Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the property of Rumiko Takahashi and all associated licensers. The King of Fighters and it associated series are the property of SNK-Playmore and all associated licensers. This is not a work for profit. I claim no rights to the characters. This is a work of fiction.

Continuity for Ranma is mostly derived from the manga, with some of the anime sprinkled in for good measure. Continuity for the King of Fighters is a modified form of the current story, how that is should be explained in story, but I am willing to explain for those with further questions.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10

"Where the hell am I now?" Ryoga screamed as he wandered through the streets of Nerima.

At least he was still in the ward, but even after half a day's searching, he was no closer to finding Ranma. It was so damn frustrating! He had even tried to ask several pedestrians for help, but Ryoga's horrific sense of direction meant that even when they did point him to the right place, he soon became lost again. At the rate things were going, he would sooner end up in some other city than come across his rival.

"Can you quiet yourself down Ryoga Hibiki? Some people are trying to meditate here."

"Who said that?' Ryoga said as he turned towards the direction he thought he heard the voice coming from, or at least he tried to turn to the right direction.

"Your other left, you twit."

"Why you son of a… Mousse?" Ryoga was caught off guard. Of all the people he would have expected to run into, Mousse would have been on the bottom of his list. What was the Chinese boy doing here anyway? A better question was, where was here?

"You're in the park Hibiki. I assume that is what you are going to ask next."

"The park? I'm really off track now." Ryoga dropped his bag from his shoulders and collapsed to the ground. "Guess I'm nowhere near Furinkan."

"Oh good, you could figure that much out on your own, and here I was worried I would have to explain that to you as well." Mousse said as he wiped his glasses with a cloth.

"You know pal, I do believe you're being even more of an ass than usual, and that's no mean feat. What the hell is your problem anyway?"

"Like I was saying before, I was trying to meditate."

"In the park."

"That is where we are."

Ryoga took a good hard glance at Mousse. Something did not add up here, he just could not put his finger on it. He did notice that Mousse seemed to be rather dirtier looking than normal, and thin in the face.

"You want something to eat? Some water? You look a little off." Ryoga offered.

"I have no need for anything you could offer me Hibiki. I'm quite fine thank you." Mousse grunted and closed his eyes once more, attempting to reenter his trance.

"Well have you seen Ranma?" Ryoga pressed on.

"No Hibiki, I don't know where Ranma Saotome is, and at this moment I could care less."

Now Ryoga knew something was wrong. Mousse saw Ranma as a rival just as much as he did, in both martial arts and love.

"So if Ranma was hitting on Shampoo right at this moment?"

"He would be a dead man Hibiki, but I'm sure you knew that."

"You're in trouble aren't you? Something happened between you and the other amazons." Ryoga knew what it was like to be an outcast. Even if Mousse was a jerk, he deserved some sympathy.

"And what if that were true Hibiki? The business of Nǚjiézú is of no concern to outsiders."

"Nice try pal, but I'm not buying it. Do you even have a place to stay?"

"What sort of warrior would I be if I could not fend for myself in the wild?"

Ryoga was about ready to tear his hair out (or Mousse's head off) in frustration. Why did this guy have to be so difficult? Ranma was downright mild-mannered in comparison!

"Listen to yourself you idiot. This is not the wild; you're living in a park by yourself with no means of getting food or shelter. What difference is there between you and some homeless bum on the sidewalk?"

"As you said, I live in a park." Mousse sneered, now feeling very cross. To be lectured by this vagabond, someone who could not even find a bathroom on his own if his life depended on it; Mousse would not allow himself to be demeaned even further.

"You're really asking for it pal." Ryoga said as he slipped into a fighting stance.

"Oh good, I was looking for someone to take out my aggression on. I would have preferred Ranma, but I guess I have to settle for the next best thing." Mousse moved his hands back into his sleeves, grasping his hand claws.

