Author's Note: First of all sorry for the long wait! Between recovering from the flood a few months back, finding a new job, adjusting to the work schedule, as well as writing another story I've been pretty burned out these past couple months. I originally intended to have this chapter out by the end of October but that clearly didn't happen. Anyways this chapter concludes the tournament saga and has an interesting surprise at the end! Enjoy! P.S. I used google translate and copy/pasted for the chinese bits so sorry if it looks bad...you'll see.

Chapter 14: Finale, Ranma and Ranko

"Fighters, please continue!" the MC said.

Ranko and Goku both assumed fighting stances. It seemed a little surreal to Ranko that they were continuing the fight as if a young boy hadn't turned into a giant monster and completely trashed half the temple and then asked to continue fighting in his birthday suit. Speaking of which, Goku became distracted by some giggling from the audience, the source of which was a small group of girls about Bulma's age.

"Oh, stop!" one laughed. "I know I shouldn't look but I am!" laughed another. "It's so weird!" giggled a third.

Goku, who was now completely distracted, abandoned his stance and looked at the girls while not bothering to cover himself. "What's wrong, sirs?" he asked confusedly looking down and then back up. "Oh, I get it! You must be girls!"

"On second thought, time out! Time out!" the MC yelled. "What are you trying to do, get me fired?!" he hissed at Goku.

Krillin ran onto the stage. "It's alright, Goku can borrow my Gi. I brought my old clothes with me." And with that Goku and Krillin went behind some rubble that was once the front of the temple to change.

"Honestly, my love" Ranko said under her breath. "Couldn't you have taught him a bit of modesty? Not that you ever had much".

"I take exception to that! Roshi objected. I tried vigorously to teach him common sense! It's not my fault he's a dunce. And just what do you mean by that last comment?"

"Oh please!" Ranko huffed. "In the old days, whenever you transformed into a girl you constantly flaunted your-, or rather MY chest without a second thought."

"That's not fair." Roshi muttered. "I was a teenage boy back then. How is a boy supposed to have a feminine notion of modesty?"

"You don't have to be a girl to know not to be naked!" she snapped back.

"Ai-yah! Nà dàodǐ shì shénme!?" (What the hell was that!?) Aloe said from behind. Apparently she was so shocked from seeing a giant monkey turn into a young boy she had reverted to yelling in Chinese.

Ranko turned around and saw Aloe standing at the edge of the ring with Momo in beast form behind her. Momo was holding an unconscious looking Touya in his arms.

"Oh, hello you two. How's Touya?" Ranko asked.

Tā hěn hǎo. Xiànzài kāishǐ shuōhuà ba! (He's fine. Now, start talking!) Aloe snapped.

"I'm not sure" Ranko sighed. "This is the first time he's done something like this as far as I know. But it appears his tail was the cause, his tail and the full moon. This explains why his friends were terrified when his tail grew back. It seems they cut it off to reverse the transformation last time it happened."

"I thought the boy had uncommon strength…" Momo mused. "But to think he was a true monster. But how could he have gained such an ability? There is no curse in Jusenkyo that comes close to this."

"This was no Jusenkyo curse!" Aloe said impatiently waving her hand. Apparently she had calmed down enough to revert back to a language everyone could understand. "The conditions of the transformation doesn't match the Jusenkyo springs curses" she continued. "Momo and Grandmot-, the Matriarch's curses both require cold water to transform and hot water to revert back. I've never heard of a curse that triggers through moonlight."

"If it even is a curse" said a strained voice. Everyone jumped and looked at Touya, who had regained consciousness. One eye was swollen shut and covered in bruises. He had a rough landing and couldn't seem to move, but his good eye was focused on Ranko. "If it's not a curse, then perhaps he simply isn't human."

Ranko seemed to think for a moment and then said, "I think that is most likely. I reversed the transformation by using my Lightning Flash as a blade to lance a gland within his tail. From reading his chi I learned that the transformation is triggered by that organ, and that organ is triggered through the stimulus of moonlight. What's more, the Jusenkyo curses are instantaneous. Goku's transformation was fast, but there was a visible progression. This was biology, not magic."

The others were silent, waiting for her to expand more, but Ranko just stood there with her finger's cupping her chin and eyes closed, lost in thought. After a few moments, Aloe broke the silence,

"Then what is to be done with him? Is he a demon? A god? Monster? What is he and what is to be done?!"

Ranko had not just been standing and thinking. She had actually been conversing in thought with Roshi and a few moments after Aloe's outburst she finally opened her eyes.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?!" they cried.

