DBZR ½

Chapter 24: Meanwhile...Planning!

At the Lookout…

The nice thing with being at the home of the world's Guardian was that, with a resounding set of hand claps by Mr. Popo, all damage was undone, leaving the place as pristine as it was before. Piccolo assisted with repairing the clothing of the two women (which Akane promptly ripped the sleeves back off) before they all gathered near Bulma, who proceeded to hold court.

"So, we know who it is, and we know how they got in here and why they did it. We even know where exactly they came in to do their misdeeds, and how we can travel between universes." She pointed out, ticking off each point on a small finger and looking up at the full grown adults and teens. "Why don't we just go to him and try to straighten things out?"

Vegeta's expression turned positively evil, a chuckle escaping him. "Or we can destroy them!"

Gohan turned to face the shorter Saiyan, aghast."Vegeta, no!"

"Vegeta, yes!" The Prince laughed, while the other Z Fighters just rolled their eyes.

"That aside," Bulma loudly interrupted, gaining everyone's attention once more, "Goku can just Instant Transmission himself there and we can get it worked out." She turned her blue eyes to each in turn, finding several thoughtful expressions reflected back.

"It would be nice to resolve a problem without having to fight them, and maybe avoid nearly destroying the world in the process." Tien mused, idly brushing hair back over his burly shoulder. "Considering the last being I fought was Majin Buu, and he took me down with a single kick, I'd rather not have to fight someone until I've pushed myself further."

"Hmph." Vegeta crossed his arms, looking at the three-eyed man. "You're a human, you will likely never be at a level where someone like Majin Buu won't easily take you down."

"Considering how much he thrashed all of us, perhaps Bulma's suggestion has more merit than going with Vegeta's." Piccolo pointed out, preempting an angry retort from the warrior-monk. "And with Goku's ability to Instant Transmission, this could make for a quick resolution, especially since this Toltir is more of a prankster, rather than a malicious and destructive god."

Goku scratched the side of his cheek, looking skyward as he considered. "Well, sure, but...I only sensed the boys, or the strong energy here, to go back and forth between our world and theirs. I didn't sense anything else in between." He blinked as he recalled something. "I did have a lot of energy drained the first time tho…"

He shrugged, setting that tidbit aside as he came to the most relevant point. "Besides, I can't sense Kai energy, and I bet this Toltir guy is the same deal."

Bulma looked sharply to the taller Saiyan, confusion etched on her face. "Wait a second, how do you get to King Kai?"

"I….huh...how do I do that?" The Saiyan slipped an arm under the other, holding his chin in deep thought, before brightening and snapping his fingers. "Oh yea! I've been around him long enough to be able to sense his planet. Mostly sensing Bubbles and Gregory. I mean, I can kinda sense him too, but...it's not the same?"

"Probably because you killed him." Krillin muttered coyly, prompting a look of confusion from the Nerima residents, and sheepish look of disappointment from Goku.

"Yea, I really should fix that. But that's not it!"

Ranma looked to the others in their group, expression dry. "I'm just not going to ask anymore."

"Probably best." Akane agreed.

Shampoo nodded. "Ah-ya, is too strange."

"They lost me early on." Ryoga muttered, prompting a, 'nothing new' side comment from Ranma.

Bulma fumed, crossing her short arms. "Well there's got to be a way to get to him! Maybe there's someone nearby him, or…" Her face suddenly lit up as a thought struck her. "Wait a second!" She pointed to Goku, startling him as she asked, "You said you lost a lot of energy, right?"

He blinked, confused. "Uh, yea…"

"Perfect!" She clenched her fists triumphantly and grinned. "Then that had to have gone somewhere. Somewhere you can trace! I bet that it somehow went to Toltir, which will give you more of a direction than what we've got now."

Goku rubbed at his chin, contemplating it. "Well, that might work. I've never tried to sense stolen energy before. I'll have to try, if it isn't completely gone."

"Sounds like a good plan anyway. Maybe it'll work…" Krillin paused, and then pessimistically added, "...if we're lucky."

