Disclaimer: All Characters/settings/trademarks referenced from Dragonball/Z/GT/Super & Ranma 1/2 are the respective properties of their original creators.
A/N: Yeah, it's been awhile. "Life finds a way" - Ian Malcolm.
Ranma Ball Z
Act Ten:
Waterworks and Fireworks
"Hey, you there! Spiky boy! Yeah you! You spoiled my photo op! Get out of the way so I can get a clean shot, okay?" Nabiki said, sternly reprimanding Goku while shooing him with a wave of her hand.
Goku, who had been clearly caught off guard, finished wolfing down the bits hanging from his mouth before offering an apologetic grin and quickly sliding aside to accommodate the bossy girl. This, unfortunately, led to him accidentally knocking over the table where both Kasumi and Ukyo were operating griddles in tandem. A chorus comprised of surprised yelps and the clattering of cooking equipment preceded the sudden eruption of a kitchen fire. As if Murphy, himself, were there to make sure his law was properly enforced, the propane tanks being used to fuel the griddles found themselves at the heart of the blaze.
"Everyone, get back! It's gonna blow!" Konatsu shouted.
Goku, reacting on instinct, grabbed the person closest to him (which just so happened to be Ukyo) and launched into the sky. As he cradled her body in his arms, he looked down to make sure his friends had done their part in scrambling to clear the area of bystanders. His confidence, as usual, was proven to be well-placed. The tent was vaporized by a small explosion, but not before the vicinity had been evacuated.
"Th-thank you..." Ukyo stammered, tightening her grip on Goku, while struggling to compose herself against the sudden change in altitude.
"I'm really sorry about your stand. I should've watched where I was going. I just kind of get clumsy when I'm really hungry and your food was sooo good. If I could eat it everyday, I would," Goku added, while doing his best to not drool too much in response to the mental imagery he was calling up.
"I've been through worse, believe me. So... you really liked it that much?" Ukyo asked, as her curious expression morphed into something else entirely. "You, uh... aren't seeing anybody right now are you?" she added, suddenly hopeful.
"No, just you," Goku replied. "We're so high up that everyone else looks like ants, hehe."
If not for being held tightly in the big oaf's arms, Ukyo would have face-palmed. He was a hunk, for sure, but the sincerity behind his response made it obvious that his social skills needed sharpening. "Let me try this again. Do you wanna be my boyfriend?"
"Sure, I love making new friends! And you're cooking is top notch! No way could I say no to that!"
Goku looked about ready to say something else but Ukyo took the opportunity to plant a kiss on his lips just to clear up the confusion he was obviously having about what she wanted. His eyes went wide and he tensed up for a split second before she felt him relax. When they separated, she cleared her throat and gave him an expectant look. She watched the gears turn in his head and waited patiently for him to respond.
"I... that was... kinda nice, actually," Goku said with a goofy grin. "I suppose I was a little slow there, huh?"
"Mhm," Ukyo replied with a burgeoning grin of her own. She shoved aside the parallels between him and Ranma that suddenly popped into her head.
"Believe me; it ain't the first time I've been caught off guard like that and it probably won't be the last. I'm still pretty new to dealing with other people and stuff. Before my friends down there, I'd never met another human being besides my grandpa. You don't mind do you?"
Ukyo shook her head. "Nobody's perfect. Least of all me."
After a moment of silence in which they searched each other's eyes, Goku abruptly carried on. "So, does this mean I can eat your food whenever I want now?"
"Honey, you can eat my food for the rest of your life, if that's what you want," Ukyo replied, draping her arms around the back of his neck and scooting her face closer to his.
OoooooO
"Are you okay?" the triclops asked Kasumi as she clung to him for dear life. He'd snatched her away from the explosion at the last second – for which she was eternally grateful.
Her life had literally flashed before her eyes and what she'd seen had been depressing beyond words. She was a 21 year old woman with no college education, career, or independence who also happened to be a virgin with zero dating experience. Whatever she'd been clinging to as justification for giving up her dreams and shouldering the burden of acting homemaker for a broken family totally escaped her at the moment. 'No more...' she thought. "I... I'm good. Thank you," she replied, demurely.
Tien blushed and looked away on reflex before gently lowering her back down to her feet. "I, uh... well... sorry for all the trouble." He tried to backpedal after that but Kasumi reached a hand out to stop him.
"Wait," she said, looking him in the eyes with a penetrating stare. "Wherever you're about to go... will you take me with you?"
OoooooO
After the dust settled, and the emergency response team extinguished the blaze, the motley group of martial artists from two different earths (minus one triclops and a Tendo) were forced to find another venue to conclude their meal break. Luckily (or otherwise) the Nekohanten happened to have a booth setup in the concessions area which, to Nabiki's chagrin, ended up benefiting from the publicity garnered by the sudden influx of celebrity.
