Total Shock Chapter 1: Horizon, a Ranma + Anime X-overs Crossover fanfic

Disclaimer: None of the series, characters, or locations mentioned in this story are owned by the author of this story unless stated otherwise.

Somewhere in Nerima, Ranma Saotome sat on the roof of the Tendo residence. It wasn't often that he was up there; as a matter of fact, this was probably the first time he could remember sitting up there and just staring at the sky.

It had been another day in Nerima. Wake up sopping wet and cold, beat up Kuno, be late to class, ambushed at lunch, arguing with Akane…If he was lucky, everyone left him alone after that. If he was unlucky, either Akane cooked dinner, or his mom showed up with her honor blade to ask about his and his father's progress. Almost nothing in his life was the way it should be. Every time he was sure it couldn't get worse, it did. He stared up at the night sky wondering absently if there would ever be a change to the constant chaos…

"Hey…what's that?" He peered up at an incredibly fast moving light in the sky. "What the heck?" He tried to get a closer look. Unfortunately, it was already gone before he could make it out. "Airplanes don't move that fast," He said to himself. He shrugged and left, climbing down into the nearest window.

He already knew that whatever it was, it was going come up in his already crazy life.

Elsewhere, in a pocket dimension, a certain diminutive, red haired scientist looked at the readings her computer gave off. "Eh? What's this? Someone just entered the atmosphere…" she resolved to have Ryoko find who or whatever it was later. Right now, she had more important things to do…

"Teeenchiiiiiii!! Where are youuuuu?" The diminutive scientist was wearing her nurse uniform and carrying a large syringe. "I just want to get a bone marrow sample! It'll be quick!"

Nearby, hiding behind some large and conveniently placed crates, one Tenchi Masaki was praying to whatever would listen that the crazed girl-woman would not find him. He chanced a glance out and saw Washuu with her back turned, looking around. 'Why does she need a syringe to get a bone marrow sample?! She can't be meaning to get it with that! And why does she want a bone marrow sample anyway?' The young prince of Jurai shuddered. 'At least it's not one of those samples.' He turned and ducked back behind the crates when the girl walked out of his range of sight.

"There you are, Tenchi!" The crab-haired woman-child was standing right in front of him with a huge grin on her face. Tenchi screamed and made to run but a strange contraption appeared behind him with robotic tentacles and a metal lab table with restraints. In seconds, he was strapped to it and Washuu was standing at the head of the table with a dark smirk on her face. "Don't worry, this won't hurt… too much!"

In Fukuoka, a tall, attractive man dressed in a lab coat blinked in suprise at a computer screen. "Something entered the atmosphere at that speed? Interesting…" He turned to a small girl who was currently doing somersaults around the room. "Second, did you manage to scan it?" The android stopped bouncing around.

"Yes, doctor! The object, moving at 482,245 km/h, roughly 2.79 meters long and .78 meters wide landed at latitude 33.525032 degrees North, longitude 130.364392 degrees East!" The good doctor stared at the android for a moment, then turned and looked at his computer screen again.

"That's not far from here…"

At Mahora Academy, two kids were walking across the campus at night. One of them, a young boy by the name of Negi Springfield, suddenly looked up at the night sky. There was a flash of light and a huge shooting star suddenly shot across the sky towards the west, causing him to stop in surprise. "Huh?" The tall, red headed girl beside him blinked, then glanced at him and looked up as well.

"What are you looking at?"

"It was moving…so fast…" he muttered to himself. "Uh, nothing Asuna-san. Let's keep going."

In Juuban, a certain green haired woman looked up at the sky with a frown on her face. "It's him…" Setsuna Meiou sighed and stood up from the park bench. "It's started, then…"

Chapter 1

Ranma was sitting in the Furinkan High cafeteria eating his lunch alone.

The day had started out very different from others; Akane had merely shaken him awake instead of pouring water on him, and seemed particularly cheerful about something, Kuno hadn't bothered them as soon as they entered the campus, and as a result of that, He and Akane made it to class on time. That meant no standing out in the hall with buckets. When lunch time came, Ranma left the classroom to go the cafeteria and eat there, while Akane stayed in class to talk with her two friends Yuka and Sayuri about something.

Ranma found himself getting increasingly paranoid when Shampoo didn't burst in through any of the walls, and Ukyou didn't try to feed him any Okonomiyaki. Although he would have really appreciated the Okonomiyaki, since his lunch was finished.

"Hey, Ranma!" The pig-tailed teen blinked and looked up at the two teens standing at the opposite side of his table. Daisuke and Hiroshi both had conspiratorial looks on their faces.

"Oh. Hey, you two."

"Ranma, did you hear?"

"There was a UFO sighting last night!"

Ranma tried to fake an interested expression. "Oh really…?"

"Yeah, but the government hasn't confirmed it."

"But you know, it's got to be real," Daisuke said. "Residents from different cities all over the country all say they saw it at about the same time. They say it was moving way too fast to be a plane or satellite."

Ranma looked up at his friends. "Huh…you think it could've been aliens?" He asked.

"Well…Maybe,"

"If they were, they're probably coming here for me," Ranma sighed.

In Washuu's laboratory, Ryoko and Washuu were both standing infront of a large cylinder with a bright, neon green liquid inside. There was a strange looking… thing inside resembling a heart, but it was much bigger and dark brown.

"Did you really have to tell her to say 'Your mom wants you'?" Ryoko asked the diminutive scientist. Washu chuckled and looked up at her.

"Yeah! Now we're just like a real family!" The Cyan haired woman shook her head.

"Whatever. Whaddya want?"

"Go check out these coordinates," Washu repeated. "I'm sure you've heard of the UFO sighting, recently?"

"Well yeah, but…you don't mean to tell me it was real this time, do you? I mean, Earth is just some backwater mud-ball, no one would come out here…"

Washu stared at Ryoko.

