War of the World Tree Prologue (Ranma 1/2 x Sword Art Online)
Grounders10
Nine-Tailed Kitsune
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada, Mars
Kirito adjusted the strap holding his greatsword in place. The downside of highly accurate physics in a VRMMO was that many issues you'd see in reality, such as leather straps getting loose, could in fact happen if you didn't pay attention. It was one of the lessons any veteran of Sword Art Online had internalized as they carved a path to freedom up the many floors of Aincrad. The small act was one of many that helped focus him on the upcoming fight.
"Ready?" he asked the blonde beauty to his right. It felt a bit weird knowing that the girl he'd teamed up with to make the journey to the World Tree had been his cousin Suguha. Well, more than weird given her love confession earlier. Still, he could ignore that for now. Asuna needed him.
Leafa, as Suguha was known in ALO, nodded. "Yeah," she said quietly. The boy on the other side of her nodded. Kirito didn't know much about Recon, but if Suguha trusted him, then he would too.
Kirito looked up at the massive stone gate that led into the World Tree. It was flanked on either side by stone statues of Alf warriors, their thin wings spread wide behind them as they had their swords planted before them. As much as the statues and the gate towered over them, it was nothing compared to the World Tree itself. Yggdrasil as it was called was taller than some of the mountains he could see. It was so tall that just trying to fly up it would see a player's flight time run out long before they got close to even the lowest branch.
"Papa."
Kirito paused, his hand outstretched for the door. He glanced to his shoulder where the pixie form of his daughter Yui sat. "Yes, Yui?" he asked, noticing the worried expression on her face.
"There's something-" his daughter started to say when a voice bellowed from… everywhere. It was the sky, the stones, the very air around them, even their clothes and weapons. The world shuddered as it spoke, each syllable echoing through stone and air with equal measure.
"WHAT IS IT SAYING?" He asked loudly.
"... IT'S IN LATIN, PAPA!" Yui replied. "... IT SAYS '.... AND TO THE WORLD OF LIFE ELOPE, OH SECRET WORLD. OH HIDDEN WORLD, I CALL THEE! LET THY NATURE BECOME ONE WITH THE WORLD SO OPEN.' PAPA, LOG OFF NOW, THE SERVERS ARE-"
A crack ran up the front gate of the World Tree in an instant. Not a crack in the stone, but in the facade of the existence constructed by the system. The cracks spread into the air, the stone and the tree itself. Behind them shouting picked up and Kirito glanced back over his shoulder. His breath caught in his throat.
In the distance, the city of Arun, the largest of the towns around the World Tree, was engulfed in the same failure of existence. Great chasms of darkness, just like the bug which had tossed him into the forest when he first logged into the game, were spreading through the town. As he watched a massive cathedral-like structure cracked and bent as reality parted across its side.
It was a cascading failure of the game engine.
"LOG OUT, SUGU, RECON!" Kirito shouted, "YUI GET OUT!" He put words to action and swiped his left hand, feeling ill as he did so. On his shoulder Yui flashed out of existence, hopefully seeking shelter on his computer somewhere. His finger descended towards the logout button-
Only to freeze, his entire body motionless as the colour bled out of the world. Then it shattered, collapsing like a million pieces of a broken mirror and the vague sensation of falling hit him. He screamed as he plummeted down into an abyss through which he kept falling until, abruptly, there was light and he passed straight into it-
Kirigaya Kazuto sat straight up in his bed like he'd been shocked. One hand went to his chest to feel his beating heart. He let out a breath as he found it. He'd never experienced a full system crash in VR before. That was completely terrifying.
He couldn't help but smirk, however, as he considered the possibility that this had freed Asuna. It really depended on how the server architecture worked but… His smirk died. There was also the possibility of this triggering SAO's fail state. They had never encountered a bug in SAO, let alone suffered a complete server failure. In many ways that had been as impressive as the world itself. It was a pity such polish had been wasted on a death game…
But it meant that there was a possibility, a larger possibility than Kirigaya Kazuto would have liked to admit, that this crash had just killed Asuna. Did he have time to run over and check on her? Or should he just reboot his nerve gear and check to see if the ALO servers were back online? There was something he was missing though… Oh.
"Yui!" He ripped the VR interface off his head, rolled out of bed to his feet and-
"PAPA!"
Was promptly tackled back onto the bed by a ten-year-old girl with black hair and pointed ears wearing a white sundress. He stared. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible.
"Yui?" he asked after a few moments.
"Mhmm, Papa, where are we?" she asked, her eyes wide with worry. He noted that they were closer to the eyes and face she had as a pixie than as the small girl in SAO. She even had the ears.
Kazuto looked around. It looked like his room, but his greatsword was leaning against the end of his bed for some reason. The one that had been on his back right before the crash… Or was it a crash? "My room, I think, but… we can't be if you're here," he said.
Yui frowned and closed her eyes in concentration. "I feel… something, Papa, but… this is strange. I- I don't feel like I'm connected to a server. There's- Papa, there's nothing to communicate with," she said, opening her eyes to stare at him with worry. He wrapped her in a hug as she shivered.
"KAZUTO!" A familiar female voice shouted from elsewhere in the house.
"That was Sugu," he said, gently moving Yui from his lap to the bed. Something sounded off about her voice. He couldn't quite place it.
Somewhere in the distance, a police siren started wailing, followed by dozens of others.
He was halfway to the door when it burst open and through it came not Suguha, but Leafa. "KAAAZUTO!" She shouted, stumbling to a stop as she saw him.
"Leafa?" he said. It was a bit dim in his room, lit as it was by the glow of his computer, but he thought she looked different. More real somehow. There had always been a slight dream-like quality to the VR experiences of the Nerve Gear. Nothing truly uncanny, but the colours popped a little more and things felt a little less present. The side effects of the tech intended to keep otherwise painful experiences -- such as being run through with a sword -- from being more than mere irritations in the process of having fun. Pain absorbers deadened injuries, but they also diluted the sense of touch. Eyes weren't perfect at processing images, but your mind could make them more vivid than reality.
Little things.
Little things missing from his sister's avatar.
"Kirito?" she replied, her own voice confused.
"Why-" Kazuto shook his head. She wouldn't know any better than he did. "Are you alright?" he asked instead.
"Does this look alright?" her voice was a little shrill, "Kirito we both look like our characters! Does this seem fine to you?"
He blinked. He looked like his…?
He glanced down at himself for the first time since waking up. He stared then reached up and touched his clothes. They were real. He was wearing the black long coat he'd picked up on their journey.
Air raid sirens started shrieking. He looked up at Leafa, then down at Yui who stared at both of them with a look of worry, then out the window. Swallowing his nerves, Kirito walked over to the window and slid the blinds back. He took two steps back.
It was hard to see in the darkness, but at the same time, it was impossible to miss. Far in the distance stood a tree. Its trunk reached into the sky like a pillar holding up the heavens themselves. It loomed over Tokyo, its roots visible weaving through a broken skyline.
It was the World Tree. It was Yggdrasil.
BANG.
There were many people in Nerima given to outbursts of rage or grand gestures of revenge. From ancient martial arts masters to shopkeepers to high school principals, at times it seemed like nearly everyone in Nerima was just waiting for an excuse to fly off the handle in grand and glorious fashion.
"Me! I spent a year working on getting that position!"
Bang.
Gosunkugi Hikaru was just one such person. Short, gaunt-faced without so much as a hint of muscle on his scrawny frame, he was often overlooked and when he wasn't, he was often bullied. By the local gangs, by the pretty girls in school, by the children at the local park… by his parent's new kitten.
He would insist that thing was evil until the day he died.
But he had a way out of all that. Out of being Gosunkugi 'Chew Toy' Hikaru. Alfheim Online, the latest greatest, really only viable, VRMMO on the market. He'd spent the last year since it launched playing under the alias of Sigurd. As Sigurd, he couldn't have been less like Gosunkugi. He was tall, handsome, influential and people noticed him. They listened to his words and followed his lead. He had power for once in his life.
And now it was all gone.
He gritted his teeth and barely restrained the urge to take another swing at the nail he had just hammered into the damp, moist earth of the park. Instead, he retrieved his roll of twine, supposedly made from the hair of a Jorogumo though he had his doubts. Still, it was the most magical twine he had access to and he needed everything he could get for this one.
He'd spent years researching, experimenting, attempting, and just plain failing at magic. But this time would be different. This time, he would have his revenge.
It was nighttime, slightly overcast but the moon was currently clear of obstruction. He needed to hurry otherwise it would be obstructed and that could impact the strength of this ritual. He worked quickly, ignoring the distant sounds of fighting a few blocks away with the practiced ease of a long-time resident of Nerima. What little of him paid mind to it noted that there seemed to be a preponderance of ki blasts being exchanged. It was a little bit unusual, rarely did anyone engage in more than a couple before resorting once again to fists.
Still, he ignored it as he uncapped a jar of glittering powder. Fairy Dust, he'd been told in the back alley pawn shop. It certainly wasn't normal glitter. He'd run a geiger counter over it just to be sure and it hadn't gone off so he was sure it wasn't radioactive. If it was Fairy Dust then it was perfect for his plans. Real Fairy Dust to channel the intent behind Alfheim Online.
He let out a soft cackle. This would work and then he'd show them all just what kind of sorcerer he was.
Gosunkugi shook out the powder in a careful circle around the rest of the ritual.
Behind his back, the top of a distant building turned to ice for a brief moment before being abruptly restored to normal. Flickers of light lanced back and forth between high rises in all the colours of the rainbow, still behind his back up to the east now as he walked the circle.
Finishing, he checked his cell phone. He'd had to talk his parents into getting him a phone. It was basically mandatory for keeping up to date on the news as the chief assistant to Sakuya. Now it was basically just a prop. Nearly all his contacts had been Sylphs and thanks to his actions as Sigurd none of them wanted a thing to do with him. The less said about the Salamanders the better. Their faction wanted nothing to do with a public failure.
Well who cared about them? ALO was a game, a pastime to keep him from dwelling on Nerima. It stopped him from thinking about the jerks who paraded about with super martial arts constantly stringing women along! He'd show them!
His cackling was a bit less quiet this time but still drowned out by the fighting behind him. He cleared his throat and rechecked his phone. Yeah, he needed to do this now. If he was much later he'd probably be grounded for staying out late.
He stepped into the center of the tangled web of twine and Fairy Dust and drew from his messenger bag his copy of ALO and the hard drive he had been using to run it. Pulling a silver steak knife from his pocket he carefully sliced open his finger, wincing at the pain, before marking both the hard drive and the box with symbols of fresh blood.
That done he set them down then stepped away to the outside of the circle once more. Positioning himself on the north side, conveniently turning his back just in time to miss a small tornado briefly took over the sky behind him, and raised his hands to the sky.
The words he spoke could have been old, or could have been new. Sourced as they were from a shiny leather bound book his father brought back from a business trip to New York City. Yet what they did was work. As his words, spoken loudly with the slight shrill of excitement, rang out across the clearing the twine began to sparkle. The dust around the edge glittered and the world fell away as for the first time in years, though not the first time ever, Gosunkugi felt something respond to his chanting.
The gaunt boy could barely keep a grin off his face as the words dripped from his lips onto the fabric of the world. The sounds of battle in the distance fell away and there was just him and the magic.
Ranma Saotome rarely got a day, or night, off from the chaos of his life. Fiancees, rivals, random ghosts, really it could be anything. Rarely was it something he had directly precipitated. Usually, he got caught up in shenanigans started by others. Either aimed at him or those around him. Today was not one of those days.
"You want me to stay home tonight?" Ranma asked, staring at the two-foot-tall old woman sitting at the end of the table with surprise. He was sitting next to his mother, with his father beside Mr. Tendo on his mother's other side. Akane was across from him with her sisters. She looked about as in disbelief as he was. How often did they get told to stay out of things?
"That's correct," Cologne said, taking a sip of the tea the eldest Tendo daughter, Kasumi, had poured her. "I'm afraid tonight is a convergence of several celestial bodies that is empowering a number of ley lines within the city. I've been informed by several groups that they intend to make use of the opportunity to conduct rituals."
"Oh my," Kasumi said, "I hope they can all get along."
"Since when are we that lucky?" Ranma asked sarcastically. Akane nodded her agreement.
"Indeed, there is little expectation for any of them to be happy about the presence of others," Cologne said, "There is only enough time for a single ritual and you cannot conduct multiple rituals at a single site. They are quite likely to come to blows and anyone caught out and about will be at risk of getting dragged in. While I'm sure son-in-law can manage just fine, there is always a risk when dealing with magic and really, this doesn't concern anyone here. It will all be wrapped up by ten o'clock tonight one way or another."
"Well that's good to hear," Mr. Tendo said, "Still, if this is such an opportunity, I can't imagine there aren't unsavory types who will want to perform their own rituals?"
"Which is why I and several others will be keeping an eye on the ritual site. If any unsavory types show we will deal with it. I am doing this as a favour to an old acquaintance," she said, shooting Ranma a look. He just raised both hands.
"Hey, I'd rather keep some distance from magic if I can," he said. It didn't sound like it was an issue that needed his attention. "So long as no one rolls in and kidnaps Akane again, I'm not getting involved."
"It doesn't happen that often, Ranma," Akane grumbled, her eyebrow twitching from irritation. She turned red as everyone except Ranma's mother turned to her. "It doesn't!"
"There's not a chance we could, say, use this to cure our curses, is there?" Genma asked. Ranma's father leaned forward in his seat as he stared at the old woman.
"Not in the least," the old amazon replied before anyone else could throw in their own two cents. "To start with you'd need a sorcerer with extensive knowledge of Jusenkyo, and I'm sure you can understand why we keep sorcerers away from it."
Ranma twitched at the thought of a magic user arriving in Nerima with the ability to control or give or even just manipulate Jusenkyo curses. "Yeah, I can," he said with a grimace.
"Simply stay home, and this shouldn't affect you in the least. If it helps, I've instructed Shampoo and Mousse to remain at the restaurant for the night. Do keep out of this, for your own sakes. Sorcerers are far less amused by the sorts of antics you normally engage in," she said, standing up.
