And all Ranma 1/2 Mailing list people are _my_ property (*lol* Just kidding, guys). Actually, all characters portrayed in this story not meeting said copyrights above are my copyright. ANy similarity to said persons, living or dead, may or may not be coincidental. I have added and modified sertain characters (not Ranma 1/2 ones) based on submitted character profiles. And no, I wasn't biased, so :p ^_^
So there.
Now that that's out of the way, a little author note...
This is my first fanfic ever, and from the feel of it, it may be a long one. I hope people will like it. It's not as Ranma 1/2 intensive as other Ranma 1/2 fanfics - that is, it doesn't involve the characters of Ranma 1/2 as much as other fics, inasmuch as it uses the characters and the concepts to create a story of its own. In other words, the Ranma 1/2 characters are not exactly the main characters. What do I mean by "not exactly"? Read on, and you'll find out....enjoy! By the way, this fic is a little dark...hope you don't mind!
I'd like to extend thanks to, of course, Rumiko Takahashi, for bringing us Ranma 1/2. Ms. Takahashi, if you happen to be reading this, you have my utmost gratitude in bringing forth a series such as this one. Keep up the good work on your other series...
To all the great people on the Ranma 1/2 Mailing list for your support. You've been great to me, and I'll never forget it. Whether arguing with you or agreeing with you, I've enjoyed the experience and I hope I'll be able to be a part of it in the coming years. May we stay together, and may our love of Ranma never waver...
And finally, to you the reader. Thanks for taking the time to read my work. Any comments at fsanch@wpo.it.luc.edu would be appreciated. And now, on with the story.....
Theme Passage for the "Persona Ranma" fanfic....
The Mask
You put on a smile,
Laugh and joke with your friends
When everything is wrong.
You put on the mask.
Once the mask is on, it becomes part of you.
You fool others with your mask
But most importantly you fool
Yourself.
Loss of true identity,
Loss of self-worth.
I know
For I too
Look at the world from behind the mask.
- Emily J. Levitt
*****
The man looked out over the city from his office high above the cars and people moving about on the ground below. Nonchalantly leaning against the window edge, he smoked a cigarette, contemplating the world below him.
It was once said that man tried to build a tower to the heavens themselves. But the gods, who saw man's attempt to aspire, foiled man's ambition and confused them all with different languages. The lesson was that man should not aspire to something he was not - man cannot try to be in a place as high as the gods.
The man who looked out the window, Guido Sebec, had not listened to the lesson.
In his short time in the business world he had risen to the top quickly. Through shrewd deals, business transactions, and a little underhanded play, Guido and Sebec Enterprises had become one of the most influential and powerful companies in the city. Though many along the way doubted his quest to the top, he perservered, remembering the lesson of the tower, always keeping it in his head.
And now he had proved the gods wrong. He was in a high place, both physically and figuratively. Many times, Guido had been asked to run for mayor of the city, but he had respectfully declined. That would mean coming down from his high place and living among everyone else who believed in the lesson. No, he liked his position here, high above the crowd and the vehicles and the noise. It was almost a liberating feeling.
Guido sighed. Now that he was at the top, it did indeed feel lonely. He felt as if he'd accomplished just about everything he could here. It was time to start expanding. The problem was, Sebec Enterprises was powerful, but not that powerful. Extending to other places required support, sacrifices, and most importantly, resources. As big as Sebec was at the moment, it seemed that other companies controlled what he needed. There was always a claim here, or a clause there, that stopped Guido from going any farther in his pursuit for available resources.....
But that problem was to be shortly solved. He smiled at the anticipation of it. For years, ever since he had heard a calling in his mind to do this, it was the perfect solution to all his problems. He would never have to worry about money or resources ever again, if this worked. It was amazing he had even thought of it.
Guido paused. He thought about this for the briefest of moments. It did seem that he was the one who had thought of this brilliant scheme, but actually, it was more of an inner voice.Yes, that was it. An inner Voice that called him to do certain things. It had helped him on veyr many occasions - when he was stumped about what to do next in a deal, or when he had to know which competitors were the most dangerous to his growing company. Time after time, he had consulted the Voice, and the Voice was always right.