"…And not be after us. I mean, it was so far away, but whatever…" Ryoko took off for her destination, mumbling.

The sailor senshi were all sitting around at the Hikawa shrine, discussing recent events. "Alright. So everyone knows what happened last night?"

"Uhhh…what happened?" Usagi looked up from her manga in surprise. Rei gave her friend an exasperated look.

"It's been all over the news! The UFO! The reason Luna called the first senshi business meeting in two years!"

"Oh, that? Well, I'm sure it can't be that serious, I mean there are UFO sightings every day, right?" The other senshi shook their heads at her.

"Well, what can we do? We don't know where it landed," Rei said. "And besides, it's not like we could just walk up and say 'Hi, welcome to Earth.' It's not like they speak Japanese,"

"We still don't know if it's real or not," Makoto interjected.

"The Mercury computer's scans picked up a residual energy. The energy signal was different from any I've ever seen before; I was going to look it up in the database before this meeting was called,"

"Well that seems to confirm its existence." Luna said. "Can you pinpoint where it landed? Maybe we can find something if we go to it,"

"Okay." Ami immediately set to working on the mercury computer.

"Meanwhile," Luna turned to look up at her charge. "Usagi… You're already eighteen! How can you still be so absent minded?" The blonde stuck her tongue out at her.

"Biiih! So I forgot about a silly UFO! It's not like you don't hear people talking about them all the time, all those silly conspiracy theories…"

"Usagi…" The other senshi all sighed, and Rei spoke up. "We've fought real aliens and monsters from other dimensions and the far reaches of space! Don't you think that alone should make you more cautious when aliens and stuff are involved?"

"Well, if something bad was happening, Setsuna would have warned us by now, right?" The blonde asked. "Plus, the only times people were ever right about UFO sightings were after we'd already engaged the aliens or something. It's nothing to worry about!" The other senshi all sighed and shook their heads. "Really, how can you guys be so tense?"

Ranma sat down, watching TV. For once, the news was more interesting than Martial Arts Anime (That, and it was reruns anyway).

"Wow. Aliens." Ranma stared at the television in disinterest.

"Heh, with your luck, they're here for you," Nabiki smirked. Ranma stared at her for a brief moment then turned back to the TV.

"You know, things have been really calm lately. Ryouga hasn't been by in a week, the old ghoul, Shampoo and Mousse are still in Fukuoka at that food rally, Akane's spending the night at Yuka's and Oyaji and Tendo-san haven't tried anything stupid recently…" He trailed off and found himself staring at Nabiki. She stared back. This continued for a long moment until she abruptly stood up and ran to her room.

He sighed and sat back to watch the TV. Experts had yet to pinpoint where it could have landed (If it had landed). There was currently no concrete evidence, other than the fact that more than three quarters of Japan saw it. He flipped through the channels, thinking he may as well go practice his kata so he would be prepared for any attacks until he found the food channel. It was live from Fukuoka; the convention the Old ghoul was at was on television. It was an all day event. "Maybe I'll see them," He thought, watching.

In the city of F, Excel, Hyatt, and Elgala were all participating in a food rally. It was a part time job that the three had taken to Excel smiled cheerily as she served the next patron a bowl of ramen. Hyatt was on the floor behind the stall, spewing her bodily liquids and Elgala was complaining about cramps. Everything was as it should be…well, almost everything. She glared at the competition next to them. The old lady serving up the ramen had to have been putting narcotics in the stuff; people were lining up and buying it in ridiculous quantities. The woman seemed to know she was being watched and turned to Excel, smiling. Excel turned away and scowled. If only there was some way of making their competition disappear… a glint came to her eyes and she looked at Hyatt; she knew just the way…

Back in Nerima, Ranma was finally rewarded for his waiting. There was the familiar "Someone I know is going to be on TV" feeling in the air around him. Apparently, Granny wasn't doing too badly. So well, actually, that she was being interviewed by a man during her break.

"So…Ku Lon, was it?"

"Yes," the withered old woman replied.

"How long have you been in the restaurant business?"

"Hmm, well, It's only been a few months, actually," She said. "When I came to Japan, I needed a way to support myself and my charges," she said.

"You're originally from China, right?"

"That is correct,"

"Wow, it must have been expensive to come out here. Why did you come to Japan, then?"

"Oh, quite a few reasons, actually. My great-granddaughter has a profound interest in some of the things in this country, and I'm her guardian. You know, there are a lot of things in Japan open to her that would never be found in China." She smiled at him.

"I can imagine," the man nodded.

"Well, break is almost over, and I must get back to the stall," the elder stated.

"One more question if you will," the man asked. "How long do you plan on staying in business?"

"Well, that's undecided," she said. "It depends on certain things,"

"Oh? Like what?"

"My granddaughter's future, among other things," She looked the man in the eye.

"I see," He said. They nodded to each other and the camera focused on the reporter. "That's Ku Lon of the Cat Café that can be found in Nerima, Tokyo."

Excel smiled again as she handed the bowl to the last patron. She glanced to the side to watch her competition. So far, so good. Old lady hadn't noticed. That was when, all of a sudden…

"Oh…my god…" Several people moaned and groaned and suddenly fell over in front of Excel's stand.

Excel was baffled. "Huh? What! What's going on?" She looked at Elgala. "What did you do to the broth?"

"Me? All I've been doing is washing the bowls!"

"Maybe you're not washing them all the way!" Excel yelled angrily.

"How can you suggest such mean things, senpai?" Elgala teared up and looked away, dramatically. "I told her I would be the best choice for cooking...every time she cooks something, it always turns out much worse than anyone could have expected..." Excel stood behind Elgala, trying to look imposing.

