Joining: Episode Saga

by Arinson Tidochi

A crossover starting roughly one year after the end of Ranma 12 and the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. Begins with Chapter 14 of the Joining Series

1. Joining 14: Episode Saga 1

Joining 14: Episode Saga 1 Written June 2003

By: Arinson Tidochi

I own neither Dragon Ball Z nor Ranma ½, and I don't have any money anyways, so please don't sue me. I'm not making any money out of this fanfiction, I'm just doing it for fun.

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Reviewer Responses: Materia-Blade: A 9/10 huh? I must work to make it a 10/10! In any case I'll try to answer your questions without giving anything away. Vegita has a very high pain tolerance which is why he can push himself so hard. However because of this high tolerance it's difficult for him to create the mental stress necessary to ascend to super saiyajin on his own (or at least that's my theory). However with his current trainers the mental stress he'll be experiencing will be extraordinary. In other words he'll probably transform before he comes to earth, but there might be some unfortunate side effects, but you'll have to wait to find out about those. And as for Ranma, he is not a saiyajin. That doesn't mean however that there isn't a piece of Goku inside him. That will come out in many ways later on.

RLB71797: Yeah, Mokona is my sister and I love her very much. She has an interesting way of flaming stories doesn't she? It's almost a pleasure to have her insult me. As for the deal with Akane's friend Matsumi, that will come out later. It should be very interesting though.

I wish you good luck with martial arts, if you want to talk about them more go ahead and contact me again.

aLiX: Your welcome! I'll tell you that there's quite a long way to go until this stories over.

Flameraven: Vegita is going to be very strong by the time he's done with that training but there will be side effects. Don't worry though, ultimately he'll be the same badass we all know and love. Don't be so quick to think that the shadow government will be at a disadvantage against Akane. You'll see what I'm talking about soon enough.

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"Authors Note This chapter begins what I like to call the episode saga. In a way the flow of the story will be closer to Sailor Moon then Dragon Ball Z. Don't worry though; it should still be very interesting. I hope you guys stick with me on this.

A contrast was created in the sky between the shimmering spectrum of colors created by the setting sun and the dark clouds which were already sweeping across the open expanse of blue. On the street below three dark figures were walking in a triangular formation down the sidewalk. The man in the forward position was wearing a well pressed business suit and was holding a suitcase in his right hand while his left hand was in his coat pocket. His face held a constant air of smug superiority as his lips were almost in a constant sneer and his tiny glasses were always hinged off the tip of his nose. The two men who were offset to either side of him were both large and extremely muscular and both of them wore expressions that were a cross between angry scowls and indifference. Perhaps because of these two men everyone who couldn't get to the opposite end of the street gave them as wide as possible a berth.

"Japan is such a quant little country." The lead man said in English to his two impassive followers. "I'll be happy when we can leave this island and return to America."

"Quite right Mr. Jones." The men grunted together.

The man identified as Mr. Jones rolled his eyes. "What wouldn't I give for them to have sent me scholars instead of ruffians for accompaniment on this little excursion. He thought to himself in annoyance.

"Now then." He announced as he continued to walk confidently down the street. "The front entrance of the 'Have a Nice Evening' inn should be exactly 3,380 feet to the west and 2,720 feet to the north of our current position." He pulled a cell phone out of his left coat pocket and held it behind him for a moment until one of the men took the phone. "Give them a call and let them know that I'll be arriving shortly." He ordered calmly without looking at the man.

"Yes of course Mr. Jones." The man said while taking the phone.

Ahead of them a young man with hair and skin that were lightly tinged green was walking quickly towards them. Following him quickly step for step was a group of high school girls that were chattering excitedly that could only be described as a pack. The man's face had a flawless complexion and an exotic other-worldly appearance (quite gorgeous to the right crowd), and was currently filled with determination as shown by his narrowed eyes and clenched jaw.

He didn't even bother to adjust his path and just walked right into the large muscular man who was on the right of Mr. Jones. Much to everyone's surprise the considerably larger man lost his balance and fell backwards, slapping the ground to break his fall as he landed on his back.

"Sorry." The greenish student muttered, not even breaking his stride or looking at the flustered man on the ground.

"He's so cool!" The girls squealed, not at all surprised at what happened. All of them continued to follow after him, each one stepping over or around the man who was now sitting on the ground.

For a brief instant a look of surprise came over Mr. Jones's face in the form of slightly raised eyebrows as he turned to watch the high school student as he made his way away from his predators. "He's quite unusual for a boy He thought to himself. "That man that he so casually knocked over weighs close to 280 pounds and is an experienced martial artist. Despite this student's muscular appearance and graceful movements which depict him as a combination of martial artist and street fighter someone of his roughly 163 pounds shouldn't have been capable of that.

The man shrugged impassively. "Well, let's move along you two, we wouldn't want to make the manager have to wait to formally greet me." He smiled lightly as he continued to walk towards his previous destination. "His uniform shows that he is a student of Furinkan high school yet I don't recall his face from the student pictorial log. Perhaps he is a transfer of some sort. In any case I should investigate who this man is and where he came from before I commence the next step of my perfect operation.

His arrogant smile curled around his face and he again placed his left hand within his coat pocket. "Nabiki Tendo, I can't wait to meet you in person.

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"There has to be some way to get out of here. Piccolo thought to himself in a panic as he continued to run/walk down the progressively emptying street. A light flashed in his eyes as he saw an alleyway beckoning to him. "Of course!" He whispered excitedly. In a rush he entered the alley and quickly ducked into one of the shadows and quickly drew the darkness about himself so that he was completely invisible.

"I saw him enter the alley!" One of the girls yelled happily a few moments later. Soon the entire group entered the alley. After looking around for a few moments they all got perplexed looks on their faces. "Where did Piccolo go?" One of the girls asked. "I don't know." Another one responded. "But this is so like him. Who else but Piccolo could disappear into thin air so easily?" "It's like he's a ninja or something!" Another girl chimed in happily.

"Why is it that everything I do makes them like me even more. Piccolo thought to himself, seething in frustration. "Even that lie about Nabiki and I did nothing but encourage them. There has to be a way to get them off my back for good. At this point all of the girls voices blended together and it became impossible for Piccolo to assign any particular voice to its speaker.

"So do you suppose there's any truth to that rumor going around?" "What do you mean, that one about him dating Nabiki Tendo?" "Yeah, that's the one." "I wouldn't worry about it, there's no way that an American hunk like him could ever be interested in cold-hearted money-grubbing Nabiki. In any case, I'm pretty sure he's gone. Remember girls, we meet first thing tomorrow morning to greet him as he comes to school."

"Right!" All the female voices agreed. Their footsteps could be heard exiting the alley and their excited chatters could be heard traveling down the street in different directions.

"At last. Piccolo thought to himself in relief as he stepped out of the shadows. "I didn't think that I'd ever get away from them. He clenched his fists and growled in rage. "I need to find a way to get less attention. Maybe Nabiki will be able to cook something up for me. All I wonder is how much it's going to cost.

With that last thought he jumped from the ground to the surface of a building and through leaps and bounds made his way towards the Tendo household.

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"What was up with that thing?" Akane asked herself wearily while walking slowly and steadily down the scarcely populated street. She paused and leaned against an old brick wall while sighing and looking at the ground. "It was certainly a creation of black magic, but what was it doing just attacking people for no reason? Maybe I should tell Ranma about this and ask for his help."

"Ask me about what?" She heard a voice question from above her.

"Agghh!" She screamed, jumping away from the wall. Looking up she saw Ranma casually sitting on top of the building looking at her with a curious smile written across his face. "When did you get there Ranma?!" She yelled in a panic.

Ranma shrugged and jumped down to the street to stand across from her. "Just a few seconds ago. I'm just heading back to the Nekohanten to take care of something." He chuckled and looked bashful as he rubbed the back of his head. "You know I have a lot of catching up to do in terms of school work. You're a year ahead of me now."

"Yeah, you're right." Akane responded with a small smile. "But for once it's not your fault. You had a busy year. But in any case it's going to be tough for all of us. I think this is Nabiki's last year before she graduates, and I'm taking some really tough classes. We'll all have to work really hard."

