My Life's Stranger Than Yours
(A/N: I'm back and in case you haven't noticed, this story now has a cover! It was done by cc6512 on Tumblr/carol6512 on DeviantART as part of an art trade. The story I wrote for my half of the trade is also up on my profile. It's just a fun little one-shot of Gohan, his family and Piccolo enjoying some free time. With all that said, let's go!)
Unforseen Adventure; Perilous Mt. Paouzu
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. All four of young fighters went about their days mostly uneventful. At least, as uneventful as it is around Ranma and friends. Finally, the day meeting day arrived.
[The Skies Above Mount Paouzu]
"Come on Gohan, let's hurry!"
School had long since let out and Videl wasted no time in jetting off. In fact, flying at her own top speed, she was making record time.
Of course Gohan was right behind her, keeping pace. Sometimes he wondered just how he kept up with that girl's enthusiasm.
'Man, Videl is really fired up today,' Gohan thought. 'Hopefully Ranma and Akane can find their way to my house soon.'
[Meanwhile, in a forest area not far away]
Speaking of Ranma and Akane, the pair had gotten off the bus up the mountain and had to continue down the familiar dirt road on foot. They continued on the path for at least around 15 minutes before one of them started complaining.
Surprisingly, their ensuing fight ended before it began when Ranma pointed to a detour on the map they had. Though reluctant, Akane had agreed to take the detour road. The reason she was hesitant was because the detour led into the forest.
[Five minutes later into the forest]
"Man...how much further do we have to go?" asked Ranma.
"Don't complain Ranma, it was your idea to come this way," Akane reminded him.
Ranma crossed his arms. "Yeah, after you were complaining about how long it was taking back on the road," Ranma snapped back.
Akane narrowed her eyes but held her tongue. They continued on for another unspecified amount of time before Akane broke the silence.
"You know...this forest kind of reminds me of Ryugenzawa," she noted.
Ranma couldn't help but twitch at the mention of that name. He remembered the adventure they had there, but he also couldn't help but recall the ordeal between him, Akane, and that Shinnosuke guy.
"Wha-what makes you think of that place?" Ranma stuttered.
"I can't really explain it..." Akane replied. "This place just has the same feel to it, like there's more to this forest than meets the eye."
"What, you think a giant animal's gonna attack us or somethin'?" Ranma scoffed. "Please, the worst thing we'll probably come across here is a bear, and after all the times I knocked Pops' furry butt into the ground, I think we'll be fine."
Akane was conflicted at Ranma's last statement. On the one hand, she agreed with Ranma to some degree that there probably wasn't anything out there TOO big for either him or her to handle. On the other hand, she didn't want to test that theory out either.
Unfortunately, it looked like she'd get a chance when the leaves of nearby bushes started to rustle.
"Ranma..."
Ranma gave a confident breath and stepped forward in front of Akane, taking a defensive stance.
"Relax, whatever it is, I'll just blast it with my Takabisha and we'll be on our way," Ranma assured her.
Akane was less than assured when the rustling started to intensify. A moment later, the beast hiding in the plants revealed itself, and one of the two let out an ear piercing scream.
"Ggggyyyaaaaaaaaagh!"
[With Gohan and Videl]
'Huh?' As Gohan and Videl continued their flight to Gohan's house, Gohan turned back in the opposite direction.
"Gohan? What's wrong?" Videl asked.
"I...I thought I heard something," Gohan answered.
"I didn't hear anything."
"Hmmmm..." Gohan turned in the opposite direction, but ultimately, he decided to follow Videl's example and just continue forward.
[Ranma and Akane]
The duo could be seen sprinting for their lives as a pair of sabertooth tigers was right on their tails.
"'The worst is a bear', he says. 'I can handle it' he says!" Akane yelled sardonically.
Ranma was unable to even make a snappy comeback at Akane's remark as he was still screaming in terror.
"Caaaaaaats!"
Any other kind of wild animal probably wouldn't have been a big problem, but as luck would have it, the wild animals they DID happen to encounter, belonged in the family of Ranma's greatest fear. That fear only amplified as the tigers let out a pair of ferocious roars.
"Eyyyaagh!"
