The next morning, Pan arrived at the Tendo dojo. She landed at the back by the pond. She was just in time to see Genma and Ranma finishing up their morning sparring match. The battle between them was mostly in the air. It looked like a dance on thin air. Ranma and Genma were very good at this dance. They’d better be, they had been doing it since Ranma was 5.
Ranma got the upper hand and kicked Genma into the pond. A large panda leapt out of the pond and continued the fight. This startled Pan slightly, but she remembered Ranma mentioning that his father was cursed as well. I guess not everyone turns into a girl.
“Come on old man! This is supposed to be a workout! I’m not even working up a sweat!”
The panda (Genma) held up a sign that read, “Respect your elders, boy!”
Ranma grabbed the sign and hit Genma over the head with it. The panda went flying and smashed into a wall. “I guess we’re done for the morning. Eh, pop?”
“My turn!” Pan jumped at Ranma and kicked him straight into the pond.
Ranma-Chan climbed out. “Who?” He finally noticed Pan was here. “Oh. Hey Pan.”
“Not working up a sweat, huh? Let’s go!”
Ranma-Chan jumped from the pond just before Pan’s hit impacted on the side. The rocks were crushed but nothing more (Pan was holding back). Ranma-Chan could tell that Pan was back to full strength and she had no chance. But, being a martial artist with an ego, she fought on anyway.
Pan loved it. Given a little time and training, he could really be good! And I’d have a decent sparring partner! Too bad not much more…
The battle proceeded with Pan smiling and joking the whole time and Ranma-Chan on the defensive barely escaping with her life.
After half an hour Ranma-Chan was out of breath. “Time out! I need to get ready for school!”
“Aww…You’re no fun. You just can’t stand the fact a girl is beating you.”
“At least you’re not Akane.”
“Zzzzzz…SMASH!” Pan didn’t know Akane could throw those mallets, and pretty accurately to boot!
“Baka!” Akane went on to the bath after her morning workout.
Ranma-Chan arose and shook the dust off herself.
“Why do you always let her hit you? You’re better than that.”
“Yeah, it’s just uhh…” Ranma looked down and started to scratch the back of his head.
Is he blushing? Pan smiled. It’s not like Pan didn’t know that Ranma and Akane were in love, it’s just that it was fun to give Ranma a hard time.
“Why don’t you just tell her you love her? It would stop a lot of pain in your life.”
“I don’t…” The protests kept on getting harder and harder to make. He did love Akane, but he couldn’t admit it. Not that he would mind Akane knowing, it’s just he didn’t want to give their parents the satisfaction of being right. “It’s just that…”
“Ranma! The bath’s open!” Kasumi called.
“Igottatakeabathlater!” Ranma-Chan rocketed off to the bath.
Pan was still smiling. This could be hours of fun.
Later, after eating breakfast, Pan, Ranma, and Akane walked to school. Akane was walking on the sidewalk, while Ranma and Pan were walking on the top of the fences.
“This is fun!” Pan said as she paced on. “Why didn’t I think of this? Balance practice and a different view of the surroundings at the same time.”
“I’ve been doing it for years.” Ranma replied. “Mostly without thinking about it.”
“You do a lot of things without thinking.” Akane shot at him.
“You are so uncute.” Ranma stuck his tongue out at Akane.
“Grrr…” Akane started to power up.
“How cute. A lover’s quarrel.” Pan couldn’t resist!
Both Ranma and Akane quickly dropped it and looked away from each other.
I think I’ve found my new pet project. Thought Pan as she had the biggest cat-who-just-ate-the-canary smile.
They finally arrived at the school. Kuno was waiting for them, as usual.
“Ranma you fiend! Now you have added the beauteous Pan to you’re harem. I will see that you pay for your heinous deeds.”
“Ooh! Ooh! Let me hit him! Let me hit him!” Pan was jumping up and down in front of Ranma.
Ranma shook his head. “Ok, but not too hard…”
Pan walked over and slapped Kuno in the face. He went flying and managed to stop at the first wall this time.
“How was that?”
“That’ll work!” Ranma and Akane were both smiling.
They got up to the classroom. Ukyou was already in her seat waiting for Ranma. She tensed up when she saw Pan with Ranma and Akane.
“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.” Pan held out her hand to Ukyou. “I’m sorry. It was just a misunderstanding. I don’t have any more designs on Ranma.”
“Thanks. I guess.” Ukyou shook the hand but was still wary of Pan.