"Prepare yourself!" Ryoga screamed as his took a running start at Mousse. He jumped high into the air, and at the apex of his accent readied his fist for a crushing blow when he came back down to earth. Mousse narrowly dodged the attack, Ryoga's fist smashing into the ground and churning up dirt all around it.

"Pathetic!" Mousse unleashed his claws, trying to catch Ryoga between them. He managed to graze Ryoga's chest, drawing a small amount of blood.

"What's wrong Hibiki? I thought you were supposed to be as tough as iron, but it looks to me as if you are as frail as any other man. Maybe that's why Ranma is always beating you!"

"Why you!" Ryoga channeled his depression into ki and fired off his Shishi Hokodan.

The blast was quite large, and Mousse could not fully evade it, the force knocking him into a nearby tree. He regained his senses quickly, and pulled out some throwing knives, tossing them with deadly aim at his opponent. However, Ryoga proved too agile to be caught by that attack, and rolled to the ground before they hit him.

"It will take more than cold steel to bring me down." Ryoga growled, climbing back to his feet.

"Is that so? Then I'll just have to try something more... potent." Mousse again reached into his sleeves, this time producing several bombs. "Yes, let's see if we can't shatter that iron body of yours…"

It was math class in Ranma and Akane's homeroom. The teacher, Mr. Hayashi, was droning on about trigonometry, and the students were doing their best to follow him. Ranma in particular was furiously scribbling down everything he heard into his notebook. He did not understand much of it, but he figured he would make sense of it later at home. Hiroshi and Daisuke were seated behind him, trying to copy off of their friend's notes. Their comprehension of the topic was even lower than that of Ranma's, but they knew that his work was getting high grades recently, so they figured they might as well steal from someone more competent than them.

"So, if we put the measurement into the calculator and press the cosign button, we then get…" Mr. Hayashi's lecture was abruptly interrupted by a loud boom coming from outside.

"What was that?" Hiroshi screamed as he ran towards the window. Daisuke and other students promptly followed him.

"Students, get back in your seats! Whatever it was, I need order in this classroom!" Hayashi yelled in a futile attempt to settle things down. Another explosion followed his statement.

"It sounds like bombs going off." Observed Sayuri, one of Akane's schoolmates, her tone bored. She knew by now that stuff like this was par for the course at Furinkan High.

"Yeah, but the sound is way off in the distance," said Daisuke, "I think it's happening off school grounds."

"Off school grounds? You think we're being invaded?" asked Hiroshi. He was too young (and handsome!) to die.

"Don't even joke about that man. I wonder where it's coming from though."

"All students get back into their seats!" screamed Hayashi once more, his face florid from the effort. He had not had to raise his voice in many years; it was quite exhausting for him.

"What do you think Ranma?" asked Akane as she turned to his seat, only to realize he was no longer there. "Ranma? Ranma… damn it!"

"Ms. Tendo, no swearing! Everyone else back in their seats!" Hayashi was practically on the verge of an apoplectic fit by this point.

"Geez teacher, chill out man, you look like you're about to keel over." Hiroshi suggested in his always helpful manner.

"AAAAAAH!" Hayashi screamed as he ran out of the homeroom.

"I tell you man, it's the math. It makes you loopy in the head." Hiroshi said as he shook his head.

Ranma dashed through the streets of Nerima as fast as his legs would take him. He had a pretty good idea of what was going on. He could sense two sizable battle auras clashing with one another somewhere in the ward, exactly who and where he intended to find out. What the hell were these people thinking starting something in the middle of the day… and not even bothering to invite him first? The nerve of some folks!

He soon realized as he homed in on the powerful auras; it was coming from the direction of the park. What was up with that place lately? It seemed as if his life was beginning to revolve around it. No matter though, he would put a stop to this soon enough. Not that Ranma was looking forward to go back to math class, but a man has to do what he has to do.

