Ranma’s Evolution Ranma ½ / X-Men Evolution Crossover By Hawk Note: This chapter takes place a couple days before ‘Growing Pains’. Also, Ranma is speaking English throughout the whole thing. Unless ^’s are around what’s spoken. “English” ^Japanese^ Chapter 1: Ranma’s Rebirth The snow under his bare feet burned with the fierce intensity that only a real fire could match. He listened dully to the snow crunching from each step. Slowly he approached a medium sized building made of wood in the middle of nowhere Canada. He’d been wandering around for two days, in the nude, looking for some sign of civilization. He walked up to the door of the building, walking up to a beefy looking man dressed in black. The man raised his right eyebrow at him. “You need somethin’, kid?” he said, pointedly not look at the teens lower half. The naked teen looked the man over. "You’re to big," he said plainly. “What? Look, kid, I don’t think you shou-argl!” the tall man gargled weakly as he was lifted off his feet, the teen holding him off the ground by his neck. The teen pulled the man so they were face to face and growled softly. He extended his arm, throwing the man backwards, through the front door and onto the interior floor. There were a few feminine screams as the man landed. “Hey! Whaddya think you’re doing, pal! We don’t open for another 40 minutes!” another, skinnier man shouted angrily, approaching the teen. The teen looked around the room, noticing about 15 women dressed in very little, watching him both warily and with interest. It wasn’t every day that a guy was naked instead of them, he reasoned. He also took notice of how most of their attention was directed toward his lower half, and grinned subconsciously. The manager continued to rant, “I don’t think you’re old enough to be here so you better get the hell out or I’ll call the cops and report you for breaking and entering!” Turning his attention back to the manager, the teen looked him up and down. "Gimme your clothes," he said. The manager stuttered in outrage. “What! I’m not giving you anything!” he finally managed, “That’s it! I’m calling the police!” As he turned around, the manager found the collar of his leather jacket grabbed from behind, stopping him in place. “I don’t think you heard me. You ARE going to give me your clothes.” ********* Fifteen minutes later, the managers red beat up, pick up truck pulled out from behind the strip bar and revving its engine once, took off down the road. The driver was fully clothed, wearing a blue and white flannel vest over a plain white shirt and a dirty pair of jeans. ********* A day later “Kurt! Kitty! You two gonna go to Jeans game this Thursday?” Scott Summers asked as he caught up to the two younger students. “Scott, it’s only Tuesday! Yeesh! Like, don’t worry about it!” Kitty replied nonchalantly as she and Kurt walked toward Scotts car. “Ya! Don’t worry about it! But sure, we’ll come and cheer her on!” Kurt added, his accent clearly German. “Thanks you guys, I’d feel a little weird going by myself,” Scott admitted embarrassingly, rubbing the back of his head. He sighed out loud at the sight of Jean and Duncan walking to Duncan’s car. “Jeez, Scott! You like, need to get over Jean, or something,” Kitty complained as they got into Scotts car. Scott sighed again. “Maybe you’re right.” ********* “Ah, Logan, there you are. Storm and I have been waiting.” “Sorry, Chuck, had to finish up in the Danger Room with the elf,” the man known as Wolverine replied as he took a seat facing Professor Xavier. “That’s quite alright. Now that you’re both here, I’m happy to inform you that we’ll be receiving nine new students,” Professor Xavier explained calmly, intertwining his fingers. “NINE?” Logan roared in horror. “We have a hard enough time dealing with the six we have already!” Ororo Monroe laughed weakly, “I have to agree with Logan on this, Professor. Don’t you think that fifteen students . . . is a little much for us to handle?” “We’ll just have to make do, and see what happens,” Professor Xavier replied, “Now, to get started, we have Amara Aquilla, a young girl of 14 with the ability to generate and project intense heat from her body. “Next we have Tabitha Smith. She’s 15 and has the ability to create “time bombs” of sort, balls of explosive energy. She maybe a bit of a handful. “Jubilation Lee. A 13 year old with the power to generate explosive energy bursts similar to fireworks. They can vary in power and intensity. “Roberto DaCosta is a 14 year old boy that has the ability to absorb and conserve solar energy and turn it into physical strength. Not only that, but he can turn the energy he conserves into concussive force blasts. “The 13 year old girl you see there is Rahne Sinclair. She’s a metamorph. She can transform herself into a wolf. You may get along well with her, Logan.” The Wolverine grunted. “This young man here is Jamie Madrox, he’s the youngest of the eight at 12. Jamie has the ability to create exact living duplicates of himself upon any physical impact and later absorb the copy back into himself. “Samuel Guthrie is a 15 year old boy with the ability to expel thermo-chemical energy that can propel him with extreme force,” Xavier explained as Logan and Ororo sorted through the photographs of each of the children. “Could you put that in English, Chuck?” Logan asked, holding up the picture of Samuel Guthrie. “He can launch himself forward with extreme force. Almost like a human cannonball.” “Oh,” Logan mumbled. “Ray Crisp is 15 years old with the ability to generate pulsing bolts of electrical energy. He maybe a little hard to handle. “And last, but certainly not least, we have Bobby Drake. A 14 year old boy that can project intense