Chapter 2: The 'Weakling' Older Brother.

Stunned silence. Akane was no exception, being rendered speechless. She was merely glancing between them, taking a closer look. Now that she did so, she could see the family resemblance. They both had the same nose, the same shape to the eyes, same bearing. Behind her Akane could hear whispers once again breaking out.

"Brother?! Did he say brother?"

"Come to think of it..."

"...They do like alike..."

"...he's even better looking than Genryu..."

"...can have him, I got dibs on..."

"...ot a chance! I saw..."

The whispers suddenly cut off as Genryu started walking forward, toward Ranma and Akane, speaking as he walked.

"Well, now I know I have nothing to worry about. I thought I might have to fight you, like most other idiots who have been showing up. But even if I do have to fight you, at least I know I've got an easy fight ahead of me."

Akane, remembering how Ranma had so easily stopped Ryoga's umbrella, and how easily he had taken out Kuno, tried to protest.

"Genryu, he's got to be really strong! You saw how fast he took out Kuno! And besides, he IS your brother! Wouldn't that make him more or less your equal in fighting?"

Genryu stopped to stare at Akane in shock. "My EQUAL?! Akane, you don't know a thing! Ranma's always been weaker than me, even back when we were little kids! Just before Pops took me on that training trip, I remember trashing Ranma in a simple exercise! Then he had to go and run away, he was so weak!"

Akane spoke in a shocked whisper. "Run away?" She glanced at Ranma from the corner of her eye, seeing him gazing at Genryu with extreme dislike etched onto his features. Then she looked Ranma over again. There was no mistaking his muscular physique, and the grace with which he moved. "But Genryu-"

Genryu interrupted, putting his foot in his mouth as he usually did. "Ah shut up ya tomboy! Have some faith in me once in a while!"

Akane felt a few veins pop out on her head. She restrained herself form grinding Genryu into the dirt. Again. Instead she merely turned her back on him in a huff. "Fine. I don't know why I'm so worried about an arrogant jerk like you anyway!"

"Oh yeah, well I don't need the concern of a stupid, violent tomboy like you!"

Ranma just stood to the side, watching them with a confused expression. He made a quick scan of their auras, and couldn't hold back a chuckle at what he found. Both Genryu and Akane turned to him, hearing the chuckle.

"And what's so funny?!"

Ranma looked at Genryu, his voice containing a definite note of humor. "Are you two engaged?"

Genryu and Akane felt their anger sputter out. (How did he...?)

Ranma explained, as if he could read their minds. "Neither of you are wearing a wedding band, but the two of you bicker like a married couple."

Just as Genryu and Akane opened their mouths to give their usual protests, Kuno regained consciousness. He struggled to his feet with a series of pained grunts and pops as his joints reset themselves. Akane and Genryu looked on, not surprised in the least. Ranma's eyebrows rose of their own accord.

"Talk about resilient. He should've stayed down for another three hours."

Kuno sought out the source of his current state and soon found him. He raised his bokken and charged forward. Or rather, stumbled forward. Several people thought that Kuno had merely started to fall and was now trying to stay upright, and just happened to be stumbling toward his intended target.

"Foul Demon, I fight on! The wrath of Heaven is slow but sure! I shall always rise again until you have been struck down by my most righteous technique!"

Ranma merely looked on, a smile on his face. "Good. I can always use a laugh."

Then Kuno stumbled into striking distance. Instead of punching him, Ranma merely raised his left hand, the index finger extended, and placed his finger in the center of Kuno's forehead. Ranma then gave what appeared to be a light shove. Only instead of falling over, Kuno shot backwards as if he were fired form a gun until he collided with the school wall, which exploded around him into a cloud of dust and cement fragments.

The audience looked on in shock as Kuno crumpled to the ground amidst pieces of cement and dust. Then whispers broke out again.

"Did you see that?!"

"...with one finger..."

"...barely a love tap..."

"...look at the wall..."

"Dibs!"

"...no way, you got..."

"...'s mine..."

Genryu looked on and finally got about to putting his jaw back into place. Then he saw Ranma turn slightly to look at him, a dangerous and slightly feral grin on his face.

"Care to try your luck, little brother?"

Genryu instantly bristled as the crowd was once again silenced. "Alright, Right here, Right now!!"

Genryu quickly fell into a stance and charged, preparing for a roundhouse kick, followed up by a hammer blow to the back. Ranma would be downed instantly.

