Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū Tenka'ichi Budōkai

By: JaquiK

Chapter 5: The Quarterfinals Part 2

"Aww, man! This sucks!" Kuririn rubbed his sore neck as he slumped on the bench in the staging area.

Standing next to the downtrodden monk, Ranma did his best to offer some words of comfort. "Hey, don't feel bad. I mean sure, you got your ass beat really bad at the end there, but you were doing kinda alright before that."

"Ranma, be nice!" Akane chastised with a light swat to the redhead's arm before giving a smile to Kuririn. "What I'm sure she was trying to say is that you really did your best out there and it was very impressive. It just turned out that your opponent was a whole lot stronger than you, so you shouldn't feel bad at all about losing since you really didn't have that much of a chance in the first place."

"Gee, thanks for the support," Kuririn mumbled out.

"You just need more training," Jackie Chun commented. "Keep working hard, and you can break through your current limits." He then simply turned and walked over to another bench on the opposite side of the room.

"Hey, Ranma, you are going to avenge me by defeating that guy, right?" Kuririn said as he looked up somewhat desperately at his training companion.

Ranma narrowed her eyes at the old martial artist who was now just calmly sitting on the other side of the room. As she did so, she could feel that nervous sensation building up in her guts once more, but she quickly shook it off as she flashed a grin towards Kuririn. "Yeah, don't worry, buddy. I'll take him out in no time flat."

"Hey, aren't you forgetting about me?" the guy in the mask angrily called out and he walked up to the group and shot a glare at the redhead.

Ranma didn't really have a good response as she genuinely did forget about the guy. Fortunately, Akane was quick enough to speak up for her.

"Ha! As if my Ranma is going to lose to some dumb ol' boy like you."

The masked guy continued his stare down for a few more seconds before turning his head with a scoff. "Whatever, you're not even the Ranma I'm looking for anyway."

"Hey, so…uh…what's exactly your deal with this guy?" Ranma tilted her head as she tried to maybe figure out exactly who this was, but nothing was coming to mind. It wouldn't have really been all that surprising if she didn't actually know the guy directly. With the number of people ripped off by her pop's dumb scams, there were probably at least a few that would go after her to get revenge by proxy.

The boy looked back at Ranma with eyes narrowed behind his mask. "Like I said, it's a matter between men and none of your concern. Once that coward stops hiding and finally shows his stupid face, then I will finally get my vengeance and destroy him for the hell he has put me through!" He then turned and started to head out to the fighting area. "Now come on, let's get this over with quickly. I really don't want to think about having to beat up some scrawny little girl like you."

"What? Scrawny? Little?! Why you-" Ranma's attempted retort was cut off as she suddenly felt something slightly wet pressed up momentarily against her cheek. She turned to find Akane with a tiny smile on her face and realized it was a kiss. A kiss on the cheek. Just like…

"Wha…what did you do that for?!" Her eyes went wide as she backed away slightly.

"For luck of course," Akane answered plainly. She then tilted her head slightly as her smile became somewhat playful. "Why? What did you think that kiss was for?"

"Oh, I…uh…n-nothing!" Ranma felt her cheeks flush as she internally berated herself for even thinking this sweet girl could possibly be anything like that violent maniac.

"Alright, folks, we are just about ready to start the second bout. Is everyone ready?" the announcer asked as the crowd loudly cheered.

"Yes, after the spectacular feats and new revelations we have witnessed in the first match, I am sure everyone is excited to see what's next," Kasumi happily added. "How amazing is it that we have three students of the legendary Muten Roshi competing this year, along with an old rival determined to personally defeat them?"

"Absolutely amazing!" the announcer agreed. "And in fact, another of those students will be competing in this next match! Will the next two fighters please enter the fighting stage now!"

"Well now, this shall be interesting," Nabiki drawled out as she observed the boy who was very likely to be Ranma hiding behind a mask walk out, quickly followed by the redhead her sister was not so subtly crushing on. "Time to see if he can actually live up to the so-called hype."

"Oh, you know this guy?" the attractively wealthy girl next to her asked.

"Only by reputation," Nabiki admitted, rolling her eyes as she recalled all the nights her ears were almost talked off by a certain idiot's bragging about his very likely just as idiotic son. 'Annoying, annoying reputation.'

Her potential future sugar momma nodded at that, then gave a smug grin. "Well, I definitely not the type to brag, but that girl up there trained with my very good friend, Goku, and from what I heard, Mr. Masked Boy is going to be in big trouble."

"We shall see," Nabiki responded with a cryptic smile. 'Yes, that damn panda would not stop bragging about his son getting 'super special training' of his own, whatever that may have been, but let's see how this guy can stand up against someone trained under a true master.'

