Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong Just Wont Die Spinoff 9 A young-looking woman stood in front of a display case nervously. She read the description to the display case 'Bracer of Saotome.' "Not much of a description," the girl said to herself with a wry smile. "I agree," came a male voice just off to her left which caused the girl to start. The young girl turned her attention toward the individual standing next to her. She regarded the individual for a moment. He looked like a young man but she couldn't exactly tell how old he was. Then again, it wasn't as if the age of a person mattered anyway. She noted that the man was very handsome and had black hair and blue eyes. "Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you," the man said. "It's okay," the girl answered, "I thought I was alone. Not many people frequent museums nowadays," "I'm Ranma by the way," the man said . "I'm Ami," the girl replied. "Nice to meetcha," Ranma nodded. "Likewise," she said. Ranma turned back toward the display, "You seem excited about something," "Was it that obvious?" Ami asked. "Yep," Ranma said. "Well, I start my job as a tour guide here tomorrow," Ami said, "I'm excited about it. I've been coming to this museum ever since I was young so I know everything. I believe I know more about all the items on display than most people," "Oh?" Ranma perked an eyebrow. Ami gestured toward the display behind her, "Fine, ask me anything. Try and stump me with a question I can't answer pertaining to the display behind me," "Pretend I know nothing about it," Ranma said, "Please explain what it is," Ami began to regurgitate the speech she had memorized, "Behind me is what is known as the Bracer of Saotome. It was excavated on March 24th 2165. Carbon- dating has determined to have originated from the mid twenty-first century which coincides with Saotome of Japan from the Second Testament," "What makes you think it's the real deal?" Ranma asked, "What makes you think it isn't some fake?" "There's too much evidence that it isn't," Ami said, "It's got all the correct trace elements from that time period. It even has trace elements of stuff like gasoline, which used to be a product of a fossil fuel, a natural resource that was depleted over nine hundred years ago. It's got hydrogen patterns that come from rain fall with a specific PH balance of that time and location. It's got trace samples of octanitrocube, which also pertains to that timeline because that was the time when the world was moving toward non-nuclear and that was one of the main components. They've analyzed the item and all trace elements and all of them are accurately determined to have originated from that timeline," "Pretend I'm really ignorant and start from the beginning," Ranma said, "Try and tell it like a story," "Like a story?" Ami was confused. "Well, pretend I'm not from this timeline," Ranma said after a moment, "Pretend I have no idea who this Saotome is," "An explanation to that is extremely convoluted," Ami said. "I've got the time if you do," Ranma grinned. "Okay, where do you want me to start?" Ami said, not minding at all. She loved archeology and history and loved talking about it, especially to someone willing to listen. "Start from the beginning, pretend I'm new here," Ranma said. "Are you aware of the Second Testament?" Ami asked. "Nope," Ranma answered. Ami said, "Wow, you want me to start all the way from the beginning, huh?" "More or less," Ranma said, "I'm curious about how this world turned out the way it did," "Okay, hm, where to start..." Ami said, "Christianity is a religion that is based on the belief that Jesus was the son of God. During the twentieth to twenty first century, there existed a person named Saotome who was also believed to have been the son of God as well. This was because Saotome was observed to have done miracles like heal the sick, walk on water, and even come back to life," "Interesting," Ranma continued to listen. "That's when the world basically went down the toilet in my opinion," Ami said, "That's because no one knew what to make of Saotome. Christians and Catholics, who believed in Jesus, didn't believe Saotome to be the resurrected Jesus. The believed Jesus was the Messiah and Saotome wasn't his reincarnation. They believed he was actually the Devil because they believed that he fought with Angels from Heaven. Judaism flourished because the Jews was believed he was the one and true Massiah. Since Judaism never believed Jesus to have been the Messiah, they all believed Saotome as the original real one. Saotoism was a derivative Christianity. They believed Saotome was actually the reincarnated Jesus that came back to fight Demons from Hell. Saotoism follows the Second Testament and seems to be the most widely known," Ranma whistled, "Very very interesting. So, what happened because of that?" "The Holy War," Ami answered, "Back then most of the world believed in some form of religion. Three main religions