Ether Morph (Story in progress)

[KonokoHasano]

Yes, it's a new idea that I couldn't refrain from working on, but I don't plan on making it a huge priority. I.E: I don't plan on uploading it onto Fanfiction.net for a while, because that would make me feel more overwhelmed.

I have to thank Lawra for helping me fine-tune certain aspects. I've been fiddling around with the idea for a while, but had no real idea just how to do it, but now I've gotten a general understanding of the direction.

It's currently just a small snippet, but I want to see if people can guess...



Genma Saotome sat as calmly as he could, but that wasn’t saying much considering both his twitching foot and fingers. Hospitals usually did make him rather antsy, what with the constant lingering of smells in the air, and his senses keeping him on edge. Because of his excellent health, he hardly ever had to come, but there was a reason for him being there: His wife, Nodoka, was in labor.

Never having had a child before, the bandana wearing man was extra nervous about how everything would turn out. He hoped that nothing would seem wrong with the child; that the entire process managed to flow smoothly. He didn’t know how he would be able to take it if their soon-to-be child had some kind of anomaly that would cause serious issues to end up cropping up.

Who knew that having a child could end up being so distressing?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nodoka panted in an effort to catch her breath as the thought of strangling her husband for having her go through such a grueling thing as childbirth. In fact, she actually had strangled the man once or twice during the course of the last nine months, so one more strangling wouldn’t exactly hurt him. He would never know what it was like to have a child, so why not let him share in at least some of her pain?

Her thoughts were interrupted as the sound of an infant wailing its tiny head off reached her ears. Turning her head towards the source, she was instantly filled with a plethora of emotions as she caught sight of her newborn child being cleaned up by one of the doctors. She could just make out a very faint tuft of black hair on top of its head.

“Is that my--”

“Congratulations Saotome-san, it’s a--” The doctor blinked as he glanced down to get a second look. He could have sworn… ah well, must have been his mistake. “It’s a girl.”

Nodoka’s eyes widened as a look of absolute joy spread across her features. She had been hoping that the baby would turn out to be a girl, and now she found out that her wishes had come true. As she accepted her newborn child -- wrapped up in a tiny blanket, -- she was able to catch a glimpse of her large, clear blue eyes. ‘She’s so adorable.’

Her husband arrived a mere moment later, his face showing off a look of worry as he wanted to know if everything was alright. After learning everything from the doctors, he appeared to have calmed down before moving over to his wife and gently laying his hand on top of hers.

“Oh Genma, isn’t she beautiful?” Nodoka asked as she almost appeared to glow in happiness. “But we need a name for her.” She was shocked that they never attempted to come up with any names. They needed to think of a name for their adorable little flower. “That’s it!” Nodoka said with wide eyes. “Her name will be Kohana.”

“Little Flower?” Genma asked with a raised eyebrow. He supposed that it would be a good name, and the look on his wife’s face said that she wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Alright, Kohana it is, then.” He was just glad that everything seemed to have turned out alright, but he was still nervous about the next few years. After-all, taking care of the infant wouldn’t exactly be an easy task.

Later, when the doctors checked on Kohana, they were surprised to note that the baby girl wasn’t really a girl, but a boy. After some questioning of the doctor who claimed otherwise, they figured that it was just a mistake that came about due to the bright lights and the doctor’s tiredness.

Of course, they had to break the news to the new parents, and Nodoka was greatly saddened by the fact that she DIDN’T have a daughter. Still, the infant was her’s, and the gender didn’t matter at all. However, the name ‘Kohana’ just wouldn’t due for a boy, and so they had to come up with another name. After a little back and forth, they finally came up with the name ‘Ranma’.

Nodoka was also curious as to why her son’s eyes seemed to have changed from a bright blue to a bluish purple, but figured that her tiredness caused her to see things as well. Bluish purple was an odd color, but it was a beautiful color.

[borgrabbit]

Is this a crossover? could you make an AN for some background? It HAS piqued my interest.