As he approached closer and closer to his targets, Ranma could hear the explosions getting louder and louder. He also began to notice that there were in fact several distinct sounds being produced by the blasts, meaning that there must be more than one source for them. What that all meant… Ranma had no clue, except that the people who were responsible for all this were dangerous, and strong, much stronger then he had initially given them credit for.

And then he heard it, a familiar threat that Ranma had been on the receiving end of more than a few times himself over the past year.

"Mousse, prepare to die!"

Well now, Ryoga andMousse in the same location? How lucky could Ranma get? Well except for the whole part about them both being in a homicidal rage, but he could work with that. Hey, sometimes you just have to take what life gives you.

He charged fearlessly into the fray, just narrowly dodging one of Mousse's bombs that had come into his path. No sooner had he done that, he had to jump over one of Ryoga's razor-sharp bandanas. After that he had to swerve to avoid one of Mousse's throwing blades. All this and neither of the two other martial artists had yet to realize Ranma's presence in their epic battle. Ranma could hardly wait to find out how they would react when he finally got their attention.

How do you get the attention of two young rampaging martial artists anyway? Ranma quickly deduced simply shouting, "Come on, cut it out you guys!" was not going to work on the likes of Mousse and Ryoga. No, he needed something a little more… attention getting then that. Oh, of course! The Demon's Head technique! Why had he not thought of that in the first place?

"COME ON, CUT IT OUT YOU GUYS!" he yelled though the monstrous ki-projected illusion. What? He should have said something more creative? Well they can't always be winners. Besides, it more than accomplished its task of stopping the other two teenagers cold in their tracks.

"Well good," Ranma began, "Now that I have your attention, we can get somewhere."

"Ranma?" Ryoga choked out after getting over his initial shock.

"Ranma Saotome?" Mousse followed on cue.

"No, it's Santa Claus. I'm just wearing a Ranma costume to throw you both off. Who did you think it was?"

"Well I know it must be Ranma, because only he has that lame sense of humor!" Ryoga said gruffly. Mousse simply shook his head in disgust, whether it was meant for Ranma or Ryoga was not clear.

"What were you guys doing fighting like that anyway?"

"Well," Ryoga began. His thoughts followed a very simple pattern. He had been looking for Ranma. He found Mousse instead. He got into a fight with Mousse because he was looking for Ranma, therefore…

"Ranma, this all your fault!" he screamed as he lunged at his rival. Ranma knew he really should not have been surprised by Ryoga's mercurial temperament after all this time, but he was.

"Come on Ryoga, the Santa Claus joke wasn't that bad!" he said as he dodged a kick aimed at his torso. Ranma really had no intention of fighting with someone he planned to recruit for his team. He needed these guys in top form for the tournament, and beating the crap out of them ran counter to that. He needed a way of neutralizing Ryoga quickly without hurting him.

Why, oh why had Ranma not taken Cologne up on that offer last month to learn how to strike nerve points to render foes immobile without causing permanent injury? Oh yeah, she wanted him to sleep with Shampoo first, silly question. Well then what else was there? Ryoga's Jusenkyo curse? Now that Ranma could exploit… if he had some cold water on him. Or if there was a pond around, which there was not because God had apparently decreed that nothing in Ranma Saotome's life could ever be allowed to go the way he wanted it. It really looked like Ranma had no choice but to do this the hard way and beat Ryoga in a head on confrontation… oh goody.

Just when Ranma was about to leap in and begin his counterattack, and Ryoga was bearing down to crush his rival once and for all, they were interrupted by a large wave of cold water washing over them. The now female Ranma jumped right over the piglet that had been a man and landed in the dirt. They both turned to look at what had hit them and saw Mousse holding a fire hose coming out of his sleeve.

"Well good, now it looks as if I have your attention Ranma Saotome."

"How is that even possible?" Ranma cried out, more stunned than angry. Ryoga could only squeak in agreement.

"The same way I've always done it. Any other questions?"

