Disclaimer: DB/Z is Akira Toriyama's, Ranma is Rumiko Takahashi's. Everything that isn't there's, is mine... including you. That's right ladies and gentlemen, Rumiko, Akira, and myself each own a third of everything in existence... You have been assimilated...
No themes in this fic. Unless of course one goes REALLY good with the chap, or if I'm convinced by readers to start using them again. Too much hassle, and no one seems to comment on them.
Another quick note. This isn't a DBGT fic.
C&C, hatemail, and prophesies fortelling The Great Writer of Wrongs to:
guy_jin@hotmail.com
By: Guy Jin
Grand Tour
To The Stars!
++++++++++++++++
Little Ranma Saotome pulled himself up with a weak grunt of exertion, the jagged chunk of frozen rock still biting his hand through the thick glove his dad had gotten him from the last town they'd visited.
He finally managed to haul himself onto the plateau and faced his father.
"Ranma," stated the man, "are you already tired?"
The little boy set a determined look even as he pulled the thick parka tightly around his neck. "I'm fine," he stated bravely, walking stiffly from the edge of the cliff.
Genma nodded appreciatively and lead the way along the cliffs, his son not far behind. Neither bothered looking down as they already knew how high they were.
Ranma sighed heavily, taking shallow breaths to try and combat the sting of the freezing air.
"I wish we had the money to fly," lamented the boy sadly. His back was pressed closely against the cliff side to brace himself as he skittered across a particularly narrow portion of their path. His father was doing likewise just a little down the path.
This was more than any nine year old should have to put up with.
"You know that we have to pinch every penny, boy!" lectured Genma. "What little money we have is for food! Flying is an unnecessary traveling expense when one is a martial artist!"
Ranma quelled a reply as he knew what the response would be; "A martial artist's life is fraught with perils!"
He just kept quiet and resigned himself to paying attention to his footing as the wind suddenly picked up.
His dad was right after all, they had little money to spend on things that weren't entirely necessary for the trip. They even had to borrow the winter clothes they were wearing from a store. But none the less, they needed to reach the other side of the mountain to visit the legendary Magic Orin Temple and find that scroll with the technique he was supposed to learn.
The altitude made it difficult to breathe and the freezing wind whipped about them mercilessly. A resounding howl echoed angrily through the chasm formed by the mountain they traversed and one directly across.
They trekked on, wary of the edges as they made their way across the frozen wasteland of the vast mountain range. Soon they found themselves near what appeared to be a recess in the cliff side at a place where the ledge was wide enough to set a tent.
"Pop?" said Ranma, speaking up over the near deafening roar of the wind. "Can we take a break? The wind is getting really bad!"
"Are you crazy boy?" scoffed Genma. "We need to be on the other side as soon as possible."
Suddenly the wind gusted, catching the man by surprise. Genma shifted his weight to compensate for the unexpected wind, but his footing failed him and he fell hard onto his back.
"Pop!" cried Ranma as he watched his dad slid down the slope of hard packed snow.
Genma's arms flailed about frantically, finally catching hold of something hidden beneath the snow. He sighed in relief as the dead, frozen sapling managed to hold his weight. He was snapped back to reality by his son's voice.
"Pop!" cried Ranma, "Get away from the cliff!"
"Cliff?" muttered Genma, hazarding a glance over his shoulder. Sure enough, he was mere feet away from the edge. "Oh shit!" he cursed as he hauled himself to his feet quickly and sped back to the place where his son stood. His cry had an unwanted side effect however, as it reverberated throughout the mountain range.
Genma's eyes widened as a deep trembling from overhead soon increased into a pounding roar. A massive wave of snow barreled its way towards the hapless travelers at an increasing speed.
Genma grabbed his son and dashed into the mountain recess. They ducked inside just as the snow washed over the entrance of the hole, leaving them to pant breathlessly in the dark.
"I guess a short break wouldn't hurt," admitted Genma once his heart had slowed to a reasonable beat.
He put Ranma down and squint his eyes in the darkness, trying to make something out in the shadows. He couldn't see but he could tell that the ceiling was pretty low, forcing him to hunch over and pull off his pack. The walls, which were just barely wider than his shoulders, didn't help the matter much either.
"Gah!" cried Genma in surprise as a bright light flicked on right in his face.
"Sorry Pop," Ranma apologized, the large flashlight he'd dug from his backpack lighting the dark.
Genma frowned but accepted the object from his son. He turned and flashed the beam into the depths of the cave. To their surprise, the recess seemed to go quite deep into the mountain.
Genma turned and gave a tired glare to the solid wall of white the blocked the entrance. He then began to march cautiously up the slight slope of freezing tunnel.
"Pop!" Ranma spoke up, "Where're you goin'? We gotta dig ourselves out!"
"No," stated Genma. "We may set off another avalanche going that way. It's best to see if there is another way out before risking it."
Ranma's eyes lit up in understanding, and with a nod followed after his father's retreating form.
They continued on in silence, wary of anything that may be a potential hazard.
The tunnel was even colder than the outside despite the lack of wind chill. Every now and again they were forced to break through a column of ice formed by moisture trapped in the cave. It reminded Ranma something of a storage fridge they'd hid in once while playing "Dine and Dash" at a restaurant in West City.
Genma sighed in relief, the tunnel finally widening enough to allow him to stand straight and slip his pack onto his shoulders again.
"What's this?" muttered Genma thoughtfully as they found themselves at the end of the tunnel.
Ranma poked his head around his father's mass and pointed out, "It looks like a wall."
Genma sighed heavily and gave his son a frustrated look. "It's not a wall," he stated. "See how there's a seam?"
Ranma blinked but moved closer to have a look. Sure enough, the light gray wall had a jagged seam that ran along the wall in a rough curve.
"Looks like someone covered up an entrance," said Genma suspiciously. A mischievous glint shone in his eye as he pushed little Ranma back. He handed the boy his flashlight and slipped the pack off again.
He spread his feet and crouched low into a power stance. With a low growl he struck out at wall, causing deep cracks to spider web across the surface. He smiled and clapped his hands clean of the light dust from his attack. He pulled his pack on again and gave the damaged stone a light push.
The cracked portion of wall fell back to land into a snow bank with a loud thud. Ranma switched the light off and followed his dad into the bright field of white.
They found themselves standing in what they could only describe as a crater containing a vast snow field. The wind was less powerful here, blocked off by the high cliffs that enclosed the area.
"Well, at least we seem to be at the top of the mountain," commented Genma disappointedly. He'd been hoping to find some type of ancient tomb filled with golden goodies behind that wall. "Let's get going, Ranma. We have to climb out of this crater so we can get down the mountain."
"Okay pop," responded Ranma disappointedly. He'd been hoping to be able to catch some rest in this peaceful field, maybe even get the chance to play with that thing he'd found back in that village they'd gotten their climbing stuff in. He trudged after his dad, wondering why someone had sealed off his area, when something caught his attention.
"Hey," cried the boy excitedly. "A house!"
"Don't be stupid," scoffed Genma, glancing in the direction Ranma indicated. "Why would there be a house... out... here... A house!"
They sprinted over to the large white dome that stood in the vast plain. Once they were closer they were able to make out a few specifics.
The building was cracked and blackened in areas, but was a brilliant white everywhere else, blending it into the snow quite nicely. It stood on four large pegs, like one of those houses Ranma had seen in areas where it rained heavily, those this house was shaped more like a barrel than a shack. The only distinguishing color in the more or less camouflaged structure was a giant purple, domed window at what looked like the front.
"Hello?" shouted Genma. "Is anyone home?" When no answer came, Genma furroughed his brow and tried to think of what to do. "Maybe there's some food or supplies inside we can use."
"Maybe," agreed Ranma, "but I don't see a door."
Genma frowned and walked around the structure a few times, trying to find a seam or a hatch of some kind.
Ranma decided to leave his parent to think and went over to a large rock that stuck up over the snow. He sat down and reached into his bag to pull out his new toy.
"How the hell do you get into this place?" grumbled Genma in exasperation. No matter how hard he looked there didn't seem to be any way into the place. He'd even jumped onto the roof and tried to look through the big window, and still had no clues.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a shrill whistle that pierced his ears painfully. He looked to where Ranma sat, chuckling nervously.
"Sorry pop," he apologized. "I've never played with one of these before."
"Where did you get that?" questioned Genma, thinking that it looked expensive whatever it was.
"I found it in this black case when we walked by that school in the last town," answered the boy quickly. "Isn't it neat!"
The boy's father just looked the thing over. "It's just a flute," he commented dryly.
"It's not a flute!" protested Ranma.
"Then what is it?" Genma asked in amusement, thinking that this might be good for a laugh.
Ranma reached back into his bag and pulled out the music book he'd found with the instrument in its case. "It's called a," Ranma squinted and struggled to read the wording as best he could, "a... piccolo..."
Genma reared back to laugh at the funny word, but was silenced as a click followed by a loud hissing sounded behind him.
He went wide eyed as he realized that the door to the house was opening.
Ranma got up and watched as the automated hatch slowly lowered itself. "What'd you do pop?"
Genma just stood with his mouth wide open. "I didn't do anything," he responded. "You?"
The boy shook his head. "Not me either," he stated confidently.
Genma made his slowly towards the slowly descending platform. "Put your toy away, Ranma." He said quietly just in case this was some kind of trap.
Ranma had no such fears though and snapped back loudly, "It's not a toy! It's a piccolo!"
The hatch stopped just as Genma had gotten close enough to inspect it, and began to recede back into its original position.
Thinking quickly, Genma decided to try something, and repeated the words his son had said. "It's not a toy."
Nothing.
"Piccolo?" he stated somewhat disbelievingly.
The platform stopped once more and they waited for it to open fully, allowing the two traveling martial artists entrance. "So it's a voice activated home," commented Genma, impressed.
The two boarded the elevator hastily and spoke the word to activate the mechanisms.
"Piccolo," commanded the oldest of the pair.
The inside of the domicile was only a single room, with no furnishings other than a large recliner in front of an enormous big screen TV.
Genma's face fell, his hopes of finding riches dashed against the rocks of misfortune. He glanced down to his son, "At least the boy seems happy," he thought dryly.
"Wow Pop!" squealed Ranma excitedly. "Look at the size of this TV!"
The husky man wandered over to the chair and plopped down heavily. "Might as well enjoy this place while we can," he muttered. So saying, he began to fiddle and jab at the numerous buttons and levers lining the armrest.
"Which one of these stupid things makes the damn chair vibrate?" he grumbled angrily.
"Maybe you have to talk to it?" supplied Ranma.
Genma blinked. That just might work.
He leant forward and spoke into what seemed like a speaker or intercom of some sort. "Piccolo."
The screen before them flared to life instantly, giving off a barrage of beeps and clicks to accompany the bright glow as the screen warmed up.
"Well, I may not be getting a massage," reasoned Genma, "but at least I can see if there's anything good on."
"Gi nil piccolo, go tak kirin-ra?" questioned a strange electronic warble from the screen.
"What the hell!?!" screamed Genma, utterly baffled as to what was starting to take shape on the display.
Once, when he'd been training, he and his old friend Soun had been forced to take refuge for the night in an observatory, and they'd spent the evening looking at the many pictures and photos displayed on the walls. This site reminded him of that experience.
It appeared to be some sort of mapping, displaying a number of what looked to be planets and star systems. Next to each object was a caption written in some strange, possibly alien language.
"What do you think it is?" asked Ranma curiously, not being old enough to understand the scope of what they were seeing.
Genma immediately stood and grabbed the boy by the shoulders, a wild look in his eyes. "It's money in the bank, that's what it is!!!"
"W-what?" sputtered the boy as he was shook by the shoulders.
"No time for that! Come on," Genma ordered excitedly. "We have to bury this thing before we head back!"
Ranma scratched at his head. "Bury it?"
"Piccolo!" commanded the man as he made his way back to the entrance. "That's right! We'll cover this thing in snow so no one else finds it while we go to West City!"
Ranma hopped onto the platform just as it started moving, not wanting to be left behind. "West City? But don't we have to go to Magic Orin Temple?"
Genma threw back his head and guffawed heartily. "Don't you see boy? This is our meal ticket! Such an opportunity cannot be passed up!"
Ranma just sighed in exasperation. When his dad got like this there really was no stopping him. Hopefully this would all blow over in a few days and they could get back to their trip.
+++++++++++++++++++
West City: The largest city on the largest of the three continents of the planet, headquarters of the mighty Capsule Corporation, Earth's scientific and financial Mecca. It was home to the most influential and powerful of families. Most notably, the Briefs, and to a lesser extent, Saotomes.
"Stupid sun," Ranma grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning loudly. With one swift movement he reached over and slapped the off button on his alarm and yanked at the draw strings of his Venetian blinds, silencing the noise and throwing the room into relative darkness.
He stood and stretched, working the kinks out of his body. He never had these kinds of kinks when he slept under the stars.
He turned and glanced at the soft, comfortable bed and snorted in disgust. "Stupid bed." He reached down and grabbed one corner of his blanket, and placed it perfectly across the sheets with a flick of his wrist.
At least he tried.
"Damn it," he cursed, leaning forward and tugging the messy blanket neatly into position. At the rate he was going he was never going to get that trick down.
He walked out of his room and began his morning rituals; bathing, dressing in his favorite red t-shirt and black slacks, greeting his mother and having a quick breakfast before grabbing his school bag and heading out the door to school.
"Hey, Ranma!" greeted a sickeningly cheerful voice from the gate as he exited the front door.
The ponytailed boy rubbed his face and frowned. "It's too early for this Bulma."
The blue haired heiress of the Capsule Corporation flashed him an annoyed frown of her own. "Really, Ranma. Do we have to go through this everyday?"
"We wouldn't have to if you just left me alone," he pointed out as he calmly strolled down the long walkway to the street and right by the girl without a glance.
Bulma fumed angrily and stomped off after the boy. "How can you be so mean to your own girlfriend?"
"Quit being stupid!" he replied with as much edge to his voice as he could muster for an issue that had become old long ago. "I'm not your boyfriend!"
"Maybe not now, Saotome," she thought wickedly, a wry smile on her face. "But one day, you will fall to my feminine wiles."
Ranma increased his rate of walking a bit as his unwanted admirer began the usual, yet none the less unnerving, maniacal laughter. He sighed tiredly and thought about how his life had managed to become so mundane.
Six years ago, when he and his father had found the space ship, they'd gone to West City, and sold the ship to the wealthy Capsule Corporation. His father had never been a particularly bright man, but his immeasurable greed made up for that lack of brains at the bargaining table.
Not only had he negotiated a large cash payment, but a share in any and all technological advancements which may stem from study of the craft.
Much to Ranma's ire, their training mission had been halted, since his father now had a financial portfolio to manage. Don't mention the fact that managing a portfolio included getting lap dances from his secretary and eating three business lunches a day.
His mother however had been quite receptive to the change in life style, and was very proud of how intelligent her husband was, and how good a provider he became.
