Wild Sand Prologue
Yu-gi-oh crossover with Ranma 1/2
by Naquiel
Disclaimer - Ranma and Yu-gi-oh don't belong to me so please don't sue.
~~~~#~~~~
Chapter 0
Ranma was on the roof of the Tendo Dojo, thinking and crying. His feelings of masculinity, beaten into him for the last twelve years, were erased under the deep tide of pain and sadness. His mother, Nodaka, the one person he actually cared about, was dying. Earlier that evening she came around with Pops and told him in front of the Tendo family. He didn't cry, even if he was in his cursed form of a girl, but he did run and that, to him was almost as bad. She found him in his room and told him what was wrong while she held him in a hug, both struggling not to cry. She had a tumour, a malignant one, settled next to her heart. The doctors gave her six months, and he found later, they had said that there was an operation she could have to remove it, but the process was so tricky and experimental that it would be both risky and expensive. Nodaka simply didn't have the money and although she tried to put on a brave face and only said this indirectly Ranma had known that she was tearing up inside.
She wasn't a perfect mum, she had made many grievous errors, she had her faults and her good points, and for all of them, he loved her.
Now the tears had dried up, he could think clearly. Her mother was dying, fact; Magic existed, fact; therefore magic could be used to heal her! But what magic? Jusenkyo? A pool of drowned healthy woman used in conjunction with the Musk's curse-locking Ladle. No. Herb had no reason to help Ranma or him mother, if he did there would be a truckload of conditions. Ranma shuddered thinking what those conditions might be. He would never allow his mother to undergo what Herb and his people's way of life would demand of her! Cologne, no the same thing would apply and she had tricked him too much in the past to be trusted.
He had to face reality, his mother was dying, she had a limited time, so he would try to make what life she had left, better! He had a little money stored away from prying eyes (and hands,) he would use that cash to get his mother a nice gift and work from there.
The day after, Ranma was walking in the market place, full of hustle and bustle. He had already looked at a lot of beautiful things to get his mother, during the Saturday morning, but they just didn't feel Right! He stepped up to a deserted stall at the corner of the market place.
It had jade and gold brooches and pretty jewellery that he knew his mother would love, but what caught his eye was a gold box, roughly the size of a shoe box, with an interesting eye-like emblem. Its lid was off and to one side, so customers, like Ranma, could see inside at what appeared to be a jumbled collection of large shrapnel. He began to look at the other items on display, rings and chained necklaces, but his eyes were drawn occasionally to the box and its contents. After ten minutes of this he let out a sharp breath and asked the man, "See that box, why does it have a big load of junk in it?"
The man smiled mysteriously, "Because, honoured sir, it is not 'junk'. The pieces are pieces to a great ancient puzzle that came from Egypt. Legend say that the completed puzzle had great power and a terrible accursed evil force was bound by it!"
Ranma heard all the man said but ignored the 'legend;' most likely the man was just trying to impress.
Besides he had developed a slight sense for malicious magic because of his time in the Nerima district of Tokyo and the cursed valley of Jusenkyo, and he sensed no such power within the pieces!
"How much?" asked Ranma
"What for, honourable customer?"
Ranma thought for a moment and answered, "The box and, um, what would you recommend to give to a mother who is terminally ill?"
"I am sorry for your mothers pain, honourable customer." he picked up a bracelet made with two bands of solid gold at either end with a basket-weave of silver and copper wire with little eastern charms set in the weave. "I would suggest this, sir. I will give you this and the box for one hundred yen!"
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Only that, they look as if they would cost more!"
The man smiled sympathetically, "My own mother died very suddenly, I bought this for her before she past away. Just consider this my way of helping a person in the same dilemma that I was in."
Ranma didn't fully understand but thanked the man profusely after handing him the money. Then he walked away after saying goodbye to the kindly merchant.
Later that night Ranma was on his futon, trying to get to asleep, but something or someone was keeping him awake. Finally Ranma was tired of being tired. He felt as if his head was going to explode. He went downstairs, in the darkness as unconsciously silent as a shadow.
When he came back with a drink of milk he took out the golden box from his wardrobe, or rather under a few loose floorboards underneath it. The small space was also the present home for the bracelet.