prospered, Christianity, Judaism, and Saotoism. The three conflicting belief systems of those three religions created immense tension which eventually led to the Holy War, which resulted more than ninety percent of the world's population being killed off," "So what happened afterwards?" Ranma asked. "The war went on for, what, around ninety years," Ami said, "And by then, all that were even aware of how the war started had died off by then. The new generations that were born into the war were not like their predecessors so they felt no need to fight a war their parents and grandparents started and the war ended," "Interesting," Ranma said. "Interesting? What's so interesting about it?" Ami asked, "Ninety percent of the human population were killed off," "I find it interesting how such misunderstandings could result in such catastrophic loses in human lives," Ranma said. "What misunderstandings?" Ami asked, "What, you think you might know the truth?" "I think so," Ranma smirked. "Care to elaborate?" Ami asked. She had heard many fantastic theories of who people believed Saotome to have been. "This Saotome person, does anyone know what his full name was?" Ranma asked. "People believe 'Saotome of MegaTokyo' is the guy's full name, but it isn't. It's just Saotome," Ami said matter-of-factly, "His last name isn't 'Of MegaTokyo' like most people believe. It's no different than people actually thinking 'Da Vinci' is the last name for Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo Da Vinci is a very famous artisan from the Renaissance period. People fail to realize that Leonardo Da Vinci is short for 'Leonardo from the town of Vinci'. 'Saotome of Megatoko' is short for 'Saotome from the city of MegaTokyo'," "So, no one knows Saotome's 'last name'?" Ranma smirked. "It seems like he has no last name," Ami answered, "It seems like i's just Saotome," "Gee, I wonder if it has it ever occurred to people that Saotome might have a 'last name'," Ranma grinned, "Afterall, Saotome is from a time period where people have a first and last name, or better yet, a family name. It would seem odd that a person known by one name exist at such a time period," "I'm sure he had a last name," Ami said, "Unfortunately, whatever it was, it was forgotten over the passage of time. People probably did know of Saotome's last name back then, but it was lost since his name became so famous that the last name wasn't needed to identify him and was eventually forgotten over time," "Very little survives the passage of time," Ranma smiled, "Memories fade into legends. Legends fade into myths. Myths fade into the forgotten. Before long, no one knew what gave it birth in the first place," "I agree," Ami nodded. "Has it occurred to anyone that Saotome is actually a last name?" Ranma asked. "Now what makes you think it would be a last name?" Ami asked. "For all we know, his name could've been, I dunno, Ranma Saotome," Ranma grinned. Ami giggled, "Sure, whatever you say," "Nevermind," Ranma chuckled with a shrug, "It's not important. What I find odd is how things turned out the way it did. How can people go on believing this Second Testaments claim that Saotome, say, fought Demons from Hell, when such an obvious detail like his 'last name' was omitted. If such a fact like his 'last name' was omitted, one should question what else might be omitted as well," "Whatever his last name is, no one knows," Ami said, "It was forgotten long ago," "Yeah, I guess you're right," Ranma said, "So, have you heard of any outrageous theories to this Saotome person? It's obvious you know a lot about this," "Well, I need to know," Ami said, "I'm going to be a tour guide and I need to know everything there is to all the artifacts in this museum, in case anyone asks any really hard questions. As to outrageous theories, there are plenty of them," "Like what?" Ranma asked. Ami scratched her chin for a moment, "Well, there's the belief that Saotome took on a wife and had a child. That's a pretty good one," "Interesting," Ranma said, "And who might his wife have been?" "No one knows," Ami said, "But the theory is that the Madigan bloodline is actually a descendant of Saotome," "The Madigan bloodline, huh?" Ranma snickered, "And what makes them think that?" "It's not in the Second Testament, but there have been other scriptures found implicating that Saotome was actually a father," Ami answered, "There is a lot of evidence that he had a child and was actually a father when fighting off Demons from Hell," Ranma scratched his chin, "A father, huh? This Madigan ancestor, did Scriptures ever mention her name?" "Her?" Ami asked, "What makes you think that it was a daughter? It could have just been easily a son," "Oh, just curious," Ranma chuckled, "I simply figured people might accidentally mistaken the daughter of two of Saotome's friends for his daughter instead," "It could have been a son," Ami added, "The Scriptures only mention of the name Madigan. The funny thing is that there did exist a Madigan bloodline that