Now the Voice called him to something extreme, something bizarre to do. And while Guido hesitated at first, he had come to know the credibility of the Voice, and to respect it. And so, he had pooled immense resources into project Deva Yuga, hoping to acheive what the Voice said he would achieve. And sure enough, he was on the eve of his greatest plan - and his greatest success.
A knock on the door took Guido out of his reverie.
"Who is it?" He spoke, without turning around. He always tried to speak with an aggressive and arrogant posture, a habit from his business dealing days.
"Mr. Sebec, Dr. Nichols is here to see you." The secretary's bright voice wafted into the room.
*Could it be...?* Guido thought. "Let him in," he said out loud.
"Yes, sir." The secretary's heels could be heard clicking away down the hallway as she left and a man entered the room, nervously wringing his hands.
Guido turned around to face Dr. Nichols, the head of the Deva Yuga team. Dr. Nichols was the basic work-a-holic scientist. His gray hair, grown long from weeks of neglecting to cut it, was currently tied back in a ponytail behing him. He wore the usual white lab coat with the Sebec logo on the front, and under that, a white shirt and khaki pants, slightly stained with coffee-colored blobs. All in all, a far cry from the pin-striped suit and slicked-back hair of Guido Sebec.
"Mr. Sebec," Dr. Nichols began. Nichols spoke with the eternal tiredness of a man at endless research and work. "I am glad to inform you..that the Deva Yuga system is ready to test. However, I must once again voice my objections to-"
"Thank you, Dr. Nichols." Guido said, cutting the old scientist off. "I will be there shortly to make the attempt at testing it personally. And do not try to change my mind with your carrying on about consequences. It is too late for anything like that."
"But the magnitude of what you're doing! Sir, I beg you to-"
"I said, _thank you_ , Dr. Nichols," Guido said with a touch of anger in his voice. "That will be all. I expcet everyhting to be ready when I arrive."
Nichols slumped his shoulders. "Yes, sir." He left the room slowly, feeling the anger of Guido at his back.
Guido looked sternly at the closed door for a few more seconds and then resumed his calm look. *At last* Guido thought to himself. *I can finally do this*.
^Yes...all you have to do is achieve this, and you will be powerful. You will have power and resources beyond your imagination..^
Guido was startled somewhat by the Voice that spoke to him, but otherwise remained silent. The Voice had never spoken without his asking first. Maybe it was a sign. *Or maybe the first vestiges of insanity* Guido thought with a smirk. Either way, he was close. Finally close to his goal of getting the power and resources he needed, after all this time - after all the time thinking about the unfamiliar and mysterious name that the Voice had whispered to him so long ago.
^Nerima^.
*****
*Nerima.*
Laura Saotome sighed. She looked at the calculus problem on the Extra credit quiz she was taking and sighed again. *Too bad I'm not there instead of here.*
Laura took a second to glance down at the Ranma 1/2 manga lying on top of backpack. It seemed to beckon to her to pick it up, lying there with a picture of Ranma-male and Ranma-female on the cover, simultaneously. Laura smiled inwardly as she remembered the first time she had ever picked up a Ranma 1/2 manga, and got swept into a world of romance and comedy, of feelings and emotions, and of true love and honorable rivalry....it was really only coincidence that her last name and the main character's last name were the same...
*Saotome, snap out of it!* Laura thought, berating herself. *First thing - get done with the calculus quiz.* Unfortunately, there were only five minutes left in her allotted time to finish the last problem. Laura looked at the problem for two seconds, wrote down some made-up answer, and handed the quiz in *Ah well. Couldn't hurt you, might help you. It's extra credit, after all.* She got up, picking up her manga along with her backpack, and left for her locker.
Laura waded through the sea of students in the hallways and finally managed to get to her locker. She sighed yet again, putting her books back in her locker and taking out her coat and other personal belongings, looking at the groups of people filing past her locker. She had just transferred into St. Hermelin High School/College a couple of months ago, and though she had gotten acquainted with a lot of people, che couldn't really call anyone a close friend. Not yet anyway. Maybe it was because of the fact that she was still new. But Laura knew it was probably because when she got around to talking about her liking for Ranma 1/2, many of her acquaintances seemed uninterested or unwilling to talk about it or get into it as much as she had. Laura didn't really mind this - she liked being different, even if it made her seem a little out of place.