"Well I can start on that later." Ranma said with a careless shrug. "So what were you talking about earlier?"

"Well uhh." Akane said nervously. "Do I really want to bring Ranma into this? She asked herself. "He already has so much going on that I don't know if I want to complicate his life any further. Maybe I should just keep silent about the whole thing. But then again, he's really strong and could really help a lot against things like that.

Ranma walked up to Akane and waved one of his hands in front of her face. "Yo, you in there Akane?"

Akane blinked at looked into his concerned eyes. "Of course Ranma." She said carefully. "There's nothing wrong, nothing wrong at all."

Ranma stared at her for almost ten seconds causing Akane to sweat nervously before a sly smile filled his face. "It's about Ryouga isn't it?" He asked.

"Ryouga?" Akane asked as she drew back a step from him. "No, actually I've forgotten to look for him. I should do that right away."

Ranma laughed before he turned around and leapt back on top of the building. "Well, let me know how it turns out okay?" He turned around and smiled at her. "Oh yeah, there's one other thing that I need to ask you."

"What's that?" Akane asked shortly, exhaustion again becoming evident in her voice.

Ranma's head dipped slightly and his smile became nervous. "Is three months alright?" He asked quietly.

Akane blinked at him. "Three months, what do you mean?" She asked in confusion.

Ranma chuckled nervously. "You know, three months until we get married. You said that you wanted to have a date planned for it."

"Ranma." Akane said quietly as her eyes became as wide as saucers. "I don't know what to say. Of course three months will work, we need to start preparing."

"Yeah, there will be plenty to do in the meantime." Ranma agreed. "But for now we just will need to make the announcement." He smiled at her, the cocky smile that she had grown so accustomed to. "Well we can take care of that in a few weeks after we settle back in a little bit. But for now make sure you take care of everything with Ryouga."

"Yes of course." Akane agreed, still unable to move.

"Love you Akane." Ranma said quietly before he seemed to disappear because of movements that were too quick to follow.

Akane spent several minutes just staring at the ground. "Was that his proposal? She asked herself. Her face became fierce. "Well it's not going to be that easy. She vowed to herself. "Even though we're already fiancées I'm going to make him do it right."

Her body relaxed and she again leaned against the wall. "Now just to find Ryouga. Even though he could be just about anywhere finding his spirit should be easy, it's such a unique one. I was able to get a pretty good feel for it when he came across the dojo while I was training my magical powers."

Akane stood still for almost five minutes while her breath became progressively more relaxed. Gradually a small amount of energy manifested itself at her naval and she took it in her hands. "The most difficult task will be using the magic without forcing my mind to go along with it." She thought to herself. "I don't want to repeat my experience in Hell and spread my mind so thin that it comes close to disappearing. I need to manifest a spell and allow the magic to do the searching for me."

"Find Ryouga." She whispered, clapping her hands on the small ball of energy. Its light flared at her touch and spread out so rapidly that only a thin wisp of its soft golden trail could be seen glinting in the sunlight. Like honey in consistency the light slowly fluttered towards the ground until it evaporated against the concrete surface of the sidewalk.

Like a gunshot a bolt of yellow energy flew directly into Akane's forehead and in response her eyes widened and her mouth fell in surprise at the news it brought.

"I can't sense him anywhere." She whispered to herself. "Something's blocking me completely."

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Night was now fallen. Amidst an endless rolling sea of darkness tiny specks of light made their home. Each of the infinite specks had their own story to tell, and each story predated the existence of the by comparison small city which rested beneath the never ending darkness.

This was a quiet night. But somehow the gentleness that was predicted by the faint glimmering stars did not settle upon the mortal hearts that were infolded by the shadows they cast. Far below their surface a young man rested lazily on top of a small rectangular roof. His form was relaxed but by the way his eyes subtlety twitched and his breathing was slightly hurried it was apparent that he was agitated by whatever thoughts had come across him on this night.

"Something doesn't feel right." Ranma thought to himself. "I can't quite place my finger on it but something certainly doesn't feel right." He sat up slowly and stared into the night sky. "Magic is in the air, a dark kind of magic." He realized. "And something more. I don't know how to explain it but even with the defeat of Captain Ginyu and the breaking of the Joining the future still feels unusually heavy. Like a catastrophe is coming. A catastrophe that can't or won't be stopped."

He shrugged and easily climbed to his feet. "Well, no use worrying about that now. In three months Mousse needs to be strong enough to beat Shampoo. He probably already is but is just too soft to really try. Well with the kind of training that I imagine he'll be going through I think that will be taken right out of him." Ranma smiled and chuckled to himself.

His dark form gracefully leaped through the air and flew through a window which opened to accommodate his body. Landing gently in the dark bedroom he slowly came to his feet and approached the rolled out bedding on the ground where gentle breathing could be heard.

He knelt down next to the sleeping figure. "Hey Mousse." He whispered, gently shaking the man.

The man rustled and snorted uncomfortably for a few moments before he gradually opened his eyes to look up at his antagonist. "Shampoo?" He muttered, blinking at the form above him.

Ranma shook his head and smiled as he picked up Mousse's glasses from beside his bed and handed them to him. "Not even close man." His smiled disappeared. "Look, are you ready to get out of here? I assume that you already know that I've chosen you to fight Shampoo to fulfill Amazon tradition."

Mousse nodded slowly and came to his feet, this time making sure to keep his glasses over his eyes. "Yes I knew Ranma, though I'm not sure how I knew. I also don't have any idea why you would do this for me. I'm not sure if I can trust you."

Ranma shrugged. "I'm in love with Akane and all I want to do is making up for my past indecisiveness. But honestly Shampoo has always been the most difficult of my suitors because by their law even if I told her to leave she couldn't without being disgraced. I need your help; it's the only way out."

Mousse nodded as he threw a few bags over his shoulders to which Ranma shook his head. "No, we'll be flying. And unless you want me to carry you I suggest that you hand those bags to me and go find some cold water."

Mousse frowned but handed Ranma the bags. "I would do anything to be strong enough to beat Shampoo." He told himself determinedly. "Even put up with training from that foolish Saotome who refuses to return the love of my perfect Shampoo."

Within a few minutes it was done and a duck with glasses was facing a young man who had several bags flung across his back. "Follow me duck boy." Ranma said with a grin before jumping out of the window. The duck quacked in annoyance before flying out the window as quickly as it could after him.

Close to ten minutes after they had left the door creaked open and an old wrinkly woman hopped through. "Just as I suspected." Cologne said tiredly while surveying the empty room. "Ranma has also recognized Mousse's talent and chosen to find a suitable trainer for him. Before sunrise tomorrow Shampoo and I will be gone from here to begin her training in the spiritual arts. What and interesting conflict there will be when the time at last comes for them to fight." She chuckled to herself and slowly hopped towards the door before she again paused thoughtfully. "On the other hand, it just wouldn't do to close down the Nekohanten permanently." She said to herself thoughtfully. "It is after all an effective link between the Amazon and outside worlds. Perhaps I could arrange for Shampoo's cousins to take over in our absence."

Chuckling to herself she made her way out of the room before closing the door behind her.

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The already setting sun shined brightly on the Tendo dojo below. Outside of the house a young man with greenish skin and hair paused in front of the door. His breathing picked up slightly, his wrinkled and dirty school uniform clearly displaying that something unusual had taken place earlier in the day. After sighing he finally opened up the door and stepped inside.

"I'm back." He announced gruffly to no one in particular, pausing only to take his shoes off before he stepped on to the wooden floor. "What a pointless human custom that is." He thought to himself in annoyance.

"Oh welcome back Mr. Piccolo." Kasumi said politely to him with a pleasant smile. "I do hope you had a good day at school."

"Wonderful." Piccolo said to her shortly, already moving to the stairs.

"Nabiki woke up today while you were gone." Kasumi said, not even skipping a beat at his comment. "She said that she's feeling much better now, I think she wanted to talk to you."

