Ranma, King of Games
Disclaimer.
I don't own Ranma or Yugioh, and my dads a lawyer and I'm still a minor so don't try to sue.
Chapter one.
Ranma walked among the various stalls at Furinkins fundraiser bazaar. It was mostly junk that people wanted to get rid of and very little was actually worth anything but it was still fun just walking around and seeing his friends. A glint of gold suddenly caught his eye and he walked over to a stall selling jewelry. Akane's birthday was coming up and if he didn't get her something he knew that she and their fathers would have a fit.
Man my life sucks.
"You could probably change all that if you were a little more decisive."
"Huh?" Ranma looked at the old man running the stall curiously. He snorted and spoke.
"Don't mind me young man, I've been over the hill so many times that I sometimes just speak my mind." A normal person would have been nervous being around a person that could obviously read minds but Ranma defiantly wasn't normal and it was Nermena after all. Looking over the various jewelry his eyes landed upon a box holding pieces of broken gold metal.
I guess that's useless.
"I wouldn't say that sonny, that there is the millennium puzzle." Still shaken by the mans weird powers he reached inside and pulled out two pieces. He was impressed at the lightness of the metal and knew it wasn't gold but it still fascinated him. Cool!
"Yes, it is cool isn't it? Let me show you how it works." Picking up several more pieces he pushed the locking ends together. Ranma thought that it must have some kind of magnet inside since the two pieces stayed stuck. The old man continued to place piece after piece until it took on the shape of a pyramid. The old man let go of the puzzle and it shattered back into its pieces.
"This puzzle will become a necklace when finished and will keep its form. It was once used by the great pharaohs of ancient Egypt and is said to have magical powers inside. I'm sure that your fiancé would be most happy if you got it for her birthday coming up in three days." Ranma was interested when he mentioned magic as it might contain a cure for curse, and Akane would like a new piece of jewelry. Still, he didn't know the price and he only had three hundred yen. Definitely not enough.
"Three hundred yen." Ranma blinked, this man was starting to make him nervous. The man grinned.
"I'll even throw in this; you may find it helpful later on." The old man handed Ranma a card with a dragon on it. Ranma recognized it as a card from duel monsters, a popular game that all of the school was playing.
For three hundred yen I'll give you the puzzle and this Blue Eyes White Dragon card. Do we have a deal?" Ranma thought it over. There were a lot of other nice pieces of jewelry for sale much cheaper. But for some reason the box and card seemed to be calling out to him. Shrugging his shoulders he handed over his money. What the hell it's not like I've got anything to lose." Turning around to leave he heard the old man speak again.
"No but you have everything to gain." Turning around to ask him what he meant he saw that the stall was bare of its products and owner. A little mystified he walked towards the exit of the school yard.
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"ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"
Akane Tendo screamed in frustration as she tried to solve the puzzle Ranma had given her. He had demonstrated with a few pieces and she had scoffed at how easy it would be. The only problem was that where the pieces had fit and stayed together for Ranma they were falling apart in her hands. After two hours of work she hadn't put a single piece together but had built up a full head of steam. The final insult came when she finally got two pieces to fit and they had popped apart very forcefully. One had landed across the room and imbedded itself in the wall while the other had shot up and smacked Akane on the nose. Not being able to just give up quietly and get some ice for her nose she did the only thing she thought was sane. She took it out on Ranma.
"BAKA!!! Slamming down on Ranma's unguarded head with her mallet she felt her anger cool off. Still a little peeved she marched up to her room. Kasumi came in and handed a bag of ice to Ranma for his head. Moving over she gathered up all of the pieces of the puzzle and fiddled with them.
"Don't let her reaction bother you Ranma. This was a fine gift to give her. It's just a shame that she couldn't thank you properly for it." She fit two pieces together but frowned as the fell apart when she let go.
"I don't know why, but you seem to be the only one that can put this thing together so why don't you try to complete it yourself?" with that said she rose up and headed back to the kitchen to put away the birthday cake. Ranma considered what she had said. He had been ready to throw the whole thing out but sighed and took it up to his room. At least he hadn't wasted all of his money. He hadn't tried to give Akane the card since he liked the picture on the front and now kept it safely tucked away upstairs, maybe it was lucky.
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Ranma sat in his room hunched over on his bed. Genma panda was snoring up a storm on his futon but Ranma ignored him. He pushed several pieces into place and the again locked up. After two hours he was down to one piece with an eye design in it. With trembling hands he pushed the last piece into place and jumped a little when it suddenly glowed with a golden light. It floated out of his hands and hovered in front of his eyes. Suddenly a beam of intense light shot out of the eye symbol and hit Ranma in the forehead. He gasped as he felt his body lock up and fell over apparently unconscious.
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Ranma sat up and screamed as he saw his body still lying on the ground.
"NO! I've died!"
"No you haven't, that's just your physical body." Whirling around Ranma saw a person that looked exactly like him, but with wilder hair and a more feral personality. "Your spirit has just been brought here to the shadow realm." Even though he was dealing with forces he had no knowledge about he still found the ability to answer.
"Oh thanks! That makes me feel SO much better. Who are you!?" the figure shrugged.
