Android 18 walked down the streets of Nerima, a plastic bag full of clothes slung over her shoulders. It was nice to have a proper wardrobe once again. She'd even found an outfit that matched the one that had been ruined during her fight with Vegeta, which thankfully lacked the insignia of the Red Ribbon Army on the back of it. She had been quite fond of that outfit as it had been the only one she had, and finding the one she had been wearing up to this point had been surprisingly annoying.

A week had passed since she'd arrived in Nerima, and the things that had transpired were not quite what she had anticipated. Meeting Genma and Nodoka again had not been something she ever would have imagined. Genma was honestly quite similar to what her memories told her to expect, but the more she interacted with Nodoka, the more confused she was. For one, she was bizarrely focused on Ranma's manliness. The amount of times she'd referred to him as her 'manly son' was enough for 18 to think that something was up. It was like she was trying to reassure herself that Ranma was manly for whatever reason? There was also an odd sort of tension between Nodoka and Ranma, as if neither really knew quite how to interact with one another. It wasn't quite as bad as 18's own interactions with Nodoka, but Nodoka and Ranma having a strained relationship was confusing.

The way they acted made it seem like Nodoka hadn't been there for all of Ranma's childhood. Which didn't make any damn sense. It wasn't like with her and 17, where they'd been whisked away from their planet against their own choice.

Then again, it's entirely possible that it's Ranma that was the one making things weird between mother and son. He seemed to be pretty socially unaware unless the conversation was about the Art, as he liked to call it. Nabiki had told her about something she called the Saotome foot-in-mouth technique, and 18 got to witness it firsthand when Akane attempted to cook breakfast for the boy. The way he unintentionally pressed every button on the anger prone girl was impressive. 18 had no doubt Akane would have raged out and struck at him with the Ki construct if she wasn't keeping a hold on the girl's Ki. She had been tempted to let the girl hit him though, the boy really had absolutely no tact whatsoever.

Though in all fairness, whatever the neon green plate of sludge was, had certainly been an affront to god.

Akane and Ranma's training had been… Going. Ranma was making great strides, and she figured that in the space of the next two weeks, he would be fully converted to using Pure Ki. Which was far faster than the month it had taken herself. The boy was certainly talented in the Martial Arts and in Ki manipulation.

Akane however, was moving at a much slower pace than she wanted. Ranma, on top of being a prodigal talent, was always going to have an easier time purifying his Ki than Akane. Because while he certainly used his confidence Ki often, he never was subconsciously calling on it. Akane on the other hand relied on her anger Ki, using it like a crutch to shortcut proper Ki control exercises. 18 wasn't totally sure how long it would take for her to get the hang of pure Ki, as there was high odds that the teen would get frustrated by her lack of progress, which would then hinder her progress even more and create a negative feedback loop of sorts.

Sparring with the two was a whole other issue. Akane had a chip on her shoulder, wanting 18 to take her 'seriously' while simultaneously letting her anger cloud her common sense. And the way she accused her of cheating for dodging was simply bizarre, did she seriously expect her opponents to just stand there and get hit? Sure, 18 could have done that - it wasn't like Akane could actually hurt her - but that would just be counter productive. Nobody was going to just stand there and tank hits unless they just wildly outclassed the other fighter. Her anger at 18 not hitting her was at least justifiable. 18 had taken to masking her unwillingness to strike back as some kind of method of purposely riling the girl up, to make sure she wasn't relying on her anger.

It wasn't like she really knew how to explain that she could accidentally kill them with a flick of the wrist.

All the issues with Akane aside, it wasn't like Ranma was a whole let better in spars either, even though he knew 18 was more powerful than him logically. He was a prideful person, and it was painfully clear to both Akane and Ranma that 18 was holding back considering she refused to strike either of them. The problem was, he didn't really understand just how much more powerful she was. How do you even begin to explain that you've acquired the power to destroy planets, let alone the sheer insanity and depravity of Dr. Gero's madness that turned her into such a monster.

Holding back the terrible power that roiled beneath her skin was something she'd never really done. Restraint wasn't something she had ever really needed to learn. The reactor handled the cloaking aspect of her Ki signature, and before Gero, she wasn't much stronger than Ranma was currently. There had simply never been a reason to have to hold herself back so much.