"You heard me. Nothing." She said it with such finality that the others didn't offer objections, but it was clear that they wanted some kind of reason. With a sigh, Ranko continued, "When I examined his chi, I didn't detect any evil, just wild instinct. The beast within has a compulsive nature to lash out at everything it sees and there was certainly an animalistic bloodlust, but that in itself isn't necessarily evil. There is no malice in the boy, and with luck, he will never transform again. Besides, nobody died or was even injured if you don't count the buildings."

The other three shared skeptical looks but in the end seemed to accept it and they bowed in unison, with the exception of Touya who was still in Momo's arms.

"Good, now take Touya to the hospital already!" Ranko said testily.

They jumped and scampered away. As they did so, Goku returned to the ring fully dressed and looking excited and a little bit confused.

"Gosh, I wonder what happened to the arena? It looks like it was an earthquake." he mused.

"Hmm…no memory of his rampage. It makes sense, after all I didn't sense anything other than primal instinct in the beast. His consciousness must sleep when he transforms." Roshi thought.

"Fighter's please continue!" the MC roared into the mic.

Both fighters took a stance and glared for a moment before a very loud growl came from Goku's stomach.

"Ugh, I'm hungry.." Goku groaned, abandoning his stance to cradle his stomach.

"Unguarded!" Ranko shouted. "Moko Takabisha!"

Taking a similar stance as the Kamehameha Wave, she released a large golden sphere of energy at Goku. Snapping out of his hunger, Goku saw the golden sphere hurtling towards him. It was too late to dodge so he threw out both hands to catch it. The blast made contact with his hands and Goku was pushed back towards the edge of the ring, the blast however fizzled out before it could push him out.

"S-seriously" Ranko said under her breath. "Is that all the confidence I can muster in this situation?"

"It can't be helped" Roshi said. "We're not as young as we used to be, we're not as arrogant and as exhausted as you are, under no delusion of the odds of victory. After all, you chose this attack because you no longer have the strength for a Kamehameha Wave."

The technique she used, the Moko Takabisha is an attack that uses chi and strong emotions as a catalyst to boost it's power. In this case, the emotion required was pride and confidence. Making it an attack best used at the beginning of a fight when confidence is highest.

"Wow, that attack sure was interesting!" Goku said with amusement. "But I think this is better! Ka-Me-Ha-Meeee-."

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait a second!" Ranko cried, flailing her arms.

"Haaa!"

The white beam of energy erupted from his palms and hurtled towards Ranko. In full panic she leapt into the air to dodge the blast at the very last second.

"Gotcha!" Goku leapt into the air with a flying kick.

"Oh no! He's going to knock us out of the ring!" Roshi panicked.

"Tch! I'm not that easy! Mako Takabisha!" Ranko yelled and again a sphere of golden light came from her palms, but this time it was no larger than a basketball, but it was large enough to knock Goku back to the ground. Ranko landed deftly on the arena floor as Goku was rubbing his head.

"Darn! I really thought I had you that time." Goku muttered.

"You very nearly did!" Ranko said. "I almost lost my cool there but I'm afraid this is the end of fancy tricks and shows of power. You're Kamehameha Wave is now too weak to do any damage worth dodging."

"Huh? Really?" Goku said puzzled yet pained expression while holding his stomach.

"Yes, our bodies are at their limit. In your case it's hunger, in mine, it's well…fatigue, I overused the Lightning Flash. It's not meant to be used for a prolonged period of time, most opponents give up in seconds."

For the most part she was telling the truth, it had really drained her. If Roshi had been fighting he would still have plenty of Ki to spare. Ranko however had less than half the stamina the male half had, but she did have far better Chi manipulation, and she was MUCH faster, which came in handy for moves that required subtlety such as the Ryu Shoten Ha, Sleepy Boy, Amaguriken, and the Mako Takabisha. But she had played too long and Goku had now seen through all those techniques.

"We're just going to have to finish this with good old fashion hand to hand." Ranko said as she assumed a battle stance.

"Sounds like fun to me!" Goku said, also taking a stance and trying to suppress another growl from his stomach.

The two of them charged yet again and clashed. The audience oohed and awed at their vicious exchange. Ranko was clearly the more skilled of the two, but she was finding difficulty landing a proper hit. Goku was so small that seeing an opening and taking advantage of one was a different hurdle altogether. And every time she tried and failed, he quickly countered in that moment to which he had annoyingly good timing. Ranko had to concede that despite his inexperience he definitely had uncanny instincts.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is astounding!" the MC roared. "Neither fighter is willing to give in! They pummel each other over and over! What an extraordinary battle of wills! The sun is already beginning to set and by my watch they've been fighting for over…FOUR HOURS! And you can't even tell!"