Still, it would be nice to find some people who liked Ranma 1/2 as much as her. Yes, all of her friends were unwilling to talk about Ranma. She smiled as she closed her locker. Well, almost all of them. There was -
"Laura!" A voice called from behind her. Laura turned around from her locker.
A short girl stood in front of her, smiling. Shoulder length black hair and brown eyes graced the speaker's features, and the smile she wore was one of sweetness and pride. She carried an artist's sketch pad under one arm, and waved to her friend as she wandered over. "Hey Laura, " she said "what's up?"
Laura smiled. "Not much...Laura." The other Laura giggled slightly. Laura Saotome had come to know Laura Hendricks quite well ever since she transferred here - one of the reasons they had clicked so quickly was because by some twist of fate, they possessed the same name. Not to mention the fact that she was one of the only friends she had that shared an intense interest in Ranma 1/2 like herself. Hopefully that would all change after today.
As they walked away, Laura H. said, "So, you all excited about today?"
"I guess so. Are there really that many people in this group of yours?" Laura S. replied.
"Of course! We formed the group about a few months ago, when we found out we had a similar interest in the stuff. Everyone's pretty friendly, and we're always nice to a newcomer. After all, we'r all basically in the same boat, right?" Laura H. replied.
Laura S. laughed as they turned the corner. "You'd think we were going to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, the way you're talking."
Laura H. laughed with her friend. "Well, we _are_ all interested in Ranma 1/2 and everything.....maybe some of us _are_ addicted to it a little. At any rate, it's a chance to get to know more people interested in the same thing as you. We're a tight-knit group. You'll fit in right away."
"Oh, I'm not worried about that. I could care less if I act like some rabid Ranma freak or something," Laura S. grinned. "I'm just nervous, I guess. New people do that to me some sometimes."
"No prob. Trust me, after you meet the rest of the guys and gals, you won't be nervous. I have to stop off at my dorm room before we head over to the Baker lounge." The two girls headed over to the residential building.
*****
Guido straightened his suit slightly as he descended the secret elevator to the Sebec labs. He made sure he looked presentable as he walked out of the elevator and through the long corridor. He didn't really need to look particularly good for a bunch of scientists - his mere presence should have been enough to scare the scientists into a respectful tone - but it was a habit of his. You can have whatever you want on the insde, but it's the outward appearance that makes the first (and best) impression, he always said.
He walked down the hallway, occasionally peering into the windows of the doors that lined the corridor, making sure everyone was at work. *Most of these people joined the Deva Yuga project because they wanted to further their own careers,* he thought. *Pah! They only lust after fame and glory, while they don't realize fame and glory are nothing without the power to back it up...*
He sighed. *It's true that I have my own lusts - power, for one thing* he thought to himself. *But it all has a purpose...in the plan I have.* He continued to walk down the hall, twisting and turning, until he got to a large set of double doors, labeled "Project Deva Yuga - Classified". Giving the proper voice password, he walked into the large room.
The room designated for research on Guido's plan was layed out sort of in a large pentagon-like shape. Various machines lined the wall, and various men in white Sebec lab coats walked back and forth between tables and machines, carrying papers, printouts, or little tools. The room itself was huge, such that there was room for a small stairway in the center of the oddly-shaped room, which led to a catwalk that connected to the focus of the room - a cylindrical-shaped power core that had two electrically chraged poles jutting out of the sides.
This was the Deva Yuga machine, and it was towards this machine that Guido walked to. He walked up the stairs and over the catwalk, to where the head researchers, Dr. Nichols among them, were poring over a chart that was sitting on a table.
"Ah, Mr. Sebec," said Dr. Nichols, a little nervously. "you're here. As you can see, we're going over-"
"Get to the point," Guido said., a little impatiently. "Is this possible or not?"
