Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Dragon Ball Z.

Author's Notes: Sometimes my stories seem to scream at me to write them, but sometimes I have to force them out with the Jaws of Life. Luckily for me, this story wants to be written. Enough with my babbling and let's get on with the show!

Dragon Fire

Chapter 1

Bring it On

Ranma Saotome, Heir of the Anything Goes Style Saotome Ryu, was currently doing something he had prayed he would never have to do again. Ride on top of a train instead of inside. Riding a bus in this fashion is less hazardous then riding a train because the bus goes at a sane pace whiles the train rockets along at over a hundred kilometers per hour. The only advantage to this was that he would make it to Satan City even faster. His mind drifted back to last night and the start of this journey. He couldn't dwell on it too much or he would get angry again. The wedding, the fiancées, the chaos, and Happosai drinking the Nannichuan. He wanted to scream, but he knew that if he started, he might not stop. His mind came back to the task at hand as he saw the city approaching rapidly. There was a hook for catching mailbags just as they were entering the station. With a deft grab, he caught hold of the hook, spun around, and landed easily on the platform. The people standing around stared in shock at the casual display, embarrassing the young martial artist.

"Heh heh…Have a nice day folks!" he said before he took off running, just as station security came running up to check things out. He didn't make it far as his usual luck kicked in at that exact moment. The pigtailed boy was running down a long tunnel from the train station to the street.

"Hold it right there!" a girl's voice cried out just as she leapt in front of him. Ranma could tell she was good, but no where near him. She might be a match for Shampoo or Ukyou, but he doubted that. Her stance was fair, not okay, not good, just fair.

"Sorry, I don't got time to play with you." He said it at his most threatening, hoping to scare her off. Akane had a major lead on him and he wanted to just find her and go home. The girl didn't take the hint.

"Do you know who I am? I'm Videl, daughter of Mr. Satan." She said proudly.

"Who's Mr. Satan anyway?" he asked in confusion. The girl looked angry at that. He was wondering absently if she was related to Akane somehow.

"Only the greatest martial artist in the entire world! My father defeated Cell." She said by way of explanation. Now Ranma remembered Cell just fine. Come to think of it, he also remembered Mr. Satan now, and remembered his Pops' first impression of him. The guy had some talent for the martial arts, but even through the TV they could see that tell had him outclassed.

"I don't care who your daddy is little girl, I'm here lookin' for somebody and it doesn't concern you." He said condescendingly, hoping to anger her and make her leave. Too bad she seems to have taken stubbornness lessons from Akane. The girl glared at him in fury before launching herself at him with intent to kill. She had some skill, he had to admit that, and good technique, but she was no match for the Anything Goes Style. He realized his error shortly after the fight began. She was clearly holding nothing back, forcing him to keep up. He didn't want to hurt a girl, but this girl sure wanted to hurt him!

"I'll show you!" she screamed as a well executed punch caught him in the stomach and flung him into a wall. The pigtailed wonder gasped in shock as the blow hit him with the force of one of Ryoga's hits, dazing him slightly.

"Now I'm going to turn you over to the police for unlawful boarding of a train. Come quietly and I won't have to hurt you any more." This statement was met with derision. He waited for her to let her guard down before running past her at top speed. Despite her close quarter combat abilities, she couldn't run even remotely fast enough to catch him. He resisted the urge to laugh and give her the red eye as he ran from her. It galled him to run, but he understood that sometimes one must avoid encounters. The Saotome luck seemed to be in overdrive today as he crashed head-first into a man wearing a black bodysuit, green tunic, with gloves and boots. The other thing that's noticeable is the huge orange helmet with black visor and strange antennae. Normally running into people would result in both parties crashing into the ground, but this time he found that the rules had changed. He bounced off the young man as if he were a solid steel wall.

"Pardon me citizen! I am here to help in the apprehension of a wrong-doer! I am the guardian of the city! The Great Saiya Man!" he proclaimed before assuming a bizarre stance that had him standing bowlegged with his hands in a V on his forehead. Ranma groaned as he apparently found Kuno's long lost cousin, who should have stayed lost. Videl picked that moment to run up, adding chaos to confusion.

"Hold it right there!" she cried. Ranma quickly assessed the situation and came to a conclusion: run.