At that word, both fighters broke away after another vicious charge. Both fighters were breathing heavily and had bruises over their faces and probably more under their clothes, Ranko's braided hair had come partially undone, and her bangs were hanging over her eyes.

"Ok, maybe you can tell a little." the MC corrected.

"At this rate he'll wear us out!" Roshi warned. "Despite his hunger, his youth will win out, we need a knockout."

"Don't lecture me on the obvious." Ranko snapped. "The fact that he's a mere boy is giving him an advantage here. He's basically a stubby little torso with tiny limbs. I can't grapple him, nor can I exploit the openings in his form as he's just skilled enough to go for the counter."

"Perhaps that's the answer…" Roshi said thoughtfully, and he explained his plan.

Ranko's eyes glinted. "Goku! How about one more charge? This one will decide the match!"

"Alright, you're on!" Goku said bracing himself.

Both Ranko and Goku ran towards each other and leapt in the air with one leg extended into a flying kick, clashing in midair, their feet connecting into each other's face. Ranko's foot drove deep into Goku's chin while Goku's foot seemed barely to connect with hers. They both fell to the ground with a hard thud and did not move.

"Oh my, this may be it folks!" the MC said in an astonished voice. "Both Goku and Miss Akane have hit the ground! Could this be a double KO!? According to the rules I have to start counting, 1…2…3…"

"Goku! Get up!" Krillin shouted.

"Come on kid, don't quit now!" Yamcha shouted.

"4…5…6…"

Both of them began to struggle when they heard the countdown. By this time Goku had managed to get into a sitting position but his butt was still firmly on the ground. Ranko had managed to prop herself up with an elbow but the rest of her wasn't following anytime soon.

"7…8…9…"

Goku couldn't stay up and fell backwards, Ranko propped her other elbow and tried to force herself up but couldn't do it and fell face first back to the concrete.

"Annnnd…10!" the MC roared. "Ladies and Gentlemen it seems that neither fighter was able to stand, normally this would be labeled a draw, but the World Martial Arts Tournament cannot go without a champion! I believe in this situation the first one to stand and declare themselves the winner becomes just that!"

Goku and Ranko began vigorously struggling again to stand. Goku got to one knee first and after an intense effort, managed to stand up while Ranko was still on the ground.

"I…I'm…the…Ch…Cham..Champ-" *GROWL* "Goku's stomach gave an almighty growl, and he fell back to the ground with a goofy smile on his face. The faces of his friends in the audience fell from jubilation to disbelief.

"Oh! Too bad! Just a syllable away from victory! But I'm afraid we can't accept incomplete sentences!" the MC lamented.

Now it was Ranko's turn, she struggled to her feet and swayed dangerously.

"Come on old girl! You're so close!" Roshi urged.

"Who're you calling old!?" she spat under her breath. She seemed to sway even worse but managed to steady herself last second.

"I'm the champion!" she called out at the top of her voice holding her hands out in the rock'n'roll sign. "I'm the champion! That's right, I AM…THE CHAMPION!"

"You heard it yourself folks! Miss Akane is our new champion!" the MC yelled over the roar of applause from the audience.

Ranko waved to the audience, blew kisses and posed for pictures, but after a moment she stopped and looked at Goku still on the ground.

"Sorry Goku, it looks like I won this round." Roshi said. "But the truth is the only reason I won was because of our difference in stature, because of that, Ranko was able to get a bit deeper with her kick. A dirty trick, I know, but it was for your own good! Maybe you'll thank Ranko and I one day…when your older."

Goku stirred and sat up and said groggily, "Did I win?"

"Sorry little one, you did not." Ranko answered him gently.

"Darn, I really tried." Goku lamented. But he only seemed down for a moment before heaving a deep sigh and stood up smiling.

"Damn it, that was close though!" Ranko muttered. "His kick hit just deep enough to stun me to the point I couldn't land properly, and it nearly cost me the match, I ache all over!"

"Yes! Congratulations again Miss Akane!" the MC said while taking an envelope from one of the temple monks. "Here is your prize money, 500,000 Zeni!

Ranko took the envelope with a smile and posed for a few more pictures before leaving the arena. After a few moments, Goku followed her out and was met by Krillin.

"Hey Goku, you did great!" he said with a big grin. "Wanna find Master Roshi and the others and get something to eat?"