"My antics? I'm not the one using magic and poison all the time," he shot back.
She chuckled and shook her head. "Stay home tonight, all of you," she said before leaving.
After her departure, they finished cleaning up dinner, then Ranma stepped outside.
"Ranma!" Akane called as he stepped into the backyard.
He waved over his shoulder. "Just going to find a place to watch on the roof," he called back.
"A place to watch, Ranma?" Nabiki asked, around a cookie as she lay on her stomach reading a manga.
"You really think this is going to be quiet?" He asked. He nodded as she grimaced. "Yeah, this is going to get loud. I'm just going to watch and make sure no one summons Gojira or something."
"And what are you planning on doing if someone does, my son?" his mother asked.
"Um… Probably let all of you know we need to run?" he said after a moment's thought, "I mean, it's Gojira, what else would you do?" With that, he jumped up to the second-story roof and lay down on the side overlooking the backyard. He wasn't actually planning on paying much attention to whatever was happening in the ward. No, tonight he was going to lie down, relax and-
The spray of rainfall that briefly rolled over the roof left her eyebrow twitching. It was barely enough to make the tiles damp and even in the cool night air it would be gone in minutes. She let out a sigh, readjusted how she was lying down, and ignored it. A moment later the cool air caused her to consider getting a blanket. She ultimately decided against it when another moments-long shower rolled over her not even ten minutes later. A wet blanket was annoying.
Instead she watched the horizon.
The first sign of something abnormal wasn't a flash of light in the distance, but a flicker of light from the rooftop behind her. Without turning her head she said, "And you are?"
"Investigating possible issues," was the clipped reply she received. Their voice was deep, but female.
"Hmm, well I'm sitting on my roof waiting for the show to start. Not planning on leaving," she said, tilting her head to the side, "Probably should go get popcorn though."
"You think this is funny?" the woman asked.
"Funny? I'm just happy it isn't about me for once," She replied, "That assumes, of course, that you and yours don't make it my problem. Cologne says you're all going to fight over some ritual site and that I should stay out of it."
"Ah, the Joketsuzoku elder. She mentioned this place was home to some impressive martial artists," the woman said.
"Yeah, and I'm the best of 'em," Ranma said, tilting her head back to get a glimpse of the woman. She was clad in heavy-looking green robes and held a folding fan in one hand that she was tapping against her thigh. In the other was a delicately carved staff. "You aren't going to be dumb enough to start something, right?"
The sorceress smirked. "I think I could handle one little girl," she said with a chuckle that promptly died as Ranma left her relaxed position in a blur of speed to freeze her fist an inch from the sorceress' forehead.
"Really? Because that would have knocked you out," Ranma said, taking two steps back as she folded her arms behind her back and gave the woman a superior smirk.
"I… See." The woman swallowed, suddenly looking far less confident.
"But, you don't need to worry 'bout that, because I'm planning on watching the show, not participating. Don't make me feel the need to change that and we're golden, alright?" Ranma said, returning to her relaxed position on the rooftop. She watched the woman carefully, judging how she was taking the not-so-implied threat.
"... Understood. We'll try to keep things… Less destructive," she said.
Ranma snorted. "Don't worry about property damage. Half the town's been rebuilt at one point or another 'cause of duels. Hurt the people, however…" she trailed off.
"Ah. The Elder didn't say anything about that."
"O' course she wouldn't. Chinese Amazons don't care about collateral that much," Ranma said with a shrug, "Pass the word, won't you? I'd hate for any… misunderstandings, right?"
"... Yes, that would be terrible…. May I have your name?" she asked.
Ranma went to reply, then paused, staring at the woman suspiciously. She had an expectant look with a hint of smugness. 'Have her name', yeah, no. "Just tell 'em to be worried if the redhead shows up," she said,
"... as you wish. A good evening then, Ms. Akage," the woman replied with a hint of disappointment before tapping her staff against the tiles and disappearing in a flicker of light.
Ranma smirked. She'd figured one of them would stop by if she hung out on the rooftop. Hopefully, at least one group of them would be smart enough to get the hint. Cologne might not care about collateral, but she would.
With that done she popped back inside, picked up some microwaved popcorn and a blanket, and came back. She could always shuck the blanket if it got too damp.
The 'show' started about an hour later with a crack of thunder as a bolt of lightning snapped between two buildings in the distance. An entire rainbow of lights danced across the skyline and in the flickers and flashes Ranma could make out rapidly moving figures that seemed to flash in and out of existence. Teleporting much as the sorceress had.
The combat raged for an impressive forty minutes with no end in sight before the wind turned and a tornado crawled towards the sky, the signature formation of a Hiryu Shoten Ha. Cologne had clearly gotten involved, and at a fairly high level. She wondered for a moment if she should get involved before putting the thought aside. She rarely listened when people told her to stay out of something, but she had little interest in drawing the ire of people who could use magic.
There had been surprisingly little collateral damage as well. Only a few shattered office buildings, which wasn't really all that much at the end of the day.
Ranma was brought out of her musings by the thunk of the ladder on the edge of the rooftop. A moment later Akane stomped up the ladder. She paused at the top and stared off at the flashing lights.
"So that's what it looks like from outside," She said.
"They've caused less collateral damage than us so far," Ranma replied, stretching and yawning.
"Us? You mean you," she replied, shivering. Whether at the strange sight, even by Nerima standards, in the distance or due to the cold.
"Hey! I try to avoid it. It's not like I can control Mousse and Ryouga," Ranma replied, pulling the blanket up to her chin. "They should be done soon. Times running out on that convergence and I don't think anyone's even gotten close enough to start their-"
A pillar of blue light roared toward the moon from the park.
"... Nevermind. Someone just started something," Ranma said, throwing off her blanket to stand up. She walked up to the edge where Akane was staring at the pillar of power.
"Did Cologne say what they were doing?" Akane asked, worriedly.
"... No, she didn't. Excuse me," Ranma growled, taking a running leap to the next house, then the next, ignoring the shout from Akane behind her. "Should have asked that," she muttered as she bounced over the street. This didn't scream something good, which meant the Old Ghoul had failed.
"Trust the Old Ghoul one time," she complained loudly. When she got there she was so going to give the old woman- Her heart seemed to stop as the moon turned blue and a much larger wave of power rolled back down the blue pillar to crash into the ground. A wave of blue-silver mist washed out faster than sound.
Ranma backpedaled on the tiled roof, but it didn't matter. Escape was already impossible as the wave of magic rolled over the entire region.
Gosunkugi had no talent for magic. He knew barely anything about it and his every attempt to find proper instruction had seen him laughed out of sorcerer's cram schools, wizard's academies, and magician's colleges. The last was mostly because he was ten years too young.
He couldn't keep a grin off his face as he continued to chant. The array glowed with the magic that flowed up from below. He had gotten lucky, even he could tell that. The leylines were orders of magnitude stronger than he had ever expected and as the last of the seventh repetition of the latin chant left his lips it exploded forth in a pillar that reached to the sky. This was magic, this was the power he had always wanted.
He focused his mind as he started the second chant, fixed his wants and desires into the forefront of his mind. If he let his mind wander at this point he wouldn't get his wish, or maybe he would, but it would be wrong. Like if he started to think about destruction. Like if the power were to run loose and flatten Nerima to deliver- no, Focus.
Focus.
He would be who he should have been. Handsome, talented, influential. All he had as Sigurd. Everything he had in ALO and more. If it had been him in charge of the Sylph they could have had the world tree.
Focus!
They could have been Alfs, ruled the skies, but no-
Focus. On his handsome form and how he would be greater than all.
Focus. On the talent of a fairy! On being better than Ranma-
FOCUS!
The power seemed to peak, plateauing for a heartbeat… and then continued rising, and rising, and rising.
His focus stayed strong, but the power involved… It was as far beyond the desire to change a single soul as the sun was beyond a candle.
The power crested as the ninth repetition of the chant left his lips and the world turned silver as the power returned.
Gosunkugi screamed as the world went black.
Ten minutes, ten hours, ten days perhaps? He couldn't say how long it was at first since his mind was scrambled, but slowly, surely, the world returned. He was lying face first on the ground. He groaned at the soreness that dimly echoed through his body as he pushed himself to his knees. His armour creaked as he knelt and his sword…
His armour? His sword?
Gosunkugi stared down at himself. He was clad in his armour from ALO. His sword was at his waist. A wide grin appeared and he laughed. His voice boomed as it did on SAO. He rose to his feet and felt his forehead, there was his circlet, and his hair, yes it was green again.
Sigurd turned to the burnt circle in the park and laughed again holding his hand up to the full moon that still burned blue in the sky. "IT WORKED! I. AM. SIGURD! I. AM. A. SORCERER!", he shouted before breaking into mad laughter that echoed across the city.
He trailed off as something in his peripheral vision caught his attention and he turned, the laughter dying on his lips as his eyes took in the spiraling, twisted trunk of Yggdrasil as it loomed over Tokyo. It was taller than Mount Fuji. His mouth flapped open and shut for a full minute of incredulity before his laughter returned as he finally processed the sight before him.
He had done this. He had dragged the World Tree into reality from within a video game. "BANISH ME! ME! FOOLS!" he shouted, raising his hands again into the sky, "I HAVE STOLEN YOUR TREE! I HAVE MADE A GAME REAL! WITNESS MY MIGHT!"
It was nearly ten minutes before his mad laughter finally ceased, at which point he tried to check the time and found that he couldn't find his phone. Like the rest of his clothing, it had vanished, or perhaps it had been incinerated like everything in the circle. Either way, it was time he headed home…
Oh god, he was out late.
With barely a thought spared for decorum, Gosunkugi ran out of the park, just barely missing others who would have been very interested in asking him questions.
Something was different as Ranma came to.
"Ugh," she groaned as she blinked up at the sky. She lay there, on the roof of a three-story apartment building, and just processed the pained sensations coming from everything. Her head hurt, her limbs were sore and she'd swear she hurt in places that didn't actually exist. Like a tingle that went past her tailbone, or the phantom ache between and a little behind her shoulder blades. Still, she was alive. That was more than she'd expected when the Moon had shot Tokyo with an energy beam.
"I'm going to beat the Old Ghoul up for this," she muttered as she sat up, wincing as a sharp pain rolled up her tailbone. She reached back to rub the spot, and paused at the impossible sensation of touching something coming out from her tailbone. Her hand felt weird touching whatever it was, as it seemed to be part of her.
She grabbed the whatever and tried to gently turn to see it, but the angle was bad and she had to slowly pull it around. It was long, thin, a bit furry and actually felt kinda nice to touch. Still, what was-
A bright red, somewhat bushy, tail came into view held in her hand. It looked a bit like a cat tail.
A shiver of worry ran through her and she glanced about searching for a cat while her ears swiveled-
Both hands reached up to her head. Ears, coming out of the top of her head. Cat ears.
Ranma jumped to her feet with a hiss of anger. She was going to murder the Old Ghoul. "THEY TURNED ME INTO A CATGIRL!" she snarled, reflexively flexing the last phantom appendage-
A flicker of gold light caught her eye and she turned her head to see shimmering translucent golden wings, more like feather-shaped panels of energy than physical things, that had extended from her back. A glance to the other side confirmed the same. She had four golden wings, two high and two low.
"Correction," she hissed, flexing her hands like she was strangling someone, "A magical catgirl. Old Ghoul you'd better have your life insurance paid up, because I'm going to kill you." With a snarl that was more like a cat than a human, Ranma leaped to the next building and ran across the rooftops toward the ritual site.
Partway there she jumped, and to her surprise failed to come back down immediately. With a yelp of surprise she realized she was flying, her wings having instinctively spread at some point. As though attention was the last thing they wanted, her wings folded and she crashed in an ungainly heap on the roof of a house. Picking herself up she glanced at the wings. They worked. They actually worked. She'd felt something as they were working too. A slight pull on something within that wasn't her KI.
"..." She frowned at them. Maybe she'd kill the Old Ghoul a little less. She tried to flex them and they fluttered just a little, refusing to open as they had. She'd need to work on that. She tried, instead, to will them away and to her surprise they vanished easily. A thought brought them back and another sent them away again.
That dealt with she glanced about as she tried to recall the right direct, and promptly found her gaze snagged by something she really should have noticed sooner. Her eyes went up and up and up. She swallowed.
"That's a big tree," she whispered. It was somewhat north-east of downtown Tokyo, but it was still fairly close to the center of the city and its roots could be seen weaving through the cityscape, giant shadows that obscured entire chunks of the skyline. The tree itself spiraled up into the sky and its branches loomed above the city. Even as far out as they were, Ranma could spot a few branches in front of the moon.
What the hell had happened?
She swallowed again and gave herself a shake, provoking odd sensations from her new ears and tail. Quickly reorienting herself she ran across the rooftops, passed the remains of the running battle that seemed thankfully devoid of injured people, and dropped to the ground at the entrance to one of the local parks. The streetlights were out throughout the park as she silently walked through the gate.
In the distance air raid sirens had started singing. Probably not the best choice of alarms to sound at the moment.
The park was, roughly, the area the pillar of magic had come from. Her eyes scanned the area, only for her to get distracted as her ears twisted to listen. Pushing off the weird sensation, Ranma scanned the area. Flickers of light in the park's small wooded area caught her attention. Keeping quiet, she slipped into the forest, hugging the shadows of the trees.
A whispered conversation was being held within. Both of the voices sounded familiar actually.
"... all ash now," the voice of the sorceress from earlier said.
"There are other signs that we can examine beyond the symbology of the circle," the second voice said. Another woman, it sounded familiar, but Ranma couldn't place it. It wasn't the voice of one of her regular rivals or love interests.
"But those methods are limited. Who builds a ritual circle for something like this out of… I think this fragment here is twine," the sorceress said.
Ranma peered around the corner of a tree into the small clearing at the heart of the forested area. The sorceress was kneeling in the dirt as she examined something by a large circular burn mark with a flashlight of all things. Her ears had turned long and pointed, rather like those of an elf, and her hair seemed to be a different shade entirely. It was brighter, almost a blonde.
