Interlude
Keiichi sat back in the bath and soaked in what he considered the best day that he has ever had since the arrival of Belldandy. After Skuld and Urd got called back to the heavens to do some system debugging, Keiichi was actually able to spend a peaceful day alone with Bell.What a great day! No extra gods or goddesses, no demons or demonesses, and especially no sempai! Just me and Bell all day. Thinking back to the picnic him and Belldandy had, and the kiss she gave him, Keiichi couldn't help but smile. "Nothing could ruin today!"At that moment, fate chose to punish Keiichi for making such a statement. A glowing portal formed in the bath water directly in front of Keiichi. Being use to weird event that occur at the temple, Keiichi grabs a towel that was beside the bath and used it to cover himself just before Skuld appeared.
"I'm back!" broadcasted Skuld as she floated in midair above the bath. Looking around, "Wait, this isn't the kitchen." Looking down, Skuld notices Keiichi cowering behind a towel. "Oh, sorry K."
"Oh, Skuld. You're back," beamed Belldandy from the open door. "You're just in time for dinner too."
"Great! I'm starving!" exclaimed Skuld as she ran out of the bathroom and past Belldandy.
Bell smiled at K and closed the door as she left. Keiichi sank lower in the tub. "Great, there goes a quiet evening. What else could go wrong?" Not waiting for an answer, he got out of the tub and dressed to go eat dinner.
Dinner, for the most part, was uneventful. It mostly consisted of Urd and Skuld arguing over whom nailed the most bugs. It wasn't until Belldandy served desert that things got worse for Keiichi. Suddenly all color in the objects in the room vanished leaving Keiichi and the goddesses the only ones with color. Then, the goddesses passed out, Bell landing Keiichi's arms, and began to glow with an eerie light.
Keiichi tried to move and speak, but found himself frozen in place. Just as quickly as it started, the glow around the goddesses faded and the color return to the room. Looking down at the awaking Belldandy in his arm, "Bell, are you ok?"
"I'm fine K," replied Belldandy.
"Oh, my head," moaned Urd. "Did anyone get the license of that bus?"
"Ice cream? Ice cream?" whimpered Skuld.
"What just happened here?" asked Keiichi as he held Belldandy sit up.
The answer to his question was heard as a thunderbolt hit the ground. Urd manages to crawl outside to read the message inscribed in the ground. "This is not good."
"What does it say Urd?" asked Belldandy.
Leaning closer, "To the goddesses Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld. It has been discovered that some outside force has tapped into the ultimate force as well as modified system files pertaining to two individuals, Akane Tendo and Ranma Satome. Due to this, there have been numerous system glitches one of which makes it impossible to observe Nerima or to read the modified files. You are to proceed to Nerima and observe Akane Tendo and Ranma Satome to see what changes have been made."
"That is bad," gasped Belldandy.
"There's more," stated Urd. "Be warned, that due to the system glitches that the gate is not functional and all powers are limited. Until further noticed, you are on your own until the system is repair."
"Just great!" whined Skuld. "We have to look into something that messed with the system and we won't have our full powers or any help."
"Perhaps we should get a good night's sleep before we go," suggested Belldandy.
"Might as well," muttered Urd. "I'm too tired to go anywhere."
Tenchi stood in front of his grandfather with his bokken ready to strike. They've been at this for hours and his grandfather would not let him quit until Tenchi had learned the new technique.
Wiping the sweat from his eyes, "Come on grandpa, we've been at this for hours. I just don't think I'll ever get it."
The elder man stood with his bokken at his side as if his grandson was no threat to him. "Tenchi, in you fight with Kragato you only begun to access your power. You must learn how to call it forth and control it before it controls you."
"But grandpa, I haven't been able to use the light hawk wings since my fight with Kragato," stated Tenchi.
Dropping his bokken to the ground, "Perhaps I've been going about this the wrong way," stated his grandfather.
"Does that mean we can go in and eat now grandpa?"
Pulling the sword Tenchi from his robes, Tenchi's grandfather took an attack stance as the blade flared to life. "Nope, it means I'm upping the stakes."
Stumbling backwards, "Wh? whoa grandpa!"
Without saying another word, Tenchi's grandfather leapt into the air bringing the blade down onto Tenchi. Right before the blade contacted Tenchi, the light hawk wings formed stopping the sword in mid-strike.
"Well done Tenchi. I knew you could do it if properly motivated." Deactivating the sword and handing it back to Tenchi, "How about we see if dinner is ready now?" Without waiting for a response, his grandfather walked away heading towards the house.
Tenchi could only stare at the sword in his hand, not believing what had just happen. It wasn't until he heard Sasami calling out his name that he came out of his daze.
"Tenchi! Tenchi, are you coming to dinner?" asked the cheerful voice behind him.
"Huh? Oh, it's you Sasami," answered Tenchi not taking his eyes off his sword.
The blue haired girl with a cabbit on her head moved around Tenchi so that she now stood in front of him. With her smile vanished as she looked up at Tenchi. "Tenchi? Tenchi, are you alright?"
"Meow, meow?" asked Ryoki.
Looking at Sasami, Tenchi couldn't help but smile. "I'm fine Sasami, I was just thinking. Come on, let's go eat before Ryoko gets it all."
The smile returned to her face. "Ok Tenchi."
"Meow, meow," agreed Ryoki. Together, the three of them walked down the path towards the house.
Dinner was the normal affair. Ryoko and Ayeka was fighting over who was more beautiful or something like that, Mihoshi was trying to break the two up and doing a poor job at it. Sasami was refilling Tenchi's grandfather's cup, and Tenchi was trying his best to be unnoticed.
Tenchi's father, after looking around the table for several minutes, noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where is Washu?"
