Throwing this before the chapter just to make it perfectly clear to all the readers. This is not a Ranma/Android 18 pairing. In fact, as of my current plans for the story, there will be very little romance at all.

At Kasumi's declaration, Nabiki took the opportunity to go upstairs and deposit her stuff and change out of her uniform, instead changing into her more casual clothes, a pair of shorts and a simple faded graphic T-shirt. She then went through her after school ritual. For many people, this could be anything from immediately dealing with their homework, to goofing off, to hanging with friends.

For Nabiki Tendo, her after school ritual consisted of counting her money and checking her books. It was calming and soothing for the wannabe mogul. Something she could do in her sleep. So she took the time to think.

And her thoughts were mostly centered around the blonde beauty that was currently sitting on the couch of their living room. It wasn't often that a new girl would appear in their lives and not end up being a fiance. Or were involved in some scheme to kidnap someone. Or just generally making everyone's lives a little worse and a little more inconvenient - after Nabiki made some money off of them of course. They all always followed a pattern. They'd show up to the dojo, proclaim that Ranma had to marry them, he'd protest, they'd challenge him to an unfair battle that required Ranma to learn their obscure martial art, he eventually won, and they would either give up their claim or stay and refuse to give up on Ranma.

This stranger wasn't like that.

And to Nabiki Tendo, that smelled fishy.

That said, it wasn't like Nabiki had anything to back up that thought. Call it her gut talking, but she just assumed that 18 was up to something. Nabiki knew gambling, and it was always a safe bet that any new girl was going to cause chaos of some kind. It was just a matter of what kind of chaos.

Of course, Nabiki didn't have nearly enough information to make an informed decision on setting up the bets of this new girl. A lot of the people that passed through Nerima were quite easy to read at a glance, because while Nabiki herself hadn't practiced martial arts in years, she had an astute eye for the type. And 18 certainly carried herself like a fighter. Not to mention that there was just something about her that she couldn't place her finger on.

That thought in mind, she shut her record books and fired up her state of the art PC, quickly switching to the security camera footage she had scattered around their home. Sifting through the various camera feeds, she noted that the pair were no longer in the main room, and instead were heading to the dojo. She passed it by for a second, confirming Kasumi was still in the kitchen, before swapping to the feed of the inside of the dojo.

Nabiki rolled her eyes, wondering why she was even surprised by that. Of course, if Nabiki could notice that 18 carried herself like a fighter, then Ranma definitely would. Interestingly, she noticed that 18 seemed to be mildly put off by the fact that Ranma bowed upon entering the dojo, quickly mimicking him and making her idly wonder if she would have caught that if she had been there in person.

Shrugging, Nabiki flipped a switch, turning the microphones on, intent to listen and catch a good show. Who needed shounen anime when you had Ranma after all?

—

18 forgot how annoying her little brother could be, doppelganger or no. They'd sat down and turned the TV on, and not even 2 minutes later he was pestering her into teaching him more about pure Ki. So many times while she was stuck in that god forsaken lab, she'd wished desperately to go back to the simpler times when he could pester her exactly like this. She had missed her unserious, slightly goofy little brother so much, resenting so badly what they had become under Dr. Gero's twisted vision.

Though the encroaching headache from his whining was making her question that desire.

"What part of no don't you understand? I told you, I'm not sticking around. Get it through your thick skull that I'm not going to have the time to teach you anything of substance." She explained again in an exasperated, yet slightly fond, tone.

She knew better than to keep comparing Ranma and 17, but she just couldn't help it. He was just too much like 17. Gods, he even used the same arguments and reasonings as 17!

"You don't need to teach me a whole lot! I'll figure it out in no time if you just get me started! It'll take me so much longer if I have to figure it all out through trial and error." The pigtailed teen pleaded, putting on the puppy dog eyes that made 18 scowl at him, the memory of pulling the old 'starving orphan' technique when they were kids coming to mind. Well, it was less of a technique and more of what they actually were, but that was what one of the scrolls they'd read said to do if you were hungry and had no money.

In hindsight, it was a little odd to have such a scroll that was rather useless on anyone over a certain age. A technique like that would quit working around the time you hit puberty. Why was that even written down?

18 wasn't allowed to dwell on that train of thought for very long though, as Ranma's desire to learn some new martial arts techniques overshadowed any shame he had. His steely blue eyes widened, a dumb smile spreading across his face as he suddenly had an idea. "Oh I know! We can have a spar, and when I win, we'll even put you up for the night. That way you won't have an excuse to not teach me!" He cheered, mentally patting himself on the back for his brilliant idea.