cold and turn moisture in the air to ice.” Logan groaned and rubbed his temples. “Am I the only one in this room getting a major headache?” “You’re not alone,” Ororo replied rubbing her forehead as well. ********* “Where’s, Logan?” Rogue asked as the team settled down to eat dinner. “He needed some time alone,” Professor Xavier replied as he stuck his fork into his salad. “Off on his lone wolf thing, eh?” Kurt added before shoveling a piece of his lambchop into his mouth. “Kurt! You know you shouldn’t speak about Logan like that. He does a lot of things for this school,” Professor Xavier admonished, finishing off his salad. “Sorry, Professah,” Kurt replied, now studying his dinner quietly. “Wolverine just needs some time alone. Being around you children is enough to drive a man insane, especially Logan,” Xavier explained jokingly. “Did the Professor just make a joke? On OUR behalf?” Jean asked in amazement. “I think he did, Jean!” Scott exclaimed with a laugh. ********* Logan revved his motorcycles engine before starting off at the green light and crossing the intersection. He felt the most comfortable while riding his bike, away from the kids. The six kids, soon to be fifteen kids. He sighed as he entered another intersection. Life was just going to get more complicated. His eyes widened suddenly and he leapt off his bike, a second before a beat up red truck rammed into it. The truck swerved to the right and crashed into the side of a building, crushing Logan’s motorcycle between the two. Landing on top of a street light, Wolverine growled loudly, “You just hit the wrong motorcycle, bub!” His claws popped out of his knuckles before hopping off the street light and walking up to the fire covered truck. Shoving his claws into the passenger side door, he tore it off it’s hinges and tossed it aside to find no one inside. “That’s where you’re wrong, Wolverine. I hit the right bike,” a figure spoke from atop the very same street light Logan had just been on. Wolverine sniffed the air and studied the figure through slitted eyes. “I recognize your scent. . . but I can’t place it. Who’re you?!” The wind blew at that moment, rustling the figures hair, lifting his pigtail into the air. His eyes glinted from the moon light. ^Your executioner.^ The figure leapt off the street light and landed in front of Wolverine, kicking him in the head, knocking him into the back of the pick up truck. Jumping back, away from the truck, the figure flung his hand forward, tossing a small green ball at the gas tank. The red truck erupted, tearing a large section out of the wall it had crashed into. Hot metal pieces rained down around the figure, landing with mellow clanks and clunks. A small ball of fire erupted from the wreck. Out from the hole in the wall stumbled Wolverine, the burn marks on his arms and face already dissolving into unharmed flesh. He cracked his neck and slitted his eyes at the pigtailed figure. His claws extended again. “Alright, kid, lets start this over again,” he muttered a jumped at the teen. The figure dodged Wolverine’s first swipe, then the second and third before punching downward into Logan's face, knocking him to his hands and feet. The teen sidestepped an upward slash and kicked Wolverine in the face, knocking him back. The teen jumped back, landing a few feet away from Wolverine with his hands crossed behind his back. Standing back up, Wolverine shook his head, muttering, “Alright, lets try that again.” He charged the figure again feinting left and striking with his right, slashing open the teens left shoulder. Taking advantage of his injured opponent, Wolverine kicked the teens chest, knocking him back a couple steps. The teen punched with his left arm, making Wolverine duck under it. He jumped back, avoiding both of Wolverine’s claws that were headed for his chest. “Sorry, Wolverine, ain’t gonna be that easy,” the pigtailed teen said as the three cuts on his shoulder healed themselves. “It’s not gonna be to hard either!” The teen looked to his right just in time to receive a optic blast in the chest, throwing him into a brick wall and through it. Nightcrawler teleported behind Wolverine, “You okay, Logan?” “Looked like you needed some help there,” Cyclops added as he stepped up beside Wolverine. “How many times do I have to tell you to not fight my battles?” Wolverine exclaimed, stalking off toward the hole. “And don’t call me Logan when we’re out in the open! It’s Wolverine!” “Yeesh, you’d think after saving a guys life he wouldn’t be so grumpy,” Cyclops complained, looking at Nightcrawler, who nodded in reply. The teen stumbled out of the hole, shirt ripped open from the optic blast, his chest burnt but rapidly healing itself. ^What? Where am I?^ the teen asked, looking around in confusion. Wolverine’s head reared back at this and looked at the teen oddly. The pigtailed figure’s eyes settle on Wolverine. “That’s right. Now I remember.” He jumped at Wolverine again, rearing back his fist but suddenly was stopped in midair, inches away from his target. “That’s it, Jean, just hold him in place,” Cyclops said as he readied another optic blast. “No!” Wolverine shouted, turning to Cyclops, though his action was to late. Cyclops’ optic blast slammed into the teen, launching him down the street and into the side of a parked car. The car explode on contact, the flames enveloping the teen, seemingly swallowing him whole. “Shadowcat! Get him out of there!” Cyclops shouted, pointing at the newly wrecked vehicle. Kitty nodded and ran to the car, phasing through it and the flames twice. She stumbled away from the flaming wreck, fanning her face. “He’s not in there!” “What do you mean he’s not in there?” Nightcrawler exclaimed in