Shampoo had to preemptively squash an outburst from Mousse, of course, being that he was far from over her and Ranma taking their relationship to the next level. The sight challenged part time duck did manage to reveal to everyone present that Shampoo was pregnant with Ranma's child, though. Cologne already new so she was unconcerned. However, other than genuine surprise and congratulations from the majority of those gathered, the news did illicit some divergent reactions from others.
Ukyo's was merely a prolonged shock before schooling her herself and offering her well wishes. Bulma's was an obvious disappointment followed by an over the top effort to seem earnest in her support. Akane was uncharacteristically silent and managed to slip away while everyone else was preoccupied. Her two friends, Yuka and Sayuri, were scandalized since they'd been present for the majority of the ups and downs of Akane's engagement with Ranma. Sayuri, being the most inclined to spew expletives in stressful situations, launched a verbal assault on the soon to be parents while Yuka chased after Akane.
Nobody had a problem with the food, though.
Eventually, the announcement of the next round of fights was made and the gathering was forced to wrap up. The announcer's voice followed up by revealing the match-ups for the next four fights. The first was Bulma versus 'Mighty Mask'. The second was Goku versus Chiaotzu. The third was Ranma versus Herb. The fourth was Ma Junior versus Hero.
As the fighters returned to their waiting area in the pagoda structure that overlooked the arena, Ranma pulled Shampoo aside and urged her to forfeit. However, despite describing Bulma's scary level of strength to her, the Juketsuzoku champion stubbornly refused him. In the end, she said her pride wouldn't allow her to lose to another woman who would take Ranma if given the chance.
Ranma, being the somewhat oblivious person he was (when it came to the subtleties of romantic relationships), found her stated position to be totally absurd. Nevertheless, the fight went on as planned.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer bellowed into his mic while making a dramatic sweeping motion with his free hand. "Welcome to the quarter finals! Are you ready for the action? Are you prepared for the suspense? This is where we really get to see our fighters turn up the heat! Strap yourselves in, because it's gonna be one hell of a ride! To my left, we have Mighty Mask – quite the mysterious competitor. Could his cowl and cape be hiding something more than his identity? A secret weapon perhaps? To my right, we have the famous heiress once again! The one and only Bulma of Capsule Corp. I shouldn't have to remind everyone what a surprise enrollment she is. Having no previous competitive record of martial arts, other than earlier today, she is also quite the wild card." Announcer took a moment to breath dramatically into the mic before concluding. "Without further adieu, let the fighting commence!"
Shampoo knew deep down that this fight was going to be far from easy on her if she decided to use the traditional approach. An all out assault with her best moves might give her an edge in the beginning but, based on what Ranma had told her, the other woman's power and stamina would eventually overwhelm her. With that in mind, she charged up her mana and ki while Bulma was busy stretching. The famous heiress may have had strength, but she still had an air of novice about her.
Bulma had been in the middle of a half split when her internal ki sensors alerted her to a spike from her opponent. She firmed her jaw and fluidly sprung into a somersault to avoid Shampoo's lunge – which turned out to be quicker than she had anticipated. Being that the woman was pregnant, Bulma had assumed Shampoo would be holding back to an extent. Clearly she had misjudged her.
Bulma's rolling dodge turned into a handspring which propelled her several meters into the air, giving her a greater vantage point. As she looked down on the ring, she was surprised to see the masked woman suddenly kneel in the center of the ring and lay her gloved hands flat on the tiles. A second later, water came gushing out of her loose sleeves and spread across the arena floor until it was entirely covered by a glassy puddle. What was strange is that not a single drop spilled over the edge. It was obviously a bad idea to step onto a surface that was clearly rigged. "That's neat," Bulma quipped as she forcibly halted her descent and came to hover inches away from touching the water. "But I'm not strictly a ground based fighter."
"Doesn't matter," Shampoo replied, standing up straight again. "You're inside my technique now. Anything reflected on the water's surface is under my complete control. Try to fly away or attack me, if you want. See what happens." The Capsule heiress hesitated with uncertainty just long enough for Shampoo to surreptitiously use her water-kinesis to grab her opponent's ankles with the mana infused liquid from below. "Gotcha!" she added, with a grin, as soon as it was clear Bulma was trapped.
"You were bluffing?" Bulma yelled, with incredulity, as she began to struggle against the hold of the water cuffing her legs.
Shampoo shrugged. "Winning a fight isn't strictly about physically overpowering your opponent. It took a while, but my great grandmother finally managed to drill that fact into my head. Should I drag you to the ring edge and force you out? Or do you want to forfeit?"
"Neither!" Bulma replied, igniting her aura, as she amped up her resistance.