Piccolo stopped thoughtfully in front of the door before nodding. "Thanks." He said quietly before stepping hurriedly up the stairs. "I need to get out tonight." He thought to himself. "I'm really in the mood to revert to my true form and let off some stress. I'm been in this body for too long, it's starting to feel kind of weird. For some reason parts of my body which never existed before are beginning to draw my attention and I don't like it."

Piccolo stopped for a moment once he was inside the guest room and after throwing his school bag aside he considered his PE class from earlier that day. Everyone had been so impressed with the absolute simplest forms of athletic exertion and pestered him about it. The worst part however was when he saw the girls' class running on the other side of the field. Something about the entire situation just made him nervous and he almost immediately averted his eyes in an attempt to quell the strange feelings brewing inside him.

Unfortunately it didn't do a very good job.

What made him even more nervous was the thought of Nabiki's PE class practicing, just the idea of that happening made him both strangely excited and furious with himself all at the same time.

"I need to get out of this damn body." He muttered to himself darkly before changing the clothes on his body to his traditional outfit. "I can talk to Nabiki about all that later. For now I just need to escape."

He walked firmly to the window and opened it up, staring longingly at the open sky outside. He made a motion to jump out of it but then paused. Turning slowly he looked at the small school bag which he had thrown aside as he came in. With a flick of his wrist the bag flew into one of his waiting hands. "Might as well get some work done while I'm out." He thought to himself. "Who knows, maybe these pathetic humans have some kind of teaching that will give me an edge against Goku in case I ever decide to take over this world."

Taking the bag firmly in hand he leapt out of the window and quickly flew into the sky until he disappeared into the horizon.

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There was a room draped in darkness with only a sliver of sunlight dripping in through the drapes of a large window set against one wall. In a large comfortable looking bed a young woman with brown hair was sleeping peacefully. She started to rustle, shifting from side to side within her bed. Finally she opened her eyes.

"How long have I been out?" Nabiki asked herself with a yawn. She slowly sat up in her bed. "I feel much better now." She realized. She slowly made her way out of her bed and slowly made her way to the door. She opened it in a single motion and stepped into the hallway. "I can't believe how hungry I am." She said to herself quietly, placing her left hand on her stomach.

Giving herself time to wake up Nabiki slowly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Kasumi?" She asked, peeking into the kitchen.

"Oh, you're awake Nabiki." Kasumi said with a smile while turning from whatever pot she was working with. "I'm so glad."

"When will some food be ready?" Nabiki asked with a weak smile.

"Supper should be ready soon." Kasumi said happily. "Oh, and you might want to go talk to father, he was so worried about you. I don't think he's had a chance to talk to you since the incident."

"Supper already?" Nabiki asked herself. "I'll talk to daddy." She told Kasumi before turning to find him. She paused and then slowly turned around. "Where's Piccolo?" She asked Kasumi in confusion. "He should have been home from school a few hours ago."

"He was home." Kasumi said with a smile. "But after he went up to his room he jumped out the window, and I don't have any idea where he is now. I can't sense him at all."

There was a long pause. "Thanks Kasumi." Nabiki said in a flat voice before turning around and going to sit at the table. A deep frown filled her face and her eyes were shimmering, whether with sadness or rage it was difficult to say.

"He left me!" She fumed to herself. "We cut a deal and after only one additional day of school he ran out on it. That's the last time I put faith in some guy I don't even know ever again." A confused look came over her face. "Why am I so upset about this?" She asked herself. "I never let myself get this emotionally attached to anyone, people cut out on deals like this all the time. Besides, what did I expect? I practically forced him into it. With the way I presented the deal he really didn't have any way out. Maybe it's my fault."

With no prompting the words spoken by Mire returned to her mind: "Was the sacrifice worth it?" The voice asked calmly, "You certainly don't have many friends. Was it really worth giving up the possibility of having friends for the sake of money?"

"So that's the path I'll walk." Nabiki thought defiantly to herself. "Let everyone else have their friends, I've never really been interested in having them anyways." She returned to her feet. "Well, I might as well go comfort daddy." She thought sadly to herself. She then slowly made where way to the play room where her father and Mr. Saotome undoubtedly were.

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The light of the moon shined brightly over the gentle ocean waves below. The ocean water was broken in one place only, a small island which was the only land anywhere in sight. Two forms floated down from the darkness. One was a young man wearing Chinese style clothing while the other was a white duck with glasses.

"Well, this is the place." Ranma said to the duck that was panting in exhaustion. "Exactly like Goku remembers." He finished to himself. "Let's see if he's home."

The duck quacked a few times in annoyance, looking at Ranma distrustfully.

"I suppose that I should change you back first." Ranma said thoughtfully. He held out one of his hands towards the ocean water. At his command enough water to roughly fill a pot lifted from the ocean and began to steam, coming close to a boil in midair. It then flew at the duck.

After only a single instant the duck expanded and grew into it was a teenager roughly the same age as the one who transformed it who was standing completely naked on the grass.

"Owww!" Mousse yelled in shock. "Why did you have to make it so hot!?" He yelled in anger.

"Quiet man." Ranma said, putting one of his fingers to his lips. "You'll wake Master Roshi."

Mouse paused and stared at Ranma. "Did you say Master Roshi?" He asked quietly.

"Who's out there?!" a voice yelled from inside the house. From inside stomping could be heard as someone ran down the stairs and the door to the house flew open, revealing an old man wearing pajamas and holding a staff. In curiosity a turtle had moved over next to the door to look at the visitors.

"Is it really Master Roshi the legendary turtle hermit?" Mousse asked happily while turning around.

Master Roshi's face became completely white at the sight of the naked teenager just outside his door. "Ackk, who the hell are you and what are you doing here?!" He yelled in shock and disgust.

Mousse ran over to the turtle and grabbed its two front flippers in his hands. "Please train me Master Roshi!" He said in excitement. "I'll do anything to become your disciple."

"Uh, I'm not Master Roshi." The turtle said in confusion.

"Just who are you talking to?" The old man said in annoyance, one of his eyebrows twitching.

The teenager put his glasses back over his eyes and looked firmly at the turtle whose flippers he was still shaking. "You're not Master Roshi." He said in confusion, only to be hit hard in the side of the head by a staff.

"Of course not, he's just a turtle." The turtle hermit said with a frown. "Now get some clothes on and tell me why you're on my island naked in the middle of the night disturbing my sleep."

Ranma tried desperately not to laugh while surveying the scene in front of him. "Here Mousse." He said with a chuckle, throwing one of Mousse's traditional outfits from one of his carrying cases.

Master Roshi adjusted his sunglasses and looked at the man who had just spoken while Mousse quickly changed into his clothes. "Say, you're the one that we found with Goku the other day. Have they let you out of the hospital already?" He asked curiously.

Ranma shrugged. "Well, they didn't exactly let me out. But they weren't really able to keep me either. I just decided that I was well enough to leave. But in any case, I'm here to request that you take on duck-boy here as a student."

Mousse who was now fully dressed supplicated himself in front of Master Roshi by bowing so that his head almost touched the ground. "I would be very grateful if you would take me on as your student Master Roshi." He said in a pleading voice. "Even in China stories of your greatness have spread as you were once known as the god of martial arts. Never did I ever imagine that I would actually have the chance to meet you."

"Well, that's better." The old man replied, somewhat pacified. He stood still for a moment as if he were considering. "Nope sorry, I've had enough of training students for one life-time." He said with a note of finality before turning around to reenter his house.

"No wait!" Mousse yelled, running forward quickly to grab his arm. "I would do anything if you would take me on as one of your students!"

"Sorry, not interested." Master Roshi said while raising his head. "Try again in a few years; I might be in the mood then." At that he started chortling to himself.

"Hey, who's this picture of Mousse?" Ranma asked in an exaggerated curious voice. "She's kind of cute."

"What, what are you talking about?" Mousse asked in confusion while turning to look at Ranma.

Faster then Mousse could register the old geezer was already standing next to Ranma staring over his shoulder. "Ohh, let me see what you have there boy, he he he." Master Roshi said eagerly. In one motion he grabbed the photo from Ranma's hand.

In the photo a teenage girl with purple hair was balancing a bowl of ramen in each hand while standing on one foot winking at the camera. Her clothing showed all of the curves of her body and she could be described as nothing short of breathtaking. The old man stared at her for a moment while drooling.