The android raised a well maintained eyebrow at that, more amused than anything. "Oh wow, look at that. The taint of your confidence Ki in full effect. You aren't even considering the idea that you'll lose." She remarked, neither agreeing nor disagreeing as she mulled the idea over in her head. The part that knew this was just setting herself up to be hurt when they inevitably split up was begging her to just deny him and leave. The other part that was desperately wanting to cling to a sense of normality and reclaim a piece of her life from before was screaming at her to stay.

"Of course I'm not gonna lose, I'm the best!" Ranma piped up, hopping to his feet and thumping his chest in a show of bravado.

"Well if you're so confident mister 'Best martial artist around', then surely you won't mind me setting the terms of this little bet?" 18 challenged with a small sarcastic prod to his ego, still sitting down and even lazily resting her chin against her hand.

And like a hungry fish spotting a juicy worm, Ranma took the bait hook line and sinker. Puffing his chest out slightly, he agreed readily. "Sounds fine to me. You're gonna need all the help you can get!"

With an exasperated eye roll, 18 pulled herself up, idly noting that they were the same height as she stared him in the eye. "Whatever, the sooner we get this over with the sooner you'll quit whining. Which way to the dojo?"

Ranma pouted slightly, but her teasing wasn't enough to dampen his mood, as in his mind he had all but guaranteed that she would stay and he could master her techniques.

—

The Tendo dojo was as nice as ever, and no longer did it seem that it was unused like it had when Ranma had first arrived, on account of Ranma regularly training inside the building. He still thought it wasteful to not put the dojo to more proper use, but Mr. Tendo wasn't up for teaching, and Ranma wasn't interested in teaching yet either. Not when there was still so much left to learn. He stepped in and bowed deeply, before splitting off from her and standing on one side of the dojo, still warmed up from his previous fight with Taro.

"So you issued the challenge, which means I get to set the terms, right?" The android asked, similarly moving off to the opposite side of the dojo, standing and crossing her arms. At Ranma's nod, she continued. "In that case, I don't really feel up to a full spar, so we'll do this instead. I'm going to attack you 5 times. If you successfully block any of them, it'll be your win. If not, it'll be mine."

Ranma blinked a few times as he processed that. It sounded like a good deal, but if his first year in Nerima taught him anything, it was that if it sounded too good to be true, then it probably was. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why this wasn't just completely in his favor. Sure, she clearly was a martial artist herself, what with her talk about pure Ki, and even just from the way she carried herself. But there was no way she was better than him. Ranma was the best after all. And Ranma Saotome doesn't lose.

But yet he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something. And that small amount of curious doubt was the only thing stopping him from lowering the amount of attacks from 5.

"Alright, sounds good to me. Ready when you are!" He nodded, taking up his stance, standing up straight, folding his hands behind his back, and tilting his head slightly like he was a dog intrigued by something in front of him. But while a small smile crossed his face, his mind was switching to battle mode, analyzing and predicting outcomes.

Her stance in principle was quite similar to his, which he found intriguing. It wasn't a typical fighting stance, but he could tell that she was ready to move immediately. It was certainly interesting to see someone else adopt the Wolf in Sheep's Skin stance, and if it were anyone else, they would certainly be lulled into a false sense of security. There were fundamental differences though, while Ranma's made him look more innocent and curious, 18's seemed to make her appear disdainful, like she was dismissing you. Ranma's stance sought to make himself get underestimated, like his father taught him. 18's stance was almost haughty, as if she wasn't going to take you seriously. It was fascinating, the two different approaches that accomplished the same effect of making your opponent belligerently mad.

18 raised a hand up to flip her hair, a small smirk on her face. "Alright then, don't complain too much though when you lose." She taunted.

Ranma opened his mouth to retort back, only for his voice to die in his throat as his instincts screamed at him to move. But his body simply couldn't react fast enough, as there was suddenly a gloved fist hovering centimeters in front of his face. And then the displaced rush of air caught up with 18's movement, the gust and surprise making Ranma stumble backwards slightly, pigtail flying in the wind while the look of utter shock on his face was plain to see.

His brain struggled to catch up as he looked at 18, who was standing stock still before lowering her fist and jumping backwards, almost floating through the air before returning to her original position. It didn't make any sense. He wouldn't have even known her attack was coming if it wasn't for the finely tuned danger senses he'd acquired over the years.

