Echoes in Time
Intro Summary & Prologue (v1.03, 04/29/03)
By AllWhacked
Send C&C to [email protected]
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/
--- Disclaimer ---
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz
Communications (USA). All other characters and trademarks to appear
belong to their respective owners. Note that this work of fiction is
for free entertainment purposes only. No compensation has been or will
be received.
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank
You.
--- Acknowledgements ---
My writing was inspired by the works of: Shade's Private Bet #10,
various works by Greg Sharp and Jared Ornstead, Jeffery "One-Shot" Wong,
and Hung Nguyen. This particular fic was dreamt up after reading Jared
Ornstead's, Mirror's Multiplied and thinking of what would happen if-
-after using the Nanban Mirror to travel back to China--Ranma was left
behind.
--- Note to the Reader ---
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic that will crossover and
fuse elements from different anime, movie and book genres. Readers
should note that this will NOT be a Ranma and Akane match up. Consider
yourself warned.
--- Summary ---
The story takes place at the end of the Nanban Mirror episode (anime
only), in which Happossai, Cologne, Ranma, Shampoo, Akane, Genma and
Soun are magically transported back to Cologne's ancestral village
(approximately 300 years in the past, though I'm going to use 400 to
match up with historical events that I want Ranma to be apart of). In
the anime, it is revealed that when Happossai went to China to train
(and eventually develop Anything Goes Martial Arts), he visits Cologne's
ancestral village. There the two meet and it is later revealed that the
young-Happossai has feelings for the young-Cologne and vice versa,
however neither knows that the other has those same feelings.
When Akane and Shampoo learn of this, they take it upon themselves to
play matchmaker and come up with the plan to each write notes to the
lovebirds--a note written in Chinese to Cologne and another note written
in Japanese to Happossai--inviting the other to meet at a
seclude/romantic lake nearby. The young-Cologne immediately sees
through this ruse (realizing that Happossai does not know how to write
Chinese) and decides not to go to the lake since the letter is not
sincerely from her beloved "Happy."
In contrast, the young-Happossai does not see through the plot right
away, but before he can go to meet his beloved the old-Happossai ties
him up and makes for the lake. In any case, the young-Happossai
eventually escapes and attempts to make his way towards the lake, but
through this process draws upon the realization that, like Cologne, his
note could not have been written by his love since she didn't know how
to write in Japanese. By this time, Happossai rushes off to Cologne's
house where he sees her and Ranma at the dinner table.
Due to misunderstandings, Happossai thinks that Ranma is making moves on
his woman and violence ensues. Ranma is initially able to beat up on
Happossai, but Cologne intervenes and the two (Happossai and Cologne)
realize they love each other and the two run up to hug one another.
However, before this romantic embrace could occur, Happossai's true
nature surfaces and he latches himself to the bosom of another female
villager. This pisses the young-Cologne off and leads to Happossai
being driven out of town, but not before he can make off with valuable
items from the village (ie. the Nanban Mirror).
At this point, the story diverges from canon where instead of being sent
back to the present, Ranma Saotome is left stranded four hundred years
in the past. Now he is stuck in the middle of Imperial China with
little knowledge of the language, culture, or people. And with no
friends or family to call upon, however will he hope to survive? To
find out, read on.
--- Prologue: The Boy Who Cried Tomboy ---
"..." = spoken speech
'...' = thoughts
--- Start ---
*** Late 16th Century - Joketsuzoku, China ***
"I can't believe you, you pervert! I leave you alone for only thirty
minutes and you're already flirting with another girl. And with Cologne
of all people, that's just damn disgusting."
"Akane, you know it's not like that," spoke the girl's fiancé. "I
wasn't flirting with nobody. The runt just saw us together and jumped
to conclusions is all. You can't blame me for that!"
"I can't blame you!?" she replied in retort. "Do you think I'm blind or
something? You think I'm an idiot like you? I saw everything. You
were flirting with Cologne. Happossai even caught you two." Akane
Tendo shivered at the thought. "That's so damn disgusting!"
Akane's fiancé gave her a harsh glare. Ranma Saotome hated being called
an idiot; he hated it even more when Akane called him a pervert. But
what really got his blood boiling was when his fiancée tried to falsely
accuse him of something, whether it was flirting with other girls or for
picking on Ryoga.
His knuckles turned sheer white with clenched anger. 'Blind!? Blind
she says.' He couldn't help but think of the irony in Akane's words.
'She's either blind or a god damn liar!' he vehemently thought.