"Hey, that's mine!" Mousse yelled in protest while trying to grab it away from him.

Master Roshi jumped away from him and put the picture in one of his pockets. "That's no way to talk to your new master boy!" He barked.

"New master, do you really mean it?" Mousse asked with tears already falling out of his eyes.

"Of course I mean it." The old man said confidently. "Just give me a few more pictures of this girl and you're in."

"Well, I suppose so." Mousse said uncertainly while moving to one of his cases to look through it.

"My business here is done." Ranma thought to himself in satisfaction while walking to the edge of the island. "Now all that's left is getting back to the Tendo dojo as quickly as possible so I have some time to sleep before school tomorrow." He yawned widely as if to punctuate his thought.

As fate would have it one particularly large wave came out of the water and slammed into him full force. Caught off guard Ranma fell backwards onto her rear end.

"Oh my, what have we here?" Master Roshi asked in delight and surprise, looking over at the newly transformed Ranma.

In place of the young man that had been there before was a young and very pretty woman. She looked to be about nineteen or so, a few years older then Ranma's girl side had been before, and filled with mature beauty. In addition to the extra years there was a now a single lock of black hair hanging above her right eye which topped off her newly refined appearance with a sense of exotic style. If it wasn't for the fact that she was soaking wet and sitting on her butt she would have looked very cool, as it was she was just plain sexy.

Master Roshi was next to her at once. "Wow, look at those jugs." He said with a laugh. "So what brings you to my island little lady?"

"Not you." Ranma said with barely contained rage. "Mousse you have three months to train." She said firmly to the confused looking man who just nodded. "I'm counting on you to become as strong as possible. Remember that this is your last chance to beat Shampoo."

As the old martial arts master moved to grope her an aura of energy flared around Ranma and sent him flying backwards with a yell. A split instant later Ranma jumped up into the night sky and became a speck on the horizon.

"So master, when do we start?" Mousse asked the hole in the wall curiously.

"Tomorrow morning." The old man wheezed to him from inside the house.

"Alright, I'll do my best." Mousse said in determination while looking down at his hands. "I don't have any idea how Ranma knew who the old master was or where to find him but I owe it to him and myself to do my best." A serious smile filled his face. "Just you wait Shampoo; I'll make myself worthy of you no matter what."

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Darkness was laid across the city of Tokyo like a shawl; blanketing the residents in darkness so that they could find rest. There was no rest to be had, however, at a small restaurant by the name of Ucchan's that night. Even standing outside of the restaurant one could clearly hear a faint sniffling sound, the enigmatic kind of sound that one might blame on a ghost or a phantom in the night. But this time the crying belonged to a young woman who lived inside the restaurant, in the back where her personal quarters were located.

"How could Ranchan do this do me?" Ukyo thought to herself despondently while hugging her legs even closer to her body. She shook her head and her face became disgusted. "No, I did this to myself. Ranma just made his choice that's all. He just made the choice that I knew that he had already made; I just couldn't admit it to myself. I was too weak." She smiled bitterly in mockery of herself. "He never loved me, just thought of me as a friend. I knew that I could never be anything more but I just had to fool myself."

She put her face onto her knees and gripped her legs even closer to her body. "Oh if only there was something I could do to try to escape this nightmare."

A large explosion split the night air within the restaurant section of her house. Just outside her door she could hear the crash of furniture as it flew against various walls and doors. "What the hell was that?!" Ukyo yelled in shock, running out of her room and down the hall approaching the restaurant. She stopped in shock at what she saw; the door separating her living quarters from her restaurant was completely blasted down by a chair that was currently in pieces. In side the room she saw a young man looking around with shock evident in his eyes.

"That was unexpected." He said dumbly.

Ukyo stopped for just a single instant to consider him. He was close to her age, maybe just one or two years older, and held himself with the strength and grace that could be expected from a martial artist of some level of skill. The strangely grey and drab looking hair which sat upon his head was quite different from his almost glowing green eyes which held the promise of another place and another time within their foreign depths. His clothes were ordinary enough, blue loose hanging pants and a long sleeved white shirt. But what were most remarkable about him were his hands. They were small and slight, not disproportionate to the size of his body but they almost seemed liked they could belong to a child or perhaps an elfin creature of some sort. The grace with which his fingers moved was amazing to behold.

It only took a moment for Ukyo to soak in the entire seen before her face clouded over with fury. "What do you think you're doing in here?!" She yelled while stomping over to him. "Can't you see I'm trying to be miserable?! I'm going to call the police!"

"Hey now, no need to be hasty." The man said with an embarrassed smile. "I can pay for the damage; just don't bring the local authorities into this. That would make things more complicated."

Ukyo crossed her arms and scowled at him. "Alright, I won't bring the police into this. Besides, it would give me more satisfaction to kick your ass without their help." With those words a spatula seemed to materialize in each of her hands and she started taking swings at him.

"Hey now." The man said, barely dodging her fervent attacks. "Don't you think that this is a bit hasty of you?"

"Shut up and stand still!" Ukyo yelled, already breathing hard. "Stand still and let me hit you!"

"Well then I see I have no choice." The man said coolly. As if complying with her all of his movements suddenly stopped and he stood perfectly still. Startled at this Ukyo's attacks ceased and she spent a moment staring at him. "You're going to let me hit you?" She asked incredulously.

"Only if you can." The man responded with a smug smile.

Shrugging Ukyo grabbed her large battle spatula from her belt with both hands and swung it as hard as she could directly at his head. Her grin of victory turned to a shout of surprise as something seemed to hit her weapon a moment too soon sending the spatula flying out of her hands where it embedded itself in a wall.

Ukyo spent a few seconds staring at him in surprise before she fell to her knees and started to cry. "I can't even fight well anymore." She said to herself bitterly between sobs. "I don't have anything left."

The man was left staring down at her awkwardly. "Look, if it makes you feel better I can help you to clean up this mess." He said walking to where a chair was embedded in a wall. He put both of his hands on the chair with some effort pulled it out.

"Who are you?" Ukyo asked from where she was sitting.

"My name is Krazer." The man said with a smile over at her. "You know, this is actually a pretty nice place you have here. Would you mind if I stayed for a while, at least until we have everything cleaned up?"

Normally Ukyo would have blanched at such a request from a man she had never met before but something about the days events actually made her consider it. All of her stress and depression which she had buried inside herself for years had just a few hours earlier erupted not unlike a volcano leaving her feeling hallow on the inside. And when she looked into his eyes she saw a promise of caring and innocence and of far off places.

"Those eyes couldn't possibly belong to someone from this world." She realized silently. "Who is this Krazer and where has he come from?" The moment turned into minutes and still she only looked at him uncomfortably. Finally she frowned and again stomped up to him.

"You owe me a lot more then just helping with the repairs." She said sternly at him. "You also owe me time helping in running this restaurant to make up for what the repairs will cost. You'll have to help out here for at least three months to make up for this."

The man held up his hands defensively. "Alright, three months of free service if you'll forgive me for this."

Ukyo raised her head and turned around. "Fine, the guest room is the first door on the left. We'll start first thing in the morning. Whatever you do, don't you dare disturb my sleep again."

"Wait a second, what's your name?" The man asked hurriedly before she could leave.

"Ukyo, but you can call me boss." She said in a firm voice while already walking away from him. She delicately stepped over the ruined doorway and opened the door to her room before walking inside and closing it behind her.

The man stared after her and then rubbed his head in confusion. "I wasn't briefed on any of these developments; I wonder what I should do." He shrugged. "One of my prime directives was to avoid letting anyone know of where I came from and what I can do. I guess that for now all I can do is go along with this whole situation.

He flexed his arms. "Well I guess I'd better get started if I want to have this place cleaned up by morning."

******************************************

Golden sunlight spilled over the horizon onto a beautiful cascading waterfall below. Hovering over the waterfall was a man whose legs were crossed in the midst of his meditation. He was very tall, over 6'5 feet, and his entire visible body was a dark shade of green. Gradually his eyes opened.

"Almost time for me to return to that damned school." He muttered to himself. "Otherwise that girl Nabiki will come after me."