One thing that Ranma had always been glad for was that his dad had also managed to keep their name out of the press more often than not. It had struck him as strange at first, since modest was not a term he'd use to describe Genma Saotome.
It mattered little though; his father's reason for remaining unknown outside the communities, both local and business. In the end he was happy to not be pestered as much as Bulma's family was.
Ranma drifted back to find that Bulma had entered into her chatty mode, and so he tuned her back out.
The girl was a nuisance, plain and simple. But she was nice when she wanted to be, and he might even enjoy being around here if she weren't always pushing about that girlfriend stuff. Plus, he had to admit, she and her dad were pretty smart.
In the six short years, Capsule Corp. used its vast resources and already advanced technologies to reverse engineer the ship's technology. They had progressed in leaps and bounds, having the first expedition to outermost space within months of the first studies.
As a result, the Earth was becoming more "universal" as they put it. Alien technologies and cultures had become more-or-less common knowledge on the planet.
Although aliens were a rarity on the planet since it was still considered frontier by older species, they were far from unheard of. For the most part, if someone saw an alien walking down the street, they paid them little notice other than a second glance.
Ranma hated that he no longer traveled. Although he was glad that he had his mother, and a nice house, and good food, he sorely missed the fun of adventuring he'd experienced during his training.
He truly missed those days.
Despite it all he still managed to train in his art, but without his father to teach him it was difficult. School got in the way of training too. At least they didn't require a uniform.
"What's that?" asked Bulma right of the blue.
She was another of Ranma's little quirks. They'd met when Genma had sold the ship, and she'd somehow gotten the idea that they were meant to be together. It didn't help matters that they'd bought a house so close to where Bulma's family lived.
"What is it?" He looked to where the girl pointed and noticed for the first time a moving van as it pulled to a stop in front of a large home that had been vacant for a number of months.
"Must be new neighbors," commented Bulma.
"How ever did you guess?" Ranma quipped with a roll of his eyes.
Bulma ignored Ranma's comment and adjusted her blue jeans and white t-shirt. "We should go say hi."
"Why?" he questioned honestly.
"Because, they're our new neighbors, you jerk!" she reasoned, taking a slight detour from the route to school to walk towards the entrance of the largish manor.
He sighed and followed after her. "I guess so."
Voices could be heard as they walked up the lengthy walk.
"Please be careful with that crate!" pleaded a gentle, yet masculine voice. "Those vases are from Keliops, their sun went nova over a decade ago! They're irreplaceable!"
Bulma hid a smile behind a hand as the clumsy movers dropped the huge metal crate from their pneumatic hand truck, nearly throwing the large blue man into hysterics.
"Nooo!" screamed the alien, having heard the sound of shattering crystal when the crate fell.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you sir, I can see you are very busy," stated Bulma as the pair strode up to the man, "but I just thought we should stop by and say hello."
The alien managed to compose himself somewhat as he turned to greet the Welcome Wagon.
Ranma's eyes widened a bit as he got his first clear look at their new neighbor. Blue skin, almost seven feet tall, elongated face and scalp coming into a curled point, three long fingers on each hand; this was most definitely an alien.
"Ah, I'm sorry," started the man, noticing Ranma's appraising gaze, "You must have never met a member of my species before. I am Ji Lloxamir, of the people of Psanes," supplied the tall alien with a low bow, one fist over his heart and the other held up, palm in. "And you are?"
"My name is Bulma Briefs," was the quick reply. Bulma managed a curt bow and gave Ranma an elbow in the ribs.
Ranma rubbed at the injury absently and gave a two fingered salute. "Yo! Ranma Saotome."
Bulma's hackles rose instantly and she practically pounced on the poor boy.
"What the hell's wrong with you!?!" she demanded. "Can't you show any respect for anyone even once!?!"
Before Ranma could answer, laughter erupted from the oversized alien.
Bulma pulled her temper back and managed another bow. "I'm so sorry Mr. Yosamer! Ranma is a jerk but he-"
"That's quite all right," he said with a shake of his head. "I enjoy people with a bit of spice in them. And please, call me Ji, as it seems you are unable to pronounce my name properly anyways."
"Thank you Mr. - Ji," replied the girl in a perky manner. "It will be an honor-"
Ranma drowned out the rest of the chat and decided to watch the movers go about their business.
There seemed to be a lot of big metal crates, most of them labeled fragile. Ranma guessed they were filled with more vases and such.
He cast a quick glance back to Ji. He didn't seem the type to be into girly stuff like antiques. Judging from the way he moved, Ranma would have guessed the large alien was some kind of fighter.
He put the thought aside and continued to watch the movers work. "Holy crap!" he suddenly thought as he saw the movers pull down a large display case from the truck and set it to the side to move later.
"Anyway, Ji," continued Bulma, "we were just on our way to school so we'll - Ranma what the hell are you doing!?!"
Ji blinked and turned to see Ranma, pulling an antique sword from its display case.
"This is the biggest damn katana I've ever seen!" he exclaimed, trying his best to lift the massive two handed blade into a battle stance.
Ji walked over to the boy, casting a frustrated glare to the movers who were standing by and watching the boy's attempt to wield the blade with humorous grins.
"It's not a katana, Ranma," explained Ji as he took the sword from Ranma's hands. "Although it may have the same shape and construct of an Earth katana, it's actually called a Hurghest's sword."
Ranma took a step back as Ji drew the five foot long blade into a complex looking stance. Ranma had judged the sword's weight to be just above a hundred pounds, and he'd barely been able to even hold it.
He could only gape as the alien man twirled the blade about himself with a level of skill and speed the likes of which he'd never seen. The cold silver sheen of the metal glinted and flashed like a strobe in the midmorning sun, leaving only trails of light as sign of a weapon being in Ji's hand.
With a content sigh, the Psanean artificer stopped his form and slid the weapon back into the case before closing it. He reached down to dust his bray tunic and green pants theatrically, and cast a sideways glance to the worker he'd hired to move his belongings.
With a startled choke, each mover snapped back to work. They now moved quickly, yet with measured care not to break anything.
Ji couldn't help but smile at that. That'd teach them to show their customers a bit more courtesy. He stopped smiling as his leg seemed to become a bit heavier.
"Teach me!!!" pleaded Ranma, tears of determination shining in his eyes as he hugged the tall warrior's leg fiercely.
A dozens of galaxies, hundreds of planets, thousand of languages; Ji had seen and done much during life in search of fine curios, and all that knowledge came to bear as he summed up the situation in a simple word:
"Wha?"
++++++++++++++++++
In a misty, isolated valley deep in the mountain, far from any form of civilization, a monstrous shadow howled at the full moon as it stepped from it's home early one morning to get a drink from the well outside. It was not fully morning, but rather the twilight before the dawn.
The monster tore through its home with a maddening rage. It showed little regard for any life within the fertile valley.
Trees, plants, animals, birds; nothing was spared the beast's wrath. It towered over the treetops, searching for things to destroy in an attempt to sate this maddening hunger that burned within its soul with a primal urgency.
It soon grew tired of the tedious smashing of things it could not even hear scream, and made its way over the mountains onto a vast plain, following its nose to what smelled oddly enough like food.
It traveled for a few minutes, managing to cover a great distance with its massive strides.
It made a sudden stop as it caught sight of some form of giant lizard running away as fast as its legs could carry it.
The monster's simian lips parted into a smile which resembled more a cruel sneer with its massive canines. It couldn't just let something so… alive, escape.
The beast parted its jaws, as though to swallow the fleeing creature from afar. With a rushing of parted air, a beam of light issued from the thing's gaping maw, streaking across the twilight to cut through the frightened beast like a hot knife through butter.
Even from hundreds of yards away the monster could smell the other beast's flesh, roasted and sizzling from the attack.
It crouched low and sprang forth, its powerful legs propelling it across the distance in a single bound.
It tore at the meal ravenously, ripping huge chunks of meat clear from the bone with its bare hands. It swallowed the chunks whole, though it took the time to chew the tangy liquid from the bits that were not completely cooked.
It growled in anger as its meal was interrupted by something buzzing by overhead. It swat at the thing, hoping to get the chance to crush it, but whatever this thing was, it was quite fast.
After a few passes the thing went away, leaving the monster to eat its meal in peace. Though now it was no longer hungry.
It growled and lumbered to a mesa which was concaved into a bowl. It climbed inside and settled in for a nap.
When it would awake, it would not be what it is, and it would wonder how it got this far out of the valley.
++++++++++++++++++
Pli Angyunworv stepped out onto the tarmac of the little airfield and frowned. This backwards planet had access to star ship technology for almost seven years now, and they still considered such filthy places as spaceports?
What did it matter that he was on the planet illegally? Should something so trivial prevent him from going to one of the larger, more accommodating ports?
The purple scaled alien walked in the direction of the main hangar, fully intent on killing the head mechanic for keeping such a sty and believing it was suitable for the likes of he.
"You should have seen it!" exclaimed one human in a brown jacket to another in a blue one. "The thing was massive! It just tore at that poor T-Rex like it was the Sunday night special at some restaurant!"
Pli ignored the nonsense as he walked by. Humans were so easily impressed, like children, but far worse really.
"So lemme get this straight," deadpanned the pilot's friend. "A giant monkey monster was tearing apart a Rex in the middle o' the wilderness, and you flew around it in yer jet chopper like it was frickin' King Kong?"
Pli stopped dead in his tracks and turned to the pair with an incredulous gaze. A giant monkey?
"Human!" hollered Pli as he strode over to the two pilots. "Is what you say true?"
The man looked to his friend for a moment before regarding the rude off-worlder. "Yeah. What of it?"
Pli ignored the man's brash rudeness for the moment and fished a small display panel from his ivory chest armor. He poked at the screen and typed on the digital keyboard that was displayed.
"Is this what you saw?" Pli demanded, holding the screen out for the men to see.
They both leaned forward and stared questioningly at the screen.
"That's it!!!" answered the man in the brown.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed the blue clad pilot. "You mean it was real!?!"
Pli nodded and lifted up his free hand as he lowered the screen to his side. "Indeed." A bright flash erupted from his palm, engulfing the two men completely, erasing all traces of their existence with a tremendous explosion.
Pli ignored the mechanics and pilots that ran from the hangars in a panic.
He stared into the screen at the displayed image of an Oozaru in all its destructive glory.
He would need to alert Lord Freezer.
+++++++++++++++++
Raditz sat at his usual stool in the bar at Freezer's main citadel. He was content in the knowledge that he was the most powerful, and therefore respected, seventeen year old to frequent the bar.
"Lord Raditz," spoke someone to his left. He recognized it as the voice of one of his personal spies in Freezer's communications room.
"What is it, Gnyr?" he asked without turning.
"I have something I believe may be of interest to you and your Saiyan brothers," was the curt reply.
"What could you have to offer me?" questioned Raditz skeptically. His answer was a folder which was slipped under his drink.
Raditz stared at the thing with a frown, but yanked it open after some consideration. His eyes widened at what was written within.
He spun around on his stool with lightning speed and held a fist to his informant's face threateningly. "Has Freezer seen this yet!?!"
"No my Lord," answered the mercenary com tech.
Raditz quickly reached for a small pouch at his waist and slapped it down on the counter in front the informant before rushing out of the bar.
Gnyr smirked deviously as he grabbed the sack of coins and placed it next to the other one on his belt.
++++++++++++++++
Nappa grinned lustfully as he watched a giantess from Dekewli spin and gyrate in the nude. The women from that planet were very near in appearance to those from his home world before it was destroyed, though these women had no ears and were several times a Saiyan woman's size.
That last part didn't bother him much; in fact it was more of a turn on, to be with a woman closer to his own stature.
He growled in irritation as the door to his room slid open. He never had to keep his door locked, simply because no one in all of space was stupid or crazy enough to enter unannounced. No one save two people.
"Nappa," said Raditz as he walked in, not paying any attention to the room's third occupant. "We have to talk."
The large man snorted, but sent away his playmate with a condescending pat on the ass. She grabbed her clothing and dressed as she exited.
"This had better damn well be important," Nappa spat once they were alone.
The younger Saiyan simply tossed the folder he held onto the man's lap.
Nappa frowned but pick up the item and flipped it open. His eyes widened at what he found inside. "Another!?!" he cried.
"Yes," stated Raditz calmly as he walked over to his comrade's personal bar and helped himself to something stiff to drink. "I think I know who it is too."
Nappa glared at the boy as he drank from his personal stash. "Are you going to tell me, or stand there all night drinking my booze?"
"My baby brother, Kakarotto," replied Raditz with a grin as he wiped the moisture from his lips with the back of his hand. "I found some dispatch records in Freezer's old files a few months back. I wasn't sure if he got off planet before it was destroyed, and it didn't have a destination, so I gave up on it."
Nappa nodded in agreement. Raditz always had a good head on his shoulders so he was probably right on this one too.
"The question is: what do we do now?" commented Raditz, more to himself than to his companion.
"Don't you want to go get your brother?" questioned Nappa as he tilted his head askance.
"Of course!" Raditz scoffed impatiently. Nappa may have been strong, but he was pretty dense. "I don't think you understand the full scope of what has been presented to us."
"What do you mean?" asked Nappa, creasing his brow in thought.
"We are the greatest of all Freezer's men, second only to the Ginyu and Freezer's commanders, right?" Raditz paused and waited for a nod before continuing. "But we grow stronger with every battle, while they grow fat and weak, confident that they are most powerful. Soon we will be the Ginyu's superior. And that is with only you, me and the Prince! With my brother at our side, we may even one day have the power to take Freezer himself!"
Nappa's eyes lit up and he stood with a wide grin on his face. "You always think ten steps ahead, Raditz! That's why I like you!" bellowed the man as he walked over and pat the shorter fighter on the shoulder. He reached over the bar and grabbed a bottle hidden in the back. "We should toast this occasion!"
Raditz accepted a mug of sizzling spirits and raised it high. "To the rise of a new Saiyan Empire!"
++++++++++++++++++
"You were correct, my Lord," commented Dodoria as they watched the Saiyans plot their treachery on a camera hidden in the ceiling of Nappa's room. The pink skinned man bowed as low as his girth would allow I respect to his master's intelligence. "They are becoming ambitious and cocky. They believe that a single addition to their numbers would allow them the chance of something as preposterous as overthrowing you."
Freezer nodded as he shut off the large screen with a negligent wave of his hand. "They have outlived their usefulness. Give them one final mission... Make sure they do not return."
"What of Vegita?" questioned a second general, this one a blue skinned man named Zarbon.
"No," commanded Freezer with a grin, leaning back in his floating lounge. "I'll keep him around. What would I do without my pet Saiyan to amuse me?"
"As you say," replied the two generals in unison. They bowed in tandem and walked out of the cavernous chambers of the most feared Land Baron/Blood Merchant in the universe.
++++++++++++++++
Ranma sat on the school's roof, eating in silence his lunch prepared by his home's cooks.
He spared glance down to the school's courtyard and frowned.