confusion. “He’s just not!” Kitty replied grouchily. She didn’t particularly care for phasing through a fiery wreck, especially twice. “You think the explosion disintegrated him?” Rogue asked, watching the blaze intently, in case someone happened to pop out. “No. He’s still alive. Come on, we have to get ready,” Wolverine replied walking toward the X-Van. “Ready for what?” Cyclops asked. “For his return later tonight, of course.” ********* The pigtailed teen breathed deeply as he watched Wolverine drive off with the others. They’d interfered with his fight. Wolverine had been HIS! He leapt to the roof of the building next to the one he was on top of. He’d follow them, and attack them at their home. Where it would hurt the most. ********* “I don’t know, Chuck, there was something about that kid that reminded me . . .” Logan trailed off. He was sitting across from Professor Xavier, Ororo standing behind his wheelchair while the rest of the students stood around Xavier’s office. “Reminded you of what, Logan?” Ororo asked calmly, her left hand resting on the back of Xaviers wheelchair. “Myself,” Logan finished quietly. “What, you mean he was rude? Arrogant?” Cyclops asked. “Mean?” Kitty added “Impatient,” Rogue said. “Was he pigheaded?” Jean asked innocently, though her smile wasn’t. “Don’t forget the smell!” Kurt exclaimed. SNIKT! Everyone shut up. Except for Kurt. “I was just keeding about the smell!” he exclaimed, porting as far away from Logan as he could. “Look here, runts! When this guy comes tonight, he’s MINE!” Logan growled through grit teeth. “Hey! We were just trying to help!” Scott argued, defending his actions earlier that night. “And how come you get him all to yourself!” Evan added annoyingly, “I wanna try and fight this guy too!” “He destroyed my motorcycle!” Logan retorted, popping all his claws out. “Any ideas as to what you did to piss him off, sugah?” Rogue asked curiously, her arms crossed under her chest. “No, but I know and he knows what’s been done to piss me off!” Logan growled. “Gosh, could like, a person be anymore grumpy?” Kitty asked incredulously. Kurt shrugged a second before the mansions alarm system blared loudly. “Told you he’d be back,” Logan said in response to the alarm, then took off down the hall toward the front door. ********* The pigtailed figure rolled under another laser blast, stopping in front of the mounted gun. He punched the gun off the mount before back flipping over a flying buzz saw blade. A green ball was shot from his hand, hitting the blade, causing it to explode. He turned around just in time to see another buzz saw blade heading for his middle. There was a strange noise of metal hitting metal and the buzz saw blade split in two down the middle. The two sides separated and passed by the figures left and right sides harmlessly. “If anything’s gonna kill you, it’ll be MY claws!” Wolverine exclaimed as he jumped the teen. The two rolled across the ground, before breaking apart and jumping away from each other. They charged each other, Wolverine swiping at the teens head, the teen dodging under it and punching at Wolverine’s stomach. Wolverine kneed the teen in the face then slashed him across the face, cutting three lines over it. The teen covered his face with his left hand and shot his right forward, firing a green blast in Wolverine’s general direction. As Wolverine leapt above the blast, the teen raised his arm, the green colored energy following, catching Wolverine in-between the legs. The teen swiped his hand to the right, tossing the green energy and Wolverine off to the side. Wolverine landed on Ororo’s flowers with a ‘crunch’, the energy blast impacting behind him, tearing a hole in the ground. Looking up, Wolverine groaned, “Ororo’s gonna kill me . . . if this kid doesn’t.” He stood up and looked at the fully healed face of the teen. He hadn’t had a really opportunity before to look him in the face during their previous fight. The teen was Asian, Japanese it looked, black hair tied in a ponytail, maybe 5'5, and was wearing same clothing he’d been wearing through their first encounter. The flannel vest, the same white under shirt, though now sporting a massive hole in the chest from where the optic blast had hit him. That topped off with a ratty pair of jeans. The Asian teen grinned smugly at Wolverine. Having the same healing abilities as your opponent would be something to feel smug about. The teen charged Wolverine and the two went at it again, kicking, punching, dodging and countering each other. The teen jumped back, avoiding a swipe of Wolverine’s claws, and leapt forward once they’d passed. Unfortunately for the teen, Wolverine had expected his counter, and countered it himself. Three of Wolverine’s claws entered the teens chest, followed soon after by the other three. The teen gasped in shock, left eye twitching. “Oh my god!” Wolverine looked to the side, for the first time noticing that all the residents of Xavier’s mansion were outside watching. It had been Kitty who had shouted out, though all the residents of the mansion had looks of abject horror written across their faces. Only Xavier had a calm look on his face. Wolverine screamed in rage as he lifted the teen off the ground by his claws. It came as a big surprise to the others when the teen screamed back and planted both his feet on Wolverine’s chest, grabbed Wolverine's wrists and pushed himself off of the claws. The teen back flipped away, landing on his hands and knees, one hand covering his chest. He grunted as he swatted away a dainty hand that had reached for his shoulder. He turned in surprise and jumped away, shocked that someone had been able to get so close to him. Kitty fell onto her butt, glaring