"You're thinking aloud again, Elgala." She said. Excel sighed before she glared at the stall to her right. The old woman smiled at her then went back to her own business. "This whole thing is her fault! It must be some sort of Chinese conspiracy to keep Ill Palazzo's servants down…"

The next morning, in some skyscraper high up in Fukuoka, four people were standing before a corrupt, mustachioed city official by the name of Doctor Kabapu. The four were part of a secret "Department of City Security", which was actually a group of untrained individuals given powerful weapons including a bodysuit that acted to increase the physical strength and toughness of a human being to ridiculous levels and futuristic weaponry.

This group consisted of calm and collected Matsuya Misaki, the luckless, ever skeptic and pessimistic Watanabe Toru, The idiotic optimistic once-died-from-cancer-but-was-brought-back-as-a-cyborg Iwata Norikuni (who continued working for the city for some reason even though he was legally dead and thus could not be paid), and the very overweight Sumiyoshi Daimaru from Osaka who spoke with a heavy Osakan accent, and played all manner of video games and dating sims on his PC. All of them were very normal people (with the exception of Iwata since being revived) with normal aspirations (again, sans Iwata), and dreams. (Can Iwata still dream, even? Who knows)

"You want us to WHAT?" Misaki stared at the bearded man seated before her.

"Investigate this area, just outside of Fukuoka city limits," Dr. Kabapu said, handing her a clipboard. Kabapu's incredibly competent secretary spoke up.

"Shiouji-san detected something strange two nights ago and estimates it to have landed somewhere outside of Fukuoka."

"Landed?" Watanabe. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about the UFO everyone's been talking about, now would you?"

"That is to be seen," The man said with certain gleam in his eyes. "But if you've got something better to do, by all means, go ahead."

"Ugh…" They were about to leave when he added one more thing.

"If you find any…visitors, detain them and have Ropponmatsu take them to Shiouji's lab." The four started walking out of Kabapu's office, Iwata with a noticeable spring in his step, then Misaki turned around.

"Why'd Shiouji wait a whole day to tell us about his discovery?" The other three also stopped, slightly interested in the answer.

"Err… incidentally, yesterday was his day off," The doctor said. Misaki stared at him for a moment, an odd expression coming on her face.

'Incidentally?' She shook her head. "I see…"

Ranma awoke to the familiar sensation of cold water in his nostrils and all around his body. He almost literally flew out of the koi pond and landed on Genma. 'At least things are starting to look normal now,' he thought.

After the session with Genma, he ate his breakfast and started walking to school. He jumped atop the fence and started walking along it when all of a sudden, there was a blur followed by a sonic boom that almost knocked him off. He stared ahead at Furinkan high, then shrugged. "Whatever," He continued walking until he made it to Furinkan and stopped at the gate. "Eh? No Kuno?" He wondered aloud. "Is Akane already here then? I might not be late again…"

Kuno moaned on the ground at the gate. There were footsteps all over his back. "What sorcery…was that…"

"Class, we have a new student today." The teacher motioned to a young man standing in the doorway. The boy nervously walked over to the sensei and bowed to the entire class. "Uhh, hello. My name is Touya Watanabe, but my friends call me Sonic." His long, spikey blue hair grabbed everyone's attention.

A random student raised his hand. "Uh, Watanabe-san," The boy asked. "Are you here to take revenge on Saotome Ranma?" While most of the students laughed, Ranma and the sensei both prayed to whatever gods existed that the answer was no.

Touya just looked nervous.

"Um…No," He said. "I've never heard of him. Is he famous?"

"He's a martial artist," The boy said.

"If that is all," the sensei interjected. "Watanabe-san, If you could please take a seat, so that we might get started," Watanabe sat down in the empty seat next to Ranma. The sensei began his lesson and Ranma stared at the new student next to him. 'His chi levels are higher than average. I'll have to ask him about that.' Ranma made a mental note to do this later.

Ranma turned to look out the window and sighed. Looks like another boring day…

A few kilometers south of Fukuoka, Ryoko sighed and flew over the area. It was a mountainous forested area, completely devoid of anything resembling a sentient species. "This is so boring. What the hell was Washuu thinking? It was probably just a meteorite," She flew higher to get a better view before leaving, but when she looked around, she finally noticed something worthwhile.

It was a new crater. A very large one too; it wouldn't go unnoticed by the general public for long. She flew down and hovered over the center, when a voice suddenly called out to her.

"Hey! You! Down there!" a female voice called out. Ryoko looked up at the rim of the crater and noticed a group of oddly dressed people. There were five people; a heavyset man, a skinnier, marginally healthier looking man, an attractive woman and two androids—no, one of them was a Cyborg.

"Yeah?" Ryoko called back.

"Are you an alien?" they

"Uh…yeah," Ryoko answered back.

"Do you really speak Japanese?"

"Yeah, sure I do, learned it a while ago." Ryoko blinked. 'They must have thought I was just repeating a sound or something.' The alien woman frowned. 'Do I really look that dumb?'

The people conversed for a few minutes before they came to a conclusion. "Hey, can you come here for a moment?" Ryoko shrugged. Sure, why not?

"Yeah, sure I do, learned it a while ago."

"Long time ago?" Watanabe whispered.

"Maybe they teach Japanese in space!" Iwata suggested. "Or maybe Japanese people aren't from earth, but instead colonized the planet a long time ago and mated with the natives, and she's from the original species!"

Misaki shook her head with her hand on her face. "With everything that's been going on these past few days, that wouldn't surprise me," She sighed. 'It's probably just some kind of advanced technology…' She shook her head, then turned back towards the 'Alien.' "Hey, can you come here for a moment?" The girl shrugged before vanishing and reappearing before them. She fixed an intense stare on them at them and a few of them took a step back.

"So what's your name?"

"Uhh…Ryoko. Why, you wanted something?" the alien girl asked. It was more obvious now that she was an alien; the teleporting, the floating, the ears, the eyes, the clothes… Everything about her screamed 'not from this planet.'