"My name is Yami, I am the spirit that lives in the puzzle you assembled and you have awakened me from my slumber." THUD! Yami looked down at Ranma who was now copying his physical body's position. Sighing he started using his powers to wake Ranma up.
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Ranma woke up with a gasp as cold water splashed down on him. He sputtered a bit and then noticed that he was still a he.
"Get up you BAKA, were going to be late for school!" Akane stomped out the door, missing Ranma's lack of transformation. Ranma felt the cold water dripping down his back.
"It wasn't just a dream." Focusing a bit he felt his form shift until he was a girl. Focusing again he felt the change and saw that he was a man again. He looked down in his hand and saw the millennium puzzle sitting in his palm. The events of last night flooded back into his mind.
Flashback.
Ranma sat down crossed legged as Yami explained the history of the millennium items and the origins of the shadow games.
"Now that you know of how I came here I think it's time that you know why I came here. The millennium puzzle was created to control the power of the other millennium items. But since it has been shattered for so long several of the items have become tainted with evil. I need you to become my avatar so that I may find and purify the items and reseal them in the shadow realm. Will you help me?" Ranma thought about it for a moment and then spoke.
"I don't know. For all I know you could be an evil being that's tricking me. But for some reason I trust you. If what you say is true then a lot of innocent people are going to be hurt if the items aren't taken care of. And it's the duty of a martial artist to protect the weak and innocent so yah, I'll help." Yami smiled.
"Good, of course being my avatar has certain privileges and rewards. For one thing I can help you with your curse." Ranma immediately perked up at this and started to speak but Yami stopped him.
"I did not say I would remove your curse even though I have the power to do so. Unless some one works for something they tend to expect that everything will be okay in life. Just look at Akane, do you want to end up like her?" Ranma shuddered as Yami continued.
"And also, you have to admit that you would miss your girl side every now and then right?" Ranma was about to deny it but thought for a moment and sheepishly nodded.
"Those thoughts aside I can help you with your curse. As long as the millennium puzzle is around your neck you won't change when hit with hot or cold water. But if you don't have it your curse will be in control alright?"
End flashback.
Ranma dug around in his back pack and brought up a leather string which he threaded through a hole in the bottom of the puzzle and looped over his neck like a necklace. Rushing down the stairs he took the bento Kasumi was offering and with a quick "Thank you!" ran out of the house. Kasumi blinked, Ranma never said thank you for his lunches. Then she got shaky in the knees as she suddenly recognized the necklace around his neck. Leaving the breakfast dishes for later she hurried to her room and took out a box made of gold metal with an eye design on it like Ranma's puzzle.
"Why on earth didn't I recognize it last night, that was the Millennium Puzzle!" pulling back the lid she sifted through her most precious items given to her by her mother until she found it. She pulled out a pendant necklace that's top was shaped like an Egyptian amulet but its bottom was shaped like an old fashion key.
"Now I just need to wait for him to come home."
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Ranma rushed through the gates of Furinken high with three minuets to spare. Suddenly a cry rang out to the heavens.
"Soatome! Today is the day that your evil will fall and your hold on the pigtailed girl will come to an end!" Ranma sighed. It looked like he would be late again if he had to fight Blue Blunder. Suddenly he felt a new sense of confidence wash over him and he stopped running.
"Hold it Kuno." For some reason Kuno felt scared at the expression on Ranma's face and stopped.
"You've been challenging me and making me late for class for too long now. I don't use any magic in my fights and never will, yet you still refuse to acknowledge the obvious. You claim to be the greatest swordsman in school do you not?" Kuno smirked.
"Of course I am. At last that fact has been driven through that thick skull of yours Soatome."
"Very well then, I challenge you after lunch to a kendo match in the gymnasium. If I win you will refrain from attacking me ever again. If I lose then I will leave this town and release the pigtailed girl. Do you accept my challenge?" Kuno smiled. This mere peasant would try and beat him at kendo? The gods themselves would laugh at such an act. (Actually the gods were laughing there heads off but not at Ranma's challenge, but the fact that Kuno thought that he could go up against a pharaoh.)
"I accept your challenge certain, prepare yourself for your defeat!" with that said Kuno whirled around and headed back to his class. Seeing that he would be late if he didn't do some thing drastic Ranma jumped on Kuno's shoulders and bounced off his sputtering samurai springboard and into the open window of his class room. Once he was sitting inside the full effect of what he had done hit him.
Great I don't know anything about kendo. Why on earth did I make that stupid challenge?
Because you can win and when you do Kuno will no longer be a problem. Ranma jerked at the sound of Yami's voice and saw him sitting on Hinako sensei's desk.
I know all about fighting with weapon from my former life as a pharaoh, let me show you. The shape of an eye appeared on Ranma's forehead and suddenly he experienced a lifetime of training in one second. Every technique from ancient times in the art of sword fighting was suddenly downloaded into his brain.
"MR. Soatome!?" Hinako sensei started tapping her foot as Ranma seemed to come out of his trance.
"Since you seem so interested in the lesson perhaps you would like to answer the question? Who ruled ancient Persia in 2500 BC?"