Her companion, however, was familiar. A woman in her mid-twenties or younger with long blue hair down to her waist. She was wearing a mid-thigh length robe and a pair of poorly fitted pants. Her face was extremely similar to Shampoo's, if one ignored the long pointed ears poking out of her loose hair.
The real kicker, however, was the gnarled staff she treated like a cane. Memories of the Nanban mirror incident welled up from within Ranma's subconscious and her eyebrow twitched.
"You've got to be kidding me," she snapped, stepping out into the clearing as the two women whirled to face her, "I get turned into a catgirl and you lose three hundred years. How's that fair?"
Cologne, looking far far younger than she had a few hours ago, giggled. "Well, son-in-law, it seems that some of us have better luck," she said, tapping her cane against the earth, "Come to see what caused this?"
"You mean 'Did I come to see why a magical nuke hit the city'?" Ranma snarked, crossing her arms under her chest and baring her teeth. "What. The. Hell. Happened?!"
"This was done by an unknown individual," the sorceress said as she pulled a small vial out and placed a piece of string-like material into it before corking the vial. "Unknown person, unknown motives, unknown effect. Given the forces involved, I honestly can't tell you whether or not they even succeeded or if what we saw was just a side effect from a failure."
"We were unfortunately distracted by the arrival of the Conclave of the North Watch," Cologne said.
"They're basically magically armed cultists. A death cult," the sorceress said, "All of the various parties banded together to see them off, thankfully without losses on our side."
"That has more to do with whoever conducted this ritual, than luck or skill," Cologne said, "Everyone was knocked silly. I recovered first and dealt with them. We, however, took too long and by the time we arrived here whoever had conducted this ritual had fled. It is a small consolation that they were clearly not affiliated with the Conclave."
Ranma filed the names away for later. "Great. So what did happen? Why am I a Catgirl?"
"Not a fucking clue," the sorceress deadpanned, "It's going to take days, months possibly, to decipher what the fuck happened. That said, anything you can tell us of what you saw, I'd appreciate. We were rather… busy, at the time."
"Yeah, someone shot a beam of magic at the moon and it punched back. At a guess it hit all of Tokyo with its response," Ranma replied, "Massive wave of this glowy mist."
"... Well that's not good," the sorceress muttered.
"Do you need me here, Ms.Toriyama?" Cologne asked.
"No, I should be able to handle it from here, especially once Akira gets here," the sorceress said.
"Good. Son-in-Law, let's head to the Tendo's place. This situation is in good hands," she said, walking past Ranma.
"'In good hands', you mean like you said it was before?" Ranma snarked, "The one time I listen to you, the fallout hits the entire city." She shot the sorceress an annoyed look, her ears flattening atop her head, and the woman winced.
"We did our best," Ms. Toriyama said with the tone of someone dreading the response.
"Do better next time," Ranma snapped before turning on her heel and following Cologne. She caught up to the youthened woman on the edge of the woods. She was stretching and paused with her cane braced behind her neck as Ranma caught up. She turned a teasing grin towards Ranma.
"Ah, Son-in-Law, like what you see?" she asked.
"I hear one syllable of 'Wo Ai ni' and I'm gone," Ranma replied flatly, to the laughter of the older woman.
"I did say if I was three hundred years younger, didn't I?" Cologne laughed before shaking her head, "But I would not do that to my Great-Granddaughter. It would be a terrible thing to break her heart."
"Like it isn't going to be anyways," Ranma replied. She ignored the raised eyebrow and smirk from the young-again Amazon. "Not marrying her, Old Ghoul." She twitched backwards out of the way of the cane as it lashed out at her skull. The 'Old Ghoul' blinked owlishly as it missed.
"You've gotten faster," she said with a raised eyebrow.
Ranma blinked. "I guess?" she replied non-committedly as she considered her reaction to Cologne's usual strike. Normally she couldn't avoid it. Now, despite the woman being far less worn down by age, she'd dodged it easily. Her eyes narrowed. "You're right. Something's up."
"The what, is clear," Cologne replied.
"Oh? Go ahead and say it then," Ranma said, not wanting to play games.
"Can't you guess, Son-in-Law?" the amazon asked, spinning her staff before a pair of hooked yellow-green energy wings appeared from her back. "We are no longer human."
"Do you really need to go, Kazuto? Mom could be back at any time," Suguha said as they lingered by the front door.
"I need to check on Asuna, Sugu. This could have done anything to her," Kazuto replied. He had his sword over his back. While it was illegal, technically, to have a weapon in Japan he wasn't about to go out without it. It wasn't normal for them to be fairies or for the World Tree to just appear from nothing in the middle of Tokyo.
"I should go with you, Papa," Yui said. He shook his head.
"No, we have no idea what's out there and…" And she had just become real in a way that being an AI wasn't. "This isn't ALO. If anything happened to you, Yui, I- I couldn't," he said, bending down to hug her. He looked up at Sugu. "Keep an eye on her, please."
"I will, I promise," Sugu said before giving him her own hug, "You be careful, and… Bring her back, if you can. I want to meet Asuna."
"I will," he replied before patting Yui on the head once and stepping out through the door into the cold evening. It felt warmer than he had expected, but then he wasn't human at the moment, was he?
His gaze went up to the giant tree that had taken over the sky. Hell, it was hanging over the house. The branches obscured the sky above them. It was one thing to see it in the game, awe-inspiring as it had been, but now it was just… It somehow hit differently in real life. Trees weren't supposed to overshadow mountains.
"Big Brother."
He glanced back at Suguha standing in the door. "Yeah?"
"... You probably know it better than me, but… don't do anything reckless. This isn't a game anymore," she said, her lips trembling. She brushed a loose strand of golden hair behind her long ears.
"It hasn't been one for me for a while," he replied. With a thought his wings appeared on his back. "Now, let's see if this works. Back in a while, Sugu." He kicked off nearly as hard as he could and let out a yelp as he sailed up into the air, passing higher than the houses around them before he kicked open his wings.
He paused above the street for a moment to orient himself, then launched himself in the direction of the hospital as fast as he could, keeping to just above the roofline. Flight seemed to be as intuitive as in ALO, which was fortunate because he probably would have gone splat otherwise. That would have been embarrassing.
Power seemed to be more intermittent the closer he got to the tree. Cars were still driving through the streets at least, there were also a lot of people stepping out of homes or visible in windows or on balconies looking terrified. While he didn't stick around, he noted grimly that most of them had long pointed ears. He hadn't thought so many people played ALO…
He slowed and settled down on the edge of a grocery store's roof. It was physically impossible that this many people played ALO. Not in such a concentrated area at least. He stared down at a street where dozens of people had stepped out of their homes. Worry filled the air as they talked worriedly. His eyes fell on several children younger than ten with pointed ears. There had been a few in SAO, kids whose parents hadn't paid much attention to the rating on the box. The thing was, he didn't recall anyone having an avatar that young in ALO. In fact, the youngest-looking person he'd encountered was the Cait Sith leader, Alicia, and she was merely flat and short rather than young. Whatever had happened, it had affected people well beyond the confines of the game.
With a guilty look in the direction of the hospital, he spread his wings and flew down toward the street full of people. Asuna could wait. A few minutes wouldn't make a difference if… Well, she was at a hospital. If someone could do something they'd already be doing it. As much as it hurt to not rush there, leaving these people confused would be worse.
"HEY!" he called, drawing eyes towards him as he descended. Gasps ran through the group and a space formed around him as he touched down. "Is everyone alright here?" he asked.
"You mean other than the obvious?" one woman asked acerbically, before drawing back as he looked at her.
"... Well yeah," he said, "Look, I've just got a few questions and maybe I can provide a few answers in exchange?"
"You know what's going on?" A large man with the ears of a Cait Sith stepped forward.
He shook his head. "Yes and no," he said, "I can tell you what happened, but I'm in the dark as to the why or how just as much as you. First, a question, does anyone here play ALO?" The answer was, to his lack of surprise, a resounding no. "Right, so, this is going to seem unbelievable-"
"Like being turned into elves and having a giant tree take over downtown isn't?" Someone snarked.
"Point. I mean, I lived through SAO and this is just nuts even for me," Kazuto admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
The resulting interrogation, both ways, lasted nearly a half hour before he was able to escape. Most of the information they had was less detailed than what he had brought, but there was one detail. It had started with a flash of light in the north-northwest and was followed by a wave of light that passed through everything. Something big had happened, something centered on ALO, but it was also clearly something far beyond his expertise. He couldn't exactly stab a giant wave of light with a sword, and in the real world, his programming skill was somewhat less useful.
"I'm starting to think I'm cursed," he mused. That was two VR MMOs that had developed sudden, twisted consequences. Maybe it would be best if he tried to avoid more in the future?
The Hospital was lit up as he reached it. One of the few spots in its area. Not bothering with the front door he zipped up to the window he was sure belonged to Asuna. Her bed, which had been right by the window, was empty. A nerve gear sat on the pillow still in the indentation left by her head. Her blankets were rumbled, but showed no sign of someone actually climbing out of the bed.
Dropping to the ground he walked in through the front door. Unusually for this late at night the entrance lights were on and a green-haired woman, with the now requisite pointed ears, was fussing with the computer behind the desks. "Sir," she said without looking up, "If it's an emergency the emergency room is around the side. Otherwise visiting hours are over. Long over."
"You could at least look up," he replied, stepping up to the counter. The woman looked up and promptly took two steps back.
"Oh," she said as she took in his appearance, "still, sir, visiting hours are-"
"Over, I know. Look, I don't need to see her, I just need to know she's alright with everything that's going on. I'm looking for Asuna Yuuki," he said, before extending the wings he had yet to withdraw, "I just peaked in through her window with these and her bed was empty."
"You- Empty?" The woman asked, stepping towards her computer, "What was her name?"
"Asuna Yuuki. She's an SAO victim… just like me," he said.
"Ah. I thought I recognized the name. Mr. Kirigaya if I recall, right?" she asked him. He nodded. He had thought she looked vaguely familiar. Her cheekbones were higher and her hair a completely different colour, but she was definitely the usual receptionist. "You realize her Fiancee has told us to inform him of anyone who visits, right?"
"Let him know. I don't care at this point," he replied bluntly, "That bastard was going to marry her while she was still unconscious."
"... I had heard a rumour along those lines," the receptionist said. She sounded rather disgusted by the thought as she scanned her list. "Asuna… Asuna… She should be in bed. No signs of her waking up. Let me make a call." She grabbed her phone and dialed a number. "Hey, Watanabe? Yeah, I've got someone at the front desk here to see if Asuna Yuuki is fine… Yeah well he says her bed is empty… No, he flew to the window… Yes, I'm sure, he has fairy wings- Yes…" she glanced up, "One second, she's just checking."
They waited anxiously for a minute before the receptionist winced. "Slow down… You're sure?" she asked, "Right, I'll start a search of the building. Thanks." She hung up and looked at him. "Her current location isn't known at the moment."
Kazuto rubbed his forehead. He'd woken up in his bed, so where the hell could Asuna be? At least the odds of her being dead were minimal at best. But where the hell could she have gone? She was practically skin and…
No.
No, she'd be like him now. Like that picture that Agil had shown him of the girl in the cage.
"Damn it," he said as realization hit him, "She's still in the cage."
"I'm sorry?" the woman asked, looking completely lost.
He took a deep breath. "Right so… Bit of a long story at this point, but when Asuna didn't wake up a friend of ours reached out about a week ago with a picture," he said, "It was a picture of a girl in a cage in the branches of this massive tree. Only, the girl looked like Asuna except with wings and…" he gestured to his ears. The woman's eyes went wide and one hand touched her own ear. "Yeah. Apparently, it was taken in Alfheim Online, a game built on the same CARDINAL engine as SAO. The entire goal of the game was to ascend this giant tree before the other factions and that picture put her in the branches of it."
"That's not possible. She was in SAO," the receptionist said.
"Except ALO uses the same system architecture. Hell, I bet it uses some of the same servers. Transferring her from one system to the other? Totally possible. When I logged in with my Nerve Gear all my character stats from SAO were transferred as well. The systems are one hundred percent compatible," Kazuto said, running a hand through his hair, "And now there's that giant tree outside. You've seen it, right?"
"Rather hard not to."
"Right, well, that's the World Tree from ALO. That's where the cage with Asuna was spotted," he said, "She's still in the cage. Whatever just happened pulled her through the game and she's still up there in that cage. I'm sure of it. Excuse me. I need to go, now."
With that he turned on a heel and was out the door at a run, ignoring the receptionist's shout to stop. He was going to need help to get her back. He jumped into the sky and in moments set a new speed record as he headed for home. He had calls he needed to make. First, Agil, then Klein, then… then whoever he could gather. He was going to get Asuna back if it killed him.
Asuna groaned and pushed herself up. That had hurt, that had hurt a lot. She didn't think that falling into an endless void should hurt, after all, what was there to hurt you in an endless void?
She shook her head and tried to ignore the aches and pains in her body.. Aches and pains? She opened her eyes and looked about in utter confusion. She wasn't in Aincrad, or her cage in Alfheim Online, or in a hospital, or her home. She was in a bedroom, in a four-poster bed, in a room that reminded her of many of the western manors they had encountered in Aincrad. Bright white crystals glowed in delicate sconces mounted on the walls providing a comforting light.
Slipping out of bed she noted that her wings seemed to be gone, though she could feel something there. It was a strange tingling sensation like something was waiting anxiously. She ignored it for the moment after making sure that nothing was there physically. Weird sensations she could handle.
A set of glass double doors let out onto a balcony while a single wooden one probably led into whatever building this was part of. A manor or castle was most likely given the decorations. She checked her clothing and frowned. The slip and panties were even more revealing than what she'd been wearing in her cage.
She scowled and looked around for a closet. Before she stepped out and tried to get the lay of the land she needed something less… less this. She was going to kill Sugou when she got free. She was going to murder him and despite her normal aversion to killing she was going to enjoy it. Assuming Kirito didn't get to him first.