Because to make it so she didn't just kill them, she had to repress herself to an absurd degree. Her last recorded power output before they'd been awakened the final time had been around 290,000,000. And she had probably even grown a bit since, as was the nature of the perpetual energy reactor inside of her. Without her even doing anything she could continue to grow in power.

So in order to spar and hit them without actually doing irreparable damage to anyone, she had spent some time each day attempting to suppress herself. So far, she had succeeded in suppressing herself to 1% of her total power, but that was still far too high for her to risk striking someone. She needed to bring that down even further.

18 sighed and rolled her neck. "This would be a lot easier to figure out if there was someone attacking me. Always did learn better in the heat of the moment than trying to figure something out on the fly."

Little did 18 know that by voicing that outloud, she had doomed herself to a headache inducing situation, and her first true introduction to the madness of Nerima.

Shampoo had a problem.

The problem was that she hadn't gotten to see her Airen in over a week! Yes, her Great Grandmother had taken her on a training trip to teach her some more advanced Amazon techniques - as was her right as her heiress - but that meant her poor Airen was all alone with that awful Kitchen Destroyer! And to make matters even worse, there were rumors of some new girl seen entering and exiting the Tendo compound. Supposedly, on the same day she and her Great Grandmother had left for their training trip, a blonde girl was seen walking to the Tendo's with her Airen. Then, beyond that, she wasn't even sent packing like all the other fiance's! And, as if things weren't bad enough, she even seemed to be on good terms with Mother-in-Law and Too Too Nice Girl! So now there was yet another rival for her Airen's affections, and it was surely all that stupid Panda Man's fault.

Just thinking about getting her Airen to come back to China with her was giving her a headache. Nothing she tried seemed to stick. Potions, drugs, magic, physical affection, trickery, manipulation, traps. She'd nearly exhausted every trick she knew of, and yet her Airen still resisted, trapped by his own honor. That could be the only explanation after all. Because Xian Pu was clearly the best choice to wed her Airen between herself, Violent Girl and Spatula Girl.

She thought for sure Airen would understand that she truly did love him when she continued to pursue his affections even when her honor was restored to the tribe. The council had told her that she did not need to continue her efforts to bring him home, but the Amazon heiress wasn't a quitter.

It was difficult to drive a wedge between any of the already established fiance's and Ranma, but newcomers? That was simple enough. Nobody could stand up to the might of an Amazon warrior. All she had to do was drive out this little obstacle, and that would prevent some new woman from getting her claws in.

Thankfully, blonde hair was a very uncommon hair color in Japan. So it only took a few hours of keeping her eyes peeled while out doing deliveries for her to spot the shock of blonde hair walking down the street.

Ringing the bell of her bicycle, which served as a signal to all passing civilians that a fight was going to occur, Shampoo pedaled off the roof of the building at breakneck speeds. Savoring the feeling of the rushing air flowing through her lavender locks, she landed in front of the latest threat to her Airen, tires screeching as she pivoted and slammed the brakes to face her prey, getting her first real look at this new girl.

And what Shampoo saw was very concerning. In her own humble opinion, the only girl that could give her a run for her money in the looks department was her Airen's girl side. But this new girl was the first to ever make Shampoo worry about her status as the most attractive fiance. The Kitchen Destroyer was severely lacking in the chest department, though did have nice legs and a cute smile. Spatula Girl actually had a nice figure, but was too insecure in her femininity, dressing and carrying herself more like a man than a woman. Crazy Girl… Well, she wasn't actually ever worried about her winning her Airen's heart, she was more worried she would poison him to death. But as far as looks went, she was attractive. Smaller in the chest department than Shampoo, but sporting a nice butt to make up for it.

This new girl though seemed to be the complete package. Her blonde hair and strikingly icy blue eyes gave her an exotic appeal that previously only Shampoo had. In the chest, she definitely outclassed the other girls, though it was difficult to tell at a glance if she rivaled her own size. She carried herself with confidence in her femininity, the thing that Spatula Girl lacked. She had a shapely figure as well, and the most concerning thing of all was that she carried herself in a way that she only saw in fighters. A state of being perpetually ready for battle. Something she could respect as a fellow warrior.

Perhaps she would need to bust out her newly learned techniques in this challenge.