His face became thoughtful. "It's curious, ever since I've reverted to my true form I'm felt different about Nabiki. I've become less concerned with the way she looks and more with how damn annoying she is." He shrugged. "Well, it can't be helped." He levitated down into the waterfall, triggering his transformation to a human teenager and then in one smooth motion grabbed his backpack off the ground. "I can feel the differences between my two forms." He thought to himself. "They're completely different from each other in too many ways for me to count." He closed his eyes and focused causing his aura to flare about him. He then looked up and scrutinized the horizon. Finally he flew off at a quick speed and disappeared into the distance.

***************************************

In a dark room that had the feel of a place that was tucked into a corner of reality, a small circle filled with obscure symbols blazed with a red energy. Standing above the circle was an obscure figure wrapped so much with clothes that race and gender were indefinable who was currently holding its hands above the circle while creating a raspy chant.

Another form dressed in a similar garb materialized next to the first. "Our meeting is at seven o'clock sharp Rykuyo." The form said sternly in a light unmistakably female voice while putting its hands on its hips. "Our president will be upset if you skip another one."

"He knows I'm on business." The form responded, the voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard. "Tell him that I'll make the afternoon meeting with a full report."

The girl sighed before leaning to examine the glowing circle on the ground. "Ooooo, it's a spiritual summoning circle. What are you planning on doing to poor Akane this time?"

"I don't think it's any of your business." The person said in annoyance.

"Awww, that's so mean." The girl pouted. Only a moment later she was excited again. "Well, I'll see you later; I have some people I want to say hello too!" After that last word her body seemed to vaporize and her presence completely disappeared.

The indiscernible form took a long moment and stared at the circle on the ground. "You've demonstrated an impressive level of combat skill Akane." It whispered in thought. "No doubt due to your back round as a martial artist. But you have yet to be integrated into the art of magical combat. As long as you rely on what you understand to fight I'm afraid that your life will be snuffed as easily as a lonely candle, regardless of your fighting spirit or desire for victory. I hope for your sake that our president is right about you."

The form again raised it's hands above the circle and continued with it's obscure chants and motions.

***************************************

The door to the Tendo's guest room opened slowly to show a very sleepy Ranma Saotome yawning. "What a night." He said tiredly walking out of the room and to the stairs. Slowly he made his way down to the dining room where he saw Nabiki and Akane were already eating.

"When did you get back?" Nabiki asked while raising one of her eyebrows at him. "I don't remember sensing your presence approaching last night."

"About three o'clock, I had some things to take care of." Ranma said with another yawn. "This is not the ideal day to go back to school."

"Stop complaining." Akane said in annoyance while lifting her head. "It's your fault for going out on some mystery errand to all hours of the night. If I didn't know better then I'd say that you were out with one of your fiancées."

Ranma frowned at her. "Hey, you know that isn't true. I've gotten rid of all the other fiancées except for you. You need to have more trust."

Akane managed to look somewhat ashamed before turning to Nabiki. "So where's Piccolo?" She asked curiously. "I can't sense him anywhere nearby. I thought he was attending school here."

Nabiki's face became cool and expressionless. "It would appear that he backed out of our little deal." She said in a calm voice.

"Are you sure about that?" Ranma asked, smiling. "I can sense him approaching this very spot at a speed that I would have trouble matching. I think he just needed some time alone to. reflect."

Even the clueless Ranma noted with some surprise the flash of pleasure that lit up Nabiki's face. But it only lasted for an instant before it was again replaced with her all emotionless expression. "Oh, I see. Well I suppose that I can count on him after all." She said coolly. "I still have a few dollars to make off of him."

Both Akane and Ranma sweat-dropped together.

"Right." Ranma said in a voice that showed worry for Piccolo. "Wonder if the poor guy knows what he's gotten himself into." Ranma thought to himself with a smile. "Well anyways, I need to find pops. I'm in the mood for a morning spar to help wake me up."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea Ranma?" Akane asked with concern in her voice. "I mean, you were better then him before you went off to train with Kami."

"Yeah, that's right." Ranma said with wide eyes. "I guess the old man wouldn't be able to keep up with me anymore." His face became thoughtful. "Piccolo's really strong; maybe he'd be up for a spar."

"I'd be glad to Ranma." A confident voice announced from the doorway. Everyone turned to see Piccolo in his human form dressed in his traditional garb. He smiled fiercely at Ranma and walked into the house. "Are you up for a little scuffle right now?"

"Yeah, more then ready." Ranma said, smiling equally widely back.

"I'm glad to see that you didn't back out on our deal." Nabiki said while looking coldly at Piccolo. "But from now on I must request that you tell me before you leave for an entire night. I might have made other plans for you."

"Made other plans for me?" Piccolo asked shock evident in his eyes. The shock quickly turned to anger. "I don't care what kind of deal we made I will not allow for you to plan out my life!" His voice climbed to a roar.

Nabiki opened her mouth to retort when Kasumi walked lightly into the kitchen holding a large plate of steaming eggs. "Oh my, am I interrupting something?" She asked delicately while looking at the two verbal combatants.

"No, nothing." Nabiki said in a low voice. She walked towards the door until she was standing side by side with Piccolo. "Next time I want to spend some time with you I guess I'll just forget it." Her voice said, so low that even with his exceptional hearing Piccolo had trouble making out her words. She then walked past him and out the door.

"But don't you want something to eat?" Kasumi called after her.

"I'll eat later." Nabiki yelled from the yard of the house.

Shrugging Kasumi set the plate on the table and turned around to return to the kitchen. Piccolo awkwardly turned to Ranma and Akane and scratched his head. "What is eating at her?" He asked in complete confusion. "She radiating a combination of depression and disappointment with a few other emotions I've never seen before."

Ranma and Akane's eyes met across the table and they stared at each other for a moment. "You don't suppose that Nabiki's well, you know. Do you?" Akane asked, almost not understanding what she was trying to say.

Ranma shook his head slowly as if trying to expunge the impossibility from his mind. "No, it couldn't be." He said in total disbelief. "Not Nabiki, no way."

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Piccolo asked in an annoyed voice. "Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"Sorry man; can't help you." Ranma said while putting his arms behind his head. "I've never claimed to know how girls think. All I know is that Nabiki only cares about money." There was a pause as Ranma's face crunched in thought. "She's probably just upset because she thought she wasn't going to be able to make money off of you."

"So that's it." Piccolo said with a sigh of relief. "I'm glad it wasn't anything complicated. I'm having trouble understanding all of these human emotions."

"Human emotions?" Akane asked her face alight with confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

Nothing, nothing at all." Piccolo said with an awkward cough. "It's just that all emotions that humans express are still so confusing to me, mine included."

"Oh, I see." Akane said with a shrug. She smiled brightly and came to her feet. "Well anyways, you should go after her Piccolo and try to cheer her up. I think that she'd like you to."

"What about our spar?" Ranma asked. "I gotta work hard to keep in shape you know. Piccolo is the only guy around her strong enough to fight with."

Akane's eyes narrowed. "A girl's heart is more important Ranma, don't you understand anything?" She turned back to Piccolo who was currently examining both of them with wide uncertain eyes.

"Go along now Piccolo." Akane said with a chuckle.

"But what do I say to her?" Piccolo asked, his voice becoming higher pitch.

"Just say whatever comes to heart." Akane responded with a smirk. "They're so cute together." She thought to herself with a grin.

Piccolo slowly walked out of the door and onto the street. He turned around once to look back at Akane and Ranma but the former merely smiled and gave him a thumbs up while the latter shrugged and looked confused.

"Typical." Thought Piccolo with a hiss. "I suppose my theory about Ranma knowing nothing about girls is accurate after all. But I'd sooner die then take advice from a lowly human female on how do deal with this difficult situation. Perhaps there is someone else is this foolish town who can help me."

Piccolo thought for a moment but finally just shook his head and made his way down the street.

*************************************

The sound of a beeping alarm clock was the first thing to break the silence. Ukyo slowly opened her eyes and absorbed the scenario surrounding her. Faint light could be seen making its way through the window blinds which played across her bed. The time on the alarm indicated that it was currently five o'clock. Generally on a school day she would wake up early enough to catch the early rush of customers who wanted breakfast from her restaurant before she went to school. Based off of the time she supposed it was one of those days.