[KonokoHasano]

It's a Ranma/Gold Digger crossover.

Here's some more...


Genma, on the other hand, was slightly nervous. The so-called ‘mistake’ that everyone was thinking about wasn’t an error at all, but an actuality. Their child truly did change into a girl as the doctor was holding him, and then changed into a boy when left alone. The bandana wearing man truly hoped that their offspring would end up being what Nodoka was: A human. However, against his internal wishes, Ranma ended up being what he was: A Rakshasa.

He wasn’t human, and ‘Genma’ was merely an identity that he had crafted and used for the last couple of decades. He couldn’t remember exactly how old he was, because he had basically stopped counting over an eon ago. Time wasn’t really a factor for someone so old, and so years tended to fly by faster than one could comprehend. This is why he had no problem pretending to be someone else for several years at a time.

If the truth of what he was got out, then he would merely have to take on another identity, and nobody would be any wiser. It also helped in allowing him to procure monetary funds and items. Sure, he merely needed to feed off of the ethereal energy of humanoids to sustain him, but having money to set up appearances so that nobody would be suspicious was a necessity. He was not above creating relationships with wealthy individuals so that he -- or she depending on what identity is being used at the time -- could later on make off with a nice amount of money. After-all, what was a few decades spent in a relationship to someone who has lived basically forever?

His attraction to Nodoka at first was more or less because of the unusually strong ethereal energy she possessed for a human. It was rare to encounter one with so much just lying around about them, and so he tended to take advantage of the situation whenever he came across such person. However, in the short couple of years that he had known the woman, Genma found that there was more than just being attracted to her ethereal energy. He was also attracted to the woman herself.

Hence the reason why he was nervous about Ranma also being a Rakshasa, and being unable to control his morphing powers. It would only be a matter of time before Nodoka notices a minor hair or eye color change, perhaps a change in skin tone, sudden ear or hair length, or Ranma changing into a neutral or female form. When that happens, Genma would have to explain himself, and it was likely that Nodoka wouldn’t be pleased.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Genma’s opinion, the first year was the most hectic time that he had ever had. He had to make extra sure that Nodoka never noticed any random changes, and it was only by luck that whenever Ranma’s hair or eyes changed, it only lasted a moment before returning to normal. Nodoka noticed a few times, sure, but she always figured that she had merely been seeing things in an effort to deal with what she thought was inevitable insanity.

A much more bothersome issue was that Ranma seemed to switch between male and female forms depending on who was holding him at the time. Thankfully, he had managed to convince Nodoka that he wanted to be the one to change Ranma’s diapers and give him his baths, while stating that doing so would be proper father/son bonding. This ended up causing his wife to gush about him being ‘such a wonderful parent’ to take up his share of the tasks.

Sadly, this meant that he would often have to wake up during the night to change their infant son, and have to constantly deal with the odor of smelly diapers. The things he had to do to keep a secret going. He was certain that someone could make a stupid sit-com about all the trouble and embarrassment he went through.

At least he didn’t have to worry about Ranma going hungry, thanks to Nodoka breast feeding him instead of using formula. The infant managed to get the needed ethereal energy via the milk, and so Genma didn’t have to periodically give him infusions and waste his own energy stores. Of course, whenever the time comes that his wife stops breast feeding, he WOULD have to start giving Ranma occasional infusions so that he didn’t starve.

He decided that when Ranma could properly walk, he would take the boy on a training trip. This would allow them to get away from Nodoka before she got wise to the truth, teach him how to gain control of his powers, and start training his child in martial arts so that he could later fight and beat his food into submission. He just hoped that he could keep up the charade long enough, that Ranma’s random changes didn’t lead to anything permanent that wouldn’t go away and allow Nodoka to know.

Genma’s run of good luck unfortunately ran out just a few days after Ranma turned one-year-old. Nodoka was showing the young Rakshasa a picture book in an attempt to get him to learn about a few animals. When they got to the page with a small puppy on it, the young child gave off a giggle. That was when, to both Genma and Nodoka’s horror, the black-haired boy’s entire form started to change.