"Well, sir, it is - we've actually sent test scanner probes into the actual place to get some preliminary sketches of what is actually on that side. Unfortunately..."
"Unfortunately, what? I don't want any more mistakes, like two years ago." Guido said harshly.
Dr. Nichols cringed at the mention of Deva Yuga's first attempt to tap into "that place" that Mr. Sebec wanted to go to. The attempt had been made in the middle of the night, and the scientists, at Mr. Sebec's request, had tried to test the machine early. At first the attampt looked successful, with the "gate" opening at the right place, but things had suddenly gone awry as the machine accidentally shunted the "gate" to an unknown place. Several scientists had been killed attempting to stop the machine, but they had finally gotten it under control.
Mr. Sebec was not pleased.
Nichols vowed not to let _that_ happen again - it would probably mean his job,or maybe even his life...
"Well, Dr.? Can it be done or not?" Mr. Sebec's angry tone snapped Dr. Nichols back to reality.
"Hm? Oh...yes, it can. We now just have two problems. One is that we need an actual human volunteer to do this, and the other is that we can't quite maintain the "gate" long enough."
"Why can't you maintain it? "
"Well, the energy to maintain such a thing is obviously very large. We don't have the necessary power to run the "gate" longer than 30 seconds, at the most. However," he said as Guido was about to speak "there is a way to boost the power sufficiently so we can run the "gate" longer. We can put three small mini generators in three precise places at "the other side". However, with only scans to go on, we can't quite pinpoint the right places. That's where we are now...."
Guido took all of this in with a calm appearance, but inside he fought to keep from showing his frustration. The only outward sign he showed was to clench his fists tightly at their sides. *So close* he thought to himself, almost tearing his hair out. * So close..and it can't be done...* He bent over the map, looking at the various buildings, vaguely drawn in and highlighted. The map was labeled "Nerima Ward of Japan - alternate plane", but staring at this didn't seem to give any ideas to Guido. He gripped the sides of the table tightly, rage becoming clearer and clearer on his face. *What can I do?* He thought. *How the hell do I get post this? If my scientists don't know where to place the mini-generators, who does?*
And then, as it had so many times before, the Voice spoke. ^There are three places you must put your generators. I will tell you where they are.^ The Voice whispered the places to put the generators. Guido smiled and inwardly thanked the Voice for helping him.
Guido pointed to the three places on the map, showing them to the scientists. "These are where you should but those generators." He took a couple push pins from the table's edge and pushed them onto the three spots.
One of the scientists spoke up. "Are you sure about that, Mr. Sebec? It appears you have pointed out what appears to be the local high school, a large mansion-type residence, and a small restaurant. We've been looking at similar building structures to put the three mini-generators..."
"No. I'm sure," Guido said, smiling at the map. "I've got a gut feeling."
"They do seem to be good locations." said Dr. Nichols. "The combination might work. Well, now that that's settled, who is going to be the volunteer to test this before we can go through with this?"
"That's easy. I'm going myself."
"What? You can't!" protested Nichols.
"Why not?" Guido said. "This is my plan, and I will bring it to fruition and final triumph myself! This will all be for nothing if it doesn't work!" His face took on a slight crazed look, and his composure dropped briefly. The scientists backed up reflexively, save Nichols, who remained calm as he addressed Guido. He was a little used to this. "Very well, Mr. Sebec. you shall be the one to go through. I will make the necessary preparations."
Guido regained his cool demeanor and grinned. "Good. I will be ready when you are." He laughed inwardly, and if he could have listened for just a moment, he would have heard someone laughing with him...
*****
The St. Hermelin Boarding school for High School/College-level Education (called St. Hermelin for short by its inhabitants) was a large complex. The overall combined structure of the building looked like a giant U-shaped structure, but the actual building itself was divided into three parts. Two of the sections - the "upper bars" of the U, were shorter in height but were longer in length - one "bar" served as the part of the school where the high-school level resident students attended class, and the other bar was for the college-level resident students to attend classes in. The middle part of the "U", or the lower bar that connected the two sections, was shorter, but a lot higher, having many mroe floors. This was where the students at both levels took up residence. There were various dorms on each level, with a lounge on every other level. The largest lounge, Baker lounge, was at the lowest level of the residence complex, and it was to this place that Laura Saotome and Laura Hendricks made their way.
