A Heritage of Power: Chapter 4
How does one measure a year?
The ideas and characters of Ranma ½ and Dragonball Z are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Akira Toriyama, respectively. I claim no rights to any of the characters portrayed herein.
How does one measure a year? In time? In effort? Or perhaps it is truer to calculate it in something more ephemeral, like love? For Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo, though, a year can best be measured by the sum total insanity they both experience. Within a swirling maelstrom of chaos it is often difficult to remember anything else but a smear of raw experience. Take, for instance, the case of the deadly Sayain warrior hurtling towards earth, hell-bent on carnage and destruction. At first, thoughts of this menace had consumed every waking hour of the teenager's lives. Never before had either one of them trained so hard. Ancient techniques were sought out and mastered, new ones were created and redefined, and the envelope of human (and Sayain) skill and endurance was tested again and again. For a moment, one single unseen threat caused the fog of anarchy to coalesce into something more productive. But then fiancées began to crop up again. Monsters, rivals, demons and Gods all came forward to steal their own share of the duo's time and attention, till finally the Sayain was merely second tier in order of importance.
Then, having little in the way of tact, real life intruded. School work for the two rising seniors piled up. This was, of course, to say nothing to the hurried preparation for college exams. Extra study sessions, late nights, cram courses and liberal doses of caffeine all became standards at the Tendo household. Martial Arts Math and Social Studies Sword-play aside, Ranma had a particularly difficult time focusing on the academics Akane had forced upon him. But then, as if by miracle, Ranma began to apply himself. Some would say not a moment to soon; after months of fevered waiting, his scores turned out to be just high enough for consideration by top universities around the country. The Tendo daughter, by comparison, aced her exams and was courted by the prestigious Tokyo University. Just as it appeared that the duo would be separated by something as foolish as college admission, Ranma managed to put his training to good use. The heir to the Saotome school of indiscriminant grappling release upon the administration of Tokyo University the esoteric and ever-so-slightly dangerous technique of anything-goes-college-admission. In point of fact, he simply sent a demo tape of his katas to the University's kempo coach, but to the Tendo and Saotome families, his acceptance might well have been a secret 3000-year-old Chinese technique.
Some might claim that all of the distractions above were more than enough to sap the two martial artists attention, but some…ahem…scholars have pointed out another source of distraction. It was no secret that Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome had more than friendly thoughts about one another. What became clear over the ensuing year was that these thoughts had precipitated actions. A smile here and a kind word there had led to unfamiliar territory for the pair. Dating, such as it is, was technically impossible. Enemies and fiancées were far to numerous (and obsessive) for anything as mundane as dinner and a movie to run smoothly. Yet given time and a number of lucky coincidences, Ranma and Akane had begun to form the barest beginnings of a relationship. Secretive and innocent, love had started to blossom.
Let it be noted, though, that lethal alien warriors, to their supreme discredit, have a nasty habit of not caring about matters such as these.
"Mr. Saotome! For the last time, do you know the answer?"
With trained precision, Ranma's head snapped to attention, "The battle of Lexington?"
Professor Kenshiro Tanaka sighed and rubbed his graying temples. He had spent four years at college, then two more to receive his teaching degree. For an entire decade he had taught at a prestigious private school, but one little mistake, one tiny indiscretion, and he had been sent to teach at this wasteland of teenage stupidity. How was he to know that some members of the school board might object to the dipping of kittens into liquid nitrogen? And now he was here, to waste his time on morons like Saotome. "If you could focus the slightest bit of attention on the subject matter at hand, you might realize that this is chemistry class, not history. If you stayed awake at all, I'm sure your final months here would be far more enlightening, albeit less restful."
"Uh, yeah teach. I'm on it." Ranma said, slouching back into his chair again, this time determined to pay some small bit of attention to the lesson at hand. But, as a hundred times before, his attention began to wander. It was just that the weather was so nice; the sky was so blue, the birds were so cheerful and the air was just so warm. Another few months and it would be too hot to really enjoy being outside. Ranma silently protested being forced to sit a classroom for 8 hours a day, especially on a day like this. In the afternoon he and Akane would definitely have to practice outside. Thoughts of training led Ranma to consider the 18 variations of the Drunken Monk technique he had come up with before his first impromptu nap.
"Pay attention you dolt." Akane whispered harshly as she poked her fiancée in the back of the head.
Mr. Kenshiro, unfortunately, possessed a keener sense of hearing than most gave him credit for. "Ms. Tendo, I don't believe I called on you. Perhaps, then, you would care to explain why you were speaking?"
