Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½, Tenjo Tenge or other anime/manga series that might appear.
"Dialogue"
((Thoughts))
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Ranma sailed through the air thanks to Akane Airlines and their trustful mallets. He didn't know why he deserved this though but Ranma didn't complain, since it helped to raise his endurance... at least for his head.
A year has passed since his big fight in China against Saffron and everything in Nerima went its normal ways. Akane has been kidnapped two times, once around the beginning of spring by the Seven Lucky Martial Arts Gods and their prince, Kirin.
The other time was in the middle of summer when Kuno invited all of them on his new yacht and they stranded on an uninhabited island. One after the other all the girls disappeared and as they later found out, they were kidnapped by the local brat... Prince of Illusions, a kid named Toma.
To be truthful, Ranma was happy that this happened. After his fights with Herb and Saffron, Ranma could find no excitement in the normal everyday battles anymore. The only one who was still challenging him was Ryoga and most of the time he was lost somewhere on the world.
The pig-tailed teenager sometimes even wished that Taro should show up again. This wish was crushed one month after the failed wedding; it appears that Taro finally defeated Happosai with the help of his girl-friend Rouge.
Yes, you heard right. Taro, his new name is Happosai Jr., and Rouge are a couple now, it was shocking to say the least... seems that the demonic beauty found her beast. Happosai Sr. disappeared on that day, all the while grumbling something about a training trip.
Anyway, back to Ranma. He finally started to descend from the skies and could see that he would land on his favorite roof; the cursed boy could even see all the indentions he left behind on his previous landings. As it was, he came crashing down head first with a dull thud and a crack coming from the breaking tiles.
Ranma quickly got back on his feet and dusted his hair off; he proceeded to jump of the roof and into the backyard of house. With another leap the cursed male jumped over the outer wall of the residence, leaving a young woman, who was just hanging her clothes up to dry, alone.
"He could have at least stayed longer this time..." muttered the girl a little disappointed
The young Saotome leisurely walked through the streets of Nerima, in no real hurry to return to the dojo. At the moment he didn't want to put up with his violent fiancée nor with his parents for that matter.
Since Nodoka moved in with the Tendos, Ranma could find not one peaceful moment. Don't misunderstand, he was glad to be reunited with his mother but he was not happy about her antics. Sometimes, just sometimes, he thought that she wanted him to be exactly like Happosai.
A shiver went down Ranma's spine at the thought of being like the old pervert. He quickly shook it off though and he concentrated on another problem of his, mainly his fiancées and other girls out for one of his bodily fluids... and he didn't mean blood.
First on the list was Akane, most of the time he couldn't figure her out at all. The rate at which she jumped to conclusions was just incredible, not to forget that she always had a hand on the handle of one of her mallets or assorted heavy objects and Ranma could have sworn that he saw a gleam in her eyes when her gaze fell upon a mace on their school trip to the museum.
There was also her problem about overestimating her skills. Ranma admitted that Akane was a good fighter but she had no talent as a martial artist at all, which was the dilemma. She tried to get better but she already reached her limits, she just wasn't realizing it yet and won't till their fathers would stop to praise her about her prowess.
Then there was Ukyo, Ranma's cute fiancée. She was the most normal of them all but that didn't mean she was a normal girl. She could pass perfectly as a boy if she wanted to and has two crossdressing males chasing after her.
One was the only male 'kunoichi' Konatsu, who worked for Ukyo. He's a very skilled ninja but was also raised as a girl, which made him quite frankly weird to be around. The other crossdresser was Tsubasa, who also got a fetish to disguise himself as an inanimate object; he's rather obsessed with Ukyo and even started dressing as a girl because she dressed as a boy.
Last was his supposed wife Shampoo, an Amazon from China. Next to Akane, she was the one who brought the most trouble into his life but Ranma also learned much from the girl's great-grandmother, Cologne – which made up for the caused trouble in his opinion.
The other big problem of Shampoo was her curse. She turned into a cat and Ranma couldn't stand those animals at all, which made it impossible for him to even imagine living with the purple-haired warrior. He knew just how much of a water magnet someone with a Jusenkyo curse was.
He didn't even want to think about Kodachi Kuno, the most mentally unstable girl that was not in an asylum. Not to forget that her brother and father were out for his blood... and her too when Ranma was a girl. She was no marriage material at all.
((I really have to get a vacation from all of this... maybe it's time for a small training trip?)) contemplated the pig-tailed youth
Ranma was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the banana peel lying just in front of him on the ground. With an accuracy born of pure bad luck he stepped on it and slipped. The ancient energies that rested in the fruit's peel were released, this caused the sky to darken and sun turned blood red. The ageless power breached the dimensional walls directly under the pig-tailed young man, creating a wormhole that sucked Ranma into another universe.
A second later everything was back to normal, like nothing ever happened before. The only difference was that Nerima had a martial artist less to worry about. The banana peel that caused this whole incident disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared, it's usefulness transpired.
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In another part of the town, roughly at the same time...
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"Where the hell am I now?!?" shouted a familiar voice
The Eternally Lost Boy, Ryoga Hibiki, wandered through Nerima on the search for the Tendo dojo. It took three weeks for him to travel to the Tokyo district from the Unryuu Farm, where he spent the last month in the evil clutches of Akari.
It started out harmlessly enough, she was as nice as ever but slowly she started to change and more and more Akari wanted him to spend time in his cursed form. First it was a few hours, then one or two days and then even a whole week. Ryoga began to worry when he overheard her on the phone, talking about getting a small cage. When he heard Akari planning to breed some new kinds of mini fighting pigs, he fled.
Now he was back in Nerima and contemplated what to do next. Maybe pick a fight with Ranma so that he could take his mind of Akari, then he could spent some time in the dojo and away from the wilderness if he had luck. There was only one problem though; he had no idea how to get to the dojo. Ryoga already figured out that he was in Nerima, having walked past the Kuno estate.
