Epiphany Chapter 10
A new day, a new curse, but old fears - Part two.
By Tripolar Disorder
After what seemed like hours, the crying child in Akane and
Ranko's arm finally calmed. Her eyes were red, she was still
sniffling her nose, but her breathing was slow and calm and all
was silent.
Akane decided to interrupt the moment, "Is this it Ranko? I
thought you needed me to help get him over his fear of cats?"
"Well, I figured since I had you here, we could possibly fix all
of his problems. I'm hoping his other problem comes alone here
any moment."
"What 'Other' problem?" Asked Akane.
"You know. The cat personality that takes over during the
neko-ken fits. It's also around here somewhere, though it moves
on it's own and doesn't like me very much, so it stays away."
"And what am I supposed to do?"
"Simple. It sees you and a few others as it's mates. It'll come
to you. As for what then, I haven't quite thought that far ahead
yet. I'm hoping it's more capable of logic and reason that we
give it credit for."
"So we're going to reason with a cat?"
"A cat that is part of Ranma, and always was. It just got
tainted."
"Fine, I'll leave the negotiating up to you. I'll just let him
rest in my lap."
"There it is now. Don't act too alarmed, it won't ever hurt
you."
"You mean it found us?"
"We had the best kind of bait. A crying child bawling at a high
volume that could be heard far across the mindscape I'll bet. No
doubt it came to see what was causing the racket."
"What do I do?" Asked Akane frantically as she saw the
approaching form. "He's too big to fit on my lap!"
Four large black paws lightly padding their way across the dusty
plains. Attached to a large, striped cat, almost like a tiger,
but all gray and black. It seemed curious as to the goings on,
but it's ears perked up when it heard Akane speaking.
It's pace quickened as it bounded over to her, sniffing her arm
as she stiffened from feeling whiskers brush her arm.
Ranko took the small Ranma-chan from her arms and backed off a
few feet, sliding her butt along.
Akane reached out to pet it, slowly. She was afraid of it
attacking her any second but she knew she had to do something.
It nuzzled her hand, then licked her fingers, before pawing at
her like an overgrown kitten. Akane found herself scratching
ears, and cheeks and all over his back, while he circled her in a
tight radius.
Finally, having been thoroughly primped, plopped down in front of
her, to stare at Ranko and the little Ranma.
Akane was looking at the back if it's furry head. "He wants to
know what you want?"
"He? You can hear him?" replied Ranko. Akane nodded. "He
speaks in my head. It's not words but like a feeling that I can
translate. It's really strange."
"Then tell him I want him to stop taking over when Ranma pulls
himself into his shell."
There was a pause before Akane replied. "He wants to know why
not. He said he's been here a lot longer than you. And you do it
too."
"Because I'm not running off pure instinct. I have logic and
reason."
"He says that isn't a good excuse."
"Tell him to bite me.... second thought, strike that."
"He says Ranma can't be unmanned, or unpiloted, whatever. It's
dangerous. He says he can take care of Ranma during those
times."
"But he shouldn't have to. Ranma shouldn't need protecting."
"He says then you should enter the cave smart woman."
"......."
"What cave is he talking about Ranko?"
"It's the place where Ranma hides. It's a cave of fear."
"What did he mean?"
"He was taunting me. I can't enter it, neither can he."
After a short walk, they were standing outside a cave-like
entrance that retreated downward into the ground. The passage
was well worn, but not steep.
"This is where the rest of him hides. Emotion within stone,
Instinct within kitty there, but his fears consume so much of
him, they made their own dungeon, as it were. You'll find
nothing but his pain down there. I'm a cause of pain, so
entering is impossible. A wave of force shoots me right out, and
I'd rather not go through that. Kitty has the same problem.
Cats equaled pain, fear of pain means fear of cats. He first
puts distance, then hides in there to protect himself."
"I don't know why I brought you here. I can't think of anything
to help him here. we're just wasting our .... time?"
As she said this, Akane gave the little Ranma-chan one more hug,
petted the cat and stepped into the cave defiantly.
"Watch as she gets booted out." Remarked Ranko.
