Miss Ranma

!SPECIAL EFFECTS! "THOUGHTS"

Chapter Twelve

Hikaru Gosunkugi walked away from school after having registered as a senior only to be accosted by three thugs wearing animal masks.

"Hey it's that wimp, Gosunkugi!" the leader of the thugs called out from beneath his rabbit-shaped mask.

"It is him. Even if he is a little bigger than he was before," another thug commented.

Then the boys surrounded the young man. "Life has been pretty good to you, Gosunkugi. Now give us your money or else," the leader demanded.

"Or else what?" Gos said coldly, his cape billowing in the wind.

The boys were surprised, standing there in shock for a moment. "What did you just say?"

"I said, 'or else what?' You guys better run along before I seriously hurt you."

"How dare you talk to us that way? Not only are we going to beat you to death, but we're also going to humiliate you by stripping you naked and cutting your balls off!" the leader threatened as his friends laughed menacingly.

"Why do you say this, when you know I will kill you for it?"

"What the... Get him!" The three came at him hard with large knives in their hands but were surprised when they passed right through him.

"Where did he go?"

"I'm right here. Care to try again?"

"What kind of tricks are you doing?" the leader of the group demanded.

"You silly rabbit! Tricks are for kids!" Then Hikaru blasted the three of them, created an explosive energy blast that knocked the bullies off of their feet in pain.

"What are you some kind of comedian? This isn't over!" The three of them got up to walk away, but Gos ran up to them at super speed, appearing right in front of them.

"Where are you guys going? We're not done yet. Give me all the money in your pockets and I might let you leave with a little bit of your dignity intact," Hikaru ordered, with a cold, toothy smile as he made give-me motions with his hands.

"No way! We're not going to..." !SLICE! "Aargh!"

"Did you enjoy my knife hand attack?" Gos said, regarding the leader of the gang's slashed, bleeding chest. "Now give me all your money. Let's consider it interest on what you've taken from me in the past. Give me it to me quickly. You know full well that I have every reason to want to hurt you even more than I already have."

"You just got lucky!" the leader of the gang responded with his boys behind him. He then took hold of his knife and poised it in Hikaru's direction. "You won't get lucky a second time. You're through, Gos."

"Luck had nothing to do with it. Ya ya ya ya ya!" At superhuman speed Gosunkugi zipped in the midst of them, using his lightning-fast feet to knock the weapons out of their hands. While the boys grasped their hands in pain, Gosunkugi punched each of them with a powerful fast strike, breaking all of their noses. Then the creepy boy nailed each of them with low kicks, shattering their shins and knees before any of them knew what was happening. Gosunkugi had moved with so much speed he seemed to have been everywhere at once, leaving after images of himself. At the end of the one-sided fight, Gosunkugi stood there, standing over them as if he was the master of all he surveyed.

"Ungh!" the boys moaned.

Then Hikaru reached into their pockets and took all the money they had gotten, their ill-gotten gains of the week. "This doesn't begin to cover what you guys owe me."

"F#$% you! We don't care how tough you've become. You're still a wimp!"

"Really?" !CRUNCH!

"Aargh!" the downed bully screamed, clutching his groin after Hikaru had kicked him.

"I suggest you quit while you're ahead." That being said, Hikaru floated in the air to the amazement of his former tormentors and vanished.

XXX

"Faster, Ranma! You're just way too slow!" Genma called out as he ran ahead.

"What's with these bulky chains on my ankles and wrists?" Ranma snapped back.

"It's to make you stronger. Since you've insisted on being a girl, I'm going to have to train you twice as hard to make up for your femininely weaker body. Now get your overdeveloped, woman's body in gear and catch up!"

"I'm not weak, Pop! And there's nothing wrong with my body as it is! But here I come." Ranma began to speed up until the bands which on her feet and hands began to weigh her down even more than before. "What the..."

"They're magical bands, Ranma. They're designed to keep getting heavier and heavier as time goes on. So there's no way you're going to welsh out on your training like you've been doing. Now keep up!"

"Huff! All right, already!" But despite her efforts, her father got further and further away until...

!WHAP! "Yeow!" Ranma screamed as a powerful attack knocked her for a loop, sending her end over end several yards across the empty street until she was able to use her acrobatic skills to deftly land on her feet.

