Things were simpler for Android 18 before.
Before losing her parents. Before growing up too fast. Before starving in the streets. Before turning to petty crimes and delinquency. Before the Red Ribbon Army. Before Dr. Gero. Before losing her humanity. Before Cell. Before losing her brother. Before being spared by Krillin. Before a flash of light. Before being absorbed into Cell. Before dooming humanity.
Before waking up on a mountain when she should've been dead.
Before she was alone. Before realizing she wasn't on the planet she knew.
Things were simpler for Android 18 before.
-
Chapter 1
Android 18 awoke with a start, nerves taut and on high alert, gasping for air desperately. Her icy blue eyes fluttered, struggling to focus on her blurry surroundings. She couldn't see clearly, causing a panic to rise as she desperately tried to figure out what was going on. The last thing she remembered was fleeing from Cell with an injured 16. Krillin and the remote detonator that he very purposely didn't use to kill her. A blinding light. Followed by a disorienting pitch black as she was enveloped and…
Nothing.
She'd been absorbed by Cell hadn't she? Shouldn't she be dead? And the rest of the world would probably follow soon, given how much stronger Cell became after absorbing 17.
Her memories didn't continue beyond getting absorbed. She had died after all, why would her memories continue?
But if she was supposed to be dead, how and why was she still alive, breathing and thinking?
Was she in the afterlife?
Still waiting for her eyes to adjust, she took the moment to examine her body. She had been captured and absorbed because of a cheap trick by Cell, so she hadn't incurred any outward damage. But when she began to examine her internal organs she found some abnormalities.
The perpetual energy reactor was still there, completely untouched. Her vital organs were all still there and functional as well. No, what was surprising and confusing to 18 was that both the bomb and the deactivation devices that had been planted inside her to force her cooperation with Dr. Gero and the Red Ribbon Army were no longer there.
It was both a relief and extremely confusing. It had been dangling over her head for an unknown amount of time, forcing her to comply with the hellish experiments and grueling training to learn how to use Ki more effectively and to get strong enough to fight and kill Goku, a man that she had no personal conflict with. It being gone meant that she was free. Truly free for the first time since that bastard Gero had kidnapped her and her brother.
She jolted upright at the thought of her brother. Ki sensing was something she had only just barely begun to learn how to do, having relied on 16 to attempt to track down Goku. And while she didn't know much about it, she knew enough to have memorized her little brother's Ki signature. Others wouldn't be able to track either of them through such a method, but they could easily find each other. Taking a calming breath, she attempted to find him to no avail. Which meant that she was still alive somehow. She supposed that in theory someone could have prevented Cell from absorbing her, but was unable to do anything about 17 since he was already gone.
Pushing the thought out of her mind, she took a shaky breath and shuttered briefly. She could process and grieve her little brother later. But right now, she had to focus on living and running away. Cell would be after her in no time after all. Running a gloved hand through her hair, she attempted to open her eyes again, finding that she didn't recognize where she was. She wasn't on that small island any longer, that was certain. Instead, she seemed to be in the middle of some great forest, perhaps on top of a mountain?
Glancing down, she confirmed that she was still wearing the last thing she remembered, accessories included. A simple white shirt, with a stylish black vest. High waisted jeans and a leather belt. Black gloves, a gold bracelet, pearl necklace and hoop earrings. None of it looked worse for wear either, which told her she hadn't been out for very long. Judging by the position of the sun through the canopy of leaves, it was mid afternoon at best. So at worst she had been unconscious for only a few short hours.
Standing up, she dusted herself off, switching her focus back to her weak Ki senses to see if she possibly could detect any of the more powerful fighters around. It wasn't much a surprise when she couldn't, which meant whoever left her here probably knew she was safe enough.
But safe enough wasn't good enough for Cell. Cell was nearly unstoppable now, it was only a matter of time until he found her. So running wasn't going to be enough. She needed to get stronger. She needed to avenge her brother.
With a goal in mind, she quickly floated up through the canopy of leaves, not wanting to get too high in the sky to alert anybody of her whereabouts. Stealth was the name of the game now. Peering around, 18 was unable to spot any settlements at a glance, though she did spot a river heading down the mountain. And from what little she remembered of her education, following a river would either lead you to civilization or the ocean, which you could then follow the shoreline until you found civilization.
So with that in mind, she descended back to the ground and began to walk down the mountain.
And as she walked, 18 thought and she planned.
Being what she was had a few distinct advantages over being a regular human. Because of the perpetual energy reactor, her body simply had no need for food, water and sleep. Sure, she still enjoyed eating, drinking and sleeping, but it wasn't strictly necessary. In a situation like this, constantly moving and never stopping for food and drink was a nice little advantage. She could be constantly on the move, making it less likely for Cell to find her before she was ready.
As such, she didn't need to spare any thoughts on securing food or shelter, perfectly fine to just walk through the night without ever feeling tired.
The first thing she did was analyze all the fights she had witnessed against Cell. From the tag team fight of 17 and Piccolo against Cell, to the fight with 16, to fighting Vegeta and Trunks. She mentally kicked herself for not joining her brother in that initial fight against Cell, as they all had similar levels of speed and strength then. It would've been easy enough to just overwhelm Cell with numbers and kill him, especially if 16 joined in. But after he had absorbed 17, Cell was simply outclassing everyone else in strength and speed, and matched only by the androids in endurance as a perpetual energy model android himself.
