"Flesh... Bone..." Ellf Productions Presents "Bound together by the oddest magickal incantations..." A fanfic by Peter Gallagher "This book is where it began oh so long ago..." Based upon the original characters created by Silicon Knights and Rumiko Takahashi "My name is Doctor Edward Roivas, I am a clinical psychologist, I am also dead..." ******************************* Eternal Darkness: Sanity Halved ******************************* "This is not my story, nor is it even the story of the Roivas family. It is the story of humanity..." A book sat upon a shelf, seemingly made up of skin, and it had a rune on the sash holding the book closed. The book expanded to take up the full field of vision. "Like it or not, believe it or not as you will. Your perceptions will not change reality, but simply color it..." The view panned out to reveal a young woman with blonde hair holding the book in her arms and staring at it. She closed her eyes and tears ran down her face. "The Guardians grow restless... their time once again near..." The woman put down the book, and it disappeared into thin air. The woman then developed a determined look upon her face seeing the book's disappearance. "Their attention shifts from my Granddaughter, Alexandra Roivas, to my Grandson, Ranma Saotome. This is one aspect I had not prepared for..." The view shifts to the book once more. The book opens to a page that has writing and a photo of a group of women following what appears to be a little gnome with a bag that has women's unmentionables in it. --------------------------------------------- Prelude: Hey, is it Time for the Parade Again? --------------------------------------------- The picture transformed from an old-fashioned photograph to a full color motion. "What a haul! What a haul!" The old gnome cackled with glee as he ran away from the ladies. A pigtailed young man walking on the fence while he was eating an apple spotted the gnome. He furrowed his brow and tossed the red fruit at the old man. The apple struck the man's leg, causing the man to trip. With the man prone upon the ground, the women quickly caught up to the old geezer. They began to stomp repeatedly on the old man's head, causing a dust cloud to form. The youth continued to balance on the beams of the six-foot high fence. He walked along towards a complex that from the view housed two buildings while being surrounded by a large wall. The view shifted from the youth to the wall, on which a yellow sign sat. The sign read, in Kanji "Tendo Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu Dojo. Guests please enter through the front gate. To challenge the owner, please enter through the rear gate." Then the view focused back on the youth, now on the ground and next to the wall. He eyed the wall, and he casually tensed the muscles in his legs and leapt. The youth cleared the wall with ease, landing on a clothesline on the other side. "Oh hello, Ranma-kun!" Came from a young woman dressed in rather conservative manner. "Afternoon, Kasumi-san." The pigtailed boy replied. "Oh, are you doing the laundry? Let me make it easier for you. Gomen nasai." Ranma quickly jumped off of the wires that made up the clothesline. He smirked at Kasumi and took an extravagant bow. "Oh my, Ranma-kun, that was very nice." Kasumi applauded. "Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all month." Ranma grinned widely, baring two rows of teeth as he did. Kasumi tittered at this response. Suddenly a purple blur hopped over the fence, it was the old goat from earlier. The man's face was covered in shoe prints and bruises. "RANMA! How dare you do that to your Master!" The pigtailed boy glared at the old man. "Master, my ass, Hentai! You ain't my master, Happosai! Especially after that stunt you pulled at that farce of a wedding. You drank my cure, you old freak!" "My, Ranma-kun, such language. There's no reason to be so harsh on Grandfather Happosai, is there?" Kasumi said, gazing at both Ranma and Happosai. "So, that water that I thought was sake was Nannichuan was it? Then I guess it's a good thing I drank it then. Because otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this!" As Happosai pronounced his last word, he lunged at Ranma, knocking him into the koi pond that resided in the yard. Instantly, the boy's black hair changed to fire-engine red, he lost a few inches, and gained a few curves. Ranma had changed into Ranma-chan. "What'd ya do that for you old freak?" Ranma seemed to blur out of the water and appear in front of the old man, seething. "Why? So I could do this!" Happosai sprung at Ranma's ample bosom and attempted to latch on. However, Ranma, knowing of Happosai's dirty tricks, tensed and quickly moved her fist to smash the pervert into the ground. "You ain't gonna do that anymore, hent-urk!" Without warning, Ranma was hit in the head by a thrown statue, and fell to the ground. "Sorry Ranma, I meant to hit Happosai." A cute girl with short black hair wearing a yellow gi and a white headband. "You klutz! Can't you hit anything right?" Came from Ranma as she stood up. "What did you call me Ranma?" "A klutz! An uncute, built-like-a-brick, tomboy klutz!" "RANMA!" The girl's face was turning red and contorting in anger. "And another thing-" Ranma raised her fist to point at the girl as a purple blur went by her hand and a quiet "Here you go." was heard. Ranma looked at what was in her hand and paled. It was a bra. "RANMA NO HENTAI! So you were helping Happosai!" "No, no Akane it's not what you think!" "What I think? What else could it be besides what I think? Ranma no Hentai!" Akane reached behind her back and a large wooden mallet formed from nowhere. Ranma quickly started to back up. A movement caught her eye. It was Happosai. The purple clad ancient martial artist started running out the front gate. Ranma snarled and took off after the pervert. "Come back here you old freak!" Akane blinked twice, growled and raised her mallet. "RANMA! Come back here and take your punishment like a man!" She immediately began to run after the two of them. ************************************************* A boy wearing a yellow shirt, black pants, a yellow spotted bandana and a large backpack was walking along the street trying to read a map. "Let's see, if I take a right here, I'll end up in Hokkaido, and a left, I'll end up in Osaka. I think that's near Nerima." The young man clutched the map to his chest and closed his eyes. "Don't worry Akane my love! Soon the two of us will be together and I will defeat Ranma once and for all!" The young man turned as he heard a girl's voice shout, "Get over here, old man!" Suddenly a light weight was felt on his head and it propelled off of it