A smile blossomed on her lips as she thought of Kirito. She still had a promise to fulfill and she didn't plan on making him wait any longer than she had to. If she could, she'd get to him. If not, well she'd apologize for making him rescue her later.
The closet was a walk-in affair, several times larger than her own back home. It was also mostly useless. She wasn't quite sure who stocked it, but they were either a slut or a pervert given the abyssmal lack of fabric most of the pieces had. Still, it wasn't a total loss. A pair of leather riding pants were located along with a top that only left her shoulders bare. A cloak joined them a few moments later.
Properly dressed, and aching quite a bit less than before, Asuna finally approached the balcony. The cold air outside made her thankful for her cloak. Walking past the small table for two, she stopped at the railing and looked around. She scowled immediately.
She was still in the stupid tree.
Her balcony was perched on a large palatial structure that itself appeared to be hanging from the underside of a large branch. Branches large enough to count as islands in the sky weaved above and below her. Each branch was home to large houses, market squares, and a thousand glittering lights. Movement could be seen amongst the branches, but it looked barely human. They seemed shaped more like Golems than people.
She raised a hand to an ear and grimaced at the pointedness of it. She shook her head. She felt stronger than she had in the cage, like her old strength from SAO had returned, or even just her strength from real life. She didn't feel weak like she had.
"I need a weapon," she said to herself and returned to the room. A cursory search turned up a rack of rapiers hidden in the armoire. Taking one she smiled. It was time to escape.
Ranma pushed open the door to the Tendo Dojo irritably. "I'm home!" she called, taking care to remove her slippers. Behind her, Cologne removed the slightly oversized sneakers she'd been wearing.
A few moments later a blue-haired Kasumi with long pointed ears poked her head out of the kitchen. "Oh, there you are Ranma. We've been so worried," she said before pausing to stare at Cologne. "Another friend, Ranma?" she asked.
Ranma stared at the nearly neon blue shade of Kasumi's hair before shaking her head. "The Old Ghoul got a makeover," she said before she sidestepped her reflexive cane swing.
"Oh my. Elder Cologne?" Kasumi said, putting a hand to her mouth in shock.
"Hello Kasumi, dear. The tea earlier was lovely," she said, smiling as Kasumi's eyes widened.
"Thank you. Um, please, come this way. Everyone is a bit scattered at the moment, I'm afraid. Some people have taken the events better than others. Ranma, would you like some hot water?" Kasumi asked.
Ranma shrugged. "If you have some, then maybe?" she said. The look she got in reply from Kasumi was confusing. "What?"
"Nothing. Please, go sit down, I'll bring refreshments out in a few," Kasumi said, giving her the same look again before disappearing into the kitchen again.
Ranma shrugged before folding her hands behind her head and walking to the family room. The sight there was a bit odd. Soun was sitting down in his usual spot, but his black hair had streaks of fire running through it. He looked much the same except for a lack of wrinkles. Across from him was Ranma's mother. Her hair was much brighter, almost exactly the same shade as Ranma's and she looked younger, more as if she was Ranma's older sister than her mother. She was patting a beautiful black-haired woman -- who was for some reason wearing an oversized Gi and not much else -- on the head with a fond smile.
"Hi, Mum, Mr. Tendo and…?" Ranma trailed off looking at the new woman.
The black-haired woman bristled and whirled in her seat. "Don't you recognize your father, boy?!" She snapped in tones that were very familiar.
Ranma blinked twice.
"Genma, dear, you can hardly blame our child for not recognizing you immediately," Nodoka chided, swatting Ranma's female father on the head.
"... Eh?" Was Ranma's intelligent reply to the situation. Cologne peered over Ranma's shoulder.
"Oh my," the no-longer-old woman said as she stepped inside. "This is quite a predicament you've managed to get yourself into, Genma Saotome." She chuckled as she found a seat.
"Do we know you?" Ranma's mother asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's the Old Ghou- ow," Ranma winced as the cane cracked home against her head, crushing one of her ears. "Ow ow ow." She whimpered, rubbing the far more sensitive than she realized, ear. Tears sprung to her eyes as she glared at Cologne who seemed quite surprised.
"Ranma, come here," her mother said, beckoning her over. Ranma found a seat next to her mother. "Stop holding it down," she chided Ranma, "Oh dear. Elder Cologne, can you explain the changes we've experienced?" She shot a glare over Ranma's head as she gently rubbed Ranma's ear. Despite herself, Ranma leaned into the hand and sighed. That felt nice.
"Unfortunately, no. An unknown party snuck past our perimeter while we were occupied with another threat and enacted a ritual that is still being deciphered. Unfortunately, it seems to have left little in the way of evidence as to their motives, actions, or intentions," Cologne said, shaking her head, "Tell me, has your husband been exposed to cold water recently?"
"No. He spontaneously changed a short while after we woke up again. I was worried for Ranma," Ranma's mother said.
"She was getting far too emotional," Genma huffed, crossing her arms and inadvertently pushing her chest up. Across the table Soun turned to face the door.
"Saotome, if you mind," the lone man in the room said with an awkward cough."
"Erk," Ranma's father went a strange shade of pale red as her hands jumped away from her body.
Ranma snickered. Oh, being a girl was simple, huh? Nothing to worry about, right? She grinned viciously at her Pops. "Gotta be careful, pops. You're a woman now," she said, smirking.
"Be polite to your father, Ranma. You know very well what he's going through," her mother chided.
"Yes, mother," Ranma replied politely, matching her pop's glare with a sunny smile.
Cologne, meanwhile, was tapping her chin as she thought. "Very unusual," she said, "... I have an idea, however." She pointed to the cup of tea in front of Nodoka. "How warm is that?"
Ranma's mother put her finger in the drink. "Warm enough," she said, glancing to Ranma
"No, if you use that I'll have to have a bath," Ranma said, her ears going flat as she stared at the cup of tea.
"You probably need one anyways," Cologne said, "If you don't mind, Mrs. Saotome?"
Ranma grimaced as her mother poured the warm tea over her head. He sighed and adjusted his shirt irritably. "Really?" he sighed.
Cologne nodded. "I see, I see. Ranma, how would you like ice cream?" she asked.
Ranma blinked. "Ice cream?" she asked, then blinked again at the tone of her voice. She looked down. "Why am I a girl again?" she demanded as her mother gasped. Ranma had to catch the tea cup as it slipped from her hands.
Her father was staring and edging away with a fearful expression on her face. Cologne, meanwhile, simply nodded as though this was the expected outcome. "Yes, I thought so. Ranma, can you focus on wanting to be a man? If nothing happens, try thinking about it from a different angle."
"What?" Ranma blinked before nodding, very unsure of herself suddenly. "I guess I can?" She closed her eyes. Want to be a man? Well, she'd wanted it when she'd used the water, which she could still feel in her hair. Ugh, she was going to have to wash tea leaves out of her hair again. Normally wanting to be a guy wasn't that hard, she normally wanted to be a guy more than a girl anyways… Uh…
So how did she go about wanting to be a guy anyways?
The moments dragged on as she tried different strategies. A desire to show she was manly amounted to nothing. The same could be said of trying to focus on showing off. A few other thoughts crossed her mind but nothing seemed to be working. Until she focused on the idea of being stronger. Physically her male form was stronger than her female form and really, she could use that little bit of extra strength to… Move the table? Yeah, sure. That'd work and-
"There we go," Cologne said, a smug tone in her voice.
"How did he do that?" came the unfamiliar tones of her father's female form.
Ranma opened his eyes and blinked down at himself. "Wait, I did that without hot water?" he asked. Also, why had that worked when showing off hadn't?
"Oh, Ranma!" With just that little bit of warning his mother glomped him. His tail and ears went straight with alarm as she hugged him hard.
"Mom!" He protested, trying to push her off. It wasn't working and frustration bubbled up inside. As much as he liked a hug from his mother, hugs like this were just uncomfortable. She never was this aggressive when he was a-
"And there it goes," Cologne deadpanned.
-girl? Ranma blinked as she was suddenly female again. Her mother's grip slackened in shock and they stared at each other.
"What?" her mother sounded very confused, about as confused as Ranma felt.
"At a guess," Cologne said before anyone could ask, "The nature of Son-in-law's curse has changed to be affected by one's will. I've heard of rare cases of this in the past. I'd need more time to learn more about how it works, I'm afraid. Until they learn to control it you will simply have to put up with random shifts of gender."
"... I see," Nodoka said before reaching up and scratching Ranma behind her ear.
"Mooom," she complained as her cheeks went red from embarrassment even as she leaned into her hand. Being a magical catgirl was so embarrassing! "I can control it?" she asked Cologne after a monstrous effort to mostly ignore her mother's fingers.
"In theory," Cologne said, watching them both, "It's likely affected by mental state or by what you perceive to be feminine vs. masculine activities or emotions, or even simple whims. You will need to experiment to identify the trigger. Beyond that, we'd have to spend days working on it, perhaps weeks or longer."
Ranma twitched at that. 'Feminine' basically meant… She shot a look at her father and scowled. She'd admit, she often had a hard time feeling masculine when doing anything except martial arts or some sort of strength contest. Which meant… Which meant she was going to be spending most of her time as a girl until she got a handle on this. "Pops, I blame you," she said through gritted teeth. It wasn't the same as being locked as a girl, but this meant she was basically broadcasting how manly she felt she was just by existing. Which, being a magical catgirl really wasn't much.
"This is not my fault!" the long dark-haired woman replied, shying away as Ranma started to growl.
"Ah, ah, enough, both of you," Ranma's mother said, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. "Can you explain what you mean by that, Elder Cologne?"
"Hmmm," the youngish elder smirked, "It's hard to say, exactly. No two people are exactly the same mentally. You'll likely learn a great deal about your husband and son over the next few years."
Ranma flushed, then stood up. "I'm going to go have a bath," she said, turning her back on the room with an irritated flick of her tail.
"Oh, run away from the implications with your tail- ack." The ack was preceded by the sound of steel being drawn.
"Genma, be quiet," Ranma's mother said, as the younger redhead slid the door shut behind her.
Ranma sighed and leaned her head against the door frame. "This is going to suck," she muttered. So her curse was controlled by willpower now and… and it would mostly respond to how male or female she was feeling at the time… wait a moment.
Ranma slid the door back open to find her mother had the family Katana laying in her lap. Everyone turned back to her. She swallowed. "So, quick question. If my curse has changed… Why is pops a woman?" she asked.
"... At a guess his curse was altered by the magic as well. Note the ears," Cologne said, pointing out the long thin ears on Genma, "Like you, your father's cursed form is no longer normal. At a guess, it simply replaced his form with that of whatever we are, but that is pure speculation at best. Unraveling tonight's events will take months more than likely."
"... Well, I'm sure pops can handle it. Not like he's going to have trouble feeling 'manly' with Mom around, right?" she said, shooting a smirk his way.
"Listen you-"
"Going for that bath now, later," Ranma said, shutting the door in her father's face. She covered her mouth to restrain the giggles that wanted to erupt.
"Oh, Ranma," Kasumi said as she stepped out of the kitchen, she was bringing a plate of cookies towards the family room, "Did you have an accident?" she nodded to Ranma's hair.
"No. Mum decided to test my curse cause of Pops," Ranma replied, "Looks like it's changed like his.. Hers, has." She concealed a smirk that drew a fond sigh from Kasumi.
"Here, have a cookie, then go have a bath," Kasumi said, shuffling Ranma along once she took a cookie.
"Thanks Kasumi," she said after taking three cookies. She hurried up the steps to the second floor to grab a change of clothes, munching on a cookie as she went.
"Nabiki! Come on, it isn't that bad," Akane said. Her voice sounded a little… off? Slightly deeper, though still feminine.
Ranma paused on the steps and grimaced. What could have possibly embarrassed Nabiki? She walked up the next few steps apprehensively and stopped abruptly as soon as she spotted Akane.
Akane looked like Akane, if, that is, Akane was six foot five and looked rather like she'd been carved from stone. Well, that was perhaps being uncharitable, but she certainly looked a lot more solidly built than before.
"Akane?" Ranma squeaked, cursing her voice as the giant girl turned to her.
"Ranma? Oh, wow you're small now… Are those cat ears?" Akane asked.
Ranma nodded and walked over to her. "Yeah, cat… cat ears," she said, looking up and up at the other girl. She wasn't the tallest girl, but compared to Akane she felt absolutely tiny now. "I- How are you?" she asked.
"Annoyed that nothing fits, but better than Nabiki," Akane said, glancing at the door beside you, "She turned into a catgirl like you did and I think she knows what's going-."
"GO AWAY!" Ranma blinked as a rather high pitched voice came through the door. That wasn't Nabiki's voice. It wasn't even close.
"No!" Akane replied, "Look, you can come out or we can come in."
"Since when am I involved in this?" Ranma protested, her ears flaring up.
"Since now. Nabiki! Open the door!"
"Ranma, get my sister away and I'll take ten thousand off your debt!" 'Nabiki' shouted.
"Are you sure that's her?" Ranma asked, "Because that doesn't sound like her."
"She doesn't look anything like herself either, which is why I think she knows something. There's something different about her, Ranma," Akane said. She hammered on the door. "Open up Nabi…ki…" With a 'crunch' something popped and the door swung open. "Oops."
"Akane!" 'Nabiki' hissed from her bed. On said bed was a girl with long dirty blonde hair, two cat ears like Ranma's and a cat tail of the same colour. She was also nearly a foot shorter than Ranma.
Ranma's lips twitched as she stared. A snicker popped through her lips.
"Saotome, I swear, if you-" The high girlish voice, more appropriate on a girl five years younger, sent Ranma over the edge and she broke down howling with laughter.
A/N: Something a bit strange. An old idea I finally decided to put to paper. Not sure now likely I am to continue this but at least it's out of my head for now. I hope everyone's enjoyed it. It was erm… a pain in the ass for Gekkou to edit. ^^; I kept rearranging which scenes were where.
Gekkou_Yoko: They switched scene ordering around some nine plus times.
Grounders10: *awkward cough* it was driving me nuts trying to figure out the presentation for it.