The richest children in the world; sons and daughters of the cultural elite, they all went to this school. Shining Hills Private School. Age, gender, race, or religion: none of that mattered in this school. Only the size of your parent's pocket book.
He snorted in disgust. There wasn't even a hill for miles. This place wasn't for him, never was.
The sound of the heavy iron door behind him alerted him to the presence of another person before anything else. He made no move to recognize the other person, preferring to stare into his now empty lunch box.
He really needed to start packing his own lunch. Not only did it take him a few months to get them to make him a simple bento, but they never made enough.
Another box was thrust in front of his face and he snatched it with a casual thanks.
He opened it and started in on the food inside as the other person on the roof sat next to him on the edge with her back to the chain link fencing.
"Ugh, the noodles are so tough," grimaced Ranma.
"I don't even know why I bother to make a spare lunch for a jerk like you," Bulma snapped. She never even made a lunch before that time that Ranma's mother had taught her a few things about cooking. "The least you could do is be a little more grateful for the gesture if you don't like the food."
Ranma sighed and added an extra thanks to help keep his companion silent. As usual, it didn't.
"You know," began the girl as she dug into her own lunch. "You never have told me why you always come up here."
The ponytailed boy looked at her from the corner of his eye and gave a slight sigh. If he didn't tell her she probably wouldn't stop asking. Better just to get it over with.
"I can't see the other buildings when I sit up here," he said with a tiny smile.
Bulma blinked and looked around. There were tons of buildings much taller than their school around. "But, there are buildings everywhere."
"Not if you look that way," he answered with a shake of his head and a point of his finger.
Bulma looked in the direction he indicated and noted that it sure enough had a clear view of the mountain range outside the city.
"Well, it's a very nice view," she admitted. "But it's not anything special."
Ranma only shook his head. "It's not the view. It's the mountain itself," he stated simply, lost now in his own thoughts as he spoke them aloud.
The blue haired girl blinked and squinted in the afternoon sun as she stared intensely at the mountain. "Doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it to me."
"When pop and I were training," continued Ranma, ignoring the girl's confusion, "we used to climb mountains like that all the time. We'd walk though snow fields, swim rivers and lakes, jog through deserts; all in the name of our art."
Bulma found herself entranced by Ranma's telling, his words growing soulful and deep.
"Once, we were in this jungle where some martial arts master was supposed to be living," Ranma smiled at the memory. "We eventually found a shack in the middle of a clearing, but it was abandoned. We decided to spend the night there and maybe get some training done."
His eyes closed as the memory became clearer in his mind. "We hadn't eaten in a while so we grabbed a few fruits and things that were growing around the clearing. We'd thought that maybe whoever had lived there had been growing them to eat. Boy, were we wrong."
"Go on, so what happened next?" ushered Bulma, fully enveloped in Ranma's tale.
Ranma just grinned and answered. "We ate the fruit and got sick for days after. Plus we were nearly eaten alive by the bugs since it was nearing summer."
Bulma blinked once, then blinked again. "What the hell kind of story is that!?!"
Ranma shrugged. "Well, that's what happened, and to tell you the truth, I miss that type of thing."
"You miss getting food poisoning from strange fruit and being eaten alive by jungle insects?" she drolled incredulously.
"Yeah," replied Ranma with another shrug and a mischievous smirk. "I miss traveling. I miss the idea of waking up every morning, knowing that it was another day where anything could happen. My oldest memories are of adventuring to strange places, all in the name of improving my skills in my art."
Bulma stared at the boy for a few moments. She'd never seen her would-be boyfriend act like this. He seemed to tranquil. A smile crept on her face.
He was so cute when he opened up like this. She'd have to ask him about his old adventures more often.
++++++++++++++++
"Yo, Mom, Pop!" called Ranma as he dashed down the stairs.
Nodoka turned her head and called to her son as he turned the corner to the front door, "Aren't you going to eat?"
Ranma was back in a flash, gulping down huge portions of food in a matter of moments.
"Ranma, eat properly," chided his mother. "Genma, tell your son to eat civilly."
"Do what your mother says, boy," muttered Genma half-heartedly from behind his newspaper.
Ranma stopped his eating to frown at the man. It disgusted him to no end what his father had become. Genma Saotome had always been a big man, but it had mostly been muscle, now however…
That's not to say he wasn't still quite fit, but he was a good deal softer, and no where near as strong as he had been.
He'd given up on the art. The only reason he even practiced it anymore was because Ranma's mother had told him to keep up his training as a way of father-son bonding. And even then, it was a rare occurrence.
Ranma hated having to go through those now. He could beat the man without even the slightest amount of difficulty.
He went back to eating; taking his time to chew since eating at a more comfortable pace would have caused his mother to go into lecture mode. He definitely didn't want to spend his valuable Sunday learning which fork was for what at the dinner table. Not again anyways…
"So, what are you doing today, Ranma?" asked his mother. It wasn't really a question she didn't already know the answer to, but she thought asking would be the motherly thing to do. "And don't talk with your mouth full," she reprimanded before Ranma even lifted his head.
Ranma grinned around the chopsticks half hanging in his mouth and swallowed loudly. "Gunna –- I mean, I'm going to go to Ji's house."
Just as she'd suspected.
"Why don't you spend the day with Bulma?" she proposed, not noticing Genma ruffle his paper nervously for a moment.
"Why would I do that?" Ranma replied. "I see her all week at school, and that's more than enough of that psycho to last me till the end of the weekend."
Before Nodoka could interject further, her son inhaled his food in the way that annoyed her so.
"Bye, mom, pop," Ranma called as he disappeared around the corner. He popped his head back in for a second to add, "Thanks for the food."
Nodoka frowned as her son managed to escape her chidings. "That boy," she muttered.
"Let him be," commented Genma from behind his paper, "he's still only sixteen. Let him enjoy a little freedom while he can."
Nodoka's frown deepened a little at the comment. "You may be right. Though I wish he'd take more of an interest in girls and his school work, rather than spending every free moment training."
Sighed heavily and set her plate aside to sip at her tea. The alien named Ji had been important part of her son's life since he'd moved into the neighborhood. During the past year he'd seemed to spend every free second at the man's house.
It was a bit disappointing that the boy didn't idolize his father the way he did Ji, though with Genma's busy work schedule, it was hard for them to make the time for each other. She could at least be glad that Ji taught her son a bit more than martial arts. Ranma's grades at school were much better since Ji had begun training him, mostly due to the off-worlder's interest in intellectual matters.
"Maybe I should see if Bulma's mother would like to arrange a marriage for her and Ranma?" she commented idly.
Genma went white as a sheet and tore his paper in half from shock. "Uh, maybe we shouldn't!" he countered, a little louder than he'd intended. "I mean it wouldn't be fair to Ranma for us to do something like that!"
"I suppose you are right," replied Nodoka oblivious to her husband's relief. "Hopefully he'll take notice of Bulma on his own soon enough. It's not like he has any other pressing engagements."
Genma laughed nervously, but said nothing else on the matter. It was a good thing that he managed to keep a low profile. It wasn't cheap to bribe the newspapers and news channels, but it was well worth it if it kept away all the people he owed debts to.
Bulma getting married to Ranma could be both good and bad. Good since Genma would be a hundred ties richer than he was now, but bad because it would be far beyond even his ability to keep out of the public eye.
Genma's face paled as his thoughts turned dark. "If the wife found out about Tendo or any of the others…"
He suppressed a shiver and prayed silently that he'd be struck with divine inspiration, and figure a way to get out of this mess and still keep his head; hopefully while getting a little richer in the process.
++++++++++++++++
In a room secreted away beneath the home of a well respected businessman, a lone figure struggled against a flowing blue pulse that filled the chamber.
The air was thick with the smell of perspiration and the dank odor of hard labor. In the center of the room was a small globe. It hovered a few feet above the ground, and swayed slightly as the room's occupant moved.
"Graaaah!!!" screamed the man, popping up on one foot and spinning into a roundhouse kick, aimed straight for the object. The orb hovered backwards quickly, and rushed forward in a burst of speed, flying inches above its attacker's face.
The man was caught off guard, his footing failed him, and his leg buckled, spilling him to the ground with a painful thud.
"Shit," he groaned. When his eyes opened he found the little ball hovering mere inches from his face. The man bat at the thing irately and frowned when it simply hovered out of reach.
"Hijn," called a voice from the door. The word brought a cease to the increase in the room's gravity, and dimmed the ball's glow considerably.
"Not good enough," commented the boy from the ground.
"You did well, Ranma," commented Ji. The tall off-worlder whistled sharply, calling the training orb to his hand.
Ranma sighed as he climbed back to feet. "I could have done better though."
"Well you've never trained with anything that increased the native gravity of its surroundings," Ji commented with a grin. "Trust me, you'll do better next time."
"Sure," replied the boy.
Ji noted the tone in his young friend's voice and added, "Why don't you go and get something to eat?"
Ranma immediately perked up and ran out the door with a hasty, "Thanks."
Ji placed the orb onto a nearby shelf and walked from his personal training room, to the hall that lead to the stairs going back to the main floor.
A sudden chill ran down his back, freezing him as he climbed the stairs. The moment came and went, leaving the man to ponder the feeling.
Ji shook his head to clear it. It was probably nothing. He walked back up the stairs, only to be stopped by the same momentary shiver.
These types of feelings were rare, but never welcomed.
Something was coming…
++++++++++++++++
In a darkened room, a creature of vile tastes stared out his large observation window into the expanse of space.
Tiny flickering, twinkling pricks of light, millions of light years away, and they all belonged to him. That thought brought a smile to his face.
"Lord Freezer," interrupted one of his underling's from the entrance.
"What is it?" demanded Freezer with a chill that matched his name.
The errand boy quivered in fright but managed a deep bow. "A thousand apologies my Lord! But, you wished to be informed when we neared planet fall."
"That I did," responded Freezer amusedly.
"By your leave then," hastened the orange skinned mercenary.
"Wait," called Freezer. His voice was soft, but managed to reach the retreating intruder.
"Y-yes my Lord?" he stuttered. The man quivered in his boots, trying to think of anything he'd done wrong.
"It's nothing important," commented Freezer, bringing a sigh of relief from his subordinate. "But, you forgot to knock."
The sound of the man's scream as he was blasted into oblivion echoed through the halls of the vast ship.
++++++++++++++++
"Stupid sun," Ranma grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning loudly. With one swift movement he reached over and slapped the off button on his alarm and yanked at the draw strings of his Venetian blinds, silencing the noise and throwing the room into relative darkness.
He stood and cricked his neck. He wasn't so stiff today, though that was expected. He always slept well after a nice hard day of training.
He reached down and grabbed one corner of his blanket, and placed it perfectly across the sheets with a flick of his wrist.
At least he tried.
"Oh well," he muttered, "At least I'm getting better." He quickly leaned forward and tossed the last untucked corner into place. That corner furthest from the headboard always gave him trouble.
He walked out of his room and began his morning rituals; bathing, dressing in his favorite red mandarin blouse and black training pants (the ones he'd gotten during that trip last summer to the northern continent), greeting his mother and having a quick breakfast before grabbing his school bag and heading out the door to school.
He stopped suddenly as he realized that something was amiss.
"Bulma?" he whispered carefully. He looked around; to his left, then to his right. The annoying girl was no where to be seen. "I must still be in bed," muttered the boy as he turned and looked up to his bedroom window.
A quick pinch on the arm and he knew he was awake. "Looks like today might be my day!"
"Ranma!" called a voice from up the street.
He should have known. Too good to be true.
"Sorry I'm late," she gasped. "My alarm didn't go off."
"Whatever," replied Ranma with a sigh.
The two continued on towards school in their usual manner; Ranma walking in total silence, while Bulma paced him by a few steps, boring him to death with every excruciating detail of what she'd done the previous day, and what she planned on doing today.
As per usual, he just tuned her out.
The weather was decent enough today, he thought. Nice and sunny, a little breeze coming from the west. It seemed one of those postcard perfect days, except for the fact that there no birds singing.
Ranma just shrugged that off as something to do with the season and continued on.
When they reached the cross road that lead to their school they both stopped.
Ranma closed his eyes and reached out with his still developing senses, trying to pinpoint the exact location of his mentor.
Bulma just sighed as she waited for her would be boyfriend to finish his little kung fu exercise. He'd started doing this every day for the last month. From what she gathered it had something to do with feeling for another person's life or whatever.
Ranma frowned internally, unable to find any trace of Ji's ki. "He must be training," he wondered aloud. The gravity orbs he'd been using always did seem to do odd things with the ability to sense another's ki. That seemed the most logical answer, since Ji wouldn't leave town without at least telling him.
"What did you say?" asked Bulma.
"Nothing," he replied.
They started back along their way, Bulma going back to talking, while Ranma simply said. "yeah" and "really" every now and again.
As they walked though, he couldn't shake this feeling that something was going to happen today. There was a tension in the air he couldn't quite explain.
Whatever it was, it was going to be big. He was sure of it.
+++++++++++++++
Ji moved with practiced grace as he levitated after the brightly glowing, emerald orb. His fist flew in a blur in chase of his swift opponent.
"Kiyoh!" he cried, bursting with a renewed vigor he threw his fist towards his objective.
The globe exploded in a brilliant flare, speeding away from Ji's attack, but only dodging by a hair's breadth.
With Ji off balance, the sphere took an offensive and drilled into his exposed chest with a burst of speed that came unexpected.
The giant fighter grit his teeth and stood his ground as the ball pressured his chest with a steadily increasing force.
He hollered in anger, blazing with a power not accessed in years.
The orb spun in protest, but began to tremble against the resisting aura. A single crack formed along its perfectly smooth surface, weakening it enough to lose it the battle. The air screeched from the speed of the orb's flight, ending when it impacted with a wall, forming a deep concave in the reinforced metal.
Ji shook his head tiredly. He'd been doing this since Ranma had left the day before. A quick glance to a clock on the wall told him that it had been around fifteen hours total.
He frowned at the dent he'd made in his wall, but was at least thankful that the orb was still in repairable condition. They cost a lot more than fixing the wall would.
Ji walked to a rack on the wall and retrieved his gray tunic. He stood with it in his hand, and looked down to the small marking above his left breast.
It was a blackened burn in the shape of his hand.
He rubbed at it and remembered what it stood for. With a snort he pulled the shirt on and put the mark out of his mind.
He whistled sharply to call the orb to him. It shook violently for a few moments before finally wiggling its way free. It floated over to its master drunkenly and landed into Ji's outstretched palm.
Ji spoke the word to deactivate the orb's power, and immediately regretted it.
"Oh no!" he cried in shock. "It's here!"
He threw the orb to the ground and ran out of the room as quickly as his legs would carry him.
Questions filled his mind as he hurried through his house.
How long had it been here? Why did this power feel familiar? Could it be…
He stopped his thoughts forcibly on that last note. It was something too horrible to think.
++++++++++++++++++
"Lord Freezer!" called a voice from over the radio in the scouter.
"What news?" asked Freezer in a bored tone as he clicked at his scouter's switch.