Laura Saotome was still a little nervous about meeting new people so suddenly, but was excited at the same time. *Finally, some people who share the same interests as me,* she thought. *Well, one interest, anyway.*
The two descended the last stairway, turned a last corner, and finally arrived at the double doors which led into the lounge. The sounds of talking and arguing could be heard wafting outside the room. Laura H. smiled at her friend. "Ready?"
Laura S. smiled back. "Yup. Let's go have some fun, I guess. Here goes." She pushed open the doors.
And was hit with a wave of voices.
The lounge itself was quite a large one, with various chairs and tables for sitting, talking, and studying. At the moment, though, the place was being used for a plethora of discussion. Words were being exchanged back and forth in the room. Laura S. caught the occasional familiar names - a "Ryouga" thrown here, a "Shampoo" thrown there, and of course "Ranma and Akane". Laura S. smiled. She was beginning to feel good about this place already.
Laura S. walked around the room with Laura H., who was greeting people. Laura S., on the other hand stood silently and observed the conversation floating around the room.
She also noticed a few people from her classes that were present. A blonde-haired young man was sitting on one of the chairs explaining something to another guy that happened to be throwing darts at the dart board in the room. The young man that was sitting in the chair was someone that Laura Saotome recognized from her Calculus class, although it was difficult to tell at first - she usually saw him dressed in a crisp Marine uniform and matching boots. A name came to mind in her head as she remembered it in the roll call before class. Paul Walski was involved in St. Hermelin's ROTC program, and had aspirations of entering the Marines someday and serving his country. For now, though, he had ditched the uniform for some "civvies" as he called them - a T-shirt and blue jeans.
The guy he was talking to seemed a lot younger and appeared to be from the high school division of St. Hermelin. He was of medium height, with a slight build. Nonchalantly, he threw the darts against the board, and to Saotome Laura's surprise, they all hit neatly around the bull's eye in the center. *Must get a lot of practice...* she thought. He finished throwing the darts as Walski was getting into his story and pulled out a Ranma 1/2 manga from his bag, reading it while listening to Walski, whjo was gesturing and talking in an excited tone...
"I tell, you, she looked exactly...._exactly_ like Ukyou," Walski said. "The hair, the eyes, the kawaii smile..."
The other young man looked up briefly from his manga. "And? If she was carrying an enormous battle spatula, I'll believe it was really her." He cracked a smile.
"That's not the point, Amnesiack," Walski said, "She was my rank and equivelant too! She's in the ROTC program, I'm assuming. I just went to make copies of something or another in the library, and there she was. I could've melted..."Walski sighed at the memory, while "Amnesiack" kept reading the manga.
"So anyway.." Walski said, meaning to continue. He noticed, however, that Amnesiack was not quite paying attention. "Hey, Amnesiack...hey...Amnesiack...Lukas! You listening?" He asked.
"Hm?" Amnesiack, aka Lukas, looked up from reading his manga at the sound of his real name. "Oh, I was listening, don't worry. So did you ask "Ms. Kuonji" out?" He threw a dart he found on the floor, hitting the exact center of the bulls' eye as he smiled.
"Well...I was so awestruck, I just couldn't." Walski said sheepishly. Lukas laughed slightly.
"Geez, Walski, not becoming of a Marine, huh? Melting at women! What's next? Melting when a Shampoo look-alike glomps onto you?" said a new voice jokingly.
