It was a quiet night at the 96th Precinct. Nick and Tracy were working on the paperwork for the Jane Doe #275. The young girl's body was found the night before, shot in the head, but everyone was convinced that it was a suicide. Just as Nick was about to suggest timing off early, a hand tapped him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me," a male voice said behind him.
Nick turned and found himself facing a young man about 17 years old. His black hair was braided behind him, and his outfit and accent suggested a Japanese decent. But the boy didn't look Oriental. Behind him stood a older gentleman in glasses wearing a white martial arts robe and another man with black hair crying hysterically.
"How pathetic," Nick thought to himself. "How can I help you?" he asked the youth.
"My name is Ranma Saotome." He pronounced it Sou-toe-may. "This is my father, Genma Saotome, and his friend, Soun Tendo. We need someone to help us find Akane."
"Who's Akane?" Tracy chimed in.
"Oh my darling Akane, where are you?" cried the black haired gentleman. The whole precinct was starting to stare at him. Outside the station, thunder started to rumble.
"Akane Tendo is his daughter," Ranma pointed at the crying man. "And my fiancé." This raised Nick's eyebrows.
"Fiancé? Aren't you a little young...?"
"It was their idea!" Ranma yelled, pointing at the older gentlemen. Now the precinct was looking at the boy. "Look, Akane was visiting here as an exchange student. She wrote to us everyday. It's now been 5 days since her last letter and we think something's happened to her. Will you help us find her?"
Captain Reese had heard the conversation from his office and called to Nick and Tracy. "Why don't you two go help them? You've got nothing better to do. Plus, it might help with international ties between Japan and the US if we help them." Reese had also noticed the clothing and accents.
"Okay, we'll help," Nick agreed, and Tracy nodded.
"Thank you, oh thank you," Mr. Tendo cried desperately. Mr. Saotome put his hand over Tendo's mouth to silence him, and they all left the precinct.
======================
Outside the station, Nick and Tracy were surprised to find nine other people. And they were quite a bunch to observe. Ranma stepped toward the group and started to introduce everyone.
"Everyone, this is Detectives Nick Knight and Tracy Vetter." Then he brought three other young men forward. One had a wooden sword, which Nick found odd; another had an umbrella and a backpack, which Nick found odder; and the third was wearing glasses on top of his head. "This is Kuno," Ranma pointed to the boy with the sword. He started to continue, but the boy interrupted him.
"I, Tatewaki Kuno, offer my unconditional assistance in the retrieval of the goddess-like Akane Tendo. I, the Blue Thunder, have no qualms in facing any dangers that we might encounter." Just then, a crash of thunder boomed overhead, and Kuno fell to the ground in fear. Nick could tell that it was going to be a fun night.
"As I was saying," Ranma started again, this time pointing to the umbrella boy. "This is Ryoga Hibiki, otherwise known as P-Chan." Just as he said that, Ryoga yelled, "Who are you calling P-Chan?" and tried to attack him, but Ranma was too quick. As Ryoga lunged for him, Ranma jumped up out of the way, and Ryoga also fell to the ground.
"And this is Mousse," Ranma said of the remaining boy. Mousse stepped forward. As Nick extended his hand to shake Mousse's, the boy passed right by him and walked up to Genma.
"It's wonderful that you are helping us find Akane," he said to Genma.
"Put your glasses on, boy," Genma said to Mousse. And he did. Realizing his mistake, Mousse turned to Nick. "Sorry, thank you for helping us." And he returned to the group. Nick gave Tracy a look that said, Now we're in for it.
"These are Akane's sisters, Nabiki and Kasume," Ranma pointed to two girls standing by Mr. Tendo. Then he moved to another young lady, who Nick noticed had blue hair. "And this is Shampoo and her great-grandmother, Cologne." Ranma also pointed to an elderly lady balancing on a cane. She looked as old as Nick was. "This is Ukyo," and another young woman stepped forward. She had a pizza spatula across her back like a sword. "And this is..." but Ranma stopped short. "Where did he go?" he asked.
As everyone quickly looked around, Nick was surprised when Tracy screamed. He turned to her and saw a small elderly man clinging to her chest. He reached over and grabbed the old man, but he had to use his vampire strength to actually pull the man off and throw him away from them. The old guy looked surprised--that is, until he hit the wall Nick had thrown him at. Then, he just looked like he was in pain.
The rest of the group stared at the elderly "gentleman," amazed that Nick was able to remove him from Tracy. "This is Happosai," Ranma continued. "He does that to every girl he encounters."
"Well, make sure he doesn't do it again," Tracy shot out. Nick nodded in agreement.
Happosai stirred off the ground, holding his head in pain. Then, he turned to Nick. "My boy, you have a great strength," he said to Nick. "If I trained you, you could the best fighter on Earth."
"Just ignore him," Ranma said. "He says that to anyone able to lay a hand on him." He paused, then continued, "but it's true that you are strong. Pretty much no one's been able to removed Happi when he's found a new 'target.'"
"Well, I work out," Nick lied.
Nabiki interrupted. "Uh, Ranma baby, I just felt our first drop of rain."
Nick noticed that Ranma, Genma, Ryoga, Shampoo, and Mousse all looked at the sky simultaneously. A look of worry appeared on all of their faces.
"We must find Akane, and soon," Ryoga stated boldly.
"Maybe you can give us something to work on," Tracy inquired.
"Well, Akane is 16, short black hair," Ranma said. "Built like a stick, dumb as a brick..."
"Quit bad-mouthing Akane!" Ryoga yelled.
But Nick and Tracy weren't listened to the two argue. They were both thinking of the Jane Doe case. A teenage girl with dark hair. No one could identify her. Sounded bad for the group.
"Okay, we'll split up," Nick remarked. "Half of you can go with Tracy to wherever she was staying. The other half can come with me."
"Where are you going?" Ukyo asked.
Nick and Tracy looked at each other. "A young girl was found dead yesterday," Nick explained. "I want some of you to come with me to see if you can identify her as Akane." The rest of the group looked extremely worried.
"Okay, I'll go with you," Ranma spoke up.
"I'll go too," Ryoga said.
"I will go as well," Kuno muttered, moving from off the floor.
"Shampoo go too," the blue-haired girl quickly chimed. "Hey, where Ranma goes, I go," Ukyo added. "I shall follow Shampoo everywhere," Mousse replied. Nick nodded.
"I guess the rest will go with me," Tracy said. "Where was Akane staying?"
"The Holiday Inn of Toronto," Kasumi answered her.
"We'll go there," Tracy told Nick, "see if anyone's seen her lately."
The two groups headed to the separate cars. As they piled into the Caddie, Nick silently hoped that the Jane Doe wouldn't be identified tonight. The moment they all got into their cars, the sky opened up and it started to pour.