"Here we go, folks," the announcer enthusiastically called out, "the second match of the Tenka'ichi Budōkai! Saotome Ranma…"

"Ah," Nabiki noted. "So it really is-"

"...versus the mysterious Masked Avenger of Vengeance!"

"What?" Nabiki's shocked cry ended up being drowned out by the loud cheering next to her.

"Yeah! Go on, Ranma, you can do it! Kick this masked guy's butt!"

A soft "Oh my" could be heard over the speaker system letting Nabiki know she wasn't the only one getting some surprising news. As the two contestants moved into position and started to size each other up, Kasumi glanced back in the middle Tendo sister's direction with her eyes slightly widened, as though to say, 'Wait, doesn't that mean…'

Nabiki in turn raised one eyebrow, silently sending the message of, 'Yes, it looks like this Ranma we've heard so much about is the redhead that our dear sister is very much in to.'

Kasumi blinked a few times, as if to indicate, 'Ah, so that must be why Akane so suddenly agreed to the engagement. Strange though, Mr. Genma kept talking about having a son, so why would…oh dear, you don't think…the curse?'

Nabiki wrinkled her nose slightly, which clearly meant, 'Right, it seems the panda wasn't completely honest about the details of that little story. No wonder he was so pissed. Although now I'm curious. If Ranma really is his father's son, then why is he competing in this cursed form?'

Kasumi bit her lower lip which signified, 'Perhaps there is still more going on than we know. Oh dear, do you think Akane is aware of this?'

Nabiki gave a quick glance to her younger sister, who was leaning over the barrier wall of the fighting ring and happily giving cheers towards the redhead. She looked back to Kasumi and narrowed her eyes slightly, letting her know, 'Somehow I doubt it. Sadly, she's not always the brightest knife in the crayon box, so to speak, and the way she so happily accepted this whole stupid engagement, I wonder if the panda's son isn't pulling something of his own.'

Kasumi frowned ever so slightly, her new expression noting, 'I see. So what should we do then?'

Nabiki shrugged her shoulders, her way of saying, 'Nothing for now. We'll need to wait to see how the redhead plays his hand, or her hand perhaps. Either way, when our dear younger sister finds out, be ready to keep the crowd away from any collateral damage.'

Kasumi gave a nod of understanding, almost as if to imply, 'Yes, I understand.'

In the ring, Ranma was in a ready stance opposite her current opponent, still staring down and analyzing him. Not just for any battle strategies, but also because she was still trying to figure out just who the hell he was. There was something familiar, itching just at the edge of her mind, but she just couldn't latch onto it. It certainly didn't help that the guy looked to have completely dropped his previous bluster and was now slightly nervous and fidgety. "Something the matter?" she questioned.

The masked boy gave an awkward laugh and looked at the ground as he started to rub the back of his head. "Uh, yeah, I know what I said back there, but now that we're in front of all these people, I really don't want everyone to think I'm an asshole for beating up a girl. Maybe you could just jump out of the ring and we can both avoid any trouble, how's that sound?"

Ranma's eye started to twitch, not only from the masked jerk's complete disrespect of her skills, but from Akane's rant off to the side about typical boy behavior and why she couldn't stand any of them, which quickly turned into an argument with the sideburns guy.

'Great, how am I going to explain about me being half-guy to Akane if all these guys keep pissing her off? I really need to show her a boy that's not a jerk first, but those two are definitely out. Kuririn wouldn't work after that stupid panty stunt he pulled. Same thing with the old man. And Goku's not a boy. Did I forget anyone else that's in the tournament? No, I'm pretty sure that's all of them.'

"Well, what do you say?" the masked boy called out, momentarily breaking Ranma from her thoughts. "Come on, you have a kind of pretty face, and I'd feel bad if I messed it up."

'Okay, that's it!' "Here, how 'bout I show you how pretty my fists are!" Ranma yelled out as she charged the distance between them in a flash, delivering a solid punch which her opponent was barely able to lift a forearm up in time to block. The force of the impact only managed to push the boy back a few centimeters and otherwise seemed to not faze him, much to Ranma's surprise. However, she was still undeterred as she continued on with her attack.

"And our red haired spitfire has started things off with a full out onslaught against the mysterious masked stranger!" the announcer declared. "It also looks like her attacks are faring much better than her fellow training partner's did, as her opponent has yet to avoid any of her strikes."

"Oh dear, this actually might not be as favorable towards Miss Ranma as it first appears, though," Kasumi added. "Her opponent's lack of dodging may in fact be deliberate. Note that even the strikes that aren't blocked do not look to be doing very much damage. It seems that Mr. Masked Avenger is planning to use his bulk and larger size to tank through Miss Ranma's attacks and wait for her to tire herself out."