"Haha! I knew attacking you by surprise would give me the advantage I needed to defeat you. Now I shall take my ribbon and finish you off!" Kodachi called out, striking Ranma with her weapon again and again much like a whip. !POP!POP!

"Yeow!" "I'm practically handcuffed like this! I'm going to have to go toe to toe with this girl." Ranma slowly flew towards her new opponent, doing her best to avoid getting hit with the deadly ribbon. !WOPAP! "Yeow!"

"You like that, you man-stealing whore?" Kodachi said, gliding in the air as Ranma got closer and closer. "This is for you." Kodachi then whipped out another ribbon that glowed with explosive energy. !WHAP!BOOM! !POP!

"Aaagh!" Ranma screamed as the explosive power of the ribbon knocked her back on the ground, causing her sliced shirt to come open further.

"If that explosive ribbon touches me it's liable to blow me into bits. I gotta do something fast!"

"Die, bitch, die!" Kodachi yelled, attacking with both of her ribbons which moved at super-speed, making it hard for Ranma to dodge. But as the pigtailed girl attempted to blast her opponent something went wrong.

"Regular ki blasts aren't going to cut it; she's moving too fast and I'm too slow right now. I'm going to have to bring out the big guns!" Then Ranma put her hands together, creating a circle with them as she crouched down. "Kame ha me ha!"

!KABOOM! "Aaaaagh!" Kodachi screamed as the powerful, area encompassing energy blast knocked her high into the sky as, the power of the attack creating a tempestuous wind that caused everything around them to shake. Despite using one of her ribbons to hold on to a nearby lamppost the rhythmic champion went flying back the way she had come end over end until she was out of sight.

"Whew!" Ranma breathed a sigh of relief as the wind had died down.

"Not bad for a girl."

"What?" Ranma exclaimed, turning to her father who was standing there with his arms folded on his chest.

"You heard me, Ranma. You still have a lot to learn. A real man would have had no problem dealing with the attack you used just now. It's a pity all your martial arts training is only good for taking on other women. Oh, well. At least you have an impressive body," Genma replied noticing Ranma's wardrobe malfunction.

"With the good looks you have, you'll be able to be a good wife for my friend's son, making him very happy."

Then he noticed his daughter making a small circle with her hands, energy coming from them; the power seemed to create a windy environment. "What are you doing?"

"Kame ha me ha!" !KABOOM!

"Yeeaarrgghh!" Just like Kodachi Genma went flying off into the atmosphere.

"Suck on that, old man!"

XXX

Later that day, Kodachi sat in her room in her palatial estate, recovering from the recent beating at the hands of her arch-rival, the pigtailed girl! "That pigtailed harlot, Ranma Saotome, is practically invincible! How can I defeat her? There must be some way of doing her in. She's all that stands in the way of me having the gorgeous Kenji Tendo for myself." "Sasuke!" the girl called out. "Sasuke, attend me, you fool!"

"Yes, mistress!" the ninja answered, appearing out of nowhere right in front of her.

"I want you to go to the Tendo household and find out all you can about Ranma Saotome."

"Yes, mistress."

"It's very important you find out any weaknesses she might have for I want her destroyed!"

"Yes, mistress."

"Keep in mind that this slut has no modesty whatsoever and likes to flaunt her body whenever she gets the chance!"

"Yes, mistress," the ninja answered, smiling as he contemplated what his mistress had just said.

"Why are you so happy?"

"I'm simply thrilled to serve you, mistress.

"Of course you are. Don't come back until you've found my enemy's weakness! And when you do find her weakness, find me and tell me that I may prepare for her destruction. Do this quickly. Now go!" With that, the ninja was gone!

XXX

"Look at what I got for sale at the swap meet earlier today!" Nabiki called out, showing off her new parrot which had a beautiful gold body and legs along with blue wings. Its face was white with black stripes while the beak was solid black.

"What is that, Nabiki?" Kenji asked, looking up from what he was reading.

"I got this beautiful talking bird for a bargain," Nabiki answered, showing off the bird in its cage.

"Beautiful talking bird! Beautiful talking bird! Raaak!" the bird parroted.

"It sounds wonderful. Ranma should hear this. Hey, Ranma!" Kenji called out.