existed during Saotome's timeline," "Interesting," Ranma said, "Any other interesting theories?" Ami thought for a moment, "Saotoism believes that Saotome had fought Demons from Hell. Christianity believes that Saotome was actually the Devil and fought Angels from Heaven. Judaism believe that Saotome was the first Messiah. There are theories that all three are wrong," "Ya think?" Ranma said. "There is a theory that all three religions are incorrect interpretations of the real truth," Ami said, "Some people believe that Saotome wasn't Jesus resurrected but was a person that fought Angels from Heaven but was elevated to Messiah status to draw in followers to religion since science was very prosperous during that time and belief in religion was deteriorating," "It's strange that you think that because it might actually be correct," Ranma smiled. "It could make sense," Ami said, "As crazy as it sound, I'd probably believe that the most," "Why so?" Ranma asked. "Even though it was a thousand years ago, there is evidence that the world was a lot more advanced than people nowadays believed," Ami said, "As crazy as it sounds, I believe the world back then was technologically advanced enough to land on Mars. Yes, if we had that kind of technology then, that would mean we would have terraformed several planets by now instead of being in the beginning stages of terraforming Mars now. Unfortunately, when all those EMP bombs started going off and covering the entire Earth at the beginning of the Holy War, we lost all our technology because many books had been transferred into electronic forms. Basically, an astronomical amount of electronic information that could never be recovered was lost when the Holy War started," "That sucks," Ranma said. "A lot of people have trouble believing that that's possible because the people of nowadays are too conceited to believe such primitives from a thousand years could have been so technologically advanced," Ami continued, "It's much like how people believed the pyramids were built by aliens since it seemed incomprehensible that such a marvelous feat of engineering could be built by primitive culture like the Egyptians back then. Or how people could not fathom how cavemen had the intellectual abilities to incorporate tactics and tools take down Sabertooth tigers with nothing more than rocks and sticks," "It's too bad that happened," Ranma shrugged, "But hey, that's war. Too bad humanity didn't have the foresight to see what could occur had they used EMPs in an electronically dependent world," Ami nodded, "I agree," "How did the concept of Ranma's divinity come about?" Ranma asked. "Ranma's divinity?" Ami asked confused. "Oh, I mean of Saotome's divinity," Ranma corrected himself, "How did the concept of Saotome's divinity come about?" Ami said, "From the Second Testament, of course," "Pretend I know nothing about it," Ranma said. "Saotome had disciples," Ami answered, "How many is unknown, but what is known was that there was a disciple named Shinji. This disciple wrote scriptures that chronicled Saotome's life. Many believed that it was some kind of biography," "So, do you think this biography exists?" Ranma asked. "Yes," Ami nodded, "I believe these Shinji Scriptures really did exist during the times of Saotome. The problem is that the Second Testament is actually an interpretation of those Scriptures. Wherever the Shinji scriptures are, if they were found, they would probably turn the religious world upside down," "And why's that?" Ranma asked. "Every religion makes reference of the Shinji Scriptures as the source for its faith," Ami said, "If these Scriptures were found, they will reveal which religion is the true religion to follow," Ranma said, "I guess you might have a point," "I wonder what Saotome would think if he was around now," Ami said to herself, "I wonder what it would be like if he was among us," Ranma shrugged, "Yeah, I wonder also," "He'd probably be disgusted at how his name was used," Ami said, "Even if he was a regular human, it'd probably make him want to vomit at the thought of how his miracles he resulted in the Holy War," Ranma said, "I'd wager he'd think differently about that. He'd probably be more disappointed than anything," "And what makes you think he would be disappointed?" Ami asked. Ranma shrugged, "I dunno. That's what I would guess. After hearing about what this world when through in the past, I'd be disappointed," "Yes, but you're humanizing Saotome," she said, "What makes you think he would have similar emotions to you and me?" "Didn't you just mention that he could've been some regular person with unique powers?" Ranma asked, "If he was a regular person, wouldn't a regular person also feel bad?" "I guess," Ami nodded, "It really makes me wonder what a person like him would be like in this time and age," "Probably wouldn't make much of a difference," Ranma said. Ranma looked at the bracer in the display. "So, that bracer is believed to have belonged to Saotome," Ranma