"Nothing as of yet your Greatness," answered the voice over the radio. "But we have our best men searching."
"Very well," he sighed. "Continue the search, and keep me posted."
Freezer leaned back in his lounge and waited further word. This was becoming tedious. His ship had landed nearly an two hours ago and they'd yet to turn anything up yet.
"You would think a fifty foot Saiyan ape would be easy to find," he muttered sarcastically.
"What was that my Lord?" asked the servant that stood at his side.
"Nothing," snapped Freezer. He briefly regretted not bringing Zarbon or Dodoria with him, they'd have found this stray Saiyan by now and they would have already been well on their way home.
He looked around for what seemed like the twentieth time in the last hour.
Someone had dropped the ball here. It just didn't seem like the kind of place a Saiyan would be. There were too many living things for one matter.
Lush vegetation, random animals scurrying about, the water in a nearby lake looked clean enough to drink, you could even see the natural color of the sky.
"That foolish little dog had better not be lying about there being a Saiyan here," he thought tersely about the scout who'd messaged the existence of a Saiyan on this planet.
"FREEZER!!!"
Freezer's chair drifted to the side swiftly just as the area he was engulfed in an explosion. His servant screamed as he was eaten away by the force of the attack.
Freezer's eyes darted about as he clicked on his scouter. "Who would dare?"
The cloud of dust that had been kicked up by the explosion settled to reveal the form of a blue skinned man that Freezer recognized as a Psanean. He raised his brow at that. "And you are?"
"I am Ji Lloxamir, the man who will kill you, you bastard," was the cool response.
"Oh ho! Those are big words my friend," replied Freezer, glad for some sort of distraction.
"I'm no friend of yours," Ji snapped back. With a battle cry he leapt to the attack, his fist cocked in anticipation of taking off the evil tyrant's head.
Freezer smiled wickedly and crossed his arms while he remained seated. His chair dropped suddenly, ducking his head just below Ji's attack.
He chuckled lightly and countered by swinging his thick tail to club his attacker in the exposed ribs.
Ji groaned as he flew through the air, the wind was knocked out of him by the force of the blow, but Freezer was not done yet. His chair sped to the chase, and managed to catch up with Ji.
Once again his tail snaked out, this time wrapping itself around Ji's throat tightly. The blue skinned fighter was spun rapidly as Freezer whirled his carriage like a top, taking his captured opponent along for the ride before slamming him to the ground and crashing into him hard enough to create a twenty foot crater.
"Not so brave now, eh, hero?" chuckled Freezer. He reached down with his tail again and lifted Ji by his throat.
"Kiss… my… a–" Ji's voiced seized as he was choked just a little bit tighter.
"Oh, now that isn't a nice way to talk," said Freezer with a pout. "What ever could I have done to deserve such a treatment?"
Ji tried to answer, but all he could do was cough and sputter as blood leaked from his nostrils in a steady flow.
"What is this now?" commented Freezer as he eyed a tear in Ji's shirt. He ripped it off the rest of the way and chuckled in delight at the marking he found. "I see! So you're one of those are you?"
Ji shook angrily and struggled against the iron grip of his captor.
Freezer smiled happily at the spunk his prey was exhibiting. "Well, it should be a lot of fun killing you!" He laughed wickedly and tossed the man to the ground.
"I'll never let you have this planet," croaked Ji painfully. He reached into his waistband and pulled out a small leather pouch. He grabbed the drawstring in his teeth, pulled them, and tossed the bag high into the air in a single swift move.
A dull yellow powder flew out and scattered in the wind. It hung for milliseconds before glowing brightly upon contact with sunshine. It exploded in a radiant shower of light, outshining the glare of the afternoon sun, blinding anyone who happened to be looking in its general direction.
Freezer covered his eyes with his hand as the flare shone for a few seconds. When it finally died down his opponent was no where to be seen.
"Damn," he cursed. He clicked angrily at his scouter in search of some sign of his quarry, but came up empty handed. "Damn it!"
His scouter's radio crackled on suddenly. "Are you alright Lord Freezer!?!"
"Yes, you idiot!" he snapped.
"Of course," replied the underling quickly. "My Lord, we've found a valley which looks like it may have been visited by something powerful. We think that –"
"Shut up," commanded Freezer. "Get back here on the double. There's something else I want you to find before we take care of the Saiyan problem."
"At once Sire!" came the crisp response.
Freezer steepled his fingers and frowned. "Ji Lloxamir, enjoy your last few moments of life. Soon I will crush you, my little rebel soldier."
+++++++++++++++++
"Goddamn you Freezer," muttered Ji as he trekked through a thickly wooded area. He was lucky that he'd brought along a miniature transportation idol.
They were a rare commodity indeed, but invaluable when you needed a quick escape. The only problem was that they were more of less random in where they dropped you, and they worked but once.
That mattered little now. Freezer had beaten him soundly, and he was not sure where on Earth he was.
He walked onward; wary of flying just yet as his ribs were hurting badly and spots were forming in front of his eyes from Freezer's having nearly chocked him to death.
He had to keep going, just a little more until his head cleared enough for him to fly.
He just had to…
Without a sound he simply pitched forward and landed face first into a bush, unconscious.
Nearby a figure watched Ji's shallow breathing form, debating what to do.
+++++++++++++++++
Ji's eyes flittered open as the smell of slowly cooking stew filled his senses.
"Where am I?" he muttered to himself. He felt along the ground and noted that he was on some sort of grass bedding.
"Hey, you're awake!" giggled a child's cheery voice from nearby.
Ji snapped up quickly, ignoring the painful throb from his ribs to se who had addressed him.
It was a boy. He was dressed in a dogi and smiled brightly from across the bubbling pot of stew that cooked in the cave they were sitting in.
He could sense that the boy was unusually powerful, but seemed sincerely nice enough.
"I'm glad you're okay, I was kinda worried for a while there," stated the boy as he poked at the fire with a twig.
Ji relaxed somewhat and looked down at his chest. His ribs were bound tightly with tattered strips of cloth and his face felt wet and cool, like it had been washed recently.
"Did you bandage my ribs?" he asked.
"Sure did!" came the chipper reply. "My grandpa taught me how! I also washed the blood off your face. Something must have beaten you up pretty bad."
Ji nodded but said nothing else on the matter of his condition. "Where is your grandfather?"
The boy saddened a bit, "He died a long time ago."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories," apologized the blue skinned man.
"That's okay," said the boy with a rise in his cheer. "My name's Goku, what's yours?"
"Ah, where are my manners!" he laughed. "My name is Ji Lloxamir. Thank you for tending to my injuries."
Goku nodded and stirred the soup. "So are you a good Tengu or a bad one?"
Ji blinked. "A… Tengu?"
"Yeah. My grandpa told me about them," stated Goku with a grin. "They're monsters that live in the mountains. It took me a minute to figure to what you were when I found you, but when I remembered the stories my grandpa told me I decided to help you out."
"I'm not a Tengu," chuckled "I'm a Psanean."
"Psanean?" repeated the boy. "I never heard of that kind of demon."
"That's because I'm not a demon," replied Ji. "I'm an alien."
Goku tilted his head and gave Ji a funny look. "Alien? What's that?"
"It means I'm from space." Ji noticed the confused look on Goku's face and added, "I'm from space."
"What's space?" asked the boy in genuine interest.
Ji rubbed at his pointed chin in thought. "Well, space is way past the sky." It wasn't the most scientific explanation, but the child seemed to understand it.
"Really?" gushed the boy excitedly. "So you can fly? You don't look like a bird!"
Ji grinned at the boy's easy going attitude, but regained his composure quickly. He had to go. Freezer was still on the planet, and since he was alive, that meant that it wasn't too late to do something to stop the madman.
"I have to go," he stated coolly.
Goku stood as well. "Aw, really? I don't see many others in the valley, are you sure you can't stay a bit more?"
"No, a very powerful and evil man is on the planet and he must be stopped," Ji explained.
Goku growled and took a step forward. "Then take me with you! I know how to fight, and my grandpa said that the strong should always protect the weak!"
Ji froze and looked down to the boy's eyes, and saw the fire that burned there. He'd only heard that saying like that from one other person, and that person had this same fire.
"Goku, I cannot take you with me. It is far too—" Ji's voice seized as he caught sight of something behind Goku's back. His body moved on instinct and struck the boy in the side of the neck with precisely enough strength to knock him out but not kill him. Before he realized it he found his hand holding a ball of ki to the boy's face.
"What is this?" he muttered as he dropped his hands and allowed his attack to dissipate. "What am I doing?"
He took a moment and bent down to examine the boy. He had a tail.
Goku was the Saiyan that Freezer had been talking about. But Goku couldn't be a Saiyan. He was far too kind. A noble soul.
There were no buts about it. As little sense as it made, Goku was a Saiyan: a Saiyan being hunted by Freezer.
Last he'd heard the last few of the Saiyans were kept by Freezer as soldiers.
He shook his head clear. It didn't matter why Freezer was after Goku. The boy was a noble soul who was being hunted by the universe's most reviled villain.
He'd never allow Freezer to have his way. No matter what it took.
+++++++++++++++++
"Damn it," Ranma cursed as he jumped across the rooftops of West City on his way to his mentor's home.
He'd been sitting in fourth period social studies when he'd felt his sensei's power spike dramatically from far away.
His ability to sense another's ki was still fairly limited, but such a familiar signature at such a high level was easily sensed.
He'd leapt out of the sixth floor of nine story private school and had proceeded to run in the direction he sensed the power spike. He may not have enough control or power to fly yet, but he did have enough to allow him some good height in his jumps.
Halfway to the bay he'd felt the spike in Ji's power that indicated that he was flying.
Whatever had happened, Ranma knew that Ji would need his help.
+++++++++++++++++
Ji laid the boy under his arm into a bed. "Rest here Goku, soon you'll be far away from all this."
He lifted his head and towards the direction of a familiar ki.
He smiled to himself. Ranma had been nice enough to save him the trip.
"Ji!" called Ranma as he stepped into the ship and looked around. "What's going on?"
Ji gathered himself and hobbled over to his young protégée.
"You're hurt!" gasped Ranma. "Who did this?"
Ji shook his head. "Freezer. He's a horrible person. He destroys planets for fun and profit. He cares little for the well being of any other's than himself."
"And this Freezer guy is here? On Earth?" asked Ranma.
Ji nodded. "Yes."
"Then take me with you! This Freezer bastard doesn't stand a chance against us both!" Ranma clenched his fist and stepped forward, a fire burning bright in his eyes. "It is a martial artist's duty to protect the weak! I won't let anyone hurt my planet."
Ji smiled at those words. "I expected that from you." He stepped forward and placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "You're a good person, Ranma. A truly noble soul."
Without another word he gathered the boy into a hug and held him for a moment.
"Ji. You're… you're freakin' me out," muttered Ranma.
"I know, Ranma." He stepped back and held onto Ranma's shoulder's at arm's length. "Take good care of yourself. And take care of Goku too. He's a good boy, and with him you won't have to be alone."
"What're you talki—" Ranma was cut off as Ji pressed a nerve on the boy's neck, sending him into a deep slumber.
"Glad I learned that one," commented Ji as he placed Ranma in a bed next to Goku's.
He stepped out of the ship and onto the tarmac with a sad sigh. He turned and tapped at the keypad next to the hatch and floated away from the ship as its engines roared to life.
He stood and watched as the vessel lift into the air with a roar.
He levitated slowly into the air until he was a good distance above the tiny spaceport he'd kept his private ship docked.
Ji reached to his waistband and held the tail he'd taken from Goku before letting it go. He watched it drift slowly in the wind on its way to the ground. Simply pulling it off would solve little when it grew back, but it was all he could do with the time allotted.
Without another word he streaked across the sky towards what he knew to be his last fight.
Win or lose, it was something he had to do.
++++++++++++++++
Freezer grinned sardonically as he watched Ji float to the ground before him. "Come back for more did you?"
Ji scowled in defiance as he flicked the blood from his hands. Behind him, bodies littered the otherwise peaceful landscape. "I'll keep coming back for more until one of us is dead."
Freezer laughed heartily at the comment. "Indeed! But, I'm afraid I cannot enjoy your company too long. I have other engagements to keep."
"You mean your hunt for the Saiyan?" questioned Ji.
"What do you know of that?" Freezer asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Just what I overheard," commented Ji with a conspiratory grin.
Freezer straightened in his chair and crossed his arms. "So, what happens now?"
Ji's left arm dangled limply at his side from where it had been broken in his fight with some of Freezer's men. He raised his still good arm and formed a sphere of ki as powerful as he could. "This."
"Ready to fight till the end, eh soldier boy?" commented Freezer darkly, forming his own attack in his hands.
Ji's only response was a humorless grin.
++++++++++++++++++
"Stop right here," commanded Freezer to one of the few remaining men left on his ship.
The underling did as he was told without question and brought their ship to a stop just out of the Earth's atmosphere.
The tyrant lifted upwards out a hatch in the roof of his massive ship and stared down at the planet with a frown.
"This little dirt ball holds no value to me," he thought to himself.
He raised one finger and gathered his strength into a tiny prick of light. It grew in intensity and brightness as he lifted his arm higher above his head.
Once his arm was fully stretched he willed the ball to its full size. The attack went from the size of a grape to a size that dwarfed even his own ship in a matter of seconds.
Without a word or even a sarcastic quip, he tossed the sphere towards the planet lazily before drifting back into his ship.
It wasn't even worth his time to watch the little dirt ball go boom. He'd had enough of the planet called Earth, and the universe would thank him for removing such an eyesore.
++++++++++++++++++
On a ship headed for parts unknown, two boys slept peacefully unaware of the fate that awaited them.
They were now set adrift, alone and without a home to call their own.
Two strangers they were, yet each was all the other had.
Each one had longed for adventures, travel, and excitement in their dull lives, but never at the price it'd ultimately cost them.
Through the main observation window a bright light flared angrily, fueled by screams of pain and the deaths of countless living things.
Each one shuddered under the eerie heat of the blazing light, but soon returned to their sleep.
+++++++++++++++++
Author's notes:
Yay! New fic! *Ahem*
Hopefully this will make up for my absence as of late.^_^
Anyways, this is mainly for those of you who thought I was coming up with good ideas but never taking them to their full potential by exploring Ranma's upbringing. This fic will center around Ranma and Goku's adventures in space. Hence the name, Grand Tour.
Yeah, I know, I should be working on SB or WG. Blame Kwok from the Delphi Boards. He's the one that told me, *quote* "It never hurts to have more fics! =P" *end quote*
Alright, before I get mail about it, yeah I used Freezer instead of Freiza. That was intentional. I like the literal pronunciation of the name better than the engrish one. It sounds much cooler… That pun was not intentional…
Also, a quick word about how I used the descriptions of the aliens. I used "man", "he", and physical descriptions that were human-like because that's how they are in the series. The aliens are pretty much humanoid except for things like appendages and head structure.