"Then it's settled then!" Goku lightly caught a closed fist into the palm of his hand. "We'll go to New Namek first, have Porunga grant their wishes, and then I'll take them back and bring the boys home. Then we can see if I can reach Toltir."

"There's one problem." Piccolo interjected, drawing all of their attention. "The barrier is still in place. Even if you get him to agree, he would not be able to undo the changes until it's down."

"It can be temporarily taken down and re-activated with a single word." Cologne informed them, perfectly balancing on her staff. "I cannot say the same for the wards in our world, but since I created these, I can tell you how it is done. But you should not do it often, the wards will be weakened for a time, and will weaken further each time it's dropped."

"That's one problem solved." 18 commented, somewhat darkly, her hands tucked into the pockets of her jeans, if only because her customary crossed arm position was currently not available. "Now if we can just get these other problems resolved, we could get back to our lives."

"Alright! Then if you guys are ready, we'll go now!" Goku started to approach the Wrecking Crew when Bulma held up a hand.

"Hold on...we should have a backup plan." Bulma pointed out. Ranma and the other Nerima crew sighed, with Ranma muttering, "And I thought this place was more action oriented."

Ranma was instantly rocked back as Bulma jumped into his face, glaring. "Listen you! I've been in this game for far too long for some snot-nosed punk to be talking down to me! We've had our best successes take place with prepared plans, and if you can't appreciate that, you're welcome to stay here and wait for the planet to be destroyed!"

The pig-tailed fighter held his hands up defensively, backing away from the fierce girl. "Fine! Fine! Geez, sorry, didn't mean to touch a nerve!"

"You better be sorry!" Bulma growled, before turning and tromping back to the others, Vegeta simply watching and grinning. "Anyway, a backup plan is needed!"

"If I may ask, Miss Briefs, what would the backup plan be needed for?" Cologne politely requested, pogoing back into place after deftly avoiding the 'youngster' threatening Ranma. "Would this be in case Master Goku is unable to detect the chi you mentioned?"

The cyan haired girl looked to the Elder and nodded with a smile. "I'm glad someone gets it. Yes, if he can't sense the energy, we'll need an alternate option. Maybe there's a favor we can call in somewhere among the Kai's?"

"Ooooh, yea, that's an idea!" Goku exclaimed, rubbing his hands together and looking to the others. "I can speak to Kabito Kai, he might be able to help out."

"That's a great idea, dad!" Gohan grinned, slipping an arm around Videl's shoulder, who practically purred against him. "He owes us for dealing with Majin Buu in the first place, this could be a way to resolve the problem. I bet he would have more pull with another god."

Akane looked over to Ranma, rolling her eyes when she caught his gaze. "See? They hang out with gods."

"Not surprised."

"Ok, yea, if I can't sense the energy, I'll talk to King Kai and see if we can reach Kabito Kai." Goku agreed, ignoring the side comment between the two teens.

"And in both cases, you will take me with you, Kakarot." The short Saiyan took a couple steps forward, glaring up at Goku. "You may not have the stomach to threaten a god, but I'm not afraid to do so. One way or another, this will end."

"Eh, heheh...ok Vegeta...but, let me do the talking before you do anything drastic."

"Fine."

Soft footsteps presaged the arrival of a smiling Dende. "While you guys were talking, I've reached out to the Elder on Namek, and they're already gathering their Dragonballs." His expression fell slightly, adding, "Tho, they mentioned something about an on-call ready retrieval team doing the work. I get the feeling they are just expecting us to call at random now."

"Aw, that's great! Thank you so much, Dende!" Goku grinned widely as the Earth's Guardian bowed his head. Turning back to the Nerima crew, of which Ryoga had managed to fall asleep standing up, he clapped his hands together, and subsequently waking up the Lost Boy as he stepped up to them. "Alright, if you're ready?"

"No time like the present, Master Goku." Cologne pogoed and then hopped up onto his shoulder, while the three teens each placed a hand on his shoulder, or each other to create a daisy chain leading back to him. Eyes narrowing, he lifted two fingers to his forehead, and concentrated…vanishing a moment later.

The remaining individuals stood in silence for several moments, before Videl finally broke it. "So...let's go into the Time Chamber. I'd like to get stronger."