said to himself. "There are actually interesting legends about it," Ami said. "Oh?" Ranma asked. "Have you ever heard of the tale of King Arthur and Excalibur?" Ami asked. "I think so but can you refresh my memory?" Ranma asked, "I think I've heard something about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table," "That's it," Ami said, "It's a myth that originated a few thousand years ago, during Medieval times. It was of a sword named Excalibur that was embedded in a rock. The myth was that whoever was able to pull the sword out of the rock with their bare hands would become a king. Thousands of men from all around the world tried to free that sword, but none was able to. One day, a young boy pulled that sword from the rock by accident. That boy became the person known as King Arthur," "That's a nice tale, but what does that have to do with the bracer?" Ranma asked. "There's this legend that only Saotome can wear that bracer," Ami said. "And why's that?" Ranma asked. "Because, no human can wear it," Ami said, "The damn thing weighs over two thousand pounds. Not even the strongest human on earth can lift it with their entire body, let alone wear it on one of their arms," Ranma smiled, "And why do you think that's the case?" "No one knows," Ami said, "Ever since its discovery, scientists have been trying to figure out why something so small weighs so much. It looks like it's made of this ancient metal called brass. Tests have concluded that it's indeed brass. The problem is that brass isn't that dense. This world can't even recreate materials that dense," "Very interesting," Ranma smirked. "Eventually, science gave up," Ami said, "Well, it didn't necessarily gave it. It simply stopped trying to figure it out, believing that it has yet to possess the technology to accurately test it. It's as if there's some supernatural force acting on it that makes it seem extremely dense and heavy, but science has yet to discover a method to measure this supposedly supernatural force," "Perhaps it's because science can't measure ki," Ranma grinned. "Ki?" Ami asked. "Nevermind," Ranma waved a dismissive hand. "No, please explain," Ami asked, "How does probability have to do the bracer's weight?? What does probability have to do with it?" "I think you've lost me," Ranma said. "Well, it's generally believed that that God is omnipotent and omniscent," Ami said, "There is only one thing that meets those two criteria and that's probability. Scriptures mentioned about how Saotome relied on Ki, which has been defined as omnipotent and omniscent as well. If you think about that rationally, it means Saotome relied on probability. How does probability play a role in the density of the bracer," Ranma stared at Ami for a moment and noticed how serious she was in what she said. After a moment, he burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Ami asked. "I just find it amusing that this world links probability and Ki as the same thing," Ranma said after a moment, "From an outside view, it's as if this world only knows half of the truth to everything. Sure, Saotome's understanding of probability gave him an edge, but it doesn't mean he didn't use Ki," Ami smirked as she retorted, "What I find amusing is how you sometimes speak as if you're an authoritative figure in this as well," "I don't speak as some authoritative figure," Ranma said, "I just find things amusing. It seems like, based on what is mentioned in Scriptures as God, probability is Science's explanation of such an entity," Ami nodded, "Right," "Has it ever occurred to you that ki can't be measured and given a value?" Ranma asked, "The same goes for happiness and sadness and whatever," "I think you lost me," Ami said. "Science can't measure happiness and sadness, right?" Ranma asked. Ami nodded, "It's purely subjective, and thus, can't be given a value," "True, it can't be scientifically given a value," Ranma nodded, "But it's given a value anyway, right?" "Well, yes," Ami nodded, "But it's because of the people experiencing such experiences. They can give sadness a scale that is purely subjective to their point of view but could be completely off from another person's point of view," "Well, has it ever occurred to you that ki is much like that?" Ranma asked, "The only way you can determine the value of ki is through completely subjective means," "Are you saying something like ki can only be measured through human subjection much like how happiness and sadness can be measure in the same sense?" Ami asked. "Yep," Ranma nodded. Ami thought about it for a moment before she started laughing, "You're funny. You almost had me going there," Ranma shrugged, "Oh well. It's not that important anyway," "It's an interesting theory though," Ami said, "The problem is that probability and ki are one in the same. You can measure probability and assign it values. You can't give a value to whatever force is acting upon the bracer that is making it seem so dense and heavy," "It would make sense if