"Yeah, Ryoko-chan," Misaki said, revealing the laser that Kabapu had given her. "Welcome to Earth." She fired the gun without a moment's hesitation and in Ryoko's surprise she wasn't even able to dodge. The blast hit her head-on point-blank range, and Ryoko screamed from inside a bright, arcing electrical web and Misaki wondered for a moment if she should have done that. Her worries were assuaged however when the smoke cleared and Ryoko's unconscious form was lying prone on the ground.

"Huh. It worked."

"Is she dead?" Iwata asked. He poked the alien's left boob with a stick. No reaction.

Watanabe sighed. "Well, let's take her Shiouji."

Ranma looked around for the new kid during lunch. "Has anyone seen Touya around?" Several people pointed at the track. "Thanks." he walked to the track and looked around for Touya. He spotted the boy running head to head with several of Furinkan's fastest track team members.

The other boys were already panting and dripping sweat, but "Sonic" looked like he could go on for hours. 'Well, that's nothing. I can do that,' Ranma thought to himself. He walked over to the starting line and waited for the boy to finish up his race. The boy spotted Ranma and smiled, running over to him.

"Ah, you're Saotome-san, right?" Touya stood at his full height and stared at Ranma.

"So you're a runner?"

"Yep, fastest guy in the world as a matter of fact," Touya smirked.

Ranma frowned. "Do you practice any martial arts at all?"

"Some, but from what I've heard, I'm not nearly a good as fighter as they say you are," He chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

Ranma nodded. "Well if you ever wanna learn the art, you can come to the Tendo Dojo." He said.

Touya nodded. "I'll do that sometime," He said. He turned back to the track and started jogging at a light pace. Ranma walked away from the track and back to the building.

The rest of the school day was uneventful. Shampoo and the Old Ghoul were in Fukuoka for two more days, and only the kami knew where Ryouga was. Akane told him she'd meet him home, which left Ranma taking the scenic route back to the Tendo Dojo, roof hopping around until something on the ground caught his attention…a blue-blur moving at ridiculous speeds passed through the city below him, stirring up powerful winds in its wake. "What the hell is that? That was the second time I've seen that," He said. He shrugged and finally made his way to the Tendo Dojo.

When he arrived, a familiar voice yelled "Saotome! Prepare to die!" Ranma landed and immediately took up a stance.

"P-Chan, there you are," He said dodging Ryouga's umbrella swing from behind to the side. He turned to face the snarling boy and snickered. "I was actually starting to worry. Couldn't stay away from Akane too long, though, could you?" He continued dodging Ryouga's attacks with more difficulty than before. He had to give Ryouga credit – wherever he'd been, he'd been increasing his speed.

Ryouga snarled at his opponent. "Shut up and fight me, Ranma!" he lunged with a quick thrust of the umbrella and feinted to the left. Ranma saw through it easy and was prepared for his opponent to suddenly attack from below. Ranma jumped over the umbrella swing that would have taken a normal man's legs off and ducked under the next swing, and launched a few hundred kicks at Ryouga. The fight was escalating as Ranma had to acknowledge a notable skill increase on Ryouga's part.

He knife handed Ryouga's abdomen and vertical punched his solar plexus. The lost Boy's toughness actually hurt Ranma's knife hand but his chest was still a soft spot. The lost boy tried to sweep his legs from under him, but only managed to open himself up to an attack, namely an aerial spin kick. It knocked him back a bit and he had to roll to get to his feet. He jumped up and slammed Ranma towards the ground with a powerful spike and then fell towards his opponent. Ranma rebounded off the ground and into Ryouga's gut with his fist. They both separated and stared at each other.

Their eyes met and both smirked.

Touya jumped over an obstacle, and swerved through traffic. He ran over several of the cars and jumped onto a chain-link fence. Leaning at an angle he was able to grind the fence like he was on a skateboard or roller blades. He somersaulted off the fence, passing over a house, then a street, then two more houses that were separated by a wall, at a speed that made him leave after images in the air. The blue haired teen left skid marks on the street when he landed, and he stopped in front of a moderately sized house.

Touya walked up to the door, and it opened before he could do anything.

"Everything's a race with you, isn't it?" Another young man stood at the door. The boy had long, spiky hair like Touya's, but it was black with red streaks.

"You know me, fastest thing on Earth, running like the wind, hates sitting still, all that jazz," He walked in past the boy without an invitation and looked around the house. "Wow, It's not as dark as I expected. Letting you furnish the place wasn't such a bad idea after all."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That your taste in fashion and style have improved," Touya snickered. He took his shoes off and ran into what could be called a living room. "Western Décor, I like," Touya sat down on the couch and turned a large, flat screen television on. The other boy grumbled and shut the door with an audible slam and walked over to join the other teen. He sat in a recliner and picked up an open book.

"I copied it out of a magazine," the other one explained finally.

"Figures you didn't design it," Sonic snorted. "So, did you find anything?"

"Oh I found a lot, which I'm sure is more than what you can say."

"Oh really? Like what?" The black haired man looked up from the book.

"This part of town is full of strange creatures, and in response a local vigilante group has risen to the task of exterminating them. They're known as the Sailor Senshi. They're fairly powerful, but none of them could stand up to a Chaos Spear."

"You've seen them in action?"

"Twice."

"Oh. Well, I found a potential carrier," Touya added. "Several, actually. Nerima's a crazy place,"

"We'll have to investigate it then," Shadow said before returning to his book. "Keep an eye on them."

"Heh. You don't need to tell me that."

Back in Fukuoka, Excel was walking along the sidewalk by herself, returning home from a temp job when she noticed something familiar whiz by. Squinting, as if it would allow her to remember it easier, she finally recognized it. "Heyy…that's the van! The one with that crazy scientist!" The blonde woman ran after it full speed and jumped onto the back. "Hey, you crazy van!" The van swerved several times in an effort to throw her off.