Just then the sky began to darken and Ryoga already thought that there was a sudden storm coming up but when he looked up to the sky he could still see the sun, even though it changed its color to crimson. He shook his head and walked on, this was Nerima after all, Happosai most probably summoned one of his creatures again.
Due to an extreme twist of fate, Ryoga's directional curse kicked in stronger than ever before and at the dimensional walls weakest point he rounded a corner, disappearing for a long time from his universe. A moment later, life went back to normal in Nerima and no one noticed, at least for the time being, that two of the best fighters on the world vanished.
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The Gate of Time
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A very confused Sailor Pluto looked at the Timegate; just a few moments ago there was huge distortion that went through time, its ripples stretching from the beginning till the end. Something like this never happened before, unless history has been changed but to do that either a tremendous amounts of energy or the Gate was needed.
"What could have caused this?" asked the still puzzled Senshi
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Hong Kong
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"What is it, Pai?" asked Yakumo as he packed his rucksack
The Sanjiyan shook her head, "I have no idea... I just felt something very strange."
"Oh well, lets go. Our ship is waiting already."
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An obscure subspace lab in Okayama
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Washu was on a new level of excitement, whatever her sensors just registered she wanted it. She wanted it very badly. The energy reading she got topped Ryoko's power with all of her gems.
"Finally a new guinea pig!!" shouted the greatest scientific genius in the universe with glee
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Heaven, Kami-Sama's office
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Athena and Belldandy were standing in their father's office. The goddesses, with their current occupation on the mortal plane in Japan, felt the disturbance the most.
"What was this, father?" asked the Norse deity fearfully, "When the sky darkened, I already thought that the End program was started."
Athena agreed, she had the same suspicion, "The Saints are disturbed by this and asked for my help. What should I tell them?"
Kami-Sama sat a little nervous at his desk, one hand behind his back, "DO NOT WORRY, THERE WAS ONLY A SMALL RUCKUS IN DEBUGGING ROOM. URD AND SKULD HAD ANOTHER ARGUMENT."
Belldandy sighed in relief, Keiichi was safe, "Thanks, father. I'll be going now."
This said, she teleported back to the temple, where she lived with her boy-friend.
"I have to go too, father. I have to notify the Gold Saints, they can tell the others then."
The Greek goddess walked out of the office, leaving Kami-Sama alone in the room. He groaned once the door was closed and pulled his hand forward again, in it he was holding a strangely familiar banana peel.
In a more down to earth voice he muttered, "I really should be more careful with the remains of my lunch... Note to self, get a garbage bin."
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Another dimension
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"H-hey, are you alright?!" shouted a beautiful silver-haired girl, as she leaned out of window
An African American young man, also known as Bob Makihara, walked up to her, he was dressed in a Japanese school uniform, "Don't worry, a fall from this height is nothing for Soichiro, he can take it easily."
((That's not what I meant... I was just shocked because the shower rooms are down there.)) thought the girl, while sweatdropping
She quickly jumped after the boy and through the hole he left in the ceiling of the showers, once there she reverted back to the form of a child and her jaw dropped. Her sister was kissing the boy that fell through the roof; the only problem was that it wasn't the boy she knocked out of the window.
What Maya Natsume didn't know was that in the time it took her to run to the window a small rift opened in midair and a pig-tailed martial artist was thrown out of it. This martial artist knocked the boy she threw out of window to the side and onto the ground in front of the shower rooms, while the other male broke through the roof.
Ranma Saotome was confused, very confused. First he slipped on something, then suddenly he fell far deeper than he actually should have, next thing to happen was that he opened his eyes and he was lying with his head between the legs of a very naked teenage girl.
His body locked up as she began to move and he fully expected her to hit him. What came next was a surprise though, she looked at him with wide eyes and with a blush she leaned forward and gave him a kiss, with tongue and everything.
Slowly she broke the kiss and Ranma could hear someone say, "Man, you really took your time."
"Wha...?" was Ranma's intelligent response, his face was completely crimson
Then the naked girl, who was now straddling him, said something, "My name is Aya Natsume, nice to meet you. Please, marry me."
When Ranma heard this, he groaned, "Oh no... not another Amazon."
Then Ranma imagined what Akane would do to him if she found out that he had a new fiancée and fainted.
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Some days later, in the Natsume dojo...
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Maya and Aya Natsume were sparring in their family dojo; the silver-haired girl was in her teenage form and dressed in a beautiful kimono, while her brown-haired sister was wearing a white-blue hakama.
It was clear that Maya had the upper hand in the match; she wasn't even sweating while her sibling was breathing hard and tried desperately to get through her opponent's defenses. All of a sudden a stray thought went through Maya's head, which gave Aya an opening to attack.
She grabbed the kimono with both of her hands and executed a throw, "In thoughts? In the middle of a fight? What's with you, Maya?!"
Maya didn't like the other girl's cockiness at all, quickly reversed the throw and smashed her sister onto the ground.
"To throw me, you have to wake up sooner." stated Maya seriously
"Argh... my butt..." muttered Aya, while rubbing her behind
That was when both of them heard clapping coming from the dojo entrance. The girls turned their heads into the direction of the sound and saw the pig-tailed boy they brought into their home standing there. He has been unconscious for a few days and Aya decided that since he was her fiancé, he should live with her.
Ranma on the other hand was surprised that the girls were such good martial artist. When he first woke up he didn't know where he was but then he heard fighting sounds and decided to find out where they came from. Well, he had to dress first since he was only wearing his underwear but he quickly found his neatly folded Chinese clothes on a cupboard next to the bed he has been lying in.
He then followed the noises and noticed that they came from the dojo, which was outside of the house. When the pig-tailed boy saw it for the first time fully, he was awed beyond believe. Both of the buildings, house and dojo, were at least two times the size of the Tendo home.
Once he entered the training hall he could see what caused those sounds. Two females were sparring in the middle of the dojo and showed a tremendous amount of skill. More than Akane, hell... even Shampoo ever did.