"Ready?" he asked the blonde beauty to his right. It felt a bit weird knowing that the girl he'd teamed up with to make the journey to the World Tree had been his cousin Suguha. Well, more than weird given her love confession earlier. Still, he could ignore that for now. Asuna needed him.
Leafa, as Suguha was known in ALO, nodded. "Yeah," she said quietly. The boy on the other side of her nodded. Kirito didn't know much about Recon, but if Suguha trusted him, then he would too.
Kirito looked up at the massive stone gate that led into the World Tree. It was flanked on either side by stone statues of Alf warriors, their thin wings spread wide behind them as they had their swords planted before them. As much as the statues and the gate towered over them, it was nothing compared to the World Tree itself. Yggdrasil as it was called was taller than some of the mountains he could see. It was so tall that just trying to fly up it would see a player's flight time run out long before they got close to even the lowest branch.
"Papa."
Kirito paused, his hand outstretched for the door. He glanced to his shoulder where the pixie form of his daughter Yui sat. "Yes, Yui?" he asked, noticing the worried expression on her face.
"There's something-" his daughter started to say when a voice bellowed from… everywhere. It was the sky, the stones, the very air around them, even their clothes and weapons. The world shuddered as it spoke, each syllable echoing through stone and air with equal measure.
"WHAT IS IT SAYING?" He asked loudly.
"... IT'S IN LATIN, PAPA!" Yui replied. "... IT SAYS '.... AND TO THE WORLD OF LIFE ELOPE, OH SECRET WORLD. OH HIDDEN WORLD, I CALL THEE! LET THY NATURE BECOME ONE WITH THE WORLD SO OPEN.' PAPA, LOG OFF NOW, THE SERVERS ARE-"
A crack ran up the front gate of the World Tree in an instant. Not a crack in the stone, but in the facade of the existence constructed by the system. The cracks spread into the air, the stone and the tree itself. Behind them shouting picked up and Kirito glanced back over his shoulder. His breath caught in his throat.
In the distance, the city of Arun, the largest of the towns around the World Tree, was engulfed in the same failure of existence. Great chasms of darkness, just like the bug which had tossed him into the forest when he first logged into the game, were spreading through the town. As he watched a massive cathedral-like structure cracked and bent as reality parted across its side.
It was a cascading failure of the game engine.
"LOG OUT, SUGU, RECON!" Kirito shouted, "YUI GET OUT!" He put words to action and swiped his left hand, feeling ill as he did so. On his shoulder Yui flashed out of existence, hopefully seeking shelter on his computer somewhere. His finger descended towards the logout button-
Only to freeze, his entire body motionless as the colour bled out of the world. Then it shattered, collapsing like a million pieces of a broken mirror and the vague sensation of falling hit him. He screamed as he plummeted down into an abyss through which he kept falling until, abruptly, there was light and he passed straight into it-
Kirigaya Kazuto sat straight up in his bed like he'd been shocked. One hand went to his chest to feel his beating heart. He let out a breath as he found it. He'd never experienced a full system crash in VR before. That was completely terrifying.
He couldn't help but smirk, however, as he considered the possibility that this had freed Asuna. It really depended on how the server architecture worked but… His smirk died. There was also the possibility of this triggering SAO's fail state. They had never encountered a bug in SAO, let alone suffered a complete server failure. In many ways that had been as impressive as the world itself. It was a pity such polish had been wasted on a death game…
But it meant that there was a possibility, a larger possibility than Kirigaya Kazuto would have liked to admit, that this crash had just killed Asuna. Did he have time to run over and check on her? Or should he just reboot his nerve gear and check to see if the ALO servers were back online? There was something he was missing though… Oh.
"Yui!" He ripped the VR interface off his head, rolled out of bed to his feet and-
"PAPA!"
Was promptly tackled back onto the bed by a ten-year-old girl with black hair and pointed ears wearing a white sundress. He stared. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible.
"Yui?" he asked after a few moments.
"Mhmm, Papa, where are we?" she asked, her eyes wide with worry. He noted that they were closer to the eyes and face she had as a pixie than as the small girl in SAO. She even had the ears.
Kazuto looked around. It looked like his room, but his greatsword was leaning against the end of his bed for some reason. The one that had been on his back right before the crash… Or was it a crash? "My room, I think, but… we can't be if you're here," he said.
Yui frowned and closed her eyes in concentration. "I feel… something, Papa, but… this is strange. I- I don't feel like I'm connected to a server. There's- Papa, there's nothing to communicate with," she said, opening her eyes to stare at him with worry. He wrapped her in a hug as she shivered.
"KAZUTO!" A familiar female voice shouted from elsewhere in the house.
"That was Sugu," he said, gently moving Yui from his lap to the bed. Something sounded off about her voice. He couldn't quite place it.
Somewhere in the distance, a police siren started wailing, followed by dozens of others.
He was halfway to the door when it burst open and through it came not Suguha, but Leafa. "KAAAZUTO!" She shouted, stumbling to a stop as she saw him.
"Leafa?" he said. It was a bit dim in his room, lit as it was by the glow of his computer, but he thought she looked different. More real somehow. There had always been a slight dream-like quality to the VR experiences of the Nerve Gear. Nothing truly uncanny, but the colours popped a little more and things felt a little less present. The side effects of the tech intended to keep otherwise painful experiences -- such as being run through with a sword -- from being more than mere irritations in the process of having fun. Pain absorbers deadened injuries, but they also diluted the sense of touch. Eyes weren't perfect at processing images, but your mind could make them more vivid than reality.
Little things.
Little things missing from his sister's avatar.
"Kirito?" she replied, her own voice confused.
"Why-" Kazuto shook his head. She wouldn't know any better than he did. "Are you alright?" he asked instead.
"Does this look alright?" her voice was a little shrill, "Kirito we both look like our characters! Does this seem fine to you?"
He blinked. He looked like his…?
He glanced down at himself for the first time since waking up. He stared then reached up and touched his clothes. They were real. He was wearing the black long coat he'd picked up on their journey.
Air raid sirens started shrieking. He looked up at Leafa, then down at Yui who stared at both of them with a look of worry, then out the window. Swallowing his nerves, Kirito walked over to the window and slid the blinds back. He took two steps back.
It was hard to see in the darkness, but at the same time, it was impossible to miss. Far in the distance stood a tree. Its trunk reached into the sky like a pillar holding up the heavens themselves. It loomed over Tokyo, its roots visible weaving through a broken skyline.
It was the World Tree. It was Yggdrasil.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A
Ranma ½ x Sword Art Online
Crossover
War of the World Tree
By: Grounders10
-0-0-0-0-0-
Prologue
Fairy Wings
-0-0-0-0-0-
"Banish me?"A
Ranma ½ x Sword Art Online
Crossover
War of the World Tree
By: Grounders10
-0-0-0-0-0-
Prologue
Fairy Wings
-0-0-0-0-0-
BANG.
There were many people in Nerima given to outbursts of rage or grand gestures of revenge. From ancient martial arts masters to shopkeepers to high school principals, at times it seemed like nearly everyone in Nerima was just waiting for an excuse to fly off the handle in grand and glorious fashion.
"Me! I spent a year working on getting that position!"
Bang.
Gosunkugi Hikaru was just one such person. Short, gaunt-faced without so much as a hint of muscle on his scrawny frame, he was often overlooked and when he wasn't, he was often bullied. By the local gangs, by the pretty girls in school, by the children at the local park… by his parent's new kitten.
He would insist that thing was evil until the day he died.
But he had a way out of all that. Out of being Gosunkugi 'Chew Toy' Hikaru. Alfheim Online, the latest greatest, really only viable, VRMMO on the market. He'd spent the last year since it launched playing under the alias of Sigurd. As Sigurd, he couldn't have been less like Gosunkugi. He was tall, handsome, influential and people noticed him. They listened to his words and followed his lead. He had power for once in his life.
And now it was all gone.
He gritted his teeth and barely restrained the urge to take another swing at the nail he had just hammered into the damp, moist earth of the park. Instead, he retrieved his roll of twine, supposedly made from the hair of a Jorogumo though he had his doubts. Still, it was the most magical twine he had access to and he needed everything he could get for this one.
He'd spent years researching, experimenting, attempting, and just plain failing at magic. But this time would be different. This time, he would have his revenge.
It was nighttime, slightly overcast but the moon was currently clear of obstruction. He needed to hurry otherwise it would be obstructed and that could impact the strength of this ritual. He worked quickly, ignoring the distant sounds of fighting a few blocks away with the practiced ease of a long-time resident of Nerima. What little of him paid mind to it noted that there seemed to be a preponderance of ki blasts being exchanged. It was a little bit unusual, rarely did anyone engage in more than a couple before resorting once again to fists.
Still, he ignored it as he uncapped a jar of glittering powder. Fairy Dust, he'd been told in the back alley pawn shop. It certainly wasn't normal glitter. He'd run a geiger counter over it just to be sure and it hadn't gone off so he was sure it wasn't radioactive. If it was Fairy Dust then it was perfect for his plans. Real Fairy Dust to channel the intent behind Alfheim Online.
He let out a soft cackle. This would work and then he'd show them all just what kind of sorcerer he was.
Gosunkugi shook out the powder in a careful circle around the rest of the ritual.
Behind his back, the top of a distant building turned to ice for a brief moment before being abruptly restored to normal. Flickers of light lanced back and forth between high rises in all the colours of the rainbow, still behind his back up to the east now as he walked the circle.
Finishing, he checked his cell phone. He'd had to talk his parents into getting him a phone. It was basically mandatory for keeping up to date on the news as the chief assistant to Sakuya. Now it was basically just a prop. Nearly all his contacts had been Sylphs and thanks to his actions as Sigurd none of them wanted a thing to do with him. The less said about the Salamanders the better. Their faction wanted nothing to do with a public failure.
Well who cared about them? ALO was a game, a pastime to keep him from dwelling on Nerima. It stopped him from thinking about the jerks who paraded about with super martial arts constantly stringing women along! He'd show them!
His cackling was a bit less quiet this time but still drowned out by the fighting behind him. He cleared his throat and rechecked his phone. Yeah, he needed to do this now. If he was much later he'd probably be grounded for staying out late.
He stepped into the center of the tangled web of twine and Fairy Dust and drew from his messenger bag his copy of ALO and the hard drive he had been using to run it. Pulling a silver steak knife from his pocket he carefully sliced open his finger, wincing at the pain, before marking both the hard drive and the box with symbols of fresh blood.
That done he set them down then stepped away to the outside of the circle once more. Positioning himself on the north side, conveniently turning his back just in time to miss a small tornado briefly took over the sky behind him, and raised his hands to the sky.
The words he spoke could have been old, or could have been new. Sourced as they were from a shiny leather bound book his father brought back from a business trip to New York City. Yet what they did was work. As his words, spoken loudly with the slight shrill of excitement, rang out across the clearing the twine began to sparkle. The dust around the edge glittered and the world fell away as for the first time in years, though not the first time ever, Gosunkugi felt something respond to his chanting.
The gaunt boy could barely keep a grin off his face as the words dripped from his lips onto the fabric of the world. The sounds of battle in the distance fell away and there was just him and the magic.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Ranma Saotome rarely got a day, or night, off from the chaos of his life. Fiancees, rivals, random ghosts, really it could be anything. Rarely was it something he had directly precipitated. Usually, he got caught up in shenanigans started by others. Either aimed at him or those around him. Today was not one of those days.
"You want me to stay home tonight?" Ranma asked, staring at the two-foot-tall old woman sitting at the end of the table with surprise. He was sitting next to his mother, with his father beside Mr. Tendo on his mother's other side. Akane was across from him with her sisters. She looked about as in disbelief as he was. How often did they get told to stay out of things?
"That's correct," Cologne said, taking a sip of the tea the eldest Tendo daughter, Kasumi, had poured her. "I'm afraid tonight is a convergence of several celestial bodies that is empowering a number of ley lines within the city. I've been informed by several groups that they intend to make use of the opportunity to conduct rituals."
"Oh my," Kasumi said, "I hope they can all get along."
"Since when are we that lucky?" Ranma asked sarcastically. Akane nodded her agreement.
"Indeed, there is little expectation for any of them to be happy about the presence of others," Cologne said, "There is only enough time for a single ritual and you cannot conduct multiple rituals at a single site. They are quite likely to come to blows and anyone caught out and about will be at risk of getting dragged in. While I'm sure son-in-law can manage just fine, there is always a risk when dealing with magic and really, this doesn't concern anyone here. It will all be wrapped up by ten o'clock tonight one way or another."
"Well that's good to hear," Mr. Tendo said, "Still, if this is such an opportunity, I can't imagine there aren't unsavory types who will want to perform their own rituals?"
"Which is why I and several others will be keeping an eye on the ritual site. If any unsavory types show we will deal with it. I am doing this as a favour to an old acquaintance," she said, shooting Ranma a look. He just raised both hands.
"Hey, I'd rather keep some distance from magic if I can," he said. It didn't sound like it was an issue that needed his attention. "So long as no one rolls in and kidnaps Akane again, I'm not getting involved."
"It doesn't happen that often, Ranma," Akane grumbled, her eyebrow twitching from irritation. She turned red as everyone except Ranma's mother turned to her. "It doesn't!"
"There's not a chance we could, say, use this to cure our curses, is there?" Genma asked. Ranma's father leaned forward in his seat as he stared at the old woman.
"Not in the least," the old amazon replied before anyone else could throw in their own two cents. "To start with you'd need a sorcerer with extensive knowledge of Jusenkyo, and I'm sure you can understand why we keep sorcerers away from it."
Ranma twitched at the thought of a magic user arriving in Nerima with the ability to control or give or even just manipulate Jusenkyo curses. "Yeah, I can," he said with a grimace.
"Simply stay home, and this shouldn't affect you in the least. If it helps, I've instructed Shampoo and Mousse to remain at the restaurant for the night. Do keep out of this, for your own sakes. Sorcerers are far less amused by the sorts of antics you normally engage in," she said, standing up.
"My antics? I'm not the one using magic and poison all the time," he shot back.