"That's the first. 4 more to go."

He gawked at 18, before shaking his head and slapping his cheeks, recollecting himself. She had just caught him off guard. He had been expecting something more along the lines of his first spar with Akane, with her self taught forms easily being seen through while he danced around her punches. That was it. Ranma was just distracted. It was all a fluke.

Ranma dropped the Wolf in Sheep's Skin stance, adopting a more traditional ready stance rooted in Kenpo. "Lucky break, I just spaced out for a second, that's all." He declared, unwilling to accept the reality of what had happened.

To his surprise, 18 just looked amused, giving him a small shrug. "Whatever you say."

And then his instincts screamed at the danger once again, as a kick he was unable to react to stopped barely an inch from his ribs.

"That's two."

This time, his brain was in overdrive analyzing. And what he was analyzing simply didn't make sense. She had been standing there, and then with no tells, had simply vanished from the spot, immediately reappearing inside of his guard and threatening a powerful blow. But that was impossible. She had to be moving. Maybe it was like the Splitting Cat Hairs technique that Cologne once employed?

His eyes stayed locked on where she was, only for the blonde to disappear again, this time appearing behind him and threatening a knee to the lower back.

"That's three."

She was simply just too fast for his eyes to follow.

That was it. He was relying on his eyes to track her. She must have some technique similar to the Umisenken, making it a Ki trick!

Taking a more grounded stance, he watched her go back to the opposite side of the dojo with a grim expression of determination on his face. His ki sensing was pretty damn good, something he had Cologne to thank. Shutting his eyes, he spread his Ki out, intent on tracking her like that. But… It was impossible to find her Ki signature. It was like she wasn't really there!

Ranma suddenly felt a hand on his chest, and then he was falling onto his butt.

"That's four." She drawled, now sounding a little bored.

The pigtailed martial artist opened his eyes again, clearly shocked and confused. It didn't make any sense, everything that was happening was going against what he understood fundamentally, to the point that he simply just couldn't understand how she was doing it. She moved faster than his eyes could track. He couldn't track her via Ki. How was he supposed to counter her?

"Get up. You have one more try, unless you want to take your chances from the floor?"

That got Ranma back to his feet, uneasily taking another fighting stance as his mind raced. He couldn't see her move. He couldn't track her via Ki sensing. Did he simply need to just… Guess?

It just felt wrong, but as he wracked his brain he simply couldn't think of anything else to do. He'd not felt so incredibly helpless in a fight since, well, Saffron. But at least with Saffron, there was something tangible he could latch onto, some ideas that he could create, some new moves he could innovate on the spot. But here and now, in this situation where the condition for winning the fight was to simply block?

The idea hit him like a blow from an enraged fiance, allowing him a chance to smirk slightly as he came up with the only solution he could think of. The only thing he could do was block. So that just meant he needed to come up with a Ki shield of some kind, one that encased his whole body!

Confidence surging as he thought up his solution, he focused on molding his Ki, holding his arms straight out. He needed a shield, but it couldn't simply be just a shield. Shields could only block from one direction, and 18 demonstrated already that she had some way of moving without him noticing. So he needed something that was omni-directional. A shield that encompassed him completely. A bubble shield.

His hands began to glow with the blue light of his confidence infused Ki as Ranma focused intently on shaping his Ki. Releasing Ki outside the body was hard, releasing it and holding it in one place was even harder. But slowly, sweat beading on his forehead, Ranma succeeded, as a blue transparent bubble formed around him, sprouting from his hands while he panted from the exertion of trying something so difficult.

If nothing else, he'd learn a lot from just this.

"Haha! I'd… Like to see you… Get through this!" He cheered, panting, yet with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Though that smirk quickly fell as he read the emotions on her face. She didn't seem shocked or impressed or worried that she would lose. Instead she seemed mostly curious, and was that a bit of nostalgia he could see?

That didn't make any sense at all. Hadn't he solved the problem? He created a brand new technique, completely from scratch! Why wasn't she conceding?

"Impressive." She eventually said, though a hint of amusement was in her voice as she continued. "But there's a few glaring issues with this."

That earned her a withering glare, that she easily ignored.

"The first and biggest issue is that it took you too long to make it. If I hadn't been curious to see what you were doing, I would've simply won while you were attempting to make your shield." She listed, seemingly not noticing the wince that statement alone got from Ranma. "The second is that I can simply just wait for you to get tired. There's no time limit on this challenge. Eventually, you'll run out of Ki. In theory, shielding techniques are great, but without infinite endurance, you have to form them right before the attack hits, making them much more niche than you would think. The third issue…"

18 trailed off, lazily raising her arm and pointing a finger gun towards Ranma.