He watched for some time and smiled slightly at the finishing move; that silver-haired girl was an incredible fighter to pull something like this off. Ranma also demonstrated how impressed he was by clapping at the show. The two young women looked now at him and he stopped with his claps.
"That was a great fight." complimented the pig-tailed boy
"Thanks for the praise." said the silver-haired one, "My name is Maya Natsume, by the way. The girl down there on the ground is my younger sister Aya."
Ranma nodded in greeting, "I'm Ranma Saotome, nice to meet you." Then he scratched the base of his pigtail, "Could you please tell me now where I am?"
"You're on our family's property. Aya and I brought you here after you fainted." explained Maya
"Fainted...? Why should I have fai...!" his eyes widened when he remembered what happened, he knew that the brown-haired girl was familiar, "Errr... I'm sorry for what happened in that shower... I don't know what happened."
"Don't worry." said Aya with a suggestive smile and finally stood up
"Uhmmm... you didn't really mean that stuff about me marrying you, did you?" asked Ranma nervously
"Of course I did. It must have been destiny that we have met!" replied the girl cheerfully
"Not another one..." muttered the cursed boy
Maya was puzzled, "Another what?"
"Another fiancée... I have enough troubles as it is..."
"Y-you are already engaged?" questioned Aya with a sad tone
"Yes..." before he could finish what he wanted to say, Aya rushed past him and out of the dojo, tears were running down her cheeks.
"What?"
"I'm sorry for that." said Maya as she walked up to Ranma, "My sister is clinging to an old family tradition."
"Old family tradition? What is it about?"
"Well..." she coughed slightly and then stated like out of a book "A girl from the Natsume clan gives the man she chooses not only her body but her whole life... this code is passed down from generation to generation. Personally, I don't see its use anymore in today's times."
"Oh man... and I already started thinking you had relations to the Amazons."
"Amazons?"
"Yeah, Chinese Amazons. I have one after me because of her stupid tribal law. It says that if an Amazon is defeated by a male outsider, she has to give him the Kiss of Marriage. From its name I think you can guess what that means."
"Is this... Amazon... the fiancée you were talking about?"
"Kinda... she's one of them."
Maya nodded and then his words actually kicked in, "Wait a minute, did you say one of them? Does that mean you have more than one fiancée?"
"Yes, I have two other fiancées as well. My father arranged the engagements though, it's not like I asked for any of them."
"Okay... would you come back to the house with me? I've got to hear your story."
"Wait, what about your sister?" asked Ranma concerned, he just couldn't see a girl cry
"Don't worry about her, she needs some time to calm down. At the moment she wouldn't even listen to me, if I tried talking with her."
The pig-tailed boy sighed, "Oh well, lead the way."
On the way back to the house Maya turned herself into a child again, this surprised Ranma slightly,
"Say, you know someone named Happosai?"
"No, why?" replied chibi-Maya, she expected him to be a little more taken aback
"Maybe a Hinako Ninomiya?"
"Again, no. Why do you ask?"
"It's nothing, I just know someone who turns into a child too."
"Really?" that interested Maya, to be able to change the age was a specialty of her family. It wasn't a secret technique but it was only very seldom taught to someone outside the clan.
"I'll tell you more about it in the house."
"Okay."
As they walked Ranma decided to continue with small talk, "So... what's your real form?"
"My adult form, I just turn into a child to conserve more ki."
"Heh... that's pretty cool. I bet lots of people are underestimating you in a fight then."
"Yeah but only once... after I kick their asses they know not to mess with me." she replied with a smile
They finally reached the house and walked inside. Maya led Ranma to the living room, where they sat down at the on the ground at a table in the middle of the room.
"So... where should I start?" asked Ranma
"The beginning would be nice." replied Maya
"Okay... it was like this..."
Ranma told her a very abridged version about his life in Nerima but left things out that she didn't need to know, like the Neko-ken, Herb or Saffron. He did tell her about the curse though, not expecting to be able to keep it a secret for very long.
"Errr... wow."
"You take it pretty well." said Ranma
"Why not, it's obviously not true."
The cursed young man raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
"Well, we are in Nerima and the only high school nearby is the Todo Academy. Not to forget that I would have heard about it if there were other powerful martial artist in this district."
"Wait... we're in Nerima? But how can that be, I would have noticed a dojo of this size..."
"And that silly stuff about turning into girl when you're splashed with cold water."
"If you don't believe me, than I have to prove it. It's easy enough, could you bring me a cup of cold water... and a cup of warm one as well, please."
"Why not, better to break you out of your delusions."
She stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Ranma alone in the room. A few minutes later she returned with the requested cups and placed them in front of the young man, she then went back to her seat across from him and watched intently.
"So, now prove it."
"Okay."
He took the cup of cold water into his hand and splashed himself with it. Maya's eyes grew to the size of saucers as she witnessed the transformation. Ranma shrank half a head, his broad chest was replaced by a pair of breasts, his or obviously now her hair turned to red and her body became as lithe as the one of a dancer.
"Wha... wha... wha... wha... huh?" stated the silver-haired girl intelligently
"I told you that I..." he splashed himself with the warm water, "...turn into a girl. Believe me now?"
Her head bopped up and down in silent agreement, while she contemplated his story again. She spent her entire life in Nerima and she knew that the only high school around was the Todo and that these schools (Furinkan, St. Hebereke, Kolkhoz) didn't exist. Then there was the fact that a boy just turned into a girl and backwards in her living room, which made part of his story true.
Ranma on the other hand was thinking about Maya's words. She claimed that they were in Nerima, which was virtually impossible. This dojo here seemed to exist for several decades, if not centuries, already; Mr. Tendo wouldn't have been so stupid to build a new dojo in a town with such an ancient building. Even Ranma knew that this wouldn't be profitable at all.
But the last thing he remembered was that he walked through Nerima, then he slipped on something and promptly he fell down from somewhere very high. This alone was quite weird and strangely familiar, so he slowly went through all his adventures from Saffron backwards until he found something.
