Greater Power Chapter 3
Dragonball crossover with Ranma 1/2
by Naquiel

Disclaimer - Ranma and Dragonball (or Z or GT) don't belong to me so please don't sue.
Note - For further explanation of the theory in this Fanfiction, please refer to my Author's Notes. And, the Dragonball elements are now here.

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Chapter 3

Ranma and Cell were on top of a tall mountain. They were both in mediating, calmly filing the memories and experiences of the other, so that those emotions, and feelings wouldn't contaminate themselves as people any further than they all ready had been. Both like to have control over themselves and what, and who, they were.
Ranma, who was wearing a green shirt and a black pair of Kung-Fu trousers, kindly, materialised by Cell, was the first to break the ice. "So, where do we go from here?"
Cell was reluctant to touch that topic first, and he had questions he wanted answered first. "First, what happened to us?"
Ranma frowned slightly, his eyes still closed, his hands on the knees of his crossed legs. "I have heard stories. They are vague but they do tell of the possibility of mental and physical fusion's' between a pair of people.
"The story I heard was of two women, priestesses of some obscure temple, found a way to channel their goddess by becoming connected with their goddess. They believed that by sharing their minds their goddess could act through them, and bring herself back to full power. The story went that they succeeded but died due to the incompatibility of a goddess' mind and a human one!
"There are others but they all tell a similar story. People tried for some reason or another, and failed, tending to die because of it."
Cell was agitated by this "Is that what happened to us? How?"
"Both of us saw the other's life. We now understand each other. We share memories. We are connected now by a subtle empathic bond. It can only be a mental fusion that didn't fuse our minds as one, merely superimposed them and allowed them to mix before separating them. As to how, I don't know, but perhaps, we succeeded where they failed, even though it was an accident, due to my tattoos, or the Chi attacks, or any number of things!"
Cell was unimpressed, "Last time I checked, ink couldn't merge minds together, for any period of time!"
"Well, you obviously don't remember what I know of Shinto wards, and mystic tattoos. Admittedly I don't know much, but I know enough to tell you that my tattoos may have effected the Chi flows. Besides, it could have been the combination of the Akujin Akuba and the Kamehameha. It could have been that I used to have a small amount of Eva in my body!"
Cell was curious, "Eva?"
Ranma was oddly sage-like. "You'll remember it soon enough!"
"Ah," Cell remarked as he 'remembered' one of Ranma's memories, of finding the temple-cum-library and of learning it's contents. He also 'remembered' the theory about Eva and the ritual it required to convert normal Chi into it. "Um, does this mean, I too have Eva?" asked Cell.
"No, well, possibly! I have no Eva in my body presently, but I begun the conversion process, just before Happosai used that damned mirror on me, along with the magic mushroom. I think I have all the elemental energy required for the process, but you have no elemental energy within yourself, and no way of getting it. I don't feel that there is a magical nexus from which to draw upon the energy, on this world. And the elemental energy within me would merely re-enter nature if it released from me, say, if I died!"
Cell pondered this for a moment, "So, what is the difference between Chi and Eva?"
"You'll remember soon enough, Cell!"
"I'm impatient!"
"Okay. Think of Chi like atoms, with their own protons, electrons and neutrons. And think of Eva like molecules of Chi. Elementally the same thing, just Eva has a tightly compacted structure!"
"Ranma, if I remember correctly, you were never very good in school!"
"Well, what can I say, I learn well in my sleep!" Ranma said sheepishly.
"So, why the elemental energy?"
"The elemental energy is the only thing that can allow an Eva 'molecule' to form without it breaking! And like regular atoms, and molecules under those circumstances, you can expect a nuclear explosion, just made out of raw Chi energy. The elemental energy supports it when it's forming, and prevents it from breaking under it's own 'weight'!" finished Ranma.
"So what about the sub-atomic, or sub-Chi particles?"
"Huh?"
"The 'electrons', 'protons' and 'neutrons'!"
"Oh, them! I don't really know. I don't think they are large enough to use. But I do know that their ratios are connected to emotions! A certain emotion equals a certain ratio for the sub-Chi particles! I also think that these particles have something to do with elemental energy!"
"Oh. So, what are you going to do now?" asked Cell.
"What ya mean?" asked Ranma, put off balance by the suddenness of the question.
"Well, the Z-fighters, you probably remember them, won't believe that I am no longer a threat, and they may believe you to be another android created by Dr. Gero or something like that!" Cell stated logically.
This gave Ranma some food for thought. "Well," he started slowly. "I guess I should stock up on some Eva. Then I guess you could train me to do a Kamehameha, and all those, other cool chi attacks. Maybe I could be your student!" asked Ranma hopefully.
Now it was Cell's turn to eat. "Well, you show true promise on the battlefield. I'm sure that between my knowledge of the Z-fighters attacks and abilities, and my own training methods, I could make you a supreme fighter! Perhaps greater than I!"
"Well, don't get too egotistical on me!" remarked Ranma.
"Today my student, is the day you learn the true meaning of training!" laughed Cell, in a distinctly evil tone.
"I'm gonna regret this!" murmured Ranma as he stared at his wildly laughing mentor.

