Ether Morph (Story in progress)

[KonokoHasano]

Surprised that Akane didn't have a comment to warn Ranma against doing perverted things in her body. You know like touching herself while looking like that.

I just fixed up the ending part of the scene a little. I think that makes it flow a little better.

[Spokavriel]

It does sidestep the possible issue of perversion in her form.

[frice2000]

She’d show this silly little perverted freak that no amount of bluffing could defeat her, and she’d do it as her family and the weirdo’s own father watched.

Wouldn't she be considering Genma a weird perverted freak as well?

Also I don't like the whole can copy all of their skills thing. Ranma said he didn't want to read beyond surface thoughts and even then he was uncomfortable. Duplicating every skill before he sees it denotes seriously deep mind reading. Also it gives you way too many outs as an author. He meets X Opponent, copies all moves...Sounds boring. Now copying a persons form and condition without surface thoughts fine. Knowing the ground style of Anything Goes also fine Genma was Ranma's teacher so it would stand to reason he'd be familiar with the moves. But you can't have him ancy about not reading surface thoughts and then know all of a person's techniques...Once he meets more esoteric foes which I'm sure he will you've created a problem. Either he is ALWAYS equal to everyone he fights and then learns these techniques and retains them...Well that development is a little too fast. And if you later throw in a cheat to escape this problem you've created I feel that you'll weaken the story and its credibility.

That out of the way its an interesting skill and an enjoyable read and I'm hopeful that you can make it work within the parameters of your story, but I hope you realize what you're creating giving him this ability.

Other then those two criticisms very nice snippet. Very enjoyable indeed . Oh and if Ryouga comes in I hope they have a VERY different relationship then cannon...I mean if he can feel the pain of others then the depressive aura that Ryouga puts out would probably make him either: totally avoid him, or try to help him out a lot and make him feel better. Anyway hope to read more soon! Thanks for sharing.

[LawOhki]

Also I don't like the whole can copy all of their skills thing. Ranma said he didn't want to read beyond surface thoughts and even then he was uncomfortable. Duplicating every skill before he sees it denotes seriously deep mind reading. Also it gives you way too many outs as an author. He meets X Opponent, copies all moves...Sounds boring. Now copying a persons form and condition without surface thoughts fine. Knowing the ground style of Anything Goes also fine Genma was Ranma's teacher so it would stand to reason he'd be familiar with the moves. But you can't have him ancy about not reading surface thoughts and then know all of a person's techniques...Once he meets more esoteric foes which I'm sure he will you've created a problem. Either he is ALWAYS equal to everyone he fights and then learns these techniques and retains them...Well that development is a little too fast. And if you later throw in a cheat to escape this problem you've created I feel that you'll weaken the story.

That's what a Rakshasa can do, though like what happened to Genn when first meeting Brittany, being able to copy doesn't make them equals. Brittany handily spanked Genn while Genn was duplicating her form. Later Genn shows that she can copy Seance, and use his magic. Even the djinn Jotaru and use his special abilities.

While this is drastically overpowered, there's the obvious drawback of having to gather ether and such magical forms can only be used for a very short time.

The mental powers are absolutely hax, the rakshasa in the Maidens of Twilight side story apparently mentally twisted tons of animals and sentients to her will, but that appears to at least require the being be willing to submit. Physical contact also appears to be needed in order to do deep probing of minds, as Genn needed to be very close in order to be able to reactive the dormant Brianna part of her mind when Grave Digger took control in issue 44 of v1.

[Spokavriel]

Well in the Grave/Briana situation it was more than just a deep scan it was direct manipulation against an active currently dominate hostile mind to find his friends mind. I'm now almost thinking that it should be made more clear at least in a future situation just how draining copying someones skills is. Maybe even have Ranma pass out from malnutrition/energy depletion if he does it again too soon.

[LawOhki]

Well in the Grave/Briana situation it was more than just a deep scan it was direct manipulation against an active currently dominate hostile mind to find his friends mind. I'm now almost thinking that it should be made more clear at least in a future situation just how draining copying someones skills is. Maybe even have Ranma pass out from malnutrition/energy depletion if he does it again too soon.

Genn immediately realized who was in control of the mind, she wasn't able to go deep in and see what was going on until she was close, such as when she rejoined them in 47.

The energy drain would depend on the creature being copied. Innately magical creatures like a werecheetah are going to suck up ether like no tomorrow. A form like Seance allows Genn to use a variety of low level spells, or less high level ones. Something purely physical wouldn't such up anymore than normal past the initial shift.

[Spokavriel]

I disagree when it comes to skill copying along with form on the purely physical. Because unless someone were to make a complete copy of their opponent's mind and keep everything there's still some additional energy needed beyond just what went into the copied form.

[LawOhki]

I disagree when it comes to skill copying along with form on the purely physical. Because unless someone were to make a complete copy of their opponent's mind and keep everything there's still some additional energy needed beyond just what went into the copied form.