With enough time, she could potentially match that strength and speed. After all, she could train nonstop 24/7. But the problem was that she couldn't possibly know when Cell would find her, so a long term plan was out of the question. She needed something that would help her that she could do while on the move.
Mulling that problem over, she walked through the night and well into the next morning, only stopping as hard dirt gave way to sand, signaling her arrival at the ocean. Glancing to the sky, she noted which way was north and began going in that direction.
Maybe there was a way to increase her skills, refine her techniques? A lot of her training with the Red Ribbon Army was focused around strength and speed, skill never seeming to matter to them in comparison. They just cared about their destructive abilities. After all, they'd been kidnapped because of their untapped ki potential, all of their skill and technique was something they learned from before they were taken.
And suddenly, with that thought, a buried memory resurfaced from her early childhood.
—
****** quietly slid the door of their little family dojo open just a crack, enough to peek through and hear the conversation going on inside. She never understood why her stepdaddy never wanted to include her in the martial arts he was teaching to her little brother. She wanted to be strong and protect her mother and brother too! She was the big sister after all, wasn't it her job as the oldest to protect the youngest?
Edging closer, she focused more on the conversation in front of her and less on her thoughts. The stocky man was facing away from her while little ***** in his gi was facing her direction, though all his attention was rapt on his daddy, her stepdaddy. He was lecturing, something he often did, always going on about how she was a girl and that mattered in some way she didn't understand?
"... -erstand me, boy?" The gruff voice that belonged to her stepdaddy asked.
"Mhm!" Little ***** nodded eagerly.
"If that's the case, repeat what I said back to me in your own words *****."
Little ***** tilted his head cutely, brow furrowed slightly before speaking up. "Me 'nd ****** are real lil, so we ain't too strong or fast as adults. So we gotta have better te… tech… skills in a fight!" He said with a bright smile.
The voice sighed, bringing a hand to his face. "Boy, you have to have better skills and techniques in a fight! You won't always be the strongest or the fastest, even after you grow up! So when you're not, you need to rely on superior skills and techniques to win a fight!" He declared, taking a dramatic pose that made her want to giggle. "Girls like ****** and your mother are weak! That's why your mother carries that sword around with her, because she's a weak woman! You are a boy, boys are stronger, better and faster naturally. One day, you'll be a man. And it's a man's job to protect the women in their lives! Now show me a punch!"
—
18 blinked a few times as the memory hit her, finding it mildly disorienting. She hadn't thought about 'The Before Times' in ages. So long that her memories were incomplete. She knew she could no longer recall their old names, though she hadn't been too bothered by that. Being Android 18 was less terrifying if she didn't think about the fact that she had led a life before it.
But - mental breakdown of suddenly remembering things she hadn't in years aside - the memory had brought up an interesting point. If you're slower, you should be stronger. If you're weaker, you should be faster. And if you're both? You should be more skillful.
That was why they'd been kidnapped, they were skillful fighters. After they'd been orphaned, 17 had inherited all the martial art scrolls from his father, her stepfather. Fighting was something they both enjoyed, and winning junior martial arts tournaments was one of the only ways for a pair of orphans to make money until they were old enough to hold actual jobs. 17 would win the boys divisions, and 18 would win the girls.
Granted that wasn't always enough, what with trying to stay fed, keeping a roof over their heads, and buying new clothes as they grew on top of school things. Neither of them thought it odd that there were scrolls depicting techniques for pickpocketing, lockpicking and other such crimes, as at the time they were life savers.
But that was, in hindsight, what really set them on the path of delinquency and constant fighting.
The point was, the memory had given her an idea. They'd kept the scrolls 17 inherited stashed away in a special location, she just needed to go back to her childhood home to find them. It was a small town, less than a thousand people all told. It took a moment to remember what exactly it was called, as it wasn't near any of the major cities like Orange Star or East City.
"So… I need to find a way back to Nerima…" She mused out loud.
"You's mighty far from Nerima there lil' lady. Why you's about a day's travel out by train. Say, you wouldn't happen to be related to that there Hibiki boy would ya? Why, he's the onl' one I know's that's lost an' lookin fer Nerima." An elderly voice suddenly asked 18, startling her out of her thoughts. It was only the fact that he had such an abysmally small ki signature that prevented her from lashing out and blasting him in the face.
Dragged out of her thoughts, she took a moment to realize that she was clearly on someone's property, judging by the fact that he was dressed in fishing gear and there was a small boat tied off to a small dock not too far away. Mentally, 18 berated herself for getting so distracted, as if the fisherman had been Cell, she'd be dead.
"Er… No. I'm not related to anyone named Hibiki. I got separated from my group as we were hiking up in the mountains, you wouldn't happen to have a map would you? We were supposed to meet up at the local train station, and I'm a little lost." 18 admitted, a bit thrown off her tempo by the bizarre question as she told a simple lie.