Ranma and Akane both poured all their strength into their legs as they both sprinted away from their feline pursuers. The chase continued on, but the tigers still remained hot on their heels.
'This is getting us nowhere!' Akane mentally screamed. 'Is there any place we can get away from these things?'
Akane surveyed the area and from the corner of her eye, she spotted what looked like a cave. 'Maybe...'
"Ranma! Over there!" Akane pointed.
Ranma turned his head aside and fortunately, spotted the cave. Relieved at finally finding a place to escape, Ranma jetted towards the cave at full speed, unintentionally leaving Akane behind in the dust.
"H-hey! Wait for me!" Akane yelled.
Kicking her own speed up a notch, Akane managed to keep up with Ranma...only just barely. Unfortunately, as they were approaching the cave, Akane tripped and stumbled over a nearby tree root, hitting the ground hard and a couple of things falling out of her backpack. She was unable to get back up in time and run away, for the tigers nigh instantly caught up to her.
"Ranma...little help, please!" Akane called. Her plea fell on deaf ears as Ranma zipped into the cave, leaving her to the tigers' mercy.
'My hero, folks!' Akane sarcastically thought.
Akane steadily crawled backwards as one of the tigers advanced on her. The second tiger leapt over Akane and chased after Ranma into the cave. Unbeknownst to them, that was Akane's shining ray of hope.
'Ranma's totally useless once his fear of cats kicks in...and against these kinds of cats I can't even blame him too much, but hopefully, the one that followed him in the cave will be just enough for...'
Akane couldn't finish her thought as from the cave sprung an echoing, "Mrrrroooowwww!"
In the next instance, the saber tooth bounded back out of the cave and rejoined it's companion, as it was now being pursued by Ranma, crouched on all-fours. In the next instance, Ranma leapt in between Akane and the first tiger, swiping at it with a 'clawed' hand, and forcing it to back off.
'Yes! Ranma's cat-fist kicked in!' Akane inwardly cheered, rising to her feet. 'I don't know if this'll actually work, but it's our only option right now.'
Cat Ranma stood defensively in front of the hopeful Akane hissing and growling at the two wildcats. Not ready to give up just yet, both tigers let out a pair of loud roars, which Ranma countered with a nearly as ferocious growl.
The two cats and the cat boy continued to go back and forth at each other, neither one willing to give an inch. A few seconds later however, the tigers inexplicably froze up and seemed to be shaking. In an unexpected turn of events, both tigers let out fearful yelps and sprinted away.
Akane let out a relieved sigh, then a triumphant giggle. "Haha, I think you did it Ranma!"
The animal minded boy responded by leaping into Akane's arms and affectionately rubbing his face against hers.
"Nice kitty..." Akane gently said rubbing Ranma's head. After a brief moment of petting, Akane set Ranma down, but kept him from running away by grabbing a nearby branch and using it as a cat toy as she surveyed the surrounding area for her fallen goods.
'I know I had a bottle of water in my bag somewhere, I just need to find where it landed...'
Akane kept waving the branch as she scanned the ground behind her for her water bottle. Turning around, she spotted the bottle behind them and her face lit up.
"Aha! Got it!"
As Akane swiped up her bottle, she couldn't help but notice that the sky overhead had gotten darker. Not only that, but now Ranma was the one shaking in fear, just like the tigers. Akane looked up to see that the sky hadn't gotten darker, but the two of them were shrouded in a giant shadow, and that shadow belonged too...
"GGGGGGRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRWWWW!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
[Gohan and Videl]
"Aaahhhhh!"
Gohan turned back around again, this time he was positive he heard something, and it didn't sound too pleasant. "Videl...tell me you heard THAT."
Videl followed his gaze. It was faint, but she'd heard the echoing sound fade out. "I did this time, and it sounded like a girl screaming."
As a bead of sweat rolled down Gohan's face, he turned back to Videl and said, "You don't think that was Ranma or Akane, do you?"
"It could be. Either way, I think we should check it out."
"Right," Gohan nodded. Quick, grab onto me and I'll get us there in no time."
Videl wanted to argue that she could fly herself just fine, but she knew Gohan could fly much faster than she could and decided to hold her tongue and comply. Once she was holding tightly onto Gohan, the half saiyan bathed them both in his energy and blasted off towards the direction of the scream.