"That sounds great!" Goku said practically drooling, and they took off down the path leading away from the temple. As they passed by a hedge of bushes, Ranko's head popped out watching them leave.

"The things I do for my students. Well, I guess it's time to change back again."

Ranko didn't move or respond as if contemplating something.

"Don't try it." Roshi suddenly said seriously. "I was unaware of the slow effect the incense was having before, but I'm very aware of you and your thoughts. You won't overthrow my will like that again so easily."

Ranko grinned but did not argue with him, so she took out the incense again and lit it. The change was still slower than usual but after about 5 minutes Master Roshi stood behind the bushes sweating bullets.

"The things I do for my students." he said again breathing heavily. "And what do I have to show for it?" He looked over at his suit case. "Just a huge amount of prize money! Just imagine the possibilities…"

A perverse expression took over his face as his mind began to wonder to young ladies wearing bunny costumes similar to the outfit he first met Bulma in. But before his mind could wander too far, a sensation of being mentally slapped interfered.

"Oh no you don't!" Ranko shouted into his brain. "I did all the fighting! That money is mine! You hear me? Mine, Mine, MINE!"

"Okay! Okay! Mercy!" Roshi said holding his head. He got dressed in his black suit and fedora and trademark sunglasses and staggered out from the bushes still rubbing his head. "Simmer down already. I promise I won't spend it on my hobbies."

"You better not!" Ranko seethed.

As he began to walk away in search of the kids, he was intercepted by Aloe, Touya, and Momo back in human form. Before Roshi could say anything, all three of them bowed low.

"Please forgive us for being so useless." Touya said. He hadn't bowed as low as the others as he was covered in bandages here and there. Although his wounds weren't fatal, the Great Ape had done a number on him.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. They're my students after all!" Roshi said with pride.

"I can only imagine what the Matriarch will say." Aloe said despairingly. "Not only did I fail to even fight the boys, I even lost to a worthy man, and I was completely unable to convince him to come home with me."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. The current Matriarch isn't as strict about those things as her predecessor was. And speaking of the Matriarch…" Roshi rummaged in his coat pocket and pulled out a letter. "A response to Shampoo." Looking surprised, Aloe took the letter and put in her shirt.

"I never imagined by chimera form could be bested so easily by a mere child." Momo said. "But of course I now know he wasn't a mere child at all."

"Well with any luck, he won't transform ever again, and he'll be just a child for a little longer." Roshi said. "And now he will be motivated to train hard and keep reaching for new heights, as a child should. Now then, I better go find the kids or Bulma may just murder me!" he added with a cackle.

The three warriors bowed again as Roshi bid them farewell and headed off towards the main temple. They waved good bye to his back and turned to leave. Momo and Aloe went left and Touya went right, after a few moments Aloe ran back, whacked Touya over the head and dragged him in the right direction.

In the large square in front of the temple, Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, Bulma, Oolong, and Puar were all looking anxious.

"Where is he?" Krillin said. "I've checked every single bathroom in a seven mile radius!"

"Did you check the ladies rooms?" Bulma said with disgust.

"I wonder if he even watched Goku's fight." Yamcha wondered aloud.

"HUN-GRY!" Goku groaned and plopped down on the ground.

"Yoo-hoo!" They all turned in the direction of the voice and saw Master Roshi running towards them.

"And just WHERE have you been?" Bulma huffed at him. "It's already sunset!"

"I wanted an autograph from Akane, and you wouldn't believe how long the line was!" Roshi answered hurriedly as if it was rehearsed.

"Autograph huh? More like her phone number or a snapshot of her underwear more likely!" Bulma said accusingly.

"Oh please! I have more shame than that!" Roshi said angrily.

"First I heard of it" Ranko said mockingly in his mind. Roshi pretended he didn't hear it.

"Master!" Krillin chimed up. "Did you see our fights against Miss Akane?"

"Yes I did!" Roshi said hurriedly, glad for the change of subject. "And you two did extremely well for your first attempt in this tournament.

"Goku got robbed at the end! He as good as had the match won if he hadn't fainted from hunger!" Krillin lamented.

"I don't think so." Goku said doubtfully. "She was really skilled. I still don't think I could have beaten her."

"That's right!" Roshi said firmly. "You have a lot to learn before you come close to her level, and there are many others just as strong! There's an entire world of fighting techniques that you two don't know yet! Our training thus far has been child's play, the real stuff is yet to come!"

"Right!" both boys said with determined looks on their faces.

"I should start recording my speeches and sell them!" Roshi said to himself.

"You'd be better off selling white noise machines." Ranko said with a giggle. Again, Roshi ignored her.