‘Oh shit…’ The bandana-wearing man thought to himself.

Ranma’s body grew a very small coat of tan fur that covered him from head to toe, and his nose turned into a tiny, black button one. His ears, which had become slightly pointed in the last two years, quickly changed and became a pair of floppy dog ears. Finally, a small tail could be seen poking out from the top of his diaper.

Nodoka did something that any normal person in her situation would do; she fainted dead away.

“Mumma?” Ranma asked in confusion as he crawled over to the unconscious woman and gave her a small tap with his now paw-like hands. He proceeded to turn his head towards his father with a look that showed curiousness.

“She’s-- err-- just tired, boy.” Genma answered with a nervous laugh. Damn it, if only the younger Rakshasa wouldn’t have let his secret out for a few more days, because then he could have convinced Nodoka to let him take the child on a training trip. Here’s hoping that the change would revert before his wife woke up.

Ranma tilted his tiny head in confusion. His tail behind him managed to get free enough so that it could wiggle.

Nodoka woke from her sudden slumber a few moments later. “What happened?” She asked as she massaged her forehead. She had the weirdest dream that her son had turned into some kind of dog boy. “Genma, do you--” The dark-haired woman stopped in her question when she caught sight of her son sitting just in front of her. He was still in a puppy-boy form, and she could just make out a tail behind him.

“G-- G-- Genma,” She managed to get out as she turned her head towards her husband with a fearful and distressed look. “What happened to our son?! Why did he just become a dog boy?” Turning her head back towards her barking son, she watched as he continued to wag his tail. “R-- Ranma?”

“Mumma?” Ranma asked with a little confusion at why the woman seemed to be acting so weird. After another moment, he changed back to his normal form.

Nodoka blinked at seeing her child return to normal. However, it still didn’t explain why he was just a humanoid dog.

Clearing his throat and pushing up his glasses, Genma braced himself for the inevitable backlash. “Nodoka, dear, there’s something important that I have to tell you.” Upon gaining his wife’s attention, he continued. “You see, I’ve been keeping a secret from you. I’m-- not human.”

“W-- What?” The woman asked as she stared at the man as if he had just grown a second head. Giving off a laugh, she shook her head. “That’s a good one, Genma. If you’re not human, then what are you? An alien?” Her laughter died down as she watched her husband shrink a few centimeters and gain a little more hair on the top of his head. His ears grew long and pointy, similar to the ears of an elf. A pair of horns also grew out from the hair just above his temples, and were swept backwards. Due to his smaller, slimmer body, his gi was almost falling off.

“Rakshasa, actually.” He said before rushing to the woman before she could faint again. “Don’t faint again, Nodoka.”

“What? How? When? Why?” Nodoka asked at a frantic pace. That was until her expression turned into an angry one. “You’ve been lying to me all this time?”

Genma used a free hand to scratch the side of his cheek. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that I was lying.” He said with a nervous laugh. “I never really planned on telling you just what I was. However, since we have Ranma, and he’s also a Rakshasa -- which is a being that’s quite rare, honestly. I’ve only met one other in the last 15,000 years, -- keeping the secret has been a lot harder than I would have liked. Who knew that an infant shape-shifter could be so hard to manage, right?” He gave off another laugh, but this one was based more on amusement. His laughing, however, was cut short due to a sudden slap to the face.

“How could you?” Nodoka asked with a look full of both anger and hurt. “I bet you thought it was funny to watch me think I’ve been seeing things over the past year, right?” She felt completely betrayed in her trust of the man before her.

Genma attempted to calm the woman down. “Now Nodoka, dear--”

“DON’T YOU DARE ‘DEAR’ ME!” The woman shouted as she spun around and ran for their bedroom. It wasn’t long before the slamming of a sliding door could be heard.