"Hmmm, you may be correct there," the accouncer agreed. "Will the pigtailed pugilist be able to brute force herself through this wall of iron, or does she need to find a different strategy?"

Ranma wasn't really focused on any real strategies at the moment. Instead her thoughts were still on the words her new friend kept yelling out from the sidelines.

'Dammit, I could really use Ucchan right about now. He was always so cool, plus he could make really delicious okonomiyaki. Yeah, I'm sure his pterodactyl style one would really do a lot to gain Akane's favor. If not him, then there was also that weird kid with the afro I kept running into. Uh, what was…oh, Mark! Yeah, that was his name. I bet Akane would have been super impressed by the way he stood up to those bandits, even though he was really sick at the time. Hopefully he got those stomach issues sorted out so we can finally spar the next time we meet.'

Breaking away and holding a defensive stance at a distance, Ranma took a moment to scan over the crowd, hoping to maybe catch the sight of one of her old friends. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to recognize anyone, and with a small grumble she returned her focus back to her current opponent. Although that was only for a moment as her mind began to wander again as she charged back in.

'At this point I'd take that one guy with the terrible sense of direction. Ryu something? Right, I had to basically lead him by the hand every time, and he always seemed so grumpy about stuff, but at least he was a good sparring partner. Plus, he had a really cool dog. Yeah, Shirokuro was the best. Ugh, what was that guy's name? Ryu…Ryo…'

"Ryoga! That's it!"

Her sudden outburst seemed to surprise her opponent just long enough for her to get a solid kick to his head, knocking him to the ground.

"The Masked Avenger is down, folks! Has the fiery haired fighter managed to prevail?"

The 10 count was started, but the masked boy was able to get up with plenty of time left. Ranma couldn't help but shake her head and grumble, "Dammit, those other sexist assholes went down way easier than this."

The boy shot an angry, yet also befuddled look towards Ranma. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing, just how much of a tough bastard you are," the redhead responded while lightly rubbing her sore leg. "The heck are you made out of, anyway?"

"No, not that. The other thing. What you said before." He clarified, pointing an accusing finger her way.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I was thinking about a different person I used to know," Ranma answered with a dismissive wave. "Couldn't find his way out of a room with one door, but he was still a pretty decent guy though. Oh, and he also had a pair of really cute fangs, just like the ones that…you…have…"

The sudden look of realization on the masked boy's face perfectly mirrored her own. "Wait, Ranma?"

"Um, yeah," the redhead said. "Hold on, are you…"

"Oh my," Kasumi declared to the audience, "it appears that our current fighters may in fact know each other."

"Yes, what an amazing turn of events," the announcer added. "Oh, and our mysterious fighter is now removing his mask! Who shall we see hiding under-oh, it's another mask. Wait, he's removing that one, and…there's a third one under it."

"Oh, how interesting," Kasumi noted. "Our masked contestant has certainly gone to great lengths to keep his identity a secret."

"I don't know, Sis," Nabiki deadpanned from the side. "I'm pretty sure this guy is just a complete idiot."

"Ryoga, It is you!" Ranma happily yelled out. The big grin on her face dropped, though, when she saw that her old friend's face grew more furious. "Uh, you ready to say what you're mad about now?"

The still masked boy continued to stare her down. "Just tell me one thing, Ranma. Why did you run away from our scheduled duel?!"

Ranma felt her ire begin to rise. How dare he call her a coward in front of Akane and Goku and also Kuririn and everyone else. "Hey! I waited three days for you to show up!"

"Yes, but when I showed up on the fourth day, you were nowhere to be found!" Ryoga boldly countered, emphasizing his words with a clenched fist.

"Four days?" Akane quietly muttered. "What kind of super secret remote duel spot did Ranma pick?" Her confusion was only increased as she looked over to the redhead, who was currently blinking in bewilderment.

"Ryoga, just tell me one thing," Ranma said. "Why did it take you four days to get to the empty lot near your house?"

"Oh my, this might be the worst case of bad direction I have ever heard," Kasumi's voice clearly stated over the speaker system for all to hear.

"Yes Indeed," the announcer added. "It must have been a true miracle that he managed to make it to this tournament on time at all, even with the delay."

"Oh shut up!" Ryoga yelled, looking absolutely furious at this point. "You think I was on a pleasure walk through West City or something? No, I went through Hell to get to our fight. You have no idea how annoying those oni with the weird accents were. Then, when I make it to our designated fighting spot, I find out you skipped out on our man to man fight and ran away with your father. And now, here you finally are, trying to hide from me with that adorable and cowardly disguise!"

