Another Like Me

I do not own Ranma 1/2 and its associated characters. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own X-men Evolution or any of it's associated characters. Inspiration for this fic came from 'The Evolution': a Ranma 1/2 / X-men crossover by Dragonlord. (Blah blah blah…….)

Thoughts

Telepathy //

Well, I must say it has been a hell of a long time since I have had even the slightest amount of time to come and work on this fic. Believe me, this has not been for lack of trying. Unfortunately I now have a full-time job and a three-subject degree at University to occupy my time sigh. Anyway, after checking my review board (and sending some punk who tried to copy me packing grrrrr!) I finally decided that I should knuckle-down and work on this again. I hope to hear lots from my favorite review panel and make finish at least one of my works. Incidentally I have two new ones in the mix: Ranma-Yugioh and Naruto -OC (written by three authors)

Chapter 5: Ranma Begins Anew!!!

This sucked. This situation well and truly sucked. Ranma came to this conclusion with little difficulty. Not only had he been caught up in a fight, less than a day after he arrived in America but he had been forced to reveal his powers to a group of total strangers. Granted, they were just as weird as he was in their own way but still...

Ranma sighed and shook his head. Relieving the Professor of his powers had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. The large plane both he and the Professor were in when the Juggernaut had made his attack had overturned violently, knocking the Professor unconscious and causing him several injuries, all of which didn't look too good. Ranma had been largely unfazed by the incident. He could thank Akane and the rest of the fiancées for that, their 'attention' had left him rather unsusceptible to minor impacts. His sixth sense had given him an instant's warning and that was all Ranma had needed to prepare himself for the worst.

Ranma was vulnerable at the moment. Spurned by his family and loved ones, without a friend in the world, his new power still caused him much pain. To rape a person's memories and steal their life force was an experience he detested. He was a martial artist, damnit!. He protected the weak, used his strength to protect those who could not protect themselves, not some petty thief like his good-for-nothing father. His power reminded him too much of Miss Hinako's strange abilities and he knew how much pain a person in possession of such horrible techniques could cause. But these people had needed his help and that was all the excuse he needed to spring into action. He had placed his naked hand upon the Professor's brow and screamed as suddenly his mind opened up to the world in ways he had never imagined possible. Vast quantities of knowledge crashed against his mental shields. Memories of terrible pain and hidden bitterness caused tears to leak, unbidden, from his sky-blue eyes. Shuddering, he had turned to the task at hand and calling upon the Professor's memories to guide him, had begun to fashion attack after attack upon the Juggernaut's mind.

(Thankfully Ranma's own mind, that brilliant tactical machine, had helped him to compress all other aspects of the Professor's gifts, pushing aside any and all other obstacles that would prevent him from achieving his goals. That and his contact with the man laid out before him had been very brief indeed. Any longer and his mind would have been torn asunder, that Ranma was sure of.)

What Ranma saw there made him blanch with disgust. The guy was like Ryoga, blaming all his worldly troubles on the Professor and taking his frustrations out on anything that got in his way. Ranma hadn't felt too bad about pounding him after that.

Shortly after he called out in distress telepathically, the fabled X-men had filed into their vehicle and eyed him warily. A stunningly pretty girl with scarlet coloured hair had rushed to the Professor's side and began to tend to his injuries with the help of a First-Aid box located nearby. Then something very weird had happened. One of the girl who just entered the over-turned ship, also very beautiful if in an odd way, caught sight of him as he stood up to greet the newcomers. She took a careful look at him, scrutinizing him from head to toe before her eyes settled on his gloves, or rather the one he was just slipping back on. Ranma had shifted nervously at this point. Without warning the girl had fainted, actually fainted! Before any of the others could make a move, Ranma had moved with a speed bordering on inhuman. Within an instant the girl was resting in his arms. Her eyelids fluttered and she had said something weakly. It was a pity the Professor's gifts were fading, he couldn't understand a word she said.

Seeing his little Rogue fall into the arms of a complete stranger made Logan growl throatily. Whoever the kid was, he had helped them and that put in Logan's good books. On the other hand, his animalistic nature did not take kindly to his favorite student being pawed by anybody, let alone some punk they had just met on the street. He was just about to stalk over there and relieve the boy of the still unconscious Rogue, who was cradled in his arms when the kid suddenly clutched his head with both hand, dropping the poor girl unceremoniously to the floor. He then let out one of the most pain-filled screams that Logan had ever heard. The other X-Men soon followed suit and Logan felt something crash against his mental shields, clawing and scrabbling like a beast possessed. Reeling slightly from then psychic assault, his eye fell upon the fallen body of Charles and he knew.

(…)

Ranma panted and gasped as wave after wave of unfathomable pain whirled throughout his mind. He felt his fingers pressed against his skull as if trying to contain the powerful force in his mind but he knew it was hopeless. He briefly wondered what had happened to the girl he was holding, but pushed the thought aside. He had much bigger things to worry about. This had to be a side effect from his pillaging of the Prof's powers, he told himself, they were simply too powerful for him to contain. Though fading they were still an awesome force and he knew that he had to get away from here fast. The others around him were all suffering terribly as his mind lashed out randomly. Through a hazy mist of tears and the pain-induced fog clouding his vision, Ranma's already taxed mind went into over-drive again. Swinging himself around, desperately his sight suddenly became clearer as he focused his gaze on the blue creature who had called himself Fozzy-dude.

