face brightened with a shameful blush as she snapped her head up, mouth stammering. Ranma sat up as well, though, inwardly, he was cursed himself for letting his guard down. Seeing the crowd of people dressed in what appeared to be more Western version of a school uniform, plus the added cloaks that draped off their shoulders, looking at them while he remained oblivious to their presence was a bigger blow to his ego than just getting engaged to a violent tomboy.
"I... I just made a little mistake!" she snapped back at the crowd,
"A mistake? What are you talking about?"
"It’s not like something odd happened!"
"Of course! After all, she's Louise the Zero!"
The laughter roared to life once more, and the little girl shook with anger. "I did not summon a commoner!" she shouted, jabbing a finger at Ranma, who finally understood being called a "commoner" was not a good thing.
"Hey! Who're you calling a commoner!"
The girl Louise glared at him. "You!"
Ranma jerked back a fraction at that, then glowered. Subtract all thoughts of this girl being even somewhat cute. She was just as obnoxious as that macho chick he'd been saddled with.
"All right, all right! What's the commotion?" A bald man wearing glasses and a heavy cape asked as he waded through the crowd of young faces, a big wooden staff in hand. "Miss Vallière, what seems to be the matter?"
"I’ll tell ya what’s the matter—" Ranma started.
"Mr. Colbert! Please, allow me to try summoning one more time!"
The older man shook his head sadly, never once registering that someone else was speaking. "I’m afraid I cannot allow that, Miss Vallière."
"Why not?" Louise asked.
"It is strictly forbidden. When you become a second year student, you must summon a familiar, as you’ve just done here."
Ranma had a weird feeling he just fell into a group of cosplayers acting out scenes from a video game, what with all this talk about "summoning" and "familiars." "Uh, hey—"
Again, he was ignored as Mr. Colbert continued, leaving him to seethe. "Your elemental specialty is decided by the familiar that you summon. It enables you to advance to the appropriate courses for that element. You cannot change the familiar once you have summoned it, because the Springtime Familiar Summoning is a sacred rite. Whether you like it or –"
"Hey!" Ranma snapped, breaking up the conversation and drawing both of the strangers' eyes to him. Satisfied that people were now paying him some attention, he cleared his throat. "Look, I have no idea what's going on, and I’m sorry if I busted up your gameplay or whatever, but right now, I really gotta get back to Furinkan High School, so if someone can tell me where I am and how to get there from here, I'd be really grateful."
Silence followed his words. After several seconds, it turned from awkward to uncomfortable.
"Well, don't everyone speak all at once..." Ranma said, scratching the back of his head.
Mr. Colbert opened his mouth to say something, closed it, then opened it again. He turned to Louise. "At any rate—"
"Hey!" Ranma cried, suddenly and doubly ignored.
"Commoner, though he may be, he was still summoned by your spell. Never in history has a human been summoned as a familiar, true; however, the Springtime Familiar Summoning takes precedence over every rule. In other words, he must become your familiar."
Louise’s face fell. "Ugh!"
Ranma gave up on the two and asked someone in the crowd. "Hey, you know how to get to Furinkan High School from here?"
His only response was a blink and a contemptuous frown.
He didn’t accidentally land in dog shit or something, did he?
Mr. Colbert turned Louise to face Ranma, then roughly turned the pigtailed boy to face her. "Well then, continue with the ceremony."
She made a sour face. "With him?"
Ranma looked at Louise, then Colbert. "Ceremony?"
"Yes, with him. Hurry up and form a contract. The next class will begin any minute."
Various people chimed in.
"Yes, Louise, hurry up!"
"Form the contract!"
"We don't have all day for you try yet again!"
Ranma fumed. This was going way too far. People kept talking as if he wasn’t here, or were ignoring him altogether for no good reason. Fine, whatever. He started to just pick a direction at random and go with it until he found Louise standing before him.
"What do you want?"
"You should count yourself fortunate."
Ranma blinked. "Oh, you’re talking to me now?"
"Normally, you'd go your whole life without a noble doing this to you."
He perked an eyebrow at the girl. "Uh, what? I just want directions outta here."
Louise closed her eyes, shoulders slightly slumped in resignation. She twirled the smooth wooden baton in her hand in small circles.
"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar."
Ranma frowned, watching her as she chanted those same words over and over. Elemental? Blessing? Familiar? None of it made sense. And man, did she have a long, weird name. "Uh, lady, I don’t know what you’re saying but I’m not—"
The wand tapped him on the forehead, making him blink in surprise. What was that supposed to be? For a moment, he thought he felt something creep up within him, almost like a resonance.
This whole place was weirding him out.
Ranma snapped back to reality when he found a pair of pinkish lips on a collision course for his face.
"Wh-whoa, hey now!" he jerked away from the girl, blood rushing to his face. She wasn't about to do what he thought she was going to do, was she? He barely even knew her name! And man, he'd never hear the end of it from Pop if the old man found out about this!
"Just stay still..." Louise moved in on him again, face drawing near. Ranma again dodged.
The strawberry blonde growled in irritation. "Stop moving! I have to complete the ritual!"
"No way! I'm not going to let you!"
The crowd snickered.
"Geez..." Louise lunged for Ranma, but he sidestepped her. Quickly she gave chase, shouting at the pigtailed boy, who continued to dodge and evade her for a full minute. The laughter swelled, Louise's face burned from exertion, mortification, and good old fashioned fury. Mr. Colbert palmed his face in embarrassment.
"Enough," the elder man finally said, gesturing with his thick staff
The next thing Ranma knew, his feet no longer touched the ground, leaving him running on nothing.
"What the hell!" He tried to flip over and grab the grass with his hands. Just as his fingertips brushed the blades of greenery, he was suddenly snapped away from contact. "What the hell!!" He tried to turn, twist, anything to get back to the ground, to no avail. He could just see the bald instructor pointing the staff at him. "What the hell is this!"
The teacher made another gesture, and Ranma suddenly found his body bound, arms locked to his sides, and legs pinned together, much like a wooden toy soldier. Panic began to rise within the martial artist. "This isn’t funny!"
"Gotcha!" Louise gasped, arms latching onto him like a starfish with a mussel. A sheen of sweat adorned her brow, a trickle flowing down her cheek. "I'm going to kill you for making me chase after you..."
Mr. Colbert smiled bemusedly. "Please, continue, Miss Vallière."
Ranma struggled in vain to resist the weird force, to break free. "Put me d—"
Louise cupped his face with both hands, disrupting his outcry. Within that second, she dove in and pressed her lips to his, completing the silencing of any further protest. Ranma froze even more than what Mr. Colbert had done to him, his brain reeling in stunned shock. He could only blink as Louise finally pulled away, a scowl slowly covering up whatever face she had made during the kiss. "It is done... you stupid familiar," she breathed vehemently.
"Now, now, Miss Vallière, this is a first for history, a human familiar," Mr. Colbert spoke solemnly before his expression brightened. "Besides, while you may have failed 'Summon Servant' several times, you managed to succeed with 'Contract Servant' on your first try!"
"It's just because he's only a commoner," someone jeered.
"If he was a powerful magical beast, she wouldn't have been able to make a contract."
"He's a commoner, and she just barely made that contract! What does that tell you?"
The laughter swept over the field, making Louise turn red all over.
Ranma's brain rebooted. "What the—you kissed me!"
Louise's glare returned. "Shut up; it's not like I wanted to..."
The pigtailed boy started to retort when a wave of fire ripped through his entire body, making him tense all over. The most unintelligible sound squeaked through his throat.
Louise regarded him with a hint of satisfaction in his suffering. "Settle down, it's only the Familiar's Runes being inscribed. Quit being such a baby."
"Fuck... you..." Ranma growled. It felt like someone was pouring molten steel into his body.
Louise colored scarlet as the rest of the crowd "oooh’ed" in shock. "Wh-what kind of commoner are you! Speaking so coarsely among nobles!"
The burning sensation ebbed away and his body cooled. Ranma stopped clenching up, only to glare at Louise. "YOU get set on fire and tell me how good it feels!"
"Why, I—"
"That was remarkably fast," Mr. Colbert replied a little too loudly as he tromped over to check out Ranma's left hand. He blinked in surprise. "These runes..."
Ranma snatched his hand free to examine it, and his mouth fell open. "Wh-what the hell is this!" he cried out as he stared at the bunch of strange lines that looked as if branded into his flesh. However, there was no indication of scarring, or injury, for the matter.
The older man clapped his hands together, a small bout of sweat on his temple. "Well, let's go back to class everyone!"
"Wait a minute!" Ranma turned to face Mr. Colbert, only to be treated to a bewildering sight - everyone from the crowd, including Mr. Colbert was flying from the field. Flying! Like birds!
He stared, watching their figures shrink into the horizon, completely ignoring anything else.
"They're flying," he said dumbly. "Shit... they're really flying..."
"Who are you and how dare you embarrass me so!"
Ranma snapped out of his stupor to see that the strawberry blonde was still there, buzzing madder than an upset hornet’s nest.
"How the who the what huh?" He shook his head hard. "Where the hell am I? And why are those guys flying!"
"This is Tristain! And this is the renowned Tristain Academy of Magic!"
Ranma blinked. "Academy of Magic? Like spells and stuff?"
"Yes! I'm a second year student, Louise de La Vallière. I am your Master from now on. Remember that!"
"So, if you can do magic," Ranma continued on, having completely ignored everything past "Yes." "Does that mean you can like... break curses and stuff?"
"I- er-um, w-well, yes, b-but—"
In an instant, Ranma held out a bouquet of flowers. "Louise, was it? We may have begun on the wrong foot. My name is Ranma Saotome. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
She blinked, a small blush appearing on her face. "Uh, um..."
He took her hand and looked into her eyes warmly. "Please, allow me to escort you back to your place."
She shook her head clear and jerked away. However, it did nothing to erase the blush on her cheeks. "That's not funny, familiar!"
Ranma made a weird face. "Familiar?"
"Yes, familiar! I summoned you into this world; therefore, that makes me your Master."
He blinked owlishly. "Isn't slavery outlawed?"
"Slavery? This is a time-honored service to a noble; you should count yourself blessed, being the only human familiar in the history of Halkeginia."
"'Honored' wouldn't be quite the word I'd use here," he said flatly before turning on the charm. "Anyway, I just want you to do one little favor for me so I can go on my merry way back to Furinkan. Wherever that is from here."
She looked at him aghast. "'Favor?'" Her face reddened as he scowled. "Favor! How dare a familiar talk so disrespectfully to his Master!"
Ranma nearly did an eye roll. "Uh, yeah... whatever you say. Look I gotta get going, so—"
"Wh-what! You're not going anywhere you ignorant familiar! I'm your Master, and you're my familiar! Listen to your Master!"
"Y’know... I don’t really need that favor now, so, I’m outta here."
"Wh-what~!"
"See ya!" He picked a direction at random and started walking.
"Where do you think you're going!" Louise shouted at his back.
"School. I already got enough problems as it is without having to deal with you..."
"W-Wait! Stop! You can't leave me!"
"Oh yes I can."
She tried to tackle him from behind. Not that it did much good, as he continued to walk on as if unimpeded.
"I order you to stop!"
"Nope."
She tried to tug him down to the ground like a wrestler, despite lacking the strength to even slow his gait. "I said stop!"
"Not happening."
"Stop, you stupid familiar!"
He sighed in exasperation as the girl had climbed up on his back and was squeezing her arms around his neck as if to prevent him from going. At worst, she was making him itch; maybe it was the material in her shirt? He just hoped she didn't decide to bite his head or something.
"Look, I really don't care much for this crazy notion you got about you 'owning' me or something. So, bye."
"You can't do this to me~!"
"No, really, I can." He took a hop up into the trees. Twenty feet, forty feet. Louise squealed and clutched onto him tighter.
"You stupid~! Don't let me fall!"
Ranma made a face at that, continuing his ascent and travel. "What're you worried about? You can do magic; just fly or something."
She squeezed harder. "I can't!"
"What're you talking about? Aren't you some sort of mage?"
"Y-yes, b-but..."
The girl stopped talking and Ranma kept flying from tree limb to tree limb.
This was getting tiresome. He briefly thought about tossing the girl off his back. Not real hard, just enough so she’d have time to whip up a spell and save herself from a bad landing. Given all the issues he had to address with his own life, there was no way in hell he was going to play up to some deluded chick’s belief that she somehow "owned" Ranma Saotome, even if she did hold a possible cure to his curse; he really wasn’t that hard up for a solution.
At least, not yet.
"T-the truth is... I... am a failure at magic."
Ranma caught hold of a tree, stopping his travel as he glanced at the girl clutching to his back. Her eyes were shut tighter than a pair of clams. A quick glance down revealed he was at least a good seventy feet or so from the forest floor. "Say what?"
Her fingers dug into his flesh, legs clamped tightly around his waist. "I... I can't do magic... I barely was able to summon you! And you're a commoner, which really shows how much of a failure I am!"
"...you mean, you can’t fly or anything?"
"No!"
He could feel the girl shiver against his back, and it wasn't from cold. Ranma sighed, biting his lip. "All right, all right, I'm sorry. I didn't know, really. Hang on tight."
And with that, he hopped down from branch to branch, ignoring Louise's squeaks of fright until he touched ground.
As soon as he felt the girl light off of his back, she was in his face, her cherub face red and wet with smeared tears. She beat her tiny fists against his chest, repeatedly shouting, "Stupid!" and "You jerk!"
"Hey, I’m sorry! What do you want me to say?" Ranma said, his hands up innocently as he let her beat on him; after all, he did make her cry. And now, he felt really bad for considering tossing her off his back.
A minute or so passed before the girl took time to catch her breath. Her fists didn’t hurt him, but he figured telling her that would only piss her off even more.
"So, we good?" he asked.
She frowned at him. "Are you dense?"
Ranma sighed and took a seat on the ground. "Look, let's start again from the top. What exactly is going on, how did I get here, and what's up with this 'familiar' business?"
Louise started to say something, but took the time to visibly will herself to join him in the sitting. "Fine. I can do that."
"Good."
So they sat, and they talked. And talked. And Ranma was fast getting that sinking feeling that he wasn't anywhere near Nerima. Or Japan for the matter.
[hr]
"Wow," Ranma idly commented, munching on a bread roll as he looked at the night sky from Louise's bedroom window. "Who'd've thought there could be two moons in the sky at once?"
"There aren't two moons where you're from?" Louise asked. She eyed the boy with a hint of suspicion from her seated position on her bed. Another world? She summoned someone from another world? And from a world without magic? Preposterous!
"Nah, just one." He chewed slowly. "I'm really far away from home..."
She frowned and did not answer.
"All this way, just to be some sort of gofer for you... what a waste."
In all of her life, she never once heard of a familiar that just up and left their Master. She had no designs on becoming the first, either. This, Ranma guy was much, much stranger than any familiar that she had ever known of. Worse, he was virtually impervious to commands or any power that a normal Master/familiar relationship would have enabled her from all that she had read. This was like a nightmare.
On the bright side, this guy was going to stay with her. For the time being, he said, a statement that left her feeling ill-at-ease. Just what was she supposed to do now? Cater to his whims? She’d be even more of a laughingstock of nobility!
None of it made any sense!
"As I said, I only cast the spell. It's supposed to pick out whoever fits best with the caster's affinity." She looked decidedly dejected. "And since you don't have any special abilities, like say, flight or firebreathing..."
He threw a cocky grin at her. "I'm the best martial artist you'll ever meet."
"...I'm not even certain what that is or how that would count for something."
Ranma made a face, but shrugged her comment off. "Eh, you'll see." He yawned. "Okay, so where's my room?"
"There isn't a room for you. Familiars..."
"My name's Ranma, Louise."
She bit her lip. "Ranma. Familiars sleep with their Masters."
Ranma blinked, turned red, and looked away. "I don’t even want to think what my Pop’ll say if I knocked up some girl in another world..." he mumbled to himself.
"Over here, idiot." Ranma scowled at the insult, but glanced over to see Louise pointing to the pile of straw placed in one corner of her room, close to her bed. "That was where I was going to let my cute and mighty familiar sleep. Until someone ruined all my hopes and dreams."
Embarrassment washed over Ranma for the mistake, and he grimaced at her words. "Oh. Look, I’m sorry about that, okay. Why I’m here, I ain’t got a clue. But I promise, I’ll figure out how to get out of your life so that you can have your cute and mighty familiar, okay?"
Louise huffed. "Fine, you win."
"Cool," Ranma said with a slight smile. "So, where do you guys keep the bed mats?"
As Ranma rooted around her room, Louise almost wished that Ranma guy got struck by lightning. If this is what it meant to have a human familiar, she'd just as soon rather have a cockroach. She went to sleep, hoping that this was nothing more than a bad dream she’d wake up from come the morning.
Is there a reason Ranma could understand them form the get go? I know Seito could not until Louise sort of blew him up with a silence spell (at least it was that way in anime, uncertain on other continuities)
I always felt Colbert deserved a good beat down for his introductory scene... very surprised Ranma did not attempt to hunt him down with a passion for getting him into this position.
In any case, glad to see it is being worked on again, though a bit saddened at the fact it is being rebooted rather than continued. Because in my experience historically a lot of story reboots get stalled faster than the original story.
EDIT: Oh, and did you really mean 'Contrition'? Seems out of place.
I always felt Colbert deserved a good beat down for his introductory scene... very surprised Ranma did not attempt to hunt him down with a passion for getting him into this position.
In any case, glad to see it is being worked on again, though a bit saddened at the fact it is being rebooted rather than continued. Because in my experience historically a lot of story reboots get stalled faster than the original story.
EDIT: Oh, and did you really mean 'Contrition'? Seems out of place.
In the LNs, the language was automatically translated for him in spoken words, but the written word required some studying first (though, he mastered it in like a week, though some things, like idioms, were translated even further into a "say what you mean" thing.
Well, he does have a wall fall on him at some point.
True. Then again, it's not so much a a total reboot, but a rewriting of stuff I wasn't happy with, or things that could have made things so much more interesting had they've been discussed in the beginning rather than like 15 volumes in.
Not entirely certain where you take that from, but I'll take another look.
EDIT: OH... that word... I don't even know where it came from. Maybe an accidental synonym click.
Well, he does have a wall fall on him at some point.
True. Then again, it's not so much a a total reboot, but a rewriting of stuff I wasn't happy with, or things that could have made things so much more interesting had they've been discussed in the beginning rather than like 15 volumes in.
Not entirely certain where you take that from, but I'll take another look.
EDIT: OH... that word... I don't even know where it came from. Maybe an accidental synonym click.
AN: This part's re-edited/reworked. One of my biggest flaws in writing this story was leaning heavily on the translated chapters almost from chapter to chapter to the point of leaving logic holes around. Hopefully, the one I regret most will generally make more sense now.
Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. Familiar of Zero (Zero no Tsukaima) is owned by Noboru Yamaguchi. All rights reserved.
Zero Interface
Chapter 2
Collision Course Realities
Morning finally came over Tristain’s Magic Academy. The young mage Louise yawned tiredly, willing herself to open her eyes against the sunny brightness of a new day. If it was up to her, she’d sleep in all day, snuggled safely within the warm confines of her quilt, where little could affect her. However, being a noble meant setting a good example for others to live by, and, given the pains she had to already endure, it wouldn’t do to be deficit in all things noble.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Louise dragged herself out of her comfortable, warm bed, dainty feet finding bedroom slippers almost by instinct. What a nightmare she experienced. A long, uncomfortable nightmare so detailed and vivid, it felt like it was real. Too real for her liking. A familiar that would not listen to his master. That was like a disaster in the making. Brr....
A few steps over, she cracked open her bedroom window to let in fresh air. In the end, even if she wasn’t a very good mage, she had to remain positive that something good would come out of the Springtime Summoning Ritual. It just would not do to let fear and doubt poison what little magic she might be capable of.
Sky was blue. Air was crisp. Ranma was doing stuff downstairs in the yard. Birds sang.
Letting loose another yawn, Louise moved away from the window sill. She still had classes to attend to; she needed to get ready.
.....
Louise almost fell out of the window, quick as she had shot back over to it.
Guy with a pigtail. Red sleeveless shirt. Black pants. Kicking and punching and jumping around, shouting with every action like a possessed wild man
He happened to catch sight of her and waved up. "Hey, Louise!" he shouted. "How're you this morning?"
She shut the window.
It wasn't a dream. It really wasn't a dream. Why couldn’t it have been a dream?
She had to kill him. Kill him and hide the evidence. Maybe she could get a new familiar... one that actually acted like a familiar and not a ruffian.
________________________________________
Seeing Louise wordlessly slink back into her room and closing the window shut, Ranma shrugged and resumed his kata. "Must not be a morning person," he deduced.
A few minutes later, he heard, "What in the name of Brimir are you doing!"
Glancing at the infuriated Louise tromping towards him menacingly with her little hands balled into fists, he halted his kata. "Morning practice," Ranma replied with a smile. "What does it look like?"
"Like a crazy hooligan!" she snapped, none too impressed.
His eye twitched. "You act like you've never seen martial arts before!"
"If that’s what you call martial arts, I should only be glad to have never seen it before now! What kind of riffraff goes around flinging their arms and legs like an angry child?"
Ranma had to take a step back, shocked as he was. "Wh-wh-what!"
Louise folded her arms under her small bust. "Completely inept and undignified. Why not run around and shout how barbaric you are, while you’re at it?"
"Inept! Undignified?? Barbaric?!" Ranma fell to one knee, mortified sweat dripping down his face. "I can't believe I'm hearing this..."
She dismissed Ranma’s disbelief as unimportant. "Anyway, why didn't you wake me!"
Ranma blinked, not entirely recovered from the savage assault on his pride and joy. "W-Wake you? Why would I do that?"
"Idiot! You're supposed to wake me up when you wake up! That’s what a good familiar does!"
"I’m not a familiar! I’m a martial artist! And besides, you want to be up at five in the morning?"
Louise opened her mouth, then closed it. She looked at him surprised. "Five?"
Ranma stroked his chin with his thumb thoughtfully. "Well, that's the time I think I got up, give or take. It's kind of hard to tell, since this place got two moons."
She gave him a flat look. "What are you, a farmer?"
He folded his arms in a superior manner, shaking off the ghost of her earlier insult. "I told you, I'm the best martial artist you'll ever meet."
She sniffed in derision. "If that's martial arts, I should only be too glad to never meet another one like you again."
His hands twitched in aggravation before he forced himself to calm down. She was stupid... stupid and ignorant. Pop always said there would be people like this in the world, those that just didn’t understand The Art. "Anyway," Ranma spoke tersely, wiping the light sweat from his brow. "When’s breakfast? I'm starving."
She made a face at his crude manners. "We'll be dining at the Alvíss Dining Hall in thirty minutes. It’s where the nobles convene for meal time."
Not that Ranma really understood or cared by whatever Louise was implying. He just nodded. "Okay." He then looked at her and pointed. "By the way, you are going to change clothes, right? Cause the way the wind's blowing, everyone's gonna end up seeing your panties."
At hearing his words, Louise blinked, looked down, and realized she was still in her bedroom dressing. She flushed significantly.
[Little known fact: Louise doesn’t wear panties when she goes to bed. They always felt uncomfortable on her skin at night.]
"Stupid!" she cried out, running into the castle as quickly as she could while holding down her nightgown, leaving Ranma to scratch his head in puzzlement.
"She comes down to yell and insult me in her nightgown, and I’m the stupid one?"
________________________________________
If there was anything Ranma missed from Japan, it would most definitely be the conveniences of having running water. Not to say they didn’t have any technological advances – there was indoor plumbing, for example. However, most of their devices ran on some brand of magic phenomena, of which he was wholly unaccustomed to, like, again, the indoor plumbing issue. It seemed that drawing water from the faucet relied on the mage whisking a wand to do stuff, or the activation of the three bluish stones that sat on top of the basin. How one activated the stones, Ranma had no idea, and, given the state and nature of his curse, he was loathed to try and figure it out through trial and error, so he sought out another source of water.
While it hasn’t rained yet in this strange land called Halkeginia, Ranma knew he couldn’t avoid some incident of water forever. At some point, it was going to happen, and with his luck it would happen—
=SPLOOSH=
"—soon..." Ranma blew out a heavy breath before swiping the wet locks out of his – well, her, at the moment – eyes.
Couldn't even finish the thought...
"S-sorry," the young man who had stumbled with a bucket of mop water stammered out, trying to get to his feet. "I-i-it was an accident, honestly!"
"Don't worry about it," Ranma sighed.
"I swear I'll make it up to you! Just please, don't tell the other nobles!"
Ranma quirked an eye. What was this guy's problem? He never talked to a girl before?
Shoving away the errant thought – he’ll have to learn to man up without his help – Ranma offered a hand to the guy. "I said don't worry about it."
The man stared at the hand like it was a cobra.