A loud bang, followed by the sound of glass shattering echoed out as Ranma's newly created technique was completely overwhelmed by a Ki attack that he only just barely saw coming. It was a small, highly compressed beam attack that shot straight out of her finger. And the power in that small beam was terrifying, there was far more stopping power in that one finger beam than any Ki attack Ranma had ever encountered before. The recoil sent him flying backwards, until he crashed into the wall, ears ringing and slightly dazed, but otherwise fine somehow.

"I already explained to you the deficiencies of emotional Ki. It's simply frailer than pure Ki. You should've been able to infer based on my knowledge on the subject that I am a user myself. The fact that you even tried shows your confidence Ki is affecting your decision making. You overestimated yourself."

The android mercilessly explained, crossing the dojo and stopping in front of the dazed martial artist, bending over slightly to offer him a hand up.

"I was also a little harsher than strictly necessary. I have some experience with helping someone important to me switch from using confidence based emotional Ki to pure Ki. The first step is to completely and utterly crush them. Consider it a freebie lesson." The girl carried on her lecture, feeling like she should at least impart this lesson on the boy that reminded her so much of her brother.

Ranma simply chuckled wryly, taking her hand and pulling himself up, rubbing his aching temple. "Yeah, I got the message loud and clear I think. That's the reason I can't sense your Ki right? Can't believe I forgot something so simple." He said with a grimace, having been harshly reminded of that simple lesson. If you cannot sense someone else's Ki, they either have far more Ki than you could sense, have far better Ki control than you, or are simply vastly stronger than you.

He'd gotten caught up in the flow of things, so he'd forgotten that simple fact. It was both disheartening, and extremely motivating to know that there was still so much more room for growth. Being the best had always been the goal for Ranma, but there had always been goalposts along the way. Everytime he'd climb a little higher on the journey, he'd find someone up there waiting for him to surpass them. He thought he'd finally reached the summit when he'd beaten Saffron, but it turns out that there was an even taller mountain beyond that peak…

His grimace turned into a little smirk, standing a little straighter, as if he was shrugging off the dizziness from having his Ki technique overwhelmed. "Still, you may be better than me for now, but Ranma Saotome doesn't lose. I'll train hard and get even stronger than you, just watch!" He declared, before his smirk gained a more mischievous quality to it. "Besides, I won the bet, so now you've gotta stay and teach me more!"

That actually seemed to catch 18 completely off guard. "In what world would you ever consider that a win?" She asked incredulously.

But Ranma's smirk grew into a full blown grin, flashing her a peace sign, cheering brightly. "You said that it was my win if I blocked any of your attacks, and I clearly blocked that final Ki attack! So it's my win!"

18 could only blink at him for a few long seconds, struggling to keep a straight face as her shoulders shook, eventually breaking out into a pure laugh, something she hadn't done in so long that the sound of her own laughter was unfamiliar to herself.

It took a few moments to collect herself, during which Ranma felt inexplicably happy that his antics had made her break that hardened exterior somewhat, unaware that she was already being more open with him than she would ever be with most people. Her icy gaze softened, and a small, gentle smile was on her lips. "Yeah, I guess you did block that huh? Fine, fine, you win. I'll stay for at least one day and give you more instruction." 18 relented, driven by a heady feeling of happiness that she hadn't felt in ages.

But before any more could happen, the duo were interrupted by a knocking, as Kasumi poked her head through the door. "Ah, Miss 18, I wanted to let you know that Father is here now, and he is ready to speak with you." She informed their guest, before turning to Ranma. "Auntie and Uncle are also back from the store, so we will have dinner ready shortly."

—

Soun Tendo was an interesting person to Android 18. Interesting, in that she had never seen such a person who had so obviously declined before. Sitting across from him at the table, her thoughts first went to his appearance. His brown gi that was his apparel of choice was appalling to 18's fashion sense. He had nice enough hair, though an uninspired hairstyle, and a mustache that looked like it had gone out of style 10 years ago. Honestly, the man probably was attractive in his youth, but the most off putting thing in her opinion was how far he had fallen physically. He wasn't doing himself any favors though.

The man carried himself like he had some training, but it was obvious to see that his muscle definition was weak, and his Ki was laced with grief. Something had clearly happened to the man that had shattered him emotionally, so much so that he had become a husk of the man he once was.