"She said she was working on some experiment and didn't want to be disturbed," replied Ryoko.
"Oh, is that all," replied the father cheerfully.
Sasami looked over towards the door to Washu's lab. "Maybe I should take her some dinner later."
"That's nice of you Sasami," stated Tenchi.
Suddenly Ayeka, Sasami, Tenchi, and his grandfather froze in place. As they sat frozen, a pale glow surrounded the figures. As quickly as it started, the glow faded and the Jurians collapsed to the floor.
"Tenchi!" Ryoko immediately leapt across the table and knelt beside Tenchi. Pulling Tenchi into her arms, "Tenchi, what happened?"
"Sss... some... one... dddrained Jjjurrri's pppower," Ayeka meakly studdered.
"Boy with pigtail," mumbled Sasami.
Turning her attention to Sasami, "Who is it. Who's doing this?" asked Ryoko
"Rrr... Ranma," muttered Tenchi.
"That's it!" exclaimed Ryoko, "I don't know who this Ranma is but NOBODY does this to Tenchi and gets away with it!"
"I think I've heard that name before." spoke Tenchi's father.
Ryoko immediately turn and grabbed the father by his shirt collar. "WHO IS HE? WHERE IS HE?" demanded Ryoko.
"I... I don't know," replied the pale-face father. "All I remember is Tenchi's mother saying she had a sister named Nodoka and that she had a son named Ranma."
"Wouldn't that make this Ranma Tenchi's cousin?" blurted Mihoshi.
"I don't care who he is, he will not be allowed to hurt Tenchi like this and get away with it," stated Ryoko.
"Ryoko, you will do nothing to harm Ranma!" commanded the now sitting grandfather. "Tenchi and the others will be fine in the morning. What happened here was us sensing Ranma being near death."
Gasping, "You mean Tenchi's cousin is dying?" asked the teary-eyed Mihoshi.
The grandfather shook his head, "No, if Ranma had died there would be no power drain. He apparently was in the position that he would of died if he didn't tap into Juri's power."
"What could of caused him to do that?" asked the father.
"I do not know, but I intend to find out," replied the grandfather. "Tomorrow, Tenchi, Ayeka, Sasami and I will travel to check on Ranma."
"If Tenchi is going, I'm going too," declared Ryoko.
"You will not!" commanded grandfather. "This is a family matter. If the situation is under control, then you may come. But not a moment sooner."
Ryoko crossed her arms and "humfed" in defeat.
"Do you know where to find Ranma?" asked father.
"According to Nodoka's letters, Ranma has been staying with his fiancee at the Tendo dojo. I believe that I'll start looking there first." Standing up, stetching and yawning, grandfather started to walk away from the table. "I'm tunring in for the night. We've got a long day ahead of us in the morning."
Washu spent the entire day in her lab working an finishing her most important experiment or all time in time to meat her dead line. Typing a few last commands into her computer, Washu leaned back in her chair and wiped the sweat off her brow. "I'm suck a little genius!"
"That's why we came to you," stated the voice from behind her.
Without turning around, Washu already knew who it was. "Someday Blank, either you or Null will have to show me how you get by my security system."
Blank seemed unaffected under his concealing robes. "That, you'll have to take up with my cousin Null the next time you see him. Have you finished the project as we asked?"
Washu turned in her chair with her arms crossed, and faced her guest. "Just finished. But did you know that there isn't one, but five full blooded Saiyans and two half Saiyans living on Earth?"
"How do you know this?" asked Blank.
"Easy, you did give me the complete information on EVERY Saiyan that exists as well as their locations in the universe. Although I did find the information on the Saiyans here on Earth to be the most interesting."
Blank scratches his head. "What do you mean?"
Washu turns back to her computer console and keyed in a few commands. A large image of Goku appeared on the screen. "We'll start with him. His name is Goku, originally it was Kakorrat. He is a Saiyan of First Class, extreme callabor. Before being sent to Earth as a child, his records were changed so that he would be listed a low-ranking Third Class Saiyan. The goal was to hide him on Earth from Freeza and allow him the time he needed to train to become strong enough to free the Saiyans from Freeza's grasps. Nobody, not even the Saiyan royalty, knows Goku's true classification. It has it listed that his special ability is to be able to gain twice the power with half the training as a normal Saiyan."
Typing another set of commands, Goku's image is replaced with that of Chi Chi. "Goku's wife, Chi Chi, is a Saiyan and doesn't even know it. She is a princess to the Saiyans. But when her father saw that Freeza was getting bored with the Saiyans, he managed to have all records and memories of her be erased and had her sent to Earth in hopes that one Saiyan would live on. Her and Goku had two sons," the image shifts to show Gohan and Goten, "named Gohan and Goten. Both are full-blooded Saiyans."
"Ok, thats four full-blooded Saiyans. I thought you said there was five?" commented Blank.
Punching in even more commands, Vegetta's image in now on screen. "Thats where things get interesting. Sometime latter on the crown prince of the Saiyans, Vegetta, shows up here and manages to have a half-saiyan son named Trunks." Vegetta's image flickers out to show Trunks's image.
Blank is now visibly counting on his fingers. "Aren't you missing one?"
"Glad you've been paying attention. Not many people are able to keep up with a genius like me," chimed Washu.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever!" mumbled Blank.
Videl's image now appears on the screen, "This is the last of them, Videl Satan. Her mother is an unknown Saiyan sent to Earth to escape Freeza destroying the Saiyan home world."
Blank scratches his head, "I don't see how this information effects our project. Sure, there's more Saiyans on Earth than we figured on and need to watch. But I don't see how that could have any bearing on us."