"Yes, Kenji. What is it?" Ranma answered, walking into the room. Then she froze, her eyes widening in shock and dread.

"Take a look at this parrot, Ranma. It talks and everything," Kenji said, admiring the bird. "He looks nice, doesn't he, Ranma? Ranma?"

"Yeeeow!" Ranma yelled, running from the presence of the bird.

"Ranma, what's the matter?" Kenji called out, chasing after his fleeing fiancee.

By the time Kenji had caught up with her, running into Ranma's room upstairs in the attic, his fiancee was curled up into the fetal position in the corner. "Ranma! What's going on? I've never seen you so afraid anything in the past."

"It's that thing in the other room!"

"What thing?"

"That b-b-b feathered thing!"

"The parrot? It's so cute! What's the matter?"

"I hate them! I hate them! I hate them!" Ranma screamed, her face twisted in fear and rage as she got up and took a big breath.

"All right. All right. Let me get to the bottom of this," Kenji said, using calming motions with his hands.

"Huff! Huff!"

A few minutes later, Kenji returned from Ranma's room.

"Come on out, Ranma," he said gently, taking her by the hand and taking her out of the room. "Uncle Genma has something to say about your fear of birds."

"All right, she's here," Kenji said to everyone in the household who had gathered in the living room. Then he turned towards Genma. "Now what's the deal?"

"Well," Genma started to explain. "As you have all seen, Ranma tends to go off whenever she sees a live bird. Let me show you." Genma abruptly took off the covering of the parrot's cage and shoved it in Ranma's direction.

"Ranma is a coward! Ranma is a coward! Raaak!" the bird parroted.

"Aaagh!" Ranma screamed, clutching Kenji tightly as she climbed all over him to get away from the offensive avian.

"It's all right, Ranma. Take it easy. I'm here for you," Kenji said as he gently caressed her back.

"You are a coward, Ranma! It's so embarrassing seeing you this way. Oh well. Maybe it's for the best that you're a girl after all. If you were trying to pass yourself off as a man I'd be embarrassed."

"Shut up, Pop! This is all your fault!" Ranma snapped back, moving in on her father.

Then Genma quickly put the birdcage in Ranma's face. "Look at the little birdie. Look at it! Look at it!"

"Aaaah! Get it away! Get it away!" Ranma cried out in tears.

"All right, Uncle Genma," Kenji said with his arms folded on his chest. "Why don't you start explaining what you did to Ranma from the beginning?"

"Yes, Saotome. I'm really curious to know why Ranma's acting this way," Soun interjected.

"All right. This happened when Ranma was ten years old."

FLASHBACK

"Now, Ranma, today I will teach you the bird fist," Genma said to a much younger Ranma while he/she sat in the lotus position with her legs crossed.

END FLASHBACK

"Bird fist?" Akane asked out loud.

"Yes. What you do is put birdseed, pieces of bread and live worms all over the student. Then you throw him into a cage with hungry wild birds."

"Oh, my!" Kasumi gasped.

"How rigorous!" Soun commented.

"This is the manual I got the technique from," Genma answered, showing them a booklet. "It tricked me!"

"Would do you mean?"

"Keep reading, Tendo and you'll see what I'm talking about."

[Just another technique that would only be used by an idiot. Anyone who would teach a technique like this needs to have his head examined!]

"Gasp!"

"And I fell for it!" Genma said.

"What a stupid father!" Ranma interjected, striking her father in the back of the head.

"Oh, yeah?" Genma answered, putting the birdcage in front of Ranma.

"Yeow!" Ranma screamed, scrambling back several feet.

XXX

Later on in Ranma's room:

"That's all right, Ranma," Kenji said, placing a warm towel on Ranma's head as she lay down, shivering. "You'll be all right."

"Thanks, Kenji. You're a nice guy."

"So that's her weakness! Won't Mistress Kodachi be pleased when she finds out about this?" Sasuke thought to himself from under the house. But as he stealthily left the house a form came out from the ground surprising the ninja.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the apparition turned solid young man demanded, grabbing the ninja by the throat. In seconds he had lifted the diminutive spy off of his feet and was looking him in the eye.

"Gakk! Who are you?" the ninja barely got out.