Roshi then invited the kids out to dinner to celebrate which he soon came to regret. The bill would have bad enough considering that most of the group were teenagers. But Goku was an absolute machine that could not be sated. Roshi, Krillin, Yamcha, and Bulma and co. all watched in disgusted but fascinated awe as Goku inhaled plate after plate, and bowl after bowl of all kinds of food. It seemed as long as he was eating then he no longer had to breathe, and the waiters ran in circles carrying dishes away hurriedly as they could while the cooks were cursing and sweating. After what seemed like hours night had fallen outside and Goku laid a final bowl down on the table and exhaled in satisfaction.

"Ahh~, I sure was hungry!" Goku said with a big happy grin.

"He just ate 57 full course meals…" Bulma said weakly.

"Really? I lost track around 40!" Yamcha said in utter shock.

"Could I have another bowl please?" Goku asked the waiter. Everyone, including the waiter fell over.

"Where does he put it all?! Not even Picholet Chardin could eat that much!" Ranko said in astonishment.

"I think you've had enough for now." Roshi said pulling himself up from the floor.

"You're right, I should save room for dessert!" Goku laughed. Everyone face faulted even harder. "Gosh it was just a joke." Goku said with another laugh.

A few minutes later Roshi was standing at the counter while the restaurant owner was working the register that seemed to let out an endless trail of paper before it finally dinged. The owner read the bottom of the receipt aloud.

"It's 470,000 zeni, sir."

Roshi fell over in shock. "But that's all my prize money…" he said quietly.

"You mean MY prize money!" Ranko cried. "I was going to buy some nice clothes!"

Later that night

After the fiasco at the restaurant they retired to the hotel for the night. Goku and Krillin fell asleep almost immediately, Roshi however found sleep difficult. For hours he lay awake in bed, the smell of the incense was heavy, even though he had not lit it. Eventually he fell into a restless sleep, and as he tossed and turned in his bed he felt like his body was switching from hot to cold over and over again. If he could have observed himself he would have seen his body switch from old man and young woman over and over again and sometimes half and half. After several hours he couldn't take anymore and opened his eyes, but he wasn't in the hotel room anymore.

He seemed to be floating nude in an empty space with nothing and no one else around. He observed his hand and saw that they were not old and wrinkled, but young and muscular. He felt his face and the top of his head and there was no scratchy beard, and his head was not bald but had long silky black hair.

"I see…I'm inside my own head." he mused aloud in the same young voice that he had earlier during the match. "Or perhaps inside my soul?"

"Ranma, my love…" Ranko's voice came from behind him. He turned and saw her floating there, a young woman no older than 20, long crimson hair flowing down her shoulders and also completely nude. There was a dangerous smile playing on her lips and a red gleam in her eyes.

"So it's come to this." he said. "You're going to try and devour me now?"

"It's inevitable my love" she said in a husky voice floating closer to him. "I want to be free and there's only one body between the two of us. I could separate from you in the form of a phantom of course, but if I didn't continually feed off of you I'd fade away into nothingness."

"That certainly would be the problem." Ranma said unconcernedly. "Being an incarnation of myself, you don't have your own life force." She floated closer to him as he said this, wrapping her arms around his neck. "But you know…if your pursue this method there is a chance you will be devoured instead, and you'll cease to be." He wrapped his arms around her waist, locking her into an embrace.

"This is my best chance, my love." She said practically purring, her eyes were now glowing a deep red and her teeth had become fanged. "Your overuse of the incense has dramatically increased my power. I'm certain I can overpower you now!"

"So be it." Ranma said seriously.

Both of them began to glow with an intense light. Their bodies seemed to become translucent, and the battle of their wills began. At first it seemed that Ranma's body was being slowly absorbed into Ranko's, but after a moment, his body was released, and she seemed to be being absorbed into him. This process went back and forth as their wills and energy clashed, until at last it seemed that Ranko was not able to break free. Slowly more and more of her body was being absorbed into Ranma's until the entire left side of her body was absorbed.

"H-how!?" Ranko wailed angrily. "I know I've become more powerful recently!"

"I've told you before haven't I? I've always been the stronger half." he answered almost sadly. "You have no control. You're just a ball of sadistic instinct when you're like this, no tact or discipline at all."

Almost her entire body was now absorbed into him, with just her head sticking out. "N-no! I don't…want this!" she cried out with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to disappear…"

Roshi sighed exasperatedly and with a grunt of effort, ejected her entire body from his being and she floated a few feet from him looking stunned, tears still running down her face. He reached over and wiped the tears from the phantom's cheeks.