"Come on." The martial artist shook the hand out, peeved with the guy's reticence.
Slowly, surely, the young man did take his hand, and Ranma hoisted him up. A little too much, the guy almost fell forward from the sudden jerk. Lighter than he thought.
"You all right?"
"Y-yes... th-thank you, kind lady."
"No problem. By the way, you wouldn't know where I could get some hot water, do you?"
"I-I can take you."
"Cool, thanks." Ranma followed the young man, wondering just what about his cursed form made the guy so nervous. He never seen a redhead before?
________________________________________
This land of magic was something of an oddity. Who knew you’d have to push down on the strange stones to make them give up water? Though what was stranger was how people had regarded him just now.
Yesterday, he was barely even given acknowledgement. A few minutes ago, the servants very nearly broke their necks trying to fetch up some hot water for him, while the few nobles he saw on his way to one of the Academy’s kitchens looked on in astonishment and talked among themselves in hushed tones. Ranma merely shook his head in disdain, chalking it up to the "nobles" of this world to be little better than self-centered jackasses.
The sooner he figured out how to get back home, the better.
Just as Ranma was rounding a corner to meet up with Louise in her room, someone suddenly popped into his path.
"Whoa, hey!" He reared backwards to avoid knocking over his surprise visitor.
"Hmm?" The bronzed-tone woman blinked at his interruption of her unawareness of her area. She started to say something almost automatically before her amber eyes fixed upon him. Her pink lips closed off their unspoken comment, then began a new line.
"Oh, you must be Louise’s familiar, aren’t you?"
Ranma scowled. "I'm not a ‘familiar.’"
The woman was nonplussed, tossing back her long, thick mane of fiery red hair off her shoulder with a flick of her forefinger and thumb. "But you have the Familiar's Runes, do you not?"
He glanced at his left hand. Yep, those weird lines were still there. "Well, yeah, but—"
"Well, there you are; you’re a familiar," the redhead smirked, one hand on her hip which thrust forth her ample chest barely concealed by her partially-buttoned white blouse.
His eye twitched.
"Given Louise’s abject failures, even if she only managed to summon a commoner, that is considerably a marked improvement."
Ranma made a disgusted sound. Again with this "commoner" crap. Seeing that the woman before him wore basically the same sort of uniform as everyone else he could recall in this school, save the thigh-high leather boots, the golden band that fit snugly around her neck and the afformentioned top, he surmised she was another mage student of this campus of magic, and therefore part of this "nobility" Louise brought up last night. And right now, he couldn’t give two figs about their so-called nobility/commoner class warfare situation.
"Look, lady, I’m—"
=Kuyu-kyu=
Ranma eyes shifted down and behind the woman for a moment. A split second later, he had snatched her up into his arms, eliciting a surprised shriek from her, and flung the two of them a good thirty feet back down the hall where he had came from.
"Wh-what is the meaning of this, you ruffian! Unhand me this instant!" The redhead reach towards her chest, trying to shake herself free from Ranma’s tight grip onto her cradled body.
"Are you kidding me?" he shouted at her. "You got Godzilla Jr. back there trying to sneak up on you and burn you to a crisp, lady!"
"Hmm?" The woman blinked in surprise, her hand stilling. "A what?"
Ranma sighed. "Down the hall! That overgrown fire-breathing lizard that just tried to light you up like a bonfire!" He tensed up and started moving backwards towards the exit. "It’s coming!"
The confusion in her gave way to enlightenment as she looked at the large crimson lizard tromping its way towards the two, occasionally expelling fire from its mouth. "Oh, you mean Flame."
He looked at her strangely. Was this chick all there? Didn’t he just explain ‘fire’ to her? "Well, yeah..."
She looked back at him with her orbs of honey brown, a soft quirk her brow. "Why would you protect me from my own familiar, though?"
His face scrunched up in puzzlement. "Your what?"
She started to smile. "My familiar, Flame. Don't tell me this is your first time seeing a salamander?"
Ranma could feel his cheeks warm up. "Uh, maybe."
The woman chuckled behind her hand. "Oh, my! Simply astounding!"
He grimaced. "Hey, it’s an honest mistake! You don’t normally see people being followed by flaming lizards every day, you know!"
She smiled at him. "Mmm, I would suppose a commoner wouldn’t."
He was too shamefaced to even offer a resisting retort at the term.
"So, do you plan on putting me down now?" She touched a spot just to the left of the center of his chest with her finger. "Not that I mind at the moment."
He blinked. "Huh?" Noted the woman was still in his arms. Felt his face heat up again. "O-oh, yeah!" He quickly set her back onto her feet.
She straightened her cloak and skirt. "So, familiar, what is your name?"
He could really do without the familiar tag. "Ranma Saotome."
"Ranmasaotome? What an odd name."
"Kirche!"
Ranma and the woman turned to face an irate Louise stalking towards them from the opposite side of the hall, wand in hand. "What do you think you’re doing with my familiar!"
"Louise!" he snapped, exasperated. "Not a familiar!"
"Tch! Whatever you want!" She turned back to the redhead, fury doubling in her eyes. "And again, what are you trying to do to Ranma?"
"Ah, on a first name basis already," the redhead commented in mirth, her folded arms pushing her chest out even more at Louise.
"It’s not like that!" Louise shot back, scowling at the gesture.
"But it is just like you to summon a commoner with the 'Summon Servant' spell."
"What!"
Ranma tuned out the ensuing argument between the two girls and instead focused on his current dilemma – getting back home. While he knew how he got here, it did nothing for telling him how to return to his origin location. It looked like a damn miracle Louise could even bring him over in the first place, despite her self-acknowledgement that she sucked at magic. Being a school, he wasn’t confident any of her peers could help, either. Maybe a teacher? Shouldn’t they know how this summoning crap worked? Though something did bug him from yesterday.
"Hey, Louise," Ranma spoke, breaking up what might have been a violent showdown she was having with the student Kirche. They both looked at him – one in puzzlement, one in surprise. "Got a question.
"What kind of question?" she asked suspiciously, glancing at her for beside her.
"About yesterday. Why wouldn't that Mr. Colbert let you summon something else?"
"Aside from the fact that we would likely still be on the field today?" Kirche spoke, throwing a sidelong at Louise, who tried to pretend to not notice even as she was fuming at the insinuation. "A familiar represents the power of a mage that summons it. Not only does it impress upon us our specialty as nobles, a familiar serves to aid us in the growth of our own development and magical strength."
"And she summoned a salamander, of all things..." Louise added, her words laden in a dark jealousy.
Kirche grinned broadly. "Not just any ordinary salamander, either; this one comes from the Fire Dragon Mountains itself! In terms of rarity, this is a priceless, once-in-a-century event!"
Ranma looked at the fiery salamander patiently waiting by Kirche and just nodded slowly. "I see now..." Well, guess that explained why Louise was disappointed with summoning him. He, being perfectly an unmagical human and not some monster with nifty skills like firebreathing, wasn't likely to be considered "priceless" by any stretch of imagination in this world.
"Anyway, I'll be off!" With that, Kirche and the salamander Flame left the hallway.
Once gone, Louise snapped. "Argh! I hate that woman!"
Ranma nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that."
"Really?" Louise asked, a bit surprised.
"Considering how flat you are, you're probably really envious of her."
Louise wished Mr. Colbert was around – that way, he could bind Ranma up again so she could get in a good smack or two on him for his crass commentary.
________________________________________
Ranma stared at the arrangement of the Alvíss Dining Hall.
Everything was elegantly designed – table clothes, centerpieces, candles, fruit baskets, the food... A second floor dining arrangement for instructors – Ranma could see Mr. Colbert's bald pate at one of the tables.
"Man, this is just too much..."
"Tristain's Academy of Magic doesn't teach just magic, you know."
"Uh huh..."
"Almost all mages are nobles. The saying 'nobles achieve nobility through the use of magic' is a foundation for the education we receive as nobles. Thus, our dining halls must also be fitting of a noble's status."
"Oh, it shows... It really shows..."
"Good. Normally, a commoner like you would never set foot inside the Alvíss Dining Hall. Be grateful."
"I don't know about that."
Louise threw him a look. "What does that mean?"
"It just feels weird, being in a place this fancy, especially since I've been on the road training from when I was two to... well, yesterday."
He lifted a plate up. It felt like a fortune in his fingertips.
"Put that plate down!"
Ranma was already complying. "This... this is just a little too much for me," he spoke, walking by a few tables. "Summonings, burning lizards, dining finer than anything I've ever seen on tv..." He shook his head and turned away from Louise. "I'm just going to go get something from the kitchen and eat outside, okay?"
"Wh-what?"
"I'll see you in an hour."
"B-but—!"
Ranma slipped out of the dining hall and into the kitchen.
________________________________________
Louise stared at Ranma's retreating back dumbstruck. Just what in the world was wrong with him! A commoner turning down eating at the Alvíss Dining Hall, and so casually, too... it was just unheard of!
What kind of strange person did she get herself? Turning back to the table, something looked off.
The plate Ranma had picked up earlier wasn't where he set it down. Not to mention someone seemed to have disturbed the fruit basket. And on top of it all, half the chicken was missing!
Something was wrong with this picture...
________________________________________
"Man, it sucks not having chop sticks," Ranma thought idly as he chewed on a piece of chicken breast before chasing it down with a grape.
He made a note to himself - next time, pick up a fork before leaving the dining hall.
________________________________________
"We're going to class now?" Ranma said, perplexed, once he found Louise after breakfast.
"Of course, we're going to class," Louise said tersely. "This is an academy, remember? We have schooling seven out of eight days a week."
"..."
Louise looked at Ranma suspiciously. "You do know what ‘class’ is, correct?"
"...you guys have eight days in a week?" Ranma asked, paling a little.
"Of course! It’s the standard week cycle!"
"Not from where I come from."
"...how strange."
"Two moons, eight-day weeks... Wonder what else is different here compared to home," Ranma spoke to himself as he took in the world he found himself in for the first time since he arrived.
Louise coughed into her tiny fist. "Anyway," she spoke with force. "We’re going to class now." She grabbed Ranma’s face with both hands, snapping him out of his reflective thinking, and brought him down to meet her face. "Don’t. Do. Anything. To embarrass me. Understand?"
He jerked free with a scowl. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He straightened his shirt without thinking. "Hey, mind if I borrow some paper off you?"
"Paper?"
"Yeah. I’m guessing we’ll need to take some notes in class, and since my bag’s still up in your room—"
"I’m—" Louise caught herself, as people were making their way by them. With a lot of effort, she squeezed down her voice, though this resulted in her speaking through gritted teeth. "I – that is me, the mage – am going, to attend, classes for magic users. You, the... whatever-you-want-to-call-yourself-I-don’t-care, are to accompany me to said classes, as I – once again, me, the mage – have summoned you to Tristain from Founder-knows-where to aid me – just me, not you – in developing my magical abilities. Do we understand that?"
Ranma blinked at her several times before answering. "So, you dragged me all the way out here to be a gofer for you."
"That’s not what I’m saying!" Louise roared, temporarily forgetting all pretense of noble upbringing. Some of the fellow students snickered behind their hands, drawing her up short. She visibly calmed herself down. "I’m the one who has the magical ability, so I’m the one that’s taking all the notes and studying all the material. You.... You can sleep for all I care; just been there in the classroom with me."
He shrugged. "Sounds boring, but, eh, whatever."
She exhaled deeply. "Finally."
"But what if I have a talent for magic and just don’t know it yet? Wouldn’t I need to take notes just in case?"
Louise plummeted to the floor facefirst as everyone around them laughed and jeered the absurdity of Ranma’s question. She privately wished her element was earth and would awaken at this moment, so that the ground could open up and swallow her whole now. It would be much better than dealing with the shame of having summoned a total moron that dared to be more magically inclined than her.
Because, what if it turned out that he really was?
It was like he stepped into a literal Ivy league lecture hall. Rows of smoothly polished light-toned stonework tables and chairs lined the massive, multi-tiered room, forming a half circle around a luxurious podium of marble that seemed to have been built into the floor instead of an attachment. Overhead, a chandelier glowed brightly, lighting up the entire room, casting everything in a soft, almost ethereal, glow.
"Wow," Ranma spoke to himself, giving a light whistle. "You nobles sure like the best things in life, huh?"
Louise smirked at the martial artist. "Of course, when it comes to luxury, we wouldn’t have it any other way," she spoke with an air of superiority. "Not that someone like you—"
The moment was shattered with a room full of students in varying stages of laughter.
"It’s true! It’s true!"
"All she could summon was a commoner yesterday!"
"That’s Louise the Zero for you!"
Fuming, Louise turned around to see just what was so funny.
Louise fumed. "That wasn’t my fault! I did everything right!"
"Yeah, right!"
"You could have at least summoned a slug!"
"Yeah! You might have been a little useful then!"
Her teeth ground in impotent fury as the laughter intensified. Meanwhile, Ranma shook his head in resignation.
This was shaping up to be a wonderful day...
The room was loaded with bodies, both students and what Ranma presumed to be their various familiars. From the category of the former, he only noted a few faces that might have looked familiar, people he might have seen in passing or from yesterday’s ritual. Oh, that Kirche girl was here as well, seated at a desk and looking amused while a flock of young men surrounded her, being animated and lively. She seemed popular around here, he surmised, and given some of the more visible faces and roaming eyes, it didn’t take three guesses to figure out why.
With familiars, Ranma had no idea about some of the... things... he was looking at. A six-legged lizard, a giant floating eye, an octopus-like thing... On the upside, there were some rather mundane creatures present as well. Owls, ravens, a giant snake in the window...
=MEOW=
Louise suddenly found Ranma standing on the other side of the classroom near the wall.
"G-good seats over here. W-we should be able to hear plenty!"
"You're being strange."
"Tr-trust me," he tried speaking calmly, his eyes rapidly darting around the room like a cornered mouse. Not that Louise noticed, though. Her head hurt just thinking about the male she summoned here, and her classmates were no better with their reminder of her misfortune, so she reluctantly decided to take his advice and plopped into a seat. Ranma carefully slid into the seat beside her.
"You do realize that familiars aren't allowed to sit in these seats, but you're probably—"
"You're absolutely right, I should stand up here by the wall. Just in case."
Louis’s mouth fell open partially as she stared at Ranma. The guy that complained about people treating him like a familiar, and dare suggest that he could be a mage unknowingly, was now taking heed of the rules for familiars?
She narrowed her eyes at him while he whistled a poor-sounding tune, trying to not-so-casually take stock of the classroom. However, after being thoroughly ridiculed by her peers twice already, she couldn’t find the energy to question anything Ranma did at the moment. "Do what you want..." she finally said, though her tone barely broke above self-muttering. If he wanted to be weird, whatever; just don’t make her feel any worse than she is already, she silently pleaded with him.
As if in response to her unspoken thoughts, the classroom door opened, revealing the class’s instructor. She seemed pleasant enough, a heavyset middle aged woman dressed in a voluminous violet robe and a large, stiff triangular witch’s hat placed neatly atop her crown of russet hair. It took little time at all for everyone else to notice her presence and quickly take their seats.
"So that's the teacher?" Ranma asked as the class settled down, plopping down beside Louise.
She didn’t even feel like bringing up him statement from a few moments ago. "Yes, though I’ve never seen her before."
"Well, everyone, it seems that the Springtime Familiar Summoning was a great success. I, Mrs. Chevreuse, always enjoy seeing the new familiars that are summoned each spring."
Louise sighed sadly.
"My, my. You've summoned quite a... peculiar familiar, Miss Vallière," the teacher remarked, looking at Ranma. While it sounded rather harmless a statement, the class erupted in laughter again.
"Louise! Don't go around grabbing random commoners off the street just because you can't summon anything!"
Fire burned in the strawberry blonde's eyes as she round on her detractor. "No! I did everything properly! He was all that appeared!"
"Don't lie!" a portly blond boy cried out. "I bet you couldn't even cast 'Summon Servant' properly, right?"
The other students chuckled. Ranma just made a face.
"Mrs. Chevreuse!" Louise cried out, standing up at her desk. "Malicorne the Common Cold just insulted me!"
"’Common Cold’? I'm Malicorne the Windward! I haven't caught any cold!"
She gave him a dirty look. "Well, your hoarse voice sounds exactly like you've caught one!"
The boy called Malicorne stood up and glared at Louise, words on the tip of his tongue. Before he could let them fly, however, Mrs. Chevreuse had already pointed at them with the wand in her hand. Instantly, both students were restricted by an unseen force, puppeteering them to sit down against their wills.
Ranma blinked. Was that what Mr. Colbert did to him yesterday? Was that a common power or something?
The instructor frowned. "Miss Vallière, Mister Malicorne. Please stop this unnecessary argument. Calling friends 'Zero' or 'Common Cold' is not acceptable. Do you understand?"
Malicorne spoke first. "But Mrs. Chevreuse, in Louise’s case, it’s the truth! She really is a Zero!"
More giggles broke from among the students.
Mrs. Chevreuse’s frown deepened. Taking a quick tally in her mind, she waved her wand once again. Several students found their mouths crammed with red clay. Try as they might, they couldn’t extricate the lumpy mass.
"You people shall continue the lesson in that state," she spoke sternly.
No one dared even to smile after that. Not that Ranma blamed them. While he wanted to learn a bit more about magic in this world, he wasn't eager to find out about it firsthand.
Then she reversed her darkening mood with good cheer almost instantly. "Now then, let's begin the lesson." Mrs. Chevreuse cleared her throat and waved her wand. A few small stones materialized on her desktop.
"My Runic name is 'Red Clay.' Chevreuse the Red Clay. This year, I will be teaching you all the magic of the Earth element. Do you know the four great elements of magic, Mister Malicorne?"
"Y-Yes, Mrs. Chevreuse," the chubby boy hastily replied, sweating after glancing at an unfortunate classmate looking miserable with a lump of red clay jutting out of his mouth. "They are Fire, Water, Earth and Wind."
Mrs. Chevreuse nodded in agreement. "Very good. Combined with the now-lost element of 'Void,' there are five elements in total - as everyone should already know. Of the five elements, I believe Earth holds an extremely important position. This isn't just because my affinity is Earth, nor is it simply a personal preference."
The immodest cough into her fist afterwards suggested otherwise, but it was a start for Ranma. So, in this world there were five elements one could use. Earth, fire, wind, water, and void. Something about one of them being lost or something, which didn't make much sense to Ranma. If it was a major element of magic, how on earth could they just "lose" it?
"Now, everyone, please recall that the basic magic of the Earth element is 'transmutation'. While there will be people here who have already learned this in their first year, basics build foundations, so let's review it once more."
Mrs. Chevreuse returned her attention to the stones on her desk. With a twirl of her wand and a few spoken words, the stones began glowing brightly.
When the light dimmed away...
Kirche was up in her seat, eyes wide as the dinner plates in the dining hall. "I-Is that g-gold, Mrs. Chevreuse?"
Mrs. Chevreuse turned to the shining lumps of metal on her desk. "I'm afraid not, Miss Zerbst. This is but ordinary brass. To transmute a rock to gold, one would need to be a Square-class mage. I am but..." She coughed into her fist again. "...a Triangle-class."
Square-class mages? Triangle mage? Ranma didn’t get it at all. However, one can just turn items into gold, which was mindboggling. But how? What's the difference between a Square-class and a Triangle-class?
He poked Louise.
"What?" she hissed through gritted teeth. "We're in the middle of class!"
He put his hand to cover the side of his face closest to the instructor. "What exactly is this triangle-square class thing about?" he asked in a whisper.
She huffed but spoke in a low voice. "It's the number of elements that they can add to a spell, which also determines the level of a mage."
"Huh?"
"See, for example, you can use an Earth spell on its own. But if you add Fire magic to it, the overall power of the spell increases greatly."
"Uh huh..." So, more elements you can use, the more powerful a mage you are. Seemed kind of simple.
"Those who can combine two elements – for example, Fire and Earth – together are called Line mages. Mrs. Chevreuse, being able to combine three elements, Earth-Earth-Fire, is a Triangle mage."
"Earth-Earth-Fire? What does that do, using the same element twice in a spell?"
"It reinforces that element and makes it stronger."
"Oh..." So, in a nutshell, Mrs. Chevreuse was doing a little bit of showboating for the class, name-dropping her Triangle status. Regardless, it seemed somewhat simple to him, having it explained to him. So, what if you could use all five elements?
Just as he started to question Louise about it, Mrs. Chevreuse cleared her throat. Looking up, he could almost taste the red clay that was going to be jammed into his mouth as Mrs. Chevreause was looking directly at them both with a displeased expression.
"Miss Vallière!"
Louise jumped, having not noticed the change in the air. "Y-Yes?" she replied, looking decidedly nervous herself.
"Please refrain from private chatter during lessons."
She slumped in her seat, forced to eat the quiet giggles from her classmates. "I'm sorry..." She threw a glare at Ranma, who just shrugged. He really wanted to know the answers, though.
"Since you have the time to make small talk, perhaps I should have you demonstrate for me?"
Louise shot up ramrod straight, eyes wide. "Eh? Me?"
The woman nodded, gesturing towards the table with the transformed rocks. "Yes. Try changing these stones into a metal of your choice."
Instead of getting up, Louise looked very troubled.
"Miss Vallière! Is something the matter?"
Other than she can't perform magic worth spit? Ranma thought to himself. His conscience picked at him; even if she was obnoxious, she really didn't need (another) course of public humiliation. After all, it was sort of his fault she got called out so.
However, someone else stepped in before he could – Kirche.
"Umm, Mrs. Chevreuse..." the redhead began.
"Yes?"
"I think it would be better if you didn't let her..."
The teacher looked perplexed. "And why is that?"
"It's dangerous," Kirche answered plainly. The majority of the class nodded in agreement.
Ranma's brows furrowed. How on earth could Louise failing to get any results be considered "dangerous?"
"How so?"
Kirche paused a moment, then spoke. "This is your first time teaching Louise, right?"
"It is, but I hear she's a hard worker."Turning back to Louise, she spoke. "Now, Miss Vallière. Don't you worry, just try it. You won't be able to do anything if you dread making mistakes."
"Don't, Louise!" Kirche cried, her face ashen.
Was there something about Louise that he didn’t know? Ranma looked to Kirche and every other face he could make out. All of them were of varying levels of terrified. It made the hairs on the back of Ranma's neck stand up, so tense the air was.
"Uh, Louise—" he started, only to get a small delicate hand held to his face, silencing him.
"I'll do it," Louise spoke softly, pushing herself into a standing position. With quick, nervous steps, she made her way to the podium where her targets of demonstration lay. Mrs. Chevreuse stood next to Louise and smiled blithely.
"Now, dear, all you have to do is..."
As the teacher walked her through instruction on how to transmute the stones into a different metal, the danger senses honed through years of intensive training started screaming in Ranma's head. Some of the familiars looked a bit agitated. Students were holding their breaths.
None of this made any sense, he thought to himself, even as his body started to move of its own accord to take place behind the desk. Why would Louise failing at magic be so—
=BOOM=
It was absolute pandemonium. People went flying. Glass shattered. Familiars ran amok (and according to the screams, at least one got eaten). Black smoke and soot filled the area, making it hard to see. And for a moment, Ranma thought something furry with claws had pounced upon his back. He had smashed through the classroom door in his blind panic before discovering it was some kind of really big spider. Not that he liked spiders, but it was better than the alternative.
It took a few minutes for order to be restored to the class and all causalities noted.
Mrs. Chevreuse was still alive, it was revealed. However, she was out like a light, having been at ground zero. Her limbs occasionally twitched like a dying cockroach.
Louise, for the matter, was completely sooty, her clothes torn in various places, including a very revealing gash through her skirt (striped undies did not suit her, Ranma thought idly). Other than that, though, she was relatively fine as she took out a handkerchief to wipe her face clean. Odd, considering she was even closer to the blast than the teacher.
"Looks like I messed up a little..." she spoke weakly, trying to play it off.
"A LITTLE??"
The uproar from her fellow students made it clear they were not amused.
________________________________________
"...I have no idea failure was so... catastrophic." Ranma remarked as he helped Louise clean up the classroom. He had already put in the new glass (those lazy bastards could have wand-waved it into place instead of making him do it – it was their fault for not warning the new teacher about Louise's "talent"). "Do all spells blow up like that when they go wrong?"
Louise, however, was silent through the whole process. She cleaned like a zombie with arthritis. The look on her face was even more devastated than the classroom itself.
"Yo, Louise. You there?"
She didn't answer, only continue her lifeless cleaning.
Ranma frowned.
"Okay, so you just destroyed a classroom today. Big deal. I'm certain you can do better next time!"
"I've destroyed almost every classroom in the school at least once."
Well, so much for a pep talk. What to say, what to say...
"...I turn into a girl when hit with cold water."
Louise regarded him blankly.