Two weeks later, Ranma found himself once again meditating on top of the mountain, however this time he was floating gently on a cushion of Chi.
He had his hands together, cupped, in his lap, energy crackling just above them. He gently formed mental strands of Eva and formed them into a small sphere that he directed towards the ground.
The small sphere of amber flew towards the ground and upon contact dissipated like mist, which rolled along the ground in all direction, giving new life to the old, hard rock. In the wake, grass grew. Soil was formed from granite. Blossoms bloomed.
The wake went for 30cm in all directions, creating an oasis of life in the heart of the mountainous region, where it was rare to find. It caused Ranma to smile, until he was hit on the head.
Cell said in the way of an explanation, "Don't get cocky kid. Your not nearly good enough yet."

Once again, we find Ranma and Cell on top of the mountain, three weeks later. Swirling around both of them, were their perspective auras. For Cell, it was like a roaring bonfire of white and yellow flame, but for Ranma, the aura was blue and white, intense and glaring, with thousands of tiny motes of energy flying, floating, swirling within and around his aura, making little chiming noises, like crystals.
The two auras were identical in size, and completely passive, not affecting anything of their environment, just being. Both of them were facing each other, in their cross-legged poses.
Occasionally Cell would enlarge his aura, sometimes shrink it, Ranma's training was to match these alterations.
Quite suddenly, Cell frowned and shut off his aura, opened his eyes and looked at Ranma, who had suppressed his own aura and looked questioningly at Cell.
"Ranma, I know that you are a quick study, but this is amazing," Cell told his exceptional student. "To master the training so quickly as to let your mind wander!"
Ranma blushed and bowed from his pose. "Gomen, sensei!"
"It's alright, but, tell me, what is it that you were thinking of. I have a good feeling it's about martial arts, otherwise you wouldn't be so preoccupied!" smiled Cell, enjoying his role as benevolent sensei.
Ranma scratched the base of his pigtail with his right hand, laughing nervously. "Well, I was thinking, my old man made up two schools of martial arts, of his own, really powerful as well. I was wondering, could I make up one of my own?" he took a uniquely serious expression.
Cell was surprised, "Ranma, if you made up a new school, I would be very impressed and I would consider you as an accomplished master. Although, as I didn't learn martial arts in the same way as everyone else: I none-the-less feel that, that single accomplishment would mean that you may, very well, be beyond my teaching! So, did you have any ideas about this new school?"
Ranma was once again sheepish, "I kinda thought up a few."
"A few techniques to start your school on, good strategy." Cell said approvingly.
"No, ah. A few schools!"
Cell facevaulted, "Exactly how long were you zoned out for?"