Ranma, however, simply waited for a moment until Genryu got within range. Just as Genryu gathered his feet underneath him to leap into the air, Ranma struck, blurring slightly as he stepped forward with his left foot and struck out with his left hand in an open palm strike. Ranma's strike took Genryu in the stomach, and Genryu folded over the blow slightly, the air driven from his lungs.

Genryu was thrown a few feet away as the force of the blow caught up with his body, and he curled into a ball, gasping for breath and wondering just how much damage he had taken. His entire body hurt, and felt really funny. After regaining his breath, Genryu climbed to his feet only to find that his legs felt like wet noodles, and that he could barely stand. His arms didn't feel any better, and he could feel a serious stomach ache coming on.

(What in the hell was that?! I couldn't have taken all this damage from just one blow, and surely not form a simple palm strike! What did he do?!)

Ranma, for his part, looked fairly disappointed. "Well, if that's all you can take...I must say, I'm rather disappointed Genryu. I expected so much more from you." Ranma turned to leave, tucking his left hand into his cloak pocket.

"Wait!!"

Ranma stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"We're...not done...yet..."

Ranma snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. You can barely stand. If you want to truly fight me, then issue a formal challenge."

Genryu ground his teeth. "Fine...This Friday, at the...football field...just after school."

Ranma nodded, then started walking. Akane rushed to Genryu just as his legs gave out and she caught him before he could hit the ground.

"Come on, I better get you to Dr. Tofu's."

Genryu didn't protest as Akane helped him to his feet and supported him to the Dr. Tofu's clinic, making the blue haired girl rather worried about just how injured he really was.

:Tofu's Clinic:

Dr. Tofu looked over Genryu, his brow creased in puzzlement. Genryu was currently sitting on a patient bed, shirtless, with Akane occupying a nearby stool, looking on with concern.

"So, Doc, what's the verdict?"

Tofu stood up and sat down in a nearby chair while considering the answer to Genryu's question. Finally, Tofu spoke, asking a few questions.

"First, tell me where you were hit, Genryu, and how many times."

Genryu frowned and mumbled something. Akane, seeing this, spoke for him.

"Honestly, Genryu, you should just tell him. Dr, he was struck only once, in the stomach."

Tofu nodded while rubbing at his chin with his right hand. "I thought as much."

Akane and Genryu blinked in surprise. "You...did?"

Tofu nodded and stood up, walking over to his bookshelf. He glanced over the book titles, finally grabbing one, speaking as he searched. "Yes. A few years ago, an archeologist friend of mine sent me a copy of an old manuscript he had discovered dealing with the martial arts. The manuscript gave a brief description of a fighting style called 'The Gentle Fist.'"

Tofu opened the book and found the page he was looking for before he handed the book to Genryu, who glanced over the page. Akane came over to look over Genryu's shoulder while Tofu continued.

"It seems that this fighting style was created by a group of Tibetan monks who believed in self defense. These monks devised a style of combat that would allow them to defend themselves against even the most durable of foes without actually killing them. The style was one of the most powerful ever created, as you could cripple, or even kill, with a single blow to anywhere on the body. The strange thing is, the style was almost totally composed of palm strikes and some of the more advanced moves involved finger jabs."

Genryu blinked as he thought about Tofu's words, mentally comparing them to Ranma's attack. 'As you could cripple, or even kill, with a single blow...composed almost totally of palm strikes.' Ranma had hit him with a palm strike, and Genryu had almost gone down. Genryu returned his attention to Tofu as the doctor started speaking.

"The manuscript didn't go into how the style truly worked, but from the descriptions in it I've developed a theory about how it works. And seeing Genryu's injury has backed up that theory slightly."

Genryu handed the book to Akane and looked at Tofu. "So, what's the theory Doc?"

Tofu frowned as he once again rubbed at his chin. "The theory is rather simple in explanation. As a Gentle Fist fighter strikes his opponent, he releases ki from the palm of his hand or the tips of his fingers, and pushes it into the opponent's body. The result wouldn't really hurt right away, depending on the power of the strike, but as the battle goes on, you would most certainly feel the effects. Especially in your ki system."

Genryu nodded. His ki had been feeling really weird ever since Ranma got lucky.

"Even someone as durable as Ryoga couldn't stand against this style."

Genryu blinked in surprise. "Why not?"

Tofu shook his head as he sat down, letting his arms rest on the arms of the chair. "Even if you block the strikes the damage is still done, and there's no way to train your internal organs, which take the damage. You said you have a stomach ache right?"