He sat cross-legged on his futon and opened the lid. He took out the pieces and put the on his futon's blanket, he put the box top one side and scrutinised the pieces.
He picked one up and saw that it had a very slight groove running through it and that groove had a little upwards flick in it. He examined the others and found one with an identical groove with a little flick.
When he touched the grooved sides together they fused with a tiny sparkle of blue light, this didn't go unnoticed by Ranma who continued to examine them with disturbingly un-Ranma-like enthusiasm.
Ranma continued to use these little imperfections to fuse many of them, narrowing down their number from thirty, to seventeen, but then there were no more imperfections to guide him. It was then that Ranma felt IT, a instinct/voice ancient and powerful guiding his actions.
One by one the seventeen pieces were fused together into a pyramidal shape with only one piece left. Ranma held both parts in his hands, the pyramid with a half-submerged ring emerging from the square base and the front face, decorated with a eye emblem, like the one on the box. The voice disappeared leaving in its wake a slight confusion within Ranma who stared at the two segments. Somehow he knew he was being given a choice, he choose 'yes!' and brought the two segments together with finality!
He was floating in a sea of every colour. Ranma opened his eyes and saw the same as if they were closed: a sea of liquid light, emotions and thoughts given dream-form.
"Ranma," a whisper came from behind him, urgent and it's force making the sea churn in retaliation.
Ranma was anything but not curious so he turned around and the sea disappeared, before him was a different sight. There was a sea of sand that went beyond the horizon, he was on a long road that resembled the greatwall of China, it was straight and hard to tell the distance of.
It ended at a giant pyramid with the same eye emblem on the puzzle, no, scrap that, it was the puzzle but blown up to incredible proportions. The sun was behind it, shining a corona of light around the pyramid, yet despite that there were no shadows in this desert place!
"Ranma," said the figure that appeared in front of him, suddenly and without warning but not incurring a blink from dream-Ranma. "No, this isn't a dream," said the figure reading Ranma's mind. "Although this isn't reality, either. Think of this as an astral reality that comes into being when the puzzle in united and simultaneously, the puzzle becomes a conduit for that persons soul to coexist between actual existence and this astral realm."
Ranma replied, "Huh?"
The figure sighed exasperatedly and said, "Just think of it as a dream!" he sighed once more to relieve the pressure from his 'hurting' head. He had thought the one to bring the puzzle pieces together would be smart, but this boy was a dumb as you please. The figure however looked at Ranma again and re-evaluated his decision, not stupid but ignorant, actually he was quite smart, a genius even, but most of that potential was unused. If his mystic senses could tell him anything about Ranma, it was that!
"Um, who are you?" asked Ranma.
The figure bowed and became clearer to distinguish, The eyes were particularly clear and the mirror image of Ranma. That wasn't all. Gradually the figures entire body became crystal clear and sharp, and Ranma found himself looking at himself.
Well, not exactly. The figure was Ranma but he wore a 'skirt' of white linen that nearly reached the ground, it was folded with perfectly straight creases. Beneath that, he wore a pair of sandals, however above his 'skirt' and stomach, his chest was covered with a blue and gold semi-circular helm-like thing and finally his neck and head raised through the neck-hole of the gold and blue ornamentation. His hair was non-existent except for a long curtain-like fringe and a ponytail. He wore a gold cornet with a sacred snake rising from it and he had the trademark facial decoration of the Egyptians around his eyes particularly the triangle-like shape painted at the corner in blue and gold. "My name is Yami."
"Um, how are you me or um, ah, look like me?" said Ranma uncertainly.
Yami smiled a bit sadly. "I shall explain. Long ago, during the times of Ancient Egypt, the pharaohs played a game that was almost exactly like what people call Duel Monsters today. However it was played with real monster and powerful magic. The magic was so strong that it threatened to destroy the world. These games were played in a place of power, dreams and nightmares known to all as the Shadow Realm. These were the Shadow Games.
"The Shadow Ralm is a place where, well, it's more a state than a place, where all powers, magic, energies, matter, is trancended, a sort of ultimate magical power, quite beyond the imagination. The power of the Shadow Realm that goes to a mage is comparitive to their spiritual resonation with the Shadow Realm. In some cases, priests collected souls and used those souls and their own to in crease the amount of power they can access.