"Hey, I'm not a…wait, you think I'm adora…oh." Ranma looked down at herself then back up to Ryoga. "Um, look. I can explain," she said while slowly backing up to the temple wall.

"Wait, man to man fight?" Akane muttered just loud enough for Ranma to catch, which caused the redhead to flinch slightly and glance over at her friend, who was giving a suspicious look right back at her.

'Oh, this is real bad. No, wait, it's okay, I can still fix this. Ryoga was always pretty gullible. Heck, sometimes when we met up, he'd confuse me for some random girl for a few seconds…which I guess I really was those times back then, even if I didn't realize it. Huh, I wonder…no, focus! I can still find a way to explain this, as long as nothing else-'

Any thoughts and plans that Ranma was slowly building up were immediately washed away by the hot water falling on top of her head. Looking up, she found her dumbass pops crouching on top of the divider wall and throwing aside a now empty kettle.

"Dammit, boy!" said dumbass yelled out. "Stop goofing around in that girl form and get serious. You need to hurry up and win this tournament already so I can finally take you to the Tendo's and you can take over their dojo!"

A complete hush fell over the entire arena (well, except for that one girl in the front row of the crowd that yelled out, "Ha, I knew it!") as Ranma's eyes very slowly turned from her pops, who looked angry, to Ryoga, who looked confused, to Akane, whose expression slowly morphed from confusion to realization to pure fury. "Uh, I can still explain…?" the no longer currently red haired fighter squeaked out, voice still high despite her current form.

"Oh my, it appears that Miss Ranma is now Mr. Ranma," Kasumi said. "Are transformations allowed in this tournament? I've never actually seen a rule about such things."

"Not to worry. Our hard working tournament judges after much careful debate have already determined that our fiery haired vixen becoming an onyx haired…uh…whatever a boy fox is called…is perfectly within the rules. Although, I'm sure the audience is curious to know how such a transformation was able to be achieved."

While some blonde girl out in the audience yelled out, "You're damn right I am!", a long haired man with his own mustache and microphone suddenly appeared next to the announcer, causing him to jump back in surprise.

"Oh yes, it is indeed quite the tragic tale," the man boldly declared.

"Ah, hello, Father. Did you enjoy your walk?" Kasumi cheerfully asked.

"Saotome just explained the whole thing to me just now. About a legendary cursed training ground whose true horrors were shrouded in mystery," Soun continued unabated while dramatically posing.

"Hold on," Ryoga called out with an indignant look, "if anyone here knows about true horrors, it's-hey!" His rant ended up being interrupted by Genma jumping down from the wall and rushing past him to quickly grab the microphone from Soun and do his own dramatic pose.

"Ah yes," Genma said, also putting on an overly dramatic voice. "Deep in the wilderness near Mount Paozu there exists a valley known as Jusenkyo! To the untrained eye, the place just appears to be hundreds of cold water springs with tall bamboo shoots sticking out of them. Sounds like the perfect place to train, right? Ah, but that is where the terrible deception comes in, for the actual horrors lie within each pool. Of course, we would have been perfectly fine if the pole I was on didn't crack and my dishonorable son didn't cheat to GAH!"

The crowd almost blinked in unison as a wave of cold water splashed onto the man and suddenly in his place was a very giant panda that was swiftly kicked off the fighting stage.

"Cheat nothing, ya old fart!" Ranma said, throwing aside the convenient and now empty bucket. "I knocked you into that spring fair and square. Not my fault the guide there didn't explain the whole curse thing til after!"

"I see. So I take it that these mysterious springs are the cause for your unusual transformations?" the announcer boldly asked before stepping forward and holding the microphone up to Ranma.

"Huh?" Ranma looked at the microphone in slight confusion before leaning forward and speaking into it. "Oh yeah. Turns out a panda drowned in that spring a buncha years ago. Well, submerged was the word the guide used, but he also called it a tragic story, so I don't think the panda made it. Anyway, when someone falls in the spring they get the curse to change into a panda."

"Ah, so that's why Uncle Genma can change. That's quite a bit different from the explanation he originally told us," Kasumi noted. "Oh my, so that must mean, for your transformation…"

"Yeah, I was a little surprised by a panda coming out of the spring so he was able to get a hit in, and I fell in the Spring of Drowned Girl." Ranma then took a second convenient bucket and poured it over her head to demonstrate, shrinking back down into her redhead form. "At first I was really pissed off about the whole thing, but then I sorta found out about the advantages and stuff. Oh, I should probably explain that I am a-"

"That's a panda."

"What?" Ranma stood up and turned to see Ryoga still in the same spot, a look of shock on his face. "Uh, yeah. I already explained that part. Weren't you paying attention?"