"Uh, King Darius the great." Everyone in the room stopped pretending to study and stared at Ranma. Hinako looked down at her book in shock and stuttered out.
"Yes…that's correct." Ranma felt like he was about to fall over. He never got history questions right, especially ancient history.
Yami how did I know that?! Yami looked away from the board and answered.
I had to give you a few of my personal memories to teach you sword play. I went to war with Darius once and to prevent a bloodbath we both agreed to have a sword fight with the victor taking over the others country. My head general Sharick was able to beat him easily so I used his fight as an example. Ranma groaned silently and laid his head on his desk.
"So what other thoughts did you put in my head. Yami smirked.
You'll find out later.
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Ukyou sat under a tree picking at the lunch that she had packed for herself. It was hard being alone all of the time and the way things were going she would be even lonelier soon. At least she had Ranma to cheer her up. And speak of the devil, here he came. Putting on a cheerful face she scooted over so Ranma could sit down. Some say that Ranma Soatome isn't very perceptive when it comes to female emotions. However Ranma had never had the ancient spirit of a pharaoh bonded to his mind before and Yami's presence was starting to change the way Ranma thought.
"Hey Uchan are you okay? Ya look kinda sad." Ukyou's eyes widened Ranma never asked her how she was feeling. Deciding that Ranma would be the best person to talk to she sighed and reached into the pocket on her boy's uniform. Ranma became interested when he saw her pull out a duel monsters card. It had a vicious looking black dragon with red eyes and the numbers 2400/2000 on the bottom.
"I didn't know you played duel monsters Uchan."
"My dad started when it first came out in the seventies and he taught me when I was a little kid. I threw myself into my training after you left and the one pleasure I had was being able to play duel monsters with my dad. I haven't been able to see him for a few years now and I just got a letter from him today." Ukyou fell back on the grass and a tear dripped down her cheek.
"My dad had been fighting cancer for several years now and it looked like he had beaten it but his letter said that he had relapsed and there's nothing left to do but wait for him to die." She held up the card again.
"He sent the deck that he had been using all of these years along with his favorite card. The Red Eyes Black Dragon. He said that he wouldn't be using them anymore and he wanted me to put them to good use and to remember him by. I know it's silly but when I have this card I feel like my father is here with me." Ranma grew serious and sagged.
"I'm sorry Ukyou. If I hadn't chosen okonomiyaki over you then you wouldn't have missed so much of your childhood." Ukyou sat up and smiled.
"I told you already that I forgive you Ranma. You didn't know any better at the time, besides I've got other things to worry about. The mortgage payment on my store is coming up and I can't let myself get distracted by something as small and insignificant as a card game."
"You're wrong." Ukyou looked up startled, Ranma always just agreed with her and never seemed to empathize with her like this.
"Your father gave you that card so you could remember him even if he's gone and when ever you play with that deck he will be with you. You must never forget that Ukyou." Suddenly a shout was heard from the gym.
"Soatome the hour of your demise draws nigh! Show yourself so that I might smite you down the sword of justice!"
"Whoops! Forgot about Kuno, I'll go take care of him and then we'll never have to listen to that blowhard again."
_______________________
Unknown to Ukyou and Ranma, Nabiki had been listening in on there conversation with a hidden microphone. She knew a certain card collector that would pay good money for information on a rare card like the Red Eyes Black Dragon.
_______________________
Ranma whistled as he left the school. The fight at lunch had barly lasted lasted three minutes, but only because he wanted to embarrass Kuno as much as he could. Yami's memories had proven effective and Kuno would need to go to the hospital for a few days. Ranma frowned as his enhanced hearing picked up the sound of a girl crying, specifically Ukyou. Rushing around a corner he saw Ukyou kneeling on the ground sobbing while a teenage boy with brown hair standing in front of her smirked.
"You lost the duel and now you lose your red eyes. Hand it over!" With a shaky hand Ukyou took one last look at her favorite card and handed it over. The boy smiled as he took it and with out even looking at it he tore it in half. Ukyou gasped and cried even more as she saw the best remembrance of her father destroyed. Ranma couldn't take it any more.
"Hey what the hell are you doing?!?" the boy turned around and sneered.
"I don't know who you are or why you're butting into other peoples business but frankly I don't care. I'll have you know that I'm Seto Kaiba the number one duelist in the world and I happen to be conducting some personal business so run away little boy." Ranma felt his anger rising and thought of pounding the stranger into the ground but it was obvious that he had little or no fighting skills and Ranma couldn't in good conscience fight a person that was weaker then him. Suddenly he felt the same feeling of confidence he had experienced this morning with Kuno and his hair took on a slightly wilder look. Ranma spoke and Ukyou was shocked at how different the tone was from the Ranma she knew.
"I don't care if you were the emperor. No one hurts my friend and gets away with it. Explain you actions!" Kaiba was a little shaken by this dumb jock but decided to humor him.
"Simple, I made a bet with this girl that if I beat her in a game of duel monsters she would give me her Red Eyes. I beat her so fast she wasn't even a challenge." Ukyou sobbed.