Lastly, a REALLY big thanks to ChibiGoesSplat, who helped me out so much whenever I got stuck on this that he really should get an Idea Co-authored credit… But he won't. =P
As always. Gimme C&C please.
No themes in this fic. Unless of course one goes REALLY good with the chap, or if I'm convinced by readers to start using them again. Too much hassle, and no one seems to comment on them.
Another quick note. This isn't a DBGT fic.
C&C, hatemail, and prophesies fortelling The Great Writer of Wrongs to:
guy_jin@hotmail.com
By: Guy Jin
Grand Tour
To The Stars!
++++++++++++++++
Little Ranma Saotome pulled himself up with a weak grunt of exertion, the jagged chunk of frozen rock still biting his hand through the thick glove his dad had gotten him from the last town they'd visited.
He finally managed to haul himself onto the plateau and faced his father.
"Ranma," stated the man, "are you already tired?"
The little boy set a determined look even as he pulled the thick parka tightly around his neck. "I'm fine," he stated bravely, walking stiffly from the edge of the cliff.
Genma nodded appreciatively and lead the way along the cliffs, his son not far behind. Neither bothered looking down as they already knew how high they were.
Ranma sighed heavily, taking shallow breaths to try and combat the sting of the freezing air.
"I wish we had the money to fly," lamented the boy sadly. His back was pressed closely against the cliff side to brace himself as he skittered across a particularly narrow portion of their path. His father was doing likewise just a little down the path.
This was more than any nine year old should have to put up with.
"You know that we have to pinch every penny, boy!" lectured Genma. "What little money we have is for food! Flying is an unnecessary traveling expense when one is a martial artist!"
Ranma quelled a reply as he knew what the response would be; "A martial artist's life is fraught with perils!"
He just kept quiet and resigned himself to paying attention to his footing as the wind suddenly picked up.
His dad was right after all, they had little money to spend on things that weren't entirely necessary for the trip. They even had to borrow the winter clothes they were wearing from a store. But none the less, they needed to reach the other side of the mountain to visit the legendary Magic Orin Temple and find that scroll with the technique he was supposed to learn.
The altitude made it difficult to breathe and the freezing wind whipped about them mercilessly. A resounding howl echoed angrily through the chasm formed by the mountain they traversed and one directly across.
They trekked on, wary of the edges as they made their way across the frozen wasteland of the vast mountain range. Soon they found themselves near what appeared to be a recess in the cliff side at a place where the ledge was wide enough to set a tent.
"Pop?" said Ranma, speaking up over the near deafening roar of the wind. "Can we take a break? The wind is getting really bad!"
"Are you crazy boy?" scoffed Genma. "We need to be on the other side as soon as possible."
Suddenly the wind gusted, catching the man by surprise. Genma shifted his weight to compensate for the unexpected wind, but his footing failed him and he fell hard onto his back.
"Pop!" cried Ranma as he watched his dad slid down the slope of hard packed snow.
Genma's arms flailed about frantically, finally catching hold of something hidden beneath the snow. He sighed in relief as the dead, frozen sapling managed to hold his weight. He was snapped back to reality by his son's voice.
"Pop!" cried Ranma, "Get away from the cliff!"
"Cliff?" muttered Genma, hazarding a glance over his shoulder. Sure enough, he was mere feet away from the edge. "Oh shit!" he cursed as he hauled himself to his feet quickly and sped back to the place where his son stood. His cry had an unwanted side effect however, as it reverberated throughout the mountain range.
Genma's eyes widened as a deep trembling from overhead soon increased into a pounding roar. A massive wave of snow barreled its way towards the hapless travelers at an increasing speed.
Genma grabbed his son and dashed into the mountain recess. They ducked inside just as the snow washed over the entrance of the hole, leaving them to pant breathlessly in the dark.
"I guess a short break wouldn't hurt," admitted Genma once his heart had slowed to a reasonable beat.
He put Ranma down and squint his eyes in the darkness, trying to make something out in the shadows. He couldn't see but he could tell that the ceiling was pretty low, forcing him to hunch over and pull off his pack. The walls, which were just barely wider than his shoulders, didn't help the matter much either.
"Gah!" cried Genma in surprise as a bright light flicked on right in his face.
"Sorry Pop," Ranma apologized, the large flashlight he'd dug from his backpack lighting the dark.
Genma frowned but accepted the object from his son. He turned and flashed the beam into the depths of the cave. To their surprise, the recess seemed to go quite deep into the mountain.
Genma turned and gave a tired glare to the solid wall of white the blocked the entrance. He then began to march cautiously up the slight slope of freezing tunnel.
"Pop!" Ranma spoke up, "Where're you goin'? We gotta dig ourselves out!"
"No," stated Genma. "We may set off another avalanche going that way. It's best to see if there is another way out before risking it."
Ranma's eyes lit up in understanding, and with a nod followed after his father's retreating form.
They continued on in silence, wary of anything that may be a potential hazard.
The tunnel was even colder than the outside despite the lack of wind chill. Every now and again they were forced to break through a column of ice formed by moisture trapped in the cave. It reminded Ranma something of a storage fridge they'd hid in once while playing "Dine and Dash" at a restaurant in West City.
Genma sighed in relief, the tunnel finally widening enough to allow him to stand straight and slip his pack onto his shoulders again.
"What's this?" muttered Genma thoughtfully as they found themselves at the end of the tunnel.
Ranma poked his head around his father's mass and pointed out, "It looks like a wall."
Genma sighed heavily and gave his son a frustrated look. "It's not a wall," he stated. "See how there's a seam?"
Ranma blinked but moved closer to have a look. Sure enough, the light gray wall had a jagged seam that ran along the wall in a rough curve.
"Looks like someone covered up an entrance," said Genma suspiciously. A mischievous glint shone in his eye as he pushed little Ranma back. He handed the boy his flashlight and slipped the pack off again.
He spread his feet and crouched low into a power stance. With a low growl he struck out at wall, causing deep cracks to spider web across the surface. He smiled and clapped his hands clean of the light dust from his attack. He pulled his pack on again and gave the damaged stone a light push.
The cracked portion of wall fell back to land into a snow bank with a loud thud. Ranma switched the light off and followed his dad into the bright field of white.
They found themselves standing in what they could only describe as a crater containing a vast snow field. The wind was less powerful here, blocked off by the high cliffs that enclosed the area.
"Well, at least we seem to be at the top of the mountain," commented Genma disappointedly. He'd been hoping to find some type of ancient tomb filled with golden goodies behind that wall. "Let's get going, Ranma. We have to climb out of this crater so we can get down the mountain."
"Okay pop," responded Ranma disappointedly. He'd been hoping to be able to catch some rest in this peaceful field, maybe even get the chance to play with that thing he'd found back in that village they'd gotten their climbing stuff in. He trudged after his dad, wondering why someone had sealed off his area, when something caught his attention.
"Hey," cried the boy excitedly. "A house!"
"Don't be stupid," scoffed Genma, glancing in the direction Ranma indicated. "Why would there be a house... out... here... A house!"
They sprinted over to the large white dome that stood in the vast plain. Once they were closer they were able to make out a few specifics.
The building was cracked and blackened in areas, but was a brilliant white everywhere else, blending it into the snow quite nicely. It stood on four large pegs, like one of those houses Ranma had seen in areas where it rained heavily, those this house was shaped more like a barrel than a shack. The only distinguishing color in the more or less camouflaged structure was a giant purple, domed window at what looked like the front.
"Hello?" shouted Genma. "Is anyone home?" When no answer came, Genma furroughed his brow and tried to think of what to do. "Maybe there's some food or supplies inside we can use."
"Maybe," agreed Ranma, "but I don't see a door."
Genma frowned and walked around the structure a few times, trying to find a seam or a hatch of some kind.
Ranma decided to leave his parent to think and went over to a large rock that stuck up over the snow. He sat down and reached into his bag to pull out his new toy.
"How the hell do you get into this place?" grumbled Genma in exasperation. No matter how hard he looked there didn't seem to be any way into the place. He'd even jumped onto the roof and tried to look through the big window, and still had no clues.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a shrill whistle that pierced his ears painfully. He looked to where Ranma sat, chuckling nervously.
"Sorry pop," he apologized. "I've never played with one of these before."
"Where did you get that?" questioned Genma, thinking that it looked expensive whatever it was.
"I found it in this black case when we walked by that school in the last town," answered the boy quickly. "Isn't it neat!"
The boy's father just looked the thing over. "It's just a flute," he commented dryly.
"It's not a flute!" protested Ranma.
"Then what is it?" Genma asked in amusement, thinking that this might be good for a laugh.
Ranma reached back into his bag and pulled out the music book he'd found with the instrument in its case. "It's called a," Ranma squinted and struggled to read the wording as best he could, "a... piccolo..."
Genma reared back to laugh at the funny word, but was silenced as a click followed by a loud hissing sounded behind him.
He went wide eyed as he realized that the door to the house was opening.
Ranma got up and watched as the automated hatch slowly lowered itself. "What'd you do pop?"
Genma just stood with his mouth wide open. "I didn't do anything," he responded. "You?"
The boy shook his head. "Not me either," he stated confidently.
Genma made his slowly towards the slowly descending platform. "Put your toy away, Ranma." He said quietly just in case this was some kind of trap.
Ranma had no such fears though and snapped back loudly, "It's not a toy! It's a piccolo!"
The hatch stopped just as Genma had gotten close enough to inspect it, and began to recede back into its original position.
Thinking quickly, Genma decided to try something, and repeated the words his son had said. "It's not a toy."
Nothing.
"Piccolo?" he stated somewhat disbelievingly.
The platform stopped once more and they waited for it to open fully, allowing the two traveling martial artists entrance. "So it's a voice activated home," commented Genma, impressed.
The two boarded the elevator hastily and spoke the word to activate the mechanisms.
"Piccolo," commanded the oldest of the pair.
The inside of the domicile was only a single room, with no furnishings other than a large recliner in front of an enormous big screen TV.
Genma's face fell, his hopes of finding riches dashed against the rocks of misfortune. He glanced down to his son, "At least the boy seems happy," he thought dryly.
"Wow Pop!" squealed Ranma excitedly. "Look at the size of this TV!"
The husky man wandered over to the chair and plopped down heavily. "Might as well enjoy this place while we can," he muttered. So saying, he began to fiddle and jab at the numerous buttons and levers lining the armrest.
"Which one of these stupid things makes the damn chair vibrate?" he grumbled angrily.
"Maybe you have to talk to it?" supplied Ranma.
Genma blinked. That just might work.
He leant forward and spoke into what seemed like a speaker or intercom of some sort. "Piccolo."
The screen before them flared to life instantly, giving off a barrage of beeps and clicks to accompany the bright glow as the screen warmed up.
"Well, I may not be getting a massage," reasoned Genma, "but at least I can see if there's anything good on."
"Gi nil piccolo, go tak kirin-ra?" questioned a strange electronic warble from the screen.
"What the hell!?!" screamed Genma, utterly baffled as to what was starting to take shape on the display.
Once, when he'd been training, he and his old friend Soun had been forced to take refuge for the night in an observatory, and they'd spent the evening looking at the many pictures and photos displayed on the walls. This site reminded him of that experience.
It appeared to be some sort of mapping, displaying a number of what looked to be planets and star systems. Next to each object was a caption written in some strange, possibly alien language.
"What do you think it is?" asked Ranma curiously, not being old enough to understand the scope of what they were seeing.
Genma immediately stood and grabbed the boy by the shoulders, a wild look in his eyes. "It's money in the bank, that's what it is!!!"
"W-what?" sputtered the boy as he was shook by the shoulders.
"No time for that! Come on," Genma ordered excitedly. "We have to bury this thing before we head back!"
Ranma scratched at his head. "Bury it?"
"Piccolo!" commanded the man as he made his way back to the entrance. "That's right! We'll cover this thing in snow so no one else finds it while we go to West City!"
Ranma hopped onto the platform just as it started moving, not wanting to be left behind. "West City? But don't we have to go to Magic Orin Temple?"
Genma threw back his head and guffawed heartily. "Don't you see boy? This is our meal ticket! Such an opportunity cannot be passed up!"
Ranma just sighed in exasperation. When his dad got like this there really was no stopping him. Hopefully this would all blow over in a few days and they could get back to their trip.
+++++++++++++++++++
West City: The largest city on the largest of the three continents of the planet, headquarters of the mighty Capsule Corporation, Earth's scientific and financial Mecca. It was home to the most influential and powerful of families. Most notably, the Briefs, and to a lesser extent, Saotomes.
"Stupid sun," Ranma grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning loudly. With one swift movement he reached over and slapped the off button on his alarm and yanked at the draw strings of his Venetian blinds, silencing the noise and throwing the room into relative darkness.
He stood and stretched, working the kinks out of his body. He never had these kinds of kinks when he slept under the stars.
He turned and glanced at the soft, comfortable bed and snorted in disgust. "Stupid bed." He reached down and grabbed one corner of his blanket, and placed it perfectly across the sheets with a flick of his wrist.
At least he tried.
"Damn it," he cursed, leaning forward and tugging the messy blanket neatly into position. At the rate he was going he was never going to get that trick down.
He walked out of his room and began his morning rituals; bathing, dressing in his favorite red t-shirt and black slacks, greeting his mother and having a quick breakfast before grabbing his school bag and heading out the door to school.
"Hey, Ranma!" greeted a sickeningly cheerful voice from the gate as he exited the front door.
The ponytailed boy rubbed his face and frowned. "It's too early for this Bulma."
The blue haired heiress of the Capsule Corporation flashed him an annoyed frown of her own. "Really, Ranma. Do we have to go through this everyday?"
"We wouldn't have to if you just left me alone," he pointed out as he calmly strolled down the long walkway to the street and right by the girl without a glance.
Bulma fumed angrily and stomped off after the boy. "How can you be so mean to your own girlfriend?"
"Quit being stupid!" he replied with as much edge to his voice as he could muster for an issue that had become old long ago. "I'm not your boyfriend!"
"Maybe not now, Saotome," she thought wickedly, a wry smile on her face. "But one day, you will fall to my feminine wiles."
Ranma increased his rate of walking a bit as his unwanted admirer began the usual, yet none the less unnerving, maniacal laughter. He sighed tiredly and thought about how his life had managed to become so mundane.
Six years ago, when he and his father had found the space ship, they'd gone to West City, and sold the ship to the wealthy Capsule Corporation. His father had never been a particularly bright man, but his immeasurable greed made up for that lack of brains at the bargaining table.
Not only had he negotiated a large cash payment, but a share in any and all technological advancements which may stem from study of the craft.
Much to Ranma's ire, their training mission had been halted, since his father now had a financial portfolio to manage. Don't mention the fact that managing a portfolio included getting lap dances from his secretary and eating three business lunches a day.
His mother however had been quite receptive to the change in life style, and was very proud of how intelligent her husband was, and how good a provider he became.
One thing that Ranma had always been glad for was that his dad had also managed to keep their name out of the press more often than not. It had struck him as strange at first, since modest was not a term he'd use to describe Genma Saotome.