Getting off her bike, Shampoo took a moment to center herself. Puffing her chest out in a subtle attempt to establish her Amazonian superiority, she opened her mouth to declare her intent.

Only to be rudely interrupted by the insolent outsider. "Are you just going to stand there all day or are you going to do something? I've got places to be and you're in the way little girl." The outsider called out, tone dripping with annoyance.

Shampoo couldn't help but bristle in anger at the insult, her pride unwilling to allow any insult from a weak outsider woman stand. Whipping out her trusty Chui's from her weapon space, Shampoo held them menacingly, taking the favored fighting stance of Amazonian Wu Shu. "Outsider girl not insult they betters! Shampoo challenge you!"

To Shampoo's mild surprise, instead of any show of fear at her challenge, the blonde instead looked somewhere between annoyed and surprised. "That's nice but I think I'll pass. Go find someone who cares to fight you." 18 responded dismissively, shrugging and continuing to walk down the road.

The Amazon warrior was thoroughly caught off guard by that. Nobody in this crazy ward ever just… Turned down a fight like that. It took a few long seconds for Shampoo to wrap her head around that, long enough for 18 to walk past her. The purple haired warrior just watched her go incredulously for a few seconds, before shaking herself out of her stupor. This woman had not only insulted Shampoo, but she had denied her of an honorable challenge! This simply would not stand. Unleashing a battlecry - giving a warning like this was only fair when attacking a warrior's back - Shampoo leaped through the air, rearing both Chui's back and smashing down, viciously cratering the street.

Naturally, she had missed on purpose. As enraged as she was to be dismissed like that, striking someone in the back after challenging them to an honorable duel went against her morals. As the dust settled, Shampoo couldn't help but give the blonde a smug smirk. That had certainly gotten her attention.

"Outsider girl not understand. Shampoo challenge you, not say you have choice! Stand and fight!" She barked out harshly once again, hefting her Chui's once more as she leaped up through the air, aiming for another double handed overhead strike. A move that was sure to make all but the best combatants cower in fear.

Not meeting any resistance, Shampoo was pleasantly surprised that this wouldn't be over so fast. It would have been a shame if it ended before it even began. Now, she could begin to attack in earnest.

18 simply sighed as she dodged the sluggish blows, only putting in the most minimum effort in dodging the barrage of swings that followed her. Sure, the girl was skilled enough, more so than Akane, but she was weaker than Ranma. She presented no threat whatsoever. "Do we really have to do this? I have no conflict with you." 18 drawled as she dodged a five hit combo with minimal effort.

Huffing from the frustration of failing to hit her target, Shampoo couldn't help but feel like this was attempting to fight her Airen. This girl was simply too fast for her to hit. Was it already time to put the fruits of her training in play? "Have many conflict with you! Outsider girl need learn to stay away from Shampoo's Airen!" She declared, returning her Chui's to weapon space and beginning to shifting to hand to hand combat, sacrificing reach for greater speed.

"I don't even know what an Airen is!" 18 declared, deciding then and there she would try to restrain her power to a level that wasn't going to immediately kill the strange girl. She wasn't taking no for an answer. So she clearly needed to be shown via brute force that they weren't in the same level. At least if she accomplished that she would have gotten something useful out of this encounter besides a story to laugh about.

Darting in, Shampoo led with a quick jab cross aimed to the stomach, forcing her opponent to dodge to the side, where she attempted to slam her with a swift kick to the ribs. Unfortunately, her opponent dodged all of those with simple, fluid movement, yet neglected to go for a counter attack. This left the advantage to Shampoo, and she eagerly continued to press it. She began a long sequence of kicks and punches, purposely targeting the stomach and liver to lull her opponent into a pattern. She focused on that area for a dozen rapid blows, the two moving at speeds a regular person would struggle to follow, when on the 20th missed roundhouse kick, instead of dipping back into the rhythmic blows she had been doing, she kept on spinning and went for a powerful hook kick to the temple. It was a powerful finishing blow, designed specifically to trick speedy opponents into focusing their guard low, and then finishing the fight with a single powerful blow to the head.

And to Shampoo's delight, she finally made contact with her foe!

The problem was, that with the power and momentum she had thrown into that kick, it should have sent the other girl flying head first into the wall. Instead, all of her momentum had been arrested, and when Shampoo tried to pull her leg back, she found that there was an iron grip on her ankle.