Inside, Gojyou Shiouji recovered from having nearly fallen out of his seat.

"What the hell are you doing?" The bishounen scientist asked his van.

"Master, a human female has latched onto the back of the vehicle. I am attempting to get rid of her."

Shiouji looked out the back window and saw a familiar face. "Huh? What's she doing?" The girl's mouth was moving but it was to no effect as the windows were sound proofed. He shrugged and looked down at the unconscious girl sitting, slumped over in the other chair. Unconscious alien girl. "Just what will happen next?" Just then, the van flipped over to its side from a tight turn.

Excel let go of the side of the van and walked around to the motor. She started kicking it some angrily. "Yeah! That's what you get, you evil, possessed automobile!"

"I assure you, it is not possessed. Although I will have to readjust the personality matrix," Gojyou said as he stood up. The door opened and he was able to stand up. Fortunately, he was unharmed by the ordeal. He hefted the alien over his shoulder and took a step out of the van to assess the damage. "This thing…Maybe I should just fly from place to place," He said. "Hmmm…a hover craft…" He made a mental note to review any notes he had on anti-gravitational power. He sighed and started walking to the Research institute where he lived.

Excel blinked and looked at him. "Aren't you going to do something about this?"

"We're on my property. No one's gonna care," He said as he walked into the research institute. "You may want to call a cab." He said.

"Huh?" She looked around. "Where am I?" She ran in after Shiouji, but found he was gone. She looked around and saw a closing door, and ran towards it. She stopped when a thought occurred to her. "What am I doing here? Why did I even get on his van?" She looked around but couldn't see anything. The door was shut, and the hallway was dark. "Oh boy…" There were some scraping sounds as she tried to feel for the wall so she could find her way around. "Is there anyone there? Hello?"

The inner senshi were on the fifth floor of a department store, seated at a table in front of an in-store fast food joint, resting from a recent shopping spree. They didn't have any more money to spend, so the rest of the day was going to be spent window-shopping.

"Man, I could go crazy for some grilled beef right now…"

After lunch, of course. Rei rolled her eyes at Usagi and was about to respond, but noticed two distinct looking guys walking in their direction.

"Hey, is it me or do they look familiar?" Rei asked.

"Who?" Usagi asked, looking around.

"Those two guys with long hair that look like they just came from an anime convention,"

"Yeah, but from where? Can't place it…"

"Hmm…" Amy got out her Mercury computer.

"Who? Where?"

"Right over there, you idiot! They're so obvious," Rei muttered something about an incompetent leader.

"Take that back!" Usagi whined. "I'm not an idiot,"

"There's something strange about those boys. The Mercury computer can't scan them."

Rei frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Their data is… foreign. It's like having a file on the computer without knowing what program to use to run it. It needs new software." Everyone stared at her. The only one who didn't get the significance of that statement was Usagi. They both looked confused.

"New software?" Rei asked.

"For the Mercury computer?" Minako blinked.

"It's strange, I know, but…" Ami shook her head. "I'll have to analyze this data later."

"Wait a minute, Ami. Do you think…they could be from that UFO?"

"…It's possible. I hadn't considered that." Ami said. "That doesn't change anything, though. They're still anomalies, which makes them potentially dangerous."

"Hey, I just remembered something," Usagi said.

"That you're a stupid odango-atama?" Rei asked.

"No! That boy was the one we saw when," Usagi's voice suddenly dropped to a whisper. "Those creatures yesterday, remember? The one with black hair was there alone, watching us. When we were done, he was gone."

Everyone suddenly sat back and digested the information. "You think they're the source of those strange new creatures?" Makoto suggested.

"Why wouldn't they just fight us instead of sending those creatures?"

"Who knows? Maybe it gets them off," Rei said.

"I honestly doubt that," Ami frowned. "Just because they were there doesn't mean they were the source. Any one of the people in this building could have been there, and could be the source. Any one."

"But I thought Pluto said there would be no more threats to Crystal Tokyo? I mean, maybe the monsters are just left over scraps from our previous enemies…" Usagi suddenly asked, serious. "It's been two years but…"

"This is something we'll have to ask her about. It could be something her future self hid from her."

"And it could be that the time gates aren't absolute," A voice suddenly said from behind Usagi. The blonde screamed and fell back in her chair. Setsuna raised a brow at the girl.

"Setsuna, what can you tell us about those two?" Ami asked, looking up from the computer.

"Straight to the point, I see." Setsuna pulled a chair next to Rei and Usagi, who had just picked herself up. "Those two appeared in the Time Gates a few days ago,"

"The UFO?" Minako asked. Setsuna shook her head.

"No, that's something else entirely…and the Time Gates still can't sense it. It's as if it never happened."

"What do you mean?" Usagi asked. "Can't the time gates see every possibility?"

"No," Ami answered for Setsuna. "Whatever that was, the Time Gates never knew it would come in any possibility and still don't know it's there. Almost as if it has some sort of temporal shielding." Setsuna nodded.

"What about those two? Are they trouble?" Usagi asked.

"They have…potential. For both good and…not so good,"

"What do you mean? You mean evil, right?"

"That's the thing- they and their companions aren't evil. They're all trying to do what's best for humanity, and unless everything works out perfectly to show them Crystal Tokyo is the best possible outcome, they'll stop it from occurring,"

"Don't you mean, try to stop it?"

Setsuna didn't say anything.

"…How do we convince them that Crystal Tokyo is best? I mean, it's the perfect society, isn't it?"

"I still have to look into that," Setsuna said.

"Setsuna…" Usagi paused. "…What allowed those two to stay hidden for so long?"

Setsuna frowned. "Chaos."