She chuckled and shook her head. "Stay home tonight, all of you," she said before leaving.
After her departure, they finished cleaning up dinner, then Ranma stepped outside.
"Ranma!" Akane called as he stepped into the backyard.
He waved over his shoulder. "Just going to find a place to watch on the roof," he called back.
"A place to watch, Ranma?" Nabiki asked, around a cookie as she lay on her stomach reading a manga.
"You really think this is going to be quiet?" He asked. He nodded as she grimaced. "Yeah, this is going to get loud. I'm just going to watch and make sure no one summons Gojira or something."
"And what are you planning on doing if someone does, my son?" his mother asked.
"Um… Probably let all of you know we need to run?" he said after a moment's thought, "I mean, it's Gojira, what else would you do?" With that, he jumped up to the second-story roof and lay down on the side overlooking the backyard. He wasn't actually planning on paying much attention to whatever was happening in the ward. No, tonight he was going to lie down, relax and-
The spray of rainfall that briefly rolled over the roof left her eyebrow twitching. It was barely enough to make the tiles damp and even in the cool night air it would be gone in minutes. She let out a sigh, readjusted how she was lying down, and ignored it. A moment later the cool air caused her to consider getting a blanket. She ultimately decided against it when another moments-long shower rolled over her not even ten minutes later. A wet blanket was annoying.
Instead she watched the horizon.
The first sign of something abnormal wasn't a flash of light in the distance, but a flicker of light from the rooftop behind her. Without turning her head she said, "And you are?"
"Investigating possible issues," was the clipped reply she received. Their voice was deep, but female.
"Hmm, well I'm sitting on my roof waiting for the show to start. Not planning on leaving," she said, tilting her head to the side, "Probably should go get popcorn though."
"You think this is funny?" the woman asked.
"Funny? I'm just happy it isn't about me for once," She replied, "That assumes, of course, that you and yours don't make it my problem. Cologne says you're all going to fight over some ritual site and that I should stay out of it."
"Ah, the Joketsuzoku elder. She mentioned this place was home to some impressive martial artists," the woman said.
"Yeah, and I'm the best of 'em," Ranma said, tilting her head back to get a glimpse of the woman. She was clad in heavy-looking green robes and held a folding fan in one hand that she was tapping against her thigh. In the other was a delicately carved staff. "You aren't going to be dumb enough to start something, right?"
The sorceress smirked. "I think I could handle one little girl," she said with a chuckle that promptly died as Ranma left her relaxed position in a blur of speed to freeze her fist an inch from the sorceress' forehead.
"Really? Because that would have knocked you out," Ranma said, taking two steps back as she folded her arms behind her back and gave the woman a superior smirk.
"I… See." The woman swallowed, suddenly looking far less confident.
"But, you don't need to worry 'bout that, because I'm planning on watching the show, not participating. Don't make me feel the need to change that and we're golden, alright?" Ranma said, returning to her relaxed position on the rooftop. She watched the woman carefully, judging how she was taking the not-so-implied threat.
"... Understood. We'll try to keep things… Less destructive," she said.
Ranma snorted. "Don't worry about property damage. Half the town's been rebuilt at one point or another 'cause of duels. Hurt the people, however…" she trailed off.
"Ah. The Elder didn't say anything about that."
"O' course she wouldn't. Chinese Amazons don't care about collateral that much," Ranma said with a shrug, "Pass the word, won't you? I'd hate for any… misunderstandings, right?"
"... Yes, that would be terrible…. May I have your name?" she asked.
Ranma went to reply, then paused, staring at the woman suspiciously. She had an expectant look with a hint of smugness. 'Have her name', yeah, no. "Just tell 'em to be worried if the redhead shows up," she said,
"... as you wish. A good evening then, Ms. Akage," the woman replied with a hint of disappointment before tapping her staff against the tiles and disappearing in a flicker of light.
Ranma smirked. She'd figured one of them would stop by if she hung out on the rooftop. Hopefully, at least one group of them would be smart enough to get the hint. Cologne might not care about collateral, but she would.
With that done she popped back inside, picked up some microwaved popcorn and a blanket, and came back. She could always shuck the blanket if it got too damp.
The 'show' started about an hour later with a crack of thunder as a bolt of lightning snapped between two buildings in the distance. An entire rainbow of lights danced across the skyline and in the flickers and flashes Ranma could make out rapidly moving figures that seemed to flash in and out of existence. Teleporting much as the sorceress had.
The combat raged for an impressive forty minutes with no end in sight before the wind turned and a tornado crawled towards the sky, the signature formation of a Hiryu Shoten Ha. Cologne had clearly gotten involved, and at a fairly high level. She wondered for a moment if she should get involved before putting the thought aside. She rarely listened when people told her to stay out of something, but she had little interest in drawing the ire of people who could use magic.
There had been surprisingly little collateral damage as well. Only a few shattered office buildings, which wasn't really all that much at the end of the day.
Ranma was brought out of her musings by the thunk of the ladder on the edge of the rooftop. A moment later Akane stomped up the ladder. She paused at the top and stared off at the flashing lights.
"So that's what it looks like from outside," She said.
"They've caused less collateral damage than us so far," Ranma replied, stretching and yawning.
"Us? You mean you," she replied, shivering. Whether at the strange sight, even by Nerima standards, in the distance or due to the cold.
"Hey! I try to avoid it. It's not like I can control Mousse and Ryouga," Ranma replied, pulling the blanket up to her chin. "They should be done soon. Times running out on that convergence and I don't think anyone's even gotten close enough to start their-"
A pillar of blue light roared toward the moon from the park.
"... Nevermind. Someone just started something," Ranma said, throwing off her blanket to stand up. She walked up to the edge where Akane was staring at the pillar of power.
"Did Cologne say what they were doing?" Akane asked, worriedly.
"... No, she didn't. Excuse me," Ranma growled, taking a running leap to the next house, then the next, ignoring the shout from Akane behind her. "Should have asked that," she muttered as she bounced over the street. This didn't scream something good, which meant the Old Ghoul had failed.
"Trust the Old Ghoul one time," she complained loudly. When she got there she was so going to give the old woman- Her heart seemed to stop as the moon turned blue and a much larger wave of power rolled back down the blue pillar to crash into the ground. A wave of blue-silver mist washed out faster than sound.
Ranma backpedaled on the tiled roof, but it didn't matter. Escape was already impossible as the wave of magic rolled over the entire region.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Gosunkugi had no talent for magic. He knew barely anything about it and his every attempt to find proper instruction had seen him laughed out of sorcerer's cram schools, wizard's academies, and magician's colleges. The last was mostly because he was ten years too young.
He couldn't keep a grin off his face as he continued to chant. The array glowed with the magic that flowed up from below. He had gotten lucky, even he could tell that. The leylines were orders of magnitude stronger than he had ever expected and as the last of the seventh repetition of the latin chant left his lips it exploded forth in a pillar that reached to the sky. This was magic, this was the power he had always wanted.
He focused his mind as he started the second chant, fixed his wants and desires into the forefront of his mind. If he let his mind wander at this point he wouldn't get his wish, or maybe he would, but it would be wrong. Like if he started to think about destruction. Like if the power were to run loose and flatten Nerima to deliver- no, Focus.
Focus.
He would be who he should have been. Handsome, talented, influential. All he had as Sigurd. Everything he had in ALO and more. If it had been him in charge of the Sylph they could have had the world tree.
Focus!
They could have been Alfs, ruled the skies, but no-
Focus. On his handsome form and how he would be greater than all.
Focus. On the talent of a fairy! On being better than Ranma-
FOCUS!
The power seemed to peak, plateauing for a heartbeat… and then continued rising, and rising, and rising.
His focus stayed strong, but the power involved… It was as far beyond the desire to change a single soul as the sun was beyond a candle.
The power crested as the ninth repetition of the chant left his lips and the world turned silver as the power returned.
Gosunkugi screamed as the world went black.
Ten minutes, ten hours, ten days perhaps? He couldn't say how long it was at first since his mind was scrambled, but slowly, surely, the world returned. He was lying face first on the ground. He groaned at the soreness that dimly echoed through his body as he pushed himself to his knees. His armour creaked as he knelt and his sword…
His armour? His sword?
Gosunkugi stared down at himself. He was clad in his armour from ALO. His sword was at his waist. A wide grin appeared and he laughed. His voice boomed as it did on SAO. He rose to his feet and felt his forehead, there was his circlet, and his hair, yes it was green again.
Sigurd turned to the burnt circle in the park and laughed again holding his hand up to the full moon that still burned blue in the sky. "IT WORKED! I. AM. SIGURD! I. AM. A. SORCERER!", he shouted before breaking into mad laughter that echoed across the city.
He trailed off as something in his peripheral vision caught his attention and he turned, the laughter dying on his lips as his eyes took in the spiraling, twisted trunk of Yggdrasil as it loomed over Tokyo. It was taller than Mount Fuji. His mouth flapped open and shut for a full minute of incredulity before his laughter returned as he finally processed the sight before him.
He had done this. He had dragged the World Tree into reality from within a video game. "BANISH ME! ME! FOOLS!" he shouted, raising his hands again into the sky, "I HAVE STOLEN YOUR TREE! I HAVE MADE A GAME REAL! WITNESS MY MIGHT!"
It was nearly ten minutes before his mad laughter finally ceased, at which point he tried to check the time and found that he couldn't find his phone. Like the rest of his clothing, it had vanished, or perhaps it had been incinerated like everything in the circle. Either way, it was time he headed home…
Oh god, he was out late.
With barely a thought spared for decorum, Gosunkugi ran out of the park, just barely missing others who would have been very interested in asking him questions.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Something was different as Ranma came to.
"Ugh," she groaned as she blinked up at the sky. She lay there, on the roof of a three-story apartment building, and just processed the pained sensations coming from everything. Her head hurt, her limbs were sore and she'd swear she hurt in places that didn't actually exist. Like a tingle that went past her tailbone, or the phantom ache between and a little behind her shoulder blades. Still, she was alive. That was more than she'd expected when the Moon had shot Tokyo with an energy beam.
"I'm going to beat the Old Ghoul up for this," she muttered as she sat up, wincing as a sharp pain rolled up her tailbone. She reached back to rub the spot, and paused at the impossible sensation of touching something coming out from her tailbone. Her hand felt weird touching whatever it was, as it seemed to be part of her.
She grabbed the whatever and tried to gently turn to see it, but the angle was bad and she had to slowly pull it around. It was long, thin, a bit furry and actually felt kinda nice to touch. Still, what was-
A bright red, somewhat bushy, tail came into view held in her hand. It looked a bit like a cat tail.
A shiver of worry ran through her and she glanced about searching for a cat while her ears swiveled-
Both hands reached up to her head. Ears, coming out of the top of her head. Cat ears.
Ranma jumped to her feet with a hiss of anger. She was going to murder the Old Ghoul. "THEY TURNED ME INTO A CATGIRL!" she snarled, reflexively flexing the last phantom appendage-
A flicker of gold light caught her eye and she turned her head to see shimmering translucent golden wings, more like feather-shaped panels of energy than physical things, that had extended from her back. A glance to the other side confirmed the same. She had four golden wings, two high and two low.
"Correction," she hissed, flexing her hands like she was strangling someone, "A magical catgirl. Old Ghoul you'd better have your life insurance paid up, because I'm going to kill you." With a snarl that was more like a cat than a human, Ranma leaped to the next building and ran across the rooftops toward the ritual site.
Partway there she jumped, and to her surprise failed to come back down immediately. With a yelp of surprise she realized she was flying, her wings having instinctively spread at some point. As though attention was the last thing they wanted, her wings folded and she crashed in an ungainly heap on the roof of a house. Picking herself up she glanced at the wings. They worked. They actually worked. She'd felt something as they were working too. A slight pull on something within that wasn't her KI.
"..." She frowned at them. Maybe she'd kill the Old Ghoul a little less. She tried to flex them and they fluttered just a little, refusing to open as they had. She'd need to work on that. She tried, instead, to will them away and to her surprise they vanished easily. A thought brought them back and another sent them away again.
That dealt with she glanced about as she tried to recall the right direct, and promptly found her gaze snagged by something she really should have noticed sooner. Her eyes went up and up and up. She swallowed.
"That's a big tree," she whispered. It was somewhat north-east of downtown Tokyo, but it was still fairly close to the center of the city and its roots could be seen weaving through the cityscape, giant shadows that obscured entire chunks of the skyline. The tree itself spiraled up into the sky and its branches loomed above the city. Even as far out as they were, Ranma could spot a few branches in front of the moon.
What the hell had happened?
She swallowed again and gave herself a shake, provoking odd sensations from her new ears and tail. Quickly reorienting herself she ran across the rooftops, passed the remains of the running battle that seemed thankfully devoid of injured people, and dropped to the ground at the entrance to one of the local parks. The streetlights were out throughout the park as she silently walked through the gate.
In the distance air raid sirens had started singing. Probably not the best choice of alarms to sound at the moment.
The park was, roughly, the area the pillar of magic had come from. Her eyes scanned the area, only for her to get distracted as her ears twisted to listen. Pushing off the weird sensation, Ranma scanned the area. Flickers of light in the park's small wooded area caught her attention. Keeping quiet, she slipped into the forest, hugging the shadows of the trees.
A whispered conversation was being held within. Both of the voices sounded familiar actually.
"... all ash now," the voice of the sorceress from earlier said.
"There are other signs that we can examine beyond the symbology of the circle," the second voice said. Another woman, it sounded familiar, but Ranma couldn't place it. It wasn't the voice of one of her regular rivals or love interests.
"But those methods are limited. Who builds a ritual circle for something like this out of… I think this fragment here is twine," the sorceress said.
Ranma peered around the corner of a tree into the small clearing at the heart of the forested area. The sorceress was kneeling in the dirt as she examined something by a large circular burn mark with a flashlight of all things. Her ears had turned long and pointed, rather like those of an elf, and her hair seemed to be a different shade entirely. It was brighter, almost a blonde.