He turned his head away from her and eyed in the distance the fading
form of the young-Happossai. The runt was being chased out of town by a
troupe of angry female villagers and at its lead Ranma could see the
faint outlines of the young-Cologne. For a brief moment the time
traveling martial artist actually pitied the Old Freak. He then shook
his head, seeing first hand the damage caused by his two fiancées as
they tried to play cupid.
'Feh!' he thought. 'If it was meant to be, then the Old Ghoul and the
Freak would have gotten together already... Stupid girls, what the hell
were they thinking? Did they want to create some sort of time paradox
or something?'
He pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel an impending migraine
coming. He took a deep breath. He was getting over excited and right
now, if he wanted to avoid a fight with Akane, he needed to keep his
cool. Ranma then began to recite a calming mantra to clear his mind.
'Serenity now, serenity now...'
He closed his eyes as he tried to imagine his happy place. A goofy
smirk played across his lips as he pictured his fiancée now smiling at
him, dressed simply in a yellow summer dress with a matching hat and in
her short black hair, a white colored orchid. The girl in his mind
stood there for a brief moment and gave him a smile and a wink--she was
absolutely beautiful.
The image quickly faded though when he heard Akane snap at him with a
question.
"Are you even listening to me!?" she fumed. Akane looked to Ranma and
saw his blank stare, then saw him briefly smile as she questioned him
about what he had been doing with Cologne. She frowned ever so slightly
and then scowled as she took Ranma's smile as admittance to his accused
acts of infidelity.
"You pervert! You WERE flirting with her weren't you?!"
Ranma looked a little stunned for a moment, but upon seeing Akane's
murderous glare he returned the look with the same intensity and
responded with a hiss. "Would you just shut up you THICKHEADED-UNCUTE-
TOMBOY! I was just think'in of something important and now--"
*POW!*
The punch was thrown without warning and caught Ranma off guard,
knocking him up and back a few feet. With stars in his eyes he vaguely
heard Happossai speak.
*Sniff*
"I just want to go back home," cried the old man.
Happossai had just watched his younger self blow his relationship with
Cologne and get driven out of town. It was a depressing sight and so
without checking to see if everyone was ready, a tear had already
escaped to activate the mirror's magic. There was a blinding flash and
Ranma looked up. Where his family and friends once stood, they in an
instant were gone.
"Ah fuck!" murmured Ranma. He in two simple little words summed up his
current situation perfectly.
--- End Prologue ---
Intro Summary & Prologue (v1.03, 04/29/03)
By AllWhacked
Send C&C to [email protected]
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/
--- Disclaimer ---
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz
Communications (USA). All other characters and trademarks to appear
belong to their respective owners. Note that this work of fiction is
for free entertainment purposes only. No compensation has been or will
be received.
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank
You.
--- Acknowledgements ---
My writing was inspired by the works of: Shade's Private Bet #10,
various works by Greg Sharp and Jared Ornstead, Jeffery "One-Shot" Wong,
and Hung Nguyen. This particular fic was dreamt up after reading Jared
Ornstead's, Mirror's Multiplied and thinking of what would happen if-
-after using the Nanban Mirror to travel back to China--Ranma was left
behind.
--- Note to the Reader ---
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic that will crossover and
fuse elements from different anime, movie and book genres. Readers
should note that this will NOT be a Ranma and Akane match up. Consider
yourself warned.
--- Summary ---
The story takes place at the end of the Nanban Mirror episode (anime
only), in which Happossai, Cologne, Ranma, Shampoo, Akane, Genma and
Soun are magically transported back to Cologne's ancestral village
(approximately 300 years in the past, though I'm going to use 400 to
match up with historical events that I want Ranma to be apart of). In
the anime, it is revealed that when Happossai went to China to train
(and eventually develop Anything Goes Martial Arts), he visits Cologne's
ancestral village. There the two meet and it is later revealed that the
young-Happossai has feelings for the young-Cologne and vice versa,
however neither knows that the other has those same feelings.
When Akane and Shampoo learn of this, they take it upon themselves to
play matchmaker and come up with the plan to each write notes to the
lovebirds--a note written in Chinese to Cologne and another note written
in Japanese to Happossai--inviting the other to meet at a
seclude/romantic lake nearby. The young-Cologne immediately sees
through this ruse (realizing that Happossai does not know how to write
Chinese) and decides not to go to the lake since the letter is not
sincerely from her beloved "Happy."
In contrast, the young-Happossai does not see through the plot right
away, but before he can go to meet his beloved the old-Happossai ties
him up and makes for the lake. In any case, the young-Happossai
eventually escapes and attempts to make his way towards the lake, but
through this process draws upon the realization that, like Cologne, his
note could not have been written by his love since she didn't know how
to write in Japanese. By this time, Happossai rushes off to Cologne's
house where he sees her and Ranma at the dinner table.