Sure enough, a wind howled through the tunnel, but Akane, who was
already inside, dropped to the ground and braced herself for the
onslaught.
She found rocks and pulled herself down further, against the
force of the wind. Up ahead she saw a diversion leading off the
main tunnel, and she slowly worked her way toward it, scratching
her stomach and arms along the way.
Despite the nagging pain from scratches and the dull throb from
her legs, she continued.
She pulled herself through the opening, and behind her the wind
stopped.
She looked about the room she was in. Dark to the point it took
her eyes several moments to adjust. The room looked vacant, with
a passage leading beyond, and she was just taking her first step
toward it, when a new figure appeared directly in her path.
It was Genma.
"What are you?" She asked. His reply was not answering her
directly, but she knew immediately what she was seeing.
"You are a failure, Ranma. You little piece of worthlessness.
Be a girl for all I care, because you'll never be a man in my
eyes."
Akane looked long and hard at this almost character
representation of Ranma's father.
"So you're Ranma's fear, huh? You don't look so tough."
Genma didn't seem to pay any attention to her, instead he was
still staring forward.
"How can you care for something so weak and helpless as a girl?
Ranma is pathetic."
Akane thought for a few seconds before it came to her. "This
isn't the real Genma, just how Ranma saw his father. How Ranma
understood Genma's actions."
She shook her head. "Genma treated Ranma badly no matter if he
was weak, or....." Her eyes lit up. "Or even if he KNEW Ranma
was better than him. He KNEW, didn't he. The bastard knew his
own son had surpassed him. He just kept it up to keep Ranma
under him, to exert control that he knew he could lose if Ranma
ever smartened up."
"Ranma was more man than Genma ever was. Ranma had more virtue,
more morality and certainly more honor. Genma was just keeping
Ranma down."
At this the Genma figure looked down at her. "You think so?" It
said with a voice more recognizable. It was Ranma speaking.
"Of course silly. Think about it a second. You're tons more
man than he ever was, and you know what the ultimate proof is?"
"What's that?" Asked the Genma figure, in Ranma's voice again.
"You become a woman."
Genma looked shocked at this. "Uhm... I'm confused."
"What if you and he had fallen into the opposite pools, do you
know what would have happened? I'll tell you what. You'd be in
panda form constantly, probably wearing a saddle of all things,
and your father would be using his newfound girlish charm to rip
people off constantly."
"I'd bet he would have sold you repeatedly to zoos and circus
acts, only to come by later, hit you with hot water and sneak you
away again. You'd be a commodity to him. Not to mention what
he'd do with a female body.... ew, it makes me sick just thinking
about it."
"But you. You're such the honorable man, even in girl form, you
remain manly. You champion for us girls whenever you can."
"You've never used your female body to experiment. I bet you've
never touched between your legs except if you needed to bathe.
You won't even enter a girl's shower, though you could almost
anytime, and treat yourself to a voyeur's dream and get away with
it unharmed. And you chase down Happosai when he steals our
underwear."
"You are a better man than anyone else I know, and I think your
curse only made you better. Sure, you use your charm to get free
food from time to time, but your stomach is a bottomless pit and
I can understand the messages it might tell you. It least it
isn't your manhood sending you messages."
Genma's form suddenly vanished in front of her, and she smiled.
Akane took another step forward, only to have another image pop
into existence, right in front of her.
This time it was Soun, her own father.
"And what do you want?"
"Ranma will never earn my respect to marry any of my daughters."
"Oh sweet mercy, not more of this...."
Akane was getting upset and frustrated. Not only had she only
taken a dozen of so steps down the tunnel, but with each step,
she faced another 'Wall' that Ranma had put up, complete with a
set of irrational fears that she found gaping holes in their
argument and dispelled. She wondered how long this continued.
She took a small step again and prepared for the next caricature
of a person from Ranma's life.
This time it was Nodoka.
"Ranma is not manly enough. I will never love my child unless
he decides to be my daughter forever."
Akane looked at this version. It was unlike the Nodoka she knew.
Cold and emotionless, and staring off into space.