Washu turns once again to face Blank. "The retro virus that you had me design will turn whoever you inject it into to a virtual Saiyan, will all the ablities of a Saiyan without loosing any other of their original abilities, and definitely none of the hair problems of a Saiyan. It will also only infect the person or persons that it is injected into UNLESS they have some pre-existing Saiyan DNA."
"Like the ones you showed me," stated Blank. "What will happen to those that have pre-existing Saiyan DNA?"
"To the full-blooded Saiyans, not much. If they come in contact with the virus and haven't become a Super Saiyan yet, they will. Other than that, nothing. But any Saiyan that is not a full Saiyan that comes into contact with whomever has this virus will also become a virtual full-blooded Saiyan," explained Washu.
Blank's hands begin to tremble. "And this virus will spread through Saiyans?"
Washu gave him a hurt look, "Nah. It will only effect a Saiyan IF they come into direct contact with the subject that has been injected. Other than that, the virus can't spread."
Blank's shoulders slump with relief. "Great! Now if you would give me the hypo with the virus I can get to work. I am on a strict time schedule."
Washu produces a Star Trek style hypo-spray and hands it to Blank. Blank places it inside the folds of his cloak and turns to leave when he is stopped by Washu. "You know, I detected awhile ago a spike in Jurian energy from Nerima. You wouldn't know anything about it would you?"
Blank pauses in mid-step, "It is of no concern to you."
"That's where you're wrong. You see, if it's Jurian energy then it'll concern Tenchi. And if it concerns Tenchi, then it concerns me," stated Washu.
"It is Tenchi's cousin. But do not worry. It is only part of his destiny," replied Blank.
"You know Tenchi will go to investigate it," commented Washu.
"I know. We're counting on it," responded Blank as he vanished.
Dr. Tofu and Kasumi appeared in a bright flash of light next to Cologne and Happosai, neither of which seemed surprised with the youngster's entrance.
"I see that you had some troubles getting out of the dojo," stated Cologne.
"You could say that. Nabiki decided that she HAD to have information," replied Tofu.
Happosai took a large puff on his pipe, "When is that girl ever going to learn to mind her own business?"
"Probably when you stop stealing panties," retorted Cologne.
"It's not like she's a bad person. She's just curious," stated Kasumi.
"Child, your sister is walking down a very dark path. Unless she changes soon she will be no better than Happosai," stated Cologne.
"Oh my!" gasped Kasumi.
"Hey! I resent that remark. Unlike her, I don't sell people out behind their backs!" exclaimed Happy.
"Like doing it to their face is any better?" asked Cologne.
Happosai crosses his arms and turns away from the others. "At least they know I did it."
All other bickering was ended when the ball of energy the contained Ranma and Akane imploded, leaving the unconscious forms of the teens laying in the center of the creator. Everyone noticed that there was something now different with the two. Akane now wore a chinese outfit exactly like Ranma's except it was a green sleeveless shirt and black pants instead of Ranma's red sleeveless shirt and black pants.
What really caught their attention was the new brightly colored tattoos now on their shoulders. On Ranma's right shoulder, was a yin-yang symbol with a red dragon wrapping itself around the back side of the symbol. On the other side of the symbol was a coiled green dragon that appeared to be ready to strike at any moment. Each dragon was in incredible detail, with each scale on them being clearly visible making them appear almost life- like.
Akane has a similar tattoo on her left shoulder. Her yin-yang symbol was upside down compared to Ranma's. Also, instead of dragons, Akane had tigers. One tiger was crouched on top of the symbol ready to pounce, red eyes glaring back at the observers. The other tiger was curled up at the base of the symbol, with it's green eyes glaring back. Both tigers were white with the black tiger stripe pattern on them, and so life-like that one could swear that they could hear them purr.
On their opposite shoulder was a brightly burning phoenix. Each feather was visible through the flames that surrounded it. And if one looked closely, they could see that the flames that surround the creature was coming from underneath each feather.
"So much raw power in both of them now," said Cologne in a state of awe.
"Where's Nul? He was suppose to be here by now," stated Happy.
"Right behind you." replied Nul. The party turns to see Nul and Void standing behind them. "The one that's late is Blank."
"I'm not that late," retorted Blank as he materializes in front of the group. Motioning to the bushes at the edge of the creator, "We're being watched."
"I'll handle them," stated Void. "We must hurry before we draw any more attention. We already have three goddesses and his cousin looking into this as we speak." With a flick of her hand, Void vanished in a puff of smoke.
Blank pulls the hypo out of his robe and hands it over to Tofu. "Inject this into both of them."
Tofu looks down at the hypo in his hands, "This is the Saiyan Project you were telling me about?"
"Yes, but we must hurry! The officals will be here soon and we can't afford to have them ruin everything now!" exclaimed Blank.
Tofu complied and went to inject Akane and Ranma with the retro-virus. After completing the tasks Tofu hands the hypo back to Blank and proceeds to pick up Ranma. Kasumi looks on uncertain of what to do.
"Kasumi, I wish we could teleport them but its too dangerous for them." stated Nul.
"I know," replied Kasumi. "But I'm not strong enough to carry Akane. Can't you make her lighter?"
Nul shakes his head, "If any outside force touches them now they will die. The only reason you two can carry them is because of your pure hearts. But I can make you stronger, that should help."
With a snap of Nul's fingers, Kasumi felt a new surge of strength course through her. Kasumi carefully knelt down and placed her sister into her arms expecting a burden. By instead, Akane felt like she weighed no more than her favorite cookbook. After settling her sister in her arms, the group took off back towards the Tendo dojo.
Uyko sat in the bush that has become her hiding place for the past hour wondering what was going on with Ranma. Ever since the mysterious person from her dream vanished, she had been debating whether or not she should go and confront either Cologne or Happosai as to what was going on.