"I'm Hikaru Gosunkugi. Why are you skulking around here?"

"Why are you skulking around here? Choke!"

"I'll ask the questions, little man."

"I have the feeling there's somebody out there," Hikaru's sharp hearing heard Kasumi say.

Then the handsome yet creepy boy turned back toward his captive. "Don't let me catch you out here skulking around here again or I'll deal with you." With that, the ninja fell to the ground as the boy vanished into thin air.

"I better leave too."

XXX

"Mistress! Mistress!" Sasuke called out as he searched the Kuno mansion for Kodachi.

"I'm in here. You're interrupting my meditation. This had better be important, you fool!"

"It is, my mistress; it is! I've found out Ranma Saotome's weakness."

"Oh, you have, have you?"

"Yes, Mistress!"

"What is it?"

"She has an irrational fear of birds! The bigger the bird, the worse her terror."

"Oh, goody. Now I want you to set things up for Ranma to show up at my school tomorrow. Gather as many vicious, man-eating birds as you can find. I will also talk to some mad scientists who have been experimenting with birds and see what they've done. Now go."

"Yes, mistress!" With that, the ninja was gone.

XXX

The next day at school went by with no other incidents for Ranma until she noticed something in her locker. "What's this note supposed to be all about?" Ranma said to no one in particular.

"What does it say?" Akane asked from behind her.

"It says to meet Kodachi at her school of St Herebeke in the gymnasium for another battle; the winner gets Kenji once and for all. I don't believe this. How many times do I have to beat this girl up before she gets the message?"

"What are you going to do about this, Ranma? I'm certain it's a trap."

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to show up there and deal with this problem." With that Ranma destroyed the piece of paper, balling it up in the palm of her hand and destroying it with friction and ki energy, making it burn up into puff of smoke.

XXX

A little later both Ranma and Akane had arrived at the gymnasium of Kodachi's school. "So we're here. Now what?" Ranma said looking around.

"Over here!" What looked like a short girl with long hair wearing a dress exactly like Akane's called out to them, jumping up and down at the other end of the gymnasium on top of the stage used for plays and such.

"Who are you?" Akane answered, walking over to her impatiently with Ranma right behind her.

"Haha! Now you have fallen in my trap!"

"What are you talking about?" Akane demanded, taking a closer look at their tormentor. "What kind of girl are you?"

Then the "girl" removed the wig and revealed himself. "I am Sasuke, servant of the House of Kuno. And now..." Upon pressing one of the buttons on the electrical device he was holding the ground on which Akane was standing shifted causing the blue-haired girl to fall through.

"Aaaah!"

"Oops!"

"What were you trying to do?" Ranma asked, looking down the opened trap door. "You all right, Akane?"

"I'm OK, Ranma! Get me out of here!"

"That's all right," the ninja said. "Now, I'll just use the next trap."

At that point, a small boulder came crashing down. But the large stone missed Ranma and hit the ninja instead, sending him into the basement in which Akane was standing at the moment. "Oof!"

"What's the deal, Sasuke?" the pigtailed girl asked calmly as she jumped through the large hole and touched down to the ground right next to the scheming ninja.

"Here, have this!" The ninja reached over to his left and pulled a lever, causing a lot of birdseed to fall all over Ranma.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Ranma complained, brushing the seeds off of herself.

"Look over there," Sasuke said with a wicked smile.

!CAW!CAW! "Doesn't that fill your heart with fear?"

Ranma's eyes widened as she saw the over one hundred small and medium-sized birds in the room screeching and flying towards her. "No, not at all!" Ranma answered with a ridiculously strained look on her face.

"You can't fool me. I know your weak spot is birds. I know you want to scream in terror so go ahead. Heh, heh," the ninja said.

"Hehehe! Hahaha hahaha!" Ranma laughed maniacally. "I'm not afraid at all!"

"Not at all?"

"No! Let's go, Akane!" Ranma said, walking towards Sasuke, escorting him out.

"Ranmaaa!" Akane screamed in a rage, grabbing a nearby parrot and throwing it at the pigtailed girl's head.

"Ow!"

"And you!" she turned to the ninja. "Take that dress off now!"

"Gee, you like me that much?" Sasuke answered.