Gohan looked down to Videl, his expression concerned. "Are...you sure? Because I thought you were still having problems with the...you know…"

Her face flushed, and she nodded. "Yea, I've figured it out. So long as I'm focused on fighting, that doesn't bother me at all. So we just have to train really hard, and I'll be set."

The teen Son considered, looking at Videls eyes for any trace of deception, before finally smiling. "Ok. If you're sure, we can do that. But it's going to be tough."

Her lips parted into a grin. "I can take it."

"Alright. We best get going then." He waved to the others as they started to walk in the direction of the chamber. When they were out of earshot, 18 shook her head. "That boy is helpless."

Krillin nodded. "Yea, totally clueless."

"I give it a month before she finally tackles him." Tien smirked, taking a seat on a nearby flower bed.

"I call a week." Bulma countered as she started to walk towards the kitchen.

"If they go longer than a day I will be surprised." Vegeta muttered, following after his diminutive wife.

In Nerima…

Ukyo worked away at her stove, going through the motions with well practiced ease and grace; internally, however, she wasn't focused on her cooking. As she worked, taking orders, fixing up food, and providing it to customers, her mind continued to mull over the situation.

One, Akane and Shampoo both went with Ranma, Ryoga and Cologne to go to the boys home universe for training. Two, Goku and the boys were insanely strong, so it was quite likely that, even as human as the Nerima citizens who went with Goku were, they would return far stronger than before. How strong was anyone's guess, but she was certain that would probably put her two most immediate rivals for Ranma's affections significantly above her. This was a realization that had struck her after the fight between the boys and Miss Hinako and the startling transformation that the teacher underwent after absorbing their chi.

The past few of days the chef had been trying to focus on her cooking and generating income, but that nugget of concern, of worry about her rivals strength continued to pester her, and she worried at it like a worry stone. When she closed the restaurant for the night, she had taken up additional training, working to improve her techniques and maybe create some new ones; however, somehow, she had a feeling that she needed to add some new elements. As her mind ticked things off, she noted the following:

Ranma and Ryoga already had the ability to channel chi into attacks, emotion based in their cases.

Trunks and Goten also had the ability to channel chi into attacks, which didn't appear to be emotion based.

Trunks and Goten could also do a transformation of some kind to become more powerful, apparently also using their chi.

Said boys could also fly...again, apparently using their chi.

Setting the last okonomiyaki down for the day, this one for herself, she sighed and took a seat, still pondering the situation and reviewing her own techniques. "Using chi is the way to become stronger...but how do I gain the ability to use chi, and how would I incorporate it into my style? I need someone to teach me how to use chi." Her chopsticks moved mechanically, bringing food to her lips as she continued to contemplate. Cologne certainly knew how, but she wasn't available...and her help would be suspect anyway, being the grandmother of her rival. The boys were young and may know what they're doing, but she highly doubted they had the maturity to be able to teach and explain their techniques, not yet anyway. None of the remaining members of the Wrecking Crew had the capability, and Happosai was right out.

Right out into the deepest, darkest trench in the ocean, if she had anything to say about it.

Shuddering, she continued to eat her meal, and was halfway into another bite when her eyes widened in realization. "Wait a second...there were some street fighters that were known to have chi based techniques! I think there's at least one that lives here in Tokyo, and she's a student!" A grin of triumph plastered itself to her lips, and she began to chuckle darkly. "Yes! That's the ticket! She might even know some others! This is how I'll get stronger!" Downing her meal quickly, she grabbed her bandolier and battle spatula, hopped onto her bike, and took off, fiery determination in her eyes.

"Let's see what you can show me, Sakura Kusanagi!"

Elsewhere in the city…

Kuno shuffled through the halls of the family house, thinking over his most recent defeat, by some random peasant at that! Such a thing shouldn't have been possible, not against the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High...yet, it happened. Too, he was no closer to freeing his beloved Akane, or the Pig-Tailed Girl from the clutches of his most heinous foe. While there was no doubt he was the stronger, the magic of the other martial artist had to be quite potent to avoid his constant retribution. And the speed of the man who sliced his bokken, with an unusual weapon no less, was admittedly impressive. The man didn't have the best of techniques, but it was effective, no question.