[Ranma and Akane]
For the second time that day, the two martial artists were running for their lives, or rather, Akane was running for her life while carrying a fearful, still Cat Fist induced Ranma. The tigers were bad enough, but now a bright orange dinosaur was chasing them...a freaking dinosaur! The only reason Akane could think of as to why it was chasing them was because that cave they hid in was it's home and dealing with the tigers must've disturbed it.
'I take back what I said before! The giant animals at Ryugenzawa were WAY better than this!' Akane thought.
Almost miraculously, Akane managed to keep one step ahead of the large reptile, but only barely. As she continued sprinting, the dinosaur reared it's head back and thrust it forward with a fierce chomp! At the last second, Akane threw herself forward, Ranma still in her arms and managed to avoid the dinosaur's attack.
Unfortunately, for the two, Akane had launched them at the top of a small hill and when she landed, they wound up rolling sporadically down the hill and into a nearby lake at the bottom, with the dinosaur still close behind them.
Ranma pulled her head above the surface and spat out a small stream of water. "What the heck happened?"
Her answer came in the form of a loud roar as she turned and spotted the dinosaur rushing at her.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Ranma shrieked. Ranma started to swim to shore but paused when she heard erratic splashing behind her.
"Blbbaluub!"
"Akane!"
Ranma quickly swam over to her flailing friend and grasped her by the waist. She wouldn't have much time to make an escape attempt as the dinosaur finally caught up to them at the edge of the lake.
With Akane clutching onto her for dear life, Ranma floated them backwards as the dinosaur began to make slow strides to the two girls. Ranma started to weigh her options about what their next move should be. She could probably jump over the thing...if they weren't in water. She couldn't blast it with the 'Takabisha' either since she needed her hands to do that and they were currently keeping Akane from drowning.
As Ranma tried to come up with a new plan, something even more unexpected happened. The dinosaur let out a low growl and began to approach them, only it didn't seem like it was in an offensive stance. In fact, the large beast seemed to just fall over forward, into the water causing a big splash. Once the water settled, the dinosaur just lay still in the water, not moving an inch. Upon closer and cautious inpection, the dinosaur seemed to be unconscious.
Though confused about what just happened, but not wanting to miss the opportunity, Ranma, with Akane in hand swam to shore and got them both out of the water, panting heavily.
"Okay...you wanna tell me what's been going on?" Ranma snapped at Akane.
Before she could answer, a different female voice chimed in, "That's what we'd like to know."
Ranma and Akane both turned their attention upwards and saw Videl and Gohan descending down to them.
"Hey, it's you guys!" Ranma greeted.
"Are you guys okay?" Videl asked as she landed.
"Define, 'okay'," Ranma snarked.
"I'll take that as a 'kind of'," Videl replied.
"I don't know what happened here, but it looks like we got here just in time," Gohan stated as he touched ground.
"I'll say. I don't know how much more chasing I could deal with right now!" Akane exclaimed.
"Heh, no offense, but you two do look like you've been through alot," Gohan stated. "Come on, we'll head to my house and you two can dry off there."
Ranma let out a relieved sigh. "Please tell me we're gonna get there in Videl's plane."
Gohan and Videl both grinned at each other and said in unison, "Nope!"
"What!?"
"Calm down. We're still flying, just not in my jet," Videl clarified.
Ranma and Akane could only shoot each other confused glances.
[A few minutes later]
"Whoooaaaa!"
"This is awesome!"
The four friends could be seen flying through the air, Ranma riding on Gohan's back, and Akane being carried by Videl. Ranma was actually enjoying herself, while Akane was a bit...less than thrilled.
"You doing okay there Akane?" Videl asked.
"I...I...guess." Akane stuttered.
"Relax, I'm not gonna drop you," Videl assured her.
"I know but...flying by yourself...like this...! This is actually seeming a lot less fun than I thought it'd be!"
"That's just because you're being carried," Videl replied. "Trust me, flying yourself is way more fun!"
"I'll take your word for it!" Akane exclaimed.
"Uhhm...if you don't mind my asking, what happened to you two back there?" Gohan interjected.