+FLASHBACK+

"Come mein friend! Let the Fozzy-dude get you out of here."

BAMPH

They reappeared in the cargo bay of the Blackbird. (The Prof's memories now enlightening him as to the crafts true name.)

+FLASHBACK+

That was it! The boy could pull some sort of weird transportation trick. With that he could get away from here and hopefully spare these people any more pain. With little thought to the consequences he lunged at the kid who was in the process of what appeared to be pulling his ears off of the sides of his head. A fresh jolt of pain flashed through his mind and then Ranma's head collided with its target. A surge of energy flashed through his body as a strange new force suffused itself to his very being. Subconsciously he flipped a mental trigger and…

BAMPH

Found himself very high above a very expansive lake.

'Kuso' , was all he had time to think.

(…)

Logan grunted in relief as the invasive force within his head vanished along with the strange kid. For a minute there he had been ready to leap to Kurt's aid as the kid hurled himself towards the Elf but a brief, if unfocused, message had flashed through his well-protected mind at the last moment.

//I must…this, no mo…pain for …ou and …friends//

It seemed the kid could steal other mutants powers as well. At least that was Logan's initial assessment of the situation. If indeed they had another Rogue on their hands then this new mutant was very vulnerable and susceptible to outside forces at the moment. The X-men had to act fast if they wished to bring this poor kid into the fold. Who knew what would happen if Mystique sank her claws into this one.

But first things first. Logan glanced around at the inside of Chuck's prized jet. The other X-men lay unconscious all around him. He could hear sirens in the distance and the Blackbird was still lying upside down in the middle of the street, where the Juggernaut had flung it.

"Why does this sort of thing always happen to me!", he grumbled as he knelt down beside Jean to shake her awake.

(…)

An average-looking businessman hurried away from the scene of the recent disturbance, panting slightly and sweating profusely. Ducking into a nearby alley, he turned a corner and dropped the empty briefcase. For a brief moment his eyes glowed a frightening golden colour and then the most amazing changes occurred throughout his person. The suit melted away to reveal a perfectly sculpted female body, the skin a dark shade of blue. The short buzz-cut flowed outwards from the now delicate scalp and settled itself into a shoulder-length feminine hairstyle composed of the most vibrant crimson locks. Her face was drop-dead gorgeous, not taking into account the cruel golden eyes or the sadistic smirk that twisted her full lips. She wore a form sitting black, leather tank top and short-cut pants, accentuating her figure as well as being practical. They were the perfect type of clothing for her line of work.

Mystique let loose a soft chuckle.

This was a very interesting development indeed.

(…)

Things were not going very well for Ranma at all. The plunge into the ice-cold lake hadn't bothered him. That he was used to. The drop from a very large height hadn't bothered him. That he was used to. Having no idea where the hell he was in a country that was not his own…didn't really bother him either. He was no Ryoga but Ranma had had more than his fair share of impromptu journeys to far and distant lands, usually against his will. No what really bothered him were the nasty side-effects of his encounter with the Fozzy-dude's noggin.

After swimming back to the shoreline, he had dragged himself up on the beach and flopped out on the sand. The pains in his head were almost completely gone by this point and his new Aquarius stone, supplied by the surprisingly helpful Happosai, had prevented his curse from activating (which had cheered him up considerably). It was only when he had gone to splash his face that he had become aware of the bizarre changes that had overcome his body. He had fur…blue fur all over. His ears were now pointy and his eyes had developed a slightly golden outline. His hair had also taken on a slightly bluish tinge. To top it off he was soaked and had lost one of his brand new gloves to the deeps.

Sighing mournfully he flopped black onto the beach, laying spread-eagled on the sand and taking a small amount of comfort from the gurgling sounds of the nearby river as it made its way sluggishly downhill to join the larger body of water before him. He could only hope that the physical changes would fade way in the same manner as the other aspects of his previous victims had.

"Damn", he muttered to himself, "First day of my new life and what do I do…get myself entangled with a whole new load of issues…what am I supposed to do now!"

Finding his new purchases, a place to live and…a school he supposed. Without the assurance of inheriting a dojo he would most definitely need an education to survive in the modern world. No matter how good he was, Ranma knew that without the qualifications no-one would accept him as a sensei. Teaching and improving upon his own personal skills in his beloved art had been his dream…his goal. Now thanks to his own genetic programming, all that had been ripped from his grasp.

No… he reminded himself… it had been his father's dream. Ranma had never had his own purpose or goals before. Genma, Soun, Akane, Nabiki, Shampoo, Cologne, Ukyo, Kodachi even… they had all pressed their own expectations upon him. Ranma had had nothing to call his own, just the Art and his own personal code of honor. The significance of this line of thought suddenly hit Ranma like a jackhammer causing him to suddenly leap to his feet.

No more!

"You hear me world!!!", he screamed at the top of his lungs, his words echoing across the empty expanse of lake before him, "I will find my own destiny, my dream, my purpose!"

Punching his fist into the air, he let out a joyful yell, turned and faded out of sight. The Umi-Sen-Ken wrapped itself around him, shielding him from the public eye as he made his way back to New York.

(…)

"You are sure about this."

"You doubt my information-gathering skills?"

"You have my support. This time there can be no failures."

Mystique smirked as she switched off the communicator. The boy would be hers, even if she had to drag him kicking and screaming into the Brotherhood.