shortly afterwards. Then a heavier weight was placed on his head briefly and then more strongly pushed off. This caused the boy to fall to the ground. He could see a girl in a red chinese shirt and black pants heading off behind him. A brief moment passed and he was then trampled by another girl, one wearing a gi and carrying a large mallet. This girl stopped and came over to the boy. "Oh, I'm sorry Ryoga-kun, I didn't see you there." She then took off again. Ryoga climbed to his feet. "That was... That was Akane chasing Ranma and Happosai. The two of them must have done something to her." Ryoga tensed and began to run after the girls and the geezer. "RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!" *********************************************************************** Outside a shop that had a sign which read "Ucchan's Okonomiyaki" in kanji, a boyish brown-haired girl with a baker's peel strapped to her back began painting on a sign which read "Specials." "Let's see here..." She poked it a bit hard, and a muffled grunt was heard from within the sign. A feminine head poked out of the top of the sign, and arms stretched out of the side of it. The sign raised from the ground and revealed two legs. The girl growled "TSUBASA!", and in one fell swoop, pulled her peel off of its hook, swung it with the speed of a cheetah and grace of a gazelle, and struck the cross-dressing disguised boy, sending him flying. "Ukyo-samaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Just then, Happosai, Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga ran past the girl's shop, oddly enough, in the direction Ukyo hit Tsubasa. "Ran-chan..." Ukyo sighed. Then she gasped. "I need my specials sign... Konatsu help me run after Tsubasa!" "Right away Ukyo-sama." Another feminine male, dressed as a kunoichi appeared from nowhere, and both took off after the group. *********************************************************************** Another restaurant, labelled in Kanji as the Nekohanten, had three people within its walls. One, a purple haired girl was going around to various tables and placing flowers on them. Another, a young man with long black hair and thick glasses was staring at the girl with purple hair as he swept the restaurant. In the restaurant's kitchen, an amazingly old woman was stirring some ramen in a large pot. The group of people passed quickly by the front of the restaurant, easily seen by its current occupants. "Airen!" Came from the purple haired girl. "Hibachan, Shampoo go to take Airen on date now, okay?" The elderly woman (if you can call her that) smiled at the girl. "Of course child, go see if muko-dono will take you out on a date today." "Alright, Shampoo go now, baibai!" As she headed out, the boy got up and grasped the plant by the door firmly. "Shampoo! Go out on a date with me and not that loser, Ranma!" Shampoo sighed and shook her head before going out the door. "Stupid Mousse." She took off after the group of people. Mousse lowered his glasses and released his hold on the plant. "I'm coming Shampoo!" He went out the door and took off after the group. The elderly woman sighed and shook her head. "This day will not end well." (Ah forget it, the old lady is Cologne if you didn't know already.) ********************************************************************** In the courtyard of a greatly large mansion, a young man dressed in kendo robes, holding a bokken, was striking at a wooden dummy that had a pigtail pinned to the back of it. "Soon, Saotome, soon you will be defeated by me..." The young man posed. "The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, Kuno Tatewaki." "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! Why dear brother, you must face the facts, you will never defeat my Ranma-sama! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" "My dear, twisted sister Kodachi, if the foul demon Saotome were to wed you, I would be able to free my two loves from his grasp. The fierce tigress, Tendo Akane, and the fiery goddess, Osage no Onna." Suddenly, both Akane and Ranma-chan ran by the front gate of the mansion, easily eyed by both of the Kunos. "Ah, my Osage no onna and Tendo Akane, they've come to profess their love for me. Wait for me my loves!" Kuno took off running after them shortly followed by Ryoga, Tsubasa, Konatsu, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Mousse. "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! I'll make them tell me where my Ranma-sama is!" Kodachi then leapt after the group. *********************************************************************** Happosai was followed by Ranma who was followed by Akane who was followed by Kuno who was followed by Ryoga who was followed by Tsubasa who was followed by Konatsu who was followed by Ukyo who was followed by Shampoo who was followed by Mousse who was followed by Kodachi. The lot of them passed by a group of students wearing Furinkan High School Uniforms. The students shrugged and began to run after the group as well. Ranma looked behind her and gasped. "This is all your fault old man! Look at what you did again!" Ranma quickly caught up to Happosai and picked him up while she was still running. She faced him back towards the rest of the entourage. "Can't you let an old man have his fun?" Ranma sharply answered, "NO! Not if it's ecchi!" She continued to run, and suddenly her face brightened. While still running, she lifted her leg and sharply drop kicked Happosai into the horizon. She tensed her muscles and leapt to the rooftop of a building, fell into a strange stance, and her form faded from sight. The remaining people, martial artists and non, kept running until they too faded from sight. The, currently female, pig-tailed martial artist once again appeared, sitting ontop of the roof of the building next to the one she jumped on to. "I think this area is close to mom's house, I oughta go drop in and say 'hi.'" Ranma then rose to her feet and leapt to the ground. The scene froze on her frame begining to run and faded into the same old picture style from as before. The picture scaled down to reveal some words. ************* Chapter Ended ************* The book then closed and the sash fell upon it once more. A. N. Wow, after two whole weeks of writing, I finally finished this chapter of my new fic. The major Eternal Darkness stuff happens in the next chapter, such as the Tome being found. Just a reminder, I do not own any of the characters in this, nor do I own the magickal powers in this. That is reserved to Takahashi-sama and the Silicon Knights. I almost didn't write an Author's notes for this one, but hey, it needed to be done. All C&C can go to ellfangor8@gmail.com.