Why won't those two geezers talk? Come on! Tell me something! Shifting positions, Ukyo felt a very uncomfortable tingling in her left leg. Great! I've been here so long that my leg is falling asleep!
Concentrating on retoring blood flow in her leg, Ukyo never noticed Kasumi's or the doctor's entrance. It wasn't until the glow from the energy ball faded that she look up. By that time, Nul, Void, and Vlank had already arrived. Ok, something is DEFINATELY going on. We have Tofu and Kasumi, Happosai and Cologne, they weird guy from my dream that looks like Ranma and a weird looking Akane, the REAL Ranma and Akane lying in the center of the creator, and some freaky guy in a hooded cloak. It was at that moment that the cloaked figure motioned over towards Ukyo's position. Shit! I've been spotted!
Turning to scramble out of her hiding place and make a run for it, Ukyo ran into Void now standing in front of her. "Going somewhere?" questioned Void.
Ukyo could feel all the blood drain from her face as she looked up at Void. "I... I... I..."
Smiling down at Ukyo, "Was concerned for Ranma," stated Void. "Everything will be explained in the morning."
With a flick of Void's wrists, Ukyo's world faded to darkness.
Nabiki Tendo was one that hated to be left out of the loop, and now she was definitely being left out of the loop. First was this incident of Akane's "death" that nobody will fill her in on. The next, was the sudden disappearance of the doctor and her older sister before her eyes by this Nil guy. Then there was this Nil character himself. He was always wearing the hooded cloak, completely hiding any distinguishing features about him.
But what infuriated her the most was that Nil not only booted them all out of the dojo and somehow disabled her spy equipment, but he also ordered them not to touch either Ranma or Akane when they got back stating some lame excuse that to do so would kill them.
How dare he tell me what I can and can't do! How dare he tell me what I should and shouldn't know! How the hell am I going to make more money off that worthless bum if I don't have information to sale. Information leads to fights, fights lead to property damage, property damage leads to one of my construction crews working with leads to more money for me. Leaning back on the couch, she picked up the remote and began flipping channels. So what if I already made millions of yen off of Ranma. I'm going to make sure that I can milk that bum for all he is worth until he gets himself killed or Akane and dad finally see how worthless he is and get rid of him.
Nabiki stopped her flipping when she saw a commercial for Secrete antiperspirant. The announcer was going on and on about their new and improved formula and how it last longer than before. The image switched from showing the deodorant to Ranma in his male form. "Secrete! Strong enough for a man," as the announcer pauses water is dumped on Ranma from above to change him to his female. "Hey! Why did ya do that for?" screamed Ranma. "But made for a woman," continued the announcer.
"Easiest one million yen I've ever made," muttered Nabiki to herself. "And they best thing is Ranma never knew I did it so I never have to pay him."
"And what would your mother think of you?" asked a voice from behind.
Turning to see who made the statement, Nabiki saw that is was Nodoka standing behind her. Smacking herself mentally, Nabiki put on her best poker face and began concocting lies to get her out of this mess. "Whatever do you mean Auntie?"
Nodoka's gaze became cold and stern, causing a shiver to run down her spine. "Save it Nabiki. When I first heard from Ranma what you did to him, I could never believe that the daughter of my best friend could ever do that. It appears that I've been wrong."
Realizing that she was trapped, Nabiki decided to drop her façade. "So what you think you know the truth? Why should I care if Ranma is nothing more to me than my own ATM machine? That's all he's worth anyways."
"I see? Now I don't feel so terrible about what I did now," stated Nodoka.
I don't like where she is going with this. "And just what did you do?" asked Nabiki.
From her pocket, Nodoka pulls out a small black book that was very familiar to Nabiki. "Not much dear. I just made it so that all of your accounts with you thirty million yen fortune would become Ranma's and Akane's the moment that they are married. That and I made a few calls to your 'friends' saying that you release them from their debts."
Nabiki leaps for the book, but only meets air as Nodoka side steps her attack. "What gives you the right to do that?"
Calmly placing the book back into her pocket, she pulls a paper and hands it to Nabiki. "Your mother and father decided that when your mother died you and your sisters would sometimes need a mother figure. So they in acted me to be her proxy upon her death. And since you're still a minor, it's within my right to do that."
Nabiki's blood began to boil! All of her schemes and bank accounts were now gone because of Nodoka. "I'll get my money back! I know the account numbers, I'll get them back."
Turning away from Nabiki, Nodoka started walking out of the room. "It won't do you any good. Those accounts are closed, but you can try if it makes you feel better."
Any further conversation was ended when the front door burst open and Happosai and Cologne came speeding through, up the stairs, and into the guest room. A moment latter, Happosai and Cologne was dragging the sleeping Genma out of the room. Next through the door were Nul, Void, and Blank. They formed a human (if you could call them that) barricade blocking off access for the others to either the front door or the stairs.
By this time, Soun had heard the ruckus and had pulled himself from his stupor sitting next to the sogi board to investigate. "Who are you? What's going on here?" Just then Kasumi and Tofu entered, with Akane and Ranma in their arms, and headed up the stairs to the guest room. Nul and Blank was holding back Nodoka and Soun.
"If you touch them before they awake they will both die," declared Nul.
"If that's true, then why can Dr. Tofu and Kasumi touch them and not kill them?" retorted Nabiki.
"Because, unlike you, they have a pure heart. And only those with a pure heart can touch them without harming them," replied Void.