Walski turned in the direction of the new voice and laughed good-naturedly. "Even Marines have their failings, Arnold. I just happen to melt at Ukyou types." Laura Saotome immediately recognized the young Korean boy from her Science class. Arnold Kim was quite an intelligent person - a little quiet sometimes, but verbiose when it counted. *I had _no_ idea he liked Ranma 1/2 too.* Laura thought to herself. *This looks like an interesting mix of people.*
As she walked around the room with her "co-Laura", Laura Saotome found this statement to be more and more believable. In one corner was John Nohe, from her English class, easily recognizable in black pants, black T-shirt, and long hair, currently tied back in a ponytail. He seemed to be talking to two other people about Nabiki Tendo's moneymaking tendancies....and people, for some reason, were calling him "Shouryu". One of the people he was talking to was Brad Clark, another person from Laura's English class, who hung around with John a lot. The other person was Lori Gorschboth, from her History class, a quiet person who Laura had only talked to a few times in class. And Ted Wang, one of her few friends from the high school division of the school, was here, much to Laura's surprise. Ted had been foremost in jokingly teasing her about her little hobby, and yet here he was, trying to explain the innocence of Ukyou to an Australian woman who smiled and laughed along with him whenever he made a particularly outrageous comment. Laura recognized the woman from the computer labs - she had helped her find a couple of Ranma 1/2 sites on the Internet.
She also recognized some of her co-Laura's friends, who she had seen around her a few times when she had wandered into the high school division of the school. She picked out Emily Levitt, at the far end of the group, talking with what looked like one of the Library workers - a fairly tall, heavy set young man with glasses - Rex, she thought his name was. And then there was Tony Julian, Chris Gyotar...so many people....
*Geez...you'd think the whole school and their mothers were here,* Laura Saotome thought with a smile on her face. *This is incredible...* She took the whole room in with a mixture of happiness and awe.
Her friend's voice called her out of her thoughts. "Hey, Laura," said Laura H. "Stay right here for a sec, ok?"
"Sure," said Laura S. "What are you going to do...?"
Her friend only smiled and turned to face the noise of the room. Cupping her hands in front of her mouth, she shouted. "Hey guys.......newwwwbiiiiieeeee!"
Laura S. smiled as the attention of practically the entire room was turned on her. Unlike some people, being the center of attention didn't bother her - probably one of the big advantages of being an only child. She did feel a little nervous though, so she held up a hand and said "Hi, I'm Laura Saotome...."
"If you say you're from the Saotome Anything-Goes Martial Arts school, I'll be _very_ skeptical" said Rex. The rest laughed a little at the joke, Laura with them.
"No..." Laura said. "Just a regular Ranma fan like you all..."
"So they got you, too?" Arnold said with a mock sympathetic look.
Laura smirked. "Yeah, me too...."
"Well, come on in. We're all in the same boat, after all. We were just discussing something interesting..."
Laura smiled and walked farther into the room to take a seat, and the noise resumed.
*****
Guido looked on as the final preparations were being made. Scientists bustled back and forth even faster than they had before, turning knobs, flipping switches, calling out to each other about the power levels of something or another. Guido merely stood in the middle of it all, refusing to move. He stared at the Gate.
It was a simple design, really. Only the two electrical poles, and the giant power core. At first glance, one would never believe that the device before him would have the ability to travel between different realities and dimensions...
He was so close, now. He would get this working and finally acheive that which he had spent so much money and time on, and get his reward....an place to get unlimited resources, enough for him to move beyond this pitiful little town and on to better things. He smiled at the very thought of it.
He watched as Dr. Nichols directed the whole process, and wondered for the briefest of moments if he should reward the tired old scientist for his efforts. After all, he had been head of the Deva Yuga team ever since the project had started. Guido brushed the thought away with his mind. He's getting paid enough for his efforts, Guido thought. Better to let him think I will reward him, rather than denying it outright. He resolved to use him as much as possible before he tossed him aside.
The sound of a power generator roaring snapped Guido out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw the two poles on the Gate crackle with a bluish coloed, unearthly energy, unlike any he had seen before. Guido felt a small breeze enter the room from some unknown source, and he felt his suit rustle as it was touched by the soft wind.
Dr. Nichols then walked toward him - at the same time, Guido thought, enthusiastic and exhausted. Dr. Nichols walked towards his boss with a gait that suggested that he had been anticipating, expecting this moment, ever since the project had begun. He reached Guido, and with the voice of a man both weary and energetic, he spoke.
"Mr. Sebec...the Deva Yuga system is ready. You may test it yourself, when ready."
Guido smiled, and surprisingly, he felt the Voice smile within him as well. The moment had come.
*****End Chapter one*****