It was interesting, yes, but ultimately, it didn't matter enough for her to pry or linger on it for more than a few passing moments.

What was more pressing, was the two oddly familiar Ki signatures that for the life of 18, she could not recognize. The first belonged to someone in the kitchen with Kasumi, who seemed to be helping make dinner. That one triggered an even deeper sense of nostalgia and longing, which was extremely confusing to the android.

The second was far more confounding, as for whatever reason, it belonged to the panda bear rolling around in the lawn with a ball. 18 didn't know panda's could even produce a Ki signature that large, let alone why she would find it oddly familiar. It wasn't like with Ranma, where it had been like seeing a different version of 17.

She'd never met a panda bear before.

Perhaps it was a shapeshifter? She'd never personally encountered any, but she knew they existed.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Soun clearing his throat, bowing his head slightly. "Welcome to our humble home, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Soun Tendo, and you are?"

"I'm 18." She responded curtly, though read the room enough to assume she should at least dip her head in kind.

"Er… That's nice? But what about your name?" The man questioned, blinking owlishly at the Android, who just scoffed while in the background Ranma snickered.

"This better not be a thing. My name is 18."

Soun blinked a few times, before adopting a more sheepish expression, rubbing the back of his head and chuckling nervously. "A-Ah. Ahem. Well then, again, welcome to our home 18!" He greeted her again, more formally this time, before hastily changing the subject. "I understand that you came here because you sought to have some questions answered?"

18 took a moment to roll her shoulders and sigh. All this thinking and talking about her past for a lead that might not lead to anything was exhausting. It didn't help that the more that she thought about it, the more the barrier between her life as Android 18 and her old self seemed to blur.

It certainly wasn't helped by the doppelganger.

Maybe this was all a mistake.

"Yes, a man named Tofu said that the owner of the Tendo Dojo and his guests would be the best person to help me find what I'm looking for." She started, finding it a little curious that the man seemed to fidget and get a little more nervous at the mention of his guests, who she already knew to be Ranma and his parents.

Again, her curiosity was piqued, but she pushed it down and carried on. "The short version is that I grew up in Nerima, but we moved away when I was little. Apparently, some scrolls of my stepfathers' martial arts school were left hidden on the property though, and I'm struggling to remember where it was, everything is far different from the Nerima I remember. They both passed away a long time ago, otherwise I'd just ask them."

Soun seemed relieved at that, for whatever reason. "Oh, is that all? That sounds like a simple enough task. I would be glad to help you. Tell me what you remember of your stepfathers' school, and hopefully it'll ring some bells for me. And if that fails to ring a bell, perhaps describe your parents. Judging by your age, it's possible I knew them." He spoke warmly, sounding far more excited by her reason for being here than he had any reason to be.

"... Right. Well, whatever martial art's he practices," 18 began, jerking a thumb towards Ranma, who blinked a few times and pointed at himself in confusion. "Seems like a more refined version of what I learned. Which, I'm assuming, is due to having an actual teacher. My mom and my stepfather passed away when I was seven, and my little brother was around five. So we largely had to teach ourselves."

18 shut her eyes as she carried on, dredging up memories and missing the changing expressions on the faces of those present. "In hindsight, it was a rather strange school of martial arts. It preached adaptability and wanted to turn everything into training. But some of the things it wanted were just insane. One of the first scrolls I remember reading claimed that mealtimes should be used as an exercise in speed training and hand eye coordination, which is just stupid. There were also a lot of techniques that didn't make sense for an adult to learn, as if they were geared towards children? I remember one scroll was about deception through a technique called 'Stare of the Starving Orphan', which was actually kinda helpful as that was what we were. There were also so many techniques which were just outright teaching you how to commit crimes, which were again useful as we had nobody to help us. Scrolls that depicted how to properly sneak, how to pickpocket, how to create a distraction. Learning how to do that was the only reason we didn't starve in the streets."

18 paused to rub the bridge of her nose. "As far as an actual fighting style, the school favored aerial combat and adaptability. Supposedly, it was a style made up of many other styles, though I only know that because we were confronted at a tournament once and apparently used a secret technique of some small family school. The strings and combos were supposed to be fluid and interchangeable, so you could change them to adapt to your opponents strengths and weaknesses. If you can't be faster, be stronger. If you can't be stronger, be faster. If you can't be either, be more skillful."