It mattered little though; his father's reason for remaining unknown outside the communities, both local and business. In the end he was happy to not be pestered as much as Bulma's family was.
Ranma drifted back to find that Bulma had entered into her chatty mode, and so he tuned her back out.
The girl was a nuisance, plain and simple. But she was nice when she wanted to be, and he might even enjoy being around here if she weren't always pushing about that girlfriend stuff. Plus, he had to admit, she and her dad were pretty smart.
In the six short years, Capsule Corp. used its vast resources and already advanced technologies to reverse engineer the ship's technology. They had progressed in leaps and bounds, having the first expedition to outermost space within months of the first studies.
As a result, the Earth was becoming more "universal" as they put it. Alien technologies and cultures had become more-or-less common knowledge on the planet.
Although aliens were a rarity on the planet since it was still considered frontier by older species, they were far from unheard of. For the most part, if someone saw an alien walking down the street, they paid them little notice other than a second glance.
Ranma hated that he no longer traveled. Although he was glad that he had his mother, and a nice house, and good food, he sorely missed the fun of adventuring he'd experienced during his training.
He truly missed those days.
Despite it all he still managed to train in his art, but without his father to teach him it was difficult. School got in the way of training too. At least they didn't require a uniform.
"What's that?" asked Bulma right of the blue.
She was another of Ranma's little quirks. They'd met when Genma had sold the ship, and she'd somehow gotten the idea that they were meant to be together. It didn't help matters that they'd bought a house so close to where Bulma's family lived.
"What is it?" He looked to where the girl pointed and noticed for the first time a moving van as it pulled to a stop in front of a large home that had been vacant for a number of months.
"Must be new neighbors," commented Bulma.
"How ever did you guess?" Ranma quipped with a roll of his eyes.
Bulma ignored Ranma's comment and adjusted her blue jeans and white t-shirt. "We should go say hi."
"Why?" he questioned honestly.
"Because, they're our new neighbors, you jerk!" she reasoned, taking a slight detour from the route to school to walk towards the entrance of the largish manor.
He sighed and followed after her. "I guess so."
Voices could be heard as they walked up the lengthy walk.
"Please be careful with that crate!" pleaded a gentle, yet masculine voice. "Those vases are from Keliops, their sun went nova over a decade ago! They're irreplaceable!"
Bulma hid a smile behind a hand as the clumsy movers dropped the huge metal crate from their pneumatic hand truck, nearly throwing the large blue man into hysterics.
"Nooo!" screamed the alien, having heard the sound of shattering crystal when the crate fell.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you sir, I can see you are very busy," stated Bulma as the pair strode up to the man, "but I just thought we should stop by and say hello."
The alien managed to compose himself somewhat as he turned to greet the Welcome Wagon.
Ranma's eyes widened a bit as he got his first clear look at their new neighbor. Blue skin, almost seven feet tall, elongated face and scalp coming into a curled point, three long fingers on each hand; this was most definitely an alien.
"Ah, I'm sorry," started the man, noticing Ranma's appraising gaze, "You must have never met a member of my species before. I am Ji Lloxamir, of the people of Psanes," supplied the tall alien with a low bow, one fist over his heart and the other held up, palm in. "And you are?"
"My name is Bulma Briefs," was the quick reply. Bulma managed a curt bow and gave Ranma an elbow in the ribs.
Ranma rubbed at the injury absently and gave a two fingered salute. "Yo! Ranma Saotome."
Bulma's hackles rose instantly and she practically pounced on the poor boy.
"What the hell's wrong with you!?!" she demanded. "Can't you show any respect for anyone even once!?!"
Before Ranma could answer, laughter erupted from the oversized alien.
Bulma pulled her temper back and managed another bow. "I'm so sorry Mr. Yosamer! Ranma is a jerk but he-"
"That's quite all right," he said with a shake of his head. "I enjoy people with a bit of spice in them. And please, call me Ji, as it seems you are unable to pronounce my name properly anyways."
"Thank you Mr. - Ji," replied the girl in a perky manner. "It will be an honor-"
Ranma drowned out the rest of the chat and decided to watch the movers go about their business.
There seemed to be a lot of big metal crates, most of them labeled fragile. Ranma guessed they were filled with more vases and such.
He cast a quick glance back to Ji. He didn't seem the type to be into girly stuff like antiques. Judging from the way he moved, Ranma would have guessed the large alien was some kind of fighter.
He put the thought aside and continued to watch the movers work. "Holy crap!" he suddenly thought as he saw the movers pull down a large display case from the truck and set it to the side to move later.
"Anyway, Ji," continued Bulma, "we were just on our way to school so we'll - Ranma what the hell are you doing!?!"
Ji blinked and turned to see Ranma, pulling an antique sword from its display case.
"This is the biggest damn katana I've ever seen!" he exclaimed, trying his best to lift the massive two handed blade into a battle stance.
Ji walked over to the boy, casting a frustrated glare to the movers who were standing by and watching the boy's attempt to wield the blade with humorous grins.
"It's not a katana, Ranma," explained Ji as he took the sword from Ranma's hands. "Although it may have the same shape and construct of an Earth katana, it's actually called a Hurghest's sword."
Ranma took a step back as Ji drew the five foot long blade into a complex looking stance. Ranma had judged the sword's weight to be just above a hundred pounds, and he'd barely been able to even hold it.
He could only gape as the alien man twirled the blade about himself with a level of skill and speed the likes of which he'd never seen. The cold silver sheen of the metal glinted and flashed like a strobe in the midmorning sun, leaving only trails of light as sign of a weapon being in Ji's hand.
With a content sigh, the Psanean artificer stopped his form and slid the weapon back into the case before closing it. He reached down to dust his bray tunic and green pants theatrically, and cast a sideways glance to the worker he'd hired to move his belongings.
With a startled choke, each mover snapped back to work. They now moved quickly, yet with measured care not to break anything.
Ji couldn't help but smile at that. That'd teach them to show their customers a bit more courtesy. He stopped smiling as his leg seemed to become a bit heavier.
"Teach me!!!" pleaded Ranma, tears of determination shining in his eyes as he hugged the tall warrior's leg fiercely.
A dozens of galaxies, hundreds of planets, thousand of languages; Ji had seen and done much during life in search of fine curios, and all that knowledge came to bear as he summed up the situation in a simple word:
"Wha?"
++++++++++++++++++
In a misty, isolated valley deep in the mountain, far from any form of civilization, a monstrous shadow howled at the full moon as it stepped from it's home early one morning to get a drink from the well outside. It was not fully morning, but rather the twilight before the dawn.
The monster tore through its home with a maddening rage. It showed little regard for any life within the fertile valley.
Trees, plants, animals, birds; nothing was spared the beast's wrath. It towered over the treetops, searching for things to destroy in an attempt to sate this maddening hunger that burned within its soul with a primal urgency.
It soon grew tired of the tedious smashing of things it could not even hear scream, and made its way over the mountains onto a vast plain, following its nose to what smelled oddly enough like food.
It traveled for a few minutes, managing to cover a great distance with its massive strides.
It made a sudden stop as it caught sight of some form of giant lizard running away as fast as its legs could carry it.
The monster's simian lips parted into a smile which resembled more a cruel sneer with its massive canines. It couldn't just let something so… alive, escape.
The beast parted its jaws, as though to swallow the fleeing creature from afar. With a rushing of parted air, a beam of light issued from the thing's gaping maw, streaking across the twilight to cut through the frightened beast like a hot knife through butter.
Even from hundreds of yards away the monster could smell the other beast's flesh, roasted and sizzling from the attack.
It crouched low and sprang forth, its powerful legs propelling it across the distance in a single bound.
It tore at the meal ravenously, ripping huge chunks of meat clear from the bone with its bare hands. It swallowed the chunks whole, though it took the time to chew the tangy liquid from the bits that were not completely cooked.
It growled in anger as its meal was interrupted by something buzzing by overhead. It swat at the thing, hoping to get the chance to crush it, but whatever this thing was, it was quite fast.
After a few passes the thing went away, leaving the monster to eat its meal in peace. Though now it was no longer hungry.
It growled and lumbered to a mesa which was concaved into a bowl. It climbed inside and settled in for a nap.
When it would awake, it would not be what it is, and it would wonder how it got this far out of the valley.
++++++++++++++++++
Pli Angyunworv stepped out onto the tarmac of the little airfield and frowned. This backwards planet had access to star ship technology for almost seven years now, and they still considered such filthy places as spaceports?
What did it matter that he was on the planet illegally? Should something so trivial prevent him from going to one of the larger, more accommodating ports?
The purple scaled alien walked in the direction of the main hangar, fully intent on killing the head mechanic for keeping such a sty and believing it was suitable for the likes of he.
"You should have seen it!" exclaimed one human in a brown jacket to another in a blue one. "The thing was massive! It just tore at that poor T-Rex like it was the Sunday night special at some restaurant!"
Pli ignored the nonsense as he walked by. Humans were so easily impressed, like children, but far worse really.
"So lemme get this straight," deadpanned the pilot's friend. "A giant monkey monster was tearing apart a Rex in the middle o' the wilderness, and you flew around it in yer jet chopper like it was frickin' King Kong?"
Pli stopped dead in his tracks and turned to the pair with an incredulous gaze. A giant monkey?
"Human!" hollered Pli as he strode over to the two pilots. "Is what you say true?"
The man looked to his friend for a moment before regarding the rude off-worlder. "Yeah. What of it?"
Pli ignored the man's brash rudeness for the moment and fished a small display panel from his ivory chest armor. He poked at the screen and typed on the digital keyboard that was displayed.
"Is this what you saw?" Pli demanded, holding the screen out for the men to see.
They both leaned forward and stared questioningly at the screen.
"That's it!!!" answered the man in the brown.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed the blue clad pilot. "You mean it was real!?!"
Pli nodded and lifted up his free hand as he lowered the screen to his side. "Indeed." A bright flash erupted from his palm, engulfing the two men completely, erasing all traces of their existence with a tremendous explosion.
Pli ignored the mechanics and pilots that ran from the hangars in a panic.
He stared into the screen at the displayed image of an Oozaru in all its destructive glory.
He would need to alert Lord Freezer.
+++++++++++++++++
Raditz sat at his usual stool in the bar at Freezer's main citadel. He was content in the knowledge that he was the most powerful, and therefore respected, seventeen year old to frequent the bar.
"Lord Raditz," spoke someone to his left. He recognized it as the voice of one of his personal spies in Freezer's communications room.
"What is it, Gnyr?" he asked without turning.
"I have something I believe may be of interest to you and your Saiyan brothers," was the curt reply.
"What could you have to offer me?" questioned Raditz skeptically. His answer was a folder which was slipped under his drink.
Raditz stared at the thing with a frown, but yanked it open after some consideration. His eyes widened at what was written within.
He spun around on his stool with lightning speed and held a fist to his informant's face threateningly. "Has Freezer seen this yet!?!"
"No my Lord," answered the mercenary com tech.
Raditz quickly reached for a small pouch at his waist and slapped it down on the counter in front the informant before rushing out of the bar.
Gnyr smirked deviously as he grabbed the sack of coins and placed it next to the other one on his belt.
++++++++++++++++
Nappa grinned lustfully as he watched a giantess from Dekewli spin and gyrate in the nude. The women from that planet were very near in appearance to those from his home world before it was destroyed, though these women had no ears and were several times a Saiyan woman's size.
That last part didn't bother him much; in fact it was more of a turn on, to be with a woman closer to his own stature.
He growled in irritation as the door to his room slid open. He never had to keep his door locked, simply because no one in all of space was stupid or crazy enough to enter unannounced. No one save two people.
"Nappa," said Raditz as he walked in, not paying any attention to the room's third occupant. "We have to talk."
The large man snorted, but sent away his playmate with a condescending pat on the ass. She grabbed her clothing and dressed as she exited.
"This had better damn well be important," Nappa spat once they were alone.
The younger Saiyan simply tossed the folder he held onto the man's lap.
Nappa frowned but pick up the item and flipped it open. His eyes widened at what he found inside. "Another!?!" he cried.
"Yes," stated Raditz calmly as he walked over to his comrade's personal bar and helped himself to something stiff to drink. "I think I know who it is too."
Nappa glared at the boy as he drank from his personal stash. "Are you going to tell me, or stand there all night drinking my booze?"
"My baby brother, Kakarotto," replied Raditz with a grin as he wiped the moisture from his lips with the back of his hand. "I found some dispatch records in Freezer's old files a few months back. I wasn't sure if he got off planet before it was destroyed, and it didn't have a destination, so I gave up on it."
Nappa nodded in agreement. Raditz always had a good head on his shoulders so he was probably right on this one too.
"The question is: what do we do now?" commented Raditz, more to himself than to his companion.
"Don't you want to go get your brother?" questioned Nappa as he tilted his head askance.
"Of course!" Raditz scoffed impatiently. Nappa may have been strong, but he was pretty dense. "I don't think you understand the full scope of what has been presented to us."
"What do you mean?" asked Nappa, creasing his brow in thought.
"We are the greatest of all Freezer's men, second only to the Ginyu and Freezer's commanders, right?" Raditz paused and waited for a nod before continuing. "But we grow stronger with every battle, while they grow fat and weak, confident that they are most powerful. Soon we will be the Ginyu's superior. And that is with only you, me and the Prince! With my brother at our side, we may even one day have the power to take Freezer himself!"
Nappa's eyes lit up and he stood with a wide grin on his face. "You always think ten steps ahead, Raditz! That's why I like you!" bellowed the man as he walked over and pat the shorter fighter on the shoulder. He reached over the bar and grabbed a bottle hidden in the back. "We should toast this occasion!"
Raditz accepted a mug of sizzling spirits and raised it high. "To the rise of a new Saiyan Empire!"
++++++++++++++++++
"You were correct, my Lord," commented Dodoria as they watched the Saiyans plot their treachery on a camera hidden in the ceiling of Nappa's room. The pink skinned man bowed as low as his girth would allow I respect to his master's intelligence. "They are becoming ambitious and cocky. They believe that a single addition to their numbers would allow them the chance of something as preposterous as overthrowing you."
Freezer nodded as he shut off the large screen with a negligent wave of his hand. "They have outlived their usefulness. Give them one final mission... Make sure they do not return."
"What of Vegita?" questioned a second general, this one a blue skinned man named Zarbon.
"No," commanded Freezer with a grin, leaning back in his floating lounge. "I'll keep him around. What would I do without my pet Saiyan to amuse me?"
"As you say," replied the two generals in unison. They bowed in tandem and walked out of the cavernous chambers of the most feared Land Baron/Blood Merchant in the universe.
++++++++++++++++
Ranma sat on the school's roof, eating in silence his lunch prepared by his home's cooks.
He spared glance down to the school's courtyard and frowned.
The richest children in the world; sons and daughters of the cultural elite, they all went to this school. Shining Hills Private School. Age, gender, race, or religion: none of that mattered in this school. Only the size of your parent's pocket book.