Shampoo was surprised by the level of strength Bulma was exerting and was forced to pull the water up past the woman's ankles until it covered her knees. She followed that by using the water to slide her toward the edge.
"This isn't fair!" Bulma yelled as she neared the end.
"Things rarely are," Shampoo replied. "By the way... if I catch you looking at my man like that again, I won't go so easy on you," she added with a smile.
"Mighty Mask wins!" Announcer shouted into his mic the moment Bulma was deposited onto the grass outside the ring. "Ladies and gents, I can honestly say I have never seen anything quite like that in all my time as orator of this fine event! What a spectacular time to be alive!"
Ranma could only stare on in shock and awe as Shampoo casually walked back toward the building. When she got up to the overhang and removed her hood, there was an 'I told you so' smirk on her face.
The next fight between Goku and Chiaotzu wasn't as brief despite it being obviously one-sided in Goku's favor. Being that the two young men were both friends and well aware of the gap between them, their match was more of an exhibition spar. Chiaotzu demonstrated how creative use of telekinesis paired with traditional ki-based martial arts made for an interesting style. It was obvious that dividing focus between two different energies negatively impacted his speed and reaction time, though, since Goku's lighter touch approach still managed to outclass. In the end, Goku was declared the winner after Chiaotzu bowed out.
"Alright, folks!" Announcer said, after clearing his throat. "You know what time it is. It's my pleasure to invite the indomitable Ranma Saotome back into the ring! He will be facing off against Herb of the Musk kingdom! Will our two fighters please make their way into the arena?"
Herb gave Ranma a predatory grin before being the first to excuse himself from the observation platform.
Shampoo tugged on Ranma's arm before he could follow the other man out and propped herself onto her toes so she could whisper directly into his ear. "Remember what great grandmother said after lunch, okay?"
"Yeah, I know," Ranma replied. "I'm hoping I won't have to do that with him, though. Wish me luck," he added, gently squeezing her shoulder as he stepped away.
When Ranma exited the building and crossed the walkway leading to the ring, he saw Herb standing at the very center with his arms folded across his chest. The Announcer was nearby, of course, doing his best to stoke the audience into a frenzy. Herb's stone-etched visage, which conveyed how serious he was about settling the score between them, helped Ranma block out the hype being fostered and focus on his game plan.
"Understand this, Ranma," Herb started, talking down his nose. "I may have underestimated you last time we fought, but I'm not the same person from back then – by a long shot."
"Ditto," Ranma replied, wearing a grin but steeling his gaze.
When the gong sounded, Herb launched into a full powered offensive which Ranma struggled to mount a resistance to. The heir to the Musk throne pressed forward with such a savage ferocity behind his strikes that Ranma's reaction was wholly devoted to defense. "Don't feel so bad about losing to me, Ranma," he said, punctuating his words with a staggering fist to the gut that sent Saotome rolling across the wet tiles. "I've dreamed of this day nearly every night since our last encounter – obsessed over it, if you will." His pause wasn't even long enough for Ranma's swimming vision to begin to clear up. He propelled himself forward and, with a swinging kick aimed at his torso, launched Ranma's prone form onto a skyward trajectory.
During the very brief respite on his uncontrolled flight, Ranma coughed out some bile and shook his head as best he could before Herb was upon him once again.
"I should thank you for before," Herb said, as his knee slammed into Ranma's chin. "I'll admit, it's in my nature to look down upon those who are obviously beneath me. However, having seen Tienshinhan take your bait, I realized that you deserve not only my respect but my full attention. Were I to do the same as him, I know you would likely conjure up some strategy to undermine me. That is exactly why I refuse to give you the time."
Ranma barely managed to blink as Herb illustrated his point with a follow up elbow to his solar plexus. The pressure behind that hit almost made him black out from the loss of air but, due to sheer luck, his defenses were completely down when he slammed back into the puddle covered arena Shampoo had left. As a result, the cool water triggered his curse. The jolt of mana accompanying the transformation, which had become a familiar sensation since training under Cologne, shocked Ranma into full awareness. Despite that, the redhead maintained the appearance of being knocked unconscious.
"Don't take me for a fool!" Herb yelled, suddenly appearing in a flicker of speed, as both his heels dug into Ranma's back as she lay splayed, face down, against the tile. "I know better than to fall for a simple playing dead tactic!"
"Heh heh... you got me. But that's the least of your worries now," Ranma grunted, turning her face up so she could speak.
"Don't think you can scare me with mind games, Ranma. I'm not one of the regular chumps you're used to squabbling with."
"Nah, you're too much of a worthy opponent," Ranma admitted, as she continued to resist. "Honestly, I never planned to use this against you – but you forced me to transform. And, if I'm gonna be faced with the headache of explaining this to everyone, I might as well win."