"However, despite this enormous power, or perhaps because of it, in order to protect the world and the rest of existence, I sealed away the power of the Shadow Games in seven millennium items."
Ranma took this in and asked a question, "Why you? I mean surely there were others that could seal the Games away?"
Yami blinked at the question, "Your taking all of this very well!"
"Yeah, well my life is allot like this. This is nothing compared to Jusenkyo, really magic mushrooms, the Wishbringer Sword, the Dragon's Whisker, the Mark of the God, etc. To me this is nothing."
"Ah, well to answer your question. My father was the Pharaoh and I grew up to become what I am, a Pharaoh Mage, just like all Pharaohs before me, merely I had the advantage of the Shadow Games and the Shadow Realm magic being in common use at the time of my youth. The reason I had to be the one was that, I was the High Shade Mage, the best duellist and Shadow Mage in the Kingdom. The reason I died was a pack of Shadow Mages who were trying to let the Shadow Games consume the world, believing they would gain power instead of torture and oblivion! Even though I died, I completed the Millennium Items in time and sealed the Shadow Realm with those Seven Keys. There was a result however, the Millennium Items each 'uploaded' a soul into them. I went into the Millennium Puzzle and others went into the other Millennium Items.
"Ranma, there is one other, very important thing, when I died a part of me was reincarnated and only my reincarnation could have resonated with the Millennium Puzzles pieces, before I began to help the resonation!"
Ranma stared at Yami, "That would mean, I am your reincarnation, but what would that mean exactly and why am I here anyway?"
Yami laughed and scratched the base of his ponytail absently, just like Ranma does when he is nervous! "Well, first, the resonation is the cause of your abnormally highly chaotic life. The curses, the magics that have crossed your way at some point or another: has been attracted by the power of you Shaow Realm resonation. Well, your being here, I guess that's my fault. You are here because the other Millennium Items are awakening or have already awakened."
"Welll, can't you be more specif, uh, clearer?"
"No, the bond the items share is weak because not all are awake, all I can tell you is at least one is still asleep and at least one is awake or beginning to rouse. You see the souls that were uploaded into the items, they can possess or fuse with the user/wearer. Possession if there is no common strong moral or spiritual trait or bond or Fusion if there is at least one strong common moral or spiritual trait or bond, with Possession going both ways, the host-soul and the Item's soul. However not all are awake, even if the item itself is, there is no guarantee that the soul contained within is. Even if both souls are good people, the dark energies contained within the Millennium Items could corrupt them. The users/wearers also have a strong compulsion to gather the items in one place under one person."
"Why?"
"Well, inside the Millennium Items there is a warping of space and time, a portal to the Shadow Realm. With this a user of one Item can take things of a certain mass limitation and shunt them into the Shadow Realm where the Items are at their strongest, they can also reverse the process, you can do it now that you are the bearer of the Millennium Puzzle.
"When these items come together their collective portals would create a rip in space where all the power of the Shadow Realm can escape from. The power first goes to the person who unites the items. They would become a god, the Items becoming one with him or her, with that power they can close the rip while retaining their power through the portals of the Millennium Items which would, by then, be existing within the new-god. But they could keep the rip open to consume the world and eventually beyond!"
"So what does that mean for me?"
"Well, we can fuse as we both have a strong spiritual bond and we share many moral similarities. If we were to unite the Items and become their ultimate guardian-god we can seal out all of the influences and powers of the Shadow Realm and together, along with the power of the god-hood, we can nullify your curse."
"What do you mean exactly by 'we'."
"Well if there is enough in the way of similarities, one or two morally common traits, the temporary fusion occurs, but when there is the amount of morally common traits that we have, the fusion would be permanent. Oh and in case your wondering, the negative influences of the Millennium Items won't effect you due to the filter that I have been creating ever since I went in the damn thing. I am very proud of it. It would even work if we fuse and get all of the items and the god-hood that would follow."
"I don't feel comfortable with that god-hood thing couldn't we just give it back and put the Items in the Shadow Realm?"
"Well, yeah, but only after we do the permanent merge. Don't want to make promises we'll regret later!" shrugged Yami. "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be?"
"Great, let's do..."
"Wait.... Now I'm ready."