angrily at the boy who’d slapped her hand. She’d only been trying to help. “Half-pint! Whaddya think you’re doing!” Wolverine yelled fiercely. “Get outta the way!” It didn’t matter as one of Scotts optic blasts slammed into the teen, knocking him across the front yard. “Sorry, Logan, had to make sure Kitty wouldn’t get hurt,” he explained as he ran up to Kitty. There was a scream of anger as the teen leapt into the air at Scott. As Scott fired another blast, the teen shot one of his own. The two blasts slammed into each other, both trying to overcome the other. The teen extended his other arm, firing another green blast from that hand, hitting the ground in front of Scott. As Scott flew back, the teen moved forward, pouncing toward Kitty with his arms extended. He never reached her as Kurt ported onto his back, ported the both of them in the direction of a tree, and ported off. The teen crashed face first into the trunk of the tree. Placing his hands on the tree, the teen pushed off, flipping backwards and landing next to Jean. He swept her legs out from under her and jumped away, avoiding one of Evan’s spikes. Wolverine tackled him in mid jump, knocking them both to the ground. Pinning the teen under him, Wolverine brought back hit fist, claws still extended. His first blazed forward, aimed at the teens head, but missed as the head moved, Wolverine’s claws embedding themselves into the ground. The teen kneed him in the groin and then head butted him, knocking Wolverine off. He rolled to his right, avoiding another spike, then rolled over backwards, avoiding an optic blast from a beaten looking Scott. The teen tossed a green ball at Scott, ignoring the resulting explosion to kick a charging Kurt in the face. He spun around, grabbed an incoming spike out of midair, flipped it over in his hand, and threw it back. He watched the boney spike cut Evan’s arm and tossed another green ball at him. To the teens surprise, the ball stopped in midair. Jean flung her hand in the teens direction, making the green ball fly back at him, slamming the ball into the teens chest. There was an explosion, a large dust cloud enveloping the body of the teen. “gott Verdammt(1), my face really hurts,” Kurt complained as he rubbed his nose. “Did that get him?” Scott exclaimed as he ran up to Jean. “I hope,” Evan grumbled as he held his bleeding arm. Wolverine walked up to them, followed by Rogue, Kitty, Ororo and Professor Xavier, who said, “No, he’s still conscious.” The dust slowly cleared, revealing the teen to be in one piece. The teen stood still, his arms crossed in front of him, having blocked his own green ball. Breathing deeply, the teen turned his head and looked at them all, resting his arms at his sides. ^Wha . . .^ he muttered, blinking weakly and shaking his head. “Wolverine!” “We have to shock him!” Wolverine cried as he leapt at the teen. “What does he mean, ‘shock him’? Like, electrocute him?” Kitty asked Professor Xavier. “He’s in the same state I was in-” Wolverine cut in, ducking under one of the teens kicks, “when we were in Canada, twerp!” “Of course! The boy is in a hypnotic trance. A massive injury may just shock him out of it,” Professor Xavier explained. “Alright then! Lets-” Cyclops started before a flying Wolverine crashed into him, bowling them both over. “Get him!” Evan finished charging the teen, followed by Nightcrawler, and the reluctant duo of Kitty and Rogue. “I’ve got an idea!” Jean exclaimed, “Get him near a something solid!” “No problem, mien Freund!” Kurt shouted as he teleported onto the teens back. “Gotchaaaa!” The teen grabbed Kurt by the hair on his head, flipping him over his shoulder, and slamming the demon looking boy into the ground. “Grab me once, my mistake! Grab me twice, your mistake!” the teen mocked before a lightening bolt struck him in the chest, electrocuting him and throwing him back a couple yards. “I have had enough of this!” Ororo shouted as she floated into the air and raised her arms, heavy gale winds suddenly pouring out from seemingly nowhere. The teen struggled against the winds, trying to walk forward, but instead slowly sliding backwards. He received an optic blast, knocking him into the air for a good seven seconds before crashing heavily into the ground. The teen stood back up as the winds finally stopped. As he shook his head, he first felt a hand touch his neck, then a shock, which traveled throughout his body. He spun around, smacking Rogue onto the ground. Stumbling for a second, he regained his footing and looked down at the southern girl. He didn’t know what she’d just done, but he’d felt slightly weaker from her touch, light headed too. “Get him now!” Jean shouted, then pointed at a nearby tree. “Get him to that tree! Kitty, get ready to phase him into it!” Kitty nodded and headed for the tree. A screaming Wolverine shoulder rammed the teen, knocking him onto his back, though he quickly rolled back to his feet. He dodged another spike but was struck by another lightening bolt, throwing him back again, a couple feet away from the tree. An optic blast finally knocked him into the tree, followed by Jean’s telekinesis, holding him up against it. Finally Kitty grabbed him, phasing through the tree and taking him with her, leaving him stuck halfway through it. “Ahhh! Let me out of here!” the teen raged, pounding his fists again the trunk of the tree. He screamed even louder, slamming both his fists into the tree at the same time, cracking it in half, but not knocking it over. “Hurry, Professor!” Scott shouted, as he readied another optic blast, just in case. Xavier raised his hands to his temples, closed his eyes and began to probe the teens mind. “What’re you . . . doing? Get