The elderly fisherman with the thick mustache scratched his chin thoughtfully, his other hand taking off his floppy hat and revealing an aging and balding head. "Mighty strange uh you's to go hiking out to that mountain, but a pretty girl like you's is pretty clearly a city girl. Don't nobody local goes up that mountain anymore, onna account of the legends of it. But yes'm, I got's a map back at my cabin. C'mon now missy, ol' man Hideki'll sort ya out." He declared, rambling a bit before putting his hat back on and turning back to his little boat, lifting out a fishing rod and a cooler.
It was a little jarring to be treated kindly, and taken for her word after gods knows how long of that not being the case. She was pretty certain that there was a saying for situations like this. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Whatever that meant.
Numbly, 18 accepted the fishing rod and cooler from Hideki, waiting for him to finish unloading his little boat before following him off the shoreline to a little trail, staying quiet while he hummed some tune she didn't recognize.
"You uh… Said something about a legend?" 18 eventually asked, breaking her own silence.
"Hmm? Oh, that old thing? Yeah, that mountain, legends says it connects to whatchamacallit… Different worlds or somethin'? Some nonsense like that. Accordin' to legend, 1000 years ago a demon suddenly appeared on that mountain. Legend says she was powerful enough to destroy islands and could even fly! Claimed she was from another world, so the story goes." He said as if that was a joke, laughing at it. "Best I reckon? Group of young men went up there a thousand years ago and smoked somethin' special. Prob'ly saw a big bird, caused a forest fire and went a lil' loopy."
Too caught up in the mirth of his theory, he didn't notice 18 lock up, icy blue eyes widening in horror.
"Not surprised ya ain't heard of it though, it's mostly a lil fairy tale told to the children, to keep them from wonderin' off on their own. Ah, here we are, home sweet home!" He declared, puffing his chest out and gesturing at the most generic looking log cabin 18 had ever seen. Her mind was in far too much chaos though to really ponder and understand what the man was saying.
She could only explain away so much as coincidence. The mountain that she woke up on - after her last memories told her she had died - having a legend associated with it about someone who was powerful enough to destroy islands and fly? One detail could be considered coincidence. But that. That was too much to be a simple coincidence.
"Why don't you go 'n get worshed up lil Missy while I fix us up a nice lunch? I reckon ya ain't ate much recently iffin you got lost on that mountain. After that I'll find ya that map and get ya sent on yer way!"
Numbly, she nodded, still just going through the motions as she entered a small bathroom. Turning the sink on, she quickly splashed herself in the face a few times before taking a hand towel to the face to dry off. Finding some semblance of resolve, the girl looked up into the mirror, meeting her own eyes and staring herself down.
"It's not… It's not like that. That whole legend is just an uncanny coincidence, 18. There's no…" She paused, taking a deep breath as if she was reassuring herself. "There's no way that's true. You're not in some parallel world. You're going to take that train to Nerima, and find that quiet little town in the middle of nowhere. You're going to find those scrolls, and find something that will let you get a leg up on Cell, so you can avenge 17." The android declared, setting the towel down and returning to the main room.
She wished she felt half as confident as she sounded.
Lunch wasn't anything special, just a simple sandwich. She made awkward idle conversation that she wouldn't be able to recall if asked about later, until he finally got around to pulling out the promised map. And immediately, she could feel panic setting in. The Nerima she remembered was a tiny little town a few hours away from Orange Star City. The Nerima that was pointed out to her was part of a sprawling metropolitan area called Tokyo. And to make matters worse, the map was all wrong. Nothing matched up with what she knew. The confidence she'd regained with her self pep-talk was crumbling before her very eyes, though she made certain not to let it show.
"So, we're up here abouts." He declared, pointing at a spot reasonably further north than Nerima. "Not so big as to get on these big fancy maps o' Japan, but it's good enough. The train runs at 'round… Oh… 3pm? So you gots an hour or two. Should take a good lil' while to get all the way down to Nerima, but you should get there by 'round 10 or 11 tonight?" Hideki mused, scratching his chin and looking at the girl who he could tell was putting on a facade of calm.
"An' well, I suppose iffin you's don't find whatcha lookin's fer, you's can always come find ol' Hideki. Don't know what's gotcha so bothered lil missy, but you's seem like a good gal. Iffin you need it, I can put you up for a while." He offered, earning himself a stunned look from the blonde.
"W-What? But… Why?" She asked in genuine bafflement. Why was this old man so helpful and generous to a total stranger? Where were the cold gazes, the mistrustful looks? Sure, he couldn't possibly tell that she was a monster that had lost her humanity, but still, even before Dr. Gero, she was used to being looked down upon. It was why she'd been forced to do petty crimes and frequently beat on other delinquents to take their money. Instead of people seeing two orphans and offering to help them, they'd been scorned. Nobody ever did anything kind for her outside of 17. But that was family. That was different. Family stuck together.
Though, a certain bald man's visage did briefly flicker through her mind. But was that genuine compassion, or just an unwillingness to kill?
The elderly man waved off her shock, forcing the blonde to pay attention to reality once more. "Bah, don't worries none about it. I'm just an ol' man who see's a girl his grandaughter's age and wants to help how he can." He shrugged.
The android simply didn't know what to say to that, so all she could do was give him a meek nod, which he returned with a bright smile.
"Right, well, I doubt you have any money, so let's get ya some yen. Now where did I put that stuff…" Hideki nodded, turning and not realizing that just by mentioning a currency called yen that he'd put another pin in 18's hopes that his story was merely that, a story.