The masked boy didn't seem to notice Ranma's comment, instead slowly turning his head towards the redhead. "And you're a girl."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Are your masks on too tight or something? You're being even slower than usual." She was a little confused that instead of giving some snarky comment back, he merely chuckled to himself lightly and reached for something in his pocket.

"Our no longer quite as mysterious masked fighter has pulled out a capsule," the announcer declared. "Whatever may be found within, I would like to remind our audience that weapons are forbidden in this tournament."

The capsule was activated and tossed it in the air where it exploded in a puff of smoke, revealing a-

"Oh, it appears to be just a bamboo umbrella," the announcer said as Ryoga calmly reached up and caught said object with a single hand. "I may need to get a judge's decision on this one. While it is rather unorthodox, in this type of fighting environment I can't really see how effective of a weapon that would be."

"RANMA! YOU'RE DEAD!" Ryoga suddenly shouted out as he charged in and gave a huge overhead swing right at the redhead, who managed to barely leap out of the way. The umbrella crashed onto the edge of the fighting platform, causing a good chunk of the solid stone to shatter and fly out in all directions.

While the people nearby dived out of the way of the shrapnel, Kasumi carefully examined the damage to the ring. "I don't know, it looks to be rather effective to me," she noted with a finger on her chin.

"The judge's decision has been made, everyone!" the announcer called out. "The Masked Avenger of Vengeance has been disqualified for using a weapon. The winner of this bout is Saotome Ranma!"

"Figures you would forget the rules like that," Ranma commented to Ryoga as she hopped around the arena avoiding the wild umbrella strikes. "Hey, didn't you hear the guy? We gotta stop so the others can have their fights. I can give ya a new duel after I finish winning the tournament, how's that sound?"

Instead of stopping, Ryoga seemed to double his efforts. "Duel? No, this is vengeance!" He then spun the two masks that were still in his other hand and chucked them at Ranma. They spun like discuses through the air, and the redhead quickly avoided them as they then embedded themselves in the temple wall.

"Woah, that's a cool trick!" Goku said. "Hey, Ranma, do you need any help down there?"

"Nah, I'm good," Ranma casually responded as she continued to dodge.

"Are you kidding?" Kuririn called out, although he still looked a little woozy. "We need to go and help stop this." He was about to step out into the fighting area when Jackie Chun stepped in front of him.

"No," the elder fighter said while keeping his gaze on the two combatants. "This is still Ranma's fight. We need to see how this will play out."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll tell you exactly how this will end," Ryoga yelled as he continued his attacks, "and that's with me giving you a bye right into the finals, old man!"

Ranma narrowed her eyes and gave a quick roundhouse kick that knocked the boy's umbrella away. "Like hell you will!" she declared as she continued her momentum into a pivot and gave a straight kick with her other foot which connected and knocked Ryoga back several meters where he slid along the arena floor.

"Oh my," Kasumi said, reaching up with one hand to snatch the flying umbrella out of the air before it managed to reach the crowd. "They really should be more careful, or someone will get…hurt…" Keeping her focus on the middle of the fighting arena, she handed the umbrella to her father, who immediately collapsed under its weight.

"There, we're done now," Ranma said to the fallen boy. "Now let's get out of here. I really need to see…" A hand grabbed her shoulder from behind and spun her around, causing her to be face to face with…"Akane?"

"What?!" Jackie Chun exclaimed in surprise as he quickly looked back at the spot behind him where the girl was just a moment prior. "Hmmm, interesting," he noted as his eyes narrowed just slightly.

"Oh, hey." Ranma lightly chuckled, trying to hide the sudden nerves she was feeling. "Yeah, guess I should step out for now so you can do your whole thing, huh?" she noted, both excited to finally see her friend actually fight and relieved that it would give her more time to come up with the words to explain everything.

Akane, however, did not seem to respond to Ranma's words and in fact was not moving at all. She stood, stock still with her head tilted down. The redhead wasn't even sure the other girl was looking at her with the way her bangs were currently obscuring her eyes.

Confused, Ranma leaned in closer to her new and first girl friend. "Um, you okay? Wait, are you worried about the tournament? Aw come on, don't be dumb like that. Everything's been working out great! I just know we're both getting together at the end." She then gave one of her confident grins. "Sorry to have to break it to you, but once it's all done, I'm gonna be the one that-"

The loud crack of Akane's hand making contact with Ranma's cheek echoed throughout the entire island, followed by a deafening silence which lasted long enough for the red haired girl to reach up and cautiously touch the place where she was slapped.

"A…Akane?" Ranma said in almost a whisper as the other girl spun around and started to walk away. She started to put a hand up, reaching out when a cry from behind caught her attention.