"It's true Ranma, but he forced me to duel. His company owns the bank that holds my mortgage and he threatened to have them call it in today if I didn't duel him." Ranma was realy steamed now. If there was one thing he couldn't stand it was a bully, and he intended to take this one down a notch or two.
"So you like to take peoples cards if they lose to you do you? Then I challenge you to a duel. If I win you will give back Ukyou's Red Eyes Black Dragon, if you win I'll give you my rarest card." Kaiba snorted.
"I have every rare card I need. I happen to own three of the four Blue Eyes White Dragons. Whatever pathetic card you own means nothing to me. But beating one weakling wasn't very fun so I'll crush you as well." When Ranma heard Kaiba say he had three Blue Eyes White dragons he smirked. This guy was in for one hell of a surprise.
"Let me see your deck Ukyou, I don't have one with me." As Ukyou handed him her deck and as he shuffled through it he heard Kaiba snort. You actually believe that you can beat me with a deck you've never played before?! You're just asking for punishment aren't you? In that case." Kaiba opened up a cell phone and barked some orders into it. One minute later the sound of a semi truck could be heard coming into the school yard. It backed up and the walls on the trailer fell off to the sides reviling a large fifteen by thirty feet metal rectangle with two towers on each end.
"This is a prototype for the holographic dueling system that Kaiba corporation is creating. With this the battle is turned up to a whole new level with monsters that look and sound real. Not only that, this thing can feed every move of our duel directly onto the internet and television. Meaning everyone in the world will be watching our little game. Still want to duel, or do you want to quit now?" Ranma calmly finished shuffling Ukyou's deck and walked towards the machine.
"I don't know why you want you feel a need to try and embarrass people so much, but today you will find that it will backfire on you! Booth opponents stepped towards their dueling podiums and the duel began.
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Akane shook her head as Ranma took his place. The baka was really going to embarrass himself this time, and her along with him!
"Ranma, don't expect me to come up their and help you. We all know you suck at card games." she said quietly to herself. Nabiki was quickly taking bets on the out come of the duel. Not who would win you understand. But how many moves it took for Ranma to loose. Ranma noticed this and grinned.
"Hey Uchan! See how much Nabiki is paying on me winning." Ukyou shook her head.
"Ranma I'm sorry but you're horrible at card games. And you're going up against the best in the world!"
"Ranma got serious and looked deep into her eyes.
"Trust me Uchan, I will win this." Ukyou felt as if this wasn't the Ranma she knew, like it was some one else. For some reason she felt like she could trust this person to back up his promises. Walking over to Nabiki she got a laugh.
"Please! Ranma doesn't have a snowball in hells chance of winning this. I'd give you five hundred to one odds if he did." Ukyou sighed.
"Alright, here is two hundred yen. It's all I have on me right now." Nabiki paused for a moment. Then snatched it up.
"It's you money. Correction MY money now."
_______________________
Across town at the dojo the two fathers were watching the TV.
"Soatome, your son is going to really get it this time."
"Don't I know it Tendo, maybe now he'll learn to respect those that are better then him." The two men continued their game of shogi and ignored the scene about to play out. However, Kasumi noticed it and immediately became interested.
Now we will see if he really does posses the spirit of the pharaoh.
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Ryoga, Mousse, Shampoo and Cologne all watched the scene unfolding on the computer that cologne used to manage the Nekohanten's finances. The two boys were rooting for Kaiba naturally while Shampoo and Cologne cheered for Ranma. The customers became interested as well when their food didn't arrive and the whole thing moved out to the dinning room.
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Over in the Juban district of Tokyo a middle aged woman with reddish brown hair came out of her garden when she heard the announcer say the name Ranma Soatome. She teared up when she saw the face of the son she hadn't seen for ten years. He looked so manly standing up there facing off against such a strong duelist like Kaiba. She had picked up duel monsters as a hobby when her husband had left home with Ranma and naturally knew all about Seto Kaiba. She knew that this wasn't going to be an easy task.
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Kaiba smirked. Destroying duelist confidence was one of the things he most enjoyed in life.
"This duel will be your last fool. I have enough firepower in my deck to destroy you a thousand times over." Yami Ranma chuckled.
"We'll see soon." The life point meters lit up at 2000 points and both of the players said in unison.
"Let's Duel!!!"
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Author notes
I'm sorry for not including the battle in this chapter but I hate cramping a story and with all of the formatting for the duel it would be twenty pages long. Just a few things before I go. I will be using cards from the anime and game and rarely ever make up my own. If I do I promise to make them as realistic and congruent as possible with the series and mention then at the bottom of the fic so you won't be wasting your money trying to get them. I will be following the basic storyline of the anime but I will NOT be following the duels monster per monster. You'll see several familiar ones but the strategies and flow of the duel will be very different. When Ranma gets a deck of his own it will be based not on Yugi's from the show but from the one that I've built myself. Also, someone sent me an email saying that there was already a fic with the title Ranma King of Games. If you are the author of that story I apologize but assure you I am not copying your title nor do I intend to change mine. I pride myself on writing original fiction and I can't waste my time checking the entire internet just too make sure that something as small as a title is not identical.