out of my head!” the teen screamed as he pounded on the tree again, this time break it apart and freed him. He landed on the ground and leapt at Professor Xavier, only to receive an optic blast to his side, knocking him to the ground again. “We have to knock him unconscious! It’d be the best way to break him out of his trance!” Xavier cried, “INJURE HIM!” “No problem, Charley!” Wolverine exclaimed, tackling the teen and attempted to stab him. The two rolled across the yard, the teen holding Wolverine’s hand away from him. When the teen managed to roll on top of Wolverine, Xavier shouted, “Evan, strike him in the back!” Without asking questions, Evan extended his arms, rapidly firing spikes in Wolverine’s and the teens general direction. He screamed and covered his eyes, not able to look at the results. The teen cried out in shock as one of Evan’s bone spikes drove through his lower back, all the way through his stomach and out his abdomen, and partly into Wolverine’s. They both screamed in pain, the teen gasping weakly around the massive bone. He pushed himself off of Wolverine, whose stomach automatically healed itself. The teen looked at them all, eyes wide, a line of blood trickling down his lip to his chin. He coughed up a wad of blood and stumbled forward, the bone sticking all the way through him. He reached down and grabbed the spike with his right hand. ^Why . . . what did I . . . do?^ he asked softly before collapsing into Jeans telekinesis hold. “Hurry, we must get him to the infirmary!” Xavier ordered. ********* A few hours later, he awoke in a warm bed, surrounded by white walls, hooked up to life support. He wasn’t alone. Rolling out of the bed, he took up a defensive position, the tubes attached his ripping free as he studied the three other occupants of the room. He pulled the tube out of his nose with one sharp tug. A bald man in a wheelchair, no threat there. A black woman with white hair, little to no possible threat from her. A smaller guy with crazy looking hair, pretty buff looking, good form, and a ready stance. This guy was a definite threat, someone to watch out for, for sure. ^Where the hell am I? Who are you people?^ he asked nervously. The white haired woman said something in replied, which he couldn’t understand. ^What’d you just say?^ he asked angrily, thinking he’d been insulted. Logan popped his claws. ^Watch yourself, Bub,^ he replied in Japanese. “Logan!” Professor Xavier admonished. “We don’t want to frighten you,” he added telepathically. “Just tell us your name and we’ll see what we can do for you.” ^Are you talking in my head?^ he screamed in fear, ^Stay outta my head!^ ^Hey, kid, we’re not gonna hurt you,^ Logan said calmly in Japanese. ^Yeah? What’s with the claws then? I don’t see any cans around for you to open,^ he replied incredulously. The woman with white hair stuck out her hand, which held a digital watch. ^Take it,^ Logan said in Japanese. Giving Logan an odd look, he took the watch and slowly put it on. “Happy?” he asked in perfect English. “Yeah, much better,” Logan replied with a grin. “Yes, for all of us, I’m sure,” Xavier said happily. “What the hell! I . . . I can understand you? How?” he asked excitedly. “The watch allows you to speak and understand English, just a little something we had Forge whip up, just in case,” Ororo replied soothingly. “Apparently, now that you’re back to your . . . normal self, you’ve lost your ability to speak English.” “I could speak English? I can’t speak English, at least not with this dodatty that you gave me. And who’s Forge?” “We’ll explain later. First of all, what’s your name, kid?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow. “Ranma. Ranma Saotome!” he announced proudly. “My name is Charles Xavier, and you’re at my school for the gifted.” “Cripples?” “No,” Logan and Ororo replied at the same time, causing Ranma to give them each a strange look. “This is Logan and Ororo Monroe,” Xavier stated. “Married?” “No!” Logan and Ororo exclaimed at the same time. “The name’s Logan! Just Logan.” “Well that’s nice. Mind explaining what I’m doin’ here?” Ranma asked. “We’re not quite sure what you're doing here. All we know is that you came looking to kill Logan here,” Xavier explained. “Kill him? But, I wouldn’t! I couldn’t! It’s . . . I don’t kill!” he finished severely, glaring at the floor and clenching his fists. “Yeah, well luckily you didn’t,” Logan said with a grin. “Did I hurt anyone?” he asked quietly. “Other than some bumps and bruises, no,” Ororo explained, smirking mirthfully. Ranma let out a half sigh, smirking to himself for a moment before becoming confused, “Wait a minute . . . what kinda place is this?” Xavier and Logan both raised an eyebrow at this. “I mean . . . what kinda place has a guy with claws that stick out of his hands, as well as someone who can talk in peoples heads?” Ranma asked bluntly. “Ohhh!” they replied together. “Allow ME to explained, Ranma,” Ororo started and began to describe the whole story of the school and its inhabitants. ********* “So this place is a boarding house . . . for mutants . . .” Ranma said slowly as they sat inside the Danger Rooms control room. “Yes,” Xavier replied. “And . . . mutants, are people who are . . . more evolved than normal humans? And have ‘gifts’?” Ranma asked. “Yeah, that’s about right,” Logan responded. “Tell us about yourself, Ranma,” Ororo said encouragingly. Ranma looked clueless. “I would . . . if I could remember anything about myself. Other than my name, I can’t really remember anything about my past,” he explained, frowning. Logan nodded. He understood what the kid was talking about, not remembering your life, who exactly you were. “My name . . . and a