"I'm not done with you yet!" came the yell of Ryoga as he removed the belt holding his tunic in place and snapped it into a straight solid rod. He then leapt into the air and swung the belt like a sword right down at Ranma.

The redhead merely growled at this idiocy when she had more important things to worry about. "I already told ya to knock it off!" she called out as she knocked the ki enforced object up into the air with a single kick, then pivoted to knock the masked boy right into the temple wall. That distraction taken care of, she turned back to the dark haired girl. "Akane, wait!"

Akane stopped in her tracks, her gaze still focused on the ground as her body began to tremble. "I'm such an idiot," she said in a low, shaky voice. "I really believed that you were…that you could be my…you know what, it doesn't matter anymore. I don't care! If you actually manage to make it to the finals, then fine, I'll fight you, for the sake of the tournament and nothing else, but after that-" She spun around, her long hair fluttering out, and stared right at the red haired Turtle School student. "-I never want to see your lying face ever agai-"

SHINK

The flash of an object falling directly behind the girl was immediately followed by an explosion of bluish black. Ranma glanced down and flinched at the long clump of sheared hair now lying on the ground. Cautiously, she looked back up to see a completely shocked and frozen Akane.

"Oh, and the young Tendo has experienced an almost deadly near miss from a flying belted blade!" the announcer declared. "Fortunately, our fighter does not appear to have suffered any real injury."

"Are you kidding?" Kasumi said with concern saturated in her voice as she leaped onto the stage. "She just had a terrible cut! How could you do such a thing, Miss Ranma?"

"Wha…me?!" Ranma asked in surprise. She then started to wave her hands in front of her in denial. "Woah, hold on, if anyone's to blame here, it's…him?" She pointed towards where Ryoga was, only to find a pile of wet clothes next to yet another bucket tipped over on the ground. "Where did-"

The eldest Tendo sister rushed forward, shoving Ranma out of the way so she could stand in front of Akane and gently place her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Hey, Akane. Listen to me, it's going to be okay."

Kasumi's brow furrowed as her little sister appeared to be saying something, but her words couldn't be made out. "What was that?" She leaned forward, her ear right next to Akane's mouth as the girl repeated what she just said. "Yes it is, but perhaps you should take a few minutes to…are you sure that…very well, if that is what you wish." She stepped away and off the stage, telling the tournament announcer, "Akane says she is ready for her match now."

"Um, alright I guess." The announcer looked over to the still frozen girl, before giving a shrug. "Okay, everyone! It is time for the third match of the Tenka'ichi Budōkai: Tendo Akane versus Yamcha!"

"And the winner is Tendo Akane!"

As Goku looked from Akane, who was standing still in the middle of the ring with her gaze on the ground and her eyes obscured by her hair, to Yamcha, who was currently being extracted by some monks from a now crumbled section of the divider wall the audience was behind, then back to Akane, who was now walking off the fighting stage and around the corner of the building away from the tournament area, there was really only one thing going through their mind.

"Wow Ranma, your friend is super strong!" they said with excitement.

"A…Akane…" Ranma took a step forward, as though she was going to follow after the girl, but then hesitated.

"Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed as she watched the retreating figure of her younger sister before turning towards her other sister. "Here, Nabiki," she said while handing over her microphone, "please take over for a little while. I need to go check on Akane."

"You really expect me to…" Nabiki started to object, but Kasumi was already gone. "Well, I suppose we can take the time before the next bout to see how the audience is doing." She then turned immediately to the blue haired girl next to her. "Hello there. You're a gorgeously wealthy young lady. What do you think of the matches we have seen so far?"

"What?" Bulma looked over at Nabiki with confusion. "Oh, sorry, I should probably go and check on Yamcha." She started to move, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, I'm sure he's fine," Nabiki said with a big smile. "Hey, he's fine, right?"

The monks that were stretchering the defeated fighter out looked down at him, then shrugged.

"There, see, he's fine. Besides, don't you have another really good friend that's in the next match?"

"Oh, good point," Bulma noted. "Goku's a really strong fighter, so it would probably be over before I can get back."

"Yeah, that Goku is definitely something," Nabiki agreed while managing to leave only a slight strain in her voice. "You know, I'm actually something of a strong fighter myself, so I can tell this is going to be really exciting."

"That's right," the announcer picked up. "So, is everyone excited for the last match of the quarterfinals?" Over the cheers of the crowd he continued, "Then let's hear it for our final combatants. It's Son Goku versus Gekijirou!"

"Awright! It's my turn," Goku happily exclaimed. "Ready to see what I can do now?"

Ranma turned away from her stare at the corner where Akane disappeared behind and looked down at her friend and training partner. "Huh? Oh. Oh yeah, I'll definitely be watching closely the whole time."