Akane blushed bright red and began to stammer out a reply, but an artic gaze from Mr. Kenshiro immediately cut her off. "Would you and Mr. Saotome prefer to continue your romantic musings outside the classroom?"
"Yes sensei. I mean, no sensei. Come on Ranma." Akane mumbled amid peals of laughter from her classmates.
In the hallway, Akane whirled to face Ranma, "You baka! Why can't you just pay attention?"
Ranma leaned against the wall and threw Akane a lopsided grin, "I dunno. I just have more important things to think about."
"Like what?" Akane demanded as she crossed her arms.
"Like you and me, Akane. Like training and fighting and getting to be the best. Like college. Jeeze, this whole thing is pointless." Ranma said waving his hand to indicated the school around him. "I've got other things to be thinking about and you'll excuse me if Mr. Tanaka's lecture about a stupid cat in a box bores me to tears."
Akane took a step towards Ranma, and said, in a slightly softer tone, "That's sweet of you to say about us, but you've still got to learn other things for college, and I'm not going to be there to help you all the time."
"I know, I know. But still… its gonna be awesome to take martial arts classes for credit."
Frustrated, Akane pushed Ranma away again. "Remember what that recruiter said. You can't just take gym classes to get a physical education degree."
"Oh yeah?" Ranma asked as he slid to the ground. "They'll pass me no matter what. Did you see the way that recruiter's jaw dropped when I did my kata?"
Akane took a deep breath and sat down heavily next to her fiancée. "Yeah I guess so." She blew the breath out as some of the tension released from her. "Isn't next year going to be great? At home I was looking at that class brochure they sent us. I was going to take some acting classes and some more English. Just think of all the clubs we could join."
"Acting? That doesn't sound like it's required for the physical education degree." Ranma said a bit warily as he turned to face Akane.
"Its not, but that's the great thing about University: you can do what ever you want."
"But the recruiter said that there were certain requirements you had to fulfill for PE, right?"
Akane leaned back into the lockers and gazed lazily out the window into the blue skies beyond. "I was thinking maybe I won't get a degree in physical education. I was looking more at finance or theater or just about anything." Akane said as her eyes came into focus. "I'm serious Ranma, it's going to be great to do something I really love for a while."
"Really? I thought you loved martial arts."
Akane let out a long breath. "I did. I do. It's just that I want to try something different. Don't worry, we'll still practice together."
Ranma sat silent for a moment, his eyes glazed in contemplation as Akane's had just been, "Well, I guess that's ok then." He said as he looked down at his hands. "You're still a whole lot better than just about everyone else on earth, so I suppose you can teach at the Saotome dojo in your spare time."
Akane threw Ranma a wry smile, "Oh, so now it's the Saotome dojo? I don't think so buddy boy."
"Then I shall destroy your dojo and take it's sign." Ranma said with mock seriousness.
Akane slashed her fists through the air in an overly choreographed move, "Never Dojo Destroyer! You shall fall before my…Hey Ranma, what is it?"
At her side, Ranma was sitting bolt upright, staring at the ceiling. "Do you feel that?"
"Feel what?" Akane said as she eyed her fiancée suspiciously. Soon, as Ranma continued to ignore her, her wariness turned to anger, "I can get a degree in any subject I want and you can't stop..." A sensation hit Akane like a surge of icy dread, bringing her rant up short. It was power: pure, raw power. She shivered as wave after wave of unadulterated energy assaulted her enhanced senses.
"What do ya think it is?" Ranma said, finally shifting his focus away from the ceiling. "What could have that much power?"
Akane continued to shiver. "It must be the Sayain! There's nothing else that's even remotely that strong."
Suddenly Ranma and Akane's reverie was broken as the classroom door sprang open to reveal an irate Mr. Tanaka. "I thought I told you two to STAND in the hall!"
Almost quicker than Mr. Tanaka could see, Ranma leapt to his feet and seized Akane's hand. As the two ran down the hall, Ranma yelled back over his shoulder, "Sorry teach, we've gotta go!"
Ranma's feet barely touched the rooftops as he leapt from building to building. It was exhilarating to run at top speed, but nothing compared to the feeling of almost flying across Nerima. With each bound, the street below receded and the sky seemed to open up before him. When viewed from this height, the drab buildings of the town became a rich mosaic of color and texture. Sometimes, Ranma wanted to run like this till his legs were lead and his lungs burned like fire. Right now, though, he had places to go.