"Until they wake, both Akane and Ranma as well as the room that they are in is off limits," added Nul. "Also, before anyone asks anything, all questions will be answered once those two wake and not a moment sooner. I have no intention of explaining myself five hundred times." Nul snaps his fingers, causing Void, Blank, and himself to vanish in a bright flash of light. The others were left to pull their own jaws off the floor
Keiichi sat back in the bath and soaked in what he considered the best day that he has ever had since the arrival of Belldandy. After Skuld and Urd got called back to the heavens to do some system debugging, Keiichi was actually able to spend a peaceful day alone with Bell.What a great day! No extra gods or goddesses, no demons or demonesses, and especially no sempai! Just me and Bell all day. Thinking back to the picnic him and Belldandy had, and the kiss she gave him, Keiichi couldn't help but smile. "Nothing could ruin today!"At that moment, fate chose to punish Keiichi for making such a statement. A glowing portal formed in the bath water directly in front of Keiichi. Being use to weird event that occur at the temple, Keiichi grabs a towel that was beside the bath and used it to cover himself just before Skuld appeared.
"I'm back!" broadcasted Skuld as she floated in midair above the bath. Looking around, "Wait, this isn't the kitchen." Looking down, Skuld notices Keiichi cowering behind a towel. "Oh, sorry K."
"Oh, Skuld. You're back," beamed Belldandy from the open door. "You're just in time for dinner too."
"Great! I'm starving!" exclaimed Skuld as she ran out of the bathroom and past Belldandy.
Bell smiled at K and closed the door as she left. Keiichi sank lower in the tub. "Great, there goes a quiet evening. What else could go wrong?" Not waiting for an answer, he got out of the tub and dressed to go eat dinner.
Dinner, for the most part, was uneventful. It mostly consisted of Urd and Skuld arguing over whom nailed the most bugs. It wasn't until Belldandy served desert that things got worse for Keiichi. Suddenly all color in the objects in the room vanished leaving Keiichi and the goddesses the only ones with color. Then, the goddesses passed out, Bell landing Keiichi's arms, and began to glow with an eerie light.
Keiichi tried to move and speak, but found himself frozen in place. Just as quickly as it started, the glow around the goddesses faded and the color return to the room. Looking down at the awaking Belldandy in his arm, "Bell, are you ok?"
"I'm fine K," replied Belldandy.
"Oh, my head," moaned Urd. "Did anyone get the license of that bus?"
"Ice cream? Ice cream?" whimpered Skuld.
"What just happened here?" asked Keiichi as he held Belldandy sit up.
The answer to his question was heard as a thunderbolt hit the ground. Urd manages to crawl outside to read the message inscribed in the ground. "This is not good."
"What does it say Urd?" asked Belldandy.
Leaning closer, "To the goddesses Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld. It has been discovered that some outside force has tapped into the ultimate force as well as modified system files pertaining to two individuals, Akane Tendo and Ranma Satome. Due to this, there have been numerous system glitches one of which makes it impossible to observe Nerima or to read the modified files. You are to proceed to Nerima and observe Akane Tendo and Ranma Satome to see what changes have been made."
"That is bad," gasped Belldandy.
"There's more," stated Urd. "Be warned, that due to the system glitches that the gate is not functional and all powers are limited. Until further noticed, you are on your own until the system is repair."
"Just great!" whined Skuld. "We have to look into something that messed with the system and we won't have our full powers or any help."
"Perhaps we should get a good night's sleep before we go," suggested Belldandy.
"Might as well," muttered Urd. "I'm too tired to go anywhere."
Tenchi stood in front of his grandfather with his bokken ready to strike. They've been at this for hours and his grandfather would not let him quit until Tenchi had learned the new technique.
Wiping the sweat from his eyes, "Come on grandpa, we've been at this for hours. I just don't think I'll ever get it."
The elder man stood with his bokken at his side as if his grandson was no threat to him. "Tenchi, in you fight with Kragato you only begun to access your power. You must learn how to call it forth and control it before it controls you."
"But grandpa, I haven't been able to use the light hawk wings since my fight with Kragato," stated Tenchi.
Dropping his bokken to the ground, "Perhaps I've been going about this the wrong way," stated his grandfather.
"Does that mean we can go in and eat now grandpa?"
Pulling the sword Tenchi from his robes, Tenchi's grandfather took an attack stance as the blade flared to life. "Nope, it means I'm upping the stakes."
Stumbling backwards, "Wh? whoa grandpa!"
Without saying another word, Tenchi's grandfather leapt into the air bringing the blade down onto Tenchi. Right before the blade contacted Tenchi, the light hawk wings formed stopping the sword in mid-strike.
"Well done Tenchi. I knew you could do it if properly motivated." Deactivating the sword and handing it back to Tenchi, "How about we see if dinner is ready now?" Without waiting for a response, his grandfather walked away heading towards the house.
Tenchi could only stare at the sword in his hand, not believing what had just happen. It wasn't until he heard Sasami calling out his name that he came out of his daze.
"Tenchi! Tenchi, are you coming to dinner?" asked the cheerful voice behind him.
"Huh? Oh, it's you Sasami," answered Tenchi not taking his eyes off his sword.
The blue haired girl with a cabbit on her head moved around Tenchi so that she now stood in front of him. With her smile vanished as she looked up at Tenchi. "Tenchi? Tenchi, are you alright?"
"Meow, meow?" asked Ryoki.
Looking at Sasami, Tenchi couldn't help but smile. "I'm fine Sasami, I was just thinking. Come on, let's go eat before Ryoko gets it all."
The smile returned to her face. "Ok Tenchi."
"Meow, meow," agreed Ryoki. Together, the three of them walked down the path towards the house.
Dinner was the normal affair. Ryoko and Ayeka was fighting over who was more beautiful or something like that, Mihoshi was trying to break the two up and doing a poor job at it. Sasami was refilling Tenchi's grandfather's cup, and Tenchi was trying his best to be unnoticed.
Tenchi's father, after looking around the table for several minutes, noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where is Washu?"