After some moments he found something, it happened only a few months after he arrived in Nerima. The Nanban mirror accident where he, together with all of his friends and some foes, appeared in China, a few hundred years in the past. Maybe this was something similar?
"Hey Maya, could you tell me what year it is?"
"1997, why do you ask?"
Ranma's suspicions weren't confirmed, it was the same year, "Nothing, just a theory."
"For now, Ranma – I'm going to believe you." said the girl suddenly, "I don't know how it is possible but your aura tells me that you are saying the truth."
"Errr... thanks."
"I also want you to stay here in the house."
"...why?"
"Well, from what you told me, you are a great martial artist and I would like to spar with you. Then there is the fact that you didn't even have a yen with you or anything that you could use to identify yourself. You would never get some kind of hotel room in this town."
"Man, you're very trustful."
"Normally I'm not but your aura is defined enough so that I can see the subtle differences between truth and lie."
"Wow, that's impressive. Would you mind teaching me that stuff?"
The small girl grinned, "Why not? You'd have to join my Budo club though, which means you have to sign up in Todo Academy."
Ranma winced, "School? Do I really have to?"
"Don't worry; I know you will like this school."
A little bit later that day, Ranma helped Maya with preparing dinner. Just some minutes ago the girl finished the required phone calls for registering him into the Todo Academy. Seems that she has some good contacts within the school.
Once they were finished with the cooking, both of them set the table up and then Ranma asked something that went the entire time through his head,
"Hey Maya..."
"Yeah?"
"What about your sister... Aya, was it?"
The silver-haired girl sweatdropped, "I didn't think about that... Wait here, I'm going upstairs and talk to her."
Maya left Ranma in the living room and quickly walked up the stairs; she made her way to her sister's door and knocked on it.
"Aya, can I come in?"
She heard a small sniff on the other side, "What do you want?"
"I want to talk to you about Ranma."
There were a few moments of silence, then the door was unlocked, "Come in."
Maya entered the room and closed the door behind her. Aya was sitting on her bed, dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and to tell the truth, at the moment she looked like hell.
"So, when did he leave?" asked Aya
"He didn't leave; Ranma's sitting in the living room and waits for us to come down."
Aya looked confused, "What about his fiancée? I would have thought that he would go back to her after being here for so many days."
"Well you can't know, since you ran off before he could explain something. Ranma has several fiancées but the engagements were arranged by his father. It wasn't his choice."
The brown-haired girl's face brightened a little, "Does that mean I still have a chance?"
"Errr... well, I would think so."
"Hehehehe...! Yes, I can still get him!" shouted Aya happily; she had a glint in her eyes that disturbed Maya a little
"Don't sound so eager, you might scare him away otherwise." said the small girl, trying to calm her sister down, "Now come down, Ranma and I prepared dinner... even though it was your turn to do that today."
"O-okay... but first I have to fresh up a little, I must look terrible."
"That's true." stated Maya
"Wha...? I can't let Ranma see me like that!" Aya quickly scrambled out of her room and towards the bathroom
Maya shook her head at her sister's antics and left the room too, she went downstairs again to the waiting Ranma
"So, how did it go?" asked the cursed boy as Maya entered the room
"Pretty well, I think. She should come down in a few minutes."
"That's good to know. I can't stand to see a girl cry."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, I don't know why but it has always been like that."
"Interesting..."
"Hey you two, thanks for waiting." interrupted someone
They looked towards the voice and saw Aya standing there. She already looked better than before. She walked over to the table and sat down next to Ranma... very, very close to him.
"Uhmm..." Ranma was very nervous, with the young woman glued to his side
"Yes?" she asked with puppy-dog eyes
Ranma sighed and gave up, no one could resist the puppy-dog eyes, "Nothing, let's eat."
"Okay!"
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The next day, Monday...
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Maya, Aya and Ranma were walking to school together. As they walked through the town, he slowly came to the realization that he was in Nerima. He recognized the streets, the shops and most of the buildings, there were also street signs that mentioned the name Nerima.
He couldn't explain how, but he must have landed in some kind of alternate dimension. He was just walking through the street where the Tendo dojo should be standing but it wasn't there, instead there was a rather run down apartment building in its place.
From there on he recognized the actual way they were going, it was the same one Akane and he always took to get to Furinkan. Out of habit he jumped onto the fence that lined the sidewalk and continued walking on it.
The two sisters looked at Ranma for a moment, wondering what he was doing. A few seconds later they realized it though, it was simple balance practice.
"What are you doing up there?" asked Maya
"Nothing special, only balance practice."
"I know that but wouldn't you need something thinner to walk on to make it worthwhile?" replied the kimono-clad girl, "Walking on the fence is not going to do much anymore."
"I know, I know... but it's the best thing available at the moment."
"That's true though..." and continued to walk in silence
Aya looked at her 'fiancée' appraisingly; he was wearing one of her older brother's black school uniforms. It also was stylized a little to the tastes of her late sibling Shin; the clothes seemed to be a cross between Chinese and Japanese garments.
At first Ranma wasn't very keen on wearing a uniform, he thought they were too restricting to fight in but once Maya showed him a set of her brother's uniform, he was hooked. It was made of silk, which made the outfit very durable and though it looked to be limiting, once Ranma put the uniform on he noticed that they were tailored just right for him to move freely.
"So... what is the Todo Academy like?" asked Ranma curiously
Maya decided to answer that, "From an academic viewpoint, Todo is just like any other school but once you take a look at the students and the clubs; you'll see the differences between other schools."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, most of the students have some kind of fighting experience, their skill levels range between the ones of tournament champions to simple beginners in the art. Then there are the higher up people, who have reached or almost reached the level of a master."
"You and Aya, am I right?"
She smiled a little sadly, "Not only us, Ranma. We are not even the strongest people going to Todo. That place is unfortunately reserved for others."
Ranma decided not to comment on this one, he never intended to make her sad. He still was interested in the students that were stronger than Maya though, maybe he could find someone to fight all out with.