"Well how…"

"That was rhetorical Saotome." Mousse tucked the hose back into his sleeve.

All conflict between them resolved, if only temporarily, the trio sat down to discuss matters. Well they really could not sit, as they were in the middle of a park, and Ryoga as a pig could not sit down like a person would… maybe it would just be best just to move on from that point.

"So Ranma Saotome, why did you seek me out?" asked Mousse. Ryoga angrily squealed as if to say 'I'm here too!' but the Chinese amazon ignored him.

"Well to be honest, I had no idea it was you and Ryoga when I came out here. Though I was looking for you anyway, so it all worked out." Ranma pulled out the invitation letter from pocket, it was a little soggy, but still in decent condition. She handed it over to Mousse.

"And what is this?" Mousse scanned over the letter carefully. A fighting tournament between teams from around the world? Promises of fantastic wealth for the victors? The writer praising Ranma's ability as a martial artist? Mousse sniffed dismissively, if this was a joke, it was in poor taste.

Ryoga continued to squeal, wanting to look at the letter as well.

"Could you turn him back into a human already?" Ranma huffed. "And turn me back into a guy while you're at it, this is really awkward!"

"What makes you think I carry any hot water on me?" Mousse said as he continued to read the letter intently.

"That's rich coming from the guy who just pulled a fire hose out of his coat. Don't joke around with me, you probably have a stove in there as well, so don't tell me you can't give us some hot water."

"Unfortunately for you, I have only a refrigerator."

Smack! Ranma bonked Mousse over the head with her fist. Well she did warn him not to joke around.

"I don't even know why I associate with you people half the time." Mousse said as he poured a cup of hot water with one hand, and rubbed his head with the other.

"And I don't know why I even associate with you any of the time, so there." The now human Ryoga said as he grasped the letter to read for himself. "Huh interesting, the letterhead is in English. From the desk of Rose Bernstein, who's that?"

"You can read English Ryoga?" Ranma, once again male, was interested by this.

"I speak it better than I can read it, but when you get stuck overseas as much as I do, you need to know English to survive, well except in France. Mi español no es malo tampoco."

"What?" Asked a very confused Ranma.

"Forget it. So this Bernstein woman, she's invited you to a fighting tournament?" Ryoga said as he read further.

"Yeah, and I need a team to do it. You in?"

"I don't know." Ryoga thought of Akari. "Frankly Ranma, I've been thinking of pulling out of this whole fighting thing."

"Right, that's why you and the walking hardware store over there were tearing up half the park."

"Hey, don't get fresh with me man!" Ryoga could feel the anger boiling up in him again. It was always like this, being taken for granted. He wanted to help, but he had his pride too.

"Besides, why ask me?" he continued. "It's not like you took me with you to Odaiba. I had to ask first if you wanted to train when you fought that American. Now you come to me because you need some extra muscle for you little adventure? What, so you only need me around when it's convenient?"

The sting of Ryoga's remarks made Ranma tense his fists for the briefest of moments. He then relaxed. He probably deserved that remark, even if he hated to be criticized by anyone, especially Ryoga.

"Look, I made a mistake. I'm sorry. I was pressed for time and you weren't around… Nabiki got in on the whole thing and well… I'm sorry."

"Well Saotome, you really must be desperate if you are begging like this." Mousse haughtily proclaimed. Ranma was about to sock him again when Ryoga's fist got there first, sending Mousse into the dirt.

"Don't talk to my teammate like that you punk!" Ryoga closed his eyes and dusted himself off.

"So, that means you'll…" Ranma started as he broke into a big smile.

"Ranma, you apologized, so now we're square. I'll admit I was looking for something to do with my life anyway. So yeah, you can count me in."

"Great! Now we just have to get four-eyes over there to agree and we're set."

"You want Mousse on your team as well?" Ryoga looked over at the fallen amazon. "Seems like a waste to me. There has to be someone better than him."