As he scratched the back of his head, Genma couldn’t help but sigh. ‘That probably could have gone better.’ It was likely that the relation was over due to Nodoka finding out that he wasn’t human. There was also no telling of just how she would react towards the child if they did stay. She could end up a good mother, or she could end up neglectful, and he really didn’t want to see the latter.

Not to mention the fact that the woman had that blasted katana of hers that she could possibly use to try and cut the both of them.

Turning his head towards Ranma’s direction, he could see that the toddler was worried about what just happened, because he had never seen his mother so angry before. The one-year-old child gave a small gurgle as he watched where Nodoka had vanished. Ranma started to crawl in that direction, but was quickly picked up by the older Rakshasa. Giving a little gurgle, the infant reached up and pulled hard on his father’s ears.

“Strong grip.” Genma said with a wince as his glasses fell off of his nose. “Damn it, boy, knock it off.”

Ranma merely giggled

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A few hours later, Nodoka pushed herself into a sitting position on her bed and wiped the tears from her eyes. She couldn’t believe that Genma had lied to her all this time, and was really some other kind of creature. Even if he had claimed to be a kitsune or tanuki, she would have been just as angry about being deceived. Why couldn’t he have told her from the start, or at least right after they got married? Sure, she would have been angry, but at least it wouldn’t seem as if she were living a lie.

No, he had to wait long after they were married, and after having a son at that. If Ranma hadn’t turned out to be the same thing as Genma, then it was likely that she would never learn the truth, and would continue to live this farce.

‘Ranma…’ Nodoka thought as she held her hand to her mouth; her adorable little boy who happened to be the entire world to her. It wasn’t his fault that his father was a complete liar. How could she stay angry at a baby…HER baby? If what Genma said was to be believed, then Rakshasa were really rare, and her son was one of them. That made him pretty special, and she was the mother to such a special child. Hell, she should be PROUD to be chosen as the parent to Ranma, and not antagonistic.

What if her son needed her right now? What if he was starving for milk? She had kept herself locked up in this room for several hours, and so Ranma should be hungry by now. How could she be so careless as to neglect her pride and joy?

Pushing herself off of the bed, Nodoka quickly made her way out of the room and proceeded downstairs. “Genma? Ranma?” She asked as she searched for any sign of her husband or son. She could forgive Genma for his deceit just this once, if only it would allow her to hold Ranma tight and never let go.

When she reached the living room, her eyes caught sight of a sheet of paper lying on the table. Making her way over to it, she picked it up and began to read. What she read caused her eyes to widen in complete horror.

Nodoka

By the time you find this note, Ranma and I will most likely be long gone. From your distress and anger, I could tell that it was probably time to leave, because you no doubt want nothing to do with either of us, and I perfectly understand that. I wish I would have told you sooner, but it’s too late now. Rakshasa are psychic, I was able to sense how you felt. So, the best thing I could do was leave with Ranma.

Also, Ranma said bye.

Genma.

Nodoka’s hands shook as she read the letter, and tears once again fell from her cheeks, and onto the paper’s surface, causing words to smear slightly. Falling to her knees, she began to let out low sobs at the fact that both her husband and son had left just because she had gotten a little angry.

‘I was just a little angry is all, so why did you have to leave and take Ranma away?’ She asked in her mind as she hoped beyond anything else that she’d get to see them again… if only to be able to hold her son again.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Rakshasa in Gold Digger is basically a being that has the ability to shapeshift into various forms, and can shift between a neutral, female, and male form. They can mimic a person right down to their abilities, and they have minor telekinetic powers that allow them to read peoples thoughts, see into their sexual fantasies, and can use minor telekinetic powers. They feed off of Ethereal energy, which they get from other humanoids by either seducing them or getting into fights and rendering the humanoid unconscious.

Genn is a character from Gold Digger who happens to be a Rakshasa.