Send any C&C to [email protected]
And any flames to [email protected]
Disclaimer.
I don't own Ranma or Yugioh, and my dads a lawyer and I'm still a minor so don't try to sue.
Chapter one.
Ranma walked among the various stalls at Furinkins fundraiser bazaar. It was mostly junk that people wanted to get rid of and very little was actually worth anything but it was still fun just walking around and seeing his friends. A glint of gold suddenly caught his eye and he walked over to a stall selling jewelry. Akane's birthday was coming up and if he didn't get her something he knew that she and their fathers would have a fit.
Man my life sucks.
"You could probably change all that if you were a little more decisive."
"Huh?" Ranma looked at the old man running the stall curiously. He snorted and spoke.
"Don't mind me young man, I've been over the hill so many times that I sometimes just speak my mind." A normal person would have been nervous being around a person that could obviously read minds but Ranma defiantly wasn't normal and it was Nermena after all. Looking over the various jewelry his eyes landed upon a box holding pieces of broken gold metal.
I guess that's useless.
"I wouldn't say that sonny, that there is the millennium puzzle." Still shaken by the mans weird powers he reached inside and pulled out two pieces. He was impressed at the lightness of the metal and knew it wasn't gold but it still fascinated him. Cool!
"Yes, it is cool isn't it? Let me show you how it works." Picking up several more pieces he pushed the locking ends together. Ranma thought that it must have some kind of magnet inside since the two pieces stayed stuck. The old man continued to place piece after piece until it took on the shape of a pyramid. The old man let go of the puzzle and it shattered back into its pieces.
"This puzzle will become a necklace when finished and will keep its form. It was once used by the great pharaohs of ancient Egypt and is said to have magical powers inside. I'm sure that your fiancé would be most happy if you got it for her birthday coming up in three days." Ranma was interested when he mentioned magic as it might contain a cure for curse, and Akane would like a new piece of jewelry. Still, he didn't know the price and he only had three hundred yen. Definitely not enough.
"Three hundred yen." Ranma blinked, this man was starting to make him nervous. The man grinned.
"I'll even throw in this; you may find it helpful later on." The old man handed Ranma a card with a dragon on it. Ranma recognized it as a card from duel monsters, a popular game that all of the school was playing.
For three hundred yen I'll give you the puzzle and this Blue Eyes White Dragon card. Do we have a deal?" Ranma thought it over. There were a lot of other nice pieces of jewelry for sale much cheaper. But for some reason the box and card seemed to be calling out to him. Shrugging his shoulders he handed over his money. What the hell it's not like I've got anything to lose." Turning around to leave he heard the old man speak again.
"No but you have everything to gain." Turning around to ask him what he meant he saw that the stall was bare of its products and owner. A little mystified he walked towards the exit of the school yard.
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"ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"
Akane Tendo screamed in frustration as she tried to solve the puzzle Ranma had given her. He had demonstrated with a few pieces and she had scoffed at how easy it would be. The only problem was that where the pieces had fit and stayed together for Ranma they were falling apart in her hands. After two hours of work she hadn't put a single piece together but had built up a full head of steam. The final insult came when she finally got two pieces to fit and they had popped apart very forcefully. One had landed across the room and imbedded itself in the wall while the other had shot up and smacked Akane on the nose. Not being able to just give up quietly and get some ice for her nose she did the only thing she thought was sane. She took it out on Ranma.
"BAKA!!! Slamming down on Ranma's unguarded head with her mallet she felt her anger cool off. Still a little peeved she marched up to her room. Kasumi came in and handed a bag of ice to Ranma for his head. Moving over she gathered up all of the pieces of the puzzle and fiddled with them.
"Don't let her reaction bother you Ranma. This was a fine gift to give her. It's just a shame that she couldn't thank you properly for it." She fit two pieces together but frowned as the fell apart when she let go.
"I don't know why, but you seem to be the only one that can put this thing together so why don't you try to complete it yourself?" with that said she rose up and headed back to the kitchen to put away the birthday cake. Ranma considered what she had said. He had been ready to throw the whole thing out but sighed and took it up to his room. At least he hadn't wasted all of his money. He hadn't tried to give Akane the card since he liked the picture on the front and now kept it safely tucked away upstairs, maybe it was lucky.
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Ranma sat in his room hunched over on his bed. Genma panda was snoring up a storm on his futon but Ranma ignored him. He pushed several pieces into place and the again locked up. After two hours he was down to one piece with an eye design in it. With trembling hands he pushed the last piece into place and jumped a little when it suddenly glowed with a golden light. It floated out of his hands and hovered in front of his eyes. Suddenly a beam of intense light shot out of the eye symbol and hit Ranma in the forehead. He gasped as he felt his body lock up and fell over apparently unconscious.
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Ranma sat up and screamed as he saw his body still lying on the ground.
"NO! I've died!"
"No you haven't, that's just your physical body." Whirling around Ranma saw a person that looked exactly like him, but with wilder hair and a more feral personality. "Your spirit has just been brought here to the shadow realm." Even though he was dealing with forces he had no knowledge about he still found the ability to answer.