He admitted that Maya was a very good martial artist and in skill they were almost equal but his ki reserves were much higher than hers, which would make any fight rather unfair unless he restricted himself. Ranma could see that her control over ki was much better than his though, until yesterday he wouldn't have thought it possible to change your age willingly with ki manipulation. Ms. Hinako did something similar but she had a genetic defect that allowed her to do that.
A few more minutes of walking later, Ranma and the Natsume sisters reached the school. The cursed boy was impressed, not only was this school more modern than Furinkan, it also had less patched up walls than his old school.
They entered the school grounds and a black-haired guy came running towards them, "Hey, boss!"
"Good to see you Takayanagi." greeted Maya
"Hello, Takayanagi." said Aya cheerfully
"So, who is the new guy?" asked the young man, while pointing towards Ranma
"His name is Ranma Saotome. I thought you would recognize him from last week."
He took a closer look at Ranma and then realization hit him, "Oh yes, you."
"Err... yes, me." Ranma leaned a little closer towards Aya and whispered, "Did I do something to him?"
"I have no idea." she whispered back
"Anyway..." interrupted Maya, "...we should go to class now. You don't want to be late on your first day here. You come too, Takayanagi."
"Yeah... ...let's go." quite frankly, Ranma didn't care at all if he was late or not
"I see you three at lunch, goodbye!" said Aya, since she still was in the first year on Todo, opposed to her sister, her fiancé and Takayanagi, who were already in their third year.
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Later, lunch break...
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Ranma and Masataka Takayanagi were sitting at one table and were eating. Maya had something to do at the Budoclub and excused herself, Aya wasn't there yet too. To tell the truth, Ranma didn't like that. It seemed that Takayanagi had something against him and he didn't know what.
Their eating was interrupted when someone tapped on Masataka's shoulder. He turned his head towards the person to see the two rowdies from Friday standing there. The blond-haired guy, Soichiro Nagi, had a somewhat smug look on his face.
"I still owe you something for the other day."
"Really? When you owe something to someone, then it is Maya not me."
"It's all the same." replied the blond-haired boy and swung his fist at Takayanagi
Said young man quickly took one of his chopsticks and blocked the punch, to the shock of the others. He then flung the wooden tool away and brought the palm of his hands against Soichiro's mid section and shouted,
"Hakka Sodosho!!"
A ki shockwave extended from his hands, it was powerful enough to fling Soichiro away like a rag doll.
"Tsss... he attacks an amateur with full force. He has no discipline at all!"
Ranma turned around to see who said that and was surprised that Maya and Aya were standing behind him, watching the fight.
"Since when are you two here?" asked the cursed boy
"That doesn't matter, just watch the fight. It could get interesting." replied Maya
Ranma shrugged, she was right. So he continued eating and watched the show.
"Impressive, really impressive." came out of remains of one of the walls, the blonde boy was kneeling there with an almost predatory smile on his face; "I never dreamed that it was possible that there is a student on the world who knows how to do the Kamehameha! But don't think that you already beat me because I'm no one less than Soichiro Nagi!"
"Hey, boy!" exclaimed Maya, while sitting on one of the tables, "That impressive technique just now was no Kamehameha."
"Oh... you little shrimp are here too?"
"Ki is something that is created inside of your body and can only have an effect on you from the inside. If there truly was such an overpowering technique, then all martial art styles on the world would be redundant." lectured the small girl, "And now give everything that you've got, since Takayanagi is without a doubt stronger than you."
Ranma intelligently decided not to comment on this one.
Masataka took over from here, "Okay, I'm going to make it easier for you. If you manage to hit me once you are the winner."
Soichiro scowled, all this talking made him angry, "Are we now suddenly inside of Dragonball, or something?! I'm going to kill you!!"
-----------------------
After some very gruesome minutes...
-----------------------
"Shouldn't you stop this, Maya?" asked Ranma as he watched the fight
"No, why? Takayanagi knows when to stop."
-----------------------
Back to the fight...
-----------------------
"Man, you're lame! Stop with your stupid tricks and fight like a man!" yelled a very beat up Soichiro
Takayanagi on the other hand looked as fit as a fiddle, "I've never met such a stubborn guy like you before."
"Heh... my grandma hits harder than you." taunted the younger boy
"And that's why your bleeding out of all holes, isn't it?!"
Takayanagi lashed out with a lightning fast kick, which was quickly evaded by Soichiro, who prepared a counter attack, "Ha, ha, ha!! I saw that one!"
-----------------------
Ranma, Maya, Aya and Bob...
-----------------------
The pig-tailed boy rubbed his forehead in aggravation.
"Wow, he's fast!" commented Bob and Aya
"What an idiot... that kick was a feint." muttered Maya
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Fight...
-----------------------
To Soichiro's shock, his punch was blocked by his adversary's fingers, without any sort of strain. The black-haired martial artist took this opportunity to execute another kick to Soichiro's chin. The force of the blow sent him to the ground and almost knocked him out.
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Ranma, Bob and the Natsume sisters...
-----------------------
"Whoa..." was the only thing Bob brought out
Maya shook her head, "I thought as much..."
"Poor guy..." said Aya sympathetically
Ranma on the other hand couldn't watch this anymore; he stood up and brought his hands down on the table forcefully, which earned him glances from anyone, "Hey, Soichiro! Stand up and kick that idiot's ass! Only because he's stronger than you, it doesn't mean that you can't beat him!!"
"Yeah! Beat that idiot!!" since her fiancé supported the blonde one, Aya did too
-----------------------
Fight...
-----------------------
Soichiro blinked, whoever that guy was, he was right. He wouldn't be defeated by such an arrogant asshole. He jumped back to his feet and gave Takayanagi one of his cocky grins,
"I'm sorry but your lame kicks can put someone to sleep."
"Well, then let's continue!" said Takayanagi angrily, "I'm through with playing. Slowly I really get the urge to bash your face in so that even your mother won't recognize you!"
"Really now? I wanted to do that from the beginning!"