Zeni was the currency accepted around the entire world. It wasn't just one section of the world or town or small country. The entire civilized world had been using Zeni exclusively for decades. But she still stubbornly held out hope. If… Maybe Hideki's maps were wrong. Maybe when she got to Nerima, she'd find her little hometown instead of the sprawling metropolitan city that had been explained to her.
"You don't need to do that…" She started, only for Hideki to interrupt her with a gruff huff.
"Bah, none of that missy. Like I's said, I wants to help ya." He smiled, placing a pile of unfamiliar bills into her hands. "Should be enough in there for a ticket, dinner and a room for the night. Wish I could do more for ya's missy, but that's alls I can do."
18 stared down at the bills in her hand, chaos warring in her head as she struggled to wrap her mind around it all. Perhaps she could have shrugged it off if she wasn't concerned with somehow being in a different world, but this kindness on top of that was just baffling.
"I…" She began to start, only to feel calloused hands on her shoulders spin her around, and begin to push her out the door.
"Now, best be gettin' while the gettin's good! Keep on followin' the path an' eventually you'll find the train station."
"But…"
"Now you's take care's of yourself. Hope you find what you're lookin' fer." Hideki barrelled on through the conversation, never giving 18 a chance to protest more, until she suddenly found herself on the porch, facing a closed door.
She took a few moments to just stand there in shock, trying to comprehend the whirlwind that was an elderly fisherman. He was a confusing old man, but he was definitely a good person. Being such a good person to a complete stranger that had absolutely been lying to him - of which he seemed well aware that she'd been lying - was not something she'd ever experienced. He had nothing to gain, in fact, he lost out big. He gave her food, money and vital information that she needed. He got nothing in return beyond her carrying a small cooler from his little boat to his home.
Eventually, she gave a small nod of gratitude to the closed door, voice uncharacteristically quiet as she muttered a simple thank you, before turning and heading down the trail towards the train station.
Arriving at the train station took only a few minutes, though it did worsen 18's worries quite a bit. Even out in the rural areas like this, capsule technology wasn't hard to come by. And so far she'd seen none of that. No capsule cars, homes, motorcycles or anything of the sort. Not even the train, which would've been run by an independent company instead of being a privately owned vehicle, wasn't a capsule vehicle. No, the train had that sleek and rounded exterior she was used to from Capsule Corp designs, but it wasn't Capsule Corp. Though once she boarded, she was pleased that it held up to the standards of a Capsule Corp train. It was a fast and smooth ride all things considered.
Sure, it would've been faster to just fly, but she was still too paranoid of the idea that Cell was hunting her down to do anything that would draw any unwanted attention to herself. Though that paranoia of Cell was slowly becoming an entirely different kind of paranoia.
A paranoia that she was stranded in an unfamiliar world that was almost like her own, but not quite.
Being stuck on this train for the next 8 hours was going to be the death of 18.
And it certainly didn't help that nothing interesting had happened. At least until about 7 hours in, when they stopped at a new station to pick up and drop off a set of passengers. The seats immediately around her had been vacated, and she had taken mostly to staring out the window at the scenery, when she suddenly could feel a slightly larger than average ki signature approaching her and taking a seat.
Thinking nothing of it, she didn't even glance in their direction, until the stench of alcohol filled her nose as the young man spoke up.
"Hey there babe, so where are you headed?" The drunk asked, in what she supposed could be seen as an attempt at flirting.
18 rolled her eyes and sighed, turning her sharp gaze at the young 20 something who seemed like a Yakuza type. It appeared that even if she was in a new world, which she was beginning to accept, that these types were everywhere. Muscular - but not in the way a fighter is muscular - a tattoo displayed on his bicep, greased up hair. He probably thought he was more intimidating than he actually was.
"Nerima." She answered in icy monotone, verbally expressing her displeasure at being interrupted.
Though to her surprise, the drunk visibly recoiled and adopted a scowl. "Should've known a hottie like you was one of those crazy martial arts types. Probably do some weird shit like Martial Arts Underwater Basket Weaving. Fuck that, I know better than to get involved with any of you crazies." He declared, standing and leaving as abruptly as he'd arrived.
That earned a few blinks of surprise from 18, marginally happy that she'd been left alone, but more so trying to process that bit of information.
The Nerima she knew was a sleepy little town where everyone knew everyone, and nothing special happened. Her parent's death had been the biggest scandal the town had seen and would see for nearly a decade.
But the Nerima here seemed to be synonymous with 'crazy martial arts types' which would've been laughable at home. The little dojo her family ran was the only one around. There was simply no reason to know how to fight and defend yourself in that tiny community of mostly farmers.
The more information she gathered, the more stressed out she was getting as everything seemed to be pointing in the direction that this wasn't her home.
And if this wasn't her home, then what was the point? What was she supposed to do? She was alone, truly all alone. She'd always had someone to ground herself for. Her whole life had been about making sure her brother could grow up healthy, and then it'd been about revenge on someone that hadn't done anything to her, and then she'd briefly had the goal of getting revenge on Cell. But if this wasn't the same Earth she knew, then what did she have left?