"Oh thanks! That makes me feel SO much better. Who are you!?" the figure shrugged.
"My name is Yami, I am the spirit that lives in the puzzle you assembled and you have awakened me from my slumber." THUD! Yami looked down at Ranma who was now copying his physical body's position. Sighing he started using his powers to wake Ranma up.
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Ranma woke up with a gasp as cold water splashed down on him. He sputtered a bit and then noticed that he was still a he.
"Get up you BAKA, were going to be late for school!" Akane stomped out the door, missing Ranma's lack of transformation. Ranma felt the cold water dripping down his back.
"It wasn't just a dream." Focusing a bit he felt his form shift until he was a girl. Focusing again he felt the change and saw that he was a man again. He looked down in his hand and saw the millennium puzzle sitting in his palm. The events of last night flooded back into his mind.
Flashback.
Ranma sat down crossed legged as Yami explained the history of the millennium items and the origins of the shadow games.
"Now that you know of how I came here I think it's time that you know why I came here. The millennium puzzle was created to control the power of the other millennium items. But since it has been shattered for so long several of the items have become tainted with evil. I need you to become my avatar so that I may find and purify the items and reseal them in the shadow realm. Will you help me?" Ranma thought about it for a moment and then spoke.
"I don't know. For all I know you could be an evil being that's tricking me. But for some reason I trust you. If what you say is true then a lot of innocent people are going to be hurt if the items aren't taken care of. And it's the duty of a martial artist to protect the weak and innocent so yah, I'll help." Yami smiled.
"Good, of course being my avatar has certain privileges and rewards. For one thing I can help you with your curse." Ranma immediately perked up at this and started to speak but Yami stopped him.
"I did not say I would remove your curse even though I have the power to do so. Unless some one works for something they tend to expect that everything will be okay in life. Just look at Akane, do you want to end up like her?" Ranma shuddered as Yami continued.
"And also, you have to admit that you would miss your girl side every now and then right?" Ranma was about to deny it but thought for a moment and sheepishly nodded.
"Those thoughts aside I can help you with your curse. As long as the millennium puzzle is around your neck you won't change when hit with hot or cold water. But if you don't have it your curse will be in control alright?"
End flashback.
Ranma dug around in his back pack and brought up a leather string which he threaded through a hole in the bottom of the puzzle and looped over his neck like a necklace. Rushing down the stairs he took the bento Kasumi was offering and with a quick "Thank you!" ran out of the house. Kasumi blinked, Ranma never said thank you for his lunches. Then she got shaky in the knees as she suddenly recognized the necklace around his neck. Leaving the breakfast dishes for later she hurried to her room and took out a box made of gold metal with an eye design on it like Ranma's puzzle.
"Why on earth didn't I recognize it last night, that was the Millennium Puzzle!" pulling back the lid she sifted through her most precious items given to her by her mother until she found it. She pulled out a pendant necklace that's top was shaped like an Egyptian amulet but its bottom was shaped like an old fashion key.
"Now I just need to wait for him to come home."
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Ranma rushed through the gates of Furinken high with three minuets to spare. Suddenly a cry rang out to the heavens.
"Soatome! Today is the day that your evil will fall and your hold on the pigtailed girl will come to an end!" Ranma sighed. It looked like he would be late again if he had to fight Blue Blunder. Suddenly he felt a new sense of confidence wash over him and he stopped running.
"Hold it Kuno." For some reason Kuno felt scared at the expression on Ranma's face and stopped.
"You've been challenging me and making me late for class for too long now. I don't use any magic in my fights and never will, yet you still refuse to acknowledge the obvious. You claim to be the greatest swordsman in school do you not?" Kuno smirked.
"Of course I am. At last that fact has been driven through that thick skull of yours Soatome."
"Very well then, I challenge you after lunch to a kendo match in the gymnasium. If I win you will refrain from attacking me ever again. If I lose then I will leave this town and release the pigtailed girl. Do you accept my challenge?" Kuno smiled. This mere peasant would try and beat him at kendo? The gods themselves would laugh at such an act. (Actually the gods were laughing there heads off but not at Ranma's challenge, but the fact that Kuno thought that he could go up against a pharaoh.)
"I accept your challenge certain, prepare yourself for your defeat!" with that said Kuno whirled around and headed back to his class. Seeing that he would be late if he didn't do some thing drastic Ranma jumped on Kuno's shoulders and bounced off his sputtering samurai springboard and into the open window of his class room. Once he was sitting inside the full effect of what he had done hit him.
Great I don't know anything about kendo. Why on earth did I make that stupid challenge?
Because you can win and when you do Kuno will no longer be a problem. Ranma jerked at the sound of Yami's voice and saw him sitting on Hinako sensei's desk.
I know all about fighting with weapon from my former life as a pharaoh, let me show you. The shape of an eye appeared on Ranma's forehead and suddenly he experienced a lifetime of training in one second. Every technique from ancient times in the art of sword fighting was suddenly downloaded into his brain.
"MR. Soatome!?" Hinako sensei started tapping her foot as Ranma seemed to come out of his trance.
"Since you seem so interested in the lesson perhaps you would like to answer the question? Who ruled ancient Persia in 2500 BC?"