"Just stop already, it's pathetic." he said impatiently. "I had no intention of absorbing you completely, and I knew you didn't really have the strength. Although you are a lot stronger than usual, you fought well."

"Don't…Don't patronize me you bastard!" she yelled, recovering herself. "You don't know what it's like to have a consciousness and a will but no agency! This was my one chance for freedom!" She broke down in frustrated sobs again.

Ranma sighed again. "Enough! I think I have a solution to make both of us happy." She stopped sobbing and looked him in the eyes, and he continued. "Look, the main problem is although we can separate into two separate bodies by utilizing the true purpose of the incense, there isn't enough life force between the two of us to stabilize the separation, resulting in your need to feed off of me."

"I already know that!" she snapped. "Why else would I be forced to try to absorb you!"

"Let me finish." he said patiently. "That was the case when we first separated 300 years ago. But things have changed since then. There is more life force in my body than there was before."

Rako stared at him as though he was crazy. He was over 300 years old, there was no way he had more life force now than when he was 16. Then her face changed to one of enlightenment as she realized what he meant.

"That's right" he said, glad that she had caught on. "Since then I drank the Elixir of Life. I have lived centuries beyond what I rightly should have, and I still feel like I could go on for a hundred years more easily. I will separate you from my body with a large supply of my life force and a bit of my good chi to balance out your personality."

She stared at him for a full 30 seconds before answering. "We are one my love. Even if we successfully separate, and even if it is stable, if one of us dies, the other will as well."

"I'm aware, but you deserve freedom after all these years. And besides, with you gone I can enjoy my hobbies in peace!" he answered with a grin.

Ranko laughed. Not her scary sadistic laugh, but a joyful genuine laugh. "Try and behave yourself you dirty old man! God, I can only imagine what will happen to the house without me to remind you to do chores!"

"Don't try and talk me out of it now! he said with a wink.

He then clasped his hands together, closed his eyes and began to focus. His body glowed again but this time the light seemed to take shape as it left his body. It took the form of a glowing mist that wrapped itself around Ranko and her body glowed as it absorbed the light. Her body glowed brighter until Ranma could no longer look at her.

When he opened his eyes again he was in a dark hotel room. He sat up and examined himself and found he was old Roshi again, wearing his nighttime pajamas. He felt significantly weaker, and also very old, like he hadn't felt in years. He heard light breathing next to him, looking over he saw a young woman of about 20, naked and sleeping soundly with a smile on her face. He reached out an old, withered hand to touch her forehead. He concentrated on her chi, and to his relief found that the separation was stable, and her chi was balanced and calm. Sensing his touch, her eyes flitted open and she sat up, holding the bed sheet over her chest and looked him in the eye and smiled.

"Hello, my love. Nice to finally meet you."

Early the next morning when Goku and Krillin awoke, they were delighted to see that Ranko had apparently popped up in the middle of the night. They had not even changed out of their pajamas before they were leaping out of bed and shaking her hands. Ranko had apparently just got out of the shower and was wearing nothing, but a hotel bathrobe that was a bit too small and her hair was wrapped in a towel.

"Hello my Sweet! My little Chestnut!" and she squeezed them in a hug. Krillin turned redder than a tomato.

"Why didn't you wake us up, Master?" Krillin complained to Roshi as he pulled away and still blushing fiercely. "We had so much to tell her!"

"Yeah! We could have played games and re-enacted our fights from the tournament!" Goku chimed in.

"Now settle down you two!" Roshi said a bit crankier than normal. "You both were dead tired from the finals and Goku had about a million calories to sleep off!"

"Oh! That reminds me!" Goku said excitedly. There was a huge growling sound and Goku rubbed his stomach. "Where's breakfast?" Everyone fell over.

"That's not funny!" Krillin said pulling himself up, now red for a completely different reason. "After all you ate last night, I'm amazed you could even stand!"

"What can I say? I just like to eat!" Goku laughed.

"Honestly, Goku!" Ranko said pulling the towel off her head, letting the long dark and still damp hair fall over her shoulders.

Goku looked at her intensely for a moment without blinking before saying, "Hey, Miss Ranko, your eyes are the wrong color."

"Huh?! Whatever do you mean?" she said in a forced calm but turned her face towards the ceiling nervously. In her haste to finish dying her hair dark before the boys woke up she had forgotten the other detail. Sensing a sinful gaze, she quickly spun the towel in her hand and snapped it at Krillin's forehead without looking.