Pan convinced one of the other students to move so she could sit near the others. He was pretty easily convinced after the show she put on this morning. Eventually Ms. Hinako arrived, in adult form!
“Wander who she drained this morning?” Ranma grumbled.
“I didn’t see her drain anyone.” Akane replied.
“Uh, guys. That’s my Ki.” Pan whispered.
“You sure? She usually reverts back to child form after a few minutes. Hours when she drains me.” Ranma had been through several drains, especially when Ms. Hinako was trying to marry Soun.
“I know my own Ki when I feel it. And she’s still running on my Ki from yesterday.”
“She seems unusually happy today.” Akane noticed.
Ms. Hinako was unusually happy. She had never woken up as an adult. It was a whole new experience. She never wanted it to end. If she could stay as an adult, she could marry Soun! She had to drain that one girl, Pan, again!
Class proceeded as normal. Ms. Hinako remained adult up until the end of class. She reverted with about half an hour left in class. The chimes toned and class was dismissed. As Ranma, Akane, Pan, and Ukyou were leaving the building, they heard a familiar sound behind them.
“Pervert! Come back here with our underwear!”
“What a haul! What a haul!”
Happosai was on another panty raid. The shriveled little perverted dwarf was being chased by the angry mob of women.
“The old freak!” Ranma leapt toward the oncoming pervert.
“You’ll have to be faster than that Ranma my boy!” Happosai easily evaded Ranma’s attack. Happosai, despite his diminutive size, retaliated by throwing Ranma away using only a pipe.
Happosai spotted Pan standing with Ukyou and Akane. Must be another one of Ranma’s fiancées. He greeted her like he greeted every woman, but latching onto her breasts. “Hello, my pretty.”
To say Pan was mad would be an extreme understatement.
“GET…OFF…ME…YOU…PERVERT!!!” Pan grabbed Happosai between his shoulder blades, yanked him off, and threw him straight up.
“KAMEHAMEHA!” She loosed a huge Ki attack on Happosai. He would have been a goner if another had not intervened.
“Happo 10 Yen Satsu!” Once again Ms. Hinako
was there to stop Pan. Of course this
time it was not a coincidence.
“Drop your Ki! Quick!” Ranma yelled, but he was too late.
Once again, Pan was knocked out, and
Ms. Hinako received an even larger dose of Ki than the day before. Happosai was last seen leaving the Tokyo
towards the Pacific Ocean riding an unusually red Ki blast.
Back at the Tendo dojo, Pan awoke once again. Déjà vu. Pan got up and went down stairs. She looked around, but couldn’t find Ranma or Akane. She wandered down to the kitchen and found Kasumi.
“Kasumi, have you seen Ranma or Akane?”
“They’re out in the dojo sparring.”
“I thought Ranma didn’t fight girls.”
“He doesn’t. He just goes out there and dodges Akane until she’s too tired to fight anymore.”
“Some training.”
Pan went out to the dojo, and, sure enough, Akane was punching fast and furious while Ranma effortlessly dodged every attack. In fact, Ranma was looking pretty bored.
Pan, being the only person in Nerima capable of it, snuck up behind Ranma and grabbed both of his shoulders. In an instant, Ranma stopped moving and was caught square in the face by Akane.
“Ouch!” Ranma grabbed his nose.
“I’m so sorry!” Akane took a step forward.
“S’okay.” Ranma pulled his hands down to reveal an intact face. “It just stung a little.”
“Hmmmph! Sting this.” Akane pulled out another mallet.
Pan got around in time to grab the mallet out of Akane’s hands so that all she hit Ranma with was thin air. “I’m only allowing one free hit.” She said with a smile. “Where do you get all these from anyway?” Pan tossed the mallet aside.
Akane didn’t know who to be madder at: Pan, for interfering, or Ranma, for being… well, Ranma.
“Chill out Akane. How you feeling Pan?”
“Feeling a little weak, but I’m getting used to it. We really need to do something about Ms. Hinako.”
“I tried. It takes a month of daily battle. I gave up after the first day.”
“What?”
“Ms. Hinako was born lame and sickly. Happosai through pressure points and martial arts taught her how to steal Ki from others to make herself stronger. She eventually absorbed enough to not be sickly anymore, but she still needs Ki to grow normally. I found out a way to stop her. You have to hit a few pressure points all at the same time and you have to do it once a day for a month.”
“So why did you give up?”