Up ahead, Akane had completed a complex mid-air twist and was plummeting towards a brick chimney. Without thinking, she flexed her legs and prepared for her next leap towards another rooftop a block away. As she took off again she twisted her head around enough to yell back at Ranma, "I still say we don't need her!"
Over the rushing wind Ranma replied, "I don't like it either, but the Old Ghoul's got about 20 times more experience than we do. Plus I think she's been holding out on us."
"No way! She's got more techniques, but we have way more power." Akane said as she dodged a surprised pigeon.
Ranma kicked with one foot off of the Nakatomie broadcasting tower and suddenly he was in free fall. Twisting around he yell upwards, "You weren't there the last time we fought. I know that the Dragon Down Below form caught me by surprise, but still, she hits like a ton of bricks."
In a higher arc passing over Ranma, Akane yelled down, "I just think we can do it on our own!" Before she could land, though, Ranma caught her in his arms and took off.
"Sorry, I couldn't hear you that well. We need her because I don't want anybody to get hurt. Our chances are better with her than without her."
Not minding the impromptu hug as much as she though she might have, Akane snuggled closer to Ranma's solid chest. "I know, but she's never really give up Shampoo's claim on you. I don't think we can trust her."
Ranma sighed slightly. The fight to get Cologne to back down from her tribal laws had not gone as smoothly as he had hoped. It was neither a complete loss nor a stunning victory. In the end, he considered it a draw, but he was still bothered by the thought that the Crone had let him tie with her. Since then, Cologne had been content to teach him and Akane some new techniques while gently hinting that perhaps he might be happier as an Amazon bridegroom. Shampoo, on the other hand, had let nothing dissuade her from her pursuit of what she considered the perfect man. Several humiliating defeats at Akane's hand had only led the perky warrior to train harder and try again. Still, in Ranma's mind, there was very little to warrant Akane's reluctance. "It can't hurt to ask her, can it?"
Akane's small shrug was Ranma's only answer as he sailed towards the roof of the Nekohanten. With his and Akane's newfound power and Cologne's planning, he was beginning to think that they might have half a chance.
In what was arguably the most popular Chinese restaurant in Nerima, Shampoo's hand became a blur as she cleaned the table. The friction she generated with the rag was enough to heat-sterilize every surface in the restaurant. In fact, the Nekohanten had never had a single complaint from the health board. That might have been because Shampoo flirted so shamelessly with the inspector, but she still liked to attribute it to her fastidious nature. Thoughts of drooling men naturally turned Shampoo's thoughts to her favorite subject; Oh why wouldn't Ranma respond like that silly inspector? Every man on this wretched island would drool over her if she shot him the slightest glance, she thought, but not the one she really wanted. In her mind, though, that made him all the more attractive. Its true that he was handsome and courageous, plus his martial skills were nearly beyond belief, but the thing that had made him so truly desirable was that he was a challenge. Most men perused, but this one ran just far enough ahead to keep her constantly chasing.
The jingle-jangle of the doorbell woke her from her musings. It was odd to get costumers before dinner but after the lunch rush. As she looked up, though, a smile lit her face. Here was Ranma now. He must have known she was thinking about her.
The unwillingly betrothed in question was taking to someone behind him, "How are we going to figure out where this Alien is going to land? I doubt he'll draw us a map."
Shampoo's countenance darkened significantly when she saw Akane stroll in behind her beloved. Even the Tendo's voice had begun to grate on her nerves, "I guess we could ask Limar. He'll probably know."
Shampoo was not one to back down from the challenge that Akane presented. As Ranma looked up, she flashed him her most brilliant smile and latched onto his arm with desperate strength. "Nihao Ranma, you come take Shampoo on date now? You so sweet." And then, just to twist the knife, she added over her shoulder, "Too too violent girl come to take cooking lessons from Great Grand Mother?"
Ranma, to his advantage, had been anticipating this moment for the last few minutes. As Shampoo tightened her death grip, Ranma began to employ a technique he had developed for an occasion just like this. It had only taken him a few days to perfect the muscle control necessary for The Buzzing of a Hundred Wasps method. For a Martial Artist as devoted as he, though, this was far too long. In essence, the technique caused its practitioner to vibrate at incredible speeds. In the beginning, his movements were barely perceptible to the human eye, but as he sped up, the Chinese girl's hands began to go numb and finally she was flung roughly to the ground. Shampoo, determined to show her fiancée that she far from defeated, began her Venomous Vixen counter attack. Interrupting the Lethal Lips stance, a voice came from the kitchen. "Shampoo, we're out of buckwheat noodles. Go to the store and get some!"