The black-haired boy was furious and prepared for another of his special techniques, "Shinirikugo Bateihoken!!!"
Soichiro's eyes widened in fear, Takayanagi looked like a predator at the moment... well, he didn't have to fight fairly, did he?
"Look there, Aya started stripping!!"
"What?! Where?!" Masataka stopped his attack and looked around frantically for the girl
-----------------------
Ranma, Bob and the Natsume sisters...
-----------------------
"Err... what?" said Bob intelligently
Takayanagi, you idiot! You dropped your defense!" yelled Maya
"I'm not stripping!!" shouted Aya angrily
((That seems familiar somehow...)) thought Ranma confused
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Fight...
-----------------------
The blond-haired fighter gathered all of his strength and punched his opponent in the guts. He already thought that the fight was finished but Takayanagi dropped to the ground and made a sweeping kick that made Soichiro stumbling to the floor.
He got a good look of other boy's eyes and was scared by what he saw; his eyes looked like the ones of a demon, full of bloodlust and hatred. Soichiro could see the small girl kicking Masataka in the head but it had no effect, he was still coming at him. Next was this Aya girl, who tried to grab him but she was thrown off her feet and onto the floor. The black-haired berserker didn't even notice her.
Now Takayanagi was directly above him and prepared for the final hit, Soichiro closed his eyes, ((That's it, I'm going to die.))
Nothing happened and after a few seconds he opened his eyes again. The pig-tailed boy from before was standing there and was holding Takayanagi's fist in his hand.
"This is going too far. Stop it now or I'll have to hurt you."
Takayanagi didn't listen though; he was beyond any reason and attacked Ranma. He lashed out with his other hand and tried to hit the cursed boy. Ranma let go of him and evaded the punch narrowly by leaning backwards. He jumped to the side and gave a kick to the berserker's kidneys, which made him stumble for a few moments.
The wild boy focused on Ranma again and summoned up more of his ki to strengthen himself. With even greater speed he attacked his enemy with several kicks and punches that were too fast to be seen.
Ranma was hardly pressed to block them but he could already feel some of them getting through his defense. Whatever it was that empowered the boy, it was an incredible force to behold.
"Time to get more serious..." mumbled Ranma and then started a centuries old Amazon technique, "Katchuu Tenshin Amaguriken!!!"
Hundreds of punches were executed by Ranma as he used his special move. They hit Takayanagi all over his chest and partially his face too. A few moments later it was finished and the berserker looked like hell, blood was running down his split lips and nose, bruises were forming on his cheeks and his breathing was ragged. But he wasn't knocked out yet, which still enabled him to attack.
He dashed forward and slashed at Ranma with his hands but the pig-tailed boy evaded them, he did notice though that his clothes were being shredded.
"Damn it, what is that? Neko-ken?" he jumped a few meters away from Takayanagi to get a little more room
A yellow aura burst out around him and he quickly concentrated his ki between the palms of his hands, "Moko Takabisha!!!"
To the shocked eyes of the students, a ki blast shot out of Ranma's hands and traveled towards Takayanagi at an incredible speed. The berserker didn't even have the time to think about evading as the energy wave enveloped him. Soon the blast began to fade out and Takayanagi became visible again.
He was still standing but his body was smoking slightly and his eyes were glazed over. Aya, who was still a little stunned by the recent fight, walked over to the boy and tapped him against his chest. Promptly he fell over, completely out cold.
Ranma was relieved when he saw his opponent unconscious. If this fight had continued further, he would have been forced to use more dangerous techniques. Takayanagi was no where near as powerful as his usual rivals but that berserker rage he went into made him not notice his body's limits at all. Hell... after the first hundred hits of the Amaguriken he should have been knocked out but he took around 600 punches and still fought on.
"Hey, Ranma." heard the cursed boy and turned his head
"What is it, Maya?" the small girl stood right next to him
"Thanks for the help with Takayanagi; normally it would have taken one of the higher ups in the committee to take him out."
"What was this all about anyway?"
"We have no idea what causes this state in him... But most of the time it happens when he gets too excited in a battle."
"Oh... ..."
"Uhm...?"
Ranma could already hear a question behind that, "Yes?"
"Would you mind teaching me that ki blast?" there she said it, ((Damnit and just before he uses it I give a lecture about such techniques not being possible...))
Ranma contemplated this; Maya was good enough to pull it off but she needed to expand her ki reserves. Maybe they could both benefit from this; her school of martial arts seemed to be very interesting. There was also the small fact that he had nothing else to do until he figured out just how he could go back to his Nerima.
"Okay but only if you teach me your style of fighting." proposed Ranma, ((Heh... I want to see pops face when I beat him while looking like a little kid... ... Hmmm... If I say it's permanent maybe I could get rid of some of my fiancées!))
"We have an agreement!" said Maya and shook his hand
-----------------------
In yet another universe
-----------------------
Ryoga Hibiki was confused, one second he was in the middle of a town and now he was standing in the clearing of the forest. Not to mention that there was a very, very, very tall white pillar directly in front of him. He knew he had a bad sense of direction but something like this never happened before.
"Now where the hell am I?"
"You're in the sacred forest." answered someone
Ryoga quickly swirled around to see where the voice was coming from but saw nothing.
"Down here!"
The cursed young man shifted his gaze to the ground and saw a small native-American boy standing in front of him. He was holding a small axe in his right hand.
"Who are you?" asked Ryoga nicely, he didn't want to scare the kid
"My name is Upa and who are you?"
"Well, I'm Ryoga Hibiki, err... nice to meet you."
"So, why are you in the sacred forest?" the boy seemed to be very curious, "Are you going to climb the tower like the others?"
"You mean that big white thing?"
Upa nodded.
"Why should I do that?"
"Well... the legend says that at the top of the tower, the most powerful martial arts master of all time lives and whoever can climb it will be trained by him."
((That's sounds just like some urban myth... that thing is too small for someone to live up there.)) thought Ryoga and then questioned, "Did someone actually climb that thing and came back down before?"