"Yowch!" Krillin fell to the floor and Goku fell over laughing.

"Well that's what you get for staring, boy." Roshi said at the other side of the room.

"Honestly!" Ranko huffed and using this as an excuse, hustled back to the bathroom to hurriedly dress and put in the contacts.

After breakfast in the lobby where once again they had to bodily drag Goku away from the buffet they left to meet the rest of the gang outside the city limits next to the road that lead off to the islands only airport. Most of the island's visitors had already left now that the tournament had ended so the traffic was relatively light. When they arrived at the city limits they exited the car just to take another car to the airport on the outskirts of the island. But as they approached the car they saw Yamcha, Bulma, Oolong, and Puar waiting for them.

"Hey, you guys!" Bulma called waving them down. "We came to see you off!" She suddenly stopped waiving and smiling as she spotted Ranko. "Oh? And who are you?" she asked curiously while looking her up and down.

Today Ranko was wearing a simple red t-shirt with the World Tournament logo on it, simple jean shorts and sandals. Across her shoulders was a small white leather purse with a gold clasp.

"Hiya! I'm Ranko!" she said in a girly fashion, which Roshi thought was a bit over the top.

"So you're the famous Ranko we heard so much about." Yamcha said, holding out his hand.

"I didn't know I was famous." Ranko joked as she took his hand and winked, causing Yamcha to blush a bit. Bulma swiftly yanked Yamcha's hand and interlocked her fingers with his and held it in an assertive manner. Ranko giggled a bit at her insecurity as Roshi pinched his brow in annoyance.

"If you're finished flirting." Roshi said pointedly.

Looking to gloss over the moment, Yamcha turned his attention to Goku and Krillin. "SO! Are you two ready for a second helping of training on Master Roshi's island?"

"You bet!" Krillin piped up eagerly.

"Now hold on just a minute!" Roshi interrupted. "I think you boys have earned a break before your next phase of training. You boys should travel and learn from the greatest scholar of all, life."

Ranko stared at him shrewdly. She knew full well that he was the one who wanted a break from training, as well as some private time with Launch. Although why he would want to be alone with the gun toting schizo was puzzling, no matter how hot she was.

"In that case, I'm going to look for my Grandpa's four star Dragonball." Goku said. Yamcha, Bulma, Oolong, and Puar all stared in shock.

"What's the rush?" Bulma asked. "There's plenty of time, the dragon balls lay undisturbed for centuries until we found them, are you sure you don't want to wait a bit?"

"It'll be an adventure!" Goku said excitedly.

"Maybe someone should go with you?" said Ranko worriedly.

"She's right, kid!" Oolong said. "You're super strong, but traveling alone is dangerous, even if you weren't naïve as you are!"

"I'm sure Krillin would love to go!" Roshi said pointedly. Krillin however didn't seem to get the hint.

"Actually master, I wanted to go back to your island and begin training again! At the next tournament, I want to score big!"

"Me too, more than you know…" Roshi said in a dreamy sort of voice. Bulma and Ranko glared at him, knowing full well how Roshi wanted to score. Before they could comment on this, however, Goku called for his trusty nimbus cloud, and the yellow cloud raced from the sky and skidded to a halt in front of them.

As Goku hopped on, Ranko looked anxious and blurted out; "On second thought, I can't allow you to journey off all alone in the world without supervision! I'll go with you!"

"But you can't fly on the nimbus, can you?" Goku asked.

"Just give me a moment, I have a way around it's pickiness" she said.

She then placed her hands together and closed her eyes as if meditating. The children all looked at her puzzled, but Roshi, who could discern the flow of chi in others immediately noticed what she was doing. She was using the "Soul of Ice" technique to suppress her emotions, making her thoughts and feelings neutral, if not pure. Roshi was impressed and a little angry with himself for not ever once thinking of that workaround. When she opened her eyes she seemed extremely calm, and then with the grace of a cat, leapt into the air and landed gently on the cloud which remained solid at her touch.

"Whoa!" Goku said awed. "You really can ride it!"

Ranko looked extremely smug. "I can do many things you couldn't dream of, boy!"

"It's a little crowed though…" Goku said as he readjusted himself on the small cloud. After about a minute of maneuvering, Ranko took up most of the space sitting cross-legged with Goku practically in her lap with his head resting against her chest. "That's better!" he said satisfied. "It's like having a seat with pillows!"

Ranko rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh. Only Goku could lay his head against a woman's chest on a cloud that doesn't allow impure thoughts. She tussled his hair and adjusted his head so that he wasn't nestled quite so deep into her bosom.