"This is our final stop, now arriving at Furinkan station in the Nerima District of Tokyo. All passengers please make your way to the closest exit, and have a wonderful night."
Her turmoil was interrupted by the announcement, jolting her back to reality as she mechanically stood and waited for the doors to slide open. The cool night breeze blew her hair back from her face as she exited the station, greeted by a city that already told her that she wasn't in her Nerima. Instead of the dirt paths of her childhood, there were paved roads and tall buildings. In her immediate view was a pharmacy, two hotels, a few restaurants and cafes, and strangely enough, a few Martial Arts Construction companies?
18 sighed, making to move towards one of the hotels. She didn't need to sleep, but she was still trying not to draw too much attention to herself on the chance that a lot more time had passed between forced deactivations than she'd thought. The android was still clinging to the hope that she wasn't stranded in another world, and that maybe it was just the distant future.
She could poke her head around in the morning, and confirm that her fears were reality then. It shouldn't be too hard to find one dojo in this city after all, right?
As it turns out, it was actually extremely difficult when it seems that on every block there was at least one dojo, all for increasingly odd and bizarre martial arts. A martial art that taught you how to fight if ambushed while eating was weird, but had niche uses she could begrudgingly accept. A martial art centered around calligraphy though? That was such a uselessly specific niche that she struggled to even think of a situation that would be needed.
It was slow progress, checking around the neighborhood, and it was around noon that she finally considered that maybe she just needed to ask a local for help instead of relying on hazy memories of a town that clearly wasn't what she remembered it being. Briefly, she wondered who would be the best person to ask, before deciding to spread out her Ki senses a bit further than normal, locking onto the first respectable Ki signature she'd felt since waking up on that mountain. It was still rather weak compared to even that Yamcha fellow, which still put him in the top percent of fighters on the planet.
So, with a direction in mind, she made her way there, paying slightly more attention to her surroundings, but also reigning in her Ki senses. She wasn't particularly great at it, as it gave her a headache if she kept it up too long, but it was too useful a skill to just completely ignore it. So she instead limited it to line of sight, instead focusing on her surroundings, and finding it a little odd how everything seemed so new. That was probably why she was holding out hope that she was just sorely mistaken and the world had just changed a lot while she was stuck in that damned lab.
Arriving at the location of the stronger Ki, she was curious to find that she was outside of a small clinic. Entering through the front door and noting the chime going off as she did, she found herself in a small, yet empty waiting room. She stood in place for a few seconds, deciding whether to wait or to just barge in, when the question was answered for her. A tall, broad shouldered man exited from what she assumed was an office, adjusting his glasses with a kind smile on his face.
"Hello there ma'am, welcome to my clinic. I'm Doctor Tofu, how can I help… Oh. I think I know what you're here for." The man greeted, though his expression turned serious and his gaze a little more intense.
It took 18 a moment to wonder what he could possibly be talking about, before realizing that he wasn't blatantly gazing at her chest, and was instead trying to look at her aura. Or more correctly, her lack of one. "That's not what I was dropping in for actually. You're shocked that you can't sense my Ki, correct?"
The man slowly nodded, turning his gaze up expectantly to meet her eyes.
"I'm not going to pretend to understand why, but that's just how my body is now. I can no longer be sensed via Ki." She half lied, knowing perfectly well why that was the case, but not caring to explain it. "No, I actually came in for a different reason. You have a reasonably decent Ki signature, and I was wondering if you'd consider yourself as someone who knows about the area?"
Tofu frowned slightly, not openly agreeing or disagreeing, and instead gesturing for 18 to continue speaking as he made his skepticism apparent.
"Well, I was born in Nerima, and I was hoping to find my childhood home, only I don't really remember where exactly it was. It turns out my family left a chest of martial art scrolls buried on the property, but then we had moved away when I was seven or so and it didn't come with us. I only found out about it recently, when an old conversation came to mind. I thought I wouldn't have an issue finding it, as I didn't remember there being many homes with dojo's. Which was clearly a mistake on my part." She said that last part a bit wryly, which earned a small chuckle from Tofu, who seemed a little less tense.
"The thing is, my parents passed away not long after we moved away, and I only remembered this bit because of a conversation now. They never got very far in teaching my brother and I, so we don't really know much about what the school was called. I know about some of the philosophies of the school, on top of the ideals of my stepfather, but I couldn't remember anything concrete."
Tofu nodded. "Why don't we discuss this further in my office? I can't say for sure that I'll be able to help, but I'll do my best to point you in the right direction."
—
Ranma Saotome was tired. Tired of the monotony of it all, tired of the same shenanigan's day in and day out. Tired of the lack of anything interesting going on.
It'd been a year since Saffron. A year since the failed wedding. A year of people backsliding into old habits. A year of the status quo. And most importantly to him, a year of being untested. Saffron was his most difficult challenge yet, and he'd grown explosively from the fight, to the point that if he were to fight Saffron again, he felt that he would have no issue with the overgrown chicken.
But after that disaster of a wedding, things had just gotten back to what it used to be. In the heat of the moment, he was actually going to go along with it and marry Akane. He really thought he had loved her. But her being aware of the cure and holding it over him as a condition to marry her was like a dagger to the back. He'd fought so hard to save her. He'd killed to save her, regardless of the fact that Saffron didn't stay dead. The one thing Ranma had never wanted to do had happened, he'd been forced to end a life to save another.