"But Great Grand Mother, we no need…" Shampoo's reply was sharply cut off by the loud, "Now!" that resounded through the restaurant.
As she was leaving, Shampoo still took the time to glare daggers at Akane, toss her hair and walk stiffly from the room. After she left, Ranma let out a pent up breath and glanced at Akane.
"What was all that?" She demanded.
"I was just trying to get her off."
"You didn't have to give her the ride of her life in the process, baka." Akane whispered fiercely as she brushed past into the kitchen.
Sighing again, Ranma followed Akane threw the beaded curtain. Inside, his senses were assaulted by the sounds and smells of a kitchen for a hundred chefs. Instead of the entire Culinary Institute of Nerima there was just one small woman perched on a staff doing the work of a legion cooks.
"Welcome, welcome children! I was expecting you!" Cologne shouted over the din of boiling and chopping. "Don't mind me, I'm just doing the catering for a small wedding this evening. Try to find someplace out of the way!" She yelled just as she whipped several sliced carrots past Akane's head and into a large pot of water.
"Expecting us? I don't get it." Ranma said as he dodged a knife wielding woman bent on the destruction of a head of cabbage.
Cologne chopped with one hand and kneaded a giant lump of dough with another. "A gigantic chi appears in outer space hurtling towards us? Of course Nerima, and specifically you two, were going to be involved. So what do you know?"
Taken aback by Cologne's foreknowledge, Akane began, "Well, I suppose we really knew what was going on about a year ago…" The story of the discovery she had made all those months ago slowly began to trickle out. Ranma helped where he could, but Akane had spent much more time interrogating the Alien ship's hologram about her origins and was able to provide a much more comprehensive description of the threat they all now faced. Cologne asked a few intelligent questions, but for the most part let the bizarreness of the tale wash over her.
As Akane finished, Ranma turned to the small woman. "Can you help us?"
At first Cologne stood stock still, staring off into space. After a minute, water from one of the many unattended pots overflowed and singed her hand, breaker her trance. "Oww, shit! Their goes my Happy Couple Noodles." She cursed again and flung the contents into the garbage. Turning back to face the pair, she began again, "I have lived for 317 years, three months and 17 days and I never thought I would hear something as truly ridiculous as that."
"You don't believe us?" Akane asked, growing angry at the thought of being accused of lying.
"No child, I know you two too well." Cologne said as she gazed around at the various dishes in the kitchen. "Right now you need to ask that… what did you call it? Ask this hologram what is going on and where we can expect the warrior. We will need to gather as much information as possible for the coming battle. Return here in two hours and I will have gathered what I can to aid us."
"Of course elder." Akane said as she bowed to show her newfound respect.
Ranma smiled at his fiancée and turned to Cologne. "Thanks Old G… thanks elder. We really appreciate it."
As Ranma and Akane ran out the door Cologne called after them, "It's the least I could do. You have made these years of my life more interesting than any before."
At home, Kasumi was humming a cheery tune as balanced a load of laundry on her hips. For the eldest Tendo sister, laundry day was one of new beginnings. All the sheets were changed, all the clothes were washed and dried, but most importantly the house looked and smelled its best. It wasn't much, but to her it was a way of reinventing herself. For a person who was constantly surrounded by action, Kasumi took pride in her ability to find fulfillment in smaller things. Her youngest sister and Ranma could engage in battle of honor and love on a daily basis as long as they left her a few moments to enjoy the peace of a job well done.
As she set down her basket and began to fold, Kasumi realized that she would be doing laundry for six again. Nabiki would be returning from school. Her letters and phone calls had been brief, but that was to be expected. Nabiki was not an open person by nature. It would be good, though, to have her back; Nabiki brought another rational viewpoint to the house that chaos built. It would also be interesting to see what changes Tokyo University had wrought on her sister. As she folded, Kasumi began to realize some of the things that Nabiki's return signaled. Summer would be starting and Ranma and Akane would be finishing high school. Then they would be leaving to start college. In the next few months, everything would be changing and not necessarily for the better. A pair of boxers in hand, Kasumi began to think that perhaps it was time for her to consider some beginnings far more serious than clean laundry.
As if by magic, the two near-adults in question choose that moment to burst through the door. They both looked disheveled and Kasumi could only imagine that they had been sparring or arguing or both. And they had been getting on so well!