Ukyo yawned widely and stretched before she slowly climbed out of her bed and came to her feet. "I had the strangest dream last night." She muttered to herself tiredly while turning off the annoying alarm. She lethargically opened the door to her room and stepped into the hallway. From the restaurant part of her house she could hear the subtle creaking of the floorboards as something moved about lightly.

"Probably a cat." She thought to herself. "No human could possibly move that lightly." Her face crunched in confusion. "But how did a cat get into that room? There weren't any openings wide enough for one." Her eyes widened. "Oh no, what if it found a way to get into the food?"

At a pace just shy of a full out run Ukyo went for the door to the dining area and threw it wide open. Inside she saw the man from the previous night walking about the now spotless and as good as new room carefully examining everything.

"Oh hello Boss." He said smiling pleasantly to her. "I'm glad to see that you're up. You were sleeping for so long that I was worried about you."

"What do you mean Krazer?" Ukyo asked, staring in astonishment and the now bright and shining room. She noted with particular surprise that all of the damaged furniture was now completely restored and was in fact in even better shape then it had been the previous night.

"Well, you slept for almost five hours." Krazer said, now squirming uncomfortably where he was standing. "That's unnaturally long, isn't it?"

Ukyo stared at him for a moment but turned her head when she found herself becoming lost in his eyes. "What's normal for a human is between seven and nine hours, certainly not as low as five."

"Oh, I see." Krazer said, scratching the back of his head. "Well in any case," He continued brightly, "As you can see the repairs are now all complete. So if you don't mind boss then I will be on my way."

"Wait a moment." Ukyo interjected quickly, narrowing her eyes. "I never gave you permission to leave."

The man turned back to her and stared at her in disbelief. Ukyo could almost feel him radiating confusion as if it were some kind of aura.

"What do you mean; you didn't give me permission to leave?" He asked. "The entire reason for me staying was to pay you back for the repairs through labor. Since I handled the repairs overnight without any cost to you then all of my responsibilities are settled."

Ukyo crossed her arms and glowered at him. "Don't you remember our deal? You simply stated that you'd give me three months of free service so that I'd forgive you for disturbing me." She lifted her head and smiled at him, the dangerous kind of smile as if she considered him prey of some kind. "Now I'm fair. Even though you said the service would be free I'm willing to give you room and board and a small amount of the money that this restaurant makes in exchange for your services."

Now he radiated an aura that spoke of being confused and trapped at the same time. "Well, alright boss." He said with an uncertain gulp. "I did say that I would help you without mentioning how much the repairs would cost so I suppose that I'm at your demand for three months. Where do we start?"

"With the basics." Ukyo stated. "I'll teach you where the cooking supplies are located so you can fetch things for me while I'm busy. When I don't need anything you get to play waiter boy and bring the food out to the customers."

"That's sounds easy enough." Krazer said now radiating relief. "Maybe this won't be so bad." He thought to himself.

"But I've got my eyes on you." Ukyo warned with a frown. "If you make one false move then you'll regret it." Her eyes narrowed at him dangerously.

Krazer sweat-dropped and stepped back. "This girl is crazy, are all mortal women like this?" He asked himself in disbelief.

"Now that that's settled lets get started." Ukyo said with a pleasant voice and smile while walking to her working position behind the desk. "Anyways, this is where I keep the different varieties of flour."

*****************************************

After Piccolo was out of sight Ranma turned to Akane and looked at her curiously.

"What was that all about Akane?" He asked suspiciously. "If I didn't know any better I would think that you're trying to set those two up."

"Well of course silly." Akane said with a self-satisfied smile. "They would be really cute together. Besides, Nabiki's been lonely for a long time. Having someone like Piccolo take her out of her shell would be a wonderful thing don't you think?"

"Well, I suppose so." Ranma said uncertainly, scratching his head. "But I don't know if Piccolo could really handle that kind of a relationship."

"What do you mean Ranma?" Akane asked, staring at him with wide eyes. "Piccolo's just a teenager just like us, and from the way he holds himself I'd say he's in many ways more experienced then us. Why couldn't he handle a relationship like this?"

"Well it's kind of hard to explain." Ranma said, scratching the side of his head. His face brightened. "So how would you like to train with me Akane?" He asked, changing the subject.

"And how am I supposed to that?" Akane asked suspiciously. "I admit that I wasn't close to you in terms of strength before last year, there's no way I could keep up with you now."

"But you have your magic." Ranma explained. "And honestly I'm not completely sure how to deal with it. So working together we can improve our abilities to deal with the other's skills."

"Well, I guess that makes sense." Akane said uncertainly. "Where do we start?"

"Step outside and I'll show you." Ranma said confidently. As he led Akane outside a smile spread across his face. "Two birds with one stone." He thought to himself. "While Akane and I develop our ability to work together as a team at the same time I'll practice the kao-ken technique. Now if only I can get Piccolo to train with me I'll be able to push my limits in every way."

*******************************************

The bright sun peaked through the window into the small classroom. Throughout the room small groups of teenagers were collected, each of them chatting idly to pass the time away before the teacher showed up.

On the left side of the classroom towards the back of the class a glamorous however grumpy teenager with greenish skin sat with his arms crossed and a scowl filling his otherwise perfect features. Sitting to his left was a beautiful however cold teenage girl with an emotionless face. They were currently turned away from each other, clearly not on speaking terms.

"I can't believe that she still won't forgive me for what happened last night." Piccolo cursed to himself. "Sure she says that she doesn't mind, but if that's true then why the hell won't she talk to me."

He sneaked a glance out of the corner of his eye at her. Turning he was about to speak but then he felt a tap on his shoulder. "What do you want?" He asked, turning quickly to the offender.

What he saw was a rather cute girl with long red hair which ran down to her waist behind her back and over her arms who had gentle facial features and relaxed light red eyes. What stood out most about her to Piccolo however was the badge she was wearing that had a picture of his face and was labeled, 'Piccolo Fan Club'.

"What the hell is that?!" He exclaimed, pointing at the badge on her chest.

"Oh this?" She asked with a nonsensical giggle. "This badge shows that I'm a member of your fan club." She suddenly leaned in on him so that their noses were touching, causing Piccolo to clench his teeth in shock and lean back farther trying to escape. "In fact, I'm the president." She continued, smiling at his surprise. "My name is Kayree, and you of course are my beloved Piccolo."

Everyone in the class had now noticed what was going on and there was already a circle around them. Nabiki raised her eyebrows in surprise at what was happening.

"Finally a chance to make some money." She thought to herself in satisfaction, trying to ignore the painful feeling that appeared in her gut at the sight of Piccolo being so close to another girl.

"Beloved, I don't know what you're talking about!" Piccolo yelled, desperately backing away from her.

Stars appeared in Kayrees eyes and she held her hands together. "Of course you do Piccolo, we were meant to be together!" She said dramatically. "It's written in the stars, oh how I'm so happy to meet you at last!" She grabbed his hands and held them in her own. "Please Mr. Piccolo, won't you date with me?"

Before Piccolo could even respond Nabiki coolly removed her hands from his and stepped in between them. "You may be the president of his fan club but I'm his agent." She said. "Pleased to meet you."

She held out one of her hands which the other girl confusedly took and shook. "You're Nabiki right?" She asked. "I think I've heard of you."

"I would imagine most everyone has." Nabiki said sarcastically. "I have quite a reputation by now."

"Isn't that just a little bit arrogant?" Piccolo heard someone in the back- round ask. "No way man." Someone responded. "Her reputation has practically encompassed all of Tokyo let alone this high school. If anything she's understating how well known she is."

"What are you doing?" Piccolo hissed at her.

"Leave this to me." Piccolo heard her voice speak in his mind. "We have a deal remember?" Piccolo fumed for a moment but kept silent.

"As his agent I am currently selling time slots to be spent with him." Nabiki said in a business tone of voice. "As demand increases the price may increase as well but as things stand the current going rate is one- thousand yen per half hour you get with him, up to a maximum of three hours in any given day. Is that acceptable to you?"