And then, they woke up.
Yu-gi-oh crossover with Ranma 1/2
by Naquiel
Disclaimer - Ranma and Yu-gi-oh don't belong to me so please don't sue.
~~~~#~~~~
Chapter 0
Ranma was on the roof of the Tendo Dojo, thinking and crying. His feelings of masculinity, beaten into him for the last twelve years, were erased under the deep tide of pain and sadness. His mother, Nodaka, the one person he actually cared about, was dying. Earlier that evening she came around with Pops and told him in front of the Tendo family. He didn't cry, even if he was in his cursed form of a girl, but he did run and that, to him was almost as bad. She found him in his room and told him what was wrong while she held him in a hug, both struggling not to cry. She had a tumour, a malignant one, settled next to her heart. The doctors gave her six months, and he found later, they had said that there was an operation she could have to remove it, but the process was so tricky and experimental that it would be both risky and expensive. Nodaka simply didn't have the money and although she tried to put on a brave face and only said this indirectly Ranma had known that she was tearing up inside.
She wasn't a perfect mum, she had made many grievous errors, she had her faults and her good points, and for all of them, he loved her.
Now the tears had dried up, he could think clearly. Her mother was dying, fact; Magic existed, fact; therefore magic could be used to heal her! But what magic? Jusenkyo? A pool of drowned healthy woman used in conjunction with the Musk's curse-locking Ladle. No. Herb had no reason to help Ranma or him mother, if he did there would be a truckload of conditions. Ranma shuddered thinking what those conditions might be. He would never allow his mother to undergo what Herb and his people's way of life would demand of her! Cologne, no the same thing would apply and she had tricked him too much in the past to be trusted.
He had to face reality, his mother was dying, she had a limited time, so he would try to make what life she had left, better! He had a little money stored away from prying eyes (and hands,) he would use that cash to get his mother a nice gift and work from there.
The day after, Ranma was walking in the market place, full of hustle and bustle. He had already looked at a lot of beautiful things to get his mother, during the Saturday morning, but they just didn't feel Right! He stepped up to a deserted stall at the corner of the market place.
It had jade and gold brooches and pretty jewellery that he knew his mother would love, but what caught his eye was a gold box, roughly the size of a shoe box, with an interesting eye-like emblem. Its lid was off and to one side, so customers, like Ranma, could see inside at what appeared to be a jumbled collection of large shrapnel. He began to look at the other items on display, rings and chained necklaces, but his eyes were drawn occasionally to the box and its contents. After ten minutes of this he let out a sharp breath and asked the man, "See that box, why does it have a big load of junk in it?"
The man smiled mysteriously, "Because, honoured sir, it is not 'junk'. The pieces are pieces to a great ancient puzzle that came from Egypt. Legend say that the completed puzzle had great power and a terrible accursed evil force was bound by it!"
Ranma heard all the man said but ignored the 'legend;' most likely the man was just trying to impress.
Besides he had developed a slight sense for malicious magic because of his time in the Nerima district of Tokyo and the cursed valley of Jusenkyo, and he sensed no such power within the pieces!
"How much?" asked Ranma
"What for, honourable customer?"
Ranma thought for a moment and answered, "The box and, um, what would you recommend to give to a mother who is terminally ill?"
"I am sorry for your mothers pain, honourable customer." he picked up a bracelet made with two bands of solid gold at either end with a basket-weave of silver and copper wire with little eastern charms set in the weave. "I would suggest this, sir. I will give you this and the box for one hundred yen!"
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Only that, they look as if they would cost more!"
The man smiled sympathetically, "My own mother died very suddenly, I bought this for her before she past away. Just consider this my way of helping a person in the same dilemma that I was in."
Ranma didn't fully understand but thanked the man profusely after handing him the money. Then he walked away after saying goodbye to the kindly merchant.
Later that night Ranma was on his futon, trying to get to asleep, but something or someone was keeping him awake. Finally Ranma was tired of being tired. He felt as if his head was going to explode. He went downstairs, in the darkness as unconsciously silent as a shadow.
When he came back with a drink of milk he took out the golden box from his wardrobe, or rather under a few loose floorboards underneath it. The small space was also the present home for the bracelet.