"Perhaps I must refine my sword techniques further. Saotome's magic makes him fast, so I need to become faster. But how?" Kuno mused, rubbing his chin as he stepped outside the house and began to walk the streets, no specific destination in mind. He knew that he could increase his strength, but that in itself could affect how he handles his sword. Big muscles would slow him down, and affects his strikes. Perhaps he simply needed to put more focus and concentration on his techniques. He tried it once; however, he couldn't quite remember the end result of that attempt. A repeat of that situation was unacceptable. If every time he tried to improve his techniques ended with him being unable to remember, then it would be a waste, and would get him no closer to his goals.

"There must be a way to increase the speed of my techniques-" Something thumped against his foot, prompting him to stop and look down. "Eh? What manner of thing is this?" The dark haired kendo practitioner kneeled down, picking up a thick, battered, leather bound volume. Most of the exterior was badly damaged, and the pages were rather warped, some even torn out, but the images within seemed...promising.

"Why, this tome! It shows sword techniques!" He exclaimed, flipping through the pages quickly. "These techniques look to be quite powerful, and promises god-like speed that no opponent can defeat? The spirits of warriors past have blessed me with this knowledge!" He held the book triumphantly to the sky, a glint of victory in his eye. "With this ancient tome, I will finally be able to defeat the sorcerer Saotome, and free my tigress Akane and the Pig-Tailed girl! Fear not! The Blue Thunder-" A crack of lightning and thunder followed, startling several birds from their roosts. "-shall finally save you, and avenge himself upon his enemy!"

Taking the book in both hands, he turned back for home, already looking forward to advancing his techniques and incorporating new ones. "Come, Sensei Ruroni! Let us begin at once!"

Elsewhere...in Japan, some forested part outside of Nerima...

A tree exploded as Mousse struck it with his signature Fist of the White Swan, quickly returning it into the billowing folds of his sleeves, grumbling. It was a powerful strike, but no better than his usual. With Cologne and Shampoo gone, both with Ranma, of all people, to train, he knew he had to improve as well if he wanted to continue his quest to win Shampoo's affections. That said, he felt he was at the limit of what he could do with the weapons he had. So he would have to find a way to improve what his arsenal was capable of doing. But it was infuriating to have to be left behind!

"Who knows what that Saotome is doing? If it wasn't for the fact that the Old Mummy was there-" A snap, and he felt a sudden, sharp pain in the back of his head, prompting him to spin around to see what struck him: however, he saw nothing but a single tree limb bouncing on the ground. "..uh, yea, anyway...Akane's there, so that will keep him to himself." Idly rubbing the back of his head as he turned back to the trees about him, he glowered, imaging Ranma laughing and throwing Shampoo over his shoulder. Growling, he felt his aura rapidly rising...and in a fit of rage filled pique, yelled and lashed out with his claws.

A set of golden slices appeared, and slashed into another tree, cutting the trunk into several pieces before it fell apart into the clearing with a earth shaking crash.

Confusion reigned as he glanced down through his thick glasses at his still extended claws, catching sight of a light golden glow surrounding them before it faded. "...interesting...was that a strike using my chi?" Straightening up, he gazed at the claw for several long moments, before retracting them back into his sleeve. "This may be a way for me to finally defeat Saotome, with a new chi technique that not even the Elder knows." A look of challenge crossed his face as he stared at the downed tree. "Let's see if I can find a way to replicate, improve and master this…"

"And then, Saotome...you will finally know defeat at my hands!" He cackled loudly, sending another flock of birds into the sky to join all the other displaced and distraught feathered fellows.

In the depths of the mountains of Thailand…

"Ha!" A meaty thump, snap, and then a punching bag flew several feet across a training room as a young man held his fist out where it used to be. Straightening up, he took a breath and released it, before moving aside to wait for someone to set up a new punching bag. A lab coated man quickly did so, and the fighter retook his stance in front of it, bouncing lightly on his feet before lashing out in a combination of punches and kicks.