Ranma wiped some blood from his face. Just how the hell did Ryouga get this fast! It was impossible. He was moving so fast he was a blur; one spot one moment, then another the next. Ranma's consciousness was testament to his unmatched skill in the Art. 'If I can figure out a pattern, I might just be able to stop him,' Ranma thought to himself.

Ryouga suddenly blurred over towards Ranma again and threw a powerful uppercut. "What's the matter Ranma? Too fast for you now?" He was smiling in earnest; He was finally going to defeat his hated rival! He was going to be the first martial artist in months to best Ranma Saotome. 'Even a god lost to this man,' he thought. 'And here I am, defeating him with ease!'

Before, Ryouga was a Tank; his hide was tougher than boulders and he could grind one into dust with just one hand. His breaking point training made him impervious to most if not all physical damage. Now he was a monster; His toughness and strength combined with the mind-boggling speed he had somehow reached was enough to overwhelm even the most skilled of foes, as was proving now.

Ranma had finally found a pattern, or flaw in Ryouga's speed. 'He's moving in spurts. His natural speed is the same but he uses some sort of energy boost to move that fast in a specific direction.' He thought. 'But how? It drains his chi, when he starts moving, but by the end it's back up to where it was before…'

Ryouga sped towards Ranma once again. Ranma shouted, "Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken Kaihan; Fuuhi!" Ranma used the last bit of his chi to rocket towards Ryouga. His speed was the same as Ryouga's, which almost made the lost boy to stop in surprise. Almost being the keyword, as Ryouga connected with a roundhouse to Ranma's head, sending the boy to the ground in a deep crater. Ranma groaned loudly in pain as his face met the floor.

"Come on, get up," Ryouga jeered. "Is that it? Are you done already?" Ranma slowly stood up and prepared to meet his foe one more time with a new plan.

"I think you should know something about that technique," Ranma said.

"Oh? And what's that?" Ryouga decided to humor him.

"Come at me and I'll show you."

"Well if that's what you want…" Ryouga sneered. He sped over to Ranma, but when he got there, the other teen had vanished. Suddenly, a heavy fist crashed into the back of his head sending him to the ground.

"You can only move horizontal, parallel to the ground," Ranma said. "Not once have you changed altitude while using that speed,"

"Is that what you think?" Ryouga chuckled. "Is that all you can come up with, Ranma? I thought you were better than that," Ranma put a defiant glare on his face and jumped into the air to prepare a Chi blast. "Come on, then, let's see what you can do!"

"With PLEASURE!" Ryouga jumped at Ranma using his incredible speed. To his shock, Ranma used his own Chi to rocket downwards instead of attack him. When he realized Ranma's plan, it was already too late.

He was going…going…going…gone.

Ranma stared up at the sky at his long time Rival and friend (Or so he considered him to be) and whistled. The lost boy's incredible speed wasn't perfect; Ryouga couldn't stop himself when he used it, no, instead he used gravity and his feet as some sort of braking system whenever he used it on the ground. When he aimed at the air, he had no hope of stopping himself. His starting speed was so high that his momentum carried him on for kilometers.

Satisfied with his victory, Ranma walked into the Tendo home so he could take a relaxing bath and maybe figure out how Ryouga was using this incredible speed, and even make it better.

"MOTHER! That's all wrong! I did NOT Kidnap this girl! She's valuable research material!" Shiouji yelled at the incredibly attractive, incredibly busty woman that had given birth to him.

"Oh, my son, the pervert," Miwa Shiouji cried out in as melodramatic a voice as she could manage… which was very good by any standards.

"Like mother, like son," Gojyou muttered. "Look," He said, holding up Ryoko's ears. "Does this look like girlfriend or even rape victim material to you?" He rubbed the girl's ears for emphasis, and she made some moaning noises about some guy named Tenchi rubbing all the right spots. He quickly let go of her ears and looked at them in disgust; they were probably elongated to initiate the mating ritual of her species he guessed as well as heightened hearing. He set her down on a table and quickly vacated the room. He was back in a few seconds with a syringe filled with tranquilizer.

Miwa walked into the room behind him and checked out the girl on the table. "Where did you find her?"

"I didn't, Kabapu's motley crew did. They found her, possibly he or it where I told them to look."

"You mean that UFO?"

"Yes, exactly," He said carefully.

"Well this is strange. I didn't expect to come back and find an extra terrestrial visitor,"

"Oh, I'm sure Japan has several of those," He said, thinking of a few people he knew, one of them within close proximity of his person at the moment.

Ranma sighed and stood up from a crater in the street. Akane wasn't in a good mood and it showed as when he tried to use the furo, when she was just getting out, she punted him to the next city. And it just happened to be raining earlier too. The crater she'd made pooled all the water and triggered the curse.

She quickly recognized the area; it was a suburban district in Juban. The house right in front of her belonged to a little old lady that she'd met on occasion when Akane booted her that way… or was it?

The shape was right, but the house wasn't painted white and the lawn was recently mowed (She was the only person she knew of that mowed the lawn as old woman's son would never show up for the job as he was too busy doing whatever it was salary men did) but the address was right. 'Oh well, may as well pay the nice old lady a visit and ask for some hot water. She might talk a lot but she's not all that bad.'

When he knocked on the door, a slightly familiar face answered.

"Touya?" She asked. "Why is your hair all black?" She raised a brow as he noticed something else was off. "Your eyes are red…"

"I'm not Touya, you ignoramus." The black haired boy said. That much was obvious; he had a slightly more muscular build and looked a few years older. Then there were the things she had noticed at first. "Touya! Get your lazy ass over here, you've got company."

'That was kinda rude,' Ranma thought. 'Is this who he lives with? It's no wonder he's so…impolite. But at least it's not this bad.'

"Umm…Hello? Is there something I can help you with?" Touya asked.

"Uh…not really," Ranma looked around at the interior of the house. It was all repainted and refurbished. "Uh, you've been living here for a while, haven't you?"

