Second Chances Special Preview Scene - Chapter 15 - An Ice Cream Chat By Lord Archive Legal Babble: Characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, etc..., and are used without permission. I'm only borrowing them. I'll return them. I can't afford the overdue charge Nabiki insists on. ----------------------------- After Akane waved goodbye to Ranma as he went of with Hiroshi and Daisuke to a sports event, she walked into an ice cream polar. She remembered being here two years ago. Well, two years for her, today to everyone else. Akane thought back to how she had a fight with Ranma instead of waving him off as she just had. A strange girl had seen the fight and felt sympathetic to her. The girl then gave Akane the mallet she often used on Ranma. Akane often wondered why the girl had given her the mallet. She still had the it, since it somehow had come with her into the past. She vowed she would never use it on Ranma this time around. Akane sighed as she sat a booth. The girl would not likely talk to her this time. After all there was no fight to get her interested, ne? "Hello," the strange girl greeted Akane, like she had two years previous. Akane blinked. "Hi." The girl sat down at the booth. "How are you?" "Ah... fine and you." "I'm in an ice cream polar, so I'm in heaven!" the girl said cheerfully. "Um... may I ask..." Akane was uncertain how to phrase what she wanted to say. "Why I'm talking to you?" Akane nodded. "I was wondering how you liked my mallet?" "It's... a.. nice." Akane was looking to the metallic, polo like mallet strapped to her back. "I mean the one I gave you." Akane blinked. "But... ah... you gave me that er..." "Today or two years ago, take your pick." "How..." She then stared for a moment at the girl's strange tattoos on her face, remembering how the goddess that granted her the wish had similar ones. "You're a..." she started to say, then whispered, "You're a goddess?!" The girl nodded. "I'm Skuld. I'm aware you met my sister, Urd." "Yeah..." Akane was having a little trouble with the idea of talking to a goddess. "So... how are things with your fiance?" Skuld asked. "Um, great. He kind of gets scared that we're moving a little fast." "Oh." Skuld looked at her, disbelievingly. "We almost kissed and he then tried to push me away for the several days." Skuld rolled her eyes. "Used my mallet on him yet?" "No. I don't plan to use it on him." Skuld sighed. "Now Akane, you are aware of Bakusai Tenketsu, right?" "Yeah." Akane wanted to know why she asked that. "That the true benefit does not come from the ability to destroy rocks, but to be incredibly resistant to damage." "I don't see... You don't mean I'm suppose to hit him!" Akane's eyes widen in shock. "Of course, how else is that pervert going to take punches from some of his stronger opponents like Ryoga?" "I can't... I won't hit Ranma again." Akane shook her head forcefully. "I caused too much pain last time around because I did that." "So how is he going to take a hit from Ryoga then?" Skuld asked flatly. "I... I'll teach him Bakusai Tenketsu. Why risk hurting him emotionally when he can learn it as a martial arts move?" "Then what happens when Ryoga goes to learn that move? Ranma wouldn't have to fear it if he knows it, so he won't go through speed training." "I just won't tell Ranma it's not effective on living things. He won't try to find out that. He'd still go through the speed training to avoid Ryoga's 'one-hit kill' attack." Skuld looked at Akane evenly for a moment. "That I really hadn't thought about. I wish we were talking about machines and not martial arts." "Well, I've had two years of living with super-powered martial artists. My experience has to count for something." After Akane paid for the bill, she said, "I should be going now. It was great talking to you. Thanks for helping me think through some of those things." "It was my pleasure. Thanks for the ice cream!" Skuld grinned. "It's the least I could do. Will I ever see you again?" "Maybe, only Dad knows." "Ah... yeah. Um, bye." Akane leaves with new found strength and hope to face the challenges she already knows lie ahead with a goddess helping her. A moment after Akane left. Skuld was joined by a woman. A woman whose clothing, well, barely covered what they needed to cover. "So, how'd it go?" "Pretty good, actually." "So is she going to play pound the fiance now?" "She figured a way that should get around that. But she still might do it later, the other fiancees haven't shown up yet." "I wonder if we could speed things up and get them married before then." "Don't you dare, Urd! The only reason we're here is because of your screw up." "My screw up? She wanted a second chance, and I gave it to her." "I wasn't talking about that. You actually did that right, after a couple mistakes. I'm talking about the love potions you gave them." "What? I don't think one of those 'mistakes' was a mistake. Besides, Dad asked for them to fall in love at first sight and had me do that." "Yes, make them fall in love at first sight with each other, NOT everyone fall in love with them at first sight." "It worked, didn't it? So what if I went a little overboard." "A little? Akane had to fight dozens of guys to get to school because their hormones are in overdrive, and she still has a fair number of guys chasing after her. And Ranma would have more women chasing after him if it wasn't for the fact his more active suitors are all dan level martial artists." Urd sighed. "What's done is done. No point to argue about it now. Besides, Dad probably expected me to go overboard anyway." "Whatever," Skuld grumbled. She then called over a waitress and ordered yet more ice cream. ------------------------