He could've looked past it though. Sure, holding the cure to his curse over his head hurt, but in hindsight, Ranma wasn't all that sure it would've even done anything good. It wasn't until a month or two after the fact that Daisuke had pointed out that curses mixed after a visit from Pantyhose Taro. So in a strange turn of events, holding that casket hostage like that had actually saved him from having a much worse curse than before, as honestly, he'd gotten quite used to being a part time girl.
No, the thing that really hurt, and in his opinion killed any chance of them working it out, was that she still didn't seem to trust him. She just seemed to be getting angrier and angrier. He tried being nicer. He tried to teach her more about martial arts. He tried his best at making them work, with his limited knowledge on how relationships worked. But she just seemed to push him away the more he tried to close the gap. Any time he wasn't in her direct line of sight, it must mean he was off with one of his 'floozies' or 'doing something perverted with his curse'. And that it was somehow her job to 'punish' him, via smashing his head in with that damn hammer of hers.
It was exhausting, and had been slowly killing any feelings he'd had for her.
The Amazon's were still a thorn in his side. Oh sure, him and the old ghoul had a bit of an understanding going on, but it seemed that the Tribe itself still desperately wished to ensnare his bloodline. Cologne was no longer actively taking part in her great granddaughters schemes, though she wasn't actively discouraging her either, out of a sense of duty to her tribe. He could respect that at least. He just wished Shampoo understood that she'd never really had a chance. It was incredibly difficult to forget about how she'd ran him and Pops ragged for months in an attempt to kill Ranma.
Things weren't all bad though, deteriorating relationships with Akane and Shampoo aside. Ucchan had seen reason and apologized tearfully - he expected that he had Konatsu to thank for that, as the kunoichi knew he couldn't handle a crying girl - so he still had his best friend at least. She'd even backed off on the whole romance thing, which he appreciated. Oh sure, she still wanted the marriage, but she also finally seemed to realize that being so aggressive and over the top about it wasn't doing any good. It never fit her to be so catty and desperate after all.
It helped that Kasumi had talked about it when he'd gone to her for advice, and she'd convinced him that Ukyo had just seen how the other girls were acting and didn't know what else to do, so she acted like them in desperation and panic. Which… Made sense. When Ukyo thought her only competition for Ranma's affection's were Akane, she hadn't acted like a crazy person. It wasn't until she realized Shampoo and Kodachi were also vying for him, on top of other various suitors, that she got concerned and felt she needed to do more.
Another good thing that had happened in the last year, was that Doctor Tofu, a good friend and adult role model in his life, had returned and was seemingly cured of his Kasumi-itis! The two of them had been seeing each other for around 6 months now, which made him very happy for his pseudo-older sister figure.
Mousse, Ryoga and Nabiki had all mellowed out. Mousse had finally gotten it into his head that Ranma did not like Shampoo that way. Ryoga seemed to be happy in his relationship with Akari, though with his depression, it was always a coinflip on if he'd get his buddy Ryoga or his rival Ryoga out of any encounter with the lost boy. Not like Ranma was one to judge anyone for wanting a good fight when they were feeling down.
Nabiki, shockingly enough, had seemed to develop a bit of a guilty conscience over the wedding fiasco after getting the details about what happened at Jusendo. She was still the same greedy Ice Queen of Furinkan, but she'd started to actually give him some money making opportunities, instead of only taking. Her latest scheme for him was trying to convince Ranma that he could make a killing as a model, which he was struggling more and more to protest.
The Kuno's were both still insane. Taro would show up every few months in an attempt to win his new name, causing indiscriminate destruction in his wake. Prince Herb, surprisingly enough, had become a pen pal of sorts, having convinced his father that being on Ranma's bad side was not a great idea after Jusendo. So he was officially allied with the Musk Prince, and by extension, the Musk.
Ranma's lack of understanding of politics meant he didn't understand that it was that very alliance with the Musk that had the Amazon Tribe so worked up - barring Cologne who understood him fundamentally and knew he hadn't done that as a snub.
Happosai had made himself scarce, which was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because, well, it was the old letch and nobody wanted to deal with him. But it was also a bit of a curse, because Happosai was the only one still able to fight at Ranma's level anymore. He suspected Cologne could as well, but she simply wouldn't, whereas Happosai could always be counted on to throw a fit when he wanted to feel up his girl side. But the two were simply too old, lacking in the endurance department as age had unfortunately taken its toll on their bodies. So while they could match him for short bursts, it took a lot of the joy of a fight out of it knowing he could simply outlast them.
Pops and Soun were much the same as always. Lazy, loud and just generally a nuisance. Nodoka had forced Genma to get a job after the Saotome home had been destroyed, but that had only lasted a few months before he got fired. So the two spent their days like usual, as his Pops refused to do their usual morning spars, possibly in an attempt to retain some sort of dignity. Now all the pair of fathers did was drink, play shogi and attempt to hold honor over Ranma's head while conveniently ignoring that between the pair of them their families had little honor left.