Later on that day, after their arduous training, both Cell and Ranma were once again, cross-legged in the same spot, both sweating heavily due to the strenuous Chi exercises.
Cell ignited a pile of firewood in between them. The wood was made both dry and aflame in a second, due to the tiny bolt of intense energy. Both of them looked into the flames for a time, before Cell broke the ice.
"Now that we have a moment, do you want to tell me a bit about your school ideas?"
"Sure," replied Ranma enthusiastically. "Well, I was thinking about going to the same school as the youngest Z-fighter, y'know Gohan! That way, maybe I can convince them I'm not an Android or anythin'..."
"Ranma, that is a good idea, but I was talking about the martial arts schools ideas, that you had earlier!"
"Oh, well I was thinking a lot about my old man's 'forbidden' schools, the Umisenken and the Yamasenken. They're powerful enough to give you a run for your money if that Vegeta dude learned them! But they've got loads of flaws, flaws that I think I can iron out." Ranma began thoughtfully and paused.
"Go ahead!" reassured Cell.
"Well, I was thinking, with my Eva manipulation ability, now, I might be able to create schools much more powerful than any other, it's just that no-one else could learn them. But I guess, I could find other mystical nexuses and make my students Eva users too!"
"No, never do that!" snapped Cell. "Do you have any idea the consequences that would happen if someone was given the ability to use Eva, and taught to use it. True, there is a possibility that some of your students, if you decide to teach, will use their powers and abilities for unselfish reasons. However, others, far to many, in my humble opinion, could easily become corrupted by that power and could easily be too powerful, or too numerous for you and any other students to fight against. The risk is so great that it's unthinkable!" Cell took a breath and sighed, "Promise me Ranma, promise that you will never give someone the knowledge to become an Eva user. We can't help that I know, but I will never try to get that power, and I promise that I will never tell anyone how!"
"Sure, I guess, you make a lot of sense, 'n' all! I promise, no one will know of how to gain Eva from me!" Ranma took a few scrolls from his subspace pocket and threw the rolled-up pieces of paper into the hungry flames. The old material crackled, as the heat, releasing long wisps of black smoke and shrivelling the paper into ash, licked it at.
"So," Cell began eager to change the subject, "About your ideas for those schools!"
Ranma smiled now back into his element. "Well, I though about making new and improved versions of my old man's so-called 'forbidden' schools. And since they focus on stealth and offence. I thought that creating schools that focused on other things, like defence, long-range and close-range combat, self-enhancement and a general merging of all of these. Kinda like a Kaio-ken attack but a complete fusion of all the other schools as well as a power-up!"
Cell nodded. "Interesting. So many schools, with such focus would be best if used in a combination! Yet each can have various specialised attacks and methods. There is definite potential there!"
"So I can train and develop them!"
"Train, yes, but I think that you should think over your ideas a little more, refine it and that way, you can focus on training, instead of have your concentration split in half. I don't think you'll have much of a wait. One more week of training and you'll be almost as powerful as I am!"
"Really!"
"Well, perhaps. You may and you may not, but if you do it will be because of hard work and concentration, not daydreaming!"

The next day, Ranma and Cell once more can be found sitting across from each other in their cross-legged position, meditating furiously. Their respective auras swirled around each other. They frowned, focusing their energies, until, suddenly Ranma's eyes snapped open.
He barely got a chance to groan before he passed out!

Meanwhile, at Kami's Lookout, the Z-fighters were assembled.
Goku and Gohan were standing with Chichi, to one side of the Lookout, getting soundly shouted at by the overwrought woman. Somehow, even quite some time after the stillborn tournament, manage to be angry with Goku for putting her Gohan in danger by taking him there.
Vegeta and future Trunks were getting similar treatment from Bulma, as she held baby trunks.
Piccolo was sitting cross-legged, chatting with Mr. Pobo and Dende, between two trees that lined most of the Lookout's perimeter.
Yamacha, Tien and Krillin were standing as a group to one side, deep in thought, worried about the Cell situation.
The one thought, which was shared by all of the fighters present, was: 'Who was that small boy and how was he connected to Cell?'
Krillin was one of the exceptions. He was worried about 18, the beautiful, yet tomboyish Android that he fell for. She was absorbed into Cell, through his Kyuushyuu ability, for him to complete his transformation into his 'perfect' form.
He missed her. But not so much that he wouldn't notice the two large approaching auras.
One by one, all of the fighters tensed up and looked west.

Cell flew as fast as he could; his small precious cargo safely tucked in his arms. His aura flared like a comet, the vapour trail extending far into the distance. He rushed as fast as he could, pushing himself to the limits of his ability, limits he had believed to be unsurpassable after he learned he had any, in the first place!