"Uh, King Darius the great." Everyone in the room stopped pretending to study and stared at Ranma. Hinako looked down at her book in shock and stuttered out.
"Yes…that's correct." Ranma felt like he was about to fall over. He never got history questions right, especially ancient history.
Yami how did I know that?! Yami looked away from the board and answered.
I had to give you a few of my personal memories to teach you sword play. I went to war with Darius once and to prevent a bloodbath we both agreed to have a sword fight with the victor taking over the others country. My head general Sharick was able to beat him easily so I used his fight as an example. Ranma groaned silently and laid his head on his desk.
"So what other thoughts did you put in my head. Yami smirked.
You'll find out later.
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Ukyou sat under a tree picking at the lunch that she had packed for herself. It was hard being alone all of the time and the way things were going she would be even lonelier soon. At least she had Ranma to cheer her up. And speak of the devil, here he came. Putting on a cheerful face she scooted over so Ranma could sit down. Some say that Ranma Soatome isn't very perceptive when it comes to female emotions. However Ranma had never had the ancient spirit of a pharaoh bonded to his mind before and Yami's presence was starting to change the way Ranma thought.
"Hey Uchan are you okay? Ya look kinda sad." Ukyou's eyes widened Ranma never asked her how she was feeling. Deciding that Ranma would be the best person to talk to she sighed and reached into the pocket on her boy's uniform. Ranma became interested when he saw her pull out a duel monsters card. It had a vicious looking black dragon with red eyes and the numbers 2400/2000 on the bottom.
"I didn't know you played duel monsters Uchan."
"My dad started when it first came out in the seventies and he taught me when I was a little kid. I threw myself into my training after you left and the one pleasure I had was being able to play duel monsters with my dad. I haven't been able to see him for a few years now and I just got a letter from him today." Ukyou fell back on the grass and a tear dripped down her cheek.
"My dad had been fighting cancer for several years now and it looked like he had beaten it but his letter said that he had relapsed and there's nothing left to do but wait for him to die." She held up the card again.
"He sent the deck that he had been using all of these years along with his favorite card. The Red Eyes Black Dragon. He said that he wouldn't be using them anymore and he wanted me to put them to good use and to remember him by. I know it's silly but when I have this card I feel like my father is here with me." Ranma grew serious and sagged.
"I'm sorry Ukyou. If I hadn't chosen okonomiyaki over you then you wouldn't have missed so much of your childhood." Ukyou sat up and smiled.
"I told you already that I forgive you Ranma. You didn't know any better at the time, besides I've got other things to worry about. The mortgage payment on my store is coming up and I can't let myself get distracted by something as small and insignificant as a card game."
"You're wrong." Ukyou looked up startled, Ranma always just agreed with her and never seemed to empathize with her like this.
"Your father gave you that card so you could remember him even if he's gone and when ever you play with that deck he will be with you. You must never forget that Ukyou." Suddenly a shout was heard from the gym.
"Soatome the hour of your demise draws nigh! Show yourself so that I might smite you down the sword of justice!"
"Whoops! Forgot about Kuno, I'll go take care of him and then we'll never have to listen to that blowhard again."
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Unknown to Ukyou and Ranma, Nabiki had been listening in on there conversation with a hidden microphone. She knew a certain card collector that would pay good money for information on a rare card like the Red Eyes Black Dragon.
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Ranma whistled as he left the school. The fight at lunch had barly lasted lasted three minutes, but only because he wanted to embarrass Kuno as much as he could. Yami's memories had proven effective and Kuno would need to go to the hospital for a few days. Ranma frowned as his enhanced hearing picked up the sound of a girl crying, specifically Ukyou. Rushing around a corner he saw Ukyou kneeling on the ground sobbing while a teenage boy with brown hair standing in front of her smirked.
"You lost the duel and now you lose your red eyes. Hand it over!" With a shaky hand Ukyou took one last look at her favorite card and handed it over. The boy smiled as he took it and with out even looking at it he tore it in half. Ukyou gasped and cried even more as she saw the best remembrance of her father destroyed. Ranma couldn't take it any more.
"Hey what the hell are you doing?!?" the boy turned around and sneered.
"I don't know who you are or why you're butting into other peoples business but frankly I don't care. I'll have you know that I'm Seto Kaiba the number one duelist in the world and I happen to be conducting some personal business so run away little boy." Ranma felt his anger rising and thought of pounding the stranger into the ground but it was obvious that he had little or no fighting skills and Ranma couldn't in good conscience fight a person that was weaker then him. Suddenly he felt the same feeling of confidence he had experienced this morning with Kuno and his hair took on a slightly wilder look. Ranma spoke and Ukyou was shocked at how different the tone was from the Ranma she knew.
"I don't care if you were the emperor. No one hurts my friend and gets away with it. Explain you actions!" Kaiba was a little shaken by this dumb jock but decided to humor him.
"Simple, I made a bet with this girl that if I beat her in a game of duel monsters she would give me her Red Eyes. I beat her so fast she wasn't even a challenge." Ukyou sobbed.