"She said she was working on some experiment and didn't want to be disturbed," replied Ryoko.
"Oh, is that all," replied the father cheerfully.
Sasami looked over towards the door to Washu's lab. "Maybe I should take her some dinner later."
"That's nice of you Sasami," stated Tenchi.
Suddenly Ayeka, Sasami, Tenchi, and his grandfather froze in place. As they sat frozen, a pale glow surrounded the figures. As quickly as it started, the glow faded and the Jurians collapsed to the floor.
"Tenchi!" Ryoko immediately leapt across the table and knelt beside Tenchi. Pulling Tenchi into her arms, "Tenchi, what happened?"
"Sss... some... one... dddrained Jjjurrri's pppower," Ayeka meakly studdered.
"Boy with pigtail," mumbled Sasami.
Turning her attention to Sasami, "Who is it. Who's doing this?" asked Ryoko
"Rrr... Ranma," muttered Tenchi.
"That's it!" exclaimed Ryoko, "I don't know who this Ranma is but NOBODY does this to Tenchi and gets away with it!"
"I think I've heard that name before." spoke Tenchi's father.
Ryoko immediately turn and grabbed the father by his shirt collar. "WHO IS HE? WHERE IS HE?" demanded Ryoko.
"I... I don't know," replied the pale-face father. "All I remember is Tenchi's mother saying she had a sister named Nodoka and that she had a son named Ranma."
"Wouldn't that make this Ranma Tenchi's cousin?" blurted Mihoshi.
"I don't care who he is, he will not be allowed to hurt Tenchi like this and get away with it," stated Ryoko.
"Ryoko, you will do nothing to harm Ranma!" commanded the now sitting grandfather. "Tenchi and the others will be fine in the morning. What happened here was us sensing Ranma being near death."
Gasping, "You mean Tenchi's cousin is dying?" asked the teary-eyed Mihoshi.
The grandfather shook his head, "No, if Ranma had died there would be no power drain. He apparently was in the position that he would of died if he didn't tap into Juri's power."
"What could of caused him to do that?" asked the father.
"I do not know, but I intend to find out," replied the grandfather. "Tomorrow, Tenchi, Ayeka, Sasami and I will travel to check on Ranma."
"If Tenchi is going, I'm going too," declared Ryoko.
"You will not!" commanded grandfather. "This is a family matter. If the situation is under control, then you may come. But not a moment sooner."
Ryoko crossed her arms and "humfed" in defeat.
"Do you know where to find Ranma?" asked father.
"According to Nodoka's letters, Ranma has been staying with his fiancee at the Tendo dojo. I believe that I'll start looking there first." Standing up, stetching and yawning, grandfather started to walk away from the table. "I'm tunring in for the night. We've got a long day ahead of us in the morning."
Washu spent the entire day in her lab working an finishing her most important experiment or all time in time to meat her dead line. Typing a few last commands into her computer, Washu leaned back in her chair and wiped the sweat off her brow. "I'm suck a little genius!"
"That's why we came to you," stated the voice from behind her.
Without turning around, Washu already knew who it was. "Someday Blank, either you or Null will have to show me how you get by my security system."
Blank seemed unaffected under his concealing robes. "That, you'll have to take up with my cousin Null the next time you see him. Have you finished the project as we asked?"
Washu turned in her chair with her arms crossed, and faced her guest. "Just finished. But did you know that there isn't one, but five full blooded Saiyans and two half Saiyans living on Earth?"
"How do you know this?" asked Blank.
"Easy, you did give me the complete information on EVERY Saiyan that exists as well as their locations in the universe. Although I did find the information on the Saiyans here on Earth to be the most interesting."
Blank scratches his head. "What do you mean?"
Washu turns back to her computer console and keyed in a few commands. A large image of Goku appeared on the screen. "We'll start with him. His name is Goku, originally it was Kakorrat. He is a Saiyan of First Class, extreme callabor. Before being sent to Earth as a child, his records were changed so that he would be listed a low-ranking Third Class Saiyan. The goal was to hide him on Earth from Freeza and allow him the time he needed to train to become strong enough to free the Saiyans from Freeza's grasps. Nobody, not even the Saiyan royalty, knows Goku's true classification. It has it listed that his special ability is to be able to gain twice the power with half the training as a normal Saiyan."
Typing another set of commands, Goku's image is replaced with that of Chi Chi. "Goku's wife, Chi Chi, is a Saiyan and doesn't even know it. She is a princess to the Saiyans. But when her father saw that Freeza was getting bored with the Saiyans, he managed to have all records and memories of her be erased and had her sent to Earth in hopes that one Saiyan would live on. Her and Goku had two sons," the image shifts to show Gohan and Goten, "named Gohan and Goten. Both are full-blooded Saiyans."
"Ok, thats four full-blooded Saiyans. I thought you said there was five?" commented Blank.
Punching in even more commands, Vegetta's image in now on screen. "Thats where things get interesting. Sometime latter on the crown prince of the Saiyans, Vegetta, shows up here and manages to have a half-saiyan son named Trunks." Vegetta's image flickers out to show Trunks's image.
Blank is now visibly counting on his fingers. "Aren't you missing one?"
"Glad you've been paying attention. Not many people are able to keep up with a genius like me," chimed Washu.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever!" mumbled Blank.
Videl's image now appears on the screen, "This is the last of them, Videl Satan. Her mother is an unknown Saiyan sent to Earth to escape Freeza destroying the Saiyan home world."
Blank scratches his head, "I don't see how this information effects our project. Sure, there's more Saiyans on Earth than we figured on and need to watch. But I don't see how that could have any bearing on us."