"Great! This will be so much fun!" Goku quickly hurried down to the fighting stage, slowly followed by a somewhat grumbly Gekijirou who had his hands pulled deeply into his pockets.

'Yeah, great. Even if I make it past the weird kid, I'll have to deal with the berzerker chick.' Gekijirou paused for a moment, then shrugged and got into a fighter's stance opposite his opponent. 'Oh well, I guess that's just the price I have to pay for some hot blooded shonen action.'

"Go on, Goku," Bulma called out from the sidelines, "kick this wannabe punk's butt all the way to South City!"

"Yeah, what she said," Nabiki added.

Gekijirou glanced over to the two girls in the crowd, then back to his smiling opponent. The frown on his face was quickly replaced by a large smirk. "Oh, I get it, counting on the cheers of your friends to give you that important boost towards victory."

"Huh?" Goku said with a tilt of the head, clearly playing dumb. "Whattaya talking about?"

"I have bad news for you." Gekijirou continued, pounding his chest and proving his manliness by barely flinching at all. "I also have the Power of Friendship to aid me, for my friends are here to cheer me on the whole-"

"Gotta split, Geki-kun! Have fun with your fight!"

Gekijirou almost tipped over, but managed to right himself and look up at the flying car hovering just above the fighting stage with a blonde girl leaning out the window and waving down at him.

"Excuse me miss, but aircraft are specifically prohibited in this area during the tournament," the announcer called out to the rogue vehicle.

"The hell are you doing Hibari?" Gekijirou yelled out. "You're supposed to be my nakama here!"

The girl in the sky responded with a somewhat apologetic grin. "Sorry, Geki-kun, but I'm already late for an important meeting with a magic spring. Don't worry, I'll make sure to check and see if there's also a spring for you. Later!" With a final wave, she popped her head back in her car and flew off.

Gekijirou just grumbled at that, then turned back to his opponent, who looked confused.

"Magic spring? Ya mean like the one Ranma was hit into? Why do you need it?" Goku asked.

"None of your business, kid," Gekijirou shot back. There was a short silence between the two as Goku continued to look confused before suddenly giving an excited grin.

"Oh, I got it!" Goku exclaimed while pointing at Gekijirou. "You don't have any balls!"

The sideburned fighter almost fell over again as a murmur started going through the crowd, which only got overshadowed by the announcer.

"The two fighters have yet to throw a single blow and they are already commencing with trash talk that's, well, a bit out of line quite frankly."

"Yeah! How dare you try to insult my manhood like that!" Gekijirou called out.

"Huh? But I didn't." Goku said. "Even if you don't have balls, you can still be a guy. I learned that one from Ranma."

"You…huh…" Gekijirou blinked in response, then grunted and crossed his arms. "Well, I suppose it's fine since you still recognize my great manliness."

"I guess so," Goku answered. "Ranma also taught me that having balls doesn't mean I have to be a guy."

"Oh neat, looks like we managed to get a bunch of rep in after all," Nabiki casually noted.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Bulma asked.

Nabiki gave a slight smirk to the girl next to her. "Stick around after the tournament and I'll make sure to give you the full breakdown."

"Hold on," Gekijirou said to his opponent, "are you saying you're a girl?"

"Nope, I'm Goku," came the reply. "Can we fight now?"

Gekijirou gave a solemn, manly nod. "Right, the time for talk has ended. Now is the time for action. Hot Blooded Martial Arts Technique Number 1: Stone Hands!" With lightning speed, he rushed forward with three fast punches. The first two were dodged by his opponent, who was hopping about and smiling the whole time. The third, however, managed to make contact with Goku's torso just as the diminutive martial artist was momentarily hovering at the top of one particular hop. Gekijirou gave a smirk at his success, but it quickly dropped as his fist went right through his opponent, who remained frozen in the same spot with the same big grin on their face. "Wait, wha-" he started to say when he then felt a sudden weight on his head.

"Yay, I did it!" Goku cheered happily while standing on top of their opponent.

"Hmmm," Jackie Chun noted with narrowed eyes, "that Goku sure is full of surprises, wouldn't you say?" He waited a beat, then turned towards Ranma, whose attention was once more towards the direction Akane left from. "Wouldn't you say?"

"What?" Ranma turned to Jackie Chun, then over to the fighting stage. "Oh, oh yeah, Goku is pretty great, yeah."

Gekijirou growled and reached up to try and grab Goku, but they simply hopped off and away. "Fine, then try this! Hot Blooded Martial Arts Technique Number 2: Dragon Feet!" He shot out a series of rapid fire kicks, each one going through a separate afterimage as Goku landed a few meters away.

"Okay, is it my turn now?" Goku asked excitedly.