He sat cross-legged on his futon and opened the lid. He took out the pieces and put the on his futon's blanket, he put the box top one side and scrutinised the pieces.
He picked one up and saw that it had a very slight groove running through it and that groove had a little upwards flick in it. He examined the others and found one with an identical groove with a little flick.
When he touched the grooved sides together they fused with a tiny sparkle of blue light, this didn't go unnoticed by Ranma who continued to examine them with disturbingly un-Ranma-like enthusiasm.
Ranma continued to use these little imperfections to fuse many of them, narrowing down their number from thirty, to seventeen, but then there were no more imperfections to guide him. It was then that Ranma felt IT, a instinct/voice ancient and powerful guiding his actions.
One by one the seventeen pieces were fused together into a pyramidal shape with only one piece left. Ranma held both parts in his hands, the pyramid with a half-submerged ring emerging from the square base and the front face, decorated with a eye emblem, like the one on the box. The voice disappeared leaving in its wake a slight confusion within Ranma who stared at the two segments. Somehow he knew he was being given a choice, he choose 'yes!' and brought the two segments together with finality!
He was floating in a sea of every colour. Ranma opened his eyes and saw the same as if they were closed: a sea of liquid light, emotions and thoughts given dream-form.
"Ranma," a whisper came from behind him, urgent and it's force making the sea churn in retaliation.
Ranma was anything but not curious so he turned around and the sea disappeared, before him was a different sight. There was a sea of sand that went beyond the horizon, he was on a long road that resembled the greatwall of China, it was straight and hard to tell the distance of.
It ended at a giant pyramid with the same eye emblem on the puzzle, no, scrap that, it was the puzzle but blown up to incredible proportions. The sun was behind it, shining a corona of light around the pyramid, yet despite that there were no shadows in this desert place!
"Ranma," said the figure that appeared in front of him, suddenly and without warning but not incurring a blink from dream-Ranma. "No, this isn't a dream," said the figure reading Ranma's mind. "Although this isn't reality, either. Think of this as an astral reality that comes into being when the puzzle in united and simultaneously, the puzzle becomes a conduit for that persons soul to coexist between actual existence and this astral realm."
Ranma replied, "Huh?"
The figure sighed exasperatedly and said, "Just think of it as a dream!" he sighed once more to relieve the pressure from his 'hurting' head. He had thought the one to bring the puzzle pieces together would be smart, but this boy was a dumb as you please. The figure however looked at Ranma again and re-evaluated his decision, not stupid but ignorant, actually he was quite smart, a genius even, but most of that potential was unused. If his mystic senses could tell him anything about Ranma, it was that!
"Um, who are you?" asked Ranma.
The figure bowed and became clearer to distinguish, The eyes were particularly clear and the mirror image of Ranma. That wasn't all. Gradually the figures entire body became crystal clear and sharp, and Ranma found himself looking at himself.
Well, not exactly. The figure was Ranma but he wore a 'skirt' of white linen that nearly reached the ground, it was folded with perfectly straight creases. Beneath that, he wore a pair of sandals, however above his 'skirt' and stomach, his chest was covered with a blue and gold semi-circular helm-like thing and finally his neck and head raised through the neck-hole of the gold and blue ornamentation. His hair was non-existent except for a long curtain-like fringe and a ponytail. He wore a gold cornet with a sacred snake rising from it and he had the trademark facial decoration of the Egyptians around his eyes particularly the triangle-like shape painted at the corner in blue and gold. "My name is Yami."
"Um, how are you me or um, ah, look like me?" said Ranma uncertainly.
Yami smiled a bit sadly. "I shall explain. Long ago, during the times of Ancient Egypt, the pharaohs played a game that was almost exactly like what people call Duel Monsters today. However it was played with real monster and powerful magic. The magic was so strong that it threatened to destroy the world. These games were played in a place of power, dreams and nightmares known to all as the Shadow Realm. These were the Shadow Games.
"The Shadow Ralm is a place where, well, it's more a state than a place, where all powers, magic, energies, matter, is trancended, a sort of ultimate magical power, quite beyond the imagination. The power of the Shadow Realm that goes to a mage is comparitive to their spiritual resonation with the Shadow Realm. In some cases, priests collected souls and used those souls and their own to in crease the amount of power they can access.