"It's so... strong!" stated Goku, in a ready stance, gritting his teeth, his hair golden-white and spiky and his aura ready.
"It must be Cell!" Krillin stated the obvious.
"But, where is that second, smaller aura coming from?" asked Piccolo, aware that no one had the answer.

Cell came closer to the Lookout; he could practically taste the Chi signatures of the Z-fighters. He slowed down, still anxious for his charge, but willing to take the time so that it does not appear to be a threatening action.
He came within sight of the floating structure and carefully righted himself, suppressing his aura and landed gently on the tiled surface of the Lookout's grounds.

Goku was the first to react. He walked up to the silently standing Cell, both of their faces grim and tense.
"Why are you here Cell?" asked Goku when he came within a few feet of Cell.
As an answer, Cell moved his arms, revealing his small charge's snoring, form.
Goku looked at him, puzzled.
Once again, as an answer, Cell shifted his arms, to reveal to Goku the reason for Ranma's earlier pain and present unconsciousness.
"A tail!" shouted Goku, waking Ranma in the process, earning him a stern stare from Cell.
"Oh, Cell-sensei. I had the weirdest dream. A long brown tail came out my butt, and I passed out." said Ranma dreamily. He let out a little sneeze and his tail came up to wipe his nose. It went back to rest and for a full two seconds, nothing happened. "Ahhhh!" screamed Ranma, jumping from Cell's arms, staring in complete shock at his tail.
"How could he be a Saiyan?" asked Goku of Cell.
"So you came to the same conclusion as I." He sighed and rubbed at the corner of one of his eyes. "I was hoping that you could tell me that, actually!"