Through an observation window, the head scientist adjusted his glasses, and took down a few notes, reviewing the instrument readouts as they continuously worked to provide up-to-date information on the spiky haired man's hits and his bodily vitals: blood pressure, oxygen level, heart rate, hand-eye coordination, force of impact, balance...all was captured by the sensors.

"The potential power is still lower than expected, but has grown noticeably since his removal from the tank." He mused to one of his fellow scientists. "His biology may require him to fight to gain any real improvements in his strength. How are the additional memory engram patterns applying?"

"His mind is taking them well, and he is quite obedient. We have begun to add some advanced patterns to his repertoire, so those should begin to manifest soon."

The thin, older man nodded approvingly. "Then we are on schedule. By this time next week, he should be ready for sparring with actual opponents. Begin working up a list of opponents for him to train with and against. If his rate of fighting potential growth stays constant, he should be fully matured in the next three weeks."

From within the training room, the man gave a loud "Kiya!" and shot his cupped hands forward, slamming into the bag, a flash of light briefly appearing upon impact. The bag flew back, and then swung forward, catching him by surprise and knocking him onto his back. Rising slowly, and struggling to hold back tears, he stood up, wiped his eyes, and rushed forward with impressive speed.

"Excellent, he is adapting quickly. Inform Lord Bison of the boys progress, and that he is ready for him to perform his test."

"Right away."

Gotenks continued to attack the bag, all the while picking up whispers from the other side of the mirrored glass. He had no idea who this 'Bison' was, but he had heard the name frequently, knew he was important somehow, and he hoped to meet him soon.

He wanted to have a good fight. Not play with these stupid bags and weights.

Hundreds of miles away from the Lookout…

Shiaku sighed, brushing her hands lightly as she gazed down at the fallen fighters of the Karate Club. "Pathetic. I expected more of a challenge." All of them were groaning, or were slowly pulling themselves away from the fighting floor, some bleeding from their noses or split lips. "Should have sent your best, not your knock offs."

"Then you shall have it, Shiaku Kimagame." A new voice called out. She slowly turned, her high ponytail swinging behind her as she took in her newest opponent. A tall, powerfully built upperclassman approached, his gi well fitted, the belt festooned with patches of the school tournaments he had won. Slamming a foot down and lowering into a side stance, he brought his arms up and shaped his hands into fists, one held near his chest, ready to release a reverse punch. "I shall be your opponent."

Looking him over, she felt a burst of energy shoot up her spine, and she smiled: this might be useful. "Very well. Let's see what you can do then." She slammed her own foot forward, and perfectly mimicked his stance, feeling her power rising within, her body tightening in anticipation. They stared each other down for several long moments, before, as one, their eyes widened and they shot forward. A series of blows followed, and then, with a loud scream, the fighter was sent flying from a powerful kick to his sternum, crashing into the wall as his compatriots scrambled to avoid him.

She stood in place, leg outstretched, before finally lowering it and then adjusting her skirt back into place and feeling her body relax to its more normal level, tone lines fading from her exposed legs and arms. "I suppose you weren't bad. But don't try to cross me, I'll do worse otherwise." Padding away, she reached where her shoes were, slipped them on, and tapped out of the club room, hips swaying, as was now usual.

It was such a thrill to defeat so many fighters, and to be so strong! It didn't matter who she faced, she was either clearly superior to them already, or she felt her power activate and she could match her opponent's skills, her strength increasing to be just above what they could do. Just like what happened with the upperclassman. Throwing her ponytail back over her shoulder and adjusting her vest as she headed home for the day, she giggled to herself. "It won't be long before I run this place. Then I'll need to find something else to do."

Back in Nerima…

"So, who we fighting tonight?" Trunks asked, sparring with Goten within the Tendo Dojo.

Nabiki opened up the cover on her recently acquired tablet, and checked. "Looks like a luchador team. They're nicely ranked, so they should be able to provide a nice bit of fun for you two."

"Great! The last ones were fun!" Goten blocked a strike, spun and backhanded his friend upside the head before he was kicked in the chest and knocked back. They split and gazed at each other, before they jumped at each other once more, arms and legs a flurry of motion.