"Wow, I can't believe she just did that." Piccolo again heard someone in the back-round say. "And here I thought they were dating too. I guess that Nabiki is just taking advantage of him in the same way she takes advantage of everyone else."

Piccolo noticed one of Nabiki's eyebrows twitch slightly at the last comment but didn't think anything of it.

"Yes, of course that's acceptable!" Kayree said excitedly, hopping up and down where she was standing. "What time tonight do I get him?"

"You can have him immediately after school." Nabiki said calmly. "Unfortunately he has other. errands to run later in the day." She held out one of her hands. "But the pay is up front, you must pay to reserve your time with him."

"Of course." The girl said brightly, pulling 6,000 yen in bills out of nowhere and handing it to Nabiki. Piccolo watched the exchange with wide fearful eyes.

"Don't worry about it." Nabiki's voice echoed in his mind. "After you're done with this floozy you'll be able to spend a few hours fighting with Ranma and then you can study magic with me before I go to bed. Unless I miss my guess you don't need to sleep as much as the rest of us so you can do your studying for school after that."

"I still feel like I'm getting the raw end of this deal." Piccolo thought back to her with a growl.

Nabiki seemed to mentally shrug in response. "A deal is a deal." She thought carelessly. "Trust me, training with Ranma will make all of this worth your time and trouble."

Piccolo could only nod with response to that. The truth was that she was right; he had seen what Ranma could do and was extremely excited to have the chance to test his new powers against him.

The bell rang signaling the class would start and all of the students took their seats. "I wonder if Miss Hoshiti is going to be late again today." One of the male students in the front row commented in boredom. "So far her record is close to seven minutes."

Almost in response to his comment the door swung open and a man with a suitcase casually walked in. He was young, perhaps in his early twenties and had jet black well groomed hair. He was wearing a well pressed black suit and tie and held his suitcase easily in his left hand while his right hand was in his right coat pocket. Small Kagato (Think Tenchi Muyo) style glasses rested on his face and were draped too far down his nose to do him any good. Regardless of all these things, what stood out most about him in this classroom was that he wasn't Japanese. His appearance was what could only be described as a type of European Royalty, his features and mannerisms princely in nature. For those who recognized it he was positively dripping in arrogance and self-confidence.

"Well well, Furinkan Highschool room 118 First period taught by Miss Hoshiti unless I am mistaken." The man spoke in perfect Japanese, each syllable spoken precisely as if he had known Japanese all his life.

"Who the hell are you?" The male student who had spoken up earlier chimed in the front row.

The man pushed up his glasses on his face. "My name is Mr. Jones. I represent the board of directors of the First Technological Research Agency which is stationed in America." He glanced carelessly at the student who had questioned him. "And you, as I recall, are Riden Hashtare. You are currently in your eleventh year in this school system and have participated largely in a wide variety of sports including basketball and soccer. You do, however, have relatively impressive study habits and have maintained an 'A' average thus far."

The teenager in question could only stare at him gapingly. "How, how did you know all that?"

Mr. Jones gave a self satisfied smile. "I made it my business to look up the profiles of all the students in this school, seeing as how I have important business here."

"You're not allowed to just walk right in." One of the other students ventured. "The principal only allows students who can fight to do that."

"You forget that this is Thursday." The man said casually. "And the teacher is always four and a half minutes late because she's finishing her morning breakfast. So I have at least two minutes seventeen seconds to finish my business."

"This guy is outrageous." Piccolo thought to himself in shock, only able to stare at the man who was standing in the front of the class. "What is he planning to get out of this?"

The man looked to the back of the class where Piccolo was sitting, only to have his attention focus on the girl who was sitting next to him.

"There you are Nabiki." The man said smugly. "We meet at last. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this opportunity."

"Forgive me if I don't introduce myself." Nabiki said calmly, crossing her hands on the desk in front of her. "But it seems to me that you probably already know all about me; therefore such an introduction would be a waste of time."

"Quite right." The man agreed. "You get straight to the point, that's why you're the perfect choice." He casually opened up his suitcase and set it on the desk. "Thus I will also get to the point, seeing as how I have little more then a minute to finish this."

He rested his hands on the suitcase. "As I have already stated I represent the board of directors of a prestigious American company." He said confidently. "And recently our Chief Financial Advisor has come across some difficult times and needs to be replaced." A light caught on his glasses and caused them to shine brightly. "And you Nabiki Tendo are his chosen successor."

"Me?" Nabiki asked in shock while the room filled with murmurings. "Why would you choose some high school student from another country for such a position?" "And how did he find out about me?" She added to herself.

"Such things are inconsequential." Mr. Jones stated while pulling a black folder out of his suitcase. He opened one of the drawers of the desk and set the folder inside. "Third down on the right." He advised, shutting the suitcase. "Miss Hoshiti never checks that one."

He picked up the suitcase this time in his right hand and turned to walk for the door. "The proposal is in the folder Nabiki, now have a good day." He said with a smile that exuded confidence.

Right before he got to the door it opened in front of him to show the teacher standing in the hallway with a confused look on her face.

"And who are you?" Miss Hoshiti asked in surprise.

"My name is Mr. Jones." He casually answered with a slight frown on his face. "And you Miss Hoshiti are seven seconds early." With that he brushed passed her and into the hallway.

Everyone and the teacher stared at where he had just been standing in almost awe like silence. "What was that?" Everyone asked together.

"Could this guy be for real?" Piccolo and Nabiki thought together, staring after him.

******************************************

"This day is going on forever." Akane sighed to herself, leaning deeply on her right hand. She spent a few minutes watching the teacher at the front of the classroom droning on about something or another that she was having trouble understanding. She found her mind drifting back to the experience the other day with the skeletal creature. "What was that thing, and where did it come from?" She asked herself while turning her head to look out the window. "I can't help but feel that it comes from some new sort of threat, but what kind? Couldn't they at least give a girl a few days off?!" She asked in frustration.

Matsumi who was sitting between her and the window turned to her and smiled. "I'm so glad that she's back." Akane thought to herself. "All of the other girls were giving me weird looks after that kiss that Ranma gave me but Matsumi never cared about that kind of thing."

Akane started to blissfully stare off into space at the thought of Ranma's kiss when all of a sudden a piece of chalk bounced off her head.

"Miss Tendo, out in the hall!" The teacher ordered in annoyance, a frown covering his face. "Maybe next time you'll pay attention to benefit your future!"

Matsumi smiled at Akane and winked. For some reason the simple gesture made Akane feel better and she stood up and walked to the exit. "Of course teacher." She said submissively, bowing to him before stepping into the hallway.

"Now, as I was saying." The teacher said, continuing with his lesson. Unnoticed by the rest of the class Matsumi's previously gentle smile shifted until it covered her face with an expression of smugness. "Perfect Akane, you set everything up for us perfectly." She thought to herself.

***************************************

Akane sighed to herself while shifting the position of the buckets in her hands. "This is so boring." She said out loud, stifling a yawn. "I'd rather be in class, at least then I could take notes or something."

Her breath caught in her chest as an odd sensation flared within her. "Black magic." She whispered. "Someone's at it again."

She looked around with her eyes narrowed. "No one's looking." She said to herself quietly. "I guess the trick will be to leave and get back without anyone noticing." She looked up at a clock located on a hall. "Forty-five minutes until the end of class, I have until then to get back."

"Teleport." Akane whispered. At that word her body disappeared. An instant later she rematerialized on the roof of the school. "Change clothing!" Akane announced, throwing both of her hands into the air. Instantly her school clothes melted into a golden light while a sappy musical tune drifted up from a radio in a nearby house. The light spun about her and finally settled onto her body in the form of shimmering robes.

"That was vaguely disturbing but I can't put my finger on why." Akane thought to herself. She shrugged and leapt off the building, hitting the ground at a dead run. "I can worry about that later!"

Some ten minutes passed before Akane's full tilt run slowed to a slow jog. "Why is everyone looking at me so weirdly?" She asked herself in annoyance. "Haven't they ever seen anyone wearing clothes like this before?"