The small boy nodded again, "Yes, the first one to climb till the end of tower was here some years ago and just a week ago another group of fighters came here to climb up and not one of them came back down yet."
"Hmmm... and did the guy who went up there get any stronger?"
"Yeah! When he came here at first he was almost killed by a man named Tao BaiBai but after his training he beat that guy like he was nothing!"
"Really? How long was he up there to train then?"
"Three days, maybe a little bit longer."
Ryoga's eyes widened, something like that couldn't be possible, "You're kidding, aren't you? No one can increase his skill in such a short time!"
Upa shook his head and said sincerely, "But it was like I told you, I saw it with my own eyes."
The Eternally Lost Boy turned around again and looked up the tower; he still thought that it looked like a pillar but if the story of the boy was true then he finally found a way to beat Ranma once and for all.
"Well, I'll see you then when I come back down again." said Ryoga and walked up to the tower
"Okay then, see you later!"
Ryoga spit in his hands and started scaling the white column; at least he couldn't get lost on that thing.
Upa looked after him until he was out of sight and then walked back to the tent, where his father and he lived.
"Upa, did one of the warriors come back yet?" asked someone from behind him
The young boy, who was about to enter his home, turned around to see his father walk out of the forest with a dead boar on his shoulder, he was a tall man with muscles every body builder would have envied. Like his son, he seemed to be of Native American origin and was dressed in a rather traditional garb; in his right hand he was holding a dangerous looking spear.
"No yet father, but another one started climbing up just some minutes ago."
"Really? Hmmm... The sacred tower seems to get more and more popular; did someone put it in a tourists' guide or something?"
-----------------------
Back to Ryoga...
-----------------------
Well, that was going easier than Ryoga thought it would be, there was only one slight problem though.
((Damnit, I should have left my backpack and umbrella down there... I completely forgot that I doubled the weights in them. Oh well... a little extra training won't hurt.))
God, will he regret taking them with him.
-----------------------
Three hours later...
-----------------------
Ryoga already started sweating, this was a little harder than he thought, ((How high is that thing?!))
-----------------------
Another three hours passed...
-----------------------
"huff... huff... all... Ranma's... fault... huff... all... Ranma's... fault..."
He kept reciting this mantra for an hour already.
And he did regret that he didn't leave his stuff down there in the forest.
-----------------------
Five hours later and still no sign of an end...
-----------------------
"Kill Ranma... huff... huff... Kill Ranma... huff... huff..."
He changed his mantra slightly but it kept him going.
He also considered throwing at least his backpack down but he didn't want to squash the boy accidentally.
-----------------------
Four hours later and no martial arts master in sight...
-----------------------
Ryoga realized something very important to his health, which also made him more determined to reach the top faster.
"Please, don't let it rain... Please, don't let it rain..."
-----------------------
Two hours later...
-----------------------
Slowly but surely Ryoga was contemplating suicide, just to make the searing pain in his abused muscles go away. He was reaching his limits already and he didn't like it at all.
((Must go on... have to kill Ranma... Mustn't use Bakusai Tenketsu on the tower...))
-----------------------
Four hours later...
-----------------------
The hallucinations started.
((This is all Ranma's fault...)) thought Ryoga
((What? You decided to climb that tower, not him.)) replied another part of his mind
((It's his fault for being stronger than me... I wouldn't have to climb this thing if he was weaker.))
((Yeah right, it's your own fault that he is stronger than you.))
((And why, pray tell, is that?))
((If you would just stop thinking about your petty revenge for once then you would have more time to train in the art. You are keeping yourself from getting stronger, not Ranma.))
((If Ranma had never showed up, I would have had more than enough time to get more powerful!))
((If Ranma never showed up you would be quite frankly a weak loser!))
Ryoga growled, ((How do you figure that?))
((Just think for a minute, I'm not asking for more! If you never met Ranma, you also would have never met Cologne, which means no Bakusai Tenketsu! It's the same with the Shi Shi Hokodan too; you found that damn technique on the way to a match with Ranma!))
((Tss... I could have learned other techniques...))
((Well, what about tiger guy from the Musk Dynasty?))
((What about him?))
((You would have been beaten to pulp if it wasn't for your fights with Ranma. They made you faster than Lime, which gave you a big advantage.))
((That whole Musk thing was Ranma's fault too!))
((Okay... that's true, I'll give you that much.))
((Ha! Finally you see reason; Ranma is the bane of my existence!))
((Now you are exaggerating. If it wasn't for him you would have never met the Tendos or anyone else in Nerima. You would still be all alone on the road.))
((... ... your right about that... ... but what about the curse?! What about my damn Jusenkyo curse?!?))
((You can't hold it against Ranma that he chased his father around, you would have too if your father knocked you into the 'Spring of Drowned Girl'. When you are angry, you don't care what happens to the people around you too. So how can you accuse Ranma of it, if you have the same problem?))
((Man... where do you come from anyway?))
((Eh... I have always been a part of you; you just never listened to me. I'm what most people call 'common sense'.))
((Really? You're pretty reasonable.))
The voice would have sweatdropped if it had a physical body, ((That comes with the job description... ...))
((Maybe I should listen more often to you from now on.))
((You would be well advised to do that; it could help out a lot.))
As the common sense and Ryoga worked together for the first time in years again, he came to a realization.
((Maybe it was not always Ranma's fault...))
-----------------------
Three hours later...
-----------------------
Ryoga was kind of happy, his body still felt like crap but he finally passed the clouds and was in no danger of getting hit by rain anymore. He decided to sleep a little and took several of his bandanas from his forehead, tied them together and used them to bind himself to the tower so that he couldn't fall down.
After a whole day of climbing he could at last sleep peacefully, well almost...
-----------------------
A few hours earlier...
-----------------------
"Master Karin, what should I do with the remaining water?" asked Yamcha, while holding a pot in his hands
"Just pour it out of the window."
"Okay."