"Yea! This trip has become a lot more fun now that we're in the Funikawa League!" Trunks grinned, backflipped, and kicked the younger boy into the air, who caught himself with a burst of energy and came back at him.

The small bit of guilt within Nabiki stirred, only to be quickly quashed by a pile of money. While she wasn't above lying to Kuno or other classmates, she did feel a little bad lying to little kids, powerful as they may be. So instead of telling them they were now part of the Fukamichi Rankings, she tweaked it a bit. The boys opponents didn't really care one way or the other, so long as they got a fight in that could potentially raise their ranking.

It just so happened that when the boys arrive to fight, said opponents would fail to increase their rank, due to the two demi-Saiyans being too much for them. So far they had defeated a kickboxer, a construction worker, and a kung-fu expert. All of which were relatively low ranked, but since they weren't part of the Ranking originally, the boys level was also still low, even though they did defeat the Air Master.

Considering how quickly they were moving up, that wasn't going to last long. And the money she was getting was proving to be sufficient to fill her nest egg nicely, provided the amounts kept coming in at the same level or greater. She was even to the point that she could set up an investment line for the dojo, and was looking at creating a trust fund for her sister, Kasumi. As mercenarial as Nabiki was, she wasn't going to leave her entire family hanging in the wind.

Akane would have to make do. Unless the money became stupidly good, then maybe she would change her mind. The middle Tendo thought it over, and then shook her head. "Nah, she'll get the dojo and will be able to get students to train. She won't need any help, beyond the investment line, once I set that up." Setting the thought aside, she closed her tablet back up. "Kasumi sent me to come and get you two. Dinner is ready."

Instantly the boys stopped. "Oh boy! I love Kasumi's cooking!"

"Yea!" Trunks agreed as they landed and ran towards Nabiki.

Smiling and laughing, she lead the way towards the house, ever so thankful that there hadn't been any fights at the house in the time that Ranma and the others had left. The resulting lack of needing to repair anything had done wonders for their overall finances. As the boys went to wash up, she reopened her tablet and considered a notification she had received: of a street fighter tournament, that was to be held for all World Warriors to participate in within a month, with a large cash prize. In US dollars, no less. "Hmmm...it's a little ways out, but if Goku doesn't bring Ranma and the others back by then, maybe we'll have enough to enter that. Maybe even if they do come back before that." Bookmarking it for later, she closed the tablet again, and went to wash up for dinner herself.

Far above the Earth…

"Things are becoming more interesting by the day." A cloaked figure mused, gazing down towards the planet in curiosity. "Perhaps the time has come to go down and investigate more closely, see if my intervention is needed." The hood shifted, as if the figure was nodding to themselves. "Yes. I will do so. Starting in Nerima." A brilliant glow formed around the being, shooting up and arcing down towards the planet below, the glow quickly vanishing as they stealthily hid their presence, heading directly towards Japan.

TBC…

That should pretty much catch everyone up on all the important characters and what's going on. Lots of things in play, and it will eventually start to come together. Granted, the focus is still going to be on Ranma and company, but one can't leave the other characters behind, if just to explain what's going on with them.

As a side note, there doesn't seem to be any explanation that I could find for why Goku can Instant Transmission direct to King Kai, considering it was explicitly stated elsewhere that he can't sense Kai energy, so I figured he was able to pick up the unique energy of his planet, or he senses Gregory or Bubbles instead. He spent enough time with them, so he probably knows exactly what their energy signature feels like compared to anyone else. Again, it's just a guess, but it makes the most logical sense, short of King Kai not counting as having Kai energy, or Goku just knowing what his energy feels like from being trained by King Kai. There's no clear explanation either way, so I'm running with what I came up with until proven otherwise.

I'm sure you can guess at least one of the things that's been hinted at here being revealed (and I'm taking artistic license with that particular 'tome', cause you know that somewhere, someone has probably created such a product like that)...can you guess the other thing being hinted at? Take your best guess in the comments. ^_^

Oh, and that last character? Well, just have to wait and see how that pans out. Mwuahaha!

Until next time…

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