"Do you have any idea how traumatic it is to lose your gender?"
She continued to stare at him, her eyes unseeing.
Ranma frowned. "What?"
"..."
He gave up.
Looking at how filthy the water was, he opted to go change it. At this rate, they'd be here until after lunch.
=SPLOOSH=
"Why me?" Ranma sighed, noticing his voice had went up a few octaves. He hadn't even made it through the classroom door.
"S-sorry, miss!"
Ranma recognized the young man with the mop. "Oh, hey, it's you from this morning. What's going on?"
"W-well, I heard about what happened, and... um..."
"You want to help?"
The man quickly nodded. "A-as thanks for this morning... though..."
Ranma sighed. "It's no big deal. Stuff like this happens all the time. Come in, come in."
Mentally, Ranma congratulated himself. Just because Louise was forbidden from using magic to clean up the classroom (ha!) didn't mean he himself – well, herself – couldn't sweet talk someone else into helping out.
As he led the young man in, he realized he didn't know his name. Which might come in handy should he need someone to find him more hot water.
"So, hey, what's your—"
The sudden gasp from the only other room occupant drew Ranma's attention. He found Louise backing away from the two of them, her eyes wide in horror, one hand over her mouth the other shakily pointing her wand at him specifically.
Ranma frowned. "What?"
The young man looked at Louise and then Ranma. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know you had a twin sister..."
The martial artist blinked at the man. "Hah?"
Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. Familiar of Zero (Zero no Tsukaima) is owned by Noboru Yamaguchi. All rights reserved.
Zero Interface
Chapter 2
Collision Course Realities
Morning finally came over Tristain’s Magic Academy. The young mage Louise yawned tiredly, willing herself to open her eyes against the sunny brightness of a new day. If it was up to her, she’d sleep in all day, snuggled safely within the warm confines of her quilt, where little could affect her. However, being a noble meant setting a good example for others to live by, and, given the pains she had to already endure, it wouldn’t do to be deficit in all things noble.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Louise dragged herself out of her comfortable, warm bed, dainty feet finding bedroom slippers almost by instinct. What a nightmare she experienced. A long, uncomfortable nightmare so detailed and vivid, it felt like it was real. Too real for her liking. A familiar that would not listen to his master. That was like a disaster in the making. Brr....
A few steps over, she cracked open her bedroom window to let in fresh air. In the end, even if she wasn’t a very good mage, she had to remain positive that something good would come out of the Springtime Summoning Ritual. It just would not do to let fear and doubt poison what little magic she might be capable of.
Sky was blue. Air was crisp. Ranma was doing stuff downstairs in the yard. Birds sang.
Letting loose another yawn, Louise moved away from the window sill. She still had classes to attend to; she needed to get ready.
.....
Louise almost fell out of the window, quick as she had shot back over to it.
Guy with a pigtail. Red sleeveless shirt. Black pants. Kicking and punching and jumping around, shouting with every action like a possessed wild man
He happened to catch sight of her and waved up. "Hey, Louise!" he shouted. "How're you this morning?"
She shut the window.
It wasn't a dream. It really wasn't a dream. Why couldn’t it have been a dream?
She had to kill him. Kill him and hide the evidence. Maybe she could get a new familiar... one that actually acted like a familiar and not a ruffian.
________________________________________
Seeing Louise wordlessly slink back into her room and closing the window shut, Ranma shrugged and resumed his kata. "Must not be a morning person," he deduced.
A few minutes later, he heard, "What in the name of Brimir are you doing!"
Glancing at the infuriated Louise tromping towards him menacingly with her little hands balled into fists, he halted his kata. "Morning practice," Ranma replied with a smile. "What does it look like?"
"Like a crazy hooligan!" she snapped, none too impressed.
His eye twitched. "You act like you've never seen martial arts before!"
"If that’s what you call martial arts, I should only be glad to have never seen it before now! What kind of riffraff goes around flinging their arms and legs like an angry child?"
Ranma had to take a step back, shocked as he was. "Wh-wh-what!"
Louise folded her arms under her small bust. "Completely inept and undignified. Why not run around and shout how barbaric you are, while you’re at it?"
"Inept! Undignified?? Barbaric?!" Ranma fell to one knee, mortified sweat dripping down his face. "I can't believe I'm hearing this..."
She dismissed Ranma’s disbelief as unimportant. "Anyway, why didn't you wake me!"
Ranma blinked, not entirely recovered from the savage assault on his pride and joy. "W-Wake you? Why would I do that?"
"Idiot! You're supposed to wake me up when you wake up! That’s what a good familiar does!"
"I’m not a familiar! I’m a martial artist! And besides, you want to be up at five in the morning?"
Louise opened her mouth, then closed it. She looked at him surprised. "Five?"
Ranma stroked his chin with his thumb thoughtfully. "Well, that's the time I think I got up, give or take. It's kind of hard to tell, since this place got two moons."
She gave him a flat look. "What are you, a farmer?"
He folded his arms in a superior manner, shaking off the ghost of her earlier insult. "I told you, I'm the best martial artist you'll ever meet."
She sniffed in derision. "If that's martial arts, I should only be too glad to never meet another one like you again."
His hands twitched in aggravation before he forced himself to calm down. She was stupid... stupid and ignorant. Pop always said there would be people like this in the world, those that just didn’t understand The Art. "Anyway," Ranma spoke tersely, wiping the light sweat from his brow. "When’s breakfast? I'm starving."
She made a face at his crude manners. "We'll be dining at the Alvíss Dining Hall in thirty minutes. It’s where the nobles convene for meal time."
Not that Ranma really understood or cared by whatever Louise was implying. He just nodded. "Okay." He then looked at her and pointed. "By the way, you are going to change clothes, right? Cause the way the wind's blowing, everyone's gonna end up seeing your panties."
At hearing his words, Louise blinked, looked down, and realized she was still in her bedroom dressing. She flushed significantly.
[Little known fact: Louise doesn’t wear panties when she goes to bed. They always felt uncomfortable on her skin at night.]
"Stupid!" she cried out, running into the castle as quickly as she could while holding down her nightgown, leaving Ranma to scratch his head in puzzlement.
"She comes down to yell and insult me in her nightgown, and I’m the stupid one?"
________________________________________
If there was anything Ranma missed from Japan, it would most definitely be the conveniences of having running water. Not to say they didn’t have any technological advances – there was indoor plumbing, for example. However, most of their devices ran on some brand of magic phenomena, of which he was wholly unaccustomed to, like, again, the indoor plumbing issue. It seemed that drawing water from the faucet relied on the mage whisking a wand to do stuff, or the activation of the three bluish stones that sat on top of the basin. How one activated the stones, Ranma had no idea, and, given the state and nature of his curse, he was loathed to try and figure it out through trial and error, so he sought out another source of water.
While it hasn’t rained yet in this strange land called Halkeginia, Ranma knew he couldn’t avoid some incident of water forever. At some point, it was going to happen, and with his luck it would happen—
=SPLOOSH=
"—soon..." Ranma blew out a heavy breath before swiping the wet locks out of his – well, her, at the moment – eyes.
Couldn't even finish the thought...
"S-sorry," the young man who had stumbled with a bucket of mop water stammered out, trying to get to his feet. "I-i-it was an accident, honestly!"
"Don't worry about it," Ranma sighed.
"I swear I'll make it up to you! Just please, don't tell the other nobles!"
Ranma quirked an eye. What was this guy's problem? He never talked to a girl before?
Shoving away the errant thought – he’ll have to learn to man up without his help – Ranma offered a hand to the guy. "I said don't worry about it."
The man stared at the hand like it was a cobra.
"Come on." The martial artist shook the hand out, peeved with the guy's reticence.
Slowly, surely, the young man did take his hand, and Ranma hoisted him up. A little too much, the guy almost fell forward from the sudden jerk. Lighter than he thought.
"You all right?"
"Y-yes... th-thank you, kind lady."
"No problem. By the way, you wouldn't know where I could get some hot water, do you?"
"I-I can take you."
"Cool, thanks." Ranma followed the young man, wondering just what about his cursed form made the guy so nervous. He never seen a redhead before?
________________________________________
This land of magic was something of an oddity. Who knew you’d have to push down on the strange stones to make them give up water? Though what was stranger was how people had regarded him just now.
Yesterday, he was barely even given acknowledgement. A few minutes ago, the servants very nearly broke their necks trying to fetch up some hot water for him, while the few nobles he saw on his way to one of the Academy’s kitchens looked on in astonishment and talked among themselves in hushed tones. Ranma merely shook his head in disdain, chalking it up to the "nobles" of this world to be little better than self-centered jackasses.
The sooner he figured out how to get back home, the better.
Just as Ranma was rounding a corner to meet up with Louise in her room, someone suddenly popped into his path.
"Whoa, hey!" He reared backwards to avoid knocking over his surprise visitor.
"Hmm?" The bronzed-tone woman blinked at his interruption of her unawareness of her area. She started to say something almost automatically before her amber eyes fixed upon him. Her pink lips closed off their unspoken comment, then began a new line.
"Oh, you must be Louise’s familiar, aren’t you?"
Ranma scowled. "I'm not a ‘familiar.’"
The woman was nonplussed, tossing back her long, thick mane of fiery red hair off her shoulder with a flick of her forefinger and thumb. "But you have the Familiar's Runes, do you not?"
He glanced at his left hand. Yep, those weird lines were still there. "Well, yeah, but—"
"Well, there you are; you’re a familiar," the redhead smirked, one hand on her hip which thrust forth her ample chest barely concealed by her partially-buttoned white blouse.
His eye twitched.
"Given Louise’s abject failures, even if she only managed to summon a commoner, that is considerably a marked improvement."
Ranma made a disgusted sound. Again with this "commoner" crap. Seeing that the woman before him wore basically the same sort of uniform as everyone else he could recall in this school, save the thigh-high leather boots, the golden band that fit snugly around her neck and the afformentioned top, he surmised she was another mage student of this campus of magic, and therefore part of this "nobility" Louise brought up last night. And right now, he couldn’t give two figs about their so-called nobility/commoner class warfare situation.
"Look, lady, I’m—"
=Kuyu-kyu=
Ranma eyes shifted down and behind the woman for a moment. A split second later, he had snatched her up into his arms, eliciting a surprised shriek from her, and flung the two of them a good thirty feet back down the hall where he had came from.
"Wh-what is the meaning of this, you ruffian! Unhand me this instant!" The redhead reach towards her chest, trying to shake herself free from Ranma’s tight grip onto her cradled body.
"Are you kidding me?" he shouted at her. "You got Godzilla Jr. back there trying to sneak up on you and burn you to a crisp, lady!"
"Hmm?" The woman blinked in surprise, her hand stilling. "A what?"
Ranma sighed. "Down the hall! That overgrown fire-breathing lizard that just tried to light you up like a bonfire!" He tensed up and started moving backwards towards the exit. "It’s coming!"
The confusion in her gave way to enlightenment as she looked at the large crimson lizard tromping its way towards the two, occasionally expelling fire from its mouth. "Oh, you mean Flame."
He looked at her strangely. Was this chick all there? Didn’t he just explain ‘fire’ to her? "Well, yeah..."
She looked back at him with her orbs of honey brown, a soft quirk her brow. "Why would you protect me from my own familiar, though?"
His face scrunched up in puzzlement. "Your what?"
She started to smile. "My familiar, Flame. Don't tell me this is your first time seeing a salamander?"
Ranma could feel his cheeks warm up. "Uh, maybe."
The woman chuckled behind her hand. "Oh, my! Simply astounding!"
He grimaced. "Hey, it’s an honest mistake! You don’t normally see people being followed by flaming lizards every day, you know!"
She smiled at him. "Mmm, I would suppose a commoner wouldn’t."
He was too shamefaced to even offer a resisting retort at the term.
"So, do you plan on putting me down now?" She touched a spot just to the left of the center of his chest with her finger. "Not that I mind at the moment."
He blinked. "Huh?" Noted the woman was still in his arms. Felt his face heat up again. "O-oh, yeah!" He quickly set her back onto her feet.
She straightened her cloak and skirt. "So, familiar, what is your name?"
He could really do without the familiar tag. "Ranma Saotome."
"Ranmasaotome? What an odd name."
"Kirche!"
Ranma and the woman turned to face an irate Louise stalking towards them from the opposite side of the hall, wand in hand. "What do you think you’re doing with my familiar!"
"Louise!" he snapped, exasperated. "Not a familiar!"
"Tch! Whatever you want!" She turned back to the redhead, fury doubling in her eyes. "And again, what are you trying to do to Ranma?"
"Ah, on a first name basis already," the redhead commented in mirth, her folded arms pushing her chest out even more at Louise.
"It’s not like that!" Louise shot back, scowling at the gesture.
"But it is just like you to summon a commoner with the 'Summon Servant' spell."
"What!"
Ranma tuned out the ensuing argument between the two girls and instead focused on his current dilemma – getting back home. While he knew how he got here, it did nothing for telling him how to return to his origin location. It looked like a damn miracle Louise could even bring him over in the first place, despite her self-acknowledgement that she sucked at magic. Being a school, he wasn’t confident any of her peers could help, either. Maybe a teacher? Shouldn’t they know how this summoning crap worked? Though something did bug him from yesterday.
"Hey, Louise," Ranma spoke, breaking up what might have been a violent showdown she was having with the student Kirche. They both looked at him – one in puzzlement, one in surprise. "Got a question.
"What kind of question?" she asked suspiciously, glancing at her for beside her.
"About yesterday. Why wouldn't that Mr. Colbert let you summon something else?"
"Aside from the fact that we would likely still be on the field today?" Kirche spoke, throwing a sidelong at Louise, who tried to pretend to not notice even as she was fuming at the insinuation. "A familiar represents the power of a mage that summons it. Not only does it impress upon us our specialty as nobles, a familiar serves to aid us in the growth of our own development and magical strength."
"And she summoned a salamander, of all things..." Louise added, her words laden in a dark jealousy.
Kirche grinned broadly. "Not just any ordinary salamander, either; this one comes from the Fire Dragon Mountains itself! In terms of rarity, this is a priceless, once-in-a-century event!"
Ranma looked at the fiery salamander patiently waiting by Kirche and just nodded slowly. "I see now..." Well, guess that explained why Louise was disappointed with summoning him. He, being perfectly an unmagical human and not some monster with nifty skills like firebreathing, wasn't likely to be considered "priceless" by any stretch of imagination in this world.
"Anyway, I'll be off!" With that, Kirche and the salamander Flame left the hallway.
Once gone, Louise snapped. "Argh! I hate that woman!"
Ranma nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that."
"Really?" Louise asked, a bit surprised.
"Considering how flat you are, you're probably really envious of her."
Louise wished Mr. Colbert was around – that way, he could bind Ranma up again so she could get in a good smack or two on him for his crass commentary.
________________________________________
Ranma stared at the arrangement of the Alvíss Dining Hall.
Everything was elegantly designed – table clothes, centerpieces, candles, fruit baskets, the food... A second floor dining arrangement for instructors – Ranma could see Mr. Colbert's bald pate at one of the tables.
"Man, this is just too much..."
"Tristain's Academy of Magic doesn't teach just magic, you know."
"Uh huh..."
"Almost all mages are nobles. The saying 'nobles achieve nobility through the use of magic' is a foundation for the education we receive as nobles. Thus, our dining halls must also be fitting of a noble's status."
"Oh, it shows... It really shows..."
"Good. Normally, a commoner like you would never set foot inside the Alvíss Dining Hall. Be grateful."
"I don't know about that."
Louise threw him a look. "What does that mean?"
"It just feels weird, being in a place this fancy, especially since I've been on the road training from when I was two to... well, yesterday."
He lifted a plate up. It felt like a fortune in his fingertips.
"Put that plate down!"
Ranma was already complying. "This... this is just a little too much for me," he spoke, walking by a few tables. "Summonings, burning lizards, dining finer than anything I've ever seen on tv..." He shook his head and turned away from Louise. "I'm just going to go get something from the kitchen and eat outside, okay?"
"Wh-what?"
"I'll see you in an hour."
"B-but—!"
Ranma slipped out of the dining hall and into the kitchen.
________________________________________
Louise stared at Ranma's retreating back dumbstruck. Just what in the world was wrong with him! A commoner turning down eating at the Alvíss Dining Hall, and so casually, too... it was just unheard of!
What kind of strange person did she get herself? Turning back to the table, something looked off.
The plate Ranma had picked up earlier wasn't where he set it down. Not to mention someone seemed to have disturbed the fruit basket. And on top of it all, half the chicken was missing!
Something was wrong with this picture...
________________________________________
"Man, it sucks not having chop sticks," Ranma thought idly as he chewed on a piece of chicken breast before chasing it down with a grape.
He made a note to himself - next time, pick up a fork before leaving the dining hall.
________________________________________
"We're going to class now?" Ranma said, perplexed, once he found Louise after breakfast.
"Of course, we're going to class," Louise said tersely. "This is an academy, remember? We have schooling seven out of eight days a week."
"..."
Louise looked at Ranma suspiciously. "You do know what ‘class’ is, correct?"
"...you guys have eight days in a week?" Ranma asked, paling a little.
"Of course! It’s the standard week cycle!"
"Not from where I come from."
"...how strange."
"Two moons, eight-day weeks... Wonder what else is different here compared to home," Ranma spoke to himself as he took in the world he found himself in for the first time since he arrived.
Louise coughed into her tiny fist. "Anyway," she spoke with force. "We’re going to class now." She grabbed Ranma’s face with both hands, snapping him out of his reflective thinking, and brought him down to meet her face. "Don’t. Do. Anything. To embarrass me. Understand?"
He jerked free with a scowl. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He straightened his shirt without thinking. "Hey, mind if I borrow some paper off you?"
"Paper?"
"Yeah. I’m guessing we’ll need to take some notes in class, and since my bag’s still up in your room—"
"I’m—" Louise caught herself, as people were making their way by them. With a lot of effort, she squeezed down her voice, though this resulted in her speaking through gritted teeth. "I – that is me, the mage – am going, to attend, classes for magic users. You, the... whatever-you-want-to-call-yourself-I-don’t-care, are to accompany me to said classes, as I – once again, me, the mage – have summoned you to Tristain from Founder-knows-where to aid me – just me, not you – in developing my magical abilities. Do we understand that?"
Ranma blinked at her several times before answering. "So, you dragged me all the way out here to be a gofer for you."
"That’s not what I’m saying!" Louise roared, temporarily forgetting all pretense of noble upbringing. Some of the fellow students snickered behind their hands, drawing her up short. She visibly calmed herself down. "I’m the one who has the magical ability, so I’m the one that’s taking all the notes and studying all the material. You.... You can sleep for all I care; just been there in the classroom with me."
He shrugged. "Sounds boring, but, eh, whatever."
She exhaled deeply. "Finally."
"But what if I have a talent for magic and just don’t know it yet? Wouldn’t I need to take notes just in case?"
Louise plummeted to the floor facefirst as everyone around them laughed and jeered the absurdity of Ranma’s question. She privately wished her element was earth and would awaken at this moment, so that the ground could open up and swallow her whole now. It would be much better than dealing with the shame of having summoned a total moron that dared to be more magically inclined than her.
Because, what if it turned out that he really was?
It was like he stepped into a literal Ivy league lecture hall. Rows of smoothly polished light-toned stonework tables and chairs lined the massive, multi-tiered room, forming a half circle around a luxurious podium of marble that seemed to have been built into the floor instead of an attachment. Overhead, a chandelier glowed brightly, lighting up the entire room, casting everything in a soft, almost ethereal, glow.
"Wow," Ranma spoke to himself, giving a light whistle. "You nobles sure like the best things in life, huh?"
Louise smirked at the martial artist. "Of course, when it comes to luxury, we wouldn’t have it any other way," she spoke with an air of superiority. "Not that someone like you—"
The moment was shattered with a room full of students in varying stages of laughter.
"It’s true! It’s true!"
"All she could summon was a commoner yesterday!"
"That’s Louise the Zero for you!"
Fuming, Louise turned around to see just what was so funny.
Louise fumed. "That wasn’t my fault! I did everything right!"
"Yeah, right!"
"You could have at least summoned a slug!"
"Yeah! You might have been a little useful then!"
Her teeth ground in impotent fury as the laughter intensified. Meanwhile, Ranma shook his head in resignation.
This was shaping up to be a wonderful day...
The room was loaded with bodies, both students and what Ranma presumed to be their various familiars. From the category of the former, he only noted a few faces that might have looked familiar, people he might have seen in passing or from yesterday’s ritual. Oh, that Kirche girl was here as well, seated at a desk and looking amused while a flock of young men surrounded her, being animated and lively. She seemed popular around here, he surmised, and given some of the more visible faces and roaming eyes, it didn’t take three guesses to figure out why.
With familiars, Ranma had no idea about some of the... things... he was looking at. A six-legged lizard, a giant floating eye, an octopus-like thing... On the upside, there were some rather mundane creatures present as well. Owls, ravens, a giant snake in the window...
=MEOW=
Louise suddenly found Ranma standing on the other side of the classroom near the wall.
"G-good seats over here. W-we should be able to hear plenty!"
"You're being strange."
"Tr-trust me," he tried speaking calmly, his eyes rapidly darting around the room like a cornered mouse. Not that Louise noticed, though. Her head hurt just thinking about the male she summoned here, and her classmates were no better with their reminder of her misfortune, so she reluctantly decided to take his advice and plopped into a seat. Ranma carefully slid into the seat beside her.
"You do realize that familiars aren't allowed to sit in these seats, but you're probably—"
"You're absolutely right, I should stand up here by the wall. Just in case."
Louis’s mouth fell open partially as she stared at Ranma. The guy that complained about people treating him like a familiar, and dare suggest that he could be a mage unknowingly, was now taking heed of the rules for familiars?
She narrowed her eyes at him while he whistled a poor-sounding tune, trying to not-so-casually take stock of the classroom. However, after being thoroughly ridiculed by her peers twice already, she couldn’t find the energy to question anything Ranma did at the moment. "Do what you want..." she finally said, though her tone barely broke above self-muttering. If he wanted to be weird, whatever; just don’t make her feel any worse than she is already, she silently pleaded with him.
As if in response to her unspoken thoughts, the classroom door opened, revealing the class’s instructor. She seemed pleasant enough, a heavyset middle aged woman dressed in a voluminous violet robe and a large, stiff triangular witch’s hat placed neatly atop her crown of russet hair. It took little time at all for everyone else to notice her presence and quickly take their seats.
"So that's the teacher?" Ranma asked as the class settled down, plopping down beside Louise.
She didn’t even feel like bringing up him statement from a few moments ago. "Yes, though I’ve never seen her before."
"Well, everyone, it seems that the Springtime Familiar Summoning was a great success. I, Mrs. Chevreuse, always enjoy seeing the new familiars that are summoned each spring."
Louise sighed sadly.
"My, my. You've summoned quite a... peculiar familiar, Miss Vallière," the teacher remarked, looking at Ranma. While it sounded rather harmless a statement, the class erupted in laughter again.
"Louise! Don't go around grabbing random commoners off the street just because you can't summon anything!"
Fire burned in the strawberry blonde's eyes as she round on her detractor. "No! I did everything properly! He was all that appeared!"
"Don't lie!" a portly blond boy cried out. "I bet you couldn't even cast 'Summon Servant' properly, right?"
The other students chuckled. Ranma just made a face.
"Mrs. Chevreuse!" Louise cried out, standing up at her desk. "Malicorne the Common Cold just insulted me!"
"’Common Cold’? I'm Malicorne the Windward! I haven't caught any cold!"
She gave him a dirty look. "Well, your hoarse voice sounds exactly like you've caught one!"
The boy called Malicorne stood up and glared at Louise, words on the tip of his tongue. Before he could let them fly, however, Mrs. Chevreuse had already pointed at them with the wand in her hand. Instantly, both students were restricted by an unseen force, puppeteering them to sit down against their wills.
Ranma blinked. Was that what Mr. Colbert did to him yesterday? Was that a common power or something?
The instructor frowned. "Miss Vallière, Mister Malicorne. Please stop this unnecessary argument. Calling friends 'Zero' or 'Common Cold' is not acceptable. Do you understand?"
Malicorne spoke first. "But Mrs. Chevreuse, in Louise’s case, it’s the truth! She really is a Zero!"
More giggles broke from among the students.
Mrs. Chevreuse’s frown deepened. Taking a quick tally in her mind, she waved her wand once again. Several students found their mouths crammed with red clay. Try as they might, they couldn’t extricate the lumpy mass.
"You people shall continue the lesson in that state," she spoke sternly.
No one dared even to smile after that. Not that Ranma blamed them. While he wanted to learn a bit more about magic in this world, he wasn't eager to find out about it firsthand.