curse.” “What?” Logan asked gruffly. “That’s all I can remember. My name and that I have a curse, but I don’t know what it does,” Ranma explained impassively “Your mutant power is not a curse, but a gift, Ranma,” Xavier explained. Ranma laughed out loud. “I’m not a mutant,” he said chuckling. “Get up, boy,” Logan said, pulling Ranma off his butt, “and come with me.” Letting himself get dragged, Ranma crossed his arms, grumbling loudly. He was yanked to his feet in front of a mirror. “What? I don’t see anything, ‘cept for myself. Not a terrible thing to look at, if I do say so mysel-OW!” he shouted out, covering his now cut open cheek. Logan retracted his claws. “Watch your cheek.” “Huh? What’d you do that for!” Ranma screamed, removing his hand from his cheek and turning to Logan. “Look at the mirror!” Logan growled loudly, grabbing Ranma’s head and turning it to look at the mirror. “Why! What . . . the . . . hell . . .?” Ranma muttered weakly as he watched the cut along his cheek quickly reseal itself, after only ten seconds. He slowly turned his head and looked at Logan, “How did I . . . do that?” “It’s your mutant ability, the ability to heal wounds you receive at a much faster rate than the average human. Logan here has the same ability. But, unlike Logan, you have the ability to manipulate energy and fire it in long blasts as well as in the form of balls.” Ranma raised an eyebrow at Professor Xavier. “Energy blasts?” “Yes, from your hands,” Xavier replied. “It’s not exactly called energy . . . it’s ki. It’s my . . . soul, essentially. Just, I’m able to withdraw it from my body and use it as attacks,” as he explained, Ranma formed a ball of blue ki in his right hand. “I wouldn’t say this is a mutant ability. It’s . . . something I think I learned on my own,” he finished, breaking into laughter and rubbing the back of his head. “Incredible. I never thought I’d meet someone who was able to control their ki,” Logan said, shaking his head in wonder. Ranma shrugged his shoulders, waving the ki in his hand away. “Ahh, it’s nothing big,” he said egotistically. “Yes, but the size of your head is,” Ororo commented bluntly. “Huh?” “Come, I’ll show you where you can sleep tonight,” Xavier said. “Um . . . you think I could get a change of clothes?” Ranma asked, fingering the two holes in his white t-shirt. “I’m not even sure where I got this.” ********* There was a yawn, followed by a tired, “Mornin’,” before Scott took a seat across from Ranma. “Mornin’,” Ranma replied, downing his entire cup of tea. Scott blinked behind his red sunglasses, “What the?” he shouted, standing up and reaching for his sunglasses. Ranma jumped out of his chair too, raising his hands in front of him defensively, “Whoa! Calm down! Don’t shoot!” he yelled nervously. “Gimme a reason why?” Scott asked. “Uh . . . cause you wouldn’t want to blow a hole in your kitchen?” Ranma replied lamely. “That’s a pretty good reason . . .” Scott admitted. “You also wouldn’t want to harm your new teammate,” Professor Xavier added as Ororo wheeled him into the room. “What? You can’t be serious, Professor! This guy’s dangerous!” Scott argued. “And you’re not, eye blaster boy!” Ranma retorted, becoming defensive. “I’m not the one who blew two holes in the front yard!” Scott shot back. “Yeah! Cause you were trying to blow a hole in my chest!” “Stop it! The both of you!” Xavier ordered, “Plans have been made to use the two holes in the front yard.” “Yes, I’m planning on planting two trees, in place of the one that was destroyed last night,” Ororo explained. Scott mouthed the words ‘by you’ at Ranma. Ororo added, “And since you both have such an interest in them, you may help me.” She smiled sweetly. “What? That’s not fair!” Scott complained, “What did I do?” “No way am I gonna plant any trees with redeyes over there!” Ranma added, jerking a thumb in Scott direction. “Perhaps if you two worked together on something, you might find it inside yourselves to get along with one another,” Xavier announced calmly. “Aw, man . . .” Scott moaned, “This is your fault!” “My fault! How is this my fault!” Ranma shouted angrily. “Ranma! Scott!” The two stopped at Xaviers voice, “Scott get ready for school!” “School! Why do I gotta go to school?” Ranma asked whiningly. “You’re not going to school, Ranma,” “Alright!” Ranma cheered, sticking his tongue out at Scott. “Today,” Xavier finished. “Ha!” Scott exclaimed as he strode out of the kitchen. “Today I’ll be showing you around the mansion, and you’ll go shopping with Ororo for some more clothes. Tomorrow,” he said firmly, “you’ll go to school with the rest of the students.” “But I got no reason to go to school!” Ranma whined. “You need a proper education, Ranma,” Xavier explained, “Without one, you won’t go far in this world. That, is why you’re going to school.” “Aw, man . . .” ********* “What!?” the group of teens shouted in unison as they sat around the lunch table. “You heard me,” Scott said angrily, “‘Ranma’ is going to be living with us!” “But he tried to kill us!” Kurt complained ignoring his lunch. “Like, what’s the Professor thinking?” Kitty asked incredulously. “What if he tries to kill us in our sleep!” “I’ll spike him if he tries anything on me,” Evan declared firmly. “You already HAVE spiked him, Evan, and he’s still alive,” Jean retorted, “You guys shouldn’t be so closed minded. None of us know what he’s like. He could be a really nice guy,” she added, trying to defuse their anger. “I already know what he’s like! He’s your classic arrogant, macho braggart,” Scott explained, “Having talked to him this morning, I can tell already that, that’s what he’s gonna be like.” “Sounds great,” Rogue said dully around her sandwich, “Just what we needed. Another