"Sorry to bother ya! So long!" he shouted just before taking off down the street as fast as he could go. It took the startled duo a second to register what just happened. After a brief squabble, the girl jumped in her helicopter and the Great Weird One took off in hot pursuit. The boy thought he'd made a clean getaway when he suddenly found himself slamming into a hard, unyielding surface with terrific force.

"Care to explain why Miss Videl is chasing you?" the Great Saiya Man asked. Ranma got back to his feet with a groan. Even with his hard head it hurt like hell.

"Well, I didn't have money for the train so I just kinda…hitched a ride." There, the truth. Maybe that would get them off his case.

"Isn't that dangerous?" the hero wannabe asked in some confusion.

"To most people, but I am Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes Style of Martial Arts." He said a trifle proudly. Suddenly he got the feeling he said the precisely wrong thing. After making so many mistakes he developed a sixth sense for chaos.

"Wait a minute. I've heard of the Anything Goes Style before… You're master wouldn't happen to be Happosai, would it?" he visibly swelled under his costume. The pigtailed boy gulped and knew that his next answer was important.

"I-I was trained in the Art by my father, Genma Saotome. H-he's my master." He almost patted himself on the back until the boy in front of him suddenly manifested an aura in the highly visible spectrum. It was bright gold and reminded Ranma of Saffron with its intensity.

"That guy stole several things from my family and when my father caught him he promised his son as a student in exchange, but took him away shortly after midnight. If you're his son then I guess you're gonna uphold the agreement, sound good? Otherwise I turn you in." the offer sounded good. Very good. It got him away from that crazy chick and got him some free training to boot, but he still had to find Akane.

"Fine by me, but I need to find my fiancée. She came here just yesterday." He explained. The warrior in front of him powered down before looking towards the sky in thought.

"Deal. I'll beat some sense into you and help you find your fiancée. What's her name?"

"Akane Tendo." He replied. The Great Saiya Man grinned.

"Fine, we'll find her and get on with your training. Hope you can take the pain." He said before flying upward and looking back at Ranma expectantly. When it was clear the boy couldn't fly, he sweatdropped at making that stupid mistake. He decided to make flying his first lesson as he hauled the boy into the air and dragged him behind him. The pigtailed boy would never admit being scared of anything but the Neko-ken, yet this was actually a little scary. Somehow controlled flights were scary, but his uncontrolled ones were strangely fun. He knew there was a flaw in his logic somewhere. His captor said his name was Son Gohan and the first lesson was flying. As they swooped around the city, he instructed Ranma in what he had to do. Since the current training was something like what his father would do, it was oddly comfortable and easy to understand. Learn to fly or get hurt.

"Once you get the basics down then we'll look for Akane! Deal?" he called to Ranma. The pigtailed boy nodded with apprehension. With a grin and a shrug. "Have a safe landing!" and with that, he let go of the boy's hand and zoomed off. At first he panicked, but the rapidly onrushing ground helped him to focus considerably. All he had to do was focus his ki and push off the ground with it while simultaneously pushing in the direction he wanted to go. Simple. The ground was getting dangerously close; thankfully he could think faster then most people which gave him several seconds extra to work it out. He picked a focus, Akane, and pushed as hard as he could. Apparently he should have figured out a better focus, but it was good enough to put him in a low glide…into the side of a building. He crashed with terrific force and landed on his back. The sound of applause was heard nearby; he turned his head to see Gohan.

"Good job. Normally I would have led you through the steps slowly, but we don't have time. I'm just glad you figured it out. Just focus on your ki and let other thoughts leave your mind and you won't have such an interesting landing." He chuckled and drifted upward. The battered martial artist cursed and leapt after his sensei. Gohan rose quickly, leaving Ranma earthbound. It infuriated the boy. Why couldn't he have just said that in the first place? With that thought he jumped again, his eyes totally on the prize and that was kicking Gohan's butt, when he noticed the other boy swerve to the left. Not even caring, he took off after him, much to the young saiya-jin's shock.

"You picked up the first lesson better then I did…" he muttered before tearing off across the city with an infuriated Ranma on his heels.

"Hold still and take your punishment like a man!" he cried. Gohan thought 'Not on your life' and kept flying. He noticed his tail had stopped chasing him and he turned to look. The martial artist was floating there above the city in shock. Here he was, standing on air as if it were the ground, and doing it easily. Correction, not easily, but it was a lot less difficult then he expected. A flash of movement caught his eye and he looked towards what drew his attention and gasped.

"What is it?" Gohan asked.