“Well, uh…it’s kinda embarrassing…”
“The pressure points are on the upper back and breasts.” Akane decided to help Ranma out.
“Yeah, that’s why…”
Pan thought for a little bit. “What happens when you stop her? Would she be a child or an adult?”
“Don’t know, and the only person who would know is flying across the Pacific now. Why?”
“I think I could stop her.”
“How?”
“I’m fast enough at full power. I could hit her before she knew what hit her. I’d just have to catch her before class every day.”
“It’s up to you. If that’s how you want to spend the next month…Anyway, how about those flying lessons?”
“I guess now is as good a time as any. Let’s go outside.”
“Can you teach me too?” Akane asked.
“Sure.”
Pan walked outside fallowed by Ranma and Akane. After finding a decent open space, she stopped and turned around.
“All right. The class of Buku Jyutsu, or flying, is now in session. Learning how to fly is just a matter of Ki control. Ranma, you already have a degree of control, so you shouldn’t have much trouble.” She went on to describe the finer nuances of the Buku Jyutsu to Ranma and Akane. She then demonstrated by hovering a few feet off the ground in front of them.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Ranma smacked himself on the head. He stood with his feet shoulder width apart and began to concentrate. After a bit he began to glow, and after a few more minutes began to float a few inches off the ground. He let out his breath and dropped to the ground panting.
“That’s tiring.”
“You’ll get better at it the more you practice.”
“My turn!” Akane repeated Ranma’s actions, but without the success.
“Come on Akane! You can do it!” Pan encouraged her. “I know you’ve got some power! Just bring it out!”
“Here I’ll show you how to bring her Ki out.” Ranma stepped over in front of Akane. “Hey! Macho chick! You’re SO uncute. You’re built like a brick. You’re thighs are too thick. You’re such a tomboy!”
Akane’s aura flared like a Roman candle and shot into the air like a rocket!
“Oh crap!” Pan shot off after her. After a high-speed chase she finally caught up to a very frightened Akane. Pan grabbed her around the waist and twisted Akane’s flight path back to the Tendo Dojo. “Just relax Akane. It’s alright.”
Akane was trembling and on the verge of tears, but managed to hold herself together well enough to stop the Buku Jyutsu. Pan and Akane landed at the dojo without further incident.
“Hey, Akane! That was great! You did better you’re first time than I did!”
Akane walked over to him and started raining a shower of blows that were fueled by the tears that were streaming down her face. “You…You…Baka! I hate you, you pervert! AHHH!”
She kept on raining blows down on Ranma; Ranma just crossed his arms in front of his face to guard against the blows. Akane finally fell to the ground exhausted.
“Ranma, why don’t you get a glass of water for Akane?” Pan started to walk over toward Akane.
“Why? She’s not thirsty.”
Sometimes you can be really thick Ranma! “Just go get some water!”
Ranma finally got the hint and split to the kitchen. Pan walked over to Akane and put her arm on the sobbing girl’s shoulder. “It’s alright Akane. It’s over now.”
“It’s never over. It’s never going to be over.” She started crying again. “He’ll always hate me, and…” She tried to stop herself before it was too late.
“He did it for you, you know.”
“What?” Akane looked up through her tears.
“He taunted you to stir up your Ki. You’re a strong martial artist, but you have trouble focusing. Ranma gave you that focus, and you were able to fly.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.” She buried her face in her hands again.
“He loves you.”
“Why are you trying to make me feel better? Don’t you want him for yourself?”
“I would take him, if his heart didn’t belong to somebody else. I see it in the way he watches you. You ever notice that?”
“Watches me?” Akane started to look up. Her expression quickly changed as a mallet appeared. “That Pervert!!!”
“No! Not like that!” Pan grabbed Akane and made her sit down again. “It’s like when he’s walking along the fence. He looks at you at least twice every minute. Always watching out for you. Or in class how he looks at you when your not paying attention to him. He’s got it bad, he just has a hard time admitting it.”
“You…<sniff>…think so?” Akane’s tears were starting to dry up.
“I know so.” Pan knelt down to whisper into Akane’s ear. “Just don’t tell him I told you, and try to find some way to show him you feel the same way.”
“Thank…Thank you.” Akane got up and started to walk toward the dojo.
“Yo, Akane! Here’s some water.” Ranma was standing the doorway with a glass of water.
Akane was tempted to just dump it on him, but she just took it and thanked him. “I’ll be in my room.” She said before she walked off.
“Is she going to be alright? Ranma asked.