"Just take it off already!" Then Akane noticed Ranma laughing maniacally as the birds began to pick at him. "What's so funny?"

"And here I was sure Ranma would be afraid of birds. Oh, well. Back to the drawing board." Then Sasuke noticed Akane walking up the stairs over to a large door, dragging a mentally deranged Ranma along by her pigtail. "You don't want to open that door!"

"Don't tell me what to do! Aaaaagh!" Akane screamed as she opened the door and saw a hideous, winged creature that resembled a condor and had visibly sharp teeth inside its beaked mouth. It was a little larger than a man with a 15-foot wingspan as it bulled its way through, knocking Ranma and her girl down the stairs.

"I told you not to open that door."

"What is it?" Akane exclaimed in shock and fear as she got up.

"It's a mutated condor. Some mad scientists used their gene splicing knowledge to create what you see before you."

"Why'd you bring in a horrible creature like that?" Akane demanded.

"I figured it would frighten Ranma."

"Who wouldn't it frighten?"

Then the ninja shot Ranma a look. "Hmm. Ranma seems to be getting angry instead of afraid. I don't know how I could have made such a mistake. If anything the presence of these birds seems to be making her stronger. I can tell from here that her muscles are increasing in size. I don't believe it! She tricked me! Birds aren't her weakness. I need to find Mistress and tell her the news. Time to take my leave." "Goodbye." With that Sasuke vanished.

!CAAW!CAAW! The mutated bird screeched horribly as it made its way down the stairs.

"Ranmaa! Don't just stand there! Do something! We're trapped in here with that man-eating bird!" Akane cried, scared witless.

"Grrr!" Ranma growled, her eyes bulging as she shook herself violently, shaking her head as she blew a gust of breath in the direction of the frightening bird that looked at the pigtailed girl quizzically for a moment.

XXX

Back at the Tendo household, Genma was giving more details about Ranma's phobia. "About this fear of birds Ranma has, what can any of us do to help Ranma be cured of it?" Kasumi asked the balding martial artist.

"I did what I could, Kasumi. Once I tied Ranma up with dried sardines and threw the kid into a pit of starved birds I had collected from around local neighborhoods. Then I tried live worms. I even tried grasshoppers. Each new failure tore up my heart," Genma cried as he stared off into space.

"It seems to me that Ranma did most of the suffering," Kasumi replied stoically.

Then Genma stood up, practically posing for effect. "Yet that training created another tragedy!"

"What was that, Uncle Saotome?"

"When Ranma's fear of birds becomes unavoidable she goes berserk."

"Berserk?"

"Yes. An ancient martial arts master once said that fear leads to anger. In Ranma's case, that's so true. When Ranma goes berserk, losing her mind and her inhibitions, her fighting, agility, strength, and endurance go up to superhuman levels. At that point she is uncontrollable."

"Gasp!"

"Yes, it's bad," Genma answered.

"But what kind of crazy idea was it to make someone going berserk and stronger at the same time?"

"I don't know, but the fear and anger induced adrenaline increases Ranma's physical abilities to the ultimate level," Genma explained dourly. "Besides, I had to do something to increase Ranma's strength since she was only a girl after all."

"Uncle Saotome!" Kasumi exclaimed.

XXX

"Now it's time to use Ranma's weak spot against her and vanquish her once and for all. Then Kenji shall be mine!" Kodachi thought happily as she happily made her way through the gymnasium with a spring in her step.

Back inside the basement, Akane was in utter shock at what was transpiring. "What's wrong with Ranma? It's like she's crazy or something," the girl thought to herself as all the birds in the room cowered behind her and Ranma.

Ranma breathed deeply, her enlarged eyes focused on the mutated bird. "Aaaaagh!" At that point Ranma's muscles began to get a little bigger as her height increased, causing her clothes to rip. "Grrroowrr!"

!SCREECH! The man-eating bird flew right into Ranma faster than the human eye could follow. But Ranma was even faster, surprising the creature and beating it within an inch of its life, attacking with hundreds of punches and kicks in a machine-gun manner.

By this time there were several girls playing basketball in the gym, but they stopped as Kodachi walked in. "Now that Ranma has been destroyed Kenji Tendo will be mine!" "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Just don't look at her," a girl playing basketball whispered to the others.