"It's true Ranma, but he forced me to duel. His company owns the bank that holds my mortgage and he threatened to have them call it in today if I didn't duel him." Ranma was realy steamed now. If there was one thing he couldn't stand it was a bully, and he intended to take this one down a notch or two.
"So you like to take peoples cards if they lose to you do you? Then I challenge you to a duel. If I win you will give back Ukyou's Red Eyes Black Dragon, if you win I'll give you my rarest card." Kaiba snorted.
"I have every rare card I need. I happen to own three of the four Blue Eyes White Dragons. Whatever pathetic card you own means nothing to me. But beating one weakling wasn't very fun so I'll crush you as well." When Ranma heard Kaiba say he had three Blue Eyes White dragons he smirked. This guy was in for one hell of a surprise.
"Let me see your deck Ukyou, I don't have one with me." As Ukyou handed him her deck and as he shuffled through it he heard Kaiba snort. You actually believe that you can beat me with a deck you've never played before?! You're just asking for punishment aren't you? In that case." Kaiba opened up a cell phone and barked some orders into it. One minute later the sound of a semi truck could be heard coming into the school yard. It backed up and the walls on the trailer fell off to the sides reviling a large fifteen by thirty feet metal rectangle with two towers on each end.
"This is a prototype for the holographic dueling system that Kaiba corporation is creating. With this the battle is turned up to a whole new level with monsters that look and sound real. Not only that, this thing can feed every move of our duel directly onto the internet and television. Meaning everyone in the world will be watching our little game. Still want to duel, or do you want to quit now?" Ranma calmly finished shuffling Ukyou's deck and walked towards the machine.
"I don't know why you want you feel a need to try and embarrass people so much, but today you will find that it will backfire on you! Booth opponents stepped towards their dueling podiums and the duel began.
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Akane shook her head as Ranma took his place. The baka was really going to embarrass himself this time, and her along with him!
"Ranma, don't expect me to come up their and help you. We all know you suck at card games." she said quietly to herself. Nabiki was quickly taking bets on the out come of the duel. Not who would win you understand. But how many moves it took for Ranma to loose. Ranma noticed this and grinned.
"Hey Uchan! See how much Nabiki is paying on me winning." Ukyou shook her head.
"Ranma I'm sorry but you're horrible at card games. And you're going up against the best in the world!"
"Ranma got serious and looked deep into her eyes.
"Trust me Uchan, I will win this." Ukyou felt as if this wasn't the Ranma she knew, like it was some one else. For some reason she felt like she could trust this person to back up his promises. Walking over to Nabiki she got a laugh.
"Please! Ranma doesn't have a snowball in hells chance of winning this. I'd give you five hundred to one odds if he did." Ukyou sighed.
"Alright, here is two hundred yen. It's all I have on me right now." Nabiki paused for a moment. Then snatched it up.
"It's you money. Correction MY money now."
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Across town at the dojo the two fathers were watching the TV.
"Soatome, your son is going to really get it this time."
"Don't I know it Tendo, maybe now he'll learn to respect those that are better then him." The two men continued their game of shogi and ignored the scene about to play out. However, Kasumi noticed it and immediately became interested.
Now we will see if he really does posses the spirit of the pharaoh.
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Ryoga, Mousse, Shampoo and Cologne all watched the scene unfolding on the computer that cologne used to manage the Nekohanten's finances. The two boys were rooting for Kaiba naturally while Shampoo and Cologne cheered for Ranma. The customers became interested as well when their food didn't arrive and the whole thing moved out to the dinning room.
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Over in the Juban district of Tokyo a middle aged woman with reddish brown hair came out of her garden when she heard the announcer say the name Ranma Soatome. She teared up when she saw the face of the son she hadn't seen for ten years. He looked so manly standing up there facing off against such a strong duelist like Kaiba. She had picked up duel monsters as a hobby when her husband had left home with Ranma and naturally knew all about Seto Kaiba. She knew that this wasn't going to be an easy task.
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Kaiba smirked. Destroying duelist confidence was one of the things he most enjoyed in life.
"This duel will be your last fool. I have enough firepower in my deck to destroy you a thousand times over." Yami Ranma chuckled.
"We'll see soon." The life point meters lit up at 2000 points and both of the players said in unison.
"Let's Duel!!!"
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Author notes
I'm sorry for not including the battle in this chapter but I hate cramping a story and with all of the formatting for the duel it would be twenty pages long. Just a few things before I go. I will be using cards from the anime and game and rarely ever make up my own. If I do I promise to make them as realistic and congruent as possible with the series and mention then at the bottom of the fic so you won't be wasting your money trying to get them. I will be following the basic storyline of the anime but I will NOT be following the duels monster per monster. You'll see several familiar ones but the strategies and flow of the duel will be very different. When Ranma gets a deck of his own it will be based not on Yugi's from the show but from the one that I've built myself. Also, someone sent me an email saying that there was already a fic with the title Ranma King of Games. If you are the author of that story I apologize but assure you I am not copying your title nor do I intend to change mine. I pride myself on writing original fiction and I can't waste my time checking the entire internet just too make sure that something as small as a title is not identical.
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