you think about it," Ranma said. "What it seems like you're implying is that the probability, or as you like to call it, ki, acting on the bracer is what makes it so damn heavy," Ami said, "It makes no sense at all. How does probability have anything to do with the weight of the bracer? Are you saying there's some high probability that there's some kind of super dense undiscovered material within the bracer that gives it its massive weight?" Ranma shrugged, "Nevermind. Just pretend I don't know what I'm talking about," "I think it's best we forget about it," Ami said, "I think we're confusing both of ourselves," Ranma simply smiled. It looked as if he was about to correct her that he wasn't confused about why the bracer was heavy and that she was the only one that was confused or at least misunderstanding the conversation at the moment. "So, back to the bracer, you said there was some kind of myth about it, right?" Ranma asked, "It has something to do with Excalibur and King Arthur?" "Oh, right, the myth," Ami remember, "Well, there's this common belief that only Saotome himself can wear that bracer," "Because it's so heavy?" Ranma asked. Ami nodded, "Right," "Do you believe in such a myth?" Ranma asked. "Of course not," Ami laughed, "It's obvious that the myth about the bracer originated from the myth about Excalibur, which originated from the a real person named Riothamus. It's nothing more than a myth of a myth of a story," "Ah," Ranma said. "It would be pretty interesting though," Ami looked at the bracer, "Even though it's nothing more than a myth, it's a really fascinating one that's almost believable. Think about it. Scriptures spoke of how Saotome wore bracers. And here we have a bracer believed to have belonged to Saotome. Further evidence is that no one can wear it since it weighs over two thousand pounds. This kinds of blows away the theory that Saotome was some regular human being because no human is capable of wearing such a bracer, let alone two," "True," Ranma said, "Perhaps Saotome wasn't human then. Perhaps he was some kinda, I dunno, Angel," Ami giggled, "An interesting theory. If he was an Angel, then that would mean all of Christianity is wrong since they believe him to have been the Devil," "I guess," Ranma shrugged, "I guess, in the end, whatever truth is revealed, it'll turn out one, or two, or even all three, religions were wrong. People wouldn't like that," "I agree," Ami nodded, "Anyway, back to the bracer. It can't be worn by humans. Okay, the explanation is wrong since it could be worn in a way that a human can slip his forearm into the bracer, but that doesn't mean he can wear it and walk around like some person," She pointed toward the bracer on Ranma's forearm, "Much like the way you walk around with that bracer," Wearing bracers on that world was very common so she thought nothing of it. It was just as common as seeing people wearing earrings and necklaces. Bracers had become common because of Saotome's usage of it, but over time, the religious connotations behind wearing bracers were lost. It was similar to how most people that wore chains around their necks weren't aware that chains and necklaces had religious origins that were forgotten with time. She noticed Ranma only wore one bracer but thought nothing of it. Many people wore one bracer. It was no different to seeing a man wearing one earring. "Can I see that?" Ami asked, gesturing toward the bracer. Ranma took of his bracer and handed it to Ami. She took a hold of it and looked at it. "See, this is how the 'Bracer of Saotome' and your bracer differs," Ami began with her speech, gently tossing it up and down in one hand, "This bracer weighs only a few ounces. The one in the display case can't be lifted by human means. I would not be able to lift Saotome's bracer up, let alone toss it up and down like this," Ranma grinned, "I guess you have a point," Ami handed Ranma his bracer back and watched as he put it back on. "I really wonder why he wore bracers," Ami asked herself. "Perhaps he wore it as a training tool," Ranma smirked, "Perhaps he wore it because it weighs so much," "A training tool?" Ami asked curiously, "Now why would he do that? If he was the son of God as many believed, then he wouldn't need training. If he was human, then he wouldn't be able to wear it since no human can lift it-" "That brings up another question, how do you really know it's Saotome's?" Ranma asked, "If no human can lift that bracer, and Saotome was a human, wouldn't logic indicate that he wouldn’t be able to lift it himself?" "The existence of the bracer is what makes people believe him to not be some regular human," Ami said, "While I believe him to be some regular guy, it's very hard to understand how he was able to wear this. There're many unanswered questions that no one will ever be able to answer and can only speculate about what the possible answer could be. What do you think it could be? What makes you think it's a training tool?" "Well, maybe he was