Her companion, however, was familiar. A woman in her mid-twenties or younger with long blue hair down to her waist. She was wearing a mid-thigh length robe and a pair of poorly fitted pants. Her face was extremely similar to Shampoo's, if one ignored the long pointed ears poking out of her loose hair.
The real kicker, however, was the gnarled staff she treated like a cane. Memories of the Nanban mirror incident welled up from within Ranma's subconscious and her eyebrow twitched.
"You've got to be kidding me," she snapped, stepping out into the clearing as the two women whirled to face her, "I get turned into a catgirl and you lose three hundred years. How's that fair?"
Cologne, looking far far younger than she had a few hours ago, giggled. "Well, son-in-law, it seems that some of us have better luck," she said, tapping her cane against the earth, "Come to see what caused this?"
"You mean 'Did I come to see why a magical nuke hit the city'?" Ranma snarked, crossing her arms under her chest and baring her teeth. "What. The. Hell. Happened?!"
"This was done by an unknown individual," the sorceress said as she pulled a small vial out and placed a piece of string-like material into it before corking the vial. "Unknown person, unknown motives, unknown effect. Given the forces involved, I honestly can't tell you whether or not they even succeeded or if what we saw was just a side effect from a failure."
"We were unfortunately distracted by the arrival of the Conclave of the North Watch," Cologne said.
"They're basically magically armed cultists. A death cult," the sorceress said, "All of the various parties banded together to see them off, thankfully without losses on our side."
"That has more to do with whoever conducted this ritual, than luck or skill," Cologne said, "Everyone was knocked silly. I recovered first and dealt with them. We, however, took too long and by the time we arrived here whoever had conducted this ritual had fled. It is a small consolation that they were clearly not affiliated with the Conclave."
Ranma filed the names away for later. "Great. So what did happen? Why am I a Catgirl?"
"Not a fucking clue," the sorceress deadpanned, "It's going to take days, months possibly, to decipher what the fuck happened. That said, anything you can tell us of what you saw, I'd appreciate. We were rather… busy, at the time."
"Yeah, someone shot a beam of magic at the moon and it punched back. At a guess it hit all of Tokyo with its response," Ranma replied, "Massive wave of this glowy mist."
"... Well that's not good," the sorceress muttered.
"Do you need me here, Ms.Toriyama?" Cologne asked.
"No, I should be able to handle it from here, especially once Akira gets here," the sorceress said.
"Good. Son-in-Law, let's head to the Tendo's place. This situation is in good hands," she said, walking past Ranma.
"'In good hands', you mean like you said it was before?" Ranma snarked, "The one time I listen to you, the fallout hits the entire city." She shot the sorceress an annoyed look, her ears flattening atop her head, and the woman winced.
"We did our best," Ms. Toriyama said with the tone of someone dreading the response.
"Do better next time," Ranma snapped before turning on her heel and following Cologne. She caught up to the youthened woman on the edge of the woods. She was stretching and paused with her cane braced behind her neck as Ranma caught up. She turned a teasing grin towards Ranma.
"Ah, Son-in-Law, like what you see?" she asked.
"I hear one syllable of 'Wo Ai ni' and I'm gone," Ranma replied flatly, to the laughter of the older woman.
"I did say if I was three hundred years younger, didn't I?" Cologne laughed before shaking her head, "But I would not do that to my Great-Granddaughter. It would be a terrible thing to break her heart."
"Like it isn't going to be anyways," Ranma replied. She ignored the raised eyebrow and smirk from the young-again Amazon. "Not marrying her, Old Ghoul." She twitched backwards out of the way of the cane as it lashed out at her skull. The 'Old Ghoul' blinked owlishly as it missed.
"You've gotten faster," she said with a raised eyebrow.
Ranma blinked. "I guess?" she replied non-committedly as she considered her reaction to Cologne's usual strike. Normally she couldn't avoid it. Now, despite the woman being far less worn down by age, she'd dodged it easily. Her eyes narrowed. "You're right. Something's up."
"The what, is clear," Cologne replied.
"Oh? Go ahead and say it then," Ranma said, not wanting to play games.
"Can't you guess, Son-in-Law?" the amazon asked, spinning her staff before a pair of hooked yellow-green energy wings appeared from her back. "We are no longer human."
-0-0-0-0-0-
"Do you really need to go, Kazuto? Mom could be back at any time," Suguha said as they lingered by the front door.
"I need to check on Asuna, Sugu. This could have done anything to her," Kazuto replied. He had his sword over his back. While it was illegal, technically, to have a weapon in Japan he wasn't about to go out without it. It wasn't normal for them to be fairies or for the World Tree to just appear from nothing in the middle of Tokyo.
"I should go with you, Papa," Yui said. He shook his head.
"No, we have no idea what's out there and…" And she had just become real in a way that being an AI wasn't. "This isn't ALO. If anything happened to you, Yui, I- I couldn't," he said, bending down to hug her. He looked up at Sugu. "Keep an eye on her, please."
"I will, I promise," Sugu said before giving him her own hug, "You be careful, and… Bring her back, if you can. I want to meet Asuna."
"I will," he replied before patting Yui on the head once and stepping out through the door into the cold evening. It felt warmer than he had expected, but then he wasn't human at the moment, was he?
His gaze went up to the giant tree that had taken over the sky. Hell, it was hanging over the house. The branches obscured the sky above them. It was one thing to see it in the game, awe-inspiring as it had been, but now it was just… It somehow hit differently in real life. Trees weren't supposed to overshadow mountains.
"Big Brother."
He glanced back at Suguha standing in the door. "Yeah?"
"... You probably know it better than me, but… don't do anything reckless. This isn't a game anymore," she said, her lips trembling. She brushed a loose strand of golden hair behind her long ears.
"It hasn't been one for me for a while," he replied. With a thought his wings appeared on his back. "Now, let's see if this works. Back in a while, Sugu." He kicked off nearly as hard as he could and let out a yelp as he sailed up into the air, passing higher than the houses around them before he kicked open his wings.
He paused above the street for a moment to orient himself, then launched himself in the direction of the hospital as fast as he could, keeping to just above the roofline. Flight seemed to be as intuitive as in ALO, which was fortunate because he probably would have gone splat otherwise. That would have been embarrassing.
Power seemed to be more intermittent the closer he got to the tree. Cars were still driving through the streets at least, there were also a lot of people stepping out of homes or visible in windows or on balconies looking terrified. While he didn't stick around, he noted grimly that most of them had long pointed ears. He hadn't thought so many people played ALO…
He slowed and settled down on the edge of a grocery store's roof. It was physically impossible that this many people played ALO. Not in such a concentrated area at least. He stared down at a street where dozens of people had stepped out of their homes. Worry filled the air as they talked worriedly. His eyes fell on several children younger than ten with pointed ears. There had been a few in SAO, kids whose parents hadn't paid much attention to the rating on the box. The thing was, he didn't recall anyone having an avatar that young in ALO. In fact, the youngest-looking person he'd encountered was the Cait Sith leader, Alicia, and she was merely flat and short rather than young. Whatever had happened, it had affected people well beyond the confines of the game.
With a guilty look in the direction of the hospital, he spread his wings and flew down toward the street full of people. Asuna could wait. A few minutes wouldn't make a difference if… Well, she was at a hospital. If someone could do something they'd already be doing it. As much as it hurt to not rush there, leaving these people confused would be worse.
"HEY!" he called, drawing eyes towards him as he descended. Gasps ran through the group and a space formed around him as he touched down. "Is everyone alright here?" he asked.
"You mean other than the obvious?" one woman asked acerbically, before drawing back as he looked at her.
"... Well yeah," he said, "Look, I've just got a few questions and maybe I can provide a few answers in exchange?"
"You know what's going on?" A large man with the ears of a Cait Sith stepped forward.
He shook his head. "Yes and no," he said, "I can tell you what happened, but I'm in the dark as to the why or how just as much as you. First, a question, does anyone here play ALO?" The answer was, to his lack of surprise, a resounding no. "Right, so, this is going to seem unbelievable-"
"Like being turned into elves and having a giant tree take over downtown isn't?" Someone snarked.
"Point. I mean, I lived through SAO and this is just nuts even for me," Kazuto admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
The resulting interrogation, both ways, lasted nearly a half hour before he was able to escape. Most of the information they had was less detailed than what he had brought, but there was one detail. It had started with a flash of light in the north-northwest and was followed by a wave of light that passed through everything. Something big had happened, something centered on ALO, but it was also clearly something far beyond his expertise. He couldn't exactly stab a giant wave of light with a sword, and in the real world, his programming skill was somewhat less useful.
"I'm starting to think I'm cursed," he mused. That was two VR MMOs that had developed sudden, twisted consequences. Maybe it would be best if he tried to avoid more in the future?
The Hospital was lit up as he reached it. One of the few spots in its area. Not bothering with the front door he zipped up to the window he was sure belonged to Asuna. Her bed, which had been right by the window, was empty. A nerve gear sat on the pillow still in the indentation left by her head. Her blankets were rumbled, but showed no sign of someone actually climbing out of the bed.
Dropping to the ground he walked in through the front door. Unusually for this late at night the entrance lights were on and a green-haired woman, with the now requisite pointed ears, was fussing with the computer behind the desks. "Sir," she said without looking up, "If it's an emergency the emergency room is around the side. Otherwise visiting hours are over. Long over."
"You could at least look up," he replied, stepping up to the counter. The woman looked up and promptly took two steps back.
"Oh," she said as she took in his appearance, "still, sir, visiting hours are-"
"Over, I know. Look, I don't need to see her, I just need to know she's alright with everything that's going on. I'm looking for Asuna Yuuki," he said, before extending the wings he had yet to withdraw, "I just peaked in through her window with these and her bed was empty."
"You- Empty?" The woman asked, stepping towards her computer, "What was her name?"
"Asuna Yuuki. She's an SAO victim… just like me," he said.
"Ah. I thought I recognized the name. Mr. Kirigaya if I recall, right?" she asked him. He nodded. He had thought she looked vaguely familiar. Her cheekbones were higher and her hair a completely different colour, but she was definitely the usual receptionist. "You realize her Fiancee has told us to inform him of anyone who visits, right?"
"Let him know. I don't care at this point," he replied bluntly, "That bastard was going to marry her while she was still unconscious."
"... I had heard a rumour along those lines," the receptionist said. She sounded rather disgusted by the thought as she scanned her list. "Asuna… Asuna… She should be in bed. No signs of her waking up. Let me make a call." She grabbed her phone and dialed a number. "Hey, Watanabe? Yeah, I've got someone at the front desk here to see if Asuna Yuuki is fine… Yeah well he says her bed is empty… No, he flew to the window… Yes, I'm sure, he has fairy wings- Yes…" she glanced up, "One second, she's just checking."
They waited anxiously for a minute before the receptionist winced. "Slow down… You're sure?" she asked, "Right, I'll start a search of the building. Thanks." She hung up and looked at him. "Her current location isn't known at the moment."
Kazuto rubbed his forehead. He'd woken up in his bed, so where the hell could Asuna be? At least the odds of her being dead were minimal at best. But where the hell could she have gone? She was practically skin and…
No.
No, she'd be like him now. Like that picture that Agil had shown him of the girl in the cage.
"Damn it," he said as realization hit him, "She's still in the cage."
"I'm sorry?" the woman asked, looking completely lost.
He took a deep breath. "Right so… Bit of a long story at this point, but when Asuna didn't wake up a friend of ours reached out about a week ago with a picture," he said, "It was a picture of a girl in a cage in the branches of this massive tree. Only, the girl looked like Asuna except with wings and…" he gestured to his ears. The woman's eyes went wide and one hand touched her own ear. "Yeah. Apparently, it was taken in Alfheim Online, a game built on the same CARDINAL engine as SAO. The entire goal of the game was to ascend this giant tree before the other factions and that picture put her in the branches of it."
"That's not possible. She was in SAO," the receptionist said.
"Except ALO uses the same system architecture. Hell, I bet it uses some of the same servers. Transferring her from one system to the other? Totally possible. When I logged in with my Nerve Gear all my character stats from SAO were transferred as well. The systems are one hundred percent compatible," Kazuto said, running a hand through his hair, "And now there's that giant tree outside. You've seen it, right?"
"Rather hard not to."
"Right, well, that's the World Tree from ALO. That's where the cage with Asuna was spotted," he said, "She's still in the cage. Whatever just happened pulled her through the game and she's still up there in that cage. I'm sure of it. Excuse me. I need to go, now."
With that he turned on a heel and was out the door at a run, ignoring the receptionist's shout to stop. He was going to need help to get her back. He jumped into the sky and in moments set a new speed record as he headed for home. He had calls he needed to make. First, Agil, then Klein, then… then whoever he could gather. He was going to get Asuna back if it killed him.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Asuna groaned and pushed herself up. That had hurt, that had hurt a lot. She didn't think that falling into an endless void should hurt, after all, what was there to hurt you in an endless void?
She shook her head and tried to ignore the aches and pains in her body.. Aches and pains? She opened her eyes and looked about in utter confusion. She wasn't in Aincrad, or her cage in Alfheim Online, or in a hospital, or her home. She was in a bedroom, in a four-poster bed, in a room that reminded her of many of the western manors they had encountered in Aincrad. Bright white crystals glowed in delicate sconces mounted on the walls providing a comforting light.
Slipping out of bed she noted that her wings seemed to be gone, though she could feel something there. It was a strange tingling sensation like something was waiting anxiously. She ignored it for the moment after making sure that nothing was there physically. Weird sensations she could handle.
A set of glass double doors let out onto a balcony while a single wooden one probably led into whatever building this was part of. A manor or castle was most likely given the decorations. She checked her clothing and frowned. The slip and panties were even more revealing than what she'd been wearing in her cage.
She scowled and looked around for a closet. Before she stepped out and tried to get the lay of the land she needed something less… less this. She was going to kill Sugou when she got free. She was going to murder him and despite her normal aversion to killing she was going to enjoy it. Assuming Kirito didn't get to him first.