"I've thought about it, but as hard as it is to believe, he's the only other person I trust with this. Besides, we've teamed up before and done pretty well."

By now, Mousse had regained consciousness and started to get back on his feet. He turned towards Ranma with a stern look on his face.

"I refuse your offer, Ranma Saotome."

"Wait, what? Were you listening to anything I just said? Did you read the letter?"

"Yes I read the letter, and my answer still stands. Find some other person to fill out your team, I'm not interested." Mousse turned around and started to leave.

"Where are you going Mousse?" Ryoga called out to him. "Back to the Nekohanten? Going to grovel to the old lady?"

That stopped Mousse in his tracks. He turned back around to face Ryoga, his expression once again menacing.

Ranma could see that the two were about to fight again and tried to calm the situation down.

"Look Mousse, I have no idea what's going on between you and Ryoga, or what he was talking about, but you at least owe me a good explanation as to why you won't join up, and to my face." Ranma pointed at him as he walked up to the amazon. "I think you're mistaking me for that tree over there."

"I need to spell it out for you Saotome? Fine, I will give you that much. For starters, do you know why I teamed up with you in the past?"

"To help defeat big threats like Herb and Saffron?"

"Correct, but you seem to have drawn the wrong conclusion from those experiences. Every time I joined you in battle, it was either to save Shampoo or defeat the enemies of my tribe. It was an alliance of convenience so to speak. What possible reason could I have to go off with you to some distant land and fight strangers when I could be using that time to convince Shampoo to finally accept my love?"

Ranma was not quite sure how to counter Mousse's words. For once, the idiot had a point that staying in Japan during the time of the tournament would give him an opportunity to try and win over Shampoo, but it still seemed delusional. When had she ever returned his affections in the past?

Ryoga decided to take the initiative. "That's all fine and good, until Cologne figures out where Ranma went and takes Shampoo with her to track him down."

"How would she figure that out Hibiki? Are you going to tell her? I would simply kill you here before you ever had the chance."

"In your dreams Mousse, you know that old lady better than I do. You really think that she won't find out anyway? Granny is pretty sharp, and when she does go after Ranma, you won't be invited along for the trip. You'll be alone, with no assurance that Shampoo won't finally win Ranma over."

"Are you kidding me?" Ranma interjected himself into the standoff. "What makes you think I would let that happen?"

Ryoga grabbed his friend for a moment and whispered harshly in his ear.

"Do you want to blow this? I just started to make a breakthrough!"

"But come on, it's so transparent." Ranma whispered back. "I mean, Mousse can be a blockhead, but do you really think he would fall for this?"

"Take a look for yourself; he's practically shutting down at the thought of losing Shampoo to you!"

Ranma could see that Mousse's glasses had taken on a frosted look, his eyes completely obscured. He was motionless, as if his mind had gone blank and stopped sending any messages to his body.

I can't dismiss what Hibiki said, Mousse thought to himself. Granted the chances of it actually happening are not great, but even so, I cannot allow it! Damn it, he has me! I have to join the team as a hedge against Ranma having any intimate contact with Shampoo!

"Is he okay?" Ranma asked. "It looks like he's having a seizure over there."

"Just wait a moment." Ryoga replied.

"Fine, I will join your team." Mousse finally said as he snapped out of his trance. "I want an equal share of any winnings we get however, and a say over how the team is run. You will not be the boss of me Saotome."

"Like I would ever want you as an employee; still, good to have you aboard partner."

"So what do we do now Ranma?" Ryoga said as he looked over the letter again."It says here that the tournament starts in less than six weeks. If that's the case, we have a lot of work to do."

"Right now, I have to get back to school before Akane and half of the faculty kills me. Let's meet again at the Tendo house tonight to plan things out some more. We should probably inform our friends and family about this as well now that we're a team. News gets around fast in Nerima, so let's do it on our terms. There is one other thing." Ranma pointed at Mousse.

"What?"