Genn with both neutral and masculine forms...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/ ... ra/Gen.jpg

Genn with feminine form...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/ ... a/Gen2.jpg

[Konsaki]

Huh... interesting and unexpected, since most of the time Nodoka is the non-human parent. Good read none the less. Keep it up.

One thing to fix, it's telepathic for mind reading not telekinetic, which is the movement of objects with one's mind.

[Spokavriel]

I don't see any way that this Genn could have had the Gold Digger history. So will any other elements aside from maybe Madrid (Genn's mother) make an appearance?

[KonokoHasano]

*Blinks* Genma isn't Genn. He's a completely different Rakshasa with no relation whatsoever to Genn. I was merely showing Genn as an example of a Rakshasa.

There will be other elements of Gold Digger in this story, though.


Konsaki: Thanks ^_^

[Spokavriel]

What I was trying to hint at is that Genn's mother is Madrid and I don't remember any other progenitor for Raksasha. So I was kinda guessing that Genma's other Raksasha that he had met was Genn and that Madrid might still be a relation. And I figured she'd at least make an appearance. Given her wandering ways and all. I doubt those would be gone even if this takes place after she changes her form to that of Gina.

[LawOhki]

What I was trying to hint at is that Genn's mother is Madrid and I don't remember any other progenitor for Raksasha. So I was kinda guessing that Genma's other Raksasha that he had met was Genn and that Madrid might still be a relation. And I figured she'd at least make an appearance. Given her wandering ways and all. I doubt those would be gone even if this takes place after she changes her form to that of Gina.

Genn's father is suggested to be an unnamed Rakshasa.

Madrid is exploring the astral rifts, she's not wandering around earth at all. In fact she was locked up for the years since she returned from the moon at Shangri-la. Issue 103.

[Spokavriel]

Why does this now have me imagining Genn as Ranma's half sibling?

[LawOhki]

Why does this now have me imagining Genn as Ranma's half sibling?

Well it's highly possible that all rakshasa are closely related, seeing as there are very few of them, and they live so insanely long. But if Genn and her father are any indication, family isn't very big for them.

It's really saying something when Dragons have closer families than you do.

[Spokavriel]

I think I should make a note that I haven't had access to any Gold Digger colored editions newer than when Madrid ended up locked up on the moon.

The Dragons in Gold Digger actually have a closer family than mine appears to be at times.

[KonokoHasano]

Next snippet...


Three-year-old Ranma giggled as he used a small bit of his ESP to pick up a pebble and spin it around in the air. He was currently neuter, the form he was in most of the time unless he accidentally transformed into either his masculine or feminine form. With a little push, he sent the mineral flying towards a tree as he thought about going to find a bigger rock to play with.

He watched as the pebble hit the trunk of the tree, but his eyes widened at seeing a squirrel appear. The creature was quickly hit on the tail, causing it to be frightened and charge up the tree at a faster pace. Ranma, feeling bad that he had likely hurt the creature, ran up to the tree and looked up into it.

‘Hope squirrel is okay.’ Ranma thought with a frown as his hair changed to a light blue. While he had some moderate control of his psionic powers, his transforming powers often activated on their own depending on his emotions or thoughts. The most common of issues was his hair changing at random moments to display his mood; his skin tone and eye color also had a similar problem. It wasn’t uncommon for his entire body to change to a different shade of color, which was the younger Rakshasa’s exact problem at that very moment. The color of his skin had taken on a very light purple, while his eyes were split between pink for the left, and white for the right. All in all, this made the child a total mess in the visual aspect, and so it tended to make taking Ranma into a city or town difficult.

“Why are you looking up into a tree, Ranma?” A voice asked from behind, causing Ranma to spin around and see his father. The older Rakshasa was currently in the form that he had been using for the past two decades. Genma tended to use this form whenever he trained his son in martial arts, or whenever the both of them were around other people. When teaching Ranma about his Rakshasa abilities, or whenever there wasn’t anybody else around, Genma would use his neutral form.