A few hours later found all of the Z-fighters, Ranma and Cell in a comfortably large room, which somehow had escaped discovery by any of them in the past. Only now did Mr. Pobo reveal its existence.
The room was cylindrical and plain. The place was well lit and had a number of comfy chairs and tatami mats arranged in a very Feng Shui manner.
They were all, silent. Most were staring at Cell, while he and Ranma were staring at his tail, Ranma in shock, and Cell in bemusement.
It was Piccolo who broke the silence. "So, Mr. Pobo. How come none of us knew of this room before?"
"Well," explained the pleasant black man. "I get so lonely up here. In the past, I either spoke to Kami, or now, Dende. I needed a hobby, so I started collecting stamps, and so forth. This is the room where I practice my Feng Shui!" he blushed embarrassed.
There was a pause, the silence beginning to settle back in, however Bulma yelped in joy as she looked at a calculator-like device in her hands. "I am such a genius!"
"Huh," said most of the people in the room in one freakily simultaneous query.
"Well, it's like this," began Bulma. "Doctor Gero, made Cell, by combining and manipulating DNA and artificial DNA made from data from Saiyans, demi-Sayains, Freiza, so forth. As you know, Saiyans and humans are genetically quite similar. It is possible that during this Chi incident between Cell and Ranma, that the Saiyan-DNA from Cell mutated Ranma's DNA into that of a Saiyan, as the human and Saiyan DNA strands resonated with each other's Chi. I would not be surprised if Ranma also demonstrates some Namekian and other various abilities from the donors that went to make Cell!"
"How can you be sure?" asked Cell.
Bulma chewed absently on the tip of one of her pens. "I can't really be sure. I don't know enough about Chi and the techniques used, or about your unique genetics. This is pure guesswork. There are loads of variables that I just can't keep track of, but I can tell you, as an educated guess it's pretty good, and it's the best idea that I can think of. Unless you have another theory." She said slyly, then realising who she was talking too.
Cell smirked at Bulma's caught-in-the-headlights expression. "Well, what did happen, due to the incident, that I know of, other than this." He pointed to Ranma's tail. "Is that Ranma and I mentally merged for a small amount of time. During which, we were both altered. I know almost every detail of Ranma's life, up until the incident, and the same vice versa."
"I guess that means his memories made you not want to kill anymore, huh?" asked Krillin.
"No, in fact it makes me want to destroy you all, even more!" Cell replied grimly. "Ranma's life was not remotely close to peaches and cream. His father is a fat, lazy, often-drunk piss-poor excuse for a father. His mother is the sanest of all of the people he knew, which isn't saying much. She has a fascination for him to be 'manly,' goodness knows exactly what she means by that! He has been sold off to countless people, in return for food or money for his pig-lazy father, in my personnel opinion, I doubt that he really is Ranma's father! He has numerous fiancés, due to his 'father's' selling of him, arranging a hundred horrors for Ranma in his youth, in 'the name of the art.' I could tell you of some of them, but I don't want you to be sick when I haven't finished." The group looked bemusedly at Cell, who just carried on regardless. "His entire nineteen years have been nothing but trial after trail, neverending and constanstly confusing, and disorientating. I wouldn't live his life then if I were paid to live even a second of it!" he stated in conclusion, to the startled faces of most of the people present.
"Well, uh. That doesn't sound too nice!" said Goku, stating the obvious. "I can guess you have to be of strong moral character to have survived that unscathed!" he looked speculatively at Ranma, trying to assess him further, and deeper.
"Oh, you poor little mite!" exclaimed Chichi as her strong maternal instincts took hold. She rushed forward and bundled the small boy in a number of unnecessary scarves. Afterwards, she dragged his shell-shocked and bandaged form over to beside Gohan, leaving towards the direction of the kitchen, muttering about having to make more food.
Gohan rubbed the back of his head as he stared after his mum, the golden-white hair, charged with energy in his Super Sayain State.
Cell leaned over towards Goku and asked with a low voice. "Didn't she hear me say 'his entire nineteen years'?"
Goku responded in a stage whisper. "She hears things selectively!"
"Oh. Ranma's mother is a lot like that!" Cell noted. "Ranma's actually quite unusual."
"How so?" asked Piccolo, the rest of the people in the room looking at Cell, questioningly.
Cell crossed his arms and closed in eyes, in a typical Piccolo-pose. "Ranma, I hope you don't mind if I tell them about this?"
Ranma was busy struggling out of the mountain of scarves, being helped, kindly, by Gohan. He made the time to reply, "Na, I don't mind. They'll find out eventually, anyway."
Cell nodded silently, and spoke. "As I mentioned earlier, Ranma has lived for nineteen years, much longer than apparent. In another dimension he was born and raised, if you could really call it being 'raised'. In that dimension, he was taught to be a martial artist, as soon as he could walk, and he became the best in his world. He was a protégé, and still is. His skill was great, however, in that world they dealt more with skill than the raw power than is such a dominant part of being a martial artist in this world."
Goku piped up spontaneously, "Like those aliens, on Yardrat, that taught me the Instant Transmission!"
Cell looked at Goku, pausing from his storytelling. "Instant Transmission?"
"A technique that's like super-speed, except you go as fast as light!"
"Interesting," Cell looked at Goku, speculatively and obviously thought a bit higher of Goku. He continued the tale of Ranma's earlier life. "Ranma lived a very complicated and overly confusing life, where almost everyone in his life was trying to control him. He was kept so off balance that he wasn't capable of dealing with his problems, especially as they were constantly changing. Unsurprisingly, he was incapable of doing much other than fighting, he was less educated that you, Goku!"
"Hey!" whined Goku.
"Poor, poor boy!" said Piccolo shaking his head pityingly.
The other Z-fighters either looked at Ranma sympathetically, or looked at Cell to see wither he was lying or not.
"Also, in that other reality, he discovered the ability to create or utilise an advanced form of Chi, called Eva. Eva, in case your wondering, makes Ranma almost immortal, and allowed him to not only fight me, by also, under my tutelage, become as powerful as me!"
The others in the room first looked, startled and suspicious at Cell, then at Ranma, who nodded an affirmative. "Well," Ranma amended. "I'm not as powerful as Cell, just very close!"
Now, Vegeta piped up. "How on Earth can you, a mere child be as powerful as Cell, or even 'very close'!" he shouted, enraged that a mere child should have so much, greater, power than he had.
Ranma pondered for a moment and replied. "Well, every Eva molecule in my body acts like a self-contained aura, highly condensed and becomes even stronger after my own aura is powered up. Well, not exactly like that, it's more like, those Eva aura and my own personnel aura, are harmonised, the more I train with my aura, and Chi abilities, the more powerful my Eva abilities become. It works like that the other way round as well! It is the collective energies of both my Eva molecules and my own aura, that are almost as powerful as Cell!"
Goku; throughout was pondering in his own, childish way. "Um, Trunks. How is it that you never mentioned Ranma to us, I mean, you are from the future, so haven't you heard of a future version of Ranma?"
Trunks shook his head, a bemused look on his face. "No, never. Mum never mentioned him, and she told me a lot about the others here, but, nothing about Ranma!"
Ranma shrugged his shoulders and stated clearly. "Well, the Nanban mirror allows for time travel, and dimensional travel. It's possible that because of this, my coming here has created an alternate future other than yours, Trunks, just like what you are trying to do. So, I guess in your future, there's no mention of me, because I didn't exist, but here, in the new future, I do exist, see?"
Trunks nodded, appreciatively. "Yeah, just like the other slight differences: Goku's heart disease hitting him later on; the different androids; Cell, all the other, less noticeable, things have either been the source, or by-product of some sort of quantum effect that occurs due to time-travel!"
Ranma nodded, then turned to Gohan and commented. "Cool hair, I like the Piccolo-style shoulder-cape thing!"
Gohan smiled and said, "Thanks, I think they do go nicely together, the Super Saiyan hair and the cape!"
"Yep, really cool!" Ranma agreed.