"However, despite this enormous power, or perhaps because of it, in order to protect the world and the rest of existence, I sealed away the power of the Shadow Games in seven millennium items."
Ranma took this in and asked a question, "Why you? I mean surely there were others that could seal the Games away?"
Yami blinked at the question, "Your taking all of this very well!"
"Yeah, well my life is allot like this. This is nothing compared to Jusenkyo, really magic mushrooms, the Wishbringer Sword, the Dragon's Whisker, the Mark of the God, etc. To me this is nothing."
"Ah, well to answer your question. My father was the Pharaoh and I grew up to become what I am, a Pharaoh Mage, just like all Pharaohs before me, merely I had the advantage of the Shadow Games and the Shadow Realm magic being in common use at the time of my youth. The reason I had to be the one was that, I was the High Shade Mage, the best duellist and Shadow Mage in the Kingdom. The reason I died was a pack of Shadow Mages who were trying to let the Shadow Games consume the world, believing they would gain power instead of torture and oblivion! Even though I died, I completed the Millennium Items in time and sealed the Shadow Realm with those Seven Keys. There was a result however, the Millennium Items each 'uploaded' a soul into them. I went into the Millennium Puzzle and others went into the other Millennium Items.
"Ranma, there is one other, very important thing, when I died a part of me was reincarnated and only my reincarnation could have resonated with the Millennium Puzzles pieces, before I began to help the resonation!"
Ranma stared at Yami, "That would mean, I am your reincarnation, but what would that mean exactly and why am I here anyway?"
Yami laughed and scratched the base of his ponytail absently, just like Ranma does when he is nervous! "Well, first, the resonation is the cause of your abnormally highly chaotic life. The curses, the magics that have crossed your way at some point or another: has been attracted by the power of you Shaow Realm resonation. Well, your being here, I guess that's my fault. You are here because the other Millennium Items are awakening or have already awakened."
"Welll, can't you be more specif, uh, clearer?"
"No, the bond the items share is weak because not all are awake, all I can tell you is at least one is still asleep and at least one is awake or beginning to rouse. You see the souls that were uploaded into the items, they can possess or fuse with the user/wearer. Possession if there is no common strong moral or spiritual trait or bond or Fusion if there is at least one strong common moral or spiritual trait or bond, with Possession going both ways, the host-soul and the Item's soul. However not all are awake, even if the item itself is, there is no guarantee that the soul contained within is. Even if both souls are good people, the dark energies contained within the Millennium Items could corrupt them. The users/wearers also have a strong compulsion to gather the items in one place under one person."
"Why?"
"Well, inside the Millennium Items there is a warping of space and time, a portal to the Shadow Realm. With this a user of one Item can take things of a certain mass limitation and shunt them into the Shadow Realm where the Items are at their strongest, they can also reverse the process, you can do it now that you are the bearer of the Millennium Puzzle.
"When these items come together their collective portals would create a rip in space where all the power of the Shadow Realm can escape from. The power first goes to the person who unites the items. They would become a god, the Items becoming one with him or her, with that power they can close the rip while retaining their power through the portals of the Millennium Items which would, by then, be existing within the new-god. But they could keep the rip open to consume the world and eventually beyond!"
"So what does that mean for me?"
"Well, we can fuse as we both have a strong spiritual bond and we share many moral similarities. If we were to unite the Items and become their ultimate guardian-god we can seal out all of the influences and powers of the Shadow Realm and together, along with the power of the god-hood, we can nullify your curse."
"What do you mean exactly by 'we'."
"Well if there is enough in the way of similarities, one or two morally common traits, the temporary fusion occurs, but when there is the amount of morally common traits that we have, the fusion would be permanent. Oh and in case your wondering, the negative influences of the Millennium Items won't effect you due to the filter that I have been creating ever since I went in the damn thing. I am very proud of it. It would even work if we fuse and get all of the items and the god-hood that would follow."
"I don't feel comfortable with that god-hood thing couldn't we just give it back and put the Items in the Shadow Realm?"
"Well, yeah, but only after we do the permanent merge. Don't want to make promises we'll regret later!" shrugged Yami. "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be?"
"Great, let's do..."
"Wait.... Now I'm ready."
And then, they woke up.