At Genryu's nod, Tofu continued.

"Well, that's because Gentle Fist targets a person's internal organs. You're lucky he didn't strike you in the chest. I think that you'll be down for a few days, not able to do anything to strenuous, but if he hit your chest, the damage to your heart and lungs would've made you bedridden for over a week. 'Sigh'... there's one thing that truly troubles me about this."

Akane looked up from the book. "What's that Dr. Tofu?"

Tofu pinched the bridge of his nose before answering. "Remember how I said that an archeologist sent me the manuscript? Well, he discovered several. None of them went into the inner workings of the style, probably a security measure. However, one scroll contained a list of everyone who ever studied the style, master and student alike. What day and year they were born, and what day and year they died."

Tofu leaned back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment.

"It should be impossible for someone to know the style in this day and age."

"Why?"

Tofu dropped his gaze to the two teenagers, who were gazing at him with interest.

"Because the last practitioner of the Gentle Fist died well over seven hundred years ago."

:Tendo Residence:

Because the last practitioner of the Gentle Fist died well over seven hundred years ago.

Genryu was lying on his back in the room he shared with his father, staring up at the ceiling above him, hearing Dr. Tofu's words running through his head repeatedly. (How could Ranma, who had no talent when it came to fighting, have learned a style that died out centuries ago? It doesn't make sense.) Genryu held his left hand up, wincing slightly as his arm protested. He studied his hand for a moment, and then a look of intense concentration came over his face as he took his ki and tried to expel it from his hand. All that happened was his battle aura materialized around his hand momentarily. He shook his head and let his battle aura vanish, and his arm dropped down onto the floor.

(Looks like it really was a fluke, since I can't do it. In any case, this Friday will be an easy fight. Even if Ranma can get lucky a second time, I'm going to be watching for it.) With that final thought, Genryu shut his eyes and let sleep take him.

:Nearby:

On a roof across the street a figure stood, concealed quite well in the darkness of night, looking into Genryu's room through the window. The eyes of the figure were focused on Genryu's prone form.

A break in the clouds above let some moonlight filter down, revealing the figure to be Ranma, still wearing his black cloak, his hand in his pockets. After Ranma had walked away from Genryu, he had trailed his younger brother all day, learning quite a bit about him.

First and foremost was the fact that Genryu was considered to be the best martial artist of his generation in the area, with a Hibiki Ryoga one step behind him. Second was that Genryu was cursed to turn into a girl with cold water, and then back to a boy with warm. Third was that Genryu lived with a family called the Tendo's, and that he and Genma were freeloading guests. Fourth was that Genryu was engaged to the youngest Tendo, Akane, who Ranma had gotten directions from earlier that day. And the last thing Ranma had learned about his younger brother was that he was also engaged to a young Chinese Amazon by the name of Shampoo, who was now living in Nerima with her great-grandmother Cologne, another Chinese Amazon of incredible age and experience.

(Speaking of Amazons, I'd better do something about those two watching me.) Ranma grinned slightly as he called out, his voice casual. "You can come out now. Hiding behind that air conditioning unit isn't working."

Instantly two blurs shot from behind the large blocky structure and headed for Ranma, who had yet to turn around. He grinned slightly as he waited. Once the two blurs were practically on top of him, Ranma moved. He jumped straight up, letting the blows aimed at his back pass harmlessly underneath him, and flipped backwards in mid-air, landing on his feet behind his assailants. They turned around to face him, falling into battle stances as they did so. Ranma looked on, impassively, his hands still in his pockets, totally relaxed.

The two that had just attacked him were almost completely opposite of each other. Other than the facts that they were female, related, and both Chinese amazons, they didn't have anything in common.

One was rather young, about Ranma's age, and was wearing a purple and white fighting outfit that displayed her female assets while also allowing freedom of movement. She had long, lavender hair that flowed freely down her back, with two slightly gaudy pins in it. In each hand she held a bonbori, a heavy Chinese mace, with little strain apparent in her arms. Ranma assumed her name was Shampoo, the younger female Amazon he had heard about in Nerima.

The other was, in contrast, incredibly old, short, and wrinkled. Normally, she'd only stand about two feet tall, but as she was perfectly balanced on a three-foot staff of wood, she stood about five feet tall. She was dressed in the robes of a village elder, and Ranma could sense that the robes were well deserved. She had a well of experience within her, and a huge amount of ki to back the experience up. This had to be Cologne.