Cell was getting uncomfortable; Ranma and Gohan were talking amicably, as were the other Z-fighters, except for Krillin, who just kept staring hatefully at Cell. Finally, he snapped.
"Hey, Baldy, what are you looking at?"
Krillin just glared more.
"It's because of Eighteen, isn't it?" asked Trunks, who had been listening in, just like the others, since Cell's outburst. "You liked her!"
Krillin glared more at Cell, but also blushed.
"Well," said Cell, slightly relieved that there was something that he could do to stop the annoying staring. Well, he could just kill Baldy, but that wouldn't be a good thing to do, according to his newly rearranged morals. He raised a fist and punched himself in the stomach.
The squishing noise drew everyone's attention, including Bulma, who was leading in a figure, disguised by the shadows. Cell hacked and coughed as he warped out of shape, like piece of gelatine. Out of his distorted mouth, came a pair of feet, covered in a membrane, lubricated in green ooze. He continued this very disgusting procedure, until the entire membrane sack had came out of his mouth, then he became properly shaped, again.
Everyone in the room was staring at the scene with morbid curiosity and no slight amount of disgust.
Cell calmly took one of his hands, and made a sweeping motion along the length of the cocoon, splitting it like a melon, to reveal the undistorted form of Android Eighteen.
Cell explained calmly to the assorted crowd, "My body was so busy digesting Seventeen that it didn't get around to fully absorbing Eighteen's cells. She was secreted in a dimensional pocket and tapped into. Since this did not decrease my power level any, I was content to let it last like that until I got round to absorbing her completely. Oh, well, good thing I had to wait, isn't it?"
Krillin rushed to Eighteen's side and lifted her head up, so that she would be more comfortable, when she woke up. "Eighteen, are you alright?"
The Android murmured in her enforced sleep, and drowsily opened her eyes. "Uh, what hit me?"
"Me," answered Cell helpfully, still smiling, even after Eighteen, floated-cum-jumped, from Krillin to face Cell, still shakily. "Oh, do sit down. We both know you're in no fit state to fight! I would massacre you!"
Eighteen fell down, too exhausted to continue standing. "What is happening?"
Krillin, helpfully explained, "Well, it's like this: This boy Ranma is from another dimension popped up and fought Cell, somehow, their minds kinda overlapped, and Cell's good now!"
Eighteen looked completely lost, and blinked a few times.
"Hey, guys. That was really gross!" stated Bulma, butting into all conversation, standing in the doorway, and still looking a little green. "I, uh, have some good news for you!" She moved to one side and beckoned for a figure from behind her to come forth.
A large man in green armour and a black jump suit, with a red mochican hairstyle, along with a distant look in his eyes, walked into the room, stooping under the doorframe as he came past.
"Sorry he took so long, Dad kinda spilled coffee into his head!" said Bulma apologetically.
"Oh, he survived. How interesting!" Cell exclaimed, and promptly went back to chatting with Goku.