He snorted in disgust. There wasn't even a hill for miles. This place wasn't for him, never was.
The sound of the heavy iron door behind him alerted him to the presence of another person before anything else. He made no move to recognize the other person, preferring to stare into his now empty lunch box.
He really needed to start packing his own lunch. Not only did it take him a few months to get them to make him a simple bento, but they never made enough.
Another box was thrust in front of his face and he snatched it with a casual thanks.
He opened it and started in on the food inside as the other person on the roof sat next to him on the edge with her back to the chain link fencing.
"Ugh, the noodles are so tough," grimaced Ranma.
"I don't even know why I bother to make a spare lunch for a jerk like you," Bulma snapped. She never even made a lunch before that time that Ranma's mother had taught her a few things about cooking. "The least you could do is be a little more grateful for the gesture if you don't like the food."
Ranma sighed and added an extra thanks to help keep his companion silent. As usual, it didn't.
"You know," began the girl as she dug into her own lunch. "You never have told me why you always come up here."
The ponytailed boy looked at her from the corner of his eye and gave a slight sigh. If he didn't tell her she probably wouldn't stop asking. Better just to get it over with.
"I can't see the other buildings when I sit up here," he said with a tiny smile.
Bulma blinked and looked around. There were tons of buildings much taller than their school around. "But, there are buildings everywhere."
"Not if you look that way," he answered with a shake of his head and a point of his finger.
Bulma looked in the direction he indicated and noted that it sure enough had a clear view of the mountain range outside the city.
"Well, it's a very nice view," she admitted. "But it's not anything special."
Ranma only shook his head. "It's not the view. It's the mountain itself," he stated simply, lost now in his own thoughts as he spoke them aloud.
The blue haired girl blinked and squinted in the afternoon sun as she stared intensely at the mountain. "Doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it to me."
"When pop and I were training," continued Ranma, ignoring the girl's confusion, "we used to climb mountains like that all the time. We'd walk though snow fields, swim rivers and lakes, jog through deserts; all in the name of our art."
Bulma found herself entranced by Ranma's telling, his words growing soulful and deep.
"Once, we were in this jungle where some martial arts master was supposed to be living," Ranma smiled at the memory. "We eventually found a shack in the middle of a clearing, but it was abandoned. We decided to spend the night there and maybe get some training done."
His eyes closed as the memory became clearer in his mind. "We hadn't eaten in a while so we grabbed a few fruits and things that were growing around the clearing. We'd thought that maybe whoever had lived there had been growing them to eat. Boy, were we wrong."
"Go on, so what happened next?" ushered Bulma, fully enveloped in Ranma's tale.
Ranma just grinned and answered. "We ate the fruit and got sick for days after. Plus we were nearly eaten alive by the bugs since it was nearing summer."
Bulma blinked once, then blinked again. "What the hell kind of story is that!?!"
Ranma shrugged. "Well, that's what happened, and to tell you the truth, I miss that type of thing."
"You miss getting food poisoning from strange fruit and being eaten alive by jungle insects?" she drolled incredulously.
"Yeah," replied Ranma with another shrug and a mischievous smirk. "I miss traveling. I miss the idea of waking up every morning, knowing that it was another day where anything could happen. My oldest memories are of adventuring to strange places, all in the name of improving my skills in my art."
Bulma stared at the boy for a few moments. She'd never seen her would-be boyfriend act like this. He seemed to tranquil. A smile crept on her face.
He was so cute when he opened up like this. She'd have to ask him about his old adventures more often.
++++++++++++++++
"Yo, Mom, Pop!" called Ranma as he dashed down the stairs.
Nodoka turned her head and called to her son as he turned the corner to the front door, "Aren't you going to eat?"
Ranma was back in a flash, gulping down huge portions of food in a matter of moments.
"Ranma, eat properly," chided his mother. "Genma, tell your son to eat civilly."
"Do what your mother says, boy," muttered Genma half-heartedly from behind his newspaper.
Ranma stopped his eating to frown at the man. It disgusted him to no end what his father had become. Genma Saotome had always been a big man, but it had mostly been muscle, now however…
That's not to say he wasn't still quite fit, but he was a good deal softer, and no where near as strong as he had been.
He'd given up on the art. The only reason he even practiced it anymore was because Ranma's mother had told him to keep up his training as a way of father-son bonding. And even then, it was a rare occurrence.
Ranma hated having to go through those now. He could beat the man without even the slightest amount of difficulty.
He went back to eating; taking his time to chew since eating at a more comfortable pace would have caused his mother to go into lecture mode. He definitely didn't want to spend his valuable Sunday learning which fork was for what at the dinner table. Not again anyways…
"So, what are you doing today, Ranma?" asked his mother. It wasn't really a question she didn't already know the answer to, but she thought asking would be the motherly thing to do. "And don't talk with your mouth full," she reprimanded before Ranma even lifted his head.
Ranma grinned around the chopsticks half hanging in his mouth and swallowed loudly. "Gunna –- I mean, I'm going to go to Ji's house."
Just as she'd suspected.
"Why don't you spend the day with Bulma?" she proposed, not noticing Genma ruffle his paper nervously for a moment.
"Why would I do that?" Ranma replied. "I see her all week at school, and that's more than enough of that psycho to last me till the end of the weekend."
Before Nodoka could interject further, her son inhaled his food in the way that annoyed her so.
"Bye, mom, pop," Ranma called as he disappeared around the corner. He popped his head back in for a second to add, "Thanks for the food."
Nodoka frowned as her son managed to escape her chidings. "That boy," she muttered.
"Let him be," commented Genma from behind his paper, "he's still only sixteen. Let him enjoy a little freedom while he can."
Nodoka's frown deepened a little at the comment. "You may be right. Though I wish he'd take more of an interest in girls and his school work, rather than spending every free moment training."
Sighed heavily and set her plate aside to sip at her tea. The alien named Ji had been important part of her son's life since he'd moved into the neighborhood. During the past year he'd seemed to spend every free second at the man's house.
It was a bit disappointing that the boy didn't idolize his father the way he did Ji, though with Genma's busy work schedule, it was hard for them to make the time for each other. She could at least be glad that Ji taught her son a bit more than martial arts. Ranma's grades at school were much better since Ji had begun training him, mostly due to the off-worlder's interest in intellectual matters.
"Maybe I should see if Bulma's mother would like to arrange a marriage for her and Ranma?" she commented idly.
Genma went white as a sheet and tore his paper in half from shock. "Uh, maybe we shouldn't!" he countered, a little louder than he'd intended. "I mean it wouldn't be fair to Ranma for us to do something like that!"
"I suppose you are right," replied Nodoka oblivious to her husband's relief. "Hopefully he'll take notice of Bulma on his own soon enough. It's not like he has any other pressing engagements."
Genma laughed nervously, but said nothing else on the matter. It was a good thing that he managed to keep a low profile. It wasn't cheap to bribe the newspapers and news channels, but it was well worth it if it kept away all the people he owed debts to.
Bulma getting married to Ranma could be both good and bad. Good since Genma would be a hundred ties richer than he was now, but bad because it would be far beyond even his ability to keep out of the public eye.
Genma's face paled as his thoughts turned dark. "If the wife found out about Tendo or any of the others…"
He suppressed a shiver and prayed silently that he'd be struck with divine inspiration, and figure a way to get out of this mess and still keep his head; hopefully while getting a little richer in the process.
++++++++++++++++
In a room secreted away beneath the home of a well respected businessman, a lone figure struggled against a flowing blue pulse that filled the chamber.
The air was thick with the smell of perspiration and the dank odor of hard labor. In the center of the room was a small globe. It hovered a few feet above the ground, and swayed slightly as the room's occupant moved.
"Graaaah!!!" screamed the man, popping up on one foot and spinning into a roundhouse kick, aimed straight for the object. The orb hovered backwards quickly, and rushed forward in a burst of speed, flying inches above its attacker's face.
The man was caught off guard, his footing failed him, and his leg buckled, spilling him to the ground with a painful thud.
"Shit," he groaned. When his eyes opened he found the little ball hovering mere inches from his face. The man bat at the thing irately and frowned when it simply hovered out of reach.
"Hijn," called a voice from the door. The word brought a cease to the increase in the room's gravity, and dimmed the ball's glow considerably.
"Not good enough," commented the boy from the ground.
"You did well, Ranma," commented Ji. The tall off-worlder whistled sharply, calling the training orb to his hand.
Ranma sighed as he climbed back to feet. "I could have done better though."
"Well you've never trained with anything that increased the native gravity of its surroundings," Ji commented with a grin. "Trust me, you'll do better next time."
"Sure," replied the boy.
Ji noted the tone in his young friend's voice and added, "Why don't you go and get something to eat?"
Ranma immediately perked up and ran out the door with a hasty, "Thanks."
Ji placed the orb onto a nearby shelf and walked from his personal training room, to the hall that lead to the stairs going back to the main floor.
A sudden chill ran down his back, freezing him as he climbed the stairs. The moment came and went, leaving the man to ponder the feeling.
Ji shook his head to clear it. It was probably nothing. He walked back up the stairs, only to be stopped by the same momentary shiver.
These types of feelings were rare, but never welcomed.
Something was coming…
++++++++++++++++
In a darkened room, a creature of vile tastes stared out his large observation window into the expanse of space.
Tiny flickering, twinkling pricks of light, millions of light years away, and they all belonged to him. That thought brought a smile to his face.
"Lord Freezer," interrupted one of his underling's from the entrance.
"What is it?" demanded Freezer with a chill that matched his name.
The errand boy quivered in fright but managed a deep bow. "A thousand apologies my Lord! But, you wished to be informed when we neared planet fall."
"That I did," responded Freezer amusedly.
"By your leave then," hastened the orange skinned mercenary.
"Wait," called Freezer. His voice was soft, but managed to reach the retreating intruder.
"Y-yes my Lord?" he stuttered. The man quivered in his boots, trying to think of anything he'd done wrong.
"It's nothing important," commented Freezer, bringing a sigh of relief from his subordinate. "But, you forgot to knock."
The sound of the man's scream as he was blasted into oblivion echoed through the halls of the vast ship.
++++++++++++++++
"Stupid sun," Ranma grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning loudly. With one swift movement he reached over and slapped the off button on his alarm and yanked at the draw strings of his Venetian blinds, silencing the noise and throwing the room into relative darkness.
He stood and cricked his neck. He wasn't so stiff today, though that was expected. He always slept well after a nice hard day of training.
He reached down and grabbed one corner of his blanket, and placed it perfectly across the sheets with a flick of his wrist.
At least he tried.
"Oh well," he muttered, "At least I'm getting better." He quickly leaned forward and tossed the last untucked corner into place. That corner furthest from the headboard always gave him trouble.
He walked out of his room and began his morning rituals; bathing, dressing in his favorite red mandarin blouse and black training pants (the ones he'd gotten during that trip last summer to the northern continent), greeting his mother and having a quick breakfast before grabbing his school bag and heading out the door to school.
He stopped suddenly as he realized that something was amiss.
"Bulma?" he whispered carefully. He looked around; to his left, then to his right. The annoying girl was no where to be seen. "I must still be in bed," muttered the boy as he turned and looked up to his bedroom window.
A quick pinch on the arm and he knew he was awake. "Looks like today might be my day!"
"Ranma!" called a voice from up the street.
He should have known. Too good to be true.
"Sorry I'm late," she gasped. "My alarm didn't go off."
"Whatever," replied Ranma with a sigh.
The two continued on towards school in their usual manner; Ranma walking in total silence, while Bulma paced him by a few steps, boring him to death with every excruciating detail of what she'd done the previous day, and what she planned on doing today.
As per usual, he just tuned her out.
The weather was decent enough today, he thought. Nice and sunny, a little breeze coming from the west. It seemed one of those postcard perfect days, except for the fact that there no birds singing.
Ranma just shrugged that off as something to do with the season and continued on.
When they reached the cross road that lead to their school they both stopped.
Ranma closed his eyes and reached out with his still developing senses, trying to pinpoint the exact location of his mentor.
Bulma just sighed as she waited for her would be boyfriend to finish his little kung fu exercise. He'd started doing this every day for the last month. From what she gathered it had something to do with feeling for another person's life or whatever.
Ranma frowned internally, unable to find any trace of Ji's ki. "He must be training," he wondered aloud. The gravity orbs he'd been using always did seem to do odd things with the ability to sense another's ki. That seemed the most logical answer, since Ji wouldn't leave town without at least telling him.
"What did you say?" asked Bulma.
"Nothing," he replied.
They started back along their way, Bulma going back to talking, while Ranma simply said. "yeah" and "really" every now and again.
As they walked though, he couldn't shake this feeling that something was going to happen today. There was a tension in the air he couldn't quite explain.
Whatever it was, it was going to be big. He was sure of it.
+++++++++++++++
Ji moved with practiced grace as he levitated after the brightly glowing, emerald orb. His fist flew in a blur in chase of his swift opponent.
"Kiyoh!" he cried, bursting with a renewed vigor he threw his fist towards his objective.
The globe exploded in a brilliant flare, speeding away from Ji's attack, but only dodging by a hair's breadth.
With Ji off balance, the sphere took an offensive and drilled into his exposed chest with a burst of speed that came unexpected.
The giant fighter grit his teeth and stood his ground as the ball pressured his chest with a steadily increasing force.
He hollered in anger, blazing with a power not accessed in years.
The orb spun in protest, but began to tremble against the resisting aura. A single crack formed along its perfectly smooth surface, weakening it enough to lose it the battle. The air screeched from the speed of the orb's flight, ending when it impacted with a wall, forming a deep concave in the reinforced metal.
Ji shook his head tiredly. He'd been doing this since Ranma had left the day before. A quick glance to a clock on the wall told him that it had been around fifteen hours total.
He frowned at the dent he'd made in his wall, but was at least thankful that the orb was still in repairable condition. They cost a lot more than fixing the wall would.
Ji walked to a rack on the wall and retrieved his gray tunic. He stood with it in his hand, and looked down to the small marking above his left breast.
It was a blackened burn in the shape of his hand.
He rubbed at it and remembered what it stood for. With a snort he pulled the shirt on and put the mark out of his mind.
He whistled sharply to call the orb to him. It shook violently for a few moments before finally wiggling its way free. It floated over to its master drunkenly and landed into Ji's outstretched palm.
Ji spoke the word to deactivate the orb's power, and immediately regretted it.
"Oh no!" he cried in shock. "It's here!"
He threw the orb to the ground and ran out of the room as quickly as his legs would carry him.
Questions filled his mind as he hurried through his house.
How long had it been here? Why did this power feel familiar? Could it be…
He stopped his thoughts forcibly on that last note. It was something too horrible to think.
++++++++++++++++++
"Lord Freezer!" called a voice from over the radio in the scouter.
"What news?" asked Freezer in a bored tone as he clicked at his scouter's switch.
"Nothing as of yet your Greatness," answered the voice over the radio. "But we have our best men searching."
"Very well," he sighed. "Continue the search, and keep me posted."