Cologne studied him for a moment before speaking, her voice gravely with age. "Well, you most certainly are Son-in-law's brother. You bare a strong resemblance to him, both physically and spiritually."

Ranma looked back, his grin still in place. "There a reason you attacked me?"

Shampoo took a step forward, holding her bonbori a little higher. "You no hurt Airen! Shampoo no let you!"

Ranma blinked in surprise as Shampoo crouched down, preparing to charge. Just as the muscles tightened in her legs, Cologne reached over and placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Don't attack him on your own, child. He's too strong for you to handle alone."

Ranma's grin turned into a smirk of its own accord. He felt his pride show through slightly as he spoke. "Truth be told, neither of you stand a chance, even working together. But you, Cologne, look to be quite a rare challenge. Fighting you would be something to look forward to." Ranma's smirk then turned into a frown. "But I won't fight since that would mean I would either have to kill you two, or end up being married to you. Neither option is very likable at the moment."

With that, Ranma turned and started walking away. Shampoo bristled but Cologne's hand kept her calm enough to keep her from recklessly charging forward.

"The marriage laws are exempt for this battle. Shampoo already has a husband, and I'm too old to want to go chasing after a man. And even if that wasn't the case, as this is a battle for the protection of the tribe, the laws are still exempt."

Cologne released Shampoo, letting the girl charge forward while Cologne circled around to behind Ranma as he turned to deal with Shampoo. Ranma kept his relaxed, non-combative stance, his hands still in his pockets, as Shampoo reached him. She made a horizontal swing at his head with her left bonbori, followed by a thrust with her right. Ranma ducked under the first blow, and dodged to the left of the second, then had to jump to avoid a sweep kick as Shampoo crouched down and struck out with her right leg. He landed and made another small jump, this time taking himself a few feet away from Shampoo. In response, Shampoo brought her legs underneath her; gathering her strength for a powerful, if low in height, leap into the air. She jumped toward Ranma, striking out with both bonbori as she flew at him. He dodged to the left, letting her fly by, and was forced to duck as she spun in midair, striking out with both legs in an attempt to wrap her legs around his neck.

At that moment, Cologne came at him from behind, striking out with her staff, the wood blurring as she used the pointed end in an attempt to hit several shiatsu points. Ranma spun around, still crouching, and grabbed the end of the staff with his right hand, looking Cologne in the eyes.

"So, what's this about 'protecting the tribe'? I'm not attacking you or Shampoo."

Cologne hid her surprise at Ranma's strength as she found that her staff was held tightly, and she couldn't reclaim it. Her voice held a note of respect as she answered. "We're protecting Son-in-law from you. You have a match with him this Friday, and I fear you may kill him during the match."

Ranma nodded. "Then you may rest assured. I may not like him, but Genryu is my brother, and I won't kill or cripple him."

Cologne merely shook her head, then shoved forward unexpectedly with her staff while Shampoo came in from behind, swinging her bonbori toward Ranma's shoulders in an attempt to break them. In response, Ranma released Cologne's staff and leapt into the air so fast that he blurred slightly. The two bonbori crashed together with a dull 'CLANK' and Ranma did a 180 in the air, and landed on Shampoo's weapons, facing her. He crouched down so he could come closer to looking into her eyes, and she blinked up at him in surprise.

"You have talent, but against me you stand no chance."

Ranma flicked his right wrist and several long, thin needles suddenly dropped from within his cloak sleeve to his hand. He caught the needles between his fingers, the moonlight glinting off them. Shampoo saw the needles and instantly dropped her bonbori and leapt back. She landed in a combat stance just as Ranma leapt toward her, several needles appearing in his left hand as well. Shampoo leapt forward to engage him, ignoring Cologne's shout of "NO!"

Shampoo and Ranma passed each other, blurring slightly, and then stopped; both of them crouched down slightly. For a moment they stood still. Then Ranma stood up and turned to face Shampoo, who suddenly collapsed, the needles that had been in Ranma's hands now stuck at several key points in Shampoo's body. Cologne rushed forward and caught her great granddaughter before she could hit the ground and drive the needles deeper into her flesh.

Cologne's eyes narrowed as she held Shampoo's limp form. (Acupuncture needles? And their placement...those are merely spots that cause unconsciousness. So he wasn't aiming to kill her...What he said may be true.) Cologne looked up to study Ranma, who was looking at her, hands back in his pockets, totally relaxed.