Logan.” “I think he’s worse,” Scott decided glumly. “Well, we’ll find out when we go home,” Jean resolved, taking the opposite opinion of Scott’s, as usual. ********* “Alright, Professor, where is he!” Scott exclaimed, bursting into the Danger Room’s control room where Xavier, Ororo, and Logan were. The rest of the X-men bumped into the back of Scott, knocking him over and all of them into a pile on the floor. Scott groaned from beneath teammates as they, embarrassed, climbed off of him. “What Scott meant to ask was, ‘where’s Ranma?’” Jean corrected sheepishly. “Down there,” Logan replied bluntly, pointing down into the Danger Room. The teens rushed to the viewing windows and looked down. There stood Ranma, wearing his signature red shirt and black pants, hair tied in a pigtail. In front of him were three Danger Room robots, orange in color and standing a good nine feet tall. “Three! Professor, don’t you think that’s like to much?” Kitty asked anxiously. “If you watch for yourself, Kitty, you’ll see that it’s, in fact, far from enough,” Xavier replied before leaning forward and speaking into a microphone, “You may begin, Ranma.” Ororo pushed a few button’s on the side panel, “All set, Professor,” she said. “Here we go,” Xavier said as he and everyone else looked down at Ranma. ********* He stood with his eyes closed. He’d been in the Danger Room for over two hours now, taking advantage of the training he could get from it. The Professor had said that the room would measure his abilities as a fighter, how strong, fast, and powerful he was, as well as how long his stamina would hold out. “You may begin, Ranma,” he heard the Professor say over the loud speaker. Opening his eyes, Ranma studied the three robots in front of him. Though tall and made of metal, and probably incredibly strong, they definitely weren’t fast. “This isn’t much of a challenge, Professor,” he complained. “Well this will be the last test for today, the rest of the students are home, and I’d like for you to meet them,” the Professor explained. “Is laser eyes up there?” he asked happily. “Yes, Scott is up here,” Xavier replied. “Good, he can watch this and be impressed,” Ranma stated arrogantly, making all the younger X-men look at each other in disbelief. As the three robots approached, slowly as he had predicted, Ranma started laughing out loud. “This really is too easy!” he shouted jumping forward. Both of his fists smashed into the first two robots chests. He raised his legs and put them on the robots metal knees to holds himself against them. “Double Moko Takabisha!” he screamed, firing two ki blasts with both his hands. The force of the blasts blew the robots off his fists and threw him backwards into the air. He flipped around in midair and landed on his feet the same time the two robots crashed to the Danger Room floor. The last robot got up close and swung at his head, but he ducked under it easily and did a couple back flips to get some distance between them. Stopping a good fifteen feet away from the robot, he cupped his hands down at his hip where they began to fill with blue ki. Soon enough, the blue ki overlapped his hands, making them disappear inside the ball. “Moko Takabisha!” Ranma roared, throwing the beach ball sized orb of ki forward. The ball of ki drove itself into the chest of the robot, engulfing it in light before the ki exploded, taking the robot with it. ********* “Whoa! That was like, totally amazing!” Kitty gushed as Ranma walked out of the Danger Room, toweling off his face. He finished wiping the sweat off his face, and looking at Kitty, gave his signature Saotome grin without realizing it. “Ah, that was nothin’” Kitty blushed openly, hiding her face behind her hands. Rogue blushed too, just not as bad, or as open. Jean mentally admitted to herself that he was a pretty good looking guy. Scott glared at him from behind his red sunglasses. Kurt stared in awe. Evan crossed his arms and acted unimpressed. “So, Ranma, what do you think of our Danger Room,” Xavier asked as Ororo wheeled him up to the group, Logan trailing a couple steps behind. “It’s great, Professor! Real good work out machine you got there,” Ranma replied energetically. “Can’t wait to do it again.” “Well, Ranma, before you do, I’d like to introduce you to your new house mates,” Xavier said, then began, “I believe you’ve already met Scott Summer, also known as Cyclops.” Sighing under his breath, Scott walked up to Ranma and extended his hand. He watched Ranma’s face change from annoyance to acceptance, before the pigtailed teen bowed slightly at the waist. Raising an eyebrow behind his sunglasses, Scott shrugged his shoulders and bowed at his waist, before backing up again. “This is Jean Grey,” Xavier explained introducing said girl. “Hi, pleased to meet you,” Jean said, having walked forward, smiling sweetly. Ranma blinked in confusion. He could swear he had heard that voice before. It sounded so familiar to him. “Have we met before?” he asked curiously. “Other than last night, I don’t think so,” she replied smiling. “Oh. Ok. Pleased to meet you too, Ms. Grey,” he finally said pleasantly, bowing to her as well. Since she was being polite he figured he should be too. “The blue one here, is Kurt Wagner,” Xavier said presenting Nightcrawler with a smile. Porting in front of Ranma, Kurt spouted, “What you did in there was totally awesome, mein freund!” He grabbed Ranma’s hand and shook it fiercely. “Ahh. . . Thanks, I think,” Ranma said looking the blue demon looking boy over. For some reason, seeing him really didn’t bother him all that much. “You have GOT to teach me how to fight like you!” Kurt added in excitement. “Um . . . sure, I guess,” Ranma added, rubbing