"What's going on over there?" another girl called out as loud noises came from the stage until... !CRACKADOOM!

"What the..." To the surprise of everyone there, a volcanic eruption of birds came exploding out from the stage. Everyone saw hundreds of birds flying through the hole they created in the roof, but the largest of them flew towards Kodachi, shivering and clinging to her.

"Let go of me, you silly bird! You are not my type!" Kodachi screamed as she broke free of the bird's grip.

"I'm going to give you a lesson you'll never forget!" Ranma yelled in a rage, running full speed at the giant bird.

"Foolish girl!" Kodachi said, whipping out her ribbon and trying to nail the fiery redhead coming at her. !WIFF!

!POW! "Ooooooh!" Kodachi moaned as the powerful punch knocked her into the sky followed by the large bird. Then Ranma ran out the door.

"What happened there?"

"Too much anger," a girl answered her teammate.

As Ranma flew further and further away, she landed near Furinkan High. In seconds she made her way to a large tree, mindlessly punching and kicking it, ripping it apart to the shock of everyone who was there.

"Wow! Look at her go!" a student there called out.

"Has she gotten bigger?" another guy commented.

"It sure looks like it. She's practically growing out of her clothes!"

"I'll say."

"Ranma, what are you doing?" Kenji asked, after having spotted her and following after her.

"Words, cannot reach her now," Genma said, appearing next to Kenji.

"What can we do for her?"

"When Ranma's fear of birds becomes untenable, she escapes her fear by going into an uninhibited emotional rage, increasing her power," Genma explained while opening up the satchel he brought with him. "The only one who has succeeded in snapping Ranma out of her emotional surge was a very old woman who lived in our neighborhood."

"We should find her then."

"No. I'll have to do."

"Gasp!" Kenji and students of Furinkan High exclaimed as they regarded Genma wearing old woman's clothes including a grey wig.

"Come on, Ranma. It's time to calm down," Genma called out, walking over to the broken tree and sounding like an old lady.

"F#$k off!"

"Ranma! How dare you talk to me that way?" !PUNT! "Aaaaagh!" Genma screamed as Ranma's kick sent him into the stratosphere.

"Huff! Huff!" As Ranma began to calm down she noticed Kenji standing there and ran over to him at super speed.

"Ranma, take it easy! I..." !GLOMP!

"Mmm," Ranma moaned as she held on to him affectionately, nuzzling her nose against his chest.

Then Kenji opened his eyes. "Ranma?"

"It's like she knows Kenji's her fiancee!" a boy called out.

!SMOOCH! "She kissed him!" a girl called out jealousy. "How dare she do that in front of everyone here?"

"That's bad enough. But does she have to be practically naked?"

From several yards away, the members of the chemistry club looked on. "Ready, girls?"

"Ready!" the two answered their leader.

"Do it!"

Upon their leader's command a small baseball-sized bomb shot out from a bazooka sized, makeshift canon they were holding, the projectile coming straight for Ranma. !CRACK! "Yaaarrrgh!" Ranma screamed as she went flying out of Kenji's hands and into the sky. Then she landed.

!SPLASH! "Where am I?" Ranma said to no one in particular. "I remember being surrounded by birds and that's it. I wonder what happened after that," Ranma thought to herself as she flew out of the Furinkan High swimming pool, absent-mindedly took her shirt off and wrung it dry.

"You shouldn't do that out in public," a voice said, startling the pigtailed girl who quickly put her shirt back on.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Hikaru Gosunkugi," the well dressed young man said as he floated towards her until he was standing right in front of her.

"How is it I couldn't sense you?" Ranma asked the apparition. "I can't even sense you now."

"That's because I'm not really here."

"If you're not really here, why can't you take your eyes off of my chest?"

"Um. Um. I'm actually in an intangible form. Heh, heh," the boy said nervously, putting his hand behind his head.

"Now what do you want?" Ranma asked suspiciously.

"Don't be afraid, Ranma. I'm in love with you." At that point, Gosunkugi solidified himself.

"Now I can sense you." "I wish I had paid more attention to Pan and Bra when they were teaching me how to recognize ki signatures. But despite all that I'm not even sure I'd have been able to sense this guy anyway."