Freezer leaned back in his lounge and waited further word. This was becoming tedious. His ship had landed nearly an two hours ago and they'd yet to turn anything up yet.
"You would think a fifty foot Saiyan ape would be easy to find," he muttered sarcastically.
"What was that my Lord?" asked the servant that stood at his side.
"Nothing," snapped Freezer. He briefly regretted not bringing Zarbon or Dodoria with him, they'd have found this stray Saiyan by now and they would have already been well on their way home.
He looked around for what seemed like the twentieth time in the last hour.
Someone had dropped the ball here. It just didn't seem like the kind of place a Saiyan would be. There were too many living things for one matter.
Lush vegetation, random animals scurrying about, the water in a nearby lake looked clean enough to drink, you could even see the natural color of the sky.
"That foolish little dog had better not be lying about there being a Saiyan here," he thought tersely about the scout who'd messaged the existence of a Saiyan on this planet.
"FREEZER!!!"
Freezer's chair drifted to the side swiftly just as the area he was engulfed in an explosion. His servant screamed as he was eaten away by the force of the attack.
Freezer's eyes darted about as he clicked on his scouter. "Who would dare?"
The cloud of dust that had been kicked up by the explosion settled to reveal the form of a blue skinned man that Freezer recognized as a Psanean. He raised his brow at that. "And you are?"
"I am Ji Lloxamir, the man who will kill you, you bastard," was the cool response.
"Oh ho! Those are big words my friend," replied Freezer, glad for some sort of distraction.
"I'm no friend of yours," Ji snapped back. With a battle cry he leapt to the attack, his fist cocked in anticipation of taking off the evil tyrant's head.
Freezer smiled wickedly and crossed his arms while he remained seated. His chair dropped suddenly, ducking his head just below Ji's attack.
He chuckled lightly and countered by swinging his thick tail to club his attacker in the exposed ribs.
Ji groaned as he flew through the air, the wind was knocked out of him by the force of the blow, but Freezer was not done yet. His chair sped to the chase, and managed to catch up with Ji.
Once again his tail snaked out, this time wrapping itself around Ji's throat tightly. The blue skinned fighter was spun rapidly as Freezer whirled his carriage like a top, taking his captured opponent along for the ride before slamming him to the ground and crashing into him hard enough to create a twenty foot crater.
"Not so brave now, eh, hero?" chuckled Freezer. He reached down with his tail again and lifted Ji by his throat.
"Kiss… my… a–" Ji's voiced seized as he was choked just a little bit tighter.
"Oh, now that isn't a nice way to talk," said Freezer with a pout. "What ever could I have done to deserve such a treatment?"
Ji tried to answer, but all he could do was cough and sputter as blood leaked from his nostrils in a steady flow.
"What is this now?" commented Freezer as he eyed a tear in Ji's shirt. He ripped it off the rest of the way and chuckled in delight at the marking he found. "I see! So you're one of those are you?"
Ji shook angrily and struggled against the iron grip of his captor.
Freezer smiled happily at the spunk his prey was exhibiting. "Well, it should be a lot of fun killing you!" He laughed wickedly and tossed the man to the ground.
"I'll never let you have this planet," croaked Ji painfully. He reached into his waistband and pulled out a small leather pouch. He grabbed the drawstring in his teeth, pulled them, and tossed the bag high into the air in a single swift move.
A dull yellow powder flew out and scattered in the wind. It hung for milliseconds before glowing brightly upon contact with sunshine. It exploded in a radiant shower of light, outshining the glare of the afternoon sun, blinding anyone who happened to be looking in its general direction.
Freezer covered his eyes with his hand as the flare shone for a few seconds. When it finally died down his opponent was no where to be seen.
"Damn," he cursed. He clicked angrily at his scouter in search of some sign of his quarry, but came up empty handed. "Damn it!"
His scouter's radio crackled on suddenly. "Are you alright Lord Freezer!?!"
"Yes, you idiot!" he snapped.
"Of course," replied the underling quickly. "My Lord, we've found a valley which looks like it may have been visited by something powerful. We think that –"
"Shut up," commanded Freezer. "Get back here on the double. There's something else I want you to find before we take care of the Saiyan problem."
"At once Sire!" came the crisp response.
Freezer steepled his fingers and frowned. "Ji Lloxamir, enjoy your last few moments of life. Soon I will crush you, my little rebel soldier."
+++++++++++++++++
"Goddamn you Freezer," muttered Ji as he trekked through a thickly wooded area. He was lucky that he'd brought along a miniature transportation idol.
They were a rare commodity indeed, but invaluable when you needed a quick escape. The only problem was that they were more of less random in where they dropped you, and they worked but once.
That mattered little now. Freezer had beaten him soundly, and he was not sure where on Earth he was.
He walked onward; wary of flying just yet as his ribs were hurting badly and spots were forming in front of his eyes from Freezer's having nearly chocked him to death.
He had to keep going, just a little more until his head cleared enough for him to fly.
He just had to…
Without a sound he simply pitched forward and landed face first into a bush, unconscious.
Nearby a figure watched Ji's shallow breathing form, debating what to do.
+++++++++++++++++
Ji's eyes flittered open as the smell of slowly cooking stew filled his senses.
"Where am I?" he muttered to himself. He felt along the ground and noted that he was on some sort of grass bedding.
"Hey, you're awake!" giggled a child's cheery voice from nearby.
Ji snapped up quickly, ignoring the painful throb from his ribs to se who had addressed him.
It was a boy. He was dressed in a dogi and smiled brightly from across the bubbling pot of stew that cooked in the cave they were sitting in.
He could sense that the boy was unusually powerful, but seemed sincerely nice enough.
"I'm glad you're okay, I was kinda worried for a while there," stated the boy as he poked at the fire with a twig.
Ji relaxed somewhat and looked down at his chest. His ribs were bound tightly with tattered strips of cloth and his face felt wet and cool, like it had been washed recently.
"Did you bandage my ribs?" he asked.
"Sure did!" came the chipper reply. "My grandpa taught me how! I also washed the blood off your face. Something must have beaten you up pretty bad."
Ji nodded but said nothing else on the matter of his condition. "Where is your grandfather?"
The boy saddened a bit, "He died a long time ago."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories," apologized the blue skinned man.
"That's okay," said the boy with a rise in his cheer. "My name's Goku, what's yours?"
"Ah, where are my manners!" he laughed. "My name is Ji Lloxamir. Thank you for tending to my injuries."
Goku nodded and stirred the soup. "So are you a good Tengu or a bad one?"
Ji blinked. "A… Tengu?"
"Yeah. My grandpa told me about them," stated Goku with a grin. "They're monsters that live in the mountains. It took me a minute to figure to what you were when I found you, but when I remembered the stories my grandpa told me I decided to help you out."
"I'm not a Tengu," chuckled "I'm a Psanean."
"Psanean?" repeated the boy. "I never heard of that kind of demon."
"That's because I'm not a demon," replied Ji. "I'm an alien."
Goku tilted his head and gave Ji a funny look. "Alien? What's that?"
"It means I'm from space." Ji noticed the confused look on Goku's face and added, "I'm from space."
"What's space?" asked the boy in genuine interest.
Ji rubbed at his pointed chin in thought. "Well, space is way past the sky." It wasn't the most scientific explanation, but the child seemed to understand it.
"Really?" gushed the boy excitedly. "So you can fly? You don't look like a bird!"
Ji grinned at the boy's easy going attitude, but regained his composure quickly. He had to go. Freezer was still on the planet, and since he was alive, that meant that it wasn't too late to do something to stop the madman.
"I have to go," he stated coolly.
Goku stood as well. "Aw, really? I don't see many others in the valley, are you sure you can't stay a bit more?"
"No, a very powerful and evil man is on the planet and he must be stopped," Ji explained.
Goku growled and took a step forward. "Then take me with you! I know how to fight, and my grandpa said that the strong should always protect the weak!"
Ji froze and looked down to the boy's eyes, and saw the fire that burned there. He'd only heard that saying like that from one other person, and that person had this same fire.
"Goku, I cannot take you with me. It is far too—" Ji's voice seized as he caught sight of something behind Goku's back. His body moved on instinct and struck the boy in the side of the neck with precisely enough strength to knock him out but not kill him. Before he realized it he found his hand holding a ball of ki to the boy's face.
"What is this?" he muttered as he dropped his hands and allowed his attack to dissipate. "What am I doing?"
He took a moment and bent down to examine the boy. He had a tail.
Goku was the Saiyan that Freezer had been talking about. But Goku couldn't be a Saiyan. He was far too kind. A noble soul.
There were no buts about it. As little sense as it made, Goku was a Saiyan: a Saiyan being hunted by Freezer.
Last he'd heard the last few of the Saiyans were kept by Freezer as soldiers.
He shook his head clear. It didn't matter why Freezer was after Goku. The boy was a noble soul who was being hunted by the universe's most reviled villain.
He'd never allow Freezer to have his way. No matter what it took.
+++++++++++++++++
"Damn it," Ranma cursed as he jumped across the rooftops of West City on his way to his mentor's home.
He'd been sitting in fourth period social studies when he'd felt his sensei's power spike dramatically from far away.
His ability to sense another's ki was still fairly limited, but such a familiar signature at such a high level was easily sensed.
He'd leapt out of the sixth floor of nine story private school and had proceeded to run in the direction he sensed the power spike. He may not have enough control or power to fly yet, but he did have enough to allow him some good height in his jumps.
Halfway to the bay he'd felt the spike in Ji's power that indicated that he was flying.
Whatever had happened, Ranma knew that Ji would need his help.
+++++++++++++++++
Ji laid the boy under his arm into a bed. "Rest here Goku, soon you'll be far away from all this."
He lifted his head and towards the direction of a familiar ki.
He smiled to himself. Ranma had been nice enough to save him the trip.
"Ji!" called Ranma as he stepped into the ship and looked around. "What's going on?"
Ji gathered himself and hobbled over to his young protégée.
"You're hurt!" gasped Ranma. "Who did this?"
Ji shook his head. "Freezer. He's a horrible person. He destroys planets for fun and profit. He cares little for the well being of any other's than himself."
"And this Freezer guy is here? On Earth?" asked Ranma.
Ji nodded. "Yes."
"Then take me with you! This Freezer bastard doesn't stand a chance against us both!" Ranma clenched his fist and stepped forward, a fire burning bright in his eyes. "It is a martial artist's duty to protect the weak! I won't let anyone hurt my planet."
Ji smiled at those words. "I expected that from you." He stepped forward and placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "You're a good person, Ranma. A truly noble soul."
Without another word he gathered the boy into a hug and held him for a moment.
"Ji. You're… you're freakin' me out," muttered Ranma.
"I know, Ranma." He stepped back and held onto Ranma's shoulder's at arm's length. "Take good care of yourself. And take care of Goku too. He's a good boy, and with him you won't have to be alone."
"What're you talki—" Ranma was cut off as Ji pressed a nerve on the boy's neck, sending him into a deep slumber.
"Glad I learned that one," commented Ji as he placed Ranma in a bed next to Goku's.
He stepped out of the ship and onto the tarmac with a sad sigh. He turned and tapped at the keypad next to the hatch and floated away from the ship as its engines roared to life.
He stood and watched as the vessel lift into the air with a roar.
He levitated slowly into the air until he was a good distance above the tiny spaceport he'd kept his private ship docked.
Ji reached to his waistband and held the tail he'd taken from Goku before letting it go. He watched it drift slowly in the wind on its way to the ground. Simply pulling it off would solve little when it grew back, but it was all he could do with the time allotted.
Without another word he streaked across the sky towards what he knew to be his last fight.
Win or lose, it was something he had to do.
++++++++++++++++
Freezer grinned sardonically as he watched Ji float to the ground before him. "Come back for more did you?"
Ji scowled in defiance as he flicked the blood from his hands. Behind him, bodies littered the otherwise peaceful landscape. "I'll keep coming back for more until one of us is dead."
Freezer laughed heartily at the comment. "Indeed! But, I'm afraid I cannot enjoy your company too long. I have other engagements to keep."
"You mean your hunt for the Saiyan?" questioned Ji.
"What do you know of that?" Freezer asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Just what I overheard," commented Ji with a conspiratory grin.
Freezer straightened in his chair and crossed his arms. "So, what happens now?"
Ji's left arm dangled limply at his side from where it had been broken in his fight with some of Freezer's men. He raised his still good arm and formed a sphere of ki as powerful as he could. "This."
"Ready to fight till the end, eh soldier boy?" commented Freezer darkly, forming his own attack in his hands.
Ji's only response was a humorless grin.
++++++++++++++++++
"Stop right here," commanded Freezer to one of the few remaining men left on his ship.
The underling did as he was told without question and brought their ship to a stop just out of the Earth's atmosphere.
The tyrant lifted upwards out a hatch in the roof of his massive ship and stared down at the planet with a frown.
"This little dirt ball holds no value to me," he thought to himself.
He raised one finger and gathered his strength into a tiny prick of light. It grew in intensity and brightness as he lifted his arm higher above his head.
Once his arm was fully stretched he willed the ball to its full size. The attack went from the size of a grape to a size that dwarfed even his own ship in a matter of seconds.
Without a word or even a sarcastic quip, he tossed the sphere towards the planet lazily before drifting back into his ship.
It wasn't even worth his time to watch the little dirt ball go boom. He'd had enough of the planet called Earth, and the universe would thank him for removing such an eyesore.
++++++++++++++++++
On a ship headed for parts unknown, two boys slept peacefully unaware of the fate that awaited them.
They were now set adrift, alone and without a home to call their own.
Two strangers they were, yet each was all the other had.
Each one had longed for adventures, travel, and excitement in their dull lives, but never at the price it'd ultimately cost them.
Through the main observation window a bright light flared angrily, fueled by screams of pain and the deaths of countless living things.
Each one shuddered under the eerie heat of the blazing light, but soon returned to their sleep.
+++++++++++++++++
Author's notes:
Yay! New fic! *Ahem*
Hopefully this will make up for my absence as of late.^_^
Anyways, this is mainly for those of you who thought I was coming up with good ideas but never taking them to their full potential by exploring Ranma's upbringing. This fic will center around Ranma and Goku's adventures in space. Hence the name, Grand Tour.
Yeah, I know, I should be working on SB or WG. Blame Kwok from the Delphi Boards. He's the one that told me, *quote* "It never hurts to have more fics! =P" *end quote*
Alright, before I get mail about it, yeah I used Freezer instead of Freiza. That was intentional. I like the literal pronunciation of the name better than the engrish one. It sounds much cooler… That pun was not intentional…
Also, a quick word about how I used the descriptions of the aliens. I used "man", "he", and physical descriptions that were human-like because that's how they are in the series. The aliens are pretty much humanoid except for things like appendages and head structure.
Lastly, a REALLY big thanks to ChibiGoesSplat, who helped me out so much whenever I got stuck on this that he really should get an Idea Co-authored credit… But he won't. =P
As always. Gimme C&C please.