Then she reversed her darkening mood with good cheer almost instantly. "Now then, let's begin the lesson." Mrs. Chevreuse cleared her throat and waved her wand. A few small stones materialized on her desktop.
"My Runic name is 'Red Clay.' Chevreuse the Red Clay. This year, I will be teaching you all the magic of the Earth element. Do you know the four great elements of magic, Mister Malicorne?"
"Y-Yes, Mrs. Chevreuse," the chubby boy hastily replied, sweating after glancing at an unfortunate classmate looking miserable with a lump of red clay jutting out of his mouth. "They are Fire, Water, Earth and Wind."
Mrs. Chevreuse nodded in agreement. "Very good. Combined with the now-lost element of 'Void,' there are five elements in total - as everyone should already know. Of the five elements, I believe Earth holds an extremely important position. This isn't just because my affinity is Earth, nor is it simply a personal preference."
The immodest cough into her fist afterwards suggested otherwise, but it was a start for Ranma. So, in this world there were five elements one could use. Earth, fire, wind, water, and void. Something about one of them being lost or something, which didn't make much sense to Ranma. If it was a major element of magic, how on earth could they just "lose" it?
"Now, everyone, please recall that the basic magic of the Earth element is 'transmutation'. While there will be people here who have already learned this in their first year, basics build foundations, so let's review it once more."
Mrs. Chevreuse returned her attention to the stones on her desk. With a twirl of her wand and a few spoken words, the stones began glowing brightly.
When the light dimmed away...
Kirche was up in her seat, eyes wide as the dinner plates in the dining hall. "I-Is that g-gold, Mrs. Chevreuse?"
Mrs. Chevreuse turned to the shining lumps of metal on her desk. "I'm afraid not, Miss Zerbst. This is but ordinary brass. To transmute a rock to gold, one would need to be a Square-class mage. I am but..." She coughed into her fist again. "...a Triangle-class."
Square-class mages? Triangle mage? Ranma didn’t get it at all. However, one can just turn items into gold, which was mindboggling. But how? What's the difference between a Square-class and a Triangle-class?
He poked Louise.
"What?" she hissed through gritted teeth. "We're in the middle of class!"
He put his hand to cover the side of his face closest to the instructor. "What exactly is this triangle-square class thing about?" he asked in a whisper.
She huffed but spoke in a low voice. "It's the number of elements that they can add to a spell, which also determines the level of a mage."
"Huh?"
"See, for example, you can use an Earth spell on its own. But if you add Fire magic to it, the overall power of the spell increases greatly."
"Uh huh..." So, more elements you can use, the more powerful a mage you are. Seemed kind of simple.
"Those who can combine two elements – for example, Fire and Earth – together are called Line mages. Mrs. Chevreuse, being able to combine three elements, Earth-Earth-Fire, is a Triangle mage."
"Earth-Earth-Fire? What does that do, using the same element twice in a spell?"
"It reinforces that element and makes it stronger."
"Oh..." So, in a nutshell, Mrs. Chevreuse was doing a little bit of showboating for the class, name-dropping her Triangle status. Regardless, it seemed somewhat simple to him, having it explained to him. So, what if you could use all five elements?
Just as he started to question Louise about it, Mrs. Chevreuse cleared her throat. Looking up, he could almost taste the red clay that was going to be jammed into his mouth as Mrs. Chevreause was looking directly at them both with a displeased expression.
"Miss Vallière!"
Louise jumped, having not noticed the change in the air. "Y-Yes?" she replied, looking decidedly nervous herself.
"Please refrain from private chatter during lessons."
She slumped in her seat, forced to eat the quiet giggles from her classmates. "I'm sorry..." She threw a glare at Ranma, who just shrugged. He really wanted to know the answers, though.
"Since you have the time to make small talk, perhaps I should have you demonstrate for me?"
Louise shot up ramrod straight, eyes wide. "Eh? Me?"
The woman nodded, gesturing towards the table with the transformed rocks. "Yes. Try changing these stones into a metal of your choice."
Instead of getting up, Louise looked very troubled.
"Miss Vallière! Is something the matter?"
Other than she can't perform magic worth spit? Ranma thought to himself. His conscience picked at him; even if she was obnoxious, she really didn't need (another) course of public humiliation. After all, it was sort of his fault she got called out so.
However, someone else stepped in before he could – Kirche.
"Umm, Mrs. Chevreuse..." the redhead began.
"Yes?"
"I think it would be better if you didn't let her..."
The teacher looked perplexed. "And why is that?"
"It's dangerous," Kirche answered plainly. The majority of the class nodded in agreement.
Ranma's brows furrowed. How on earth could Louise failing to get any results be considered "dangerous?"
"How so?"
Kirche paused a moment, then spoke. "This is your first time teaching Louise, right?"
"It is, but I hear she's a hard worker."Turning back to Louise, she spoke. "Now, Miss Vallière. Don't you worry, just try it. You won't be able to do anything if you dread making mistakes."
"Don't, Louise!" Kirche cried, her face ashen.
Was there something about Louise that he didn’t know? Ranma looked to Kirche and every other face he could make out. All of them were of varying levels of terrified. It made the hairs on the back of Ranma's neck stand up, so tense the air was.
"Uh, Louise—" he started, only to get a small delicate hand held to his face, silencing him.
"I'll do it," Louise spoke softly, pushing herself into a standing position. With quick, nervous steps, she made her way to the podium where her targets of demonstration lay. Mrs. Chevreuse stood next to Louise and smiled blithely.
"Now, dear, all you have to do is..."
As the teacher walked her through instruction on how to transmute the stones into a different metal, the danger senses honed through years of intensive training started screaming in Ranma's head. Some of the familiars looked a bit agitated. Students were holding their breaths.
None of this made any sense, he thought to himself, even as his body started to move of its own accord to take place behind the desk. Why would Louise failing at magic be so—
=BOOM=
It was absolute pandemonium. People went flying. Glass shattered. Familiars ran amok (and according to the screams, at least one got eaten). Black smoke and soot filled the area, making it hard to see. And for a moment, Ranma thought something furry with claws had pounced upon his back. He had smashed through the classroom door in his blind panic before discovering it was some kind of really big spider. Not that he liked spiders, but it was better than the alternative.
It took a few minutes for order to be restored to the class and all causalities noted.
Mrs. Chevreuse was still alive, it was revealed. However, she was out like a light, having been at ground zero. Her limbs occasionally twitched like a dying cockroach.
Louise, for the matter, was completely sooty, her clothes torn in various places, including a very revealing gash through her skirt (striped undies did not suit her, Ranma thought idly). Other than that, though, she was relatively fine as she took out a handkerchief to wipe her face clean. Odd, considering she was even closer to the blast than the teacher.
"Looks like I messed up a little..." she spoke weakly, trying to play it off.
"A LITTLE??"
The uproar from her fellow students made it clear they were not amused.
________________________________________
"...I have no idea failure was so... catastrophic." Ranma remarked as he helped Louise clean up the classroom. He had already put in the new glass (those lazy bastards could have wand-waved it into place instead of making him do it – it was their fault for not warning the new teacher about Louise's "talent"). "Do all spells blow up like that when they go wrong?"
Louise, however, was silent through the whole process. She cleaned like a zombie with arthritis. The look on her face was even more devastated than the classroom itself.
"Yo, Louise. You there?"
She didn't answer, only continue her lifeless cleaning.
Ranma frowned.
"Okay, so you just destroyed a classroom today. Big deal. I'm certain you can do better next time!"
"I've destroyed almost every classroom in the school at least once."
Well, so much for a pep talk. What to say, what to say...
"...I turn into a girl when hit with cold water."
Louise regarded him blankly.
"Do you have any idea how traumatic it is to lose your gender?"
She continued to stare at him, her eyes unseeing.
Ranma frowned. "What?"
"..."
He gave up.
Looking at how filthy the water was, he opted to go change it. At this rate, they'd be here until after lunch.
=SPLOOSH=
"Why me?" Ranma sighed, noticing his voice had went up a few octaves. He hadn't even made it through the classroom door.
"S-sorry, miss!"
Ranma recognized the young man with the mop. "Oh, hey, it's you from this morning. What's going on?"
"W-well, I heard about what happened, and... um..."
"You want to help?"
The man quickly nodded. "A-as thanks for this morning... though..."
Ranma sighed. "It's no big deal. Stuff like this happens all the time. Come in, come in."
Mentally, Ranma congratulated himself. Just because Louise was forbidden from using magic to clean up the classroom (ha!) didn't mean he himself – well, herself – couldn't sweet talk someone else into helping out.
As he led the young man in, he realized he didn't know his name. Which might come in handy should he need someone to find him more hot water.
"So, hey, what's your—"
The sudden gasp from the only other room occupant drew Ranma's attention. He found Louise backing away from the two of them, her eyes wide in horror, one hand over her mouth the other shakily pointing her wand at him specifically.
Ranma frowned. "What?"
The young man looked at Louise and then Ranma. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know you had a twin sister..."
The martial artist blinked at the man. "Hah?"
Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. Familiar of Zero (Zero no Tsukaima) is owned by Noboru Yamaguchi. All rights reserved.
Zero Interface
Chapter 3
Thicker Than Bronze
The scene unfolding before Ranma reminded him of some movie he saw over at one guy's house a few years before going to China. Kind of vague movie, but there was this part about a hostage negotiator taking off his clothes to earn the trust of a kidnapper, only to shoot him in the end and save the hostage. It was strange, but his Pop told him to look at the situation in a different manner – distracting an opponent, controlling his movements, then disabling him before he can carry out his own plan of attack.
Somehow, though, the martial artist didn't think taking off his clothes would help calm down Louise any. In fact, it might excite her beyond her already climbing hysteria. If what she and the servant were implying was correct, he probably looked like her. Like, an exact duplicate of her.
Life sucked in Japan, and life sucked here.
"Louise, put the wand down," Ranma spoke, slowly approaching her with his hands up.
"I will not!" she shouted, thrusting the baton at him like a rapier, blindly backing away from him. She almost tripped over the landings, though it did not slow her ascent any. "Just how did you get my face!"
"No idea Louise," Ranma spoke in the calmest manner he could muster, keeping his eyes locked onto the terrified mage. The last thing he wanted to happen was for Louise to forget that her magic causes things to explode. He wasn't all that keen to learn whether or not the medics in this land would treat a blown-up commoner in the same room with a blown-up noble teacher. "I've got no idea how this happened, but if you will relax and put the wand down, I'm certain we can talk about stuff."
"No! Stay away from me!" She had finally reached the upper level of the student class, but, still, she kept backing up as if there was a door behind her just waiting for her to pounce through; there wasn't. There were windows, shattered though they may be, but Ranma didn't think she'd try to make her own escape route. At least he hoped she wouldn't; they were like three four floors up, and Louise couldn't fly.
"It's gonna be fine, Louise." He edged in closer. "Gonna be ju~st fine."
She thrust her wand out again like a dagger. "I-I'm warning you! S-Stay back!"
Ranma reared back, half expecting to be on the receiving end of a nasty spell blast. "Okay, okay!" Again, he held out his open hands, shook them vigorously. "I'm not moving, okay, Louise? I'm stopped, just like you asked."
"Wh-what are you?" she whispered, her eyes wide, her breathing shallow. "Are you like a doppelganger?"
Ranma gave her a puzzled expression. "A what?"
The girl started to tremble. "Y-you've come to replace me, isn't that right? Am I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, so useless a mage, that I've summon something to… to replace me?"
"No!" Ranma shouted, feeling weirded out himself. Could that actually happen? Summon your own replacement? Brrr! "I ain't replacing you or anybody!"
"Then why do you wear my face!" she cried out, her pitch bordering hysterical.
"Because—" He suddenly pointed out the window. "OH MY GOD! THERE'S A DRAGON OVER THERE!"
Louise looked in the direction Ranma was pointing, "A dragon?" In that moment of confusion, her wand hand relaxed, no longer held at the martial artist.
Ranma made his move, knocking away the wand lightning quick and pinning her bodily against the wall, hand over her mouth.
"Okay, Louise, shut up and listen," Ranma spoke in hushed tones as she struggled in vain against him. "I don't know why I'm here or why my curse is suddenly making me look like you, and yes, this is some kind of curse, none of this doppelganger stuff, okay? But it's not to replace you or anything." At least he didn't think so, though given how screwy this world was being with him at the moment… "What I do know is that I made a promise to help you out in any way that I can, and I'm going to uphold that promise until I leave this place. So relax; you're scaring the spit out the guy. Okay?"
Though Louise couldn't speak with her mouth, her reddish brown eyes did all the talking. And it was about to get emotional, quick.
Ranma looked down to the lecture floor at the bewildered young man. "Could you give me a moment with myself?"
The man nodded dumbly and started to leave.
"Oh, and can you bring me some hot water in about thirty minutes?"
Another dumb nod.
"Oh, and don't tell no one about this…" Ranma gave him a look. "I'd hate to have to replace you."
The servant turned white as flour, but managed to nod once more.
Ranma grinned. "Thanks!"
The man quickly left, the door slamming behind him in his haste. Ranma released his hold on Louise. And Louise fell into his – her chest, bawling.
Hoo boy, did he know how to pick them…
[hr]
"So, you all right?" Ranma asked, as they sat at the teacher's desk in the half-cleaned classroom.
"Yes, very much, thank you," Louise responded, her composure restored. She gave him a warning stare. "Don't tell anyone about this, though. Especially not that Zerbst."
His brow furrowed. "Who?"
"The big-breasted slut you ran into earlier."
"Ah, Kirche, was it?"
She gave him a suspicious look. "You remember that name awfully well."
Ranma shrugged. "She's pretty much the only other person I talked to for any length since I got here."
Louise 'hmphed,' crossing her arms beneath her small breasts. "A likely story…" She looked at him again. "You said before that this is a curse?"
He nodded. "It's something I got hit with in this foreign country from mine a few weeks ago. Turn into a girl with cold water, return to being a guy with hot water."
Louise shook her head. "Unbelievable…"
"Hey, this is the world of magic, right? What's so hard to believe about that?"
"But I thought your world didn't have magic."
"Well, not like what you guys do, I know that much. We just have machines and stuff to do things." He gestured to himself. "Curse-thing? Totally new to me."
"I see…"
Ranma changed the subject. "So, does everyone else's spell blows up like yours when they mess up?"
She shrugged. "Not that I know of. Then again, even a fizzled spell is less of a disappointment, compared to mine."
"And you've done this with all five elements?"
She looked at him perplexed. "All five?"
"Yeah, Mrs. Chevrolet said something about there being five elements – earth, fire, wind, water and void."
She shook her head. "Don't be stupid. We just use four elements – earth, wind, fire, and water. The Void element hasn't been seen for millennia, not that anyone seems to know much about it. Only the Founder carried such an affinity."
"The Founder?"
"Brimir. He created the lands as they are today – Tristain, Albion, Gallia and Romalia – using Void magic."
Ranma closed his eyes in thought. "Okay, weird. So, how do you find out about affi—"
"Oh, Brimir…"
Both Ranma and Louise looked up to see Mrs. Chevruese staring at them, mouth agape.
"Th-there's t… t…two~o… two… oh, my…" Her eyes rolled up and she started to fall forward. Ranma shot out and quickly caught the woman before she smashed facefirst into the floor.
"Well, she took that well," Louise remarked dryly, looking at herself hefting the teacher up in her arms.
[hr]
"I don't get it, though; why you?" Ranma asked in low tones as he and Louise made their way towards the dining hall. With the shock of Ranma's curse wearing off, the noblewoman was more upbeat than before when she thought she had summoned a poor, run-of-the-mill commoner; he was now a poor, run-of-the-mill commoner that had a magical curse! Not that she could feasibly use said magical curse, and it had strange conditions for triggering it, not to mention it just made him look like her, but on the bright side, it was something magical!
Of course, there was the entire curse-aspect that had Louise concerned. Had anyone learned about that issue, it may well result in even further ostracizing from her peers, if that was possible. Therefore, it was best to keep that part under wraps. Though that didn't mean she couldn't try to figure out how it all played into her situation.
"Perhaps it's yet another benefit of the Familiar Runes."
He looked at her. "What?"
"When a master has a familiar, he can see and hear what the familiar sees and hears."
Ranma thought about that. "Does it work in reverse, too?"
She made a small movement with her shoulders. "I wouldn't think so. After all, what would a familiar need to know of its master?"
Given what Ranma had learned in his two days of being in Tristain, all familiars were some sort of animal, mythical or otherwise, thus, Louise made a valid point. Still…
"Anyway," Ranma spoke, stretching his arms over his head. "I'm going over to the kitchen and get something to eat there."
Louise looked up with widening eyes. "W-wait!"
"Huh? What is it?"
"I…" Louise bit her lip, then glanced away. "…nothing."
Ranma studied Louise for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay. See you in an hour," he said as he turned away, making his path to the kitchen.
Louise glimpsed his retreating back, frowning slightly. "Y-Yes… see you in an hour."
[hr]
Ranma slipped into the warm, bustling kitchen, deftly side stepping various cooks and maids that flowed through the cooking space. He had to admit, he knew relatively nothing about this world, so it might be rude as hell for him to just march in and ask for food. Then again, sitting around all those "nobles" in such a decadent setting didn't make him feel very good, either. Thus, he opted for the "rude as hell" option and decided to stop the first maid he saw.
"Hey, excuse me, but—"
The young woman gasped, looking at the back of Ranma's hand. "Aren't you Miss Vallière's familiar?"
"…Louise summoned me, yes…" he spoke warily.
The maid smiled sweetly. "It's become quite the rumor, that a commoner was called by summoning magic."
Ranma blinked. This maid… she was… kinda cute, smiling like that. "Um, yeah…" He coughed lightly, washing away the slight pink on his cheeks. "Well, anyway, my name's Ranma. Ranma Saotome."
"What an unusual name. My name is Siesta."
=GURGLE=
Ranma had the decency to look embarrassed as his stomach decided to talk to Siesta more directly. She chuckled a little.
"You must be hungry."
"A little…"
"Please follow me this way."
Ranma nodded, falling in line with the girl.
[hr]
"Really, Mister Ranma. You don't have to help me present desserts."
"No way!" Ranma declared as he carried the large silver tray of delicious-looking spiced cakes from the kitchen towards the dining hall. "It's the least I could do after that great meal you served me! It's even better than what those guys get!"
Siesta turned scarlet. "Please, not so loud! You're making me blush!"
Ranma grinned. "No, really, that was great eating. Probably the best I've eaten in some time!"
"W-Well, if you really liked the meal that much, Mister Ranma, you can come around anytime you'd like, providing you don't mind eating what the staff does."
"Fine by me." Then he fired off another line before she could reply. "Oh, and, can we drop the 'Mister' part? It's not like I'm Pop or something."
The maid looked at him, then smiled. "O-Okay, then… Ranma."
He nodded. "Better."
He had to admit to himself that he could get used to seeing her smile at him. It felt kind of nice to be liked and allowed to do things his way instead of being hit over the head with a table, or forced into some kind of magical bondage. So far, this was the highlight of his time in this crazy land.
He handled carrying the large silver tray from table to table while Siesta served up each dessert cake with a pair of tongs. As she served, he observed. He could barely resist shaking his head at what he saw – a waste to him, the way these students just sat around in gross splendor, all because they could flick a wrist and make something happen.
Like the one guy talking with his friends beside him. Blond curly hair, a shirt bedecked in frills, and a rose sticking out of his shirt pocket. He just seemed like a big ol' pile of arrogance and ingratitude. Just being near the fop made the martial artist feel offended.
"Come on, tell us, Guiche. Who's your lover?"
"My lover? I do not hold just one woman upon a pedestal; after all, a rose blooms for everyone."
Ranma frowned, trying to wrap his brain around that. That Guiche guy… was he just comparing himself to a rose? How lame.
As the blonde boy gestured and rambled on, a small stoppered vial tumbled free from his pocket. Ranma's foot snaked out to catch it before it broke on the tiled floor. A quick flick up and the vial landed in Ranma's waiting hand.
"Hey, you dropped this," he spoke, placing the glass container on the table before Guiche.
Ranma blinked as the boy steadfastly refused to acknowledge its existence, even tried to push it away. He shrugged and turned his attention back to helping Siesta.
Not even half a minute later, a girl broke out in tears. Both Ranma and Siesta looked up to see a younger girl with brown hair whom they had just served haul off and slap the blond student. Hard.
Ranma thought Guiche was going to spin around in his seat like a top.
"That perfume in your pocket is more than enough proof! Goodbye!"
Another girl, blonde with tightly rolled tresses approached rapidly, her face locked in a severe expression. Guiche turned to her, palm print reddening on his face.
"Montmorency. This is a misunderstanding. All I did was accompany her on a long trip to the forests of La Rochelle," The blond boy spoke quickly. He worked at being composed and indifferent, but Ranma could see him sweat under the pressure.
"Just as I thought! You've been making moves on that first year, haven't you!"
"Please, Montmorency the Fragrance!"
Did everyone here have a weird title affixed to their name?
Montmorency the Fragrance then fragranced him – she snatched up Guiche's goblet and poured his wine all over the top of his head, turning his blond locks into a wet, grapey mess.
"You liar!" she bellowed before storming off.
The dining hall was deathly quiet with students looking on at the scene of disaster. The blond, for his part, simply pulled a handkerchief and slowly wiped his face.
"It would seem those ladies do not understand the meaning of a rose's existence," he spoke solemnly, trying to hold onto the remains of his dignity.
Ranma couldn't help it. He broke out laughing. What a rube…
The blond mage leveled his glare upon the pigtailed boy. "You."
Ranma, still chuckling, looked up. "What?"
The blond slowly spun around in his seat to face him. "Thanks to your thoughtlessness in picking up the perfume bottle, the reputation of two ladies has been tarnished. How do you plan to take responsibility?"
Ranma stared at him blankly. "Um, by calling you a jackass moron for two-timing them?"
Guiche's friends broke out laughing, while the offended's face burned indignantly.
"Listen, servant boy—"
Ranma looked at him flatly. "I'm not your boy, nor am I anyone's servant."
The blond paused, then studied Ranma's face closer. "Ah, that's right… you're that commoner Louise the Zero summoned… Shameful of me to expect you to have any sort of proper education." He made a flippant gesture and turned back in his seat. "You're dismissed."
Ranma was taken aback by this. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Well, gee, if that's how you're going to be, no wonder you're a two-timing loser."
Guiche spun back around, his eyes wide and angry. "Wh-what did you say?"
"A loser," Ranma declared boldly. "You couldn't charm a bracelet if your life depended on it."
Guiche's friends ooh'd at that comment. The blond glowered.
"You dare address me in such a manner?"
"Well, yeah." Ranma had slipped an arm around the boy's neck, serving tray balanced on one hand. "Look, Guiche, was it? I know you're probably inexperienced and everything about girls, so I'll tell you what. I'll give you a bit of the ol' Saotome advice, help you man up a bit with women instead of being this weirdo rose guy thing you got going on."
Guiche's face screwed up in rage. "Unhand me this instant!" he cried out, slashing out everywhere with his hands.
Ranma hopped back, avoiding the wild swings. "What? I'm trying to help you out!"
He stood up shaking and livid. "Never before in my life have I been so insulted! You peasant! Commoner! How dare you!" He whipped out his wand, which had a rose bloom on the tip end. "You, I challenge to a duel!"
Ranma blinked. "A duel?"
"Yes, exactly, you stupid familiar! A duel!"
Ranma looked at the incensed Guiche then towards the shellshocked Siesta.
"Hey, Siesta, hold this for me, willya?"
She numbly took the proffered serving tray, trembling as she did so.
He turned back to the nobleman with a grin. "By the way, my name's not 'familiar.' It's Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and I accept your challenge!"
Guiche had taken a step back at the sheer… joy on Ranma's face. He pushed it aside. "I'll meet you at the Vestri Court. Come once you've finished delivering those cakes."
"I'll be there in a minute."
With that the boy moved towards the dining room doors, flanked by his excited friends. One remained, as if Ranma would have second thoughts and chicken out.
"Well," he started taking the tray back from Siesta with a smile. "Let's get these delivered."
The servant girl clutched at her chest with one hand. "You… you're going to be killed!"
"By him? Phft! He couldn't kill a fly if it laid down and played dead for him."
"B-but, he's nobility!"
"And I'm Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts," he announced proudly. "I will not lose to a pompous airbag that can't even own up to his own mistakes."
Tears started to form in her eyes, and Siesta suddenly ran off, having shoved the cake tray into his stomach.
"Hey! Siesta! What about these cakes!" When she didn't return, Ranma shrugged and helped himself to one of the sweets.
It tasted pretty good.
"Ranma!"
He turned around to see Louise running up to him, her eyes wide. He waved at her pleasantly.
"Yo, Louise, you get a cake already? It's pretty tasty."
She swatted the cake out of his hand. "This is no time for cake!"
"Hey! I was eating that!"