"That's Akane! She seems different somehow…" the boy was puzzled, and then he noticed it. A huge 'M' was seemingly tattooed on her forehead. Before Gohan could stop him, Ranma landed beside the girl with an audible thump. His landings still needed work. The girl turned to look at him with soulless eyes. Ranma recoiled from her gaze before steeling himself.

"Akane, we need to talk…" was as far as he got before the girl snarled in absolute fury and punched him in a blinding flash of ki that hurled him through a glass storefront and well into the back of the department store. With a sniff, the girl walked off as if nothing had happened. His last conscious thought was 'Why…?'

/-

He awoke to a darkened room and the feeling of something on his head. Wandering fingers found the bandage that was apparently keeping his brains in and groaned in pain. The flight training was truly brutal, but Akane's right hook was even more brutal. He wondered how she got so strong and so fast. Granted, he wasn't expecting a straight punch, but to send him flying like that? She was stronger then Ryoga now and faster then him! He just wanted to sleep as his mind tried to wrap around all this, but the minute he rolled over he saw someone staring at him from not even an inch away.

"Hiya!" the little boy said and wondered why the older kid was suddenly clinging to the ceiling. He felt pretty sheepish when he realized where he was and gently drifted down. Flying could be very useful.

"Hey squirt. Where am I?" Ranma asked. The boy just smiled and went to the door yelling his head off.

"He's awake!" was the cry through the house. The pigtailed boy shrugged and jumped out of bed, or at least he tried to before a wave of dizziness hit and he crashed back on the bed. His thoughts kept going back to Akane and would have continued if someone hadn't walked into the room with something that cures all ills. Food.

"My son Goten says you're awake." The woman smiled kindly at the wounded martial artist. She set the tray in front of him, but remembered his manners before digging in.

"Thank you very much." He said before plowing into the chow with a gusto that would do a saiya-jin proud. She seemed briefly startled before smiling.

"Gohan said you'd have a big appetite." She said with a soft laugh. He swallowed quickly so that he could ask a question.

"Where is he anyway?" the boy asked.

"He went to Corrin's to get some senzu beans. Those should help you recover faster." She said. Ranma blinked. If there was something that helped him heal quicker then he was all for it.

"After then do we begin training?" he asked.

"Oh, he's training you is he? He's really taking that agreement seriously. I want to be angry, but I must admit that it would be nice if he had a friend his age. By the way, Ranma, my name's Chichi. You took quite a hit from that girl, Akane wasn't it? I remember when Goku and I were younger, we used to spar all the time." She said with a fond look at the memories, but the boy looked slightly disturbed. Was that really a relationship? Well, it worked for them, but he really didn't want a marriage full of combat with his wife. He shook his head to clear it and looked back to Chichi with a smile.

"Oh listen to me rambling away…Gohan should be home by now. Why don't you go outside with him? A senzu bean would be just what you need." She said before shooing him out of the house. In his injured state, he ran into Gohan literally, again.

"Whoa! You okay?" at the martial artist's weak nod he continued. "I brought ya back something to help you out." He held out a small bean and urged him to eat it. With some reluctance, he ate the proffered item and blinked in shock. Smiling, the boy got back to his feet with a bounce.

"That feels great! When do we start?" he flexed his fingers and worked the kinks out of his body. Gohan laughed.

"Since you're feeling so good we can start now." The young man said before launching into an explanation of what they would be doing and presented the young martial artist with a set of training clothes with the kanji for Turtle.

"I paid a visit to my dad's master, Muten Roshi and got these clothes off of him. After I cover the basics, he wants a chance to train you as well. If we're lucky, you'll also be learning from my old master, Piccolo." He was quite happy to detail the training regimen that would make his dad's training look comparatively easy and saying that it was only the beginning. Ranma began thinking that maybe running away might be a good idea, but after seeing Gohan's speed, he knew it wouldn't be good.

"Oh Kami what am I gonna do?" he muttered in near despair as he realized he'd just signed up for several months of hard training and abuse. At least there was a bright side. Akane was in Satan City and he was closer then before to his goal. With those thoughts in mind, he began the first of his many trials at the hands of the son of Goku.

End Chapter

Author's Notes: Someone pointed out that I should save "The End" for the story's end. Thanks, I actually needed to be reminded. I hope this puts things off to a good start. In the next chapter, I will be detailing his training. Hope you enjoy! Ja ne!