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

Author's Notes: This chapter will be shorter than the others. I repeat, this chapter will be shorter. Life is intruding on my time to write, but I will make every effort to finish. Thank you and have a nice day.

Chapter 2

"You can sleep when you're dead." – Piccolo

Journal Entry…

This is the first time I have ever put anything to paper for fear that Nabiki would get a hold of it and blackmail me with it. Since being at Gohan's house means no Nabiki, I decided I better write down some of this. Their training methods are amazing. I'm currently wearing a gi that weighs more than Ryoga's pack and Pop's fat ass combined. They took a cue from my Chinese clothes. Red gi with a black shirt underneath. Chichi proclaimed it to be very masculine while Gohan and Goten rolled their eyes. That same day my first training assignment was to catch Goten.

To catch Goten required more speed than I had at the time. He is much faster than Happosai could ever hope to be. The weighted clothing was also joined by a gigantic turtle shell and ankle weights. It was getting harder to catch him. He is smaller than me, but he was sure annoying. By the end of the month I was finally able to catch him. I wasn't allowed to bask in my accomplishment. My new friend Gohan simply gave me weighted bracers and ankle weights as well as a heavier turtle shell before telling me that we would be sparring now.

The food at the house is always good. It may not be as good as Kasumi's, but she sure knew about feeding martial artists. Also the guest room is a nice change from the futon back home. They think that the constant training bothers me, but its nothing compared to my usual training. Pops is a lot harder on me than these people. Chichi has also been teaching me the subjects I have trouble with in school, but unlike the boring instructors at Furinkan, she held my attention. Probably because she threatened me with no dinner. By the end of the second month, Pop came to look for me. He was sure upset with me for taking off, but then he was reminded, forcefully, about the agreement. The old fool was reluctant to leave me there until I showed him some of the things I learned, such as flying. That got his attention quick enough. Especially when I showed him my ability to generate powerful ki blasts without using emotion for power. Pop was so surprised he even went back to tell everyone how I'm doing via air-mail. That was quite a night.

The next day began the true torture. A solid month of training under Gohan. Constant sparring before and after school left me exhausted. The annoying thing was that he wasn't even winded at the end of the day, but I changed that rather quickly. It took me the whole month, but I eventually beat him. He said it was quite an accomplishment, but something told me that he was holding back. It bothered me until I bugged him about it. It took quite a bit of convincing, but eventually he showed me. That was the day I learned what a Super Saiya-Jin was and that experience will be burned into my brain until I die. The sheer level of power reminded me of Saffron. He only held it for a little while, but the damage was done. I can't stand being second best to anyone. I began pushing myself harder, looking for greater challenges. I wanted to learn from Gohan's old master, he just shrugged and went off to talk to him. His former master is called Piccolo. He was easily one of the most impressive people I ever met. Piccolo comes from another planet, which I found to be easier to believe than they thought I would. The green-skinned man gave me a brief evaluation before saying he would train me. He says that tomorrow we'll be going to a place called the Hyberbolic Time Chamber.

A few days later-

Well, journal I'm out. It was the most grueling, brutal experience I had ever been through. The sheer gravity nearly broke my bones while the constant temperature changes made me wonder if I was going to bake or freeze to death. The only constant was Piccolo's constant bitching and yelling. Funny, it made me feel pretty good. I'll never admit this to a person, but to this piece of paper I'll say that I actually miss my Pop. I also miss Kasumi, Tendo, Ucchan, Shampoo… Okay, I miss everyone, but I can't go back until I find out what happened to Akane. I've actually seen her a couple more times, but she always manages to get away. The grueling training yielded a positive result (besides giving me two years to improve on my studies). I can actually beat Piccolo, even powered up! I don't even need to be at full power to beat him either! I even beat Gohan. He'd got roped into fighting in the World Martial Arts Tournament and wanted me to train with him. The girl who snagged him, Videl, said she'd blow his cover as The Great Saiya Man. She also stopped by and got steamed at seeing me there. The girl's kind of cute, but annoying. Chichi is a great peacemaker it seems, especially when she punts both parties into the lake. Though it was funny to see the daughter of Mr. Satan nearly pass out from seeing me turn into a girl, best part was that I was right on top of her when I changed. Okay, it's petty, but it was funny.