"Keep an eye on Ryoga at all times. We can't afford to lose him. I'm counting on you here."

"I told you I will not take orders."

"That's wasn't an order… it's a request from one friend, looking out for the interests of another friend." Ranma smiled. "You can accept that much right?"

"Heh, you are delusional as always Saotome." Mousse's words belied his tone and expression. It was good to know that even in tough times, there were certain people he could rely on, even if they were rivals.

"Hey! I'm not invisible here." Ryoga complained. "I need to tell Akari that I'm doing this!"

"Then I guess Mousse is going to have to travel to the pig farm with you." Ranma laughed.

"What part of 'I won't take orders' do you not understand Saotome?"

"Listen, I don't have time for this. I'll see you guys tonight!" And with that Ranma took off before either of his teammates could get in another word.

"That guy, he's a lot of trouble." Mousse furrowed his brow.

"Yeah, not going to argue with you on that one." Ryoga rubbed the back of his head. "For better or worse though, we're on the same team from this point forward."

"It would appear so. Still, our fight from earlier was never finished…"

"You're still going on about that?"

Mousse unsheathed his claws once more. "Consider it our first training exercise… partner. I promise to keep my eyes on you at all times."

"You're so blind, that's meaningless!" Ryoga laughed as his pulled one of his bandanas out and began to twirl it. "Just don't complain to me when you lose."

As Ranma ran back to Furinkan, he could feel his new teammates' battle auras flaring once more.

"Well that didn't take them very long. I just hope they're half as fired up for the King of Fighters!"

End Chapter

Well, that's the last chapter for a while. Three weeks to be precise. I should have a good amount of material stockpiled by then. My postings should become more regular after that… hopefully.

Now it's time to answer some questions.

Hiei-Uchiha: To be frank, I originally had no intention of including other teams composed of Ranma characters. Most of those guys would have been way too quirky to include, plus I would have to decide why they would receive invitations, etc. On the other hand, when I was compiling a list of teams, I realized it was hard to come up enough of them to fill in all of the blanks, so I probably will include at least one such team in the final roster. Who they are… I can't give that away. Happosai will not be one of them however. I have something else planned for him.

I thought Ryu Kumon more or less gave up fighting after his defeat by Ranma? What could he really do without the Yamasenken anyway? I liked him as a rival, but I feel Takahashi concluded his story rather conclusively, so it would be hard to put him into this story. It's a shame really, but there are so many other characters to deal with, I think the loss is marginal at best.

Thank you for the comments though, I found them very useful.

Divine Aurora: I certainly did not forget about the "other" Orochi. I will have to explain that, and I have an idea of how to do it. That will not come up for quite a while though.

I have to admit I have not read the Ryugenzawa story arc in a good five or six years, so I will have to go over it again for more details. Still, I don't think Ranma becoming part Orochi would work in this story. Ranma's pretty exceptional without adding any sort of crazy new powers to him. He's going to end up being wrapped up in enough craziness as it is when he reaches the tournament, and I don't want his character burdened with an extra layer of angst that is otherwise unnecessary. If you want angst, there are about a dozen other characters who fit that bill. ; )

Thank you for your review.

DrTempo: You got me, the main villain of the story is… like I would give that away now. Sorry, I couldn't resist. : )

A more serious answer to your question is that the villains of this story are drawn from existing KoF canon. "Those From His Distant Land" are the most prominent. Who are they? I hope that you'll stay with me and find out!

Again, your comments are always welcome. Thank you.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I would like to end things on one final note. King of Fighters XIII was officially announced on Thursday. It will apparently be making its debut in Japanese arcades in the next few months. I have no idea who will be featured in this game or where the story will go, but I will try and incorporate elements of it into my story if time allows. But the overall integrity of the plot of I developed months ago comes first. This is all non-canon anyway, so I'm not going into contortions to try and make everything fit if it means screwing the plot up.

Until next time, take care!