She had learned from the previous images that this is what Ranma
really thought people thought of him. So far, the only
conclusion was that everyone hated Ranma. She knew this not to
be completely true, some people indeed hated Ranma, but she
hadn't seen Ryoga yet. She thought that whatever argument he put
forth might have some weight to it and she might have more
difficulty seeing the flaw.
Akane looked at Nodoka in front of her and sighed. "Do you
really believe that Ranma? Do you really think she doesn't love
you completely and unconditionally? She has told him otherwise
countless times."
"He never returned as a man amongst men, and so I will never
accept him as my son."
Akane pondered for a moment. "Do you even know what your mother
considers a man anyway? How do you know that you wouldn't have
been a man in her eyes? Maybe her idea of a true man happens to
be one that pretends to be a woman, or worse. Her idea of a true
man might be something like Happosai. She did marry Genma after
all."
Nodoka suddenly had this strange look on her face.
"Figures. Ranma wouldn't have bothered to ask her what was on
the contract. Sounds like something I would do. Jump to a
conclusion without getting all the information."
With that, Nodoka disappeared.
"This is getting easier then I thought." Said Akane out loud.
The words had no sooner left her lips, when she knew she had put
her foot in her mouth.
Materializing in front of her was indeed whom she suspected. It
was herself. A little younger, wearing her practice Gi, and with
the longer hair she had when Ranma met her.
The girl was scowling, and she stood in a ready stance. Akane
remembered how she had treated Ranma that first day. "I know
what you are going to say. And he is NOT a pervert. I was
wrong."
"He's a girl half the time, why would anyone love him? He is
a freak, a pervert and a horrible person. Everyone hates
him, and tries to hurt him. They hurt us trying to get to him."
Akane's hands were coiled, her knuckles white. She stood there
staring into the eyes of her own reflection.
Finally her hands un-folded, and went limp. She closed her eyes
and let the tense muscles loosen. Akane stood there nearly a
minute before her eyes flew open.
"It's not his fault. He didn't ask to be engaged to me and he
didn't ask for my problems. I think he took them because he is
a decent person, and he hates seeing me hurt. He did it all,
always, because he loves me."
"Considering all things in your life, becoming a girl seems kind of
mundane compared to all the other freaks. And I'm sorry I ever
called him a pervert. I regret it now, because I know the truth
now, that he is more pure-hearted and virtuous than anyone else."
"And I love him. I fell in love the first time I saw him, and he
wasn't even a 'him' at the time. I was scared at what that
meant so I lied to myself and in doing so hurt us both."
The psuedo-Akane looked at her. "What do you mean? How could I
love him? He isn't even sure about himself."
"I love her too." Said Akane flatly.
"But, but, but..." The image began to argue.
"But what? I think Ranma is a very caring person now that he is
expressing himself. I also think that Ranma is lovable no matter
what body he currently is in. Not like Pantyhose."
His mother loves him, I love him, and heck, even Kasumi and
Nabiki care about him.
He is also able to take care of himself.
Like I said, you are wrong."
The Akane-image seemed to flutter and it shifted until it looked
just like her. Short hair and all.
"You are lying. You are just going to hurt Ranma later."
Akane dropped her head. "I made him a promise, one I will keep.
I will never hurt him again. After everything I have seen and
heard, I cannot hurt him now. I want to hold him, love him, and
love her too. I want the chance to show that I can."
With that her reflection vanished.
Akane sighed, and took another step forward, but this time, no
figure to argue with. There was nothing around her and she took
off down the tunnel as fast as she could. she wanted to see what
awaited her.
Suddenly she saw a pair of eyes glowing in front of her. Giant
glowing, menacing eyes. Cat eyes.
"Ahh, so you're his fear."
Akane jumped back as a claw came out of the shadows and swung at
her, scratching her arm.
As she pulled back, holding the bleeding cut, she snarled. "So
that's a rational fear. One that actually has some weight to
it."
Again the claw came at her, but this time she dove inside it, and
struck the face of the beast with every ounce of muscle she had.
The outcry it gave was unlike a cat's, more like a screeching
dragon. Again she punched, bearing her weight into the force
with the balls of her feet.