"She'll sleep deeply for a few hours after you pull the needles out." Cologne merely grunted in reply, lowering Shampoo gently to the ground so as not to jar the needles, and Ranma grinned. "She's a very pretty girl. In time, I'd say she'll be downright stunning."

Cologne stepped over Shampoo, holding her staff before her. "Flattery will not stop this fight."

Ranma's grin vanished. "I already told you that I won't kill or cripple Genryu on Friday. There's no reason for you to fight me."

"No, I have one reason left." Cologne moved forward another step, and Ranma removed his hands from his pockets, studying her. "My pride."

Cologne shot forward, moving so fast that to most eyes she would've disappeared except for the occasional spot where she reappeared in mid-motion. She covered the distance between herself and Ranma and struck out with her staff, moving it at a speed and skill born from a lifetime of studying martial arts.

Ranma grinned as his right hand blurred forward, blocking or turning aside every attack. This attack moved much faster, and held more power, than her earlier attempt to strike the shiatsu points in his back. For a moment, Ranma thought he might even need to use both hands to defend himself. Then Cologne redoubled her efforts with a cry of "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" and Ranma brought his left hand into play.

Soon Cologne's attack took its toll on her, and she backed off. Ranma grinned at her as she cursed under her breath. (Not one strike made it through!! Damn!)

Ranma stood before her, his left hand held out before him with his right. "Not bad."

Cologne frowned as she decided to use another technique. Since attacking Ranma from the front had done nothing, even with the Chestnut Fist, she decided to up the ante. Ranma blinked as Cologne suddenly split into two separate images. The two images then split again, becoming four, and again, becoming six, and again until Ranma was completely surrounded by identical images of Cologne. The images started to rotate around him, and Ranma grinned.

Cologne, now deep within the Splitting Cats Hairs techniques, decided on her first angle of attack. While the images rotated, and appearing not to move, she drew back her staff in preparation for striking Ranma on his right side, when he suddenly turned toward her and struck out with his fist. Cologne brought her staff up to block, and as the fist impacted it and sent her flying away, dispelling the illusions, she heard Ranma speak, his voice quiet.

"Too slow."

As Cologne flew through the air, she felt a strong surge of ki from Ranma. She flipped over in the air to land on her feet, and then blinked in shock as she saw Ranma. Or rather, seven of him. Seven identical Ranmas looked at her with seven identical grins. As a wind blew across the roof they were on, the hair of each of the nine Ranma's blew about, signaling that this was an illusionary technique that stressed attention to detail.

Cologne placed her staff before, studying the elder Saotome brother and doing her best to spot the real Ranma. As her eyes switched from one Ranma to another, calculating, she spoke. "I must admit, I'm impressed. But there is only one real Ranma, and six illusions."

Cologne charged forward and the seven Ranmas grinned at her before they too charged. Cologne withdrew one hand to inside her robe and when it reappeared it held a small, white packet. As Cologne drew back her arm, the white packet held in between the tips of her fingers, she called out to Ranma, her voice triumphant.

"This will show the real you to me!"

She threw the packet so that it hit the ground right in front of the charging Ranmas, and it exploded, shooting a fine, white powder into the air. Cologne's plan was simple. Those that passed through without disturbing the white cloud would be illusions. The one that did disturb the powder was real. She narrowed her eyes and altered her perceptions slightly, making everything seem to slow down so she could see who would disturb the powder. So when the seven Ranmas passed through the powder, she saw perfectly how each and every one of them disturbed it, cutting a path through the white cloud not with illusionary, intangible bodies, but with true, solid, physical bodies.

Which meant one thing; those weren't illusions. She was facing seven real Ranmas.

Cologne almost did something she hadn't done in a hundred years. She almost panicked. As the seven Ranmas maneuvered themselves so that they surrounded her in a circle, all Cologne could do was stare. She had no knowledge of a technique that could create actual bodies. She didn't even have rumors or theories that such a thing could actually exist. To see a completely new wonder was so shocking that she almost forgot that she was in a fight. But as the Ranmas around her crouched down, she brought her staff up into a defensive position.

The Ranmas studied her, taking in her stance. Then as one they spoke. "Forbidden Secret Technique: The Prism of Seven." One Ranma stepped forward and Cologne focused on him as he started to speak. "I don't usually use this technique, but since you used such a low level illusionary technique against me, I thought that showing you this would impress upon you just how outclassed you really are."