Washu turns once again to face Blank. "The retro virus that you had me design will turn whoever you inject it into to a virtual Saiyan, will all the ablities of a Saiyan without loosing any other of their original abilities, and definitely none of the hair problems of a Saiyan. It will also only infect the person or persons that it is injected into UNLESS they have some pre-existing Saiyan DNA."
"Like the ones you showed me," stated Blank. "What will happen to those that have pre-existing Saiyan DNA?"
"To the full-blooded Saiyans, not much. If they come in contact with the virus and haven't become a Super Saiyan yet, they will. Other than that, nothing. But any Saiyan that is not a full Saiyan that comes into contact with whomever has this virus will also become a virtual full-blooded Saiyan," explained Washu.
Blank's hands begin to tremble. "And this virus will spread through Saiyans?"
Washu gave him a hurt look, "Nah. It will only effect a Saiyan IF they come into direct contact with the subject that has been injected. Other than that, the virus can't spread."
Blank's shoulders slump with relief. "Great! Now if you would give me the hypo with the virus I can get to work. I am on a strict time schedule."
Washu produces a Star Trek style hypo-spray and hands it to Blank. Blank places it inside the folds of his cloak and turns to leave when he is stopped by Washu. "You know, I detected awhile ago a spike in Jurian energy from Nerima. You wouldn't know anything about it would you?"
Blank pauses in mid-step, "It is of no concern to you."
"That's where you're wrong. You see, if it's Jurian energy then it'll concern Tenchi. And if it concerns Tenchi, then it concerns me," stated Washu.
"It is Tenchi's cousin. But do not worry. It is only part of his destiny," replied Blank.
"You know Tenchi will go to investigate it," commented Washu.
"I know. We're counting on it," responded Blank as he vanished.
Dr. Tofu and Kasumi appeared in a bright flash of light next to Cologne and Happosai, neither of which seemed surprised with the youngster's entrance.
"I see that you had some troubles getting out of the dojo," stated Cologne.
"You could say that. Nabiki decided that she HAD to have information," replied Tofu.
Happosai took a large puff on his pipe, "When is that girl ever going to learn to mind her own business?"
"Probably when you stop stealing panties," retorted Cologne.
"It's not like she's a bad person. She's just curious," stated Kasumi.
"Child, your sister is walking down a very dark path. Unless she changes soon she will be no better than Happosai," stated Cologne.
"Oh my!" gasped Kasumi.
"Hey! I resent that remark. Unlike her, I don't sell people out behind their backs!" exclaimed Happy.
"Like doing it to their face is any better?" asked Cologne.
Happosai crosses his arms and turns away from the others. "At least they know I did it."
All other bickering was ended when the ball of energy the contained Ranma and Akane imploded, leaving the unconscious forms of the teens laying in the center of the creator. Everyone noticed that there was something now different with the two. Akane now wore a chinese outfit exactly like Ranma's except it was a green sleeveless shirt and black pants instead of Ranma's red sleeveless shirt and black pants.
What really caught their attention was the new brightly colored tattoos now on their shoulders. On Ranma's right shoulder, was a yin-yang symbol with a red dragon wrapping itself around the back side of the symbol. On the other side of the symbol was a coiled green dragon that appeared to be ready to strike at any moment. Each dragon was in incredible detail, with each scale on them being clearly visible making them appear almost life- like.
Akane has a similar tattoo on her left shoulder. Her yin-yang symbol was upside down compared to Ranma's. Also, instead of dragons, Akane had tigers. One tiger was crouched on top of the symbol ready to pounce, red eyes glaring back at the observers. The other tiger was curled up at the base of the symbol, with it's green eyes glaring back. Both tigers were white with the black tiger stripe pattern on them, and so life-like that one could swear that they could hear them purr.
On their opposite shoulder was a brightly burning phoenix. Each feather was visible through the flames that surrounded it. And if one looked closely, they could see that the flames that surround the creature was coming from underneath each feather.
"So much raw power in both of them now," said Cologne in a state of awe.
"Where's Nul? He was suppose to be here by now," stated Happy.
"Right behind you." replied Nul. The party turns to see Nul and Void standing behind them. "The one that's late is Blank."
"I'm not that late," retorted Blank as he materializes in front of the group. Motioning to the bushes at the edge of the creator, "We're being watched."
"I'll handle them," stated Void. "We must hurry before we draw any more attention. We already have three goddesses and his cousin looking into this as we speak." With a flick of her hand, Void vanished in a puff of smoke.
Blank pulls the hypo out of his robe and hands it over to Tofu. "Inject this into both of them."
Tofu looks down at the hypo in his hands, "This is the Saiyan Project you were telling me about?"
"Yes, but we must hurry! The officals will be here soon and we can't afford to have them ruin everything now!" exclaimed Blank.
Tofu complied and went to inject Akane and Ranma with the retro-virus. After completing the tasks Tofu hands the hypo back to Blank and proceeds to pick up Ranma. Kasumi looks on uncertain of what to do.
"Kasumi, I wish we could teleport them but its too dangerous for them." stated Nul.
"I know," replied Kasumi. "But I'm not strong enough to carry Akane. Can't you make her lighter?"
Nul shakes his head, "If any outside force touches them now they will die. The only reason you two can carry them is because of your pure hearts. But I can make you stronger, that should help."
With a snap of Nul's fingers, Kasumi felt a new surge of strength course through her. Kasumi carefully knelt down and placed her sister into her arms expecting a burden. By instead, Akane felt like she weighed no more than her favorite cookbook. After settling her sister in her arms, the group took off back towards the Tendo dojo.
Uyko sat in the bush that has become her hiding place for the past hour wondering what was going on with Ranma. Ever since the mysterious person from her dream vanished, she had been debating whether or not she should go and confront either Cologne or Happosai as to what was going on.