She dived back as the claw attacked, but she saw it in time,
ducking and coming right back in, slamming the face and again and
again.
This was not the skilled neko-ken, this was simply a fear of cats
that had gotten too powerful. She smiled as each blow rocked it
backward, and it seemed to shrink in size each time.
It lost strength and power as it gave ground to Akane. She saw
the claw again, but this time slammed her own fist into it,
crushing it against the wall.
This caused it to shriek out in pain, collapsing to the floor and
vanishing.
Akane sighed, wondering what was next.
Continuing down the tunnel, it's twisting and turning making it
impossible to know exactly which direction she was going or how
far she had gone.
Finally, Akane came to the end and found the object of her
search.
This version of Ranma was also female, but also a young child.
What made her gasp was how she looked.
She was lying there, nude and curled up in the fetal position,
in a pool of her own blood. Her skin was wrought with cuts, like
she had been attacked by the cats just moments ago. Bruises also
covered what she could see, marks made by weapons as well as
human hands.
Akane didn't know what to do. She kneeled down in front of the
girl who had one eye bruised and swollen enough to where she
could no longer see out of it.
"Ranma?"
"Ple..... please...." stuttered the girl, shivering in fear.
"...."
"Please...... d-don't hurt me."
Akane could hardly bear to look at this.
"I'm not here to hurt you."
"Please d-don't hurt me." the tiny voice muttered again.
Suddenly, she heard Ranko shouting from outside. It was
remarkably clear despite the distance. "Akane, bring her out
here!!"
Akane scooped up the girl, held her body tightly against her own,
and carefully made her way back up through the tunnel.
Ranko was standing near the mouth of the cave staring into it
with a look of pure surprise as Akane stepped out carrying the
child.
The girl's blood had marked the front of her swimsuit with eerie
lines that contrasted the blue.
Ranko gasped as seeing this. "I can't believe you did it Akane.
I can't believe you managed to get her out here. It shouldn't be
possible."
"Why not?" Akane asked.
"This is Ranma's self image. His fears did this. Me being part
of his fear, I made him into a girl. It's why I couldn't get
down there."
Ranko brushed the girl's hair, causing her to open her eye again.
"Please.... "
Ranko put a finger across her lips. "Don't speak. You're not
going to be beaten by your fears anymore."
"Why does she look like this Ranko?"
"This is what fear does, it hurts you, beats up on you. But
Ranma's personalities are so split apart that she lacks the
ability to fight back, so they all overwhelm her and as you can
see, are pretty merciless.
"To her, no one loves her, no one cares for her. This is the
part of her that needed her mother the most all those years ago.
Being a girl, his curse is just another thing to make people hate
her. I don't know how much we can help her now though."
"But Ranko, you just said...."
"I know, but aside from doing what you just did every other day
or so, she'll wind up getting pulled back down there and get the
piss beaten out of her again."
"She has no defense against them, none whatever." Sighed Ranko.
But Ranma is a martial artist. I defeated that cat down there
easily. Why can't he?"
Ranko shook her head, "This isn't that part of him either."
"You mean there is another Ranma out here?!" Exclaimed Akane.
Ranko nodded. "Just one other, that I know of at least."
"And where do we find it?"
"He's already here. He's been following us the entire time, we
just weren't looking for him."
"What does he look like?" Asked Akane, her eyes scanning the
dunes to the horizon as her head turned.
As she turned, her eyes fell on Ranko, who was smiling. "It's
easier to make him appear Akane-chan. Please forgive me."
With that, Ranko's arm lashed out in an attempt to strike Akane
in the face.
Her arm was stopped short of Akane's face by another, a hand
attached to an arm that made Akane gasp.
Here was the last Ranma. Strong, well built and handsome. The
rippled muscles of his chest almost spoke to her. In contrast
was his face.
This Ranma lacked a face, as though it had been erased. He had
a nose, but no nostrils. He had ears but no openings. He had a
chin, but no mouth. And where eyes should have been, skin.