the back of his head. “Excellent!” Xavier spoke up, “NEXT, we have Katherine Pryde.” The small, brown haired teen demurely walked up to Ranma, blushing slightly as she did. “Hi. You can call-I mean everyone calls me Kitty, like the cat.” Ranma flinched, though he didn’t quite know why. “Kitty?” he repeated. “Yeah, Kitty,” she replied smiling. “Uh, ok, nice to meet you,” Ranma said, bowing and wondering why her name had made him feel weird for a moment. “The young man over there is Evan Daniels,” Xavier cut in, sensing the confusion and apprehension in Ranma's thoughts. “Hey,” Evan said simply, then added as an after thought, “You always showoff like that?” “I like to make my first impressions good,” Ranma replied, grinning cocky, and discounting the fact that his first impression with Scott was a bad one. Not only that, but he couldn’t remember the fact that most of his past first impressions, Akane, Ryouga, Shampoo, were bad ones. He just wasn’t a first impressions guy. Not that he could remember though. “And last, but certainly not least, Rogue,” Xavier finished, smiling widely. “Nice ta meetcha,” Rogue said with a little enthusiasm, giving Ranma a little smile. “Your name’s Rogue?” Ranma asked in confusion. “Yeah, just like my name’s Logan,” Logan replied. “We’re one named loners.” “Hey! Speak for yerself!” Rogue retorted, placing her hands on her hips. “So you’re name’s just Rogue, and that’s it?” Ranma asked, still confused. “Yeah, that’s right,” Rogue responded, looking at Ranma through half lidded eyes. “Why don’t you have a last name?” Ranma asked. Logan put his hand on Ranma’s head. “Some things are better left unasked,” he said. Ranma frowned. For some reason he didn’t like the feeling of someone’s hand on his head. He felt belittled, like a young kid who’d didn’t understand. Not that he did understand, but still. “What kinda name is Ranma?” Rogue enquired bluntly. “Ranma’s a great name! Anyone would give their left leg to have my name!” Ranma replied defensively, feeling slightly insulted. All the students looked at each other with incredulous faces. “Well they would! Come on! Ranma Saotome! Who wouldn’t want that name?” Ranma insisted, getting upset at their blank stares and storming off, muttering, “Yeesh, you’d think these people had never heard a good name before.” The room went quiet. “He’s . . . quite a character, Professor,” Jean commented, killing the awkward silence. “Yes he is, Jean. But there’s something you all should know about, Ranma,” Xavier continued, catching the attention of all the X-Men. “What’s that, Professor?” Scott asked. “He can’t remember his past. Who he was, where he’s from exactly. He can only remember a few things about himself. Otherwise, he’s another Logan with his memories,” Xavier explained, “Just so you know.” “Thanks, Professor.” ********* Ranma lay wide awake in his bed, thinking about his new home. New house mates. And tomorrow, a new school. But that was the thing. He couldn’t remember if he’d ever had a home, house mates, or even went to school before. He hardly even knew who he was, let alone what he’d done before he’d lost his memory. He could only start to remember with what he had to go off of. He knew his name was Ranma Saotome, that he hadn’t forgotten. He figured he was from Japan, as it seemed only logical that he would be. A curse, he knew he had one, but couldn’t remember what it was, what it did. As he lay, he slammed both his fists into the bed beside him. He was getting a headache just thinking about it. “I need to practice,” he muttered and rolled out of bed, and onto his feet. His room was massive, full of free space, seeing as he didn’t own anything to fill it up with. He figured it was around fifteen by fifteen just be look around. Though he didn’t really know his measurements that well, so his guess could’ve been completely off from the real size. The good thing about it was that he had a lot of room to do his kata’s. He stretched out his muscles and started his kata, attempting to clear his head of his lost thoughts, especially those about going to school the next day. ********* “Rise and shine, dude! Gotta get ready for your first day of . . . Whoa! That is SO cool!” Kurt exclaimed as he opened the door to Ranma’s room. It wasn’t enough to wake Ranma though, who was sleeping on the floor Indian-style, upside down and balancing on his head. “You’ve GOT to show me how to do that!” Kurt added after teleporting up close to Ranma. “Ranma? Ranma?” He poked the upside down boy with his tail. Ranma wiggled his nose but didn’t awake. Blinking, Kurt tried again, poking Ranma’s knee. Said boy teetered the opposite way before tipping over and landing on his side. Startled, Ranma rolled over onto his feet, taking a defensive position. He looked at the blue fur covered boy, who was now weakly standing in his own defensive position, and relaxed. “Thought you were someone else,” Ranma said, calming Kurt’s nerves. “Who, mein friend?” Kurt asked curiously. “I don’t know . . .” Ranma said blankly. Remaining silent for a couple seconds, Kurt decided he best say something. “Breakfast is probably ready.” Ranma’s eyes lit up. “But . . . maybe you should put some more clothes on, yeah?” Kurt added, referring to Ranma’s undershirt and boxers sleeping clothes. Next Time: School Daze Ranma goes to Bayville High for the first time, much to his chagrin. How’ll he manage being in a place he’s never been, with people he doesn’t know, and without the ability to read English! Authors Notes: I’m skipping over the Cauldron episodes simply because I didn’t like them that much, and I’m starting right before the beginning of season 2, ‘Growing Pains’ (1) gott Verdammt is German for ‘God damn!’