"Now that we've introduced ourselves I would like to take you out on a date sometime, Ranma," the somewhat handsome young man offered with a toothy smile.

"Listen, Hikaru. I have a fiance. So I don't think..."

"There you are!" Kenji, Genma and some of the students of Furinkan called out, running up to them.

"What are you doing here, Hikaru?" Kenji demanded.

"I was introducing myself to a young woman you do not even deserve."

"Stuff it, Hikaru!"

"You stuff it, Kenji!" Hikaru snapped back. "It's obvious that ever since you've returned from that lengthy training trip of your you'd had things too good for too long. I mean to take this beautiful girl away from here.

"No way!" Kenji answered, returning the creepy boy's glare.

XXX

The next day at the Tendo household Ranma and Genma had finished training in the training hall. "What do you mean I kissed Kenji in front of everybody?" Ranma asked her father. "I don't recall doing that."

"You did kiss him, Ranma. It happened when you were in the thrall of the toruken. Come to think of it, you lose all inhibition when you're in the toruken. The fact you kissed and snuggled up against Kenji shows that you like him."

"Well, I..."

"Ranmaa!" Akane called out running into the hall.

"What is it now, Akane?"

"Why did you feel the need to kiss Kenji in front of everyone while your clothes were torn, leaving yourself practically naked?"

"I don't even remember that happening," Ranma replied.

"Not only do you have no modesty, but you also have a lousy memory too!"

"Calm down, Akane."

"Don't tell me to calm down! Kenji's a whole lot better than you deserve and everybody knows it! Flaunting him the way you did what just awful!" Akane stated with her arms folded on her chest in judgment of her.

!CRASH! "Where is man-stealing bitch?" Shampoo announced, smashing her way into the house, bon boris in hand.

"Get out of here, Shampoo! Nobody's talking to you!" Ranma answered hotly.

"Shampoo kill Ranma!" The powerful amazon came at her enemy, bon boris swinging and finding only air.

"That's enough!" !POW! Ranma's forward punch knocked the purple-headed girl out of the house right through the hole she had made straight into the koi pond.

"You no stop me so easy!" the drenched amazon yelled, coming out of the pond and running straight back towards the house.

"Stop!" Ranma commanded, running outside at such a speed that the amazon ran right smack into Ranma.

!SLAM! "Ungh!"

!CRACK!POW! "And stay out of here!" Ranma screamed, sending the amazon into the sky.

XXX

At the same time, Kenji was out in the park doing katas tai chi style. Several people watched while he trained, admiring the young man's impressive physique. But eventually, he felt that he was being watched by someone in the shadows. "Who's there?"

"It's high time I introduced myself. I am Mousse of the Joketsuzoku amazons!" the slender yet wiry boy announced with flare, his robe fluttering with his motion. The people there stood there in aghast at the amazon male's presence.

Kenji looked at the long-haired, bespectacled martial artist for a moment. "Never heard of you. Now run along. I have some training to do."

"Muscle headed fool! I'm here to make my intentions towards the beautiful Ranma Saotome known. Now you can simply bow out, getting out of my way or face my wrath!" Mousse answered with an intimidating glare that failed to impress Kenji.

"Get out of here, you fruitcake, before I kick your ass all over the place!" the barbarian looking young man snapped back.

"Listen here, roid boy! I know all about how you took advantage of Ranma when her mind wasn't right. I was willing to forgive you but if you're going to act like this..."

"Hold it!" announced an aristocratic voice with noble bearing. "I, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, will no longer tolerate those of you who think to make the pigtailed girl thine! For the heart of the ruby haired Ranma belongs to me!"

"Shut up, Kuno!" Hikaru Gosunkugi exclaimed, appeared to the left of the wannabe samurai. "Ranma will be mine. I'm the only one here who truly appreciates her."

"Fool!" !SWIPE! "What sorcery is this?" Kuno exclaimed as his weapon passed right through the transparent boy.

"My magic powers are beyond your paltry skills. Now I'm going to..."

"Hahaha! I don't believe this!" Ryoga exclaimed. "All of you guys are going to fight over some cross-dressing guy who is simply really adept at pretending to be a girl? What's wrong with you?"

"Shut up, Ryoga! This doesn't concern you!" Kenji snapped back.