Due to misunderstandings, Happossai thinks that Ranma is making moves on
his woman and violence ensues. Ranma is initially able to beat up on
Happossai, but Cologne intervenes and the two (Happossai and Cologne)
realize they love each other and the two run up to hug one another.
However, before this romantic embrace could occur, Happossai's true
nature surfaces and he latches himself to the bosom of another female
villager. This pisses the young-Cologne off and leads to Happossai
being driven out of town, but not before he can make off with valuable
items from the village (ie. the Nanban Mirror).
At this point, the story diverges from canon where instead of being sent
back to the present, Ranma Saotome is left stranded four hundred years
in the past. Now he is stuck in the middle of Imperial China with
little knowledge of the language, culture, or people. And with no
friends or family to call upon, however will he hope to survive? To
find out, read on.
--- Prologue: The Boy Who Cried Tomboy ---
"..." = spoken speech
'...' = thoughts
--- Start ---
*** Late 16th Century - Joketsuzoku, China ***
"I can't believe you, you pervert! I leave you alone for only thirty
minutes and you're already flirting with another girl. And with Cologne
of all people, that's just damn disgusting."
"Akane, you know it's not like that," spoke the girl's fiancé. "I
wasn't flirting with nobody. The runt just saw us together and jumped
to conclusions is all. You can't blame me for that!"
"I can't blame you!?" she replied in retort. "Do you think I'm blind or
something? You think I'm an idiot like you? I saw everything. You
were flirting with Cologne. Happossai even caught you two." Akane
Tendo shivered at the thought. "That's so damn disgusting!"
Akane's fiancé gave her a harsh glare. Ranma Saotome hated being called
an idiot; he hated it even more when Akane called him a pervert. But
what really got his blood boiling was when his fiancée tried to falsely
accuse him of something, whether it was flirting with other girls or for
picking on Ryoga.
His knuckles turned sheer white with clenched anger. 'Blind!? Blind
she says.' He couldn't help but think of the irony in Akane's words.
'She's either blind or a god damn liar!' he vehemently thought.
He turned his head away from her and eyed in the distance the fading
form of the young-Happossai. The runt was being chased out of town by a
troupe of angry female villagers and at its lead Ranma could see the
faint outlines of the young-Cologne. For a brief moment the time
traveling martial artist actually pitied the Old Freak. He then shook
his head, seeing first hand the damage caused by his two fiancées as
they tried to play cupid.
'Feh!' he thought. 'If it was meant to be, then the Old Ghoul and the
Freak would have gotten together already... Stupid girls, what the hell
were they thinking? Did they want to create some sort of time paradox
or something?'
He pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel an impending migraine
coming. He took a deep breath. He was getting over excited and right
now, if he wanted to avoid a fight with Akane, he needed to keep his
cool. Ranma then began to recite a calming mantra to clear his mind.
'Serenity now, serenity now...'
He closed his eyes as he tried to imagine his happy place. A goofy
smirk played across his lips as he pictured his fiancée now smiling at
him, dressed simply in a yellow summer dress with a matching hat and in
her short black hair, a white colored orchid. The girl in his mind
stood there for a brief moment and gave him a smile and a wink--she was
absolutely beautiful.
The image quickly faded though when he heard Akane snap at him with a
question.
"Are you even listening to me!?" she fumed. Akane looked to Ranma and
saw his blank stare, then saw him briefly smile as she questioned him
about what he had been doing with Cologne. She frowned ever so slightly
and then scowled as she took Ranma's smile as admittance to his accused
acts of infidelity.
"You pervert! You WERE flirting with her weren't you?!"
Ranma looked a little stunned for a moment, but upon seeing Akane's
murderous glare he returned the look with the same intensity and
responded with a hiss. "Would you just shut up you THICKHEADED-UNCUTE-
TOMBOY! I was just think'in of something important and now--"
*POW!*
The punch was thrown without warning and caught Ranma off guard,
knocking him up and back a few feet. With stars in his eyes he vaguely
heard Happossai speak.
*Sniff*
"I just want to go back home," cried the old man.
Happossai had just watched his younger self blow his relationship with
Cologne and get driven out of town. It was a depressing sight and so
without checking to see if everyone was ready, a tear had already
escaped to activate the mirror's magic. There was a blinding flash and
Ranma looked up. Where his family and friends once stood, they in an
instant were gone.
"Ah fuck!" murmured Ranma. He in two simple little words summed up his
current situation perfectly.
--- End Prologue ---