He was a bit concerned about his mother though. A few months after the failed wedding, she'd been really weepy. At first he'd chalked it up to her being upset about the failed wedding and her destroyed home, but her flippant dismissal of that being the case had proven him wrong. But when he'd asked her what was wrong if it wasn't the house, she'd just given him a sad smile, not elaborating as to what was wrong. It took about a week for her normal smiles and emotions to return. When he tried to grill his Pops about what was up, he'd just been dismissed, claiming it was just a thing girl's did. It bothered him greatly, as something was clearly bothering her, but he was being kept in the dark. It was incredibly frustrating for him to know she was upset, and to be unable to do anything.
So yes. Ranma was tired and frustrated. His life was undeniably better and less chaotic than its peak, but the tedium was getting to him. While he'd gotten his best friend Ucchan back, and gained some ok pals in Ryoga, Mousse and Nabiki, it didn't make up for the lack of thrills and the wonder of what each new day would bring him. It might have been fine for things to calm down if his life had been a story or an anime, but this was real life, not a story. Life kept going on after Jusendo and the failed wedding. And it just wasn't interesting. He'd trained his entire life to be the best, there was no way he was already the best at just 17 years old, was there? He was debating going on a long training trip again, though between his mother's desire for him to graduate high school and his own desire to show up his father in another area, it didn't seem likely he'd pull the trigger on that training trip around the world for at least another year.
Thankfully for his frustrations and pent up energy, while eating lunch on the roof of Furinkan High, he spotted the hulking mass that was Pantyhose Taro flying through the sky. Adopting a savage grin, the pigtailed martial artist finished scarfing down a delicious Kasumi made lunch, before hopping to his feet, eagerly awaiting the arrival of a good fight. "Taro." He greeted curtly, hands already raised in a basic fighting stance.
'Femboy. Where is Happosai?' The giant flying bull held up a sign, returning the greeting with his usual insult.
Ranma scoffed, mostly at the fact that Taro was here for the same reason he always was instead of for something more interesting. "The old letch ain't been around for a few months now, Pantyhose. You picked a good time to swing by though, I've been itching to kick someone's ass." He declared, hitting him with the patented Saotome Smirk at the use of Taro's hated name. It was guaranteed to make the bull see red and start a fight, something Ranma was itching for to let loose some of the frustration he'd been feeling.
And it certainly worked like a charm, as Taro let out a distinctly bovine roar and charged Ranma with reckless abandon.
As much as Ranma was itching for a fight, he wasn't dumb enough to take a hit from the big brute directly. It was one of the core tenants of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Identify an advantage you have over your opponent and play into it.
Pantyhose Taro in his human form wasn't all that special of a martial artist. But in his monstrous cursed form? He could fly, and was incredibly powerful. Ranma knew this. So, he leaned into his biggest advantage he had over his bovine opponent. Ranma was simply too fast.
Ducking under the initial blow straight punch, Ranma hammered a few blows into one point of Taro's stomach, well practiced in fighting against endurance monsters between Taro and Ryoga. Another key trait when fighting an opponent that was stronger and slower, they tended to rely on tanking blows. But if you could hammer away at the same spot over and over, you would eventually begin to break through their pain tolerance.
It seemed Taro had learned from their last fight though, as he didn't let Ranma go unpunished for having to get so close. One of the octopus tentacles on his back lashed out, wrapping around Ranma's waist and whipping him off the roof of the school. For a normal person, free falling from this height would have been a death sentence. But Ranma was no normal person. A practitioner of the Saotome School of Anything Goes was as at home in the air as they were on the ground. Twisting around such that his back was facing the ground, he gathered his confidence and made his Ki swell, both hands glowing with the blue light. "Moko Takabisha Double!" He yelled, as a beam of bright blue light shot out from each hand, impacting Taro in the same spot as his fists had earlier, causing the cursed martial artist to let out a roar of pain. Taro didn't remember those beams hurting so much in the past, and now found himself unwilling to simply tank another one.
With his descent accelerated, Ranma flipped around to land on his feet, using the accumulated energy to launch himself away as Taro crashed into the ground where he had been.
Waiting briefly for the dust to settle, Ranma charged in, eager to enter a brutal melee.
—
Android 18 left the clinic contemplating what Tofu had told her. She really hadn't been able to recall all that much. Her memories were hazy at best, unable to remember names or faces. She could remember certain traits, and their general builds. She remembered her mother was a swordswoman, and had been a warm and doting woman. Though 18 hadn't mentioned it, she also remembered her mother as being rather melancholic at times, but she was far too young to understand or question why.
Her stepfather was a stout and stocky fellow, who never really warmed up to 18. He was obsessed with teaching her brother, to the point of trying to impress his sexist views on him as a small child, despite him and 18 being nearly attached at the hip. He had a flare for being dramatic, and was surprisingly good with young children when he wanted to be.
As far as what their martial arts were like, she struggled even more to really explain it, unwilling to admit that a lot of the scrolls they learned from had been less than savory in their purposes. Some were even flat out insane. She knew nothing about her mother's learning with her sword, and the main thing she was willing to say about her father's school was that it focused on adaptability and making everything into a training opportunity.
Tofu had been quite concerned to hear that for some reason, giving her a wry smile that made her feel a little uneasy, before explaining that she should probably seek out the Tendo Dojo, and that Soun Tendo and his guests would most likely have the information she was looking for.