“Papa!” Ranma shouted as he ran up to his father and grabbed onto the man’s gi. “I hit squirrel with rock. Is it hurt?” There was a hint of a distressed look in the child’s eyes.

Genma stared at his son for a moment before squatting down and placing a hand on the boy’s head. “Did you throw the rock hard?” The child shook his head. “Did the squirrel act hurt at all?” There was another head shake. “Where did you hit it?”

“Tail!” A tiny squirrel tail appeared behind the child as he mentioned it. When Ranma noticed that he had formed the tail, he pulled it in front of him and pointed to the tip. “Hit here.”

Giving a small nod, the gi-clad man stood up straight. “I think you just scared the squirrel, boy. I doubt it is hurt at all.”

“Really?” Ranma asked with a hint of hope as he let go of the tail and allowed it to twitch behind him. When his father nodded, the young Rakshasa gave a cheerful clap of his hands.

Genma couldn’t help but shake his head at the sight of the fluffy tail swaying behind his offspring. It was a good thing that he had cut small flaps in the child’s gi, otherwise the clothing would have been ruined by the sudden sprouting of tails or other appendages. He only hoped that it wouldn’t be much longer until Ranma’s transformations were much more controlled. “Alright Ranma, get rid of that tail.”

“Don’t wanna. It’s soft.” The child said as he sat on the ground, hugging the foreign appendage.

“Get rid of the tail. We’re going to do some training, and that thing will only become an unnecessary weakness if you keep it.”

Ranma gave off a pout as he closed his eyes to concentrate. After a few moments, the tail disappeared. After opening his eyes back up, he got to his feet. “Papa?” He asked. “What is mashial arts for?” He had heard the words several times, but never received an explanation as to what they were exactly. All he really knew was that learning to do things like punching and kicking was a part of it.

Genma scratched his chin for a moment as he attempted to figure out just how to explain it to the young child. “The martial arts is something that is learned so that a person may protect oneself from being hurt by defeating someone else who is the one trying to hurt you.” He explained. “There are some people who dedicate their time to martial arts so that they may protect those in trouble. However, the reason that I am teaching you to fight is not so you can go around saving people.” Of course, it didn’t really matter if his offspring did decide to also take part in doing just that.

“Then why?” Ranma asked curiously.

“It is so you can defeat humanoids and feed off of their ethereal energy. The better a fighter you are, the better you can render your target unconscious. Otherwise, you’ll most likely end up going hungry.”

“No going hungry.” Ranma said as he shook his head. He did not like feeling hungry at all.

Genma gave a sage nod at seeing his offspring give him his undivided attention. “There is, of course, another way to gain ethereal energy from humanoids, but I tend to prefer fighting them into submission.” It wasn’t that he lacked the ability to seduce anybody; he found the physical method to be much easier and faster. “I won’t be teaching you any of that, though… at least not until you’re older.”

Ranma gave a small pout, because he wondered what kind of awesome method it was, and why he had to be older to know.

“Now,” Genma said in a loud, commanding voice that caused his child to stand up straight. “Let’s hurry up. We shouldn’t be wasting time dawdling when we can use it for training.”

“Yes Papa!” The young blue-haired -- now green-haired -- Saotome answered back as he ran towards his father.

[camk4evr]

Next snippet...


Three-year-old Ranma giggled as he used a small bit of his ESP to pick up a pebble and spin it around in the air. He was currently neuter, the form he was in most of the time unless he accidentally transformed into either his masculine or feminine form. With a little push, he sent the mineral flying towards a tree as he thought about going to find a bigger rock to play with.

ESP stands for Extra Sensory Perception (Clairvoyance, telepathy, Empathy etc.). He'd use telekinesis to move objects.

[Spokavriel]

And the short form of that is TK telekinesis

[CJN]

One potential problem that you will have to deal with in some way is the Happosai-Genma interaction. I'm having a hard time imagining that Genma's nature would stay hidden around Happosai, so I would imagine that either Genma isn't a student of Happosai or Genma is having severe trauma from that time.