"How can you go around promising duels like it's no big deal!"
"You say that like he's some kind of threat or something. I doubt he can even stand up in a good strong wind."
She gritted her teeth. "Apologize to him."
Ranma quirked an eyebrow. "Say what?"
Her teeth gripped tightly as she spoke. "I said, apologize. If you do that, he may be willing to forget the whole thing."
He huffed in exasperation. "Oh, please, Louise. I'll be back in a minute. All I'm gonna do is play with him."
"'Play?'" she cried out, looking at the fighter in shock. "Ranma, you'll be lucky if you come back in a few pieces, let alone alive! Just go apologize already!"
He shook his head. "No way."
"Ranma!"
He turned to the guy that had stayed behind. "Where's the Vestri Court?"
The mage thumbed in a direction. "That way."
"Thanks." As he started to walk, Louise grabbed hold of his arm.
"Ranma, a commoner cannot beat a mage! It's two completely different worlds. It's impossible!"
Ranma threw her a cocky grin. "Well, let's make history then."
[hr]
Approaching what seemed to be a huge garden area situated between two towers, Ranma had last-minute reservations about this battle. Maybe it would have been smarter to figure out whether or not the guy used water as an element. Given what happened to his curse, it might have been more prudent to not have egged on the guy. Of course, the fop was pissing him off, but still…
Louise followed him silently, but he could feel her anxiety on his back.
"I'm not gonna lose," he spoke without looking at Louise, who was silently following him the whole way. Not like he could miss her presence, as she radiated anxiety like a mouse in a room full of… those things.
"That's not what I'm worried about…"
Ranma turned to face Louise. "He doesn't… you know, use water or something?"
"Not that I know of."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good."
Louise stared at him. "You mean to tell me, you accepted a duel and didn't even think that far ahead!"
He shrugged.
"Don't you dare shrug at me!"
"It's not like I'm gonna lose or something."
Louise growled.
As the two pulled into view, Louise gaped at the large crowd that had developed to bear witness to a fight between commoner and nobleman. Upon being sighted, the crowd parted to let them into the center of the field, where Guiche stood, his rose wand out and held within his folded arms.
"I'm glad to see that you have some guts in coming after all," the noble spoke with a sneer.
"I was going to say the same thing to you," Ranma replied.
Guiche snorted. "I'll have something done about that false bravado." He flicked his wand and a single rose petal fluttered towards the earth. Upon impact, up sprang what looked like a suit of shiny, coppery armor. Except the armor looked like it was intended for a female with a teeny tiny waistline instead of the boy standing before him.
Ranma scratched his head. "Er, what's that?"
"I suppose I should tell you. My runic name is 'the Bronze.' I am Guiche the Bronze."
"…Okay, so what does that have to do with that thing?"
"She is a bronze golem that I had created. I call her Valkyrie." His eyes turned on Ranma, a devious grin on his face. "You may call her your downfall."
"Golem? Valkyrie? How is this—"
The bronze golem struck out at Ranma standing not a foot away with a very quick punch.
Louise gasped. For all his blustering, there was no way Ranma could survive a hit like that.
Surprisingly, to all the magi present, the blow never connected. Ranma had already sidestepped the attack, carefully inspecting the golem as if nothing had happened at all. "Oh wow! I had no idea you could make it move! I thought you just did useless things with magic."
"Lucky move," Guiche spoke, a little bit of sweat breaking out from watching him casually evade. "Valkyrie!"
The bronze golem attacked again. And again. And again.
Ranma sidestepped, swayed or dodged every attack. All while still checking out how the golem moved.
"I got to admit, this is really damn cool! I've never seen anything like this before! …but it doesn't seem all that solid."
Guiche blinked at the comments. "Eh? What do you mean?"
Without speaking, Ranma snapped a lazy kick into the golem's solar plexus. Its body crumpled like an aluminum can as it went flying out of the ring of magi gathered to watch the fight.
Everyone froze. Louise stopped breathing. Guiche panicked. Ranma sighed in disappointment.
"Yeah, like I thought. Could you make something a little studier next time?"
"N-n-no mercy!" the blond boy cried out, lashing out with his wand. Six more petals fluttered free, to bloom into six more Valkyries, each one sliding into a position around the martial artist.
Ranma whistled, noting that he was now surrounded by Valkyrie golems. "Well, that's pretty impressive, too, I think," Ranma spoke, sliding into a standard ready stance for combat. Even if the golems were all weak, a growing number of them against him would make things dicey. All they needed to do was get lucky once.
He could feel the back of his left hand grow warmer, but he discarded the sensation. The ghostly voice that echoed within his ears, however, was harder to dismiss. Was it… a song or something? Who was singing?
The golems lunged forth, and Ranma blurred. Awful screams of metal being rent apart tore through the field, chilling the crowd as they watched bronze anarchy rain down upon them.
Guiche could only stare slack-jawed as his beautiful creations practically disintegrated before his eyes. And then Ranma just appeared less than inches away from his nose.
The blond boy almost soiled himself yelping in his attempt to get away.
Ranma looked at his hands, then at the field where there were glittering shards of bronze everywhere. He looked at his hands again as if seeing them for the first time.
"Wow…" was all he could breathe. His mouth opened, closed, but he wasn't able to find the words.
"My lovely Valkyries!"
Ranma snapped out of his stupor to see Guiche weep terribly as he clutched half of a Valkyrie's head in his hands.
"Um, got any more?" Ranma asked, feeling a bit sheepish.
Guiche wept even harder.
He scratched the back of his head. "Er, is that a no?"
[hr]
Headmaster Osmond stood with Mr. Colbert as they viewed the fight through the Far-Seeing Mirror in the Headmaster's office. The older man stared at the magical device unmoving. Mr. Colbert had to remember to close his mouth.
"A-a-amazing! That's a Gandalfr's true power?"
"Are you sure that boy is just a commoner?" Osmond asked, licking his lips that had became dry from shock.
"I'll test it out." Mr. Colbert focused on the image of Ranma trying to placate the devastated noble he was just fighting, his lips silently reciting an invocation before gesturing with his staff. "Detect Magic!" His expression of concentration turned into one of befuddlement. "Strange."
"What is?" Osmond asked.
"His aura… it flickers like a dying flame instead of glowing brightly like anyone possessing magic. It's as if there's magic in him, but he himself doesn't have magic." He shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it in my life."
"Hrm." Osmond sat down at his desk. "Puzzling."
Mr. Colbert agreed. "Do you have any ideas what to make of this?"
"No... At this point, we'll have to wait and see, discover whatever mystery there is to this Ranma Saotome. You said he wasn't very cooperative?"
"I had to use magic to keep him still in order for Miss Vallière to complete the contract."
"Well, in that case, keep an eye on him and Miss Vallière. At any rate, there are some matters I must attend to."
"Yes, sir." With that, Mr. Colbert left the headmaster's office.
Old Osmond picked up a report on his desk, concerning Chevruese of the Red Clay. It seemed that Louise must have traumatized her worse than the healer on staff thought, as she claimed to have seen two Louises cleaning up the classroom.
Two Louises… Brr! The thought alone made Osmond seriously consider retirement on the spot, as unnerving the idea was. Perhaps he should give Chevruese the rest of the week off; clearly, she needed the time away.
Zero Interface
Chapter 3
Thicker Than Bronze
The scene unfolding before Ranma reminded him of some movie he saw over at one guy's house a few years before going to China. Kind of vague movie, but there was this part about a hostage negotiator taking off his clothes to earn the trust of a kidnapper, only to shoot him in the end and save the hostage. It was strange, but his Pop told him to look at the situation in a different manner – distracting an opponent, controlling his movements, then disabling him before he can carry out his own plan of attack.
Somehow, though, the martial artist didn't think taking off his clothes would help calm down Louise any. In fact, it might excite her beyond her already climbing hysteria. If what she and the servant were implying was correct, he probably looked like her. Like, an exact duplicate of her.
Life sucked in Japan, and life sucked here.
"Louise, put the wand down," Ranma spoke, slowly approaching her with his hands up.
"I will not!" she shouted, thrusting the baton at him like a rapier, blindly backing away from him. She almost tripped over the landings, though it did not slow her ascent any. "Just how did you get my face!"
"No idea Louise," Ranma spoke in the calmest manner he could muster, keeping his eyes locked onto the terrified mage. The last thing he wanted to happen was for Louise to forget that her magic causes things to explode. He wasn't all that keen to learn whether or not the medics in this land would treat a blown-up commoner in the same room with a blown-up noble teacher. "I've got no idea how this happened, but if you will relax and put the wand down, I'm certain we can talk about stuff."
"No! Stay away from me!" She had finally reached the upper level of the student class, but, still, she kept backing up as if there was a door behind her just waiting for her to pounce through; there wasn't. There were windows, shattered though they may be, but Ranma didn't think she'd try to make her own escape route. At least he hoped she wouldn't; they were like three four floors up, and Louise couldn't fly.
"It's gonna be fine, Louise." He edged in closer. "Gonna be ju~st fine."
She thrust her wand out again like a dagger. "I-I'm warning you! S-Stay back!"
Ranma reared back, half expecting to be on the receiving end of a nasty spell blast. "Okay, okay!" Again, he held out his open hands, shook them vigorously. "I'm not moving, okay, Louise? I'm stopped, just like you asked."
"Wh-what are you?" she whispered, her eyes wide, her breathing shallow. "Are you like a doppelganger?"
Ranma gave her a puzzled expression. "A what?"
The girl started to tremble. "Y-you've come to replace me, isn't that right? Am I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, so useless a mage, that I've summon something to… to replace me?"
"No!" Ranma shouted, feeling weirded out himself. Could that actually happen? Summon your own replacement? Brrr! "I ain't replacing you or anybody!"
"Then why do you wear my face!" she cried out, her pitch bordering hysterical.
"Because—" He suddenly pointed out the window. "OH MY GOD! THERE'S A DRAGON OVER THERE!"
Louise looked in the direction Ranma was pointing, "A dragon?" In that moment of confusion, her wand hand relaxed, no longer held at the martial artist.
Ranma made his move, knocking away the wand lightning quick and pinning her bodily against the wall, hand over her mouth.
"Okay, Louise, shut up and listen," Ranma spoke in hushed tones as she struggled in vain against him. "I don't know why I'm here or why my curse is suddenly making me look like you, and yes, this is some kind of curse, none of this doppelganger stuff, okay? But it's not to replace you or anything." At least he didn't think so, though given how screwy this world was being with him at the moment… "What I do know is that I made a promise to help you out in any way that I can, and I'm going to uphold that promise until I leave this place. So relax; you're scaring the spit out the guy. Okay?"
Though Louise couldn't speak with her mouth, her reddish brown eyes did all the talking. And it was about to get emotional, quick.
Ranma looked down to the lecture floor at the bewildered young man. "Could you give me a moment with myself?"
The man nodded dumbly and started to leave.
"Oh, and can you bring me some hot water in about thirty minutes?"
Another dumb nod.
"Oh, and don't tell no one about this…" Ranma gave him a look. "I'd hate to have to replace you."
The servant turned white as flour, but managed to nod once more.
Ranma grinned. "Thanks!"
The man quickly left, the door slamming behind him in his haste. Ranma released his hold on Louise. And Louise fell into his – her chest, bawling.
Hoo boy, did he know how to pick them…
[hr]
"So, you all right?" Ranma asked, as they sat at the teacher's desk in the half-cleaned classroom.
"Yes, very much, thank you," Louise responded, her composure restored. She gave him a warning stare. "Don't tell anyone about this, though. Especially not that Zerbst."
His brow furrowed. "Who?"
"The big-breasted slut you ran into earlier."
"Ah, Kirche, was it?"
She gave him a suspicious look. "You remember that name awfully well."
Ranma shrugged. "She's pretty much the only other person I talked to for any length since I got here."
Louise 'hmphed,' crossing her arms beneath her small breasts. "A likely story…" She looked at him again. "You said before that this is a curse?"
He nodded. "It's something I got hit with in this foreign country from mine a few weeks ago. Turn into a girl with cold water, return to being a guy with hot water."
Louise shook her head. "Unbelievable…"
"Hey, this is the world of magic, right? What's so hard to believe about that?"
"But I thought your world didn't have magic."
"Well, not like what you guys do, I know that much. We just have machines and stuff to do things." He gestured to himself. "Curse-thing? Totally new to me."
"I see…"
Ranma changed the subject. "So, does everyone else's spell blows up like yours when they mess up?"
She shrugged. "Not that I know of. Then again, even a fizzled spell is less of a disappointment, compared to mine."
"And you've done this with all five elements?"
She looked at him perplexed. "All five?"
"Yeah, Mrs. Chevrolet said something about there being five elements – earth, fire, wind, water and void."
She shook her head. "Don't be stupid. We just use four elements – earth, wind, fire, and water. The Void element hasn't been seen for millennia, not that anyone seems to know much about it. Only the Founder carried such an affinity."
"The Founder?"
"Brimir. He created the lands as they are today – Tristain, Albion, Gallia and Romalia – using Void magic."
Ranma closed his eyes in thought. "Okay, weird. So, how do you find out about affi—"
"Oh, Brimir…"
Both Ranma and Louise looked up to see Mrs. Chevruese staring at them, mouth agape.
"Th-there's t… t…two~o… two… oh, my…" Her eyes rolled up and she started to fall forward. Ranma shot out and quickly caught the woman before she smashed facefirst into the floor.
"Well, she took that well," Louise remarked dryly, looking at herself hefting the teacher up in her arms.
[hr]
"I don't get it, though; why you?" Ranma asked in low tones as he and Louise made their way towards the dining hall. With the shock of Ranma's curse wearing off, the noblewoman was more upbeat than before when she thought she had summoned a poor, run-of-the-mill commoner; he was now a poor, run-of-the-mill commoner that had a magical curse! Not that she could feasibly use said magical curse, and it had strange conditions for triggering it, not to mention it just made him look like her, but on the bright side, it was something magical!
Of course, there was the entire curse-aspect that had Louise concerned. Had anyone learned about that issue, it may well result in even further ostracizing from her peers, if that was possible. Therefore, it was best to keep that part under wraps. Though that didn't mean she couldn't try to figure out how it all played into her situation.
"Perhaps it's yet another benefit of the Familiar Runes."
He looked at her. "What?"
"When a master has a familiar, he can see and hear what the familiar sees and hears."
Ranma thought about that. "Does it work in reverse, too?"
She made a small movement with her shoulders. "I wouldn't think so. After all, what would a familiar need to know of its master?"
Given what Ranma had learned in his two days of being in Tristain, all familiars were some sort of animal, mythical or otherwise, thus, Louise made a valid point. Still…
"Anyway," Ranma spoke, stretching his arms over his head. "I'm going over to the kitchen and get something to eat there."
Louise looked up with widening eyes. "W-wait!"
"Huh? What is it?"
"I…" Louise bit her lip, then glanced away. "…nothing."
Ranma studied Louise for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay. See you in an hour," he said as he turned away, making his path to the kitchen.
Louise glimpsed his retreating back, frowning slightly. "Y-Yes… see you in an hour."
[hr]
Ranma slipped into the warm, bustling kitchen, deftly side stepping various cooks and maids that flowed through the cooking space. He had to admit, he knew relatively nothing about this world, so it might be rude as hell for him to just march in and ask for food. Then again, sitting around all those "nobles" in such a decadent setting didn't make him feel very good, either. Thus, he opted for the "rude as hell" option and decided to stop the first maid he saw.
"Hey, excuse me, but—"
The young woman gasped, looking at the back of Ranma's hand. "Aren't you Miss Vallière's familiar?"
"…Louise summoned me, yes…" he spoke warily.
The maid smiled sweetly. "It's become quite the rumor, that a commoner was called by summoning magic."
Ranma blinked. This maid… she was… kinda cute, smiling like that. "Um, yeah…" He coughed lightly, washing away the slight pink on his cheeks. "Well, anyway, my name's Ranma. Ranma Saotome."
"What an unusual name. My name is Siesta."
=GURGLE=
Ranma had the decency to look embarrassed as his stomach decided to talk to Siesta more directly. She chuckled a little.
"You must be hungry."
"A little…"
"Please follow me this way."
Ranma nodded, falling in line with the girl.
[hr]
"Really, Mister Ranma. You don't have to help me present desserts."
"No way!" Ranma declared as he carried the large silver tray of delicious-looking spiced cakes from the kitchen towards the dining hall. "It's the least I could do after that great meal you served me! It's even better than what those guys get!"
Siesta turned scarlet. "Please, not so loud! You're making me blush!"
Ranma grinned. "No, really, that was great eating. Probably the best I've eaten in some time!"
"W-Well, if you really liked the meal that much, Mister Ranma, you can come around anytime you'd like, providing you don't mind eating what the staff does."
"Fine by me." Then he fired off another line before she could reply. "Oh, and, can we drop the 'Mister' part? It's not like I'm Pop or something."
The maid looked at him, then smiled. "O-Okay, then… Ranma."
He nodded. "Better."
He had to admit to himself that he could get used to seeing her smile at him. It felt kind of nice to be liked and allowed to do things his way instead of being hit over the head with a table, or forced into some kind of magical bondage. So far, this was the highlight of his time in this crazy land.
He handled carrying the large silver tray from table to table while Siesta served up each dessert cake with a pair of tongs. As she served, he observed. He could barely resist shaking his head at what he saw – a waste to him, the way these students just sat around in gross splendor, all because they could flick a wrist and make something happen.
Like the one guy talking with his friends beside him. Blond curly hair, a shirt bedecked in frills, and a rose sticking out of his shirt pocket. He just seemed like a big ol' pile of arrogance and ingratitude. Just being near the fop made the martial artist feel offended.
"Come on, tell us, Guiche. Who's your lover?"
"My lover? I do not hold just one woman upon a pedestal; after all, a rose blooms for everyone."
Ranma frowned, trying to wrap his brain around that. That Guiche guy… was he just comparing himself to a rose? How lame.
As the blonde boy gestured and rambled on, a small stoppered vial tumbled free from his pocket. Ranma's foot snaked out to catch it before it broke on the tiled floor. A quick flick up and the vial landed in Ranma's waiting hand.
"Hey, you dropped this," he spoke, placing the glass container on the table before Guiche.
Ranma blinked as the boy steadfastly refused to acknowledge its existence, even tried to push it away. He shrugged and turned his attention back to helping Siesta.
Not even half a minute later, a girl broke out in tears. Both Ranma and Siesta looked up to see a younger girl with brown hair whom they had just served haul off and slap the blond student. Hard.
Ranma thought Guiche was going to spin around in his seat like a top.
"That perfume in your pocket is more than enough proof! Goodbye!"
Another girl, blonde with tightly rolled tresses approached rapidly, her face locked in a severe expression. Guiche turned to her, palm print reddening on his face.
"Montmorency. This is a misunderstanding. All I did was accompany her on a long trip to the forests of La Rochelle," The blond boy spoke quickly. He worked at being composed and indifferent, but Ranma could see him sweat under the pressure.
"Just as I thought! You've been making moves on that first year, haven't you!"
"Please, Montmorency the Fragrance!"
Did everyone here have a weird title affixed to their name?
Montmorency the Fragrance then fragranced him – she snatched up Guiche's goblet and poured his wine all over the top of his head, turning his blond locks into a wet, grapey mess.
"You liar!" she bellowed before storming off.
The dining hall was deathly quiet with students looking on at the scene of disaster. The blond, for his part, simply pulled a handkerchief and slowly wiped his face.
"It would seem those ladies do not understand the meaning of a rose's existence," he spoke solemnly, trying to hold onto the remains of his dignity.
Ranma couldn't help it. He broke out laughing. What a rube…
The blond mage leveled his glare upon the pigtailed boy. "You."
Ranma, still chuckling, looked up. "What?"
The blond slowly spun around in his seat to face him. "Thanks to your thoughtlessness in picking up the perfume bottle, the reputation of two ladies has been tarnished. How do you plan to take responsibility?"
Ranma stared at him blankly. "Um, by calling you a jackass moron for two-timing them?"
Guiche's friends broke out laughing, while the offended's face burned indignantly.
"Listen, servant boy—"
Ranma looked at him flatly. "I'm not your boy, nor am I anyone's servant."
The blond paused, then studied Ranma's face closer. "Ah, that's right… you're that commoner Louise the Zero summoned… Shameful of me to expect you to have any sort of proper education." He made a flippant gesture and turned back in his seat. "You're dismissed."
Ranma was taken aback by this. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Well, gee, if that's how you're going to be, no wonder you're a two-timing loser."
Guiche spun back around, his eyes wide and angry. "Wh-what did you say?"
"A loser," Ranma declared boldly. "You couldn't charm a bracelet if your life depended on it."
Guiche's friends ooh'd at that comment. The blond glowered.
"You dare address me in such a manner?"
"Well, yeah." Ranma had slipped an arm around the boy's neck, serving tray balanced on one hand. "Look, Guiche, was it? I know you're probably inexperienced and everything about girls, so I'll tell you what. I'll give you a bit of the ol' Saotome advice, help you man up a bit with women instead of being this weirdo rose guy thing you got going on."
Guiche's face screwed up in rage. "Unhand me this instant!" he cried out, slashing out everywhere with his hands.
Ranma hopped back, avoiding the wild swings. "What? I'm trying to help you out!"
He stood up shaking and livid. "Never before in my life have I been so insulted! You peasant! Commoner! How dare you!" He whipped out his wand, which had a rose bloom on the tip end. "You, I challenge to a duel!"
Ranma blinked. "A duel?"
"Yes, exactly, you stupid familiar! A duel!"
Ranma looked at the incensed Guiche then towards the shellshocked Siesta.
"Hey, Siesta, hold this for me, willya?"
She numbly took the proffered serving tray, trembling as she did so.
He turned back to the nobleman with a grin. "By the way, my name's not 'familiar.' It's Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and I accept your challenge!"
Guiche had taken a step back at the sheer… joy on Ranma's face. He pushed it aside. "I'll meet you at the Vestri Court. Come once you've finished delivering those cakes."
"I'll be there in a minute."
With that the boy moved towards the dining room doors, flanked by his excited friends. One remained, as if Ranma would have second thoughts and chicken out.
"Well," he started taking the tray back from Siesta with a smile. "Let's get these delivered."
The servant girl clutched at her chest with one hand. "You… you're going to be killed!"
"By him? Phft! He couldn't kill a fly if it laid down and played dead for him."
"B-but, he's nobility!"
"And I'm Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts," he announced proudly. "I will not lose to a pompous airbag that can't even own up to his own mistakes."
Tears started to form in her eyes, and Siesta suddenly ran off, having shoved the cake tray into his stomach.
"Hey! Siesta! What about these cakes!" When she didn't return, Ranma shrugged and helped himself to one of the sweets.
It tasted pretty good.
"Ranma!"
He turned around to see Louise running up to him, her eyes wide. He waved at her pleasantly.
"Yo, Louise, you get a cake already? It's pretty tasty."
She swatted the cake out of his hand. "This is no time for cake!"
"Hey! I was eating that!"
"How can you go around promising duels like it's no big deal!"
"You say that like he's some kind of threat or something. I doubt he can even stand up in a good strong wind."
She gritted her teeth. "Apologize to him."
Ranma quirked an eyebrow. "Say what?"
Her teeth gripped tightly as she spoke. "I said, apologize. If you do that, he may be willing to forget the whole thing."
He huffed in exasperation. "Oh, please, Louise. I'll be back in a minute. All I'm gonna do is play with him."
"'Play?'" she cried out, looking at the fighter in shock. "Ranma, you'll be lucky if you come back in a few pieces, let alone alive! Just go apologize already!"
He shook his head. "No way."
"Ranma!"
He turned to the guy that had stayed behind. "Where's the Vestri Court?"
The mage thumbed in a direction. "That way."
"Thanks." As he started to walk, Louise grabbed hold of his arm.
"Ranma, a commoner cannot beat a mage! It's two completely different worlds. It's impossible!"
Ranma threw her a cocky grin. "Well, let's make history then."
[hr]
Approaching what seemed to be a huge garden area situated between two towers, Ranma had last-minute reservations about this battle. Maybe it would have been smarter to figure out whether or not the guy used water as an element. Given what happened to his curse, it might have been more prudent to not have egged on the guy. Of course, the fop was pissing him off, but still…
Louise followed him silently, but he could feel her anxiety on his back.
"I'm not gonna lose," he spoke without looking at Louise, who was silently following him the whole way. Not like he could miss her presence, as she radiated anxiety like a mouse in a room full of… those things.
"That's not what I'm worried about…"
Ranma turned to face Louise. "He doesn't… you know, use water or something?"
"Not that I know of."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good."
Louise stared at him. "You mean to tell me, you accepted a duel and didn't even think that far ahead!"
He shrugged.
"Don't you dare shrug at me!"