Ethereal energy in GD is for lack of better description a snap shot of a person at any one moment in time. Copying that gives them everything, and they become it on the ethereal level, forcing the body to change. (Not deep memories though, without diving into someones mind. Sort of an iceberg, they can instantly retrieve all the stuff above the surface but they need a sub to get the rest.)

Genn only makes comments to having problems staying in forms that are magical, even when being starved, she was able to maintain the humanoid female one. While the werecheetah one sucked it all up just by moving around.(Maidens of Twilight side story)

So Ranma assuming a human form should have no problems maintaining it. Any extra energy required is so little that Ranma would be close to death by the time that it would be needed to change back.

[borgrabbit]

“Please?” Ranma asked as he placed his hands to his stomach. “Assuming your form and fighting you has made me really hungry.”

Akane’s eye twitched slightly. Just how in the hell was she supposed to believe that this person was 15-years-old when he looked and acted childish? “Alright, fine, but if you try anything sneaky, I’m going to--”

The ending, in some ways, could lead to WAFFy situations. Its also kind of neat that Kasumi's ideal is Adonis...and Ranma could fulfill that.
So, Ranma has lots of experience beating itself in a fight, so to speak.
How about chimera forms? Poisonous snake arms, hair etc.? Lotsa possibilities.

[Drawde]

As mentioned, the more powerful the form copied, the more power used. That's the main problem that the fighting Rakasha have. They eventually end up fighting something so powerful that they can't copy it long enough to fight it. Not to mention that loosing can often mean getting killed.

Skill also plays into it. Genn has little skill in fighting, so avoids it. Ranma, on the other hand, has been trained in it, so can better use the form he copies.

[KonokoHasano]

Ranma does have his male and female human forms that he's trained in and to to a point where he could fight in them.



And here is the final snippet to the chapter...



‘I think I overdid it a little.’ Ranma thought with a wince as he exited the furo while drying off his hair. His body and muscles were already starting to feel rather tender from the fight he had not that long ago. While he was able to copy a person right down to the smaller details such as voice or smell, he couldn’t really mimic the body experience itself. Akane had the upper hand during the fight because it was her own form, and she had trained her body over the years to be like that. He, however, merely assumed her form via an ether snapshot of sorts, and so the body was completely foreign to him.

Sure, there was a possibility that he could have lost the fight, but that possibility was not something that he would have accepted willfully. If Akane had gotten back up, he would have continued to fight despite being exhausted. It would have been a total blow to his pride, both for his abilities as a Rakshasa, and in all of the training he went through in the martial arts.

Okay, so most of the training he went through wasn’t for conditioning his normal body to fight, but for learning how to take advantage of weaknesses in someone else’s own skills and form. That didn’t mean, however, that he didn’t gain anything from training, or couldn’t fight for himself instead of relying on being a copy. Ever since he gained proper control of his transforming, he put in a little training into the male and female human forms that he used from time to time, and was fully capable of fighting without mimicking a person’s form and abilities.

The first to notice him as he entered the Tendo’s family room was Nabiki, who seemed to stare at him for a long moment before speaking. “So what’s it like to be genderless?” She asked as she took the Rakshasa in. Unlike the baggy clothes from earlier, he was wearing blue cotton pajamas that fit his form. His emerald green hair -- still in the process of drying -- was hanging loose, and it made it hard to not look at him and think he were a girl… or at least a young child who hasn’t reached puberty yet.

“Free.” Ranma answered as he attempted to figure out how to explain it. “I don’t have a gender, so I don’t have to worry about a lot of things for them. If I want to dress up and act like a boy, I can. If I want to dress up and act like a girl, I can. Because really, who is going to stop me?” He asked with a smirk.

“Wait, does that include places like girls’ dressing rooms or female sides of bath houses?” Akane asked with a horrified and disgusted look.

“Hey, I’m genderless!” This girl really sounded like a broken record. “I can be whichever I want, so if I want to enjoy the girls’ side of the bath house or something, then why not?”

The youngest Tendo sister gave a frown. “Yeah, so you can continue your disgusting flirting attempts. I bet those girls--”

“I don’t just limit my flirting to girls, ya know.”

All three Tendo sisters suddenly stared at him as if he had grown an extra head. “You mean,” Nabiki began, “That you will also flirt with boys?” At the half-lidded response she got from Rakshasa, she realized how silly the question was. “Oh right, genderless.” How could she have forgotten that? “But why do you flirt so much?” The information she was gaining could be put to some use.

“Ethereal energy.” Ranma said as if it were the simplest thing to understand. “Since Rakshasa can only absorb it when someone is hardly moving, it has to be done when they’re either unconscious or asleep.”

“Wait, asleep? That means you wanted to take my ki when I’m sleeping during the night.” Akane definitely did NOT like the prospect of someone doing something to her while she was asleep.