/-

"Ranma!" Chichi called from downstairs. Ranma sat back from the desk in the guestroom with a stretch and a yawn.

"Yeah?" he called back as he made his way towards the woman.

"Someone's here to see you." She said as she met him at the base of the stairs, worry in her eyes. He quirked an eyebrow, but followed her into the kitchen. Ranma stopped and stared in amazement at who was sitting there. The Ice Queen of Furinkan High, Nabiki. Despite her nickname, she didn't seem to be that way right now. The girl standing there was crying and breathing a little fast, her clothes were disheveled and she was trembling uncontrollably.

"Oh R-Ranma!" as if his shock wasn't complete, she flung herself into his arms crying uncontrollably. Her arms were wrapped tight around his waist, face buried in his chest. The pigtailed youth stared in shock before hesitantly holding her.

"What happened?" he asked. Maybe getting the girl to talk would help her.

"H-Happosai's after me! H-he followed me on the train and has been trying to find you. I'm sorry if I led him here, but I can't take it anymore! He's always stealing my underwear or groping me, fondling me, and leering at me… I'm sorry!" the girl sobbed. Now Ranma may not always like Nabiki, but he also knows that no one deserves the treatment that Happosai's been giving her. His eyes turned cold and hard as he remembered all the times the freak has screwed him over or hurt an innocent with his stupid games. His temper snapped almost audibly. The old pervert has bad timing as always, but this time it was bad for him. The shrunken man bounded into the kitchen with his usual battle cry.

"Sweeto!" he cried as he attempted to glomp every female in range, but couldn't even grab one. Nabiki cringed in terror, but Chichi's visible battle aura made the lech stop and stare at the glowing woman.

"Heh heh heh…Whoops?" he chuckled nervously before a perfectly executed straight punch took him in the side of the head and launched him out into the yard where he landed in a heap. Happosai stood up painfully, he needed energy and Nabiki was out in plain sight. She had no one near her and seemed to be frantically looking for a way out. He leaped toward certain salvation, but his flight was halted by a suddenly materialized chest in his path. Happosai looked up in confusion and outrage from the manly chest to stare in fury at…Ranma. His eyes seemed to shrink and he gibbered weakly before he was yanked off and flung into the air.

"I've had enough of you!" the youth shouted before flying up after him. The little pervert tried to escape, but for every blow he evaded another dozen caught him. It was a severely one-sided fight as Ranma thoroughly demolished the aged master before hurling him back to Nerima. A few ki blasts were sent after him as explosive parting gifts before landing once again. The women both stared at him in complete amazement. Sure, Chichi has seen this before, but she never pictured Ranma doing it. With a small chuckle, she went back inside. Nabiki looked to Ranma with a smile as well, but not the predatory smirk she usually wore.

"You said you would wait for me." She accused, but somehow it came out as teasing.

"I didn't want anyone else getting involved." He replied. The mercenary girl tilted her head to the side. Ranma never noticed how attractive she was, but quickly shook those thoughts out. Piccolo warned him that he would age while in the chamber. It had been a year to him since he saw anyone, but his reaction to Nabiki surprised him.

"Too late, we're already involved. So what did you find out about Akane?" she asked. Ranma sighed before launching into the full tale of what has happened to him. The girl was in total shock over what he had seen and done, but the thing that surprised her the most was the change in Ranma. He seemed to have grown at least three inches, not to mention the sudden muscle definition. She felt her cheeks redden as she suddenly realized he was a man now. He was always good looking before, but now he totally ruined her for other guys. She shook her head to clear it, but images of the two of them together would haunt her dreams tonight. The two walked into the house just as Gohan and Goten came back to the house just in time for dinner.

End Chapter

Author's Notes: Yes, I mentioned this chapter would be short. I'll try to update sooner. The next chapter begins the World Martial Arts Tournament. Thanks for reading and ja ne!