"It's not like I'm gonna lose or something."
Louise growled.
As the two pulled into view, Louise gaped at the large crowd that had developed to bear witness to a fight between commoner and nobleman. Upon being sighted, the crowd parted to let them into the center of the field, where Guiche stood, his rose wand out and held within his folded arms.
"I'm glad to see that you have some guts in coming after all," the noble spoke with a sneer.
"I was going to say the same thing to you," Ranma replied.
Guiche snorted. "I'll have something done about that false bravado." He flicked his wand and a single rose petal fluttered towards the earth. Upon impact, up sprang what looked like a suit of shiny, coppery armor. Except the armor looked like it was intended for a female with a teeny tiny waistline instead of the boy standing before him.
Ranma scratched his head. "Er, what's that?"
"I suppose I should tell you. My runic name is 'the Bronze.' I am Guiche the Bronze."
"…Okay, so what does that have to do with that thing?"
"She is a bronze golem that I had created. I call her Valkyrie." His eyes turned on Ranma, a devious grin on his face. "You may call her your downfall."
"Golem? Valkyrie? How is this—"
The bronze golem struck out at Ranma standing not a foot away with a very quick punch.
Louise gasped. For all his blustering, there was no way Ranma could survive a hit like that.
Surprisingly, to all the magi present, the blow never connected. Ranma had already sidestepped the attack, carefully inspecting the golem as if nothing had happened at all. "Oh wow! I had no idea you could make it move! I thought you just did useless things with magic."
"Lucky move," Guiche spoke, a little bit of sweat breaking out from watching him casually evade. "Valkyrie!"
The bronze golem attacked again. And again. And again.
Ranma sidestepped, swayed or dodged every attack. All while still checking out how the golem moved.
"I got to admit, this is really damn cool! I've never seen anything like this before! …but it doesn't seem all that solid."
Guiche blinked at the comments. "Eh? What do you mean?"
Without speaking, Ranma snapped a lazy kick into the golem's solar plexus. Its body crumpled like an aluminum can as it went flying out of the ring of magi gathered to watch the fight.
Everyone froze. Louise stopped breathing. Guiche panicked. Ranma sighed in disappointment.
"Yeah, like I thought. Could you make something a little studier next time?"
"N-n-no mercy!" the blond boy cried out, lashing out with his wand. Six more petals fluttered free, to bloom into six more Valkyries, each one sliding into a position around the martial artist.
Ranma whistled, noting that he was now surrounded by Valkyrie golems. "Well, that's pretty impressive, too, I think," Ranma spoke, sliding into a standard ready stance for combat. Even if the golems were all weak, a growing number of them against him would make things dicey. All they needed to do was get lucky once.
He could feel the back of his left hand grow warmer, but he discarded the sensation. The ghostly voice that echoed within his ears, however, was harder to dismiss. Was it… a song or something? Who was singing?
The golems lunged forth, and Ranma blurred. Awful screams of metal being rent apart tore through the field, chilling the crowd as they watched bronze anarchy rain down upon them.
Guiche could only stare slack-jawed as his beautiful creations practically disintegrated before his eyes. And then Ranma just appeared less than inches away from his nose.
The blond boy almost soiled himself yelping in his attempt to get away.
Ranma looked at his hands, then at the field where there were glittering shards of bronze everywhere. He looked at his hands again as if seeing them for the first time.
"Wow…" was all he could breathe. His mouth opened, closed, but he wasn't able to find the words.
"My lovely Valkyries!"
Ranma snapped out of his stupor to see Guiche weep terribly as he clutched half of a Valkyrie's head in his hands.
"Um, got any more?" Ranma asked, feeling a bit sheepish.
Guiche wept even harder.
He scratched the back of his head. "Er, is that a no?"
[hr]
Headmaster Osmond stood with Mr. Colbert as they viewed the fight through the Far-Seeing Mirror in the Headmaster's office. The older man stared at the magical device unmoving. Mr. Colbert had to remember to close his mouth.
"A-a-amazing! That's a Gandalfr's true power?"
"Are you sure that boy is just a commoner?" Osmond asked, licking his lips that had became dry from shock.
"I'll test it out." Mr. Colbert focused on the image of Ranma trying to placate the devastated noble he was just fighting, his lips silently reciting an invocation before gesturing with his staff. "Detect Magic!" His expression of concentration turned into one of befuddlement. "Strange."
"What is?" Osmond asked.
"His aura… it flickers like a dying flame instead of glowing brightly like anyone possessing magic. It's as if there's magic in him, but he himself doesn't have magic." He shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it in my life."
"Hrm." Osmond sat down at his desk. "Puzzling."
Mr. Colbert agreed. "Do you have any ideas what to make of this?"
"No... At this point, we'll have to wait and see, discover whatever mystery there is to this Ranma Saotome. You said he wasn't very cooperative?"
"I had to use magic to keep him still in order for Miss Vallière to complete the contract."
"Well, in that case, keep an eye on him and Miss Vallière. At any rate, there are some matters I must attend to."
"Yes, sir." With that, Mr. Colbert left the headmaster's office.
Old Osmond picked up a report on his desk, concerning Chevruese of the Red Clay. It seemed that Louise must have traumatized her worse than the healer on staff thought, as she claimed to have seen two Louises cleaning up the classroom.
Two Louises… Brr! The thought alone made Osmond seriously consider retirement on the spot, as unnerving the idea was. Perhaps he should give Chevruese the rest of the week off; clearly, she needed the time away.
Hmmm... wonder if he is going to go farther with the Kirche relationship than he did originally. Always wondered why he seemed to cut that off where he did... never even really brought up their joint business venture or the money it should have been bringing in.
One of the reasons I felt that way about it is Kirche is generally overlooked in both normal ZNT and crossover ZNT stories... and I truly thought her and Ranma could have been good for each other here.
One of the reasons I felt that way about it is Kirche is generally overlooked in both normal ZNT and crossover ZNT stories... and I truly thought her and Ranma could have been good for each other here.
[AN: Kind of sick at the moment from an unspecified virus, but I hope this makes sense, especially the part about the Book of Void. I'm sensing the developing plot, as well as the metaplot and the sideplots a lot clearly now, where before, I did spend a lot of time relying mainly on the established work. Let me know your thoughts on the new developments.]
Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. Familiar of Zero (Zero no Tsukaima) is owned by Noboru Yamaguchi. All rights reserved.
Zero Interface
Chapter 4
Zero Point
"What in the name of the Founder was that!"
Ranma stared at the breathless Louise who started into him the moment she closed her room door shut after dragging him all the way up from the site of his duel to her bedroom. "What was what?"
"I thought you weren't a mage!"
"I'm not."
"Then how do you explain what you did back at Vestri Court!"
"Martial arts."
"Martial arts! That looked nothing like that hooligan stuff you were doing this morning!"
Ranma sighed, then grinned. "Well, I won, didn't I?"
"That's beside the point!" she cried out, grabbing him by the shirt. "What are you doing here in the first place!"
"You know, if I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't be here."
The little strawberry blonde threw her hands up in frustration. "I can't believe this! Why do I have a familiar like you!"
Ranma scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I am pretty good at figuring stuff out." A second later, he scowled. "And I'm not a familiar."
She flung herself backwards onto her bed. "It's not fair... Even a commoner can do magic, but not I?" She violently kicked her legs and swung her fists in frustration. "What am I, a laughingstock!"
"Geez, calm down Louise. It's not like I can do magic. Just... kinda looks like it, I guess."
She sat upright in a huff. "That's not helping me here," she spoke, giving him a sour look.
"W-well, I mean... maybe it's like on those TV shows, that you're really a super-powerful magician, but just been using the wrong element all this time."
Her expression fell. "Ranma, I've already tried all four elements. Nothing. I have no talent for any of them."
"Um, Louise, I thought there was five elements."
She held her head as if it ached. "I've already explained it to you; no one has had the Void affinity in the last thousands of years!"
"So, how do you guys figure out who has what affinity?"
She looked up at him, slight less exasperated. "There are basic magic spells every noble learns that helps determine one's affinity. Usually, an affinity is inherited from one's parents, providing they have a strong magical power. In fact, there are entire families that cultivate one particular element to increase its potency on the whole and to virtually ensure their children will carry on the traditions of their forebearers.
"However, for newly bred nobles resulting from..." Louise turned pink. "...indiscreet activities, they must learn to discover their affinity through mastery of primer magic spells. When one finds their affinity, it's said to be like meeting a soul mate. One becomes overwhelmed by the harmonious resonance within one's soul, and spells once pronounced too difficult can be done with ease and grace. It's like an awakening to something much greater than yourself, I've heard."
Ranma thought about what she said. "And you never felt anything like that," he stated.
She sighed, and shook her head. "It sounds ridiculous to me, having never once experienced such a thing. All spells I cast feel the same, like plodding through mud."
The room grew silent, with Louise not speaking further and Ranma sitting in a chair, deep in thought.
"So," Ranma began. "If we can find some Void primers for you, you think you'll finally experience that feeling?"
One minute, Ranma was sitting in Louise's room coming up with a solution to her problem of being unable to cast proper magic. The next minute, Ranma found himself getting a faceful of door slamming. Once his brain finally geared into setting, he scowled. "Of all the—"
"Gotcha!"
=SPLOOSH=
"Missed, Danica!" a white-haired girl shouted at her peach-haired pursuer. "Now what page was I on... 'His strong manly hands probed every crevice of her silken femininity—'"
"Celeste! Get back here with my book or I will drown you!"
The two girls blasted past an ignored, sodden Louise-Ranma, who blew her now-wet pink locks out of her face.
"I'm really starting to hate this place," he grumbled.
In his annoyance, Ranma completely missed the red shadow that was watching him.
________________________________________
The martial artist sighed as he upended a pot of hot water onto his head, reverting back to his masculine self. It was becoming something of a bother to not have ready-made hot water at hand. Replacing the pot on the stove top, he turned to leave the kitchen he had snuck into.
And ran into Siesta, who nearly dropped the cooking pot she was carrying. "R-Ranma!"
He waved at her nonchalantly. "Yo, Siesta. What's up?"
"A-are you okay? I thought you'd be hurt badly!"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He flexed his hand open and closed rapidly. "Those overgrown toy dolls were a bunch of pushovers, though."
"Dolls?"
"Those golem thingies that Guiche kid threw at me."
Siesta's eyes widened in shock. "So, it's really true, the rumors?"
"Rumors?"
"That you defeated a mage."
He shrugged. "Yeah. It's not like it's a big deal or anything."
"Not a big deal!" a booming voice erupted from behind Siesta, startling both her and Ranma and drawing their attention towards the owner.
A heavyset man looking to be in his forties wearing fine fabric, if of a simple style, grinned as he clasped his meaty hand on Ranma's shoulder hard. "In a land were nobility outclasses the commoner, a commoner defeating a mage is a huge deal! Especially one that does so by means of his bare fists!"
"Hey, Siesta, who's this guy?" Ranma asked, eyeing the interloper suspiciously.
"S-sir!"
The man laughed and clapped Ranma on the shoulder again. "Call me Marteau, 'Our Fist!'"
Ranma blinked. "Our what?"
"'Our Fist!' Because a commoner defeated a mage with only his fists! We must be reminded that such things as magic and nobility should not hold sway over our very lives, and what better way than to remind commoners of you as 'Our Fist!'"
Ranma didn't have any idea what to make of that, but he wasn't opposed to anything that would get people to lay off the commoner crap with him.
"Let me kiss your forehead, 'Our Fist!'"
"Whoa, hey!" Ranma quickly evaded Marteau's hands. "No kissing the forehead."
He laughed it off. "So, tell me, how exactly did you defeat that noble kid?"
The young man grinned. "Martial arts."
"Hmm... martial arts, huh..." Marteau looked thoughtfully. "Where did you learn that from?"
"My Pop. He's been training me since I was two."
The older man's face lit up in surprise. "Wow... Do you think he could teach me a thing or two?"
Ranma's face fell. "Um, no idea where he's at, really. I hadn't seen him since I got summoned."
Marteau scratched his chin. "That's a real shame..." He turned to Siesta. "Bring me a bottle of Albion's finest! We must celebrate!"
She smiled. "Yes, sir!" She quickly ran off to retrieve the requested vintage of wine from the rack. Ranma gulped a bit, seeing the wine bottle produced.
"Um, I don't normally drink..."
"This is a special occasion! Every man should enjoy some fine wine, don't you think so?"
"Well, yeah, I suppose, but—"
Marteau, having already uncorked the bottle, thrust a glass of ruby crimson into Ranma's open hand. "Drink, drink! Let us savor the commoner's finest hour, 'Our Fist!'"
"Uh, well," Ranma sniffed the contents before taking a sip. He blinked in surprise at just how fruity and sweet-tasting the liquid was. "Wow, this is pretty good."
The jolly man laughed. "You know, 'Our Fist,' I'm starting to like you."
"Well, you're not too bad yourself, Marteau."
Siesta just looked on as the two partook of wine, unable to stop admiring Ranma as his face suffused red. Honestly, she never thought someone with no magic could defeat a mage. That Ranma had done so, and with but his fists, made her heart go pitter-patter. It was like watching a legend blossom before her eyes.
A legacy she might not have a problem with being a part of, she though, a small blush touching her cheeks.
________________________________________
"Hey, did you see something at the window?" one of the dishwashers pointed up at the window.
"What?" a passing cook asked, joining the first in his observation.
A flicker of red followed by a weird 'kuyu-kuyu' sound.
After a few moments of inspection, the cook shrugged. "Probably just the wind."
________________________________________
"Me? A Void mage? Preposterous!"
Louise laid in her bed, facedown in one of her pillows. Being teased by her classmates was one thing; irregardless of their behavior, she had strived to become a good mage. Their comments and jokes were things she endured because she knew that her time would come, when she would be respected, even admired.
However, having the person she summoned into this world tell her that she could be a Void mage, despite having no knowledge about anything of their world... maybe that was the moment the damn broke from too much stress. Her dreams of being respected by her peers wilted under the absurdity of being something impossible.
And yet, there was a part of her that rose to the prospect, sought out, eagerly wanted it to be true.
She couldn't bear the indignity of her thoughts betraying her, wanting, wishing, hoping beyond hope, that she was, in fact, an impossibility. It was so childish a thought, but right now, it just wouldn't go away! She wanted to cry herself numb, but something prevented the tears from coming.
Learning Void magic...
"Argh!" Louise pounded on her bed with hands and feet. "Why'd that idiot go put that thought in my head!"
________________________________________
"Talk to me, and lemme know, you're here tonight," a flush-faced, jovial Ranma half-sang/more slurrred as he lounged behind the main castle after celebrating... something with that really nice guy. And those really nice drinks he gave him. "Woooo... fasaface, it feels jus' like a dwe~~~am..."
So what if he was stranded on some alien planet where no one ever heard of martial arts and people made an assortment of magical girl golems? And had pets that spit fire and stuff? This wasn't a problem; this was opportunity!
...and Ranma decided that he was probably too drunk if he was thinking like that. It sounded almost like something his Pop liked to say as of late as to why he was lazing about instead of teaching him something. Interrupting his "preplanning sessions," as he called them.
Yeah, right... The young Saotome had started to wonder if the Old Man was just running out of things to teach him before he had fallen into this other world. And, if so, then, maybe being stuck here wasn't such a bad thing after all.
...
"Opportunity!" he cried out, striking a finger skyward.
A moment later, he slumped back down. "Too much drinky-drink."
"D-damn you!"
Ranma shook himself free of his thoughts to be in the present. A blue-haired Academy student stood feet away from him, his wand already drawn out and pointing at him. He didn't look exactly overjoyed to see him, though.
"Oi, wha's yo' problem, boi?" Ranma spoke, trying to draw himself up. The alcohol in his system, however, sought to make the simple task a little more interesting.
The student gritted his teeth. "T-there's no way a commoner could have defeated a nobleman! No way!"
Ranma's lead foot slunk out unsteadily, his whole form bobbling. "Iszat so?" He smirked, which kind of made him look sleepy instead. "Wouldja lika piece?"
"Fireball."
=BWOOSH=
"GYAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
A burst of flame blasted into the student, flinging him skyward like a cartoon character. He even screamed like one, and though he couldn't see the student past the stone walls, Ranma imagined him thudding to the ground in cartoony fashion. A hilarious scene it would be, he thought. Only one issue to deal with, though.
Who threw the fireball?
Confusion took control, and the martial artist searched the area for anyone else. Seconds into the scanning, his eyes settled upon a dark-skinned redhead girl walking towards him, a smirk on her face. Beside her, a fire-breathing reptile tromped along, making funny roaring-type sounds.
...Kirkey? He couldn't remember her name clearly, but he knew her enough to know this may well be his lucky day. Unless she turned out to be just as bad as everyone else. That would suck. But, hey, he needed someone to lead him back to Louise's room. Maybe even talk some sense into her.
"Looks like I came in the nick of time," she spoke proudly.
Ranma thumbed his nose. "I'd've beaten 'im, no worries."
"Ah, but there was a worry."
"O~h...?"
"The boy, Marcel, his Runic name is 'River.'"s
Ranma blanched. Okay, he was luckier than he thought Kirshe... Kirchey? Curry? No, he was getting hungry again. Whatever, he was lucky that she—
She leaned in closer, lowering her voice, though her smile widened. "And I would hate for your more... 'interesting' ability to come to light."
"..." His mouth moved, but no sounds came from it. He could feel the blood swirl out of his face, a pit of cold crackling into existence in his belly. Even the alcohol seemed affected, his drunken state rapidly clearing up like a summer rainstorm.
The mage took his arm. Ranma couldn't ignore how it pressed between her ample assets, especially with them being practically the same height. It made something in him twitch.
"Let's talk somewhere else. Somewhere more..." She slowly, deliberately, drew a little invisible design just below his shoulder. "Private."
He gulped a menagerie of feelings and thoughts away as those honey-brown eyes positively grinned into his soul. Louise was not going to be thrilled with this new development.
________________________________________
It was a small gray toolshed Kirche—that was her name, he thought in his panic – had led him to. Smelling strongly of earth and fertilizer, there was no one inside, which seemed to have been the destination.
"Flame, stay here and make certain no one else comes this way."
The salamander growled and nodded his – his? – head as if he actually understood her, and with that, Ranma found himself being taken behind the toolshed.
Stranger and stranger this land got, he thought... though that was not likely going to help him at present. Even with the sudden diffusion of the alcohol he had been imbibing, Ranma was still not quite clear-headed enough to make up some form of convincing lie. He remembered the loathing Louise felt towards the redhead; likely, the feeling was just as mutual. The last thing Ranma wanted was to be played like a pawn, his curse used to further embarrass him or Louise even more than they had already been.
Damn that good-tasting wine!
He found himself positioned with his back to the shed, her within a handbreadth of him. "There is one thing I must know," Kirche began. "If you would forgive me for being so forward."
Ranma scratched the back of his head, spinning his thinking gears wildly. "W-Well, you see, there's a really good expla—"
The tall redhead's lips pressing hotly against his sent every thought flying out of his ears. His knee nearly gave out on him, and not because of the wine he had been drinking earlier. In fact, just about everything of his body practically turned into jelly. Even his thoughts ceased to be solid, as he was only dimly aware of how receptive his tongue was to her, as well as her softness in comparison to his hardness.
She gently pulled away from his face, smiling seductively at him.
"Whoa..." he mumbled, heady on both wine and a wellspring of passion.
"You certainly kiss like a man," she smiled seductively.
"'Cause I am," he replied defensively, though it lacked much of the normal heat defending his masculinity would have brought to the table.
She snipped another kiss off his lips, which stole away even more of his annoyance, as weakened as it was already. "I wouldn't dream of saying anything against that. Though I must wonder, what kind of spell did Louise the Zero screw up to make you look like her... and through such an odd method."
He shook his head vigorously. "It wasn't her... I don't think. I, ah, kinda gotten a little curse from a training ground."
Kirche straightened up a bit, her honey brown eyes sufficiently widened. "A curse?"
"Um, yeah... Down at this place called Jusenkyo." He grumbled under his breath. "No thanks to Pop."
Puzzlement creased her face. "What's a... Jusenkyo?"
"W-well... it's... kind of this training ground with all these cursed pools. You... fall into one, you become whatever drowned in that pool. A girl, a bear, anything, I guess."
Kirche's eyes widened even more in surprise. "I have never heard of such a place before."
Ranma shrugged. "Guess not, since it's in another world, y'know."
"Another world, you say?"
'...I shouldn'ta said that."
Her eyes lit up with curiosity. "No, tell me more about this... other world."
"Umm..." He scratched his cheek. "Well, it's not like this one, I can tell you that much. There's no nobility thing going on there."
She gasped. "What! No nobility! Absurd!" She peered at him intently. "Surely, you tell falsehoods! How else would society advance!"
He hesitated. "Uhh, machines. Computers. Technology. Things like that, I guess."
She tilted her head, blinking, then pulled away from him almost entirely, folding her arms under her breasts at the same time. "I find that hard to believe," she said flatly.
"I find two moons hard to believe."
"Still a world without nobles, without magic? Inconceivable!"
It felt like a challenge, but certainly nothing martial arts based, so Ranma didn't have any clear idea on what to do about it. Then something occurred to him. "Hey, I think I got something back in Louise's room, if you really don't believe me."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. It's in the bag I brought with me." Whether or not that was actually true, Ranma had no idea. It wasn't like he had plans to even stay in Nerima, let alone go to school, so he didn't look into the bag at all. Still, if it's anything like grade school, there would likely to be at least one or two things to mess with Kirche's mind. Perhaps something as basic as a ball-point pen would do the trick, since he noticed that everyone in Louise's class used some kind of quill and ink set. Unless they frowned on such conveniences, in which case, he was going to look pretty silly in the end.
She smiled seductively as her fingers splayed over his heart. "Well, then, let us head to Louise's room."
Ranma almost blanked. "Y-yeah, let's go," he replied, quickly walking away from the tool shed a bit stiffly. Kirche latching onto his arm really didn't help matters any.
________________________________________
"Hope she's cooled off," Ranma spoke mostly to himself, as he and Kirche made their way to Louise's dormitory room door.
"She's a Vallière," Kirche said dismissively. "They have always been a little too... excitable in the face of anything unbecoming."
"Huh." For all the time that he had known Louise, she might have been on the money with that comment, but still. "So, what's the deal between you two?"
"Hmm?" she replied with a sidelong look.
"Why do you two hate each other?"
Kirche chuckled. "Oh, dear, is that what she says? Regardless of her comments, I do not harbor any such animosity towards Louise herself – were she not a Vallière, I would think we would get on wonderfully."
"..." Family... That answered a lot.
"Oh, we're here," Ranma spoke. "Let's see if she's still pissed with me." He knocked on the door twice. "Yo, Louise!"
No answer. Ranma tried the doorknob and found it gave away to a simple twist. He pushed the door in, peeked around the corner. "Louise?"
The pink-haired girl in question spun around wildly from her seated position on her bed as the martial artist came into the room. "R-Ranma, how darEEEK!" She almost fell over as Kirche appeared behind him. "K-K-K-Zerbst!" Her face burned. "Wh-what are you doing in my room!"
Kirche casually ignored her. "So, this book bag of yours..."
"Over here," Ranma spoke, quickly picking up the satchel from a corner of Louise's room. He began rummaging through it.
Fury took over her earlier panic. "Ranma! What's the meaning of this! Bringing th-that woman in here!"
He didn't look up. "She wanted some proof that I come from a world without magic."
Louise paled, eyes flared wide. "Y-Y-You told her!"
"Actually, Flame told me about his little curse after following him around," Kirche replied, gravitating towards the Valliere.
"Gah!" Louise scooted backwards away from her. Kirche blinked at this, and drew in closer.
"What's the matter, Louise?" Kirche spoke, her boots drawing her closer. ""You know, you're acting very suspiciously. You're not in here doing something..." She stopped a few feet away, lowering her face to the same level as Louise's. "Unsightly, are you?" she said with a smirk.
She eeped, recoiling from the woman further. "D-d-don't be r-ridiculous! I... just had a lot on my mind, is all." She steadfastly refused to look the taller woman in the face, her fair skin flushed.
She made herself a seat on Louise's bed. "Come on, tell me, who were you thinking of?"
"N-n-n-no one! Get out!"
"Was it Ranma?"
"What about me?" he asked, looking up.
"It wasn't him!" Louise cried out, panic rising.
He shrugged and went back into his bag.
"Then who?" Kirche prodded. "A secret lover perhaps?"
"Go away..." Louise tried snarling, but it came out more like a mew.
Kirche clapped her hands in surprise. "Ah! Louise the Zero has a secret lover!"
Ranma lifted his head up, his expression souring. "Please tell me it's not that idiot from earlier."