"Look, I really don't get what your problem is, and I really don't care to know, but I have things to do. So let's just end this here and walk away." 18 spoke in her usual demeanor, in one last attempt at a peaceful resolution. Unfortunately, when her tone and general demeanor paired with her looks, it had the unfortunate outcome of coming across in a very derisive manner. Hoping her attacker would listen to reason, 18 released the hold on Shampoo's leg.

Yet, all her attempts at peaceful resolution did was wound the young Amazon's pride even more. Shampoo hadn't planned on using this technique yet, wanting to keep it for the next time she got in a fight with the Kitchen Destroyer, but how dare this outsider look down on her! She was the strongest of her generation! The village champion! She would not allow this lowly outsider to look down on her like this! To let her walk away at this point was an insult to all proud Amazon warriors! She needed to learn to respect them!

Summoning her pride Ki and feeling it strengthen her arms, she leaped forward, arms disappearing in a blur to strike the target of her ire. "Kachu Tenshin Amagu-"

Her words were cut off mid strike as pain blossomed in her stomach, her body folding over the blow briefly before she was sent rocketing down the street, tumbling for a good 50 feet before crashing back first into a telephone pole. Said telephone pole only survived the blow due to being reinforced with steel.

Shampoo's whole world was consumed by pain, having never taken such a strong hit in her life. She immediately doubled over, retching as she desperately tried not to throw up. Her vision became blurred, distorted by the overwhelming pain that was numbing her brain. Weakly raising her head up, she could barely make out the blurry figure of Android 18 walking towards her. She wanted to say something to her, but it was impossible to find her voice as she was too busy coughing and gasping for air. The figure walking toward her eventually stopped, kneeling down in front of her. And just barely, she was able to make out some of what the other woman was saying as she desperately held onto her consciousness.

"… difficult to hold back so much…"

"… fault for being so weak…"

"… shouldn't die…"

Raising her head, Shampoo found herself staring into icy blues that sent a shiver of fear down her spine. She was horribly outmatched here. Her mind and body were screaming at her to run and to never look back. To just pretend that they had never met. Yet, her honor demanded she do this.

Leaning in and cupping a trembling hand on 18's cheek, she gave the outsider that defeated her the Kiss of Death.

Unconsciousness welcomed Shampoo with open arms.

"I'm back." 18 announced in her usual drawl as she entered the Tendo home.

"Welcome back!" A small chorus of voices responded that 18 identified as belonging to Ranma, Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi. Entering the living room, she found them all seated around the table, either munching on snacks or working on their schoolwork. Ever the diligent host, Kasumi gave her a smile and a nod, before standing up to go and prepare a drink for 18.

"Where'd ya go?" Ranma piped up, both out of a desire to get to know his sister more, but more importantly, because he really didn't want to think about his homework at the moment.

18 hefted the bag of clothes ever so slightly, drawing attention to it as she sat down next to Ranma. "Bought some clothes. As much fun as it is only owning one outfit, that's not my style." She responded with her usual dryness, getting a small playful jab in on Ranma and his preference for his Chinese silks.

Ranma just groaned at the joke at his expense, not taking it seriously. "Well that certainly explains why you weren't here when we got back from school. Girls take forever to shop." He replied, sniffing derisively, but with enough humor to know that he hadn't really meant it that way.

That earned an eye roll from all the females currently present.

"So what are you working on?" 18 asked, genuinely a little curious as she never went to high school herself. Puberty had hit early for 18, so she was able to lie her way into some entry level jobs by claiming to be older than she actually was, as by that point, she hated having to steal to keep a roof over their heads.

It was Akane that spoke up to answer her. "We have a world history paper due next week about the ramifications of Imperialism in Europe."

18 nodded, vaguely aware of what Europe was. Her learnings about the world she was currently in were mostly vicariously through asking about their schoolwork so far. "I still find it weird that you don't exist under one unified World Government. And don't even get me started on the fact that you all don't speak the same language around the world."

Nabiki sported a more thoughtful expression at that point. "You know, it is very convenient that we speak the same language. Even if it is a parallel world, you could've easily ended up in a country where nobody spoke Japanese."