"Not yet! I still have this move up my sleeve." Gekijirou then leapt up in the air. "Hot Blooded Martial Arts Technique Number 3: Aero Circus!"

Akane slowly made her way back to the building where the tournament competitors were meant to stay between matches, leaving behind Kasumi who stayed behind to clean up the remains of evening out Akane's hair before going back to her new assistant announcer duties. When asked if she would be fine, she gave a simple nod, because what else could she do? Admit that she spent so much time growing her hair to try and match her so strong yet still so feminine elder sister only for it to all fall apart in a single moment?

"And Gekijirou is out of the ring, everyone!" she heard the announcer declaring over the speaker system. "The winner of this match is Son Goku!"

'Guess I know which dumb boy I'm fighting next. Just another one of a bunch of dumb boys I have to face…' She stopped at the door and took a moment to comb a hand through her hair, now even shorter than it was from that horrible slice in front of an entire crowd of people. Why didn't she notice that weapon falling right above her? Why did she let her sister cut it even shorter? Why did her sister have to say this tomboy style suited her so well? Why did she have to go out to the fighting area in the first place? Why-

As she entered the building, the first thing she saw was a certain redhead, and for just a moment her heart skipped once more…until Genma suddenly appeared to pour a steaming kettle over her…no…over his head.

"Ow! What was that for, Pops?" the now black haired, now very obvious boy complained.

"Dammit, boy!" the annoying old man said. "It's time for you to stop messing around and man up! How do you expect to take over a dojo if you keep doing this girly act?!"

'Why am I such an idiot.'

"I'm telling you, it's not an…oh, Akane!" the boy named Ranma exclaimed as he finally noticed her walking in. "Your…your hair…"

"Oh? What about my hair?" Akane remembered to give a glare to the boy as she crossed her arms.

"Well…um…I think…" Ranma stammered out as he was doing an admittedly good impression of being nervous and apologetic. "I mean…you…it looks really…"

He was cut off by Genma knocking him in the back of the head. "Quit dawdling, boy! Hurry and apologize to your future wife so you can move on to winning this tournament already!"

Ranma in return smacked his father right back. "Hey! Who says I'm ever gonna-"

"Don't bother," Akane quickly interrupted, "I don't care what kind of fake apology you try to give, cause I'm never going to marry you, you lying pervert!"

That barb seemed to actually get to the jerk as he marched right up to her. "Excuse me? I ain't a pervert or a liar!"

"Oh really?" Akane shot back. "You know Kuno may also be a complete pervert, but at least he never lied about being a man."

That also looked to hit a nerve with the pigtailed charlatan. "Don't compare me to that jerk! And I'll have you know I am a real man, just as much as-"

"That's right, you clearly are a man!" Akane jumped away in surprise as her own father suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Which means the schools can indeed be joined after all."

"Yes indeed, Tendo," Genma said with that horrible smug grin of his. "What do you think, should we have the ceremony before or after the finals?"

"There's not going to be a ceremony!" Akane shouted out. She then gave her own smug look. "And you're doing a lot to assume this lying jerk will even make it to the finals."

"Hey, I'm not a liar and I don't lose!" the jerk declared. "I know I'm gonna make it!"

"Are you sure about that?" Akane replied. "Because I seem to remember you being terrified to have to face that old man."

"Come now, no need to be nervous," Jackie Chun responded. "I know we're going to have a very exciting and quite educational little bout."

"I'm not scared!" Ranma denied, but before he could make any excuses, Goku entered the room, followed by a somewhat dejected Gekijirou.

"Hey, did you see how awesome I did," the little boy excitedly said.

"Yeah, you did great," Ranma said. He then gave his own smug grin towards Akane. "And you gotta face my training buddy, who was also trained by the great Muten Roshi, so it seems to me that I definitely have the better shot of making it than you!"

"Oh, you wanna bet on it?" Akane challenged.

"Damn right!" Ranma responded. "Whoever makes it farther in the tournament. And when I win, you have to bow down in front of the whole crowd and apologize for what you said about my manliness."

Akane growled a bit, but did give a nod. "Fine. And when I win, you and your stupid excuse of a father are gone from my dojo, PERMANENTLY!"

"Now, now, Akane," her dad said while attempting to be stoic, "let's not be hasty about this."

"You're not a part of this!" both teens shouted at the two fathers, who quickly backed away. Akane then turned back to the jerk. "So, do you agree, pervert?"

"Yeah, fine by me, tomboy," Ranma said right back.

The two continued to glare at each other, the only noise in the room happening when Gekijirou enthusiastically spoke up.

"Yeah! See, now that's the kind of Shonen fighting bullshit I'm talking about!"