"Louise! With a secret lover! It's positively scandalous! Why I bet you were dreaming about his lips upon yours when we—"
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Kirche went flying off the bed as Louise shoved her off the bed and streaked out of the room, still screaming. Ranma ran to the door, but the pink-haired girl was long gone.
"...what was that about?" Ranma asked, flummoxed.
The redhead rubbed her rear as she stood up. "...maybe she's shy after all?"
________________________________________
Louise panted heavily, finding herself on the ground floor of the Academy. She had probably embarrassed herself several times over, running and screaming like an idiot. She was mildly surprised no one asked her what was the matter.
However, it was unavoidable. She didn't know why, but for the last twenty minutes, she had the strangest desire to make out with... with...
She wanted to be sick, but she couldn't.
Damn that Zerbst! Why was she thinking about HER in such weird ways! Damn her! It had to be all her fault somehow!
=SPLOOSH=
She sputtered and gasped, cold soapy water drenching her, sending a shock to her system. She stared at the offending person in disbelief.
"S-sorry, Miss! I know I'm clumsy, but-"
Louise trembled. The apologizing young man paused, his dropped bucket quickly being forgotten. Horror and fear overtook his thoughts in the wake of a very recent memory from today surfaced.
"...please don't replace me," he whimpered.
Louise let loose an inarticulate scream of rage, causing the man to run for his life.
________________________________________
"And you're certain this doesn't use any magic?" Kirche asked, looking at the slim gray calculator in her hand, turning it over repeatedly.
"Yep. It's all science and technology and stuff," Ranma replied, looking over her shoulder. "Just press the On button there and start adding numbers and stuff."
Kirche folded one leg under her as she sat on Louise's bed, pressing numbers into the calculator's keypad. Her face lit up as the numbers she pressed appeared in the silvery LCD window. "Amazing!"
Ranma grinned, watching her as he walked through how to use the calculator. She was like a kid on Christmas, which made her look very cute. He then blinked to himself, turned red, and shook his head. Totally spaced out there for a moment.
"So, you believe me?" he asked, once Kirche put in a number of mathematical problems for the calculator to solve.
She put one finger to her lip. "Mmm.... I don't know if I should..."
He blinked. "Huh?"
The redhead clapped her hands. "Okay! So you're from another world!" She got up from Louise's bed, calculator still in hand as she made her way to the room door. "How about we go back to my room and... talk some more?" She turned around and leaned back against the door, her smile and eyes suggestive. "After all, you're the first person from another world that I've met..."
Ranma had to swallow at that. "I'd like that, but, um..."
She looked slightly puzzled. "But?"
"But... I really need to go find Louise first. Cause, you know, she's not feeling her magic since she doesn't have the right primer."
Kirche blinked rapidly. "I do not understand."
"Louise told me about how you guys discover your elemental affinities – through the use of basic primers."
"Correct, but what does that have to do with Louise?"
"Well, I was trying to figure out where they would keep Void primers. See if she could have that Void affinity."
"..."
"If she sucks at every other element, then maybe she's just needing a go at the last one."
Kirche continued staring at him like she was dazed and confused. Ranma made a face.
"Look, I don't really get how you guys could just 'lose' a whole element, but—"
"Okay. Let's go find her."
Ranma closed his mouth. "Huh?"
Kirche reached behind her and twisted the door knob. "I said let's go find Louise."
She slipped out while Ranma made a face. He thought for certain Kirche was going to make some sort of disparaging comment about that. Shrugging, he followed her out as well.
________________________________________
Louise was sitting on the grass in Vestri Court, looking at the darkening sky overhead.
What the hell happened earlier? She was sitting alone thinking of nothing but her own fears and doubts and next... She didn't even want to name it. It was just so random and out of the blue, she was halfway convinced someone cast a spell on her just to provoke that type of reaction.
She sighed and flopped back into the trimmed grass.
She didn't know what to think anymore. First she gets told by a commoner – her familiar, no less – that she could be a legendary mage, then she starts thinking... weird things with someone she couldn't stand.
"So this is where legendary mages go after freaking out."
She blinked to find Kirche standing above her. Louise could see the panties underneath the Germanian's skirt. She blushed and looked away.
"What's with the legendary stuff?"
Kirche knelt down. "Ranma darling told me all about you."
The strawberry blonde shot to her feet, face locked in horror. "Wh-wh-what!"
"You know... being a Void user..."
"Th-that's a lie!"
"Maybe. But I must admit it might – just might – have some bit of truth to it."
"..."
"When you stop and think about it, every spell you attempt blows up. Every one of them."
She reddened. "What's your point?" she ground out.
"Well, maybe Ranma's right about you having a different affinity. I most certainly have never seen anyone else fail even the most basic of spells so disastrously."
Louise grumbled. "Why don't you just rub it in, Zerbst? I don't have a Void affinity."
"I think you do."
Louise's eyes roved down to her left side, where Ranma was squatting.
He grinned. "And thinking about it, I might have some kind of trick for you."
________________________________________
Miss Vallière, a Void user? Mr. Colbert sweated as he listened on from his hiding place on the other side of the Court's wall.
Ever since Ranma's performance earlier that afternoon, the Headmaster told him to keep an eye on the two. Having been almost run over by a panicking Louise ten minutes beforehand, he decided to follow after her to see what the matter was.
He found her at Vestri Court, the same place where the duel between Guiche and her familiar took place. After observing her for a few minutes – she just sat there looking at the sky – he started to approach her to find out what was wrong. However Miss Zerbst had came up and he quickly ended up on the other side of the wall. Why he had done that, he wasn't entirely certain. It just felt like something extraordinary would be occurring.
And occur it did.
A Void mage? Miss Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière? Had it not been for his discovery of the Gandalfr runes, he would have laughed it off as preposterous. However, what if it was true? After all, she did summon a human as a familiar. A human who was marked with the Gandalfr Runes. It couldn't be just mere coincidence, could it?
"Let's go eat before we try this out."
"Sure, Ranma-darling."
"But what if there's nothing to—"
"Oh, stop worrying Louise. You can't do any more damage if you really are a failure."
"Kirche!"
"Nah. I'm pretty certain she's got it. And I think this method of training will get her to finally start using it."
Mr. Colbert's brows shot up. The familiar was going to teach a mage Void magic? Incredible! He had to inform Old Man Osmond about this new development!
________________________________________
Old Man Osmond's eyes widened as Mr. Colbert gleefully told him what he had heard.
"A Void Mage? Her?" He sat down heavily in his chair. "Are you certain about this? That is what he said?"
"I know! But it's making sense as to why she had summoned a human that was blessed with the Gandalfr Runes! When you stop and think about it, there aren't any other explanations for the bizarre incidents involving Miss Vallière and magic."
"Hrm..." The Headmaster stroked his beard pensively. "Even though it may explain a lot, there aren't any firm conclusions to the matter. Plus there still remains the mystery of that familiar's Detect Magic scan to content with."
Mr. Colbert bit his lower lip a little. "That may be true, but I think this presents us a wonderful opportunity, don't you agree, sir?"
A thin trickle of sweat rolled down the side of Osmond's face. "That depends on whether or not Miss Vallière ends up flattening the school in her quest to master a magic that hadn't been seen in millennia."
Mr. Colbert drooped a little. "W-well, that might be true, too..."
Osmond nodded. "Still, it would be wise to keep an eye on her and the familiar for the time being. And let's not have any of this reach the ears of those in the palace."
"Hmm? Why not?"
"Let them have access to a new toy and start another silly, needless war? I hardly think that would be wise. The summoner and her familiar are to remain in our care."
"I see."
"In the meanwhile, I'm rather curious as to what her familiar plans to teach the young Miss Vallière."
Mr. Colbert grinned. "I'm already on the case, sir!"
As the balding instructor left his office, Osmond couldn't help but feel apprehension. What if, by some odd chance, the Vallière daughter did turn out to be the rare mage with a Void affinity? With her summoned familiar bearing the runes of the Gandalfr, did it mean that she was destined to bring about a great change like Founder Brimir, or was this a sign of an impending doom?
A small flick of his staff and the Far-Seeing Mirror was activated, showing him the strawberry blonde girl eating dinner alongside one of her classmates, the Germanian daughter of the Zerbst family.
Already, this did not bode well.
________________________________________
"Why are you following me?" Louise finally asked Kirche, her familiar in tow, as they made their way back to Vestri Court. She didn't quite look at the taller woman, but at least she didn't have any of those weird... desires like earlier.
"Call me curious, if you must," she replied with a smile.
Louise groaned in disgust. "Don't you have some boys to go flirt around with?"
"Why? Don't you think Ranma's so much more interesting? Especially after the show he put on this afternoon." She took a deep breath, her head held high. "I think I'm in love."
"You're always in love!" Louise growled.
"Oh, look, it's Ranma!" Kirche pointed out in recognition. He was already at the meeting place, leaning against the Court's wall as he stared up at the twin moons overhead. "Ranma! Ranma-darling!"
He broke his gaze to see who was addressing him. "Oh, hey, Kirche, Louise." A quick push-off from the wall, and he was on his way over to them.
"What are we going to do?" Louise asked as Ranma neared them.
"We're gonna find out what's Void like for you guys," he replied.
"How do you even know what Void is?" Louise spoke, a bit annoyed.
Kirche followed up Louise's inquiry. "That's an interesting question. How would you know anything about magic?"
"I don't know much about magic, but there's something called the Book of Five Rings that I do remember."
Kirche looked puzzled as Louise spoke up. "Book of Five Rings?"
He nodded. "It was a book written by a really famous swordsman back in my world. He had five books in his school of thought: the Book of Earth, Book of Fire, Book of Water, Book of Wind and Book of Emptiness."
"So, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, the Book of Emptiness was also called the Book of Void."
The two girls gasped. "Wait a minute," Kirche opened up. "Are you saying someone in your world knew about the Five Elements here?"
Ranma shrugged. "I don't think so. I mean, he was talking about his school of combat and swordsmanship, not magic."
The girls looked disappointed.
"However, the Book of Void's kind of interesting."
"This is a waste of time," Louise grumbled.
Ranma grimaced. "Just listen..."
"Why? All you're doing is talking about some books that don't mean anything to us."
"What if it does?"
"What?"
"The Book of Emptiness, the Void, was about being aware and comprehending things you can't see. The first four books were about fighting, stances, techniques, strategies, while the Void was about everything else, being aware of that which exists and does not exist."
Louise's brows knitted together. "I don't think I understand."
"It's a little tricky, and, to be honest, I kind of suck at remembering things exactly, but I do know what I got from it after Pop explained things to me." He made a fist. "The Void is our spirit, and while it's there, it's not, and remains ever consistent. It's pure, devoid of evil, and aligns with those that seek the heart of pureness. Furthermore—"
He stopped at looked at the two girls. Louise had a blank, non-understanding face, while Kirche's brows were straining with a need for clarity.
He coughed into his fist. "How long has this Void element been lost for?"
"Thousands of years," Louise supplied, thankful for the sudden change of topic.
Ranma whistled. "That's a long time."
Kirche nodded. "And to date, no one really knows what it is. It helped to create the kingdoms as they are now. But what kind of magic it was, no one can say."
Ranma made a face. "But it existed at some point."
"Of course."
"So, I'm guess it's stuff you can't do with regular magic."
"It wouldn't be lost if anyone could do it!" Louise cried out.
"I see..." Ranma turned his head to Kirche. "Can you make a spell go 'boom' like Louise's?"
"Wh-What?" She reared back in surprise as Louise looked at her.
"Can you make a spell go 'boom' like she does?"
Kirche looked stumped. "I've never tried to; I usually aim for my spells to succeed."
"Well, give it a shot. Succeed at failing to succeed."
Kirche's mind boggled at the most bizarre request she had ever heard in her life. "I wouldn't even know where to begin!"
Ranma rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess you're right..." He turned to Louise. "Blow me up."
Louise staggered back. "Wh-wh-wha~t!"
"I said blow me up."
"D-darling," Kirche pleaded. "Be reasonable!"
"No, I'm serious. You can watch how Louise casts her spell and you do exactly like she does to try and get the same result."
"But to use yourself as the target~!" Kirche balled both hands to her mouth. "I haven't even begun to express the depths of my love to you!"
Ranma froze. "Wh-what?"
Louise's eyes became as large as the dinner plates they ate on as Kirche continued. "I never got to fully express it this afternoon, but I've come to love you from the bottom of my heart! When we kissed, it felt like I would melt!"
The pink-haired girl trembled. "Y-y-y-y-ou k-k-k-kissed!"
She clung to Ranma's shirt. "It was as if the heavens above purposely handpicked you for me, my love! Please, please don't throw your life away like this! Reconsider!"
Ranma's brain tripped offline and had to reboot. "K-Kirche... I..."
"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you kissed that woman!"
The martial artist blinked as he found himself staring at a Louise whose tiny body shook with overflowing wrath.
"I've been damned with those bizarre thoughts running around in my head all afternoon because of you?"
His face went blank. "Hah?"
Kirche, for her part, discreetly released her grip on Ranma's shirt and started edging away.
"DIE!"
=BOO~~M=
"Whaugh!"
"Kyaaa!"
"Kuyu!
"Miss ValliAAGH!"
________________________________________
Osmond palmed his face as the tower his office was located shook from the tremendous shockwaves outside. "Louise..." he groaned.
Maybe he should tell the palace about her. It would most definitely teach the nobility there a lesson or two.
In the meanwhile, he had to make medical arrangements for Mr. Colbert. Having a magically reinforced wall fall upon you was bound to be non-conducive to good health.
________________________________________
"Did you feel that explosion last night!"
"Are you kidding me! I felt that all the way on the other side of the Academy!"
"I thought we were going to die!"
"What in the world caused that!"
"I hear it was Louise the Zero..."
"Wh-wh-what! Is she trying to kill us all!"
________________________________________
"Why are we here again?" Louise grumbled under the morning sun.
Ranma made a face. "If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't be here." Various parts of his body were bandaged up, including his head.
"Look on the bright side, Louise," Kirche replied, a bit less cheery than normal, sporting a few bandages herself.
"And what bright side is that?"
"I'll never be able to reproduce such an explosion like that in my life."
Louise growled.
"Less talking, more brick-laying," Mr. Colbert, completely wrapped from head to toe in thick bandages, spoke from the wheelchair he was being pushed around in by a quiet short-haired girl with her nose buried in a book. "You three still need to rebuild the entire wall in this Court. Without magic."
Kirche moaned dejectedly. Louise sighed. Ranma slathered more mortar onto a brick and planted it right into alignment with its brethren.
Next time, they were going to go outside of the school and practice blowing stuff up.
Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. Familiar of Zero (Zero no Tsukaima) is owned by Noboru Yamaguchi. All rights reserved.
Zero Interface
Chapter 4
Zero Point
"What in the name of the Founder was that!"
Ranma stared at the breathless Louise who started into him the moment she closed her room door shut after dragging him all the way up from the site of his duel to her bedroom. "What was what?"
"I thought you weren't a mage!"
"I'm not."
"Then how do you explain what you did back at Vestri Court!"
"Martial arts."
"Martial arts! That looked nothing like that hooligan stuff you were doing this morning!"
Ranma sighed, then grinned. "Well, I won, didn't I?"
"That's beside the point!" she cried out, grabbing him by the shirt. "What are you doing here in the first place!"
"You know, if I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't be here."
The little strawberry blonde threw her hands up in frustration. "I can't believe this! Why do I have a familiar like you!"
Ranma scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I am pretty good at figuring stuff out." A second later, he scowled. "And I'm not a familiar."
She flung herself backwards onto her bed. "It's not fair... Even a commoner can do magic, but not I?" She violently kicked her legs and swung her fists in frustration. "What am I, a laughingstock!"
"Geez, calm down Louise. It's not like I can do magic. Just... kinda looks like it, I guess."
She sat upright in a huff. "That's not helping me here," she spoke, giving him a sour look.
"W-well, I mean... maybe it's like on those TV shows, that you're really a super-powerful magician, but just been using the wrong element all this time."
Her expression fell. "Ranma, I've already tried all four elements. Nothing. I have no talent for any of them."
"Um, Louise, I thought there was five elements."
She held her head as if it ached. "I've already explained it to you; no one has had the Void affinity in the last thousands of years!"
"So, how do you guys figure out who has what affinity?"
She looked up at him, slight less exasperated. "There are basic magic spells every noble learns that helps determine one's affinity. Usually, an affinity is inherited from one's parents, providing they have a strong magical power. In fact, there are entire families that cultivate one particular element to increase its potency on the whole and to virtually ensure their children will carry on the traditions of their forebearers.
"However, for newly bred nobles resulting from..." Louise turned pink. "...indiscreet activities, they must learn to discover their affinity through mastery of primer magic spells. When one finds their affinity, it's said to be like meeting a soul mate. One becomes overwhelmed by the harmonious resonance within one's soul, and spells once pronounced too difficult can be done with ease and grace. It's like an awakening to something much greater than yourself, I've heard."
Ranma thought about what she said. "And you never felt anything like that," he stated.
She sighed, and shook her head. "It sounds ridiculous to me, having never once experienced such a thing. All spells I cast feel the same, like plodding through mud."
The room grew silent, with Louise not speaking further and Ranma sitting in a chair, deep in thought.
"So," Ranma began. "If we can find some Void primers for you, you think you'll finally experience that feeling?"
One minute, Ranma was sitting in Louise's room coming up with a solution to her problem of being unable to cast proper magic. The next minute, Ranma found himself getting a faceful of door slamming. Once his brain finally geared into setting, he scowled. "Of all the—"
"Gotcha!"
=SPLOOSH=
"Missed, Danica!" a white-haired girl shouted at her peach-haired pursuer. "Now what page was I on... 'His strong manly hands probed every crevice of her silken femininity—'"
"Celeste! Get back here with my book or I will drown you!"
The two girls blasted past an ignored, sodden Louise-Ranma, who blew her now-wet pink locks out of her face.
"I'm really starting to hate this place," he grumbled.
In his annoyance, Ranma completely missed the red shadow that was watching him.
________________________________________
The martial artist sighed as he upended a pot of hot water onto his head, reverting back to his masculine self. It was becoming something of a bother to not have ready-made hot water at hand. Replacing the pot on the stove top, he turned to leave the kitchen he had snuck into.
And ran into Siesta, who nearly dropped the cooking pot she was carrying. "R-Ranma!"
He waved at her nonchalantly. "Yo, Siesta. What's up?"
"A-are you okay? I thought you'd be hurt badly!"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He flexed his hand open and closed rapidly. "Those overgrown toy dolls were a bunch of pushovers, though."
"Dolls?"
"Those golem thingies that Guiche kid threw at me."
Siesta's eyes widened in shock. "So, it's really true, the rumors?"
"Rumors?"
"That you defeated a mage."
He shrugged. "Yeah. It's not like it's a big deal or anything."
"Not a big deal!" a booming voice erupted from behind Siesta, startling both her and Ranma and drawing their attention towards the owner.
A heavyset man looking to be in his forties wearing fine fabric, if of a simple style, grinned as he clasped his meaty hand on Ranma's shoulder hard. "In a land were nobility outclasses the commoner, a commoner defeating a mage is a huge deal! Especially one that does so by means of his bare fists!"
"Hey, Siesta, who's this guy?" Ranma asked, eyeing the interloper suspiciously.
"S-sir!"
The man laughed and clapped Ranma on the shoulder again. "Call me Marteau, 'Our Fist!'"
Ranma blinked. "Our what?"
"'Our Fist!' Because a commoner defeated a mage with only his fists! We must be reminded that such things as magic and nobility should not hold sway over our very lives, and what better way than to remind commoners of you as 'Our Fist!'"
Ranma didn't have any idea what to make of that, but he wasn't opposed to anything that would get people to lay off the commoner crap with him.
"Let me kiss your forehead, 'Our Fist!'"
"Whoa, hey!" Ranma quickly evaded Marteau's hands. "No kissing the forehead."
He laughed it off. "So, tell me, how exactly did you defeat that noble kid?"
The young man grinned. "Martial arts."
"Hmm... martial arts, huh..." Marteau looked thoughtfully. "Where did you learn that from?"
"My Pop. He's been training me since I was two."
The older man's face lit up in surprise. "Wow... Do you think he could teach me a thing or two?"
Ranma's face fell. "Um, no idea where he's at, really. I hadn't seen him since I got summoned."
Marteau scratched his chin. "That's a real shame..." He turned to Siesta. "Bring me a bottle of Albion's finest! We must celebrate!"
She smiled. "Yes, sir!" She quickly ran off to retrieve the requested vintage of wine from the rack. Ranma gulped a bit, seeing the wine bottle produced.
"Um, I don't normally drink..."
"This is a special occasion! Every man should enjoy some fine wine, don't you think so?"
"Well, yeah, I suppose, but—"
Marteau, having already uncorked the bottle, thrust a glass of ruby crimson into Ranma's open hand. "Drink, drink! Let us savor the commoner's finest hour, 'Our Fist!'"
"Uh, well," Ranma sniffed the contents before taking a sip. He blinked in surprise at just how fruity and sweet-tasting the liquid was. "Wow, this is pretty good."
The jolly man laughed. "You know, 'Our Fist,' I'm starting to like you."
"Well, you're not too bad yourself, Marteau."
Siesta just looked on as the two partook of wine, unable to stop admiring Ranma as his face suffused red. Honestly, she never thought someone with no magic could defeat a mage. That Ranma had done so, and with but his fists, made her heart go pitter-patter. It was like watching a legend blossom before her eyes.
A legacy she might not have a problem with being a part of, she though, a small blush touching her cheeks.
________________________________________
"Hey, did you see something at the window?" one of the dishwashers pointed up at the window.
"What?" a passing cook asked, joining the first in his observation.
A flicker of red followed by a weird 'kuyu-kuyu' sound.
After a few moments of inspection, the cook shrugged. "Probably just the wind."
________________________________________
"Me? A Void mage? Preposterous!"
Louise laid in her bed, facedown in one of her pillows. Being teased by her classmates was one thing; irregardless of their behavior, she had strived to become a good mage. Their comments and jokes were things she endured because she knew that her time would come, when she would be respected, even admired.
However, having the person she summoned into this world tell her that she could be a Void mage, despite having no knowledge about anything of their world... maybe that was the moment the damn broke from too much stress. Her dreams of being respected by her peers wilted under the absurdity of being something impossible.
And yet, there was a part of her that rose to the prospect, sought out, eagerly wanted it to be true.
She couldn't bear the indignity of her thoughts betraying her, wanting, wishing, hoping beyond hope, that she was, in fact, an impossibility. It was so childish a thought, but right now, it just wouldn't go away! She wanted to cry herself numb, but something prevented the tears from coming.
Learning Void magic...
"Argh!" Louise pounded on her bed with hands and feet. "Why'd that idiot go put that thought in my head!"
________________________________________
"Talk to me, and lemme know, you're here tonight," a flush-faced, jovial Ranma half-sang/more slurrred as he lounged behind the main castle after celebrating... something with that really nice guy. And those really nice drinks he gave him. "Woooo... fasaface, it feels jus' like a dwe~~~am..."
So what if he was stranded on some alien planet where no one ever heard of martial arts and people made an assortment of magical girl golems? And had pets that spit fire and stuff? This wasn't a problem; this was opportunity!
...and Ranma decided that he was probably too drunk if he was thinking like that. It sounded almost like something his Pop liked to say as of late as to why he was lazing about instead of teaching him something. Interrupting his "preplanning sessions," as he called them.
Yeah, right... The young Saotome had started to wonder if the Old Man was just running out of things to teach him before he had fallen into this other world. And, if so, then, maybe being stuck here wasn't such a bad thing after all.
...
"Opportunity!" he cried out, striking a finger skyward.
A moment later, he slumped back down. "Too much drinky-drink."
"D-damn you!"
Ranma shook himself free of his thoughts to be in the present. A blue-haired Academy student stood feet away from him, his wand already drawn out and pointing at him. He didn't look exactly overjoyed to see him, though.
"Oi, wha's yo' problem, boi?" Ranma spoke, trying to draw himself up. The alcohol in his system, however, sought to make the simple task a little more interesting.
The student gritted his teeth. "T-there's no way a commoner could have defeated a nobleman! No way!"
Ranma's lead foot slunk out unsteadily, his whole form bobbling. "Iszat so?" He smirked, which kind of made him look sleepy instead. "Wouldja lika piece?"
"Fireball."
=BWOOSH=
"GYAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
A burst of flame blasted into the student, flinging him skyward like a cartoon character. He even screamed like one, and though he couldn't see the student past the stone walls, Ranma imagined him thudding to the ground in cartoony fashion. A hilarious scene it would be, he thought. Only one issue to deal with, though.
Who threw the fireball?
Confusion took control, and the martial artist searched the area for anyone else. Seconds into the scanning, his eyes settled upon a dark-skinned redhead girl walking towards him, a smirk on her face. Beside her, a fire-breathing reptile tromped along, making funny roaring-type sounds.