18 simply nodded in agreement. "Yeah I'm beginning to see that. In fact I ran into someone today that only barely seemed to speak the language. Could have been a pain in the ass if I ended up somewhere else."

Ranma groaned at that piece of news. "Lemme guess, purple hair, spoke in broken sentences?" Nabiki asked as she shook her head, a little surprised that it had taken this long for one of the various characters to actually run into 18 naturally.

"Uh… Yeah actually. Just attacked me in the middle of the street, kept going on about her 'Airen', whatever that is." 18 shrugged, rather nonplussed about the whole encounter, as she turned her attention to Kasumi who was returning with a nice cool glass of water for her. Reaching out to accept the glass, she missed the look of resignation that came over Ranma's face, as inexplicably, Kasumi tripped over nothing at all, the water somehow only managing to splash Ranma as it triggered the change from he to she.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry Ranma!" Kasumi gasped with a small grimace, well aware at this point the amount of people that had rejected Ranma over his curse. She knew he had been trying his hardest to hide it from his sister, but it always had a way to reveal itself in the most unfortunate ways.

Ranma just sighed and ducked her head, shrinking in on herself a little bit. It was the first reaction that always stung the most. The looks of disgust and pity hurt, as if she had asked for this to happen to her. And they always happened without fail, nobody that didn't have their own curse ever reacted in any other way, barring the Kuno's. But they were delusional, so they hardly counted.

The point was, that it always hurt the first time her curse was revealed. It wasn't often that someone earned Ranma's respect from the get go. But 18 managed to do that. Their first meeting was by chance, with him bugging her to teach him how to deflect Ki blasts the way she had. Sure, she had said no initially, but then she had gone on to outline the reasons why she couldn't. She explained to him an area he needed to improve on before he could learn it, and then explained why it was important he improve on it. And then they'd had their little contest, where she put to rest the idea that Ranma had reached the peak in their spar. But instead of gloating and lording her strength over him like so many others would have done if they had been in that situation. Instead, she'd first praised Ranma for coming up with a technique on the fly, and then given him a few pointers on areas that needed improvement. When he then pointed out that he'd won their bet, instead of throwing a fit and being a sore loser like so many people in her life, she'd just laughed and conceded the point.

All that was even before he'd found out they were related! Ranma's respect was hard to earn, and this stranger had earned it in a few short hours. And then finding out that they were family…

She still didn't really know how to feel about it. Kasumi had always sort of filled that older sibling role in Ranma's mind, and to a certain extent, still did. But the problem was at the end of the day, Kasumi and Ranma didn't really have all that much in common beyond his minor interests in cooking and healing arts. So while Kasumi was as sweet as could be, and they did enjoy each other's company, it wasn't quite right. 18's personality seemed more in line with Nabiki's in all honesty, but it was more like if Nabiki was a skilled martial artist instead of a shrewd business woman. She answered his questions, freely taught him what he wanted to know with no strings attached, and even seemed to be helping Akane out of her own volition!

Sure, 18 was very clearly hiding things from them. But Ranma was doing the same. Hiding the curse had just been the most immediate thing, she had also been hiding how messed up her life was. 18 was still in the dark on the training trip, all the various fiance's, the contract, the Neko-Ken, and all the other strange things that had happened since arriving in Nerima.

They would all come out in time, sure, but Ranma had wanted to hide it as long as she could. Heaving a sigh, the redhead looked up at 18, mentally preparing for the look of derision and disgust that was so common in her life.

Only to find a towel being thrown at her face.

Flailing about for a second to remove the cloth, the resigned expression on her face morphed to one of confusion as she got a look at 18's face. There wasn't any disgust. There wasn't any pity. There wasn't any anger. All that there was, was a small, playful smirk that left Ranma feeling a bit dumbfounded. 18's eyes roamed his body once up and down before she simply nodded at Ranma in acknowledgement, turning back to the textbook to continue reading it. Glancing around at the Tendo daughters showed that they all had similar looks of surprise at her complete non reaction.

"Anyways. As I was saying, some purple haired girl just challenged me out of-"

"Now hold on just a second, what's up with that?!" Akane yelled, putting into words what everyone else was feeling.