“I think she’s going to feel better than she has in a long time.” Pan said with a slight smirk on her face.
That evening Pan joined them for supper again. Akane was very quiet and Ranma just let her be. He just kept on throwing concerned glances at her.
“So Pan, did you ask you’re parents about staying here?” Soun asked.
“After mom heard about my defeat at the hands of Ranma, she insisted I stay until I at least beat him up. Dad was just glad I was making new friends.”
“So when are you going to start staying here?”
“Tonight. Grandpa’s going to drop off my clothes.”
“He is? That’s wonderful. When is he going to be here?”
At that moment a shimmer appeared through the open door to the patio in an instant a man appeared carrying a couple of bags. He stood fairly tall with a spiky hairdo. He was wearing a blue gi with orange pants.
“Hi. You must be the Tendos. Pan’s told me so much about you.”
“Grandpa Goku!” Pan ran up and gave her grandfather a hug.
Ranma was floored by the amount of raw power that radiated from this man. Not to mention the purity of his power. Ranma’s own was tainted with ego and some malice, but Goku’s was a pure as the freshly fallen snow.
Goku held out his hand to Ranma. “And you must be Ranma. You must be pretty strong to beat Pan-Chan.”
Ranma numbly took the man’s hand and shook it. “Yeah, I guess so.” It was hard to maintain a high opinion of one’s power when presented with the sheer amount that was emitted by this man.
“We should spar sometime. I’d like to see what kind of power you have.”
Nothing
close to what you have. “Yeah,
uh…sure.” Just let me train for a
while…like 50 years!
Goku was introduced to the Saotomes and the Tendos. Pleasantries were exchanged and Goku made ready to leave. “I need to get back before Chi Chi gets worried.”
“Bye grandpa. See you this weekend!” Pan gave him a final hug.
“See you then.” Goku put two fingers to his forehead and disappeared!
“What the?!” Everyone except Pan was floored.
“It’s the Instant Transmission.” Pan explained. “He doesn’t teach it to anyone else, but it’s still a sight to behold.”
Everyone else shook their head in agreement.
That night Ranma and Akane were helping Pan settle into one of the guest rooms. They helped her put some clothes away and get her bedding setup. After they were all done, Pan reached into pack and drew out a glowing orb with four small red stars on the surface.
“That’s a pretty.” Akane commented. “What is it?”
“It’s a Dragonball. There are only seven of them on the entire planet. If you gather all the balls together, you can have three wishes.”
Ranma was interested. “What kind of wishes?”
“Anything you want, as long as it’s within the power of the Kami. They’ve been used in the past to raise people from the dead. Even bring back entire planets.”
“Wow!” Ranma’s mind was in high gear. “With that, I could get rid of my curse!”
“Do you think we could find all the balls?” Akane asked.
“Sure. My aunt Bulma has a device that lets anyone find the Dragonballs. In fact she started looking for them when she was our age. That’s how she met grandpa Goku and brought him out of the wilderness.”
“Out of the wilderness?” Akane felt that there was an interesting story here. Even Ranma was paying attention.
Pan took a looked around and did a quick check to see if she could feel anyone else around. Everyone else was in the living area of the house. No problem. “I’ll tell you the full story, but the story stays between us, Okay?”
“I won’t tell.” Akane promised.
“Me neither.” Ranma agreed.
“Well, it all started about 50 years ago…” Pan went on to relate the story of how a young teenager named Bulma, in search of the Dragonballs, met a young boy with a tail in the wilderness with great power and great ability in the martial arts. She went on to relate how the boy, Goku, single-handedly defeated the Red Ribbon Army. How he fought in the Tenkaichi Budoukai and how he defeated Piccolo Daimaou and later Ma Junior, the spawn of Piccolo Daimaou. She also told of the marriage between Chi Chi and Goku.
She then told of the coming of Raditzu, the Saiya-Jin. Raditzu told Goku that he was not of this earth, that he too was a Saiya-Jin. Goku sacrificed himself to defeat Raditzu, but this was only the beginning of another great battle. Following Raditzu, two more Saiya-Jin Arrived in search of the Dragonballs, Vegita and Nappa. Goku was resurrected by the Dragonballs and defeated them; but not before several of earth’s warriors were killed, includiung Ma Junior (now called Piccolo). Since Piccolo died, Kami-Sama also died which destroyed the Dragonballs. They needed more Dragonballs to bring back their fallen friends and comrades. During the battle with the Saiya-Jin, they had learned about the existence of Piccolo and Kami-Sama’s home planet Namek and the Dragonballs there. So an expedition was undertaken to go to Namek to revive Piccolo and their friends.