He let go of Ranko's arm, and she smiled. "This one is Ranma's
skill. There is a bit more in there, but that takes up the brunt
of it. Ranma can't see you hurt, so he protected you from even
me."
"So, now we've gotten all of his parts together, what's let to
do?"
Ranko sighed. "Alone they can't deal with everything. We need
them to work together." She held out the bloodied little girl
toward the faceless hulk. "If you think Akane needs your
protection, what about her? She needs you more than anyone
else."
The faceless Ranma started to lift his arms then stopped and
dropped them to his side.
"What's he doing? Ranko?"
Ranko stared at him, her face a mix with confusion and surprise.
"I don't know Akane."
"He's afraid too, If you can believe that." Said the other child
female Ranma, with a sniffle.
Ranko and Akane both turned toward the little voice. "How do you
know this?" Asked Ranko.
She looked Ranko in her eyes, her own bloodshot and tear streaked
orbs expressing so much.
"Who do you think is still holding out on accepting our girl
form? All he knows is what the idiot Genma told him during
training. He believes it because even with all the suffering he
endured, he did learn so much."
"He thinks that becoming a girl makes him weak. Him taking her
from you will merge them together. It's the same reason he won't
touch me."
"But I thought his fear was over there?" Replied Akane, pointing
at the girl in Ranko's arms.
"This fear didn't exist until Jusenkyo and it only effects his
skill." The pint size visionary stated. "Fear was consumed by
it, and I attacked it and accepted it. Kitty there doesn't
care."
"But he..." She pointed to the Faceless, "... doesn't know what
becoming female means to his skill. That is why he won't protect
either of us."
Akane faced Ranko and she, in turn, looked toward the faceless.
"Ranko, how do we fix this?" Akane asked.
"I don't know Akane. I don't know how I'd go about convincing
him that he might like to be a girl."
"Maybe we don't. Maybe..."
Akane walked to the faceless. "How about I promise to help you
learn to fight better in your girl form? You are already a great
martial artist, you just need practice. You already know you
balance different, and that can't be the only thing. We'll work
on it together."
The faceless Ranma turned toward her, as if to look, though
ironically, he still lacked eyes.
"I'm the champion of the Tendo school, and I'm female. I don't
use air combat as much as you, and I'm sure I have something I
can teach you and it won't bruise you."
"All you have to do is protect fear. Oh, and emotion too. Can
you take care of them both?"
Suddenly, the feline side of Ranma mewled noisily and lunged at
the faceless one.
There was a bright flash, and Akane shielded her eyes.
When the flash subsided, Akane could see a new figure lying on
the ground.
A male Ranma curled up the fetal position, with a bit of fur
dotted about his frame.
"What just happened?" Akane asked.
"The Neko Ken and faceless merged together. Wonder what that
means..." Ranko's last comment came across almost errantly.
The new Ranma stood up. His face now full of his normal
features, everything except a smile.
He looked at the bloodied girl in Ranko's arms. For what felt
like an eternity, he stared at the girl.
"What happened when you two came together?" Asked Akane. "Can
you speak now?"
The little female Ranma looked up at him. "Please protect us."
Ranko looked at him. "I'm sorry Ranma. I brought most of this
upon you. If it wasn't for the curse, you'd already have taken
this one from my arms."
Akane added. "But you have control of it now. You choose when
and where you change. you don't have to worry about being weak
unless you Want to be."
"That's right!" Said the little girl, as she stepped forward.
"Please, don't run away again."
This Ranma looked at them both, then slowly held out his hands,
one toward each girl. "I'm scared." Was all he could say.
"We all are. we're going to be a bit different now as one person
again, but we'll be whole." Said the little one.
Both girls reached out to take his hands. The bloodied girl
barely got her shaky arm out before he leaned forward and took
it.
Akane was struck by another large blast of light but this one
felt like it impacted her and sent her flying.
She opened her eyes to find herself lying on the Dojo floor,
Ranma's arms still about her waist.
Tofu was still sitting there, and he helped her to her feet.
"Did you get whatever you needed done?"
"I think we did a lot more, and I hope it worked."
Well, that concludes the end of the mental Incursion. So now
what is going to happen next?