"How in the hell?" Herb stated as Ranma steadily pushed away from the ground while underfoot. It was as if she was rapidly getting stronger. Either that or he was getting weaker.
"Do you feel it yet?" she added as she used her hands to push her body far enough away from the floor to get her knees under her.
Herb's face twisted into a grimace as his strength was fully overcome. When she sprang up, he was forced to leap off of her back and collect himself. "What kind of trick is this?"
"It's not a trick, per se," Ranma replied as she came to land in a crouched position. "More of an innate weakness certain Jusenkyo victims can fall prey to if they run into someone like me. You see, I've gone through a special sort of training," she added before speed flickering out of sight. When she reappeared, her fist was jammed deep into Herb's abdomen which folded him over and caused him to cough out bits of spittle.
"Wha... what the... fuck?" Herb croaked.
"Have you ever stopped to wonder what powers the transformation into our cursed forms? Like anything else that moves and changes, it requires energy. Water is just the catalyst. Unlike ki, though, some people can train forever and still never gain the ability to manipulate mana. However, cursed folks like us gain an edge as well as a weakness in that department. Unfortunately, for you, I've spent time learning to use this ability which you have no defense against. Untrained Jusenkyo victims are the easiest targets. That's why I didn't wanna use it on you in the first place."
Herb fell to a knee, catching his breath. "That hardly explains... you turning the tables so easily."
"The simple explanation is that I can use your own mana against you. For perspective, people touched by Jusenkyo have mana levels far beyond that of regular people – which means I already have a lot to work with and even more if I take yours. Since you have no training with it, there's little you can do to stop me."
"You mean... you can take mana... and mold it into ki to strengthen your body?" Herb asked, struggling to wrap his head around such a concept.
"Only against you, so far," Ranma admitted. "Like I said, you're an easy target. You're an uninitiated Mayuza with the exact same curse as me. And, thanks to you forcing me into this form, I can control it much easier. If I tried this in any other situation, I'd likely injure or kill myself. It's almost like it was meant to be," she added, with a grin, while silently thanking Cologne for the last minute advice. "Any last words?"
"Yeah, suck my – guh!" Herb cough-gagged as the redhead zipped into a follow-up that landed a knee to his solar plexus and impacted with sound akin to a sonic boom. The forceful blow sent him rocketing out of the ring and into the low wall of the stands.
"Herb is out!" Announcer shouted into his mic, with an infectious glee. "Ranma Saotome wins again!"
The crowd erupted in cheers at once until the many video projectors around the island began playing back recorded footage of Ranma's transformation (in slow motion to emphasize her bust) with a giant question mark superimposed over the magical moment. It was painfully obvious that the beginnings of a conspiracy surrounding her gender were being fostered here. Even if she provided a public explanation, it was unlikely to satisfy everyone.
Deciding to take the initiative on this one, Ranma grabbed the mic out of Announcer's hands and cleared her throat before speaking. "Thank you, everyone, for all of the support. I imagine most of you are scratching your heads right now, though. If you wanna know my story, I'm supposed to be having an interview with some old news guy after the tournament. Until then, I just wanna focus on competing – if you don't mind. Thanks," she added before handing the mic back to the older blonde man. She gave the crowd a thumbs up before heading back towards the building.
When she rejoined her fellow competitors up on the observation deck, she got a few awkward and curious glances from the ones who weren't already familiar with her situation but, otherwise, wasn't confronted. Not that there was much time for that, anyway. Ma Junior and Hero were immediately called onto stage afterward.
Herb rejoined them just in time for the last match of the round to start.
Hero and Junior initially exchanged quick blows in a short exchange that seemed to be nothing more than feeling each other out. They then paused and appeared to be engaged in conversation during which Junior became incredibly aggravated. Before the green man lashed out, Hero responded by dropping a sake bottle with an inscription on it onto the floor and unleashing some gnarly looking spiral wave that caught his opponent at the center. Junior got swept up and appeared to be bound for the tiny thing. However, at the last second, a stunning reversal took place and Junior ended up throwing the wave back onto Hero. When all was said and done, Hero was left unconscious at the center of the ring and Junior was capping the bottle with a cork while wearing a satisfied (and slightly evil) grin.
And that concluded the quarter finals.
OoooooO
(Post Notes)
Mayuza is a made up word for this story meant to identify magic users.
What up folks! I'm back! Sort of. Long story short; I've been at a new job these past few months and all the extra hours of training and staying late have drastically reduced the amount of time I can spend writing. I haven't given up on this story (or any of my others), though. I just have to be very selective with my free time.
Anyway, I don't have much else to say other than I can't wait for you guys to experience the next arc. There's going to be a few major departures from canon and more than one surprising twist. Naturally, you can expect Ranma will play a big part in things to come.
Til next time,
Shoes