She had just about turned down the street to head toward the Tendo Dojo when she felt the flare of a Ki attack, one that was oddly familiar, though she couldn't place why. It normally wouldn't have rated her even going to check it out, but a rare bout of curiosity got to her. She had been pointed in a direction that would potentially earn her more help, and it wasn't like they were expecting her. May as well go and see what the local fighters were like, and maybe figure out why that Ki attack was bothering her.
—
One thing Ranma was happy about, was that the bystanders of his fights had finally gotten a hint when he fought certain people and stayed away. Ryoga was particularly bad about not caring about bystanders, though he was pretty sure he was getting it through the stubborn pigs head that he needed to start caring. The other worst offender was Taro, who was single minded in his goal of forcing Happosai into giving him a new name. Unlike Ryoga, he couldn't be convinced to care about the collateral damage he caused. Anything that was between Taro and his problem would either need to get the hell out of dodge, or break.
That said, Ranma pulled the fight away from the school. He wouldn't put it past Taro to try something with a student who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He'd managed to lead Taro to an abandoned lot, one that was sectioned off by the Nerima police specifically for the more destructive fights. It also gave him plenty of room for a Hiryu Shoten Ha, though he didn't plan on busting that out quite yet. He needed to satisfy his battlelust first.
Bending backwards at an angle that would have Olympic gymnasts admiring his form, he dodged a giant fist and responded by lashing out with a low kick that hammered into Taro's knee, one of the three spots he'd been punishing with his precision. Unfortunately, his center of gravity was too low for him to dodge, forcing Ranma to tank a powerful blow that sent him rolling in the dirt.
But he quickly hopped back to his feet, using his superior footwork to weave around a flurry of furry fists and close in. "Kachu Tenshin Amagurikan!" He shouted, pumping his Ki into his fists to hammer Taro's stomach with a few hundred lower power yet highly precise punches in a short few seconds. Taro roared in pain, his eel tail lashing out just in time to catch Ranma's arm before he could create distance, sharp teeth sinking into his skin, drawing blood.
Grimacing, he raised the same arm that was bitten to parry a heavy blow, blocking with the part of his arm that had the eel tail attached to it. His arm was numb from the weight of the blow, but the eel was stunned, meaning it let go and he was able to create the space he needed again. The pair stared each other down for a few moments, before launching into a flurry of blows, with Ranma focusing mostly on kicks so as to avoid taking more damage to his still numb arm.
The melee lasted only a few more minutes until they broke again. Ranma could tell that Taro was waning, which was a shame as he still had more than half of his energy. But Taro's growth was not the exponential curve that Ranma's was, his was more like steps. He would grow some, and then plateau. And it seemed that Taro was still on the same plateau he had been on earlier. Cupping his hands, he called up his Ki, his confidence surging as he prepared a guaranteed knockout blast. "Well, it's been fun Taro, but maybe try finding the old letch yourself next time instead of just assuming he'd be here."
Raising his arms, he charged for a moment and took aim on the tired flying bovine, who was kneeling on one knee. His Ki bursting to life, he unleashed a large blue ball of confidence Ki, rocketing at Taro. "Moko Takabisha!" He roared triumphantly, a smirk on his face as he felt the satisfaction of proving he was once again the best.
Only for that smirk to fade in horror as Taro got his second wind, launching himself straight into the air. He didn't know how he could possibly have missed it, his Ki senses had been actively searching for anyone nearby, but hidden behind the hulking frame of Taro's cursed form was a person he had somehow missed.
Directly in the path of a large Ki blast, one that while not fatal to any of his usual opponents, absolutely would hospitalize a normal person at best. Somehow, the blonde woman had been spectating the fight while escaping his notice, which he could only assume was due to his frustration. Steely blue eyes widened in horror as she made no move to dive out of the way, as he immediately began to run at her, mind preparing for the worst.
"Get out of the way! You need to look -"
Ranma's desperate shout died in his throat as the incomprehensible happened. The woman casually raised a hand and swatted at his Ki attack as if she was casually swiping at an annoying bug. And in a move that Ranma had never seen before, completely redirecting the Ki blast up and into the back of Taro.
"... out?"
A bovine roar of pain was the only answer Ranma got, followed by the thud of several hundred pounds of cursed martial artist crashing into the ground. He stared at the pretty blonde woman in awe, who for whatever reason seemed to be staring back at him with an equally confused expression on her face.
The mysterious blonde found her mental footing first, breaking the brief silence of the unexpected conclusion of the fight.
"17? Is that you?"
Ranma was naturally not expecting that to be the words out of her mouth, as they were largely nonsensical to him. So, he blurted out the only thing running through his head, staring at a blonde woman who in the future would throw his whole life for a loop.
"... What?"
-
Author's Notes: Decided to go ahead and crosspost this story here as I'm a slut for attention. Thanks so much for reading, I'd love to hear your comments and criticisms, and do let me know if I've done anything egregiously wrong in my formatting, as this is my first time publishing a story on this site. If you want to read more detailed author's notes, you'll need to find the story on AO3, under the same name. If you want to more in depth, or for whatever reason are interested in editing/beta reading upcoming chapters for me, drop me a message on either site. Hope you enjoy the story!