"Yo Kasumi, could you fix me a sandwich?" Ranma said as he smiled at the eldest Tendo sister.
Akane, still slightly miffed from Shampoo's advances on Ranma, barked at him, "We don't have time for food dolt."
"Hey we gotta eat, ya tomboy." Ranma shot back.
Kasumi certainly hoped that tempers remained cool; thus far the new roof had faired better than any of its predecessors. "Its really no trouble. Akane would you like something?"
Akane muttered under her breath. "Maybe a grilled baka." Then louder she said, "Oh nothing sis, we're in kind of a rush."
"What for?"
Ranma had never really known how lie effectively when the situation called for it and, consequently, he often choose to tell the truth, no matter how bizarre or inappropriate. "We gotta go save the world or something."
Kasumi bent at the knees, continuing to hold Ranma's gaze as she picked up another piece of laundry to fold. "Oh my… Will you be home for dinner?"
Ranma and Akane both face faulted. Then, deciding that silence was the better part of misunderstanding, they beat a hasty retreat for the basement.
In the dank of the Tendo basement Akane and Ranma walked towards a small light that shone 24 hours a day. Limar, they both knew, would be up analyzing Akane's fighting technique. For days on end the pesky hologram had begged his Lady to wear a Sayain monitoring device. The purpose, he claimed was to document the triumphs of the future Queen of the planet Vegeta. Limar, though, had not been content to simply observe the battles she was involved in. He had demanded that she let him assist her in training. To this end she had furnished him with hundreds of scrolls from the Tendo School of Indiscriminant Grappling. Limar had thrown his circuits into the task of creating the ultimate warrior with true Sayain fervor. For the most part the training exercises he had suggested were either too dangerous or insane to be considered, but on occasion he had presented her with something of true martial value. Ranma had observed that when Akane practiced one of the new forms, the entire Sayain ship nearly glowed with pride.
"Lady Akane, Lady Akane! I have a new technique you must try!" Limar shouted out to his approaching queen. "Do you know where you could obtain a mammal known as an Otter and a metric ton of axel grease?"
Akane sighed and patted the metal ship that hosted the misguided mechanism. "I'll try that technique later. Right now, I would like you to tell us if a Sayain warrior is approaching this planet."
"Why yes, my Queen. He has been on his way to Elrani-3 for quite some time."
Ranma quite nearly tried to strangle the image in front of him. "You knew!?! And you didn't tell us?"
"Well, I thought… I thought you already knew." Limar said quietly, somewhat taken aback by Ranma's outburst.
Determined not to let things get out of hand, Akane laid a restraining hand on Ranma's arm. "He didn't realize, Ranma."
Ranma was shocked by the iron grip that his fiancée had caught him in. His face was lit by anger as he turned to face Akane.. "Fine, whatever." He bit out before stomping upstairs
Limar looked dejectedly at Ranma's back as he walked away. "I have failed you my Queen. I am sorry. Do with me what you will."
Akane stifled a giggle as the tiny man abased himself in the air before her. "Its alright Limar." She said soothing. "Ranma's just anxious. He's been taking his fights much more seriously lately."
Glancing up quickly, Limar quoted an ancient volume of Sayain lore, "It is the mark of a true warrior to consider every battle life and death."
Akane turned away from Limar to look at the stairs Ranma had so recently stormed up. Softly and after much contemplation, she began, "I never really considered Ranma a warrior…"
"Perhaps he is not now." Limar said, "But someday he will be."
Akane shook her head as if to clear it and turned back towards the metal sphere. "Can you tell me where I can meet the Sayain when he arrives?"
Upstairs Ranma angrily chewed his way through his second sandwich. Stupid tomboy! Stupid hologram! He and Akane could have trained so much harder in the past few months if they had known. He could have blown off college admissions and really focused on increasing his power. Stupid tests! Why did he have to take a test to get into school to learn how to teach martial arts? It all seemed so complicated. A guy needed to teach martial arts if he wanted to keep fighting, so he needed to learn how to teach. But it still seemed so stupid. He already knew how to fight! Hell, he loved to fight! So, by extension, he should be able to teach people how to fight, right? Man, the art was supposed to be simple. Isn't that what the old man had said?
Breaking out of his mental gymnastics, Ranma felt Akane's chi approaching. As she left the shadows of the basement door, he raised his eyes from his plate to glare at her. His fiancée, though, looked too wrapped in thought to notice the cold look she was receiving.
"Well?" Ranma demanded.
"Hokkaido. We're going to Hokkaido."