...Kirkey? He couldn't remember her name clearly, but he knew her enough to know this may well be his lucky day. Unless she turned out to be just as bad as everyone else. That would suck. But, hey, he needed someone to lead him back to Louise's room. Maybe even talk some sense into her.
"Looks like I came in the nick of time," she spoke proudly.
Ranma thumbed his nose. "I'd've beaten 'im, no worries."
"Ah, but there was a worry."
"O~h...?"
"The boy, Marcel, his Runic name is 'River.'"s
Ranma blanched. Okay, he was luckier than he thought Kirshe... Kirchey? Curry? No, he was getting hungry again. Whatever, he was lucky that she—
She leaned in closer, lowering her voice, though her smile widened. "And I would hate for your more... 'interesting' ability to come to light."
"..." His mouth moved, but no sounds came from it. He could feel the blood swirl out of his face, a pit of cold crackling into existence in his belly. Even the alcohol seemed affected, his drunken state rapidly clearing up like a summer rainstorm.
The mage took his arm. Ranma couldn't ignore how it pressed between her ample assets, especially with them being practically the same height. It made something in him twitch.
"Let's talk somewhere else. Somewhere more..." She slowly, deliberately, drew a little invisible design just below his shoulder. "Private."
He gulped a menagerie of feelings and thoughts away as those honey-brown eyes positively grinned into his soul. Louise was not going to be thrilled with this new development.
________________________________________
It was a small gray toolshed Kirche—that was her name, he thought in his panic – had led him to. Smelling strongly of earth and fertilizer, there was no one inside, which seemed to have been the destination.
"Flame, stay here and make certain no one else comes this way."
The salamander growled and nodded his – his? – head as if he actually understood her, and with that, Ranma found himself being taken behind the toolshed.
Stranger and stranger this land got, he thought... though that was not likely going to help him at present. Even with the sudden diffusion of the alcohol he had been imbibing, Ranma was still not quite clear-headed enough to make up some form of convincing lie. He remembered the loathing Louise felt towards the redhead; likely, the feeling was just as mutual. The last thing Ranma wanted was to be played like a pawn, his curse used to further embarrass him or Louise even more than they had already been.
Damn that good-tasting wine!
He found himself positioned with his back to the shed, her within a handbreadth of him. "There is one thing I must know," Kirche began. "If you would forgive me for being so forward."
Ranma scratched the back of his head, spinning his thinking gears wildly. "W-Well, you see, there's a really good expla—"
The tall redhead's lips pressing hotly against his sent every thought flying out of his ears. His knee nearly gave out on him, and not because of the wine he had been drinking earlier. In fact, just about everything of his body practically turned into jelly. Even his thoughts ceased to be solid, as he was only dimly aware of how receptive his tongue was to her, as well as her softness in comparison to his hardness.
She gently pulled away from his face, smiling seductively at him.
"Whoa..." he mumbled, heady on both wine and a wellspring of passion.
"You certainly kiss like a man," she smiled seductively.
"'Cause I am," he replied defensively, though it lacked much of the normal heat defending his masculinity would have brought to the table.
She snipped another kiss off his lips, which stole away even more of his annoyance, as weakened as it was already. "I wouldn't dream of saying anything against that. Though I must wonder, what kind of spell did Louise the Zero screw up to make you look like her... and through such an odd method."
He shook his head vigorously. "It wasn't her... I don't think. I, ah, kinda gotten a little curse from a training ground."
Kirche straightened up a bit, her honey brown eyes sufficiently widened. "A curse?"
"Um, yeah... Down at this place called Jusenkyo." He grumbled under his breath. "No thanks to Pop."
Puzzlement creased her face. "What's a... Jusenkyo?"
"W-well... it's... kind of this training ground with all these cursed pools. You... fall into one, you become whatever drowned in that pool. A girl, a bear, anything, I guess."
Kirche's eyes widened even more in surprise. "I have never heard of such a place before."
Ranma shrugged. "Guess not, since it's in another world, y'know."
"Another world, you say?"
'...I shouldn'ta said that."
Her eyes lit up with curiosity. "No, tell me more about this... other world."
"Umm..." He scratched his cheek. "Well, it's not like this one, I can tell you that much. There's no nobility thing going on there."
She gasped. "What! No nobility! Absurd!" She peered at him intently. "Surely, you tell falsehoods! How else would society advance!"
He hesitated. "Uhh, machines. Computers. Technology. Things like that, I guess."
She tilted her head, blinking, then pulled away from him almost entirely, folding her arms under her breasts at the same time. "I find that hard to believe," she said flatly.
"I find two moons hard to believe."
"Still a world without nobles, without magic? Inconceivable!"
It felt like a challenge, but certainly nothing martial arts based, so Ranma didn't have any clear idea on what to do about it. Then something occurred to him. "Hey, I think I got something back in Louise's room, if you really don't believe me."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. It's in the bag I brought with me." Whether or not that was actually true, Ranma had no idea. It wasn't like he had plans to even stay in Nerima, let alone go to school, so he didn't look into the bag at all. Still, if it's anything like grade school, there would likely to be at least one or two things to mess with Kirche's mind. Perhaps something as basic as a ball-point pen would do the trick, since he noticed that everyone in Louise's class used some kind of quill and ink set. Unless they frowned on such conveniences, in which case, he was going to look pretty silly in the end.
She smiled seductively as her fingers splayed over his heart. "Well, then, let us head to Louise's room."
Ranma almost blanked. "Y-yeah, let's go," he replied, quickly walking away from the tool shed a bit stiffly. Kirche latching onto his arm really didn't help matters any.
________________________________________
"Hope she's cooled off," Ranma spoke mostly to himself, as he and Kirche made their way to Louise's dormitory room door.
"She's a Vallière," Kirche said dismissively. "They have always been a little too... excitable in the face of anything unbecoming."
"Huh." For all the time that he had known Louise, she might have been on the money with that comment, but still. "So, what's the deal between you two?"
"Hmm?" she replied with a sidelong look.
"Why do you two hate each other?"
Kirche chuckled. "Oh, dear, is that what she says? Regardless of her comments, I do not harbor any such animosity towards Louise herself – were she not a Vallière, I would think we would get on wonderfully."
"..." Family... That answered a lot.
"Oh, we're here," Ranma spoke. "Let's see if she's still pissed with me." He knocked on the door twice. "Yo, Louise!"
No answer. Ranma tried the doorknob and found it gave away to a simple twist. He pushed the door in, peeked around the corner. "Louise?"
The pink-haired girl in question spun around wildly from her seated position on her bed as the martial artist came into the room. "R-Ranma, how darEEEK!" She almost fell over as Kirche appeared behind him. "K-K-K-Zerbst!" Her face burned. "Wh-what are you doing in my room!"
Kirche casually ignored her. "So, this book bag of yours..."
"Over here," Ranma spoke, quickly picking up the satchel from a corner of Louise's room. He began rummaging through it.
Fury took over her earlier panic. "Ranma! What's the meaning of this! Bringing th-that woman in here!"
He didn't look up. "She wanted some proof that I come from a world without magic."
Louise paled, eyes flared wide. "Y-Y-You told her!"
"Actually, Flame told me about his little curse after following him around," Kirche replied, gravitating towards the Valliere.
"Gah!" Louise scooted backwards away from her. Kirche blinked at this, and drew in closer.
"What's the matter, Louise?" Kirche spoke, her boots drawing her closer. ""You know, you're acting very suspiciously. You're not in here doing something..." She stopped a few feet away, lowering her face to the same level as Louise's. "Unsightly, are you?" she said with a smirk.
She eeped, recoiling from the woman further. "D-d-don't be r-ridiculous! I... just had a lot on my mind, is all." She steadfastly refused to look the taller woman in the face, her fair skin flushed.
She made herself a seat on Louise's bed. "Come on, tell me, who were you thinking of?"
"N-n-n-no one! Get out!"
"Was it Ranma?"
"What about me?" he asked, looking up.
"It wasn't him!" Louise cried out, panic rising.
He shrugged and went back into his bag.
"Then who?" Kirche prodded. "A secret lover perhaps?"
"Go away..." Louise tried snarling, but it came out more like a mew.
Kirche clapped her hands in surprise. "Ah! Louise the Zero has a secret lover!"
Ranma lifted his head up, his expression souring. "Please tell me it's not that idiot from earlier."
"Louise! With a secret lover! It's positively scandalous! Why I bet you were dreaming about his lips upon yours when we—"
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Kirche went flying off the bed as Louise shoved her off the bed and streaked out of the room, still screaming. Ranma ran to the door, but the pink-haired girl was long gone.
"...what was that about?" Ranma asked, flummoxed.
The redhead rubbed her rear as she stood up. "...maybe she's shy after all?"
________________________________________
Louise panted heavily, finding herself on the ground floor of the Academy. She had probably embarrassed herself several times over, running and screaming like an idiot. She was mildly surprised no one asked her what was the matter.
However, it was unavoidable. She didn't know why, but for the last twenty minutes, she had the strangest desire to make out with... with...
She wanted to be sick, but she couldn't.
Damn that Zerbst! Why was she thinking about HER in such weird ways! Damn her! It had to be all her fault somehow!
=SPLOOSH=
She sputtered and gasped, cold soapy water drenching her, sending a shock to her system. She stared at the offending person in disbelief.
"S-sorry, Miss! I know I'm clumsy, but-"
Louise trembled. The apologizing young man paused, his dropped bucket quickly being forgotten. Horror and fear overtook his thoughts in the wake of a very recent memory from today surfaced.
"...please don't replace me," he whimpered.
Louise let loose an inarticulate scream of rage, causing the man to run for his life.
________________________________________
"And you're certain this doesn't use any magic?" Kirche asked, looking at the slim gray calculator in her hand, turning it over repeatedly.
"Yep. It's all science and technology and stuff," Ranma replied, looking over her shoulder. "Just press the On button there and start adding numbers and stuff."
Kirche folded one leg under her as she sat on Louise's bed, pressing numbers into the calculator's keypad. Her face lit up as the numbers she pressed appeared in the silvery LCD window. "Amazing!"
Ranma grinned, watching her as he walked through how to use the calculator. She was like a kid on Christmas, which made her look very cute. He then blinked to himself, turned red, and shook his head. Totally spaced out there for a moment.
"So, you believe me?" he asked, once Kirche put in a number of mathematical problems for the calculator to solve.
She put one finger to her lip. "Mmm.... I don't know if I should..."
He blinked. "Huh?"
The redhead clapped her hands. "Okay! So you're from another world!" She got up from Louise's bed, calculator still in hand as she made her way to the room door. "How about we go back to my room and... talk some more?" She turned around and leaned back against the door, her smile and eyes suggestive. "After all, you're the first person from another world that I've met..."
Ranma had to swallow at that. "I'd like that, but, um..."
She looked slightly puzzled. "But?"
"But... I really need to go find Louise first. Cause, you know, she's not feeling her magic since she doesn't have the right primer."
Kirche blinked rapidly. "I do not understand."
"Louise told me about how you guys discover your elemental affinities – through the use of basic primers."
"Correct, but what does that have to do with Louise?"
"Well, I was trying to figure out where they would keep Void primers. See if she could have that Void affinity."
"..."
"If she sucks at every other element, then maybe she's just needing a go at the last one."
Kirche continued staring at him like she was dazed and confused. Ranma made a face.
"Look, I don't really get how you guys could just 'lose' a whole element, but—"
"Okay. Let's go find her."
Ranma closed his mouth. "Huh?"
Kirche reached behind her and twisted the door knob. "I said let's go find Louise."
She slipped out while Ranma made a face. He thought for certain Kirche was going to make some sort of disparaging comment about that. Shrugging, he followed her out as well.
________________________________________
Louise was sitting on the grass in Vestri Court, looking at the darkening sky overhead.
What the hell happened earlier? She was sitting alone thinking of nothing but her own fears and doubts and next... She didn't even want to name it. It was just so random and out of the blue, she was halfway convinced someone cast a spell on her just to provoke that type of reaction.
She sighed and flopped back into the trimmed grass.
She didn't know what to think anymore. First she gets told by a commoner – her familiar, no less – that she could be a legendary mage, then she starts thinking... weird things with someone she couldn't stand.
"So this is where legendary mages go after freaking out."
She blinked to find Kirche standing above her. Louise could see the panties underneath the Germanian's skirt. She blushed and looked away.
"What's with the legendary stuff?"
Kirche knelt down. "Ranma darling told me all about you."
The strawberry blonde shot to her feet, face locked in horror. "Wh-wh-what!"
"You know... being a Void user..."
"Th-that's a lie!"
"Maybe. But I must admit it might – just might – have some bit of truth to it."
"..."
"When you stop and think about it, every spell you attempt blows up. Every one of them."
She reddened. "What's your point?" she ground out.
"Well, maybe Ranma's right about you having a different affinity. I most certainly have never seen anyone else fail even the most basic of spells so disastrously."
Louise grumbled. "Why don't you just rub it in, Zerbst? I don't have a Void affinity."
"I think you do."
Louise's eyes roved down to her left side, where Ranma was squatting.
He grinned. "And thinking about it, I might have some kind of trick for you."
________________________________________
Miss Vallière, a Void user? Mr. Colbert sweated as he listened on from his hiding place on the other side of the Court's wall.
Ever since Ranma's performance earlier that afternoon, the Headmaster told him to keep an eye on the two. Having been almost run over by a panicking Louise ten minutes beforehand, he decided to follow after her to see what the matter was.
He found her at Vestri Court, the same place where the duel between Guiche and her familiar took place. After observing her for a few minutes – she just sat there looking at the sky – he started to approach her to find out what was wrong. However Miss Zerbst had came up and he quickly ended up on the other side of the wall. Why he had done that, he wasn't entirely certain. It just felt like something extraordinary would be occurring.
And occur it did.
A Void mage? Miss Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière? Had it not been for his discovery of the Gandalfr runes, he would have laughed it off as preposterous. However, what if it was true? After all, she did summon a human as a familiar. A human who was marked with the Gandalfr Runes. It couldn't be just mere coincidence, could it?
"Let's go eat before we try this out."
"Sure, Ranma-darling."
"But what if there's nothing to—"
"Oh, stop worrying Louise. You can't do any more damage if you really are a failure."
"Kirche!"
"Nah. I'm pretty certain she's got it. And I think this method of training will get her to finally start using it."
Mr. Colbert's brows shot up. The familiar was going to teach a mage Void magic? Incredible! He had to inform Old Man Osmond about this new development!
________________________________________
Old Man Osmond's eyes widened as Mr. Colbert gleefully told him what he had heard.
"A Void Mage? Her?" He sat down heavily in his chair. "Are you certain about this? That is what he said?"
"I know! But it's making sense as to why she had summoned a human that was blessed with the Gandalfr Runes! When you stop and think about it, there aren't any other explanations for the bizarre incidents involving Miss Vallière and magic."
"Hrm..." The Headmaster stroked his beard pensively. "Even though it may explain a lot, there aren't any firm conclusions to the matter. Plus there still remains the mystery of that familiar's Detect Magic scan to content with."
Mr. Colbert bit his lower lip a little. "That may be true, but I think this presents us a wonderful opportunity, don't you agree, sir?"
A thin trickle of sweat rolled down the side of Osmond's face. "That depends on whether or not Miss Vallière ends up flattening the school in her quest to master a magic that hadn't been seen in millennia."
Mr. Colbert drooped a little. "W-well, that might be true, too..."
Osmond nodded. "Still, it would be wise to keep an eye on her and the familiar for the time being. And let's not have any of this reach the ears of those in the palace."
"Hmm? Why not?"
"Let them have access to a new toy and start another silly, needless war? I hardly think that would be wise. The summoner and her familiar are to remain in our care."
"I see."
"In the meanwhile, I'm rather curious as to what her familiar plans to teach the young Miss Vallière."
Mr. Colbert grinned. "I'm already on the case, sir!"
As the balding instructor left his office, Osmond couldn't help but feel apprehension. What if, by some odd chance, the Vallière daughter did turn out to be the rare mage with a Void affinity? With her summoned familiar bearing the runes of the Gandalfr, did it mean that she was destined to bring about a great change like Founder Brimir, or was this a sign of an impending doom?
A small flick of his staff and the Far-Seeing Mirror was activated, showing him the strawberry blonde girl eating dinner alongside one of her classmates, the Germanian daughter of the Zerbst family.
Already, this did not bode well.
________________________________________
"Why are you following me?" Louise finally asked Kirche, her familiar in tow, as they made their way back to Vestri Court. She didn't quite look at the taller woman, but at least she didn't have any of those weird... desires like earlier.
"Call me curious, if you must," she replied with a smile.
Louise groaned in disgust. "Don't you have some boys to go flirt around with?"
"Why? Don't you think Ranma's so much more interesting? Especially after the show he put on this afternoon." She took a deep breath, her head held high. "I think I'm in love."
"You're always in love!" Louise growled.
"Oh, look, it's Ranma!" Kirche pointed out in recognition. He was already at the meeting place, leaning against the Court's wall as he stared up at the twin moons overhead. "Ranma! Ranma-darling!"
He broke his gaze to see who was addressing him. "Oh, hey, Kirche, Louise." A quick push-off from the wall, and he was on his way over to them.
"What are we going to do?" Louise asked as Ranma neared them.
"We're gonna find out what's Void like for you guys," he replied.
"How do you even know what Void is?" Louise spoke, a bit annoyed.
Kirche followed up Louise's inquiry. "That's an interesting question. How would you know anything about magic?"
"I don't know much about magic, but there's something called the Book of Five Rings that I do remember."
Kirche looked puzzled as Louise spoke up. "Book of Five Rings?"
He nodded. "It was a book written by a really famous swordsman back in my world. He had five books in his school of thought: the Book of Earth, Book of Fire, Book of Water, Book of Wind and Book of Emptiness."
"So, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, the Book of Emptiness was also called the Book of Void."
The two girls gasped. "Wait a minute," Kirche opened up. "Are you saying someone in your world knew about the Five Elements here?"
Ranma shrugged. "I don't think so. I mean, he was talking about his school of combat and swordsmanship, not magic."
The girls looked disappointed.
"However, the Book of Void's kind of interesting."
"This is a waste of time," Louise grumbled.
Ranma grimaced. "Just listen..."
"Why? All you're doing is talking about some books that don't mean anything to us."
"What if it does?"
"What?"
"The Book of Emptiness, the Void, was about being aware and comprehending things you can't see. The first four books were about fighting, stances, techniques, strategies, while the Void was about everything else, being aware of that which exists and does not exist."
Louise's brows knitted together. "I don't think I understand."
"It's a little tricky, and, to be honest, I kind of suck at remembering things exactly, but I do know what I got from it after Pop explained things to me." He made a fist. "The Void is our spirit, and while it's there, it's not, and remains ever consistent. It's pure, devoid of evil, and aligns with those that seek the heart of pureness. Furthermore—"
He stopped at looked at the two girls. Louise had a blank, non-understanding face, while Kirche's brows were straining with a need for clarity.
He coughed into his fist. "How long has this Void element been lost for?"
"Thousands of years," Louise supplied, thankful for the sudden change of topic.
Ranma whistled. "That's a long time."
Kirche nodded. "And to date, no one really knows what it is. It helped to create the kingdoms as they are now. But what kind of magic it was, no one can say."
Ranma made a face. "But it existed at some point."
"Of course."
"So, I'm guess it's stuff you can't do with regular magic."
"It wouldn't be lost if anyone could do it!" Louise cried out.
"I see..." Ranma turned his head to Kirche. "Can you make a spell go 'boom' like Louise's?"
"Wh-What?" She reared back in surprise as Louise looked at her.
"Can you make a spell go 'boom' like she does?"
Kirche looked stumped. "I've never tried to; I usually aim for my spells to succeed."
"Well, give it a shot. Succeed at failing to succeed."
Kirche's mind boggled at the most bizarre request she had ever heard in her life. "I wouldn't even know where to begin!"
Ranma rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess you're right..." He turned to Louise. "Blow me up."
Louise staggered back. "Wh-wh-wha~t!"
"I said blow me up."
"D-darling," Kirche pleaded. "Be reasonable!"
"No, I'm serious. You can watch how Louise casts her spell and you do exactly like she does to try and get the same result."
"But to use yourself as the target~!" Kirche balled both hands to her mouth. "I haven't even begun to express the depths of my love to you!"
Ranma froze. "Wh-what?"
Louise's eyes became as large as the dinner plates they ate on as Kirche continued. "I never got to fully express it this afternoon, but I've come to love you from the bottom of my heart! When we kissed, it felt like I would melt!"
The pink-haired girl trembled. "Y-y-y-y-ou k-k-k-kissed!"
She clung to Ranma's shirt. "It was as if the heavens above purposely handpicked you for me, my love! Please, please don't throw your life away like this! Reconsider!"
Ranma's brain tripped offline and had to reboot. "K-Kirche... I..."
"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you kissed that woman!"
The martial artist blinked as he found himself staring at a Louise whose tiny body shook with overflowing wrath.
"I've been damned with those bizarre thoughts running around in my head all afternoon because of you?"
His face went blank. "Hah?"
Kirche, for her part, discreetly released her grip on Ranma's shirt and started edging away.
"DIE!"
=BOO~~M=
"Whaugh!"
"Kyaaa!"
"Kuyu!
"Miss ValliAAGH!"
________________________________________
Osmond palmed his face as the tower his office was located shook from the tremendous shockwaves outside. "Louise..." he groaned.
Maybe he should tell the palace about her. It would most definitely teach the nobility there a lesson or two.
In the meanwhile, he had to make medical arrangements for Mr. Colbert. Having a magically reinforced wall fall upon you was bound to be non-conducive to good health.
________________________________________
"Did you feel that explosion last night!"
"Are you kidding me! I felt that all the way on the other side of the Academy!"
"I thought we were going to die!"
"What in the world caused that!"
"I hear it was Louise the Zero..."
"Wh-wh-what! Is she trying to kill us all!"
________________________________________
"Why are we here again?" Louise grumbled under the morning sun.
Ranma made a face. "If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't be here." Various parts of his body were bandaged up, including his head.
"Look on the bright side, Louise," Kirche replied, a bit less cheery than normal, sporting a few bandages herself.
"And what bright side is that?"
"I'll never be able to reproduce such an explosion like that in my life."
Louise growled.
"Less talking, more brick-laying," Mr. Colbert, completely wrapped from head to toe in thick bandages, spoke from the wheelchair he was being pushed around in by a quiet short-haired girl with her nose buried in a book. "You three still need to rebuild the entire wall in this Court. Without magic."
Kirche moaned dejectedly. Louise sighed. Ranma slathered more mortar onto a brick and planted it right into alignment with its brethren.
Next time, they were going to go outside of the school and practice blowing stuff up.
I had been holding off copying the new version down and rereading it in its entirety due to wanting to see it get a few chapters in first.
Actually had some oddities getting these chapters into a text editor... turns out some of the quotes and apostrophes are extended characters, others are not. and had a oddball issue with spacing on some paragraphs. You might want to do a global search on those characters.
Chapter 2 mistakes:
'afformentioned'
- s/b aforementioned
'tv'
- s/b TV
'facefirst'
'mindboggling'
- both missing space
chapter 3 mistake:
'facefirst'
- missing space
>> "Why? Don't you think Ranma's so much more interesting? Especially after the show he put on this afternoon." She took a deep breath, her head held high. "I think I'm in love."
I always felt one of Kirches problems with men was she got bored with them... most of the guys she went with were all fake pandering... no real equality or interaction in the relationship other than pandering... I actually doubt she could be in love with Ranma at this point really, but definitely believe she may for the first time see something different, merely in how he treats her... but... I really did like the way this developed in the prior version.
I'll look forward to both more rewritten chapters and this getting beyond the point of rewrite and into new territory.
Actually had some oddities getting these chapters into a text editor... turns out some of the quotes and apostrophes are extended characters, others are not. and had a oddball issue with spacing on some paragraphs. You might want to do a global search on those characters.
Chapter 2 mistakes:
'afformentioned'
- s/b aforementioned
'tv'
- s/b TV
'facefirst'
'mindboggling'
- both missing space
chapter 3 mistake:
'facefirst'
- missing space
>> "Why? Don't you think Ranma's so much more interesting? Especially after the show he put on this afternoon." She took a deep breath, her head held high. "I think I'm in love."
I always felt one of Kirches problems with men was she got bored with them... most of the guys she went with were all fake pandering... no real equality or interaction in the relationship other than pandering... I actually doubt she could be in love with Ranma at this point really, but definitely believe she may for the first time see something different, merely in how he treats her... but... I really did like the way this developed in the prior version.
I'll look forward to both more rewritten chapters and this getting beyond the point of rewrite and into new territory.