"We got chased by a dinosaur, genius, you know that," Ranma snapped.
"Yeah, but what I mean is why'd he start chasing you two in the first place?" Gohan asked. "I know the one that chased you guys in particular is a bit of a troublemaker, but the dinosaurs around these parts don't usually bother people, provided you stay away from their turf. You guys must've taken a wrong somewhere."
"Well..." Akane pondered. "We might've snuck into his cave when trying to run from a couple of tigers."
"Tigers?" Videl asked.
At both mentions of the word 'tiger', Ranma visibly shuddered. 'Now I remember. I must've gone Cat-Fist or something again cause I don't remember anything before we wound up in the water.'
"Okay, those guys just like to be jerks sometimes," Gohan added. "I still remember this one time a tiger stole my favorite hat when I was a kid and I chased him all around the forest trying to get it back."
Ranma and Akane both looked at Gohan increduously. "You chased a tiger...?" "When you were just a kid...?"
Gohan awkwardly chuckled and added, "Well...my hat had a family memento on it, that I had to get back."
The duo continued to eye Gohan suspiciously as their flight continued.
A short moment later, the group finally approached a peaceful looking house. Not far from it was what looked like crops.
"Ahh, finally we're home!" Gohan stated.
Gohan started descending, the girls right behind them. As they got closer to the ground, they could see a woman carrying a basket of clothes just outside the entrance.
"Mom!" Gohan called.
"Hey Chi-Chi!"
Chi-Chi was unable to immediately respond as she was still dealing with the clothes. Finally putting the laundry basket down, the always busy housewife turned to greet her son and his future wi-! I mean, girlfriend.
"Gohan, Videl glad to see...!"
Chi-Chi paused for when Gohan and Videl landed, she also took notice of the two other girls accompanying them.
"Gohan, I remember you saying you were bringing friends over, but I don't recall you mentioning they were both girls," Chi-Chi said sternly raising a curious eyebrow.
"Uhhh...well..." Gohan stammered.
"Wait a sec, I'm..." Ranma began.
"Chi-Chi, these two are more friends of mine than they are Gohan," Videl quickly interjected, cutting Ranma off. "No offense, but I can't spend all my free time with Gohan? I need some female friends right?"
Chi-Chi's expression softened. "Hmmhm, you're right. I'm sorry," she replied rather bashfully.
As Chi-Chi turned to them, Ranma and Akane both ahd the similar thought of, 'She seems pretty nice,' flash through their minds.
"Hello, my name's Akane Tendo," she introduced, with a bow.
"Ranma Saotome."
Chi-Chi paused for a moment and examined the two. 'She seems well mannered enough,' Chi-Chi thought glancing at Akane. 'But her on the other hand..." she turned her gaze to Ranma. "...Something seems...odd. Maybe it's because her name sounds rather masculine. Still, I shouldn't be rude."
"My name's Chi-Chi," she introduced herself. "Excuse me, but if you don't mind my asking, why are you two all wet?"
"We kinda got lost on the way here and may have taken a dip in a lake," Ranma replied.
"Oh that's terrible. Come inside and I'll see if I can find you two a change of clothes," Chi-Chi invited them.
"Oh, thank you!" Akane exclaimed.
As Chi-Chi led Ranma and Akane indoors, with Videl following after, Gohan remained outside alone for the moment, thinking, "That...went surprisingly well."
Relieved that the meeting between Ranma, Akane and his mother had gone off without so much as a hitch, Gohan followed the others inside, ready to get to work.
(A/N: On the one hand, I had fun writing this chapter. On the other hand, this chapter...feels like filler to me. Also, I think the oneshot I mentioned writing in the first AN played a part in it cause I couldn't help but throw in a similar event in both stories. Then again, getting chased by a dinosaur at least ONCE is Dragon Ball tradition. Either way, I'm gonna start the next Chapter ASAP cause even I just wanna get on with the plot, and I have a couple of plans for Ranma revealing his curse to Goku's family [laughs mischievously]. Also, tell me what you think of the cover. The artist who drew it has PLENTY of nice Gohan/Videl stuff on both her Tumblr and DeviantART, so look her up if you wanna see more)