The silence that followed was slightly unexpected, though eventually Soun coughed into his hands. "A-And uh, do you happen to remember the name of this martial art?"

"Don't remember. Nothing in the scrolls we had ever said, and I don't remember my stepfather ever saying what it was." 18 answered, idly noting the Ki signature upstairs that belonged to the girl named Nabiki was moving downstairs. Also, for whatever reason, the panda bears' Ki was now laced with nervous energy, and it seemed to be listening in.

"Well, that certainly tells me some things. But it might help if you um… Explain what you remember of your parents?" Soun asked, radiating nervousness himself.

"Well, I never knew my biological father. Pretty sure he passed away well before I was ever born. As for my stepdad…" Android 18 trailed off, visibly grimacing as she delved into her memories, having preferred to keep her old self's memories locked away, untainted by Android 18's monstrosity. But she couldn't shake the idea that Cell would chase her down, even here in a place she was slowly accepting as a completely different universe from her own.

"The big thing I remember about him was that he was really sexist. He seemed to look down on me and my mother simply for being women. He preferred trying to teach my little brother his martial arts to spending time with me or my mother." She began, keeping her eyes shut and missing the fact that the panda bear was being glared at. "That said, whenever he did actually interact with me, he was genuinely good with children. Very silly and over the top dramatic. I think he had some wanderlust too, he was always going on about traveling, but never got the chance. As far as his looks, I don't really remember his face, but he always wore a white gi. He was pretty stocky too from what I remember, wide, but in a muscular way. He wore a bandana on his head to hide that he was balding, and had glasses. Probably around my height."

She then took a shaky breath, having to get to the more difficult part. "Mom… Mom was a swordswoman by trade. She used to talk about teaching me her art, but we never got around to it before she was gone. I remember her being incredibly graceful and elegant. I used to watch her practice her sword forms out by the little pond on our land, entranced by how she moved…" She trailed off, getting a little more lost in her memories.

"I remember thinking she was so tall, though in reality she probably was similar to my current height. She was a slender woman, with large brown eyes and deep reddish brown colored hair. Mom always was wearing these strange robe like things that made her stand out, and I used to think she was a princess. They were so intricate, unlike anything I ever saw anyone else wear." 18 paused again to sip at a now lukewarm cup of tea. "As far as personality goes, she was very doting and gentle. Whenever we got hurt playing, she would always scoop us up into her lap and make the pain of whatever scrape fly away with soft words and loving affections. She always knew just what to say to assuage our fears, or how to cheer us up if we had had a bad day." Her gloved hand ran through her hair. "I didn't understand at the time, but she would sometimes come into my room at night, thinking I was asleep and just look at me while crying silently. Probably because I reminded her of my dad."

There was a heavy pause, before Soun finally spoke up, voice grim. "Is that everything you recall?"

18 finally opened her eyes and nodded, unsure what to make of the expression of great concern on Soun's face. "More or less."

"And… Do you remember their names?"

That elicited a small frown from 18, her eyebrows tightening as she tried to recall. "No, I don't remember the name of either of my fathers. But my mom…"

"Saotome. Nodoka Saotome."

A voice 18 never thought she would hear again responded, causing her heart to race wildly. There was no way. It was impossible. But… She was here in a different universe entirely, her being alive right now was impossible. So could it be true?

"You called?"

Another ghost of 18's past rounded the corner from the kitchen, ready to haunt her. Only, 18 couldn't spot any of the subtle differences that were present in Ranma. In fact, the look of recognition and utter shock she was seeing probably matched the one on 18's face.

A heavy silence hung over the room, nobody even daring to breathe before Nodoka finally found her footing first, eyes watering as she held back a sob.

"Lazuli?"

Author's Notes: Nervous about this chapter, I've been struggling with how to handle Genma and Nodoka for a while now, which is what has made this chapter take so long. I had 3 ways in mind, and was set on going the one route, until I finally got to writing the final scene, and then this just seemed naturally flow out. Left it at a cliffhanger cause I'm a dramatic bitch, but you'll get your answers in the next chapter hopefully!

Also, I hope I got Ranma's dialogue right. I was a little concerned about him being OOC, as 18 is just far and away the single most powerful being on the planet. But I don't think Ranma would see it as a great offense that he wasn't the strongest, instead he would see it to mean that the peak was so much higher than he originally thought, and that there was so much more training to do. And having him win the bet on a technicality seemed like it would ease the blow of not being the strongest.

That said, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, the support has been fantastic!