"She's not a guy," Hikaru commented. "I've seen her naked; so you need your eyes checked, bandana boy!"

"I have no intention of talking to someone who isn't there so why don't you just float away?" Ryoga answered the apparition.

"Is that so?" !ZAP!

"Aargh! That hurt!" Ryoga screamed upon being hit with an ethereal ki energy blast. "Here's what I'm going to do to you!" Ryoga quickly whipped out countless bandanas, shooting them off in Hikaru's direction.

"Hahaha! Your attacks are so weak I can't even feel them."

"My bandanas are going right through him! But how? I could swear my bandanas are hitting this guy!" Ryoga thought to himself with a look of shock and surprise on his face.

"Aaargh!" Kuno yelled in pain. "You there!" he said pointing his ki sword in the lost boy's direction. "You dare attack the mighty Kuno? Have at thee!" The samurai warrior ran at Ryoga, attacking with everything he had.

"You idiot! I wasn't trying to hit you!" Ryoga responded, blocking with his heavy-duty umbrella.

"He's not the only one you hit, bandana boy!" Mousse called out, whipping out a large sword and shield. "I'm going to run you through!" The myopic amazon came, seemingly gliding on the ground towards the combatants.

"I had no idea Ranma had so many suitors. Hopefully, none of my past girlfriends will come back and give me a hard time. At any rate, it's time to leave," Kenji thought to himself as he and many of the people in the park began to get out of the way of the upcoming battle.

"Not so fast, roid boy!" Gosunkugi stood in front of him and above him, levitating with his arms folded on his chest.

"What do you want, Hikaru?"

"This!" !BLAST!

"Ungh!" Hikaru's powerful ki blast knocked the long-haired martial artist straight into the melee that was going on.

"Now it's time to make my play for Ranma. I can't wait to get my hands on that deliciously sexy body. Heh, heh." With that Gosunkugi flew off until a stray bandana struck him in the back of the head, causing him to fall to the ground stunned.

XXX

The next week hundreds of people had arrived at the newly made, fine dining Chinese restaurant called the Lotus Blossom for its grand opening. The food got such rave reviews that the critics judged it to be a five-star restaurant.

"You've done a very good job here, Aloe," a small diminutive, old woman complimented after seeing how many people had been dining at the restaurant and having read all about the restaurant.

"Thank you, Mother!" Elder Aloe called out from the pass which was the main point in between the kitchen and the dining room where she and Spice made certain that all the food cooked in the kitchen was perfect before it reached the diners. The restaurant was closing at the time so Aloe and the girls were cleaning up.

"I love what you've been doing with this restaurant, Aloe, but we need to speed things up a little bit. Elder Cologne is getting suspicious and she might take matters in her own hands. As it is she has taken Shampoo to Jusenkyo to train her all over again. I don't think Shampoo will ever be strong enough to take Ranma on but as soon as Elder Cologne finds out how powerful Ranma is she might decide to take Ranma on herself."

"All right. So what are you going to do?"

"It's high time I meet Ranma myself. She must be made aware of her new responsibilities. However, I want to bring a couple of girls to where Ranma lives and her and the people with whom she lives a Chinese feast that will impress them. After everyone has enjoyed that wonderful meal, I'll gently bring up how it would be a good idea for Ranma to come to Joketsuzoku as Mousse's mate. I haven't forgotten how much Ranma's father loves to eat. We can offer him a year's supply of food to convince him to have his daughter marry into our clan. Then Ranma will be appraised of her new responsibilities."

"When do you want to do this, Mother?"

"We'll do it tomorrow. We need to show up a little before dinner time. Have the food and the girls ready by 5:00 PM. We need to get there by 5:30 a half hour before they eat," Elder Deodorant explained.

"You have done a lot spying on them," Aloe answered.

"Yes. We have to do this just right. I have a lot of other tricks up my sleeve if Ranma doesn't go along with what we want right away."

XXX

In the Kansai region, a young martial artist trains on the beach by the sea of Japan, swinging a giant-sized spatula against the waves. "When I get my hands on you, Ranma, you'll rue the day you and your no-good daddy stole from my family."

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Next chapter Elder Deodorant meets up with Ranma creating a problem she thought she never had to deal with.

Now I'd like to give props to those who have given me reviews since the last chapter.

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