indeed a human but was still capable of wearing bracers that weigh that much," Ranma suggested. "No human can lift that much," Ami said, "Are you claiming that he might be a human capable of lifting such weight? It seems preposterous. Out of all the billions and billions of people that have lived and died on this Earth, not a single human had displayed such strength of actually lifting it, let alone be able to wear it," "Maybe he was special," Ranma suggested, "For all we know, maybe he had a better grasp of human abilities than anyone else," "Like what?" Ami asked, "Like the ability to use adrenaline at will? There have been cases over the centuries where people could use adrenaline to dramatically boost their abilities at will, and they don't even come close lifting such weights. Their skeletal structures can not sustain such weight. A human skeletal system can not sustain two thousand pounds without breaking apart from such pressure. It's physically impossible to wear one, let alone two," "Has it ever occurred to you that, before the discovery of adrenaline and its beneficial effects to the human body, people believed it was impossible to do some things, like a woman being able to lift a massive weight off her trapped child?" Ranma asked. "So are you saying that we are like a race that has yet to discover the adrenaline-equivalent of what Saotome used to do what he did?" Ami asked, "Hm, you do have a point there. Afterall, back then, people thought God threw lightning down at the Earth. But this was before they discovered that it all has to do with the buildup of electrons. People used to think tsunamis and earthquakes and hurricanes were wraths of God until we figured how to predict them and stop them. People used to think atoms were the smallest things in existed until they somehow managed to break that apart and find even smaller parts within it," "Right," Ranma said with a shrug, "Then again, it could be because the ki thing humankind had yet to fully discover and understand and embrace was dismissed as 'probability'," "Huh?" Ami asked. Ranma shrugged, "Nevermind," "If you really think about it, the best course of action is to dismiss everything," Ami said, "That's because time distorts truth. Considering it's been over a thousand years since the days of Saotome, it's almost impossible to believe that any truth remains intact," Ranma smiled warmly, "That's a very good way of thinking things," "Man, it's getting late," Ami noticed the time. She couldn't believe she had been talking to Ranma for well over a half an hour. "Yeah," Ranma said, "I guess now would be a good time for me to go," "Where do you live? If you live in the same direction as I do, we can walk to the Public Teleporter together," Ami suggested. Ranma said, "As much as I'd like to, I highly doubt where I'll be headed is in any direction where you're going," "What do you mean?" she asked. Ranma simply gave her a warm smile. He leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, "Ami, before I go, I just wanted to say I'm glad to have met you. You've been a delight talking to," "Likewise," Ami said, a bit curious. "You're a really smart girl," he said, "Don't change who you are," She watched as Ranma walked up to the display case and placed a hand on the thick glass covering over the 'Bracer of Saotome'. Her eyes widened in surprise as she witnessed Ranma jamming a finger right into the thick glass. "W-what are you doing?!" she said as she watched the crack in the thick glass spider-web outward from the puncture Ranma had created. "I came to pick up what's rightfully mine," Ranma said. He jammed another finger into the thick glass casing again, causing the cracks to spider-web even more. "What do you mean?" Ami was confused. She watched as Ranma struck the glass with an open-palm strike. The impact caused the thick glass display case to shatter and fall to the floor in thousands of tiny peaces. Her eyes widened as she watched Ranma casually pick up the 'Bracer of Saotome' as if it weighed like nothing. "What the?" Ami said, "How's that possible? How are you able to pick it up?" Ranma then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small mirror. He cast her a glance and noticed the thoughts seemingly racing through her head as she went about assessing the situation. She felt very confused. How was it possible that Ranma had managed to pick up the 'Bracer of Saotome'. It was not humanly possible to lift it up. Since he was lifting it up, that meant only two things. The 'Bracer of Saotome' that was on display was actually a fake, or the bracer was actually real and the myth was true.... "Who are you?" Ami asked. She recalled a part of their conversation where Ranma had asked her it occurred to anyone that Saotome was actually a last name. Could what Ranma had been talking about really been true? Could Saotome have actually been a last name? "Who are you?" she asked. "I'm Ranma Saotome," With that said, Ranma disappeared in a blinding flash of light.