As she approached the scene a crowd of close to four people ran past her with expressions of panic on their faces before their eyes became vacant and they fell to the ground. Looking to where they had come from she saw absolutely nothing, just an empty street with close to twenty bodies slumped about as if they had fallen asleep standing.

"What is going on here?" Akane asked herself, kneeling next to the body of a small child seemingly asleep on the ground. She rolled him over and peered into his eyes, only to gasp at what she saw. "His soul is. gone." She concluded out loud in astonishment.

She looked back up onto the street and only now noticed a heavy spiritual presence which had seemed to settle onto the ground. "Reveal!" She yelled, throwing out her left hand towards the spot where she felt the presence.

In response a form appeared, seeming to materialize out of the air. Wafting rust-like vapors took on a vaguely humanoid appearance which floated weightlessly above the ground. One of the creatures appendages were already raised and pointed directly at Akane.

"Shit." She muttered; bring up her arms to defend herself. "Aura!" She yelled. In response a golden aura surrounded her body. And not a moment too soon. Even as the words came out of her mouth some of the rusty vapors snaked out of the creatures arms directly at her. The vapors came in contact with the aura about her chest. Even though there was no physical manipulation from the creature the shock from the attack caused Akane to involuntarily fly backwards onto her back.

"Strong." She muttered, jumping back to her feet. "Holy burst!" She yelled while throwing a beam of radiant holy energy directly at the creature. However like the vapor it was the form of the adversary merely shifted, causing the attack to miss. "What the hell?!" Akane yelled in shock. Only a moment later the misty form closed the distance to ten feet and again began to pound on her aura.

"Holy Burst! Holy Burst!" Akane yelled in succession, each attack only slowing down the thing in front of her for an instant before it again continued it's barrage. "This isn't working." Akane thought to herself in panic, now unable to stand under the attacks. "At this rate I may, I may." Tears started to roll down her face and she clenched her fists. "It's not fair!" She yelled in fury.

As if her words held power a raging wind picked up from behind her, sending the form sliding back almost forty feet in a single instant. Akane looked up in shock to see the creature struggling against the wind to approach her, constantly throwing attacks fruitlessly as if against the air.

"Did I do that?" She asked in wonder.

"No, it was I!" A proud voice announced from a rooftop behind her.

Akane slowly came to her feet as she turned around and looked up. Standing on a building behind her was a man who was swaddled in luminescent white robes which were whipping about him almost violently in response to the intense wind he was creating.

"And who are you?" Akane asked in bewilderment, staring at him.

"I am. the white wizard!" The man announced loudly, taking a firm battle pose which was meant to look cool but somehow ended up looking silly.

"Uh, right." Akane said sweat-dropping. "So, why are you here?"

"Listen young sorceress of the golden light." The man said imploringly while ignoring her question. "The power of magic is not derived from single spells or techniques, but from true freedom of thought. You who have done the impossible must not weaken yourself by relying too much on single techniques, but must broaden your mind by constantly creating new spells from your instincts to resolve any given situation!"

"Geez, enough already." Akane said while waving one of her hands at him dismissively. "Man, what's with the speech?" She asked herself while returning her gaze to the monster that was still struggling against its bonds. "Power comes from freedom of thought huh?" She asked herself quietly. "I do remember reading that in mother's book."

Just then the rusty vapors ripped apart the winds that were binding them and the humanoidish creature flew at her with a terrifying speed.

"Think Akane." She thought to herself determinedly. "Something that gas can't pass through. Her eyes flashed. "Divine Globe!" She yelled, holding out both of her hands in front of her. In response a flaring sphere of holy energy surrounded the creature, completely entrapping it. In frustration it started to pound on its constraints but to no avail.

"Excellent young sorceress!" The white wizard yelled. "Now you must destroy the creature to release the souls it has stolen."

"But how?" Akane asked in confusion, turning to him.

"Look inside yourself." The mage told her. "Deep within your soul I'm sure you will find a way."

"Dear Kami, I can't believe he just said that." Akane blanched to herself, trying not to gag. Closing her eyes she carefully examined the spiritual presence that was contained within her spell. "It's power seems to be related to how concentrated it is in any one area." She realized. "So if I spread it out further than it can handle, maybe it won't be able to support its own life, and the souls of the people will be free to return to the bodies."

Akane thought for a moment and a gentle spell came to her lips. "Breeze." She muttered, and slowly spread her hands apart as she shut down the barrier holding the creature. Struggling, it resisted as a wind pulled it in four different directions. But the farther it stretched the weaker its struggle became in eventually it ceased to exist altogether.

Akane sighed and opened her eyes. "I suppose that did it." She said quietly, before her eyes widened in shock. "Their souls are still gone." She said in confusion, again turning to the form behind her. "I thought you said that they would come back."

"And so they shall." The man agreed. "Allow for me to cast the spell of calling." White energy flared about his body as he placed his hands together as if he were praying. "Return." He said quietly. Reacting to his voice Akane could feel the souls which before were scattered settle into the various bodies that were draped about the street.

"You did it!" She said happily. "You called them back!"

"Of course young sorceress." The man agreed. "For I am here to aid you in any way I can. Remember that in your future conflicts you can rely upon. The White Wizard!" After yelling his name the robed figure jumped into the air and simply vanished, leaving Akane to stare after him.

"I hate to say it but that guy is a major dork." She said aloud, staring after him. She shook her head. "But he did save my life and his advice really was good, regardless of how he gave it."

She looked down to where one of the people on the ground had just groaned in pain. A moment later she could hear sirens in the distance. "That's my cue." She said, "Teleport!" At that word her body disappeared completely into thin air.

************************************************

Again the four forms had gathered within the circular room overlooked by the starry ceiling and under set by a magical circle which glowed black even against the darkness of the room.

"I am ready for your report now Rykuyo." A male voice spoke formally. "How did Akane fare against your summon?"

"It was as predicted Mr. President." The scratchy voice responded as the robed form dipped in a bow. "Her talent for raw magical capacity is great but in terms of elegance she is hardly even a mageling. It was only by outside interference that she survived at all."

"Really?" He asked curiously. "Tell me, who is that was able to help her? Certainly not Ranma, I doubt his fighting skills would be of much use against that creature even though his spirit would be too powerful for him to be vulnerable to its attacks. Piccolo or Nabiki perhaps?"

"No, it is none of those." Rykuyo said. "Rather it was a newcomer, a mage of impressive power who called himself the White Wizard. Everything about his aura made it obvious that his home universe is a different one from our own."

"The White Wizard." The man said to himself ponderingly. "How interesting."

"There is something else of interest, if I may continue." Rykuyo stated.

"Yes of course, please tell me." The president beckoned.

"It was that the one who helped her did not destroy my summoned creature himself. Rather he attempted to teach Akane some of the principals of magic in order to allow her to do it on her own. I would say he was her mentor except for that she did not seem to know him at all."

"Fascinating." He said, stroking his chin with his left hand. "So are your tests concluded Rykuyo? Has she the strength to be of use to us?"

"I believe she does Mr. President." Rykuyo said after a moment. "Though it remains to be seen if she holds either the intelligence or the elegance necessary to make her worthy."

"So I see." He said softly. "Kayree." He said, looking up at the second form that was positioned at the circle.

"Yes Mr. President?" The female voice responded while the form looked up at him.

"It is now your turn to test Akane's boundaries." He announced. "I wish for you to examine the extent of her intelligence to the best of your abilities. See if her powers will ever hold versatility to equal her great strength."

"Of course Mr. President." She said submissively, bowing to him.

"One other thing." He continued. "I want for you to play some detective work on the side. See what you can find out about this Piccolo, his presence at this school is beginning to bother me. I recognize him from somewhere that I can't remember, and I want for you to find that out. You are in a position to do this are you not?"

"Of course Mr. President." She said with the glee in her voice unmistakable. "In fact I have a date with him this afternoon."

"Needless to say I want none of you three to let on to your magical powers." He said looking at the forms that were surrounding him. "That is all, you may leave." Following his own statement, he turned away from the circle and walked away.

*************************************

Thanks to the Eternal Wanderer for the advice on the characters and plot developments of this story!