He relaxed, as did the others, coming out of their combat stances and tucking their hands into their pockets as the one Ranma continued to speak. "As you've no doubt noticed, all seven of us are real. We each have as much power of the original, so basically I've just multiplied my power by seven. Will you concede defeat, or will you force me to put a stop to this game?"

Cologne considered her options carefully. She knew that she should back down. But her pride would not allow it. She was the Amazon Matriarch, and backing down was not possible. Not while she still had a trick up her sleeve. Cologne brought her staff to her side, and slid down, preparing herself for using her next technique.

"I still have one attack that can end this, even against seven of you. Now come, Saotome Ranma, and taste one of the strongest attacks of the Chinese Amazons, developed after several hundred years!"

The Ranma that had spoken gave a sigh of resignation as the other six backed away, giving the remaining Ranma and Cologne more room to maneuver. Cologne frowned. "This technique can easily defeat seven. Why do the other six back away?"

"Because they aren't needed. If you can defeat one of us, then the match will be declared as yours."

Cologne's eyes widened at the unexpected but welcome news and she nodded. "Then come."

Ranma studied her for a moment. Then he came at her, moving with impressive speed. He struck out at her with a straight jab and Cologne dodged to the left, then leaped into the air over one of Ranma's kicks. Cologne continued to back away while Ranma continued to strike at her, usually missing by a few millimeters.

As Ranma's fist once again missed by a fraction of an inch, he considered what Cologne was doing. (She's always dodging to her left, and she seems to be running in a circle.) His brows knit in concentration as another blow missed and he realized that they had just passed the spot where they had started. (No...she's moving in a spiral...and her aura is an ice aura...) He grinned. (Well then, if she's going to use that as her 'attack that can end this' who am I to stop her? Let's see what you've got Cologne.)

Ranma started to release a very small fraction of his ki, and focused it into a fire aura, releasing heat. Cologne thought that Ranma was getting frustrated at being unable to strike her and she kept leading him tighter and tighter into the spiral as Ranma's aura of heat slowly grew.

Cologne actually had a small sheen of sweat on her brow as she continued to move, dodging Ranma's strikes. (One more step...and...There!!) "Victory Is Mine! Hiryu Shoten HA!!" Cologne gave an uppercut that didn't even touch Ranma, instead blasting her own cold aura into his hot aura, thus completing the technique and summoning up a wind dragon to cart Ranma up to the higher reaches of the atmosphere.

Only Cologne's fist didn't connect with a heat aura. It connected with another cold aura. Cologne stared in astonishment as she realized what Ranma had done.

At the last second Ranma had instantly switched his aura from hot to cold, thus negating the effects of the spiral and stopping Cologne's last attack. Cologne calculated the time that was necessary for such a feat, since her fist was already rocketing upward toward his aura before he had changed it. She came up with somewhere under a second, something she herself couldn't do. Switching one's aura around was a tricky and difficult business, and to do so with any level of quickness required a massive level of control over one's ki. Cologne had clocked her fastest aura change to just over five seconds, setting what was supposedly an unbreakable record in the Amazon tribe.

As Ranma took a few steps back, snapping Cologne from her reverie as he started speaking. "I was surprised that you would use such a low level air dragon technique as your trump card. Still, the strategy was sound enough. If it had been against a group of other people, you would've won."

Ranma clenched his right hand into a fist, and Cologne watched as she felt him gather a small amount of ki into that hand.

"For giving me such a rare challenge I'll show you a move that's similar, but more powerful."

Ranma then gave a single uppercut, and a small twister formed as his arm traveled upward. Once his arm had completed the uppercut, the twister, about as high as Ranma was tall and only about two feet in diameter, suddenly shot across the roof to Cologne, who stood still, staring in shock. A moment later the small tornado hit her. And suddenly wasn't quite so small anymore. A tornado easily ten feet in diameter suddenly enveloped Cologne and carried her into the air.

She let the tornado run its course, only resisting it enough to prevent any injury to herself. After nearly a full three minutes, the tornado dispersed, dropping Cologne back down to the roof. She landed easily and looked around, noting the disappearance of Ranma and his six duplicates.

Police sirens in the distance caught her attention, and she pogoed over to Shampoo, who was still unconscious. Cologne gathered up her great-granddaughter, and headed back toward the restaurant, thinking about the eldest Saotome brother and wondering what else he had up his sleeve.

:Author's Note:

Ah, finally finished with that chapter. Hope everyone liked it, please review and tell me what you think. And don't worry, Ranma's past will be revealed as it comes back to haunt him.