18 didn't even look up, unbothered by the interruption as she lazily flipped a page in the textbook. "That's what I was thinking. I don't even know her, or know what an Airen is. So she challenged me to a fight-"

"No no, not Shampoo! Who cares about that! What's up with your total lack of reaction to the pervert!" Akane declared hotly, pointing an accusing finger at Ranma who couldn't help but wince at the accusation.

That got 18 to look up, giving Akane a withering look that made her wince, before turning her attention to look between Akane and Ranma for a few seconds as she decided how best to handle this. "Oh my gosh. Ranma is a shapeshifter. I'm so surprised." She eventually deadpanned, unsure what the issue was even as all 4 other girls in the room gave her incredulous looks. "I mean, it's a little surprising to learn that Ranma can shapeshift, but that just means that Genma's side of the family has an ancestor that can do it. Cause there sure isn't a shapeshifter on Mom's side."

"W-What?" Ranma responded intelligently, still floored by the way 18 was treating this in such a blaise manner.

"Oh please, are you gonna tell me that you guys don't have shapeshifters here? I didn't know any personally, but like, there's whole schools dedicated to teaching young shapeshifters to control their abilities." 18 said as she propped her cheek against the palm of her hand. "Next you're gonna tell me that the dinosaurs are extinct."

"They are extinct. And there aren't shapeshifters here. At all. That's not shapeshifting, Ranma's cursed." Nabiki responded.

18 blinked a few times, seemingly more surprised by that than Ranma's curse. "Really? Damn. Pterodactyl meat is a delicacy. That's a shame." The android declared with a shrug. Akane looked at her like she had grown a second head, while Kasumi and Nabiki instead adopted a thoughtful expression, though for very different reasons.

"Are… Are ya really not bothered?" Ranma asked, wincing a little at how small and hopeful her voice sounded to herself. But she couldn't help herself, nobody had ever reacted in such a manner to the curse. It was like it was a complete non-issue to 18.

"Hate to break it to you Ranma, but my little brother becoming my little sister barely even registers as weird. Hardly even seems like a curse." 18 deadpanned once more, reaching a hand out and ruffling Ranma's hair. "And should I use she/her when referring to you like this? Or keep using he/him?"

Ranma scowled as her hair was tousled, swiping at her older sister's hand. "I dunno, just whatever I happen to be at the time?" The cursed martial artist answered, surprised by the very question. Nobody had ever asked that before, including herself. She'd never even really considered it. "And Nabiki's right, it's a curse, not something I was born with. Pops took us to a place called Jusenkyo, a cursed training ground that nobody goes to anymore, for good reason. The place used to be covered in little pools, with bamboo poles sticking out the top. You're supposed to train in aerial combat, and if you fall off the poles, you fall into the springs below. The problem is that each spring has had something drown in it before. So if you fall into a spring, you're cursed to take the shape of whatever drowned there whenever you're splashed with cold water." The redhead sighed. "Pops couldn't read any Chinese, so he didn't know why it was cursed, or why nobody used it anymore. And then we ignored the Guide who was trying to warn us about the curses. I knocked pop into the spring of the drowned panda, and when he popped out, I was so shocked that he got a free hit in and sent me falling into the spring of the drowned girl."

"The purple haired girl you ran into is called Shampoo, we actually ran into her a few days after Jusenkyo. She's from a tribe of Amazon warriors who live in the area near Jusenkyo, and they have some weird laws and stuff." Ranma trailed off, not really wanting to get into why exactly Shampoo had followed her to Japan.

"Does any of the weird laws have anything to do with challenging random people on the street?" 18 asked, idly noting that the reason the panda's ki had felt so familiar was that it belonged to Genma.

Ranma groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Kinda? Please tell me you didn't fight her."

"She didn't really want to take no for an answer Ranma." 18 just shrugged, flipping another page in the textbook. "I gave her plenty of chances to walk away. But I think she thought I was insulting her, so she kept attacking me until I just got fed up and hit her."

At this point, Nabiki was rubbing the bridge of her nose. She had watched that initial spar between Ranma and 18, so she wasn't ignorant of just how terrifyingly powerful 18 was unlike Akane, who only had a vague understanding that 18 was strong, but not how wildly she outclassed everyone in Nerima. "And, by any chance, did she happen to give you a kiss after you won?"