A smile blossomed on her lips as she thought of Kirito. She still had a promise to fulfill and she didn't plan on making him wait any longer than she had to. If she could, she'd get to him. If not, well she'd apologize for making him rescue her later.
The closet was a walk-in affair, several times larger than her own back home. It was also mostly useless. She wasn't quite sure who stocked it, but they were either a slut or a pervert given the abyssmal lack of fabric most of the pieces had. Still, it wasn't a total loss. A pair of leather riding pants were located along with a top that only left her shoulders bare. A cloak joined them a few moments later.
Properly dressed, and aching quite a bit less than before, Asuna finally approached the balcony. The cold air outside made her thankful for her cloak. Walking past the small table for two, she stopped at the railing and looked around. She scowled immediately.
She was still in the stupid tree.
Her balcony was perched on a large palatial structure that itself appeared to be hanging from the underside of a large branch. Branches large enough to count as islands in the sky weaved above and below her. Each branch was home to large houses, market squares, and a thousand glittering lights. Movement could be seen amongst the branches, but it looked barely human. They seemed shaped more like Golems than people.
She raised a hand to an ear and grimaced at the pointedness of it. She shook her head. She felt stronger than she had in the cage, like her old strength from SAO had returned, or even just her strength from real life. She didn't feel weak like she had.
"I need a weapon," she said to herself and returned to the room. A cursory search turned up a rack of rapiers hidden in the armoire. Taking one she smiled. It was time to escape.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Ranma pushed open the door to the Tendo Dojo irritably. "I'm home!" she called, taking care to remove her slippers. Behind her, Cologne removed the slightly oversized sneakers she'd been wearing.
A few moments later a blue-haired Kasumi with long pointed ears poked her head out of the kitchen. "Oh, there you are Ranma. We've been so worried," she said before pausing to stare at Cologne. "Another friend, Ranma?" she asked.
Ranma stared at the nearly neon blue shade of Kasumi's hair before shaking her head. "The Old Ghoul got a makeover," she said before she sidestepped her reflexive cane swing.
"Oh my. Elder Cologne?" Kasumi said, putting a hand to her mouth in shock.
"Hello Kasumi, dear. The tea earlier was lovely," she said, smiling as Kasumi's eyes widened.
"Thank you. Um, please, come this way. Everyone is a bit scattered at the moment, I'm afraid. Some people have taken the events better than others. Ranma, would you like some hot water?" Kasumi asked.
Ranma shrugged. "If you have some, then maybe?" she said. The look she got in reply from Kasumi was confusing. "What?"
"Nothing. Please, go sit down, I'll bring refreshments out in a few," Kasumi said, giving her the same look again before disappearing into the kitchen again.
Ranma shrugged before folding her hands behind her head and walking to the family room. The sight there was a bit odd. Soun was sitting down in his usual spot, but his black hair had streaks of fire running through it. He looked much the same except for a lack of wrinkles. Across from him was Ranma's mother. Her hair was much brighter, almost exactly the same shade as Ranma's and she looked younger, more as if she was Ranma's older sister than her mother. She was patting a beautiful black-haired woman -- who was for some reason wearing an oversized Gi and not much else -- on the head with a fond smile.
"Hi, Mum, Mr. Tendo and…?" Ranma trailed off looking at the new woman.
The black-haired woman bristled and whirled in her seat. "Don't you recognize your father, boy?!" She snapped in tones that were very familiar.
Ranma blinked twice.
"Genma, dear, you can hardly blame our child for not recognizing you immediately," Nodoka chided, swatting Ranma's female father on the head.
"... Eh?" Was Ranma's intelligent reply to the situation. Cologne peered over Ranma's shoulder.
"Oh my," the no-longer-old woman said as she stepped inside. "This is quite a predicament you've managed to get yourself into, Genma Saotome." She chuckled as she found a seat.
"Do we know you?" Ranma's mother asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's the Old Ghou- ow," Ranma winced as the cane cracked home against her head, crushing one of her ears. "Ow ow ow." She whimpered, rubbing the far more sensitive than she realized, ear. Tears sprung to her eyes as she glared at Cologne who seemed quite surprised.
"Ranma, come here," her mother said, beckoning her over. Ranma found a seat next to her mother. "Stop holding it down," she chided Ranma, "Oh dear. Elder Cologne, can you explain the changes we've experienced?" She shot a glare over Ranma's head as she gently rubbed Ranma's ear. Despite herself, Ranma leaned into the hand and sighed. That felt nice.
"Unfortunately, no. An unknown party snuck past our perimeter while we were occupied with another threat and enacted a ritual that is still being deciphered. Unfortunately, it seems to have left little in the way of evidence as to their motives, actions, or intentions," Cologne said, shaking her head, "Tell me, has your husband been exposed to cold water recently?"
"No. He spontaneously changed a short while after we woke up again. I was worried for Ranma," Ranma's mother said.
"She was getting far too emotional," Genma huffed, crossing her arms and inadvertently pushing her chest up. Across the table Soun turned to face the door.
"Saotome, if you mind," the lone man in the room said with an awkward cough."
"Erk," Ranma's father went a strange shade of pale red as her hands jumped away from her body.
Ranma snickered. Oh, being a girl was simple, huh? Nothing to worry about, right? She grinned viciously at her Pops. "Gotta be careful, pops. You're a woman now," she said, smirking.
"Be polite to your father, Ranma. You know very well what he's going through," her mother chided.
"Yes, mother," Ranma replied politely, matching her pop's glare with a sunny smile.
Cologne, meanwhile, was tapping her chin as she thought. "Very unusual," she said, "... I have an idea, however." She pointed to the cup of tea in front of Nodoka. "How warm is that?"
Ranma's mother put her finger in the drink. "Warm enough," she said, glancing to Ranma
"No, if you use that I'll have to have a bath," Ranma said, her ears going flat as she stared at the cup of tea.
"You probably need one anyways," Cologne said, "If you don't mind, Mrs. Saotome?"
Ranma grimaced as her mother poured the warm tea over her head. He sighed and adjusted his shirt irritably. "Really?" he sighed.
Cologne nodded. "I see, I see. Ranma, how would you like ice cream?" she asked.
Ranma blinked. "Ice cream?" she asked, then blinked again at the tone of her voice. She looked down. "Why am I a girl again?" she demanded as her mother gasped. Ranma had to catch the tea cup as it slipped from her hands.
Her father was staring and edging away with a fearful expression on her face. Cologne, meanwhile, simply nodded as though this was the expected outcome. "Yes, I thought so. Ranma, can you focus on wanting to be a man? If nothing happens, try thinking about it from a different angle."
"What?" Ranma blinked before nodding, very unsure of herself suddenly. "I guess I can?" She closed her eyes. Want to be a man? Well, she'd wanted it when she'd used the water, which she could still feel in her hair. Ugh, she was going to have to wash tea leaves out of her hair again. Normally wanting to be a guy wasn't that hard, she normally wanted to be a guy more than a girl anyways… Uh…
So how did she go about wanting to be a guy anyways?
The moments dragged on as she tried different strategies. A desire to show she was manly amounted to nothing. The same could be said of trying to focus on showing off. A few other thoughts crossed her mind but nothing seemed to be working. Until she focused on the idea of being stronger. Physically her male form was stronger than her female form and really, she could use that little bit of extra strength to… Move the table? Yeah, sure. That'd work and-
"There we go," Cologne said, a smug tone in her voice.
"How did he do that?" came the unfamiliar tones of her father's female form.
Ranma opened his eyes and blinked down at himself. "Wait, I did that without hot water?" he asked. Also, why had that worked when showing off hadn't?
"Oh, Ranma!" With just that little bit of warning his mother glomped him. His tail and ears went straight with alarm as she hugged him hard.
"Mom!" He protested, trying to push her off. It wasn't working and frustration bubbled up inside. As much as he liked a hug from his mother, hugs like this were just uncomfortable. She never was this aggressive when he was a-
"And there it goes," Cologne deadpanned.
-girl? Ranma blinked as she was suddenly female again. Her mother's grip slackened in shock and they stared at each other.
"What?" her mother sounded very confused, about as confused as Ranma felt.
"At a guess," Cologne said before anyone could ask, "The nature of Son-in-law's curse has changed to be affected by one's will. I've heard of rare cases of this in the past. I'd need more time to learn more about how it works, I'm afraid. Until they learn to control it you will simply have to put up with random shifts of gender."
"... I see," Nodoka said before reaching up and scratching Ranma behind her ear.
"Mooom," she complained as her cheeks went red from embarrassment even as she leaned into her hand. Being a magical catgirl was so embarrassing! "I can control it?" she asked Cologne after a monstrous effort to mostly ignore her mother's fingers.
"In theory," Cologne said, watching them both, "It's likely affected by mental state or by what you perceive to be feminine vs. masculine activities or emotions, or even simple whims. You will need to experiment to identify the trigger. Beyond that, we'd have to spend days working on it, perhaps weeks or longer."
Ranma twitched at that. 'Feminine' basically meant… She shot a look at her father and scowled. She'd admit, she often had a hard time feeling masculine when doing anything except martial arts or some sort of strength contest. Which meant… Which meant she was going to be spending most of her time as a girl until she got a handle on this. "Pops, I blame you," she said through gritted teeth. It wasn't the same as being locked as a girl, but this meant she was basically broadcasting how manly she felt she was just by existing. Which, being a magical catgirl really wasn't much.
"This is not my fault!" the long dark-haired woman replied, shying away as Ranma started to growl.
"Ah, ah, enough, both of you," Ranma's mother said, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. "Can you explain what you mean by that, Elder Cologne?"
"Hmmm," the youngish elder smirked, "It's hard to say, exactly. No two people are exactly the same mentally. You'll likely learn a great deal about your husband and son over the next few years."
Ranma flushed, then stood up. "I'm going to go have a bath," she said, turning her back on the room with an irritated flick of her tail.
"Oh, run away from the implications with your tail- ack." The ack was preceded by the sound of steel being drawn.
"Genma, be quiet," Ranma's mother said, as the younger redhead slid the door shut behind her.
Ranma sighed and leaned her head against the door frame. "This is going to suck," she muttered. So her curse was controlled by willpower now and… and it would mostly respond to how male or female she was feeling at the time… wait a moment.
Ranma slid the door back open to find her mother had the family Katana laying in her lap. Everyone turned back to her. She swallowed. "So, quick question. If my curse has changed… Why is pops a woman?" she asked.
"... At a guess his curse was altered by the magic as well. Note the ears," Cologne said, pointing out the long thin ears on Genma, "Like you, your father's cursed form is no longer normal. At a guess, it simply replaced his form with that of whatever we are, but that is pure speculation at best. Unraveling tonight's events will take months more than likely."
"... Well, I'm sure pops can handle it. Not like he's going to have trouble feeling 'manly' with Mom around, right?" she said, shooting a smirk his way.
"Listen you-"
"Going for that bath now, later," Ranma said, shutting the door in her father's face. She covered her mouth to restrain the giggles that wanted to erupt.
"Oh, Ranma," Kasumi said as she stepped out of the kitchen, she was bringing a plate of cookies towards the family room, "Did you have an accident?" she nodded to Ranma's hair.
"No. Mum decided to test my curse cause of Pops," Ranma replied, "Looks like it's changed like his.. Hers, has." She concealed a smirk that drew a fond sigh from Kasumi.
"Here, have a cookie, then go have a bath," Kasumi said, shuffling Ranma along once she took a cookie.
"Thanks Kasumi," she said after taking three cookies. She hurried up the steps to the second floor to grab a change of clothes, munching on a cookie as she went.
"Nabiki! Come on, it isn't that bad," Akane said. Her voice sounded a little… off? Slightly deeper, though still feminine.
Ranma paused on the steps and grimaced. What could have possibly embarrassed Nabiki? She walked up the next few steps apprehensively and stopped abruptly as soon as she spotted Akane.
Akane looked like Akane, if, that is, Akane was six foot five and looked rather like she'd been carved from stone. Well, that was perhaps being uncharitable, but she certainly looked a lot more solidly built than before.
"Akane?" Ranma squeaked, cursing her voice as the giant girl turned to her.
"Ranma? Oh, wow you're small now… Are those cat ears?" Akane asked.
Ranma nodded and walked over to her. "Yeah, cat… cat ears," she said, looking up and up at the other girl. She wasn't the tallest girl, but compared to Akane she felt absolutely tiny now. "I- How are you?" she asked.
"Annoyed that nothing fits, but better than Nabiki," Akane said, glancing at the door beside you, "She turned into a catgirl like you did and I think she knows what's going-."
"GO AWAY!" Ranma blinked as a rather high pitched voice came through the door. That wasn't Nabiki's voice. It wasn't even close.
"No!" Akane replied, "Look, you can come out or we can come in."
"Since when am I involved in this?" Ranma protested, her ears flaring up.
"Since now. Nabiki! Open the door!"
"Ranma, get my sister away and I'll take ten thousand off your debt!" 'Nabiki' shouted.
"Are you sure that's her?" Ranma asked, "Because that doesn't sound like her."
"She doesn't look anything like herself either, which is why I think she knows something. There's something different about her, Ranma," Akane said. She hammered on the door. "Open up Nabi…ki…" With a 'crunch' something popped and the door swung open. "Oops."
"Akane!" 'Nabiki' hissed from her bed. On said bed was a girl with long dirty blonde hair, two cat ears like Ranma's and a cat tail of the same colour. She was also nearly a foot shorter than Ranma.
Ranma's lips twitched as she stared. A snicker popped through her lips.
"Saotome, I swear, if you-" The high girlish voice, more appropriate on a girl five years younger, sent Ranma over the edge and she broke down howling with laughter.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Something a bit strange. An old idea I finally decided to put to paper. Not sure now likely I am to continue this but at least it's out of my head for now. I hope everyone's enjoyed it. It was erm… a pain in the ass for Gekkou to edit. ^^; I kept rearranging which scenes were where.
Gekkou_Yoko: They switched scene ordering around some nine plus times.
Grounders10: *awkward cough* it was driving me nuts trying to figure out the presentation for it.
Hmmm.... I feel like there's a scene I wish to see in the future...