-----------------------
Back to Ryoga, present time...
-----------------------
The Jusenkyo cursed boy just received the shock of his life; he was just getting ready to sleep when a small stream of water almost splashed him. He has been missed only narrowly and he could still feel a few drops that did hit his face.
He bound himself a little closer to the pillar and looked up to see if more water came down his way. Not seeing anything he relaxed a little.
"That was a close one... ..."
Half an hour later, Ryoga was dead asleep and dreamed about finally beating his rival in a match.
-----------------------
Six hours later...
-----------------------
Ryoga was already awake and had continued with climbing almost an hour ago. He felt better than before and the ache in his muscles was decreasing. He was in good spirits and was sure that he could reach the top of the tower today.
"I really hope there's a toilet up there... ..."
-----------------------
Five hours later...
-----------------------
The directionally challenged boy was thirsty, hungry and needed to go to the bathroom, it also didn't help that the air was getting thinner and thinner. Let's just say his mood turned to the worse in the last few hours and he was very close to using a Perfect Shishi Hokodan.
His newly acquired common sense didn't allow him to do that though, the attack would most probably destroy the tower and everything that was on it too, this included Ryoga.
-----------------------
Twelve hours later (don't worry, you didn't miss much)...
-----------------------
Ryoga's eyes would have watered in happiness had it not been for the fact that he was almost completely dehydrated. He could finally see the top; it was only one or two hundred meters away from.
He called up all his remaining ki reserves and made a mad dash upwards.
-----------------------
Five minutes later...
-----------------------
Ryoga was lying on the bottom floor of Master Karin's place and was ringing for every bit of air he could get into his lungs. A few minutes later he caught his breath a little and started looking around the room.
It was a plain stone room that was separated into two halves by a thin wall. It had several futons rolled out on the ground and there were also three rather big clay jars standing against a wall on the far side of him. His gaze went further through the room and stopped on a staircase that led to the upper floor.
His eyes widened when he saw someone walk down the stairs, it was a small, white, cat-like being holding a wooden staff in one of its hands. Ryoga started thinking that he may have lost his sanity when he climbed that tower.
The cat thing walked over to him looked at him carefully, then it decided to shock Ryoga even more and talked,
"And who are you?"
"M-my name is Ryoga Hibiki. I'm here to train."
"Really? Are you a friend of the others?" asked the cat, leaning his head slightly to the side
"I don't know... anything about others."
"Okay then, I am Master Karin."
Ryoga was again surprised, "You are this... a-all powerful martial arts master?"
"Hmmm... I wouldn't say all powerful... but it's very close."
Another person decided to interrupt their discussion, "Master Karin, who is this?"
The feline didn't turn around but still replied, "A possible new student of mine, Tenshinhan. Could you bring me a senzu bean; he's in no condition to even think coherently, let's not talk about able to train."
"Of course, master."
The three-eyed man walked over to one of the clay jars and opened it. He took out a small white bean and threw it to Karin, who caught it without trouble.
The master turned his attention back to Ryoga, "Here, eat this. It will heal you."
Ryoga, not having eaten in days even prior to his appearance in the forest, quickly ate the offered food. He swallowed it whole and then the weirdest thing happened, his ki reserves were replenished and he could feel the pain in his muscles fading away completely, all of his hunger and thirst disappeared too. In just a few moments his whole body was regenerated and he also felt stronger than before.
The bandana-clad boy jumped back to his feet with an ease that surprised him, he still had his backpack and umbrella on his back and that should have weighted him down. Something else came to his mind and Ryoga quickly dropped his equipment to the ground, where it landed with a dull thud. He looked at the cat-like being and asked a question that was burned into his mind hours ago,
"Could you please tell me where the toilet is? I can't hold it much longer!"
Karin sweatdropped and pointed behind him with his free paw, "Just behind the corner there."
Ryoga vanished from the spot he was standing at and made a run for the bathroom, leaving two very confused people behind.
The white cat coughed slightly and then turned back to his student, "Could you put the backpack somewhere, where it is not in the way?"
"Okay, master..."
Tenshinhan walked over to Ryoga's traveling gear and picked it up by the straps, he was very surprised by the weight of the pack. He looked back to entrance of the tower then back to the pack, this process was repeated two more times.
"What is it, Tenshinhan?" asked Master Karin suddenly
"M-master... this thing is weighting at least 300 pounds..."
The cat blinked, even though it was impossible since he almost never opened his eyes. To carry all that weight all the way up here was an astonishing feat. No wonder that the boy's muscles were almost completely ripped apart, the only thing that kept him going was his remaining ki.
"That is truly incredible; his pain tolerance has to be unbelievably high..."
Tenshinhan didn't comment on that and placed the pack into the corner of the room, he then walked back upstairs to tell his companions that a new fighter came to train here. Master Karin on the other hand waited for Ryoga to return from the toilet, he didn't have to wait long as the cursed boy returned just after a few minutes.
"So, when do we start the training?" asked the cursed young man and cracked his knuckles
"Could you answer me a question first?" requested Karin
"Yeah, ask away."
"Why do you want me to train you?"
"I want to beat my rival Ranma." answered Ryoga without a second thought
"Is that the only reason?"
"What do you mean?" asked Ryoga, he was confused
"Well, what would you do once you have defeated your rival? Just stop training?"
"Of course not! I would never stop practicing my martial arts!"
The cat turned around, "Then I have no reason to train you. Goodbye."
"W-wait!! Why aren't you going to train me?!" questioned Ryoga angrily
"It seems that the only goal in your life is to defeat one person. That is very selfish, with your skills you could do much better. Now excuse me, I have my students to attend to." this said he walked out of the room
Ryoga wanted to say something but nothing came over his lips, he couldn't say anything because the cat was right. Was this the reason why Ranma was better than him, because he actually fought not for himself but for others? That couldn't be right, Ranma also fought for himself alone pretty often. But for the life of him, Ryoga couldn't remember a time when it was like this.
-----------------------
To be continued…
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