"No, actually. We just bought it yesterday," Touya said. "I mean, we moved in yesterday,"

Ranma stared at him for a long while before asking. "Oh. Do you know what happened to the previous owner?"

"Um…I heard she died," Touya said. "Her son was the one who was selling the house."

"Really?" Ranma asked, clearly disturbed a bit. "How did she die? I mean, did he tell you?"

"Yeah, it's strange really. Said she was found dead a few days—I mean, weeks ago. She suffocated while trying to call the police. Probably had a heart attack then tried to call someone but fell unconscious face down in her pillow and suffocated. That's how they found her, anyway."

Ranma's eyes narrowed. It didn't sound right at all. The woman was healthy as could be and was quite fit for her age. That she had died so suddenly was a surprise to say the least…and a heart attack? Poor woman had just turned 64 last month. Only people who remembered were Ranma and a few neighbors. "Well…that's too bad…" she sighed.

"You knew her? Wow, are you by chance Ranma?"

"Uhh…People call me Ranko," Ranma said. Touya obviously didn't know about his curse, and didn't need to.

"Oh? Well then, my mistake. Do you know a Ranma?"

"Yeah," She said cautiously. "He and I both helped Konoko-san with chores,"

"Well, if you see him, tell him to go next door, she left him something in the will and our new neighbors have it for him."

"Okay, thanks,"

"Oh yeah! You never told me who you were or why you were here?" Touya said. "Lemme guess. You were looking for the previous tenant," Touya said, kind of sad. When Ranma nodded, Touya saw his chance. "Well why don't you come inside and we can talk about it?"

His callous attitude and the strange gleam in his eye that made Ranma want to punch him in the face. "No thanks, I have to be somewhere," She said. "It was nice meeting you, though." She turned and walked away.

"Well okay," He said. "I hope we meet again soon! See ya!" He waved to her back and closed the door.

Moments later she found herself at the next-door neighbor's door. She knocked and looked down at the pink haired teen who answered. "Oi, Chibi-Usa, where's the Odango-Atama?"

"She's on her way back," The pink-haired girl answered, walking away to allow him into entrance into the house. "Why don't you go ahead and use the bathroom to get some hot water?" She added. "Don't mind the shower, I was just getting ready to use it."

"Thanks," Ranma said, closing the door behind her as she walked in. Chibi-Usa waited patiently for the screams and yelling. She didn't have to wait long, and she snickered as Ranma was thrown out of the bathroom.

"PERVERT!"

"YOU LIED!" Chibi-Usa laughed at Ranma's red hand printed face.

"I'msosorry! Ididn'tknowitwasyou!" Usagi repeated her heartfelt apology a number of times. Ranma was glaring at Chibi-Usa who had only a content grin plastered on her face.

"Yeah yeah, that's over and done with," Ranma said. He sighed and everyone became silent. "So when's the funeral?"

"Funeral? Are you joking? Her son's not paying for anything fancy like that. It may as well just be a burial. That man, he might even just put her in a cardboard box and send her off to some university for research," She said, sadly.

"Yeah, she doesn't deserve that. She was a good person…but I didn't realize your children had to pay for your funeral. I'll remind my father." To which they all laughed.

"Oh yeah! Ranma, she left you something," Chibi-Usa stood up and ran to get something.

"While we're waiting, how did entrance exams go?" Ranma asked Usagi.

"I don't even know…I just know I did horrible…"

"Well don't worry, if you have to go ronin you still have all those friends and that part time job,"

"That's not very encouraging," The girl whined.

"It wasn't meant to be," He snickered. "So what about your new neighbors? They the neighborly type?"

Usagi took on a thoughtful look. "They're pretty strange," She said. "They bought the place yesterday but it's already completely different."

"I thought they moved in yesterday?"

"They moved in earlier today, actually. Weirdest part is they're the only people who've been there all day, and one of them left early this morning to go to school, and didn't come back until a while ago…" Usagi realized something. "I saw them both at the department store too, before I came home."

"Well, maybe they have a martial art for decorating. That wouldn't be so impossible, one of them goes to my school,"

"Your school? You mean Furinkan? In Nerima?" Usagi gawked at Ranma.

"Yeah, I know, that's strange…Hey, maybe it's speed?"

"Speed?"

"Yeah, the one that goes to my school—he beat the Track team no sweat today at lunch,"

"Well that would certainly explain how they were able to decorate." Usagi added. 'But it doesn't explain why Ami couldn't get a read on them. There's still a chance…'

"…able to beat me." Usagi looked up at Ranma and Chibi-Usa who had returned seconds ago.

"What!" Chibi-Usa asked. "That mean old Ryouga beat you up? How? Was he cheating?"

"He was much faster," The boy said. "First thing tomorrow, I'm challenging Touya to a race. If he's as fast as I think he is, maybe I can ask him how he does it…"

"Why don't you right now?"

"My clothes, He'd recognize them as what 'Ranko' was wearing," the boy said.

"Oh, please tell me you did not use that persona on him,"

"I did," Ranma admitted.

"What did I tell you about that? The more you lie, the worse their response when they find out! And you're such a horribly fake girl."

"Yeah but I was just…"

"You were trying to save your pride again, right? You need to get over that curse, Ranma. It's not that big a deal." Usagi declared.

"I don't know how you can say that. Before this curse, magic was something I'd never even thought of, let alone experienced. If you told me I would one day become a girl, I would have laughed and told you that you were crazy or beaten you up for insulting me,"

"And, just how is that an insult?" A vein popped in Usagi's forehead. "Is being a girl so bad that it's insulting?"