Why won't those two geezers talk? Come on! Tell me something! Shifting positions, Ukyo felt a very uncomfortable tingling in her left leg. Great! I've been here so long that my leg is falling asleep!
Concentrating on retoring blood flow in her leg, Ukyo never noticed Kasumi's or the doctor's entrance. It wasn't until the glow from the energy ball faded that she look up. By that time, Nul, Void, and Vlank had already arrived. Ok, something is DEFINATELY going on. We have Tofu and Kasumi, Happosai and Cologne, they weird guy from my dream that looks like Ranma and a weird looking Akane, the REAL Ranma and Akane lying in the center of the creator, and some freaky guy in a hooded cloak. It was at that moment that the cloaked figure motioned over towards Ukyo's position. Shit! I've been spotted!
Turning to scramble out of her hiding place and make a run for it, Ukyo ran into Void now standing in front of her. "Going somewhere?" questioned Void.
Ukyo could feel all the blood drain from her face as she looked up at Void. "I... I... I..."
Smiling down at Ukyo, "Was concerned for Ranma," stated Void. "Everything will be explained in the morning."
With a flick of Void's wrists, Ukyo's world faded to darkness.
Nabiki Tendo was one that hated to be left out of the loop, and now she was definitely being left out of the loop. First was this incident of Akane's "death" that nobody will fill her in on. The next, was the sudden disappearance of the doctor and her older sister before her eyes by this Nil guy. Then there was this Nil character himself. He was always wearing the hooded cloak, completely hiding any distinguishing features about him.
But what infuriated her the most was that Nil not only booted them all out of the dojo and somehow disabled her spy equipment, but he also ordered them not to touch either Ranma or Akane when they got back stating some lame excuse that to do so would kill them.
How dare he tell me what I can and can't do! How dare he tell me what I should and shouldn't know! How the hell am I going to make more money off that worthless bum if I don't have information to sale. Information leads to fights, fights lead to property damage, property damage leads to one of my construction crews working with leads to more money for me. Leaning back on the couch, she picked up the remote and began flipping channels. So what if I already made millions of yen off of Ranma. I'm going to make sure that I can milk that bum for all he is worth until he gets himself killed or Akane and dad finally see how worthless he is and get rid of him.
Nabiki stopped her flipping when she saw a commercial for Secrete antiperspirant. The announcer was going on and on about their new and improved formula and how it last longer than before. The image switched from showing the deodorant to Ranma in his male form. "Secrete! Strong enough for a man," as the announcer pauses water is dumped on Ranma from above to change him to his female. "Hey! Why did ya do that for?" screamed Ranma. "But made for a woman," continued the announcer.
"Easiest one million yen I've ever made," muttered Nabiki to herself. "And they best thing is Ranma never knew I did it so I never have to pay him."
"And what would your mother think of you?" asked a voice from behind.
Turning to see who made the statement, Nabiki saw that is was Nodoka standing behind her. Smacking herself mentally, Nabiki put on her best poker face and began concocting lies to get her out of this mess. "Whatever do you mean Auntie?"
Nodoka's gaze became cold and stern, causing a shiver to run down her spine. "Save it Nabiki. When I first heard from Ranma what you did to him, I could never believe that the daughter of my best friend could ever do that. It appears that I've been wrong."
Realizing that she was trapped, Nabiki decided to drop her façade. "So what you think you know the truth? Why should I care if Ranma is nothing more to me than my own ATM machine? That's all he's worth anyways."
"I see? Now I don't feel so terrible about what I did now," stated Nodoka.
I don't like where she is going with this. "And just what did you do?" asked Nabiki.
From her pocket, Nodoka pulls out a small black book that was very familiar to Nabiki. "Not much dear. I just made it so that all of your accounts with you thirty million yen fortune would become Ranma's and Akane's the moment that they are married. That and I made a few calls to your 'friends' saying that you release them from their debts."
Nabiki leaps for the book, but only meets air as Nodoka side steps her attack. "What gives you the right to do that?"
Calmly placing the book back into her pocket, she pulls a paper and hands it to Nabiki. "Your mother and father decided that when your mother died you and your sisters would sometimes need a mother figure. So they in acted me to be her proxy upon her death. And since you're still a minor, it's within my right to do that."
Nabiki's blood began to boil! All of her schemes and bank accounts were now gone because of Nodoka. "I'll get my money back! I know the account numbers, I'll get them back."
Turning away from Nabiki, Nodoka started walking out of the room. "It won't do you any good. Those accounts are closed, but you can try if it makes you feel better."
Any further conversation was ended when the front door burst open and Happosai and Cologne came speeding through, up the stairs, and into the guest room. A moment latter, Happosai and Cologne was dragging the sleeping Genma out of the room. Next through the door were Nul, Void, and Blank. They formed a human (if you could call them that) barricade blocking off access for the others to either the front door or the stairs.
By this time, Soun had heard the ruckus and had pulled himself from his stupor sitting next to the sogi board to investigate. "Who are you? What's going on here?" Just then Kasumi and Tofu entered, with Akane and Ranma in their arms, and headed up the stairs to the guest room. Nul and Blank was holding back Nodoka and Soun.
"If you touch them before they awake they will both die," declared Nul.
"If that's true, then why can Dr. Tofu and Kasumi touch them and not kill them?" retorted Nabiki.
"Because, unlike you, they have a pure heart. And only those with a pure heart can touch them without harming them," replied Void.
"Until they wake, both Akane and Ranma as well as the room that they are in is off limits," added Nul. "Also, before anyone asks anything, all questions will be answered once those two wake and not a moment sooner. I have no intention of explaining myself five hundred times." Nul snaps his fingers, causing Void, Blank, and himself to vanish in a bright flash of light. The others were left to pull their own jaws off the floor