“But why all of the flirting?” Nabiki stated.

“Well, a Rakshasa’s two main ways of gathering a person’s energy are to either fight and render them unconscious, or to seduce them until they are exhausted and fall asleep.”

All three Tendo sisters stared in shock.

“WHAT?!” Akane yelled out as she shot to her feet. “You mean you ARE nothing but a sick perverted freak?!”

“Then that’s why you can see another’s desires.” Nabiki said upon finally putting pieces together. “It’s so you can change into what they’d like, and then you could easily have your way with them.” She finished with wide eyes.

“Oh my,” Kasumi said with a look of horror, “Does this mean that--”

“I’m still a virgin, okay?!” Ranma yelled in a panic as he placed his arms in an x pattern in front of him. “Sorry for reading your surface thoughts and all, but jeez, what kind of person do you think I am?” He felt completely appalled that they would even think that of him. “Sure, I flirt a lot, but I am sure in the hell not some kind of whore or perverted sicko! I usually ask a person I’m flirting with if I can get some energy from them. Many of them do get disturbed or freaked out, but I do find people who are nice enough to agree.” If there was one thing that he absolutely hated, it was someone thinking he was like that. “I have my standards and morals, ya know.” He added with a hurt look as he turned around to leave the room, bumping into both his father and Soun as he exited.

“Hey, where are you going, boy?” Genma asked as he watched his offspring disappear up the stairs. From what he could sense, there was obviously something bugging him. Turning his attention back to the current occupants in the room, he could tell that something must have been said, due to the emotions that were hovering in the air.

Soun, unable to sense any emotions, but still aware that something was a miss, spoke up. “Did something happen between the four of you?”

“We just had a little misunderstanding is all, father.” Kasumi said with a small smile. In reality, she realized that it was much larger than that, and she couldn’t help but feel a large amount of regret in her accusation. The most likely reason was how hurt the Rakshasa looked, and the fact that he appeared so childlike in his normal form.

Akane wasn’t really sure how she felt. On one hand, she was outright disturbed by how a Rakshasa gained their energy. On the other, she felt somewhat bad after hearing what he had said. Sure, there was always the possibility that he was lying that he didn’t go that far, but for some reason, she just couldn’t come to that conclusion. ‘That’s got to be the most annoying way to survive.’ She was suddenly glad that all she needed was food and water. ‘Maybe he’s not all that bad.’ Akane realized what she was saying and quickly gave her head a shake. ‘No way! He’s a perverted weirdo.’ A perverted weirdo who didn’t seem all that bad, yes, but he was still just that.

Nabiki felt a slight pang of guilt, but she immediately pushed it to the side in favor of continuing to determine just how she could profit from this situation. With someone who could transform into just about anything, and read the minds of others, there was bound to be ways that she could use it to her advantage. The only problem would be that he could see into her own mind.

“Oh, I’ve been wondering.” Kasumi suddenly spoke up. “Was Ranma’s mother a Rakshasa? After-all, he had to have gotten it from somewhere.” Unless he was adopted, that is.

“Actually,” Genma said as he sat down, “He got it from me.” He allowed his form to change into that of his neutral appearance.

All three girls were shocked into silence at discovering that the man had been a Rakshasa all along, and it didn’t take long before they all gave a unanimous answer. “EHHH?!”

[frice2000]

I knew that they could copy forms and skills but the fact remains either the person being copied was willing or was an enemy (and thus either willingly had their brain scanned or it was scanned with hostile intent which Ranma was not going for). It wasn't for a simple sparring session. Also Genn was in no way a character the entire story revolved around. Thus a overpowered skill could be handed out without question, but to allow Ranma to have this ability as the main character is slightly disconcerting. The last snippet relieved some of the problems with this, but still...I'm hesitant to think its a good idea to allow the main character to have so powerful and overwhelming an ability...

[KonokoHasano]

In the long run, it doesn't matter if a character has such a powerful and overwhelming ability as long as there are costs involved with it. If you look into many series, you can see the same issue with characters who have power that can't use certain skills or abilities for long because of the costs.

While Ranma may be overpowered in that aspect, the cost of using more and more energy remains, and so there's a huge downside to it. Even if a character can be incredibly strong, or have access to powerful abilities, it is how they use them that should really be understood.

[Spokavriel]

I wonder how many nights with Briana and or Seiance ((forgot the spelling)) to stockpile the energy to properly copy Brit going at full speed for even 15 min.

[LawOhki]

I wonder how many nights with Briana and or Seiance ((forgot the spelling)) to stockpile the energy to properly copy Brit going at full speed for even 15 min.

Genn never got much ether from Brianna, she required too much to be, ahem, satisfied, hence why she switched to Seance.

And a lot, werecreature forms suck up energy just to exist, and nearly all of their movements are magically enhanced.