18 looked up, mildly surprised that they would be aware of that fact. "As a matter of fact, yes. On the cheek, right before she passed out from the pain."

A loud thud rattled plates and cups on the table, as Ranma began to bang her head against it. "What, is there something I should know?"

"She gave you the Kiss of Death. Amazon's are prideful people, and when they lose to outsiders, they're honorbound to do one of two things. If it's a male that beat them, they're honorbound to marry them, bringing new powerful blood into the tribe. And if it's a female, they're honorbound to chase them to the ends of the earth to kill them." Ranma replied in a tired voice. "I'm supposed to be allied with the tribe, so maybe I can talk them out of it since Shampoo didn't know we're related."

The blonde didn't seem all too bothered to hear that Shampoo was now honorbound to kill her though. She was well used to deranged quests for revenge after all. The whole reason she was as powerful as she is was because of one. "Sore loser laws huh? That's a new one." She snorted, earning a laugh from Nabiki and an incredulous look from Ranma, Akane and Kasumi. "So which Kiss did you get then? Death or marriage?"

Ranma reached a hand up to twiddle with her pigtail, opting to give the highly abridged version of events that left almost every detail out of it. "Eh… Both? We arrived at their village a day or two after getting cursed, 'cause the Guide said they might know something about getting a cure. Some stuff happened, and she challenged me to a fight, and when I beat her as a girl, she had to give me the Kiss of Death. And then we high tailed it out of there, and Shampoo chased us. We thought we lost her, but eventually she followed us here to Nerima. 'Course, she didn't realize I was a guy cursed to turn into a girl… And then I beat her again by accident…"

The redhead trailed off, a sheepish look on her face. "Wow. Sounds like a big mess."

"Yeah, you could say that. But stuff happened, and their council rescinded both kisses, so now she wants to just marry me 'cause she fell in love with me." Ranma sighed.

"Hmm…" The blonde hummed softly, glancing up at the clock on the wall. "Well, sounds like a story for another day. Finish your homework you two, and then come find me in the Dojo." She abruptly declared as she stood up and stretched, walking off and leaving no room for either Ranma or Akane to protest.

The four Neriman's watched her walk away in silence, all with different thoughts running through their heads. Kasumi was glad for Ranma that 18 had so readily accepted the curse with little fanfare. Nabiki was busy thinking about what dinosaur meat tasted like. Akane was eagerly excited for another training session, happy to finally be taken seriously and make some progress.

And Ranma? Ranma was happy. 18 didn't let the curse bother her. She immediately accepted it for what it was, and more importantly, accepted Ranma. It just reinforced the respect she held for her older sister even more. Things were going to be different now that she was here. Ranma just knew it.

She was looking forward to what else would happen with 18 around.

Author's Notes: Hope you all enjoy the chapter! Fights are going to be an ongoing problem in this story, as any fight involving Android 18 has absolutely 0 stakes whatsoever, with the outcome almost always being a foregone conclusion. That said, I hope you all enjoyed the fight between her and Shampoo. I debated a lot over whether or not she should receive the Kiss of Death or not, and ultimately decided she would, as I do not think 18 is going to like Cologne and the Amazons culture all that much. Gero has really soured her opinion on old people that are very controlling and set in their ways.

And in case anyone was wondering, 18 canonically is unused to restraining her strength, as evidenced by the Punching Machine scene from the beginning of the Buu Saga. I figure the punch she uses against Shampoo is quite similar to the first punch she does in that scene, which I recommend watching if you haven't. It's a funny little scene that shows off the DBZ characters personalities, only 2-3 minutes long.

Also, the curse reveal finally happened! I hope it's well received. I like to think I did a good job with it, but the only way to know for sure is to put it out there and see what everyone thinks. I mentioned this before in response to a comment on one of the earlier chapters, but there was simply no way 18 ever has one of the over the top reactions that's so common in Ranma to the curse. The curse is simply not going to be all that weird for someone from DBZ world, where shapeshifters are a known quantity. The bit about there being schools for shapeshifters is also canon I'm pretty sure. If I'm remembering correctly, Puar and Oolong went to the same one.

Anyways, hope everyone enjoys the chapter. Next one will probably be in another 2 weeks or so. It should be focused on the introduction of Cologne, and depending on how things work out, the first glimpse for the Neriman's at the power available to 18.