"Yes! It is so horrible! These things on my chest that bounce when if I move the wrong way, and it hurts so much afterwards…and…and…" Ranma shuddered. "That unspeakable thing, down…there… It's a nightmare! I don't know how you can deal with it so easily every month!" Ranma finished his rant and stared at the ground. Usagi and Chibi-Usa were silent. "Every month…"

"I…you…" Usagi blinked and tried to come up with something to say. "Well… Well, it might be scary Ranma," She started carefully. "But it's still mean to say what you did."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but sometimes…it's just…so frustrating." Ranma muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing… You're right…"

Silence reigned for all of sixty seconds. It was then Chibi-Usa noticed the time. "Uh, Ranma," she said. "It's almost eight thirty,"

"WHAT?" Ranma looked up at the clock. "EIGHT THIRTY?" He stood up and ran away, forcing the door open. "I'm late!" He screamed all the while.

"That boy," Usagi said. "All he needs is a bit of grooming. If I didn't have my Mamo-chan, I would take him from that awful situation he's in," She sighed and walked away to go watch TV.

Chibi-Usa sighed. "You would just add to the situation, tubby," She closed the door and leaned on it for a few moments. "But I…" she shook her head. 'What's the use. I already know how that'd end.'

Excel managed to stumble into a lit room with a lab table. Lying on the table was the girl that she had seen with the scientist earlier.blinked as she watched the sleeping girl. She seemed to fit the description "alien", although she was built no differently than any other human female, she had several strange appendages she would never expect/hope to find on a human. Not even Hyatt.

"I must report this to Lord Ill Palazzo," She said. "Right now, I have to look for a way out," She turned around and noticed an oddly dressed girl cleaning the room. "Why is that girl dressed in a red shirt and black pants? And her hair is in a pig-tail…"

"Umi-Kun…" Shiouji said walking into the room. "…" He stared at the girl in the red and black for a good ten seconds before he remembered what it was he was going to say. "Prepare some tea. We may have…a visitor soon," He said Shiouji looked over at Excel and blinked. "…Why are you still here?"

"I've been trying to escape for the past few hours!" The blonde snapped. Shiouji sighed and covered his face with a hand. "It's not my fault I got locked in a big, dark, and scary place! And what sort of thing are you doing here? Are you some sort of mad scientist?" Shiouji peeked at her between his fingers, a frown lining his face. Before he could answer, though, the girl on the lab table groaned.

"Ugh…" Excel turned to see the girl waking up. "That was a good nap…"

"Damn." Gojyou looked at Excel. "Come on, I'll show you the way out."

Ryoko yawned and tried to remember what had happened. She felt very calm, but couldn't remember for the life of her…anything. At all. Not even her name or anything like that. She sat up and looked around. "Where am I?" She asked no one in particular.

"Excuse me, miss," Gojyou said as he walked back into the room with a clipboard and pen. "Ryoko, right?" He asked.

Ryoko assumed that was her name and looked at the man. She blinked several times.

"How are you feeling?"

"Um…Kinda mellow," She said, to which Shiouji started writing on his clipboard. "Who are you?"

"My name is Shiouji Gojyou. Do you know where you are?" He looked up from his clipboard.

"Um…" She paused again. "Your house?"

"The planet, I mean," He said.

"Uhhh…no," She answered. "Not really. I don't even know who I am,"

Silence reigned after that last comment. Gojyou sat down and stared at his hands. The tranquilizer had been enough to take down several men but it didn't seem to be having much of an effect. If she had amnesia from Misaki's blast, there was no telling what she could have done, destroyed in her anger if he hadn't. He bet she could kill him without even trying at that very moment.

Yes, the tranquilizer was a very good idea.

"You don't know who you are, what planet you're on or anything like that?"

"Nothing at all, except your name and what you've told me my name is…" She asked. "What are all these weird questions you're asking me? Is it odd to find someone from a different planet on yours?" Gojyou nodded.

"My species hasn't made contact with an alien race in recorded history," He explained. Ryoko blinked.

"Really? Well, nice to meet you, I guess." She said. Gojyou coughed.

"Likewise. Um… My…co-workers were ordered to investigate a crash site and they found you…unconscious," he said. "We couldn't find any ship of any kind, and my employer is covering up the situation as we speak. No one else will know you are here," He said, not believing his own words.

"Whoa. That sounds pretty cool." she said. "So…Um…"

It was quiet again.

"…Excuse me," Shiouji said. He left the room, leaving the girl to herself.

Ryoko looked at her hands.

Ranma woke up the next day looking up at the ceiling of the guest room. 'I'm not wet?' He sat up and looked around the room. Pops was still sleeping, Mr. Tendo was probably reading the weekly newspaper, Kasumi was likely cooking breakfast, Nabiki was probably counting money, and Akane could be heard outside breaking bricks with her fists. 'Oh yeah…today is Sunday. Well that changes things; I can't count on meeting Touya at school today. I'll just have to go to his house.'

He dressed in his navy blue chinese clothes and walked down the stairs to find his earlier assessment to be correct; Kasumi was busily toiling away in the kitchen while the father was reading the newspaper, Akane's loud grunts and the smashing of bricks could still be heard, Nabiki was in her room working on something,

Ranma decided he'd eat later, since it'd be best if he left before anyone knew he was awake. The Saotome youth walked outside of the Tendo's house, jumped onto a nearby fence and from there jumped the roof of another house. He ran across to get a good momentum and jumped again, when an idea occurred to him. He suddenly slowed down and started sending Chi to his legs, when all of a sudden, the world slowed down around him. He looked around in surprise, seeing things around him had more or less frozen. He felt the chi in his legs stop building and prepared to jump. Time sped up again and he was gone.

Up in the air, Ranma couldn't believe what he was doing. He looked below himself and saw several clouds. He hoped he was going in the right direction, as he couldn't tell from his current position. It didn't last too long, though as he found himself flying towards the ground. The ground kept coming faster, at a speed he never thought he would ever travel, until it was too close. When Ranma landed, he blacked out immediately.