"Looks like that's settled." Roshi said amusedly. "Do you have you everything you need though? Clothes and food?"

"I'm pretty good at living off the land." Goku answered cheerily.

"Well I'M not!" Ranko said a bit testily. She reached into her purse and pulled out a Dyno Cap and held it up, it was the same capsule that held the old dresser that contained all of her old outfits. "I have all my clothes in here, but I don't have any kind of travel funds saved up."

"I have a little extra cash, but only a little." Roshi said holding up an envelope which contained the last of the prize money that wasn't splurged at the restaurant. "After that you will have to figure out spending on your own." Ranko took it and put it in her purse, he had promised her the money anyways.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out." Ranko said. "Well Goku, shall we get going? Wait, how do you plan on finding the dragon balls?"

"Here!" Bulma called, and threw a small device that looked like a pocket watch up to Goku. "The dragon radar locks on to the unique energy signature the dragon balls! It should guide you to within feet of its location!"

"Wow, thanks!" Goku said. He clicked the button on top and the radar lit up. Goku fiddled with the dial and saw the map on the radar expand until several dots appeared. "Wow, pretty far, so let's go!"

As the nimbus began to gain height and speed, Goku and Ranko turned and looked to the gang below, all of whom were waiving and wishing good luck on they're journey. As they waived back smiling, Ranko locked eyes with Master Roshi, who seemed suddenly much older sad despite his well wishes.

"I'm off to see the world at last, my love. My only regret is that you are not with me." As she thought these words and saw his smile, she felt a frantic urge to leap from the cloud and return to him, but she resisted it and turned away. She pulled Goku into a tight hug under the pretense of bracing herself for the Nimbus's speed, and at that moment, the Nimbus sped away high and out of sight, the wind drying away tears.

"Good bye for now, my dear other self..." Roshi said to himself as though she could still hear him in his head. "I feel somewhat guilty having never taken you out on a journey before, but I was weary from a long life of drama, battle, and sorrow. All I wanted then was peace and isolation. But you were forever young both in body and spirit, and I was already old by the time you began to have your own personality. Thus you were never burdened from the weight of my life, despite sharing my memories."

Roshi stopped waving and sat on his suitcase. He suddenly felt older than ever before, and what's more, he felt a sense of loneliness he hadn't expected. He looked back to the sky at the small dot that was the nimbus and continued to think.

"But you never held it against me. After all those years of you being a prisoner of my mind and spirit, you never cursed me. You complained, of course, but you never hated your keeper. "My Love" That's what you always called me. It was more than a pet name wasn't it? I always loved you more than a daughter, as well...or perhaps something deeper." He let out a short cackle. "Well anyway, I'm glad you finally have your own adventure. Look after yourself, and Goku as well, and come home soon."

"SHA..SHA..SHADDUP! WANMA, BAKA!" Ranko's sobbing voice roared in his head. Roshi was so startled he nearly fell off his suitcase.

"Wha-?! You heard all that?" he whispered somewhat embarrassed.

About a mile away on the nimbus, Ranko was clasping Goku so tightly that he was slapping her arm to loosen up. Tears were streaming from her swollen red face uninhibited, and she was biting her lip hard so her sobs wouldn't escape and reduce her to full ugly crying.

"Gosh Miss Ranko, why are you crying?" Goku asked after loosening her grip.

"Sha..shaddup! I'b not cwying!" she choked out and hugged him tighter, causing his eyes to bulge and face turn purple.

On the plane ride home, Roshi tried to share his thoughts with Ranko again, but felt and heard nothing. He realized that brief instance was a temporary connection, possibly it was based on proximity. Which was a shame, as it would have been nice to hear regular reports on how their journey was going. Goku was very strong but extremely naïve, and Ranko knew the world through his memories, but she had no firsthand experience. They could very easily get into trouble without realizing it. In the end he decided not to worry about it, now that she was gone, he could do many things Ranko wouldn't like. He pressed the call button above his seat.

"Yes sir, can I get you something?" the young stewardess asked as she came with her cart.

"Erm, yes. Could I get a coffee?" Roshi said in his best harmless old man voice.

"Of course, sir!" she said with a smile and turned her back to him to get the coffee from the cart. "Would you like cream or sugar?"

"Oh, I'd love some sugar!" Roshi said and grabbed her rear on the word sugar.

"EEK!" *SMACK*

Roshi sat cackling even though his sunglasses were now broken and askew. Krillin covered his face with a newspaper and tried to sink into his chair and disappear from shame.

End of Chapter 14