On Namek, they learned that there were fiercer and more powerful races in the universe. Races that even the mighty Saiya-Jin lived in fear of. One of the races was the shape shifters, the most powerful of which was Freezer. Freezer and his men were already on Namek and were looking for the Dragonballs as well. Eventually Goku arrived and defeated Freezer. During the battle with Freezer, Goku became a Super Saiya-Jin. This was a transformation that gave him the power to overwhelm Freezer.
A few years later, Androids arose to try to kill Goku. They were absorbed by an even more powerful android, Cell. After a long campaign and a martial arts tournament dubbed “The Cell Games”; Goku’s son, Pan’s father, Gohan defeated Cell when he transformed into a Super Saiya-Jin 2.
Several years after that a new enemy surfaced: Majin Buu. Majin Buu eventually destroyed the earth and the fight was taken to a world in the afterlife. During the fight with Majin Buu, Goku ascended to Super Saiya-Jin 3; but Majin Buu was ultimately defeated by a Genki Dama that was made up of the energy of the entire population of the Earth. The Earth had been restored by a wish with the Namekian Dragonballs.
<Author’s Note: There’s the extremely abridged version of Dragonball and Dragonball Z. If you haven’t seen or read them, I highly recommend it. >
“You mean your dad defeated Cell? I thought Mr. Satan defeated Cell?” Ranma was a little confused. “A Majin Buu came in second in the last several Tenkaichi Budoukais.”
“Yeah, Goku just let Grandpa Satan take the credit so his sons could live in peace. And Majin Buu split into two halves during the battle and his good half is what lives on.”
“But I don’t remember the earth being destroyed!”
“That was the last wish made with the Dragonballs 11 years ago: To make the world forget about Majin Buu. They did that so the good Buu could live in peace.”
“Did you say, ‘Grandpa Satan’?”
“Yeah, he’s my grandfather on my mother’s side.”
“Wow! You have some famous family. So, can you turn Super Saiya-Jin?”
Pan hung her head a little bit. “Not yet. I’ve tried everything that dad and grandpa did and still couldn’t. Uncle Goten just transformed out of the blue one day. I guess I don’t have enough Saiya-Jin in me.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Oh, Ranma! We could get the balls and cure you!” Akane hugged Ranma.
“Yeah!” Ranma hugged back.
After a second or two of Pan watching them with a smile on her face, Ranma and Akane realized what they were doing and quickly decoupled and scooted away from each other.
“We’ll just need the Dragon Radar. I’ll call aunt Bulma and see if we can borrow it.”
Pan left Ranma and Akane and called Bulma’s house.
“Capsule Home, This is Bra speaking.”
“Hey squirt! Where’s your mom?”
“Hey, just because you’re a year older than me doesn’t mean you can call me that! Besides, I heard you got beat up.”
“I have a good excuse.”
“Excuses are like armpits, everyone has a couple, and they stink!”
“Just let me talk to your mom, squirt!”
“Okay, Pan-Chan.”
After a bit, Bulma got on the phone. “Hello Pan. What can I do for you?”
“Do you still have the Dragon Radar?”
“Sure. I even have a new wristwatch version.”
“Cool! Can I borrow it? I can fly by and grab it now!”
“I’m still putting the final touches on it. Where are you?”
“I’m in Nerima right now, at the Tendo dojo.”
“That’s right, Videl told me about that. Trunks has some business in Tokyo tomorrow. I’ll just send the radar with him after I finish the it.”
“Thanks, Aunt Bulma!”
“No problem. Here’s a tip for you while you’re looking for the balls: Don’t pick up any strange boys with a tail. They can be a real handful.”
Pan laughed. “Thanks again. Bye.”
“Bye, Pan.”
The next morning, Pan woke up early and snuck into Ranma’s room. She quietly opened the shutters and was pleasantly surprised that his window overlooked the pond behind the Tendo Dojo. She stealthily moved over to where Ranma was sleeping. In one swift movement, she picked up Ranma and threw him out the window.
“Splash!”
“What the hell!” Ranma-Chan was not happy. She pulled herself out of the pond.
Pan jumped out of the window with a package under her arm. “If you want to be as strong as me, you’re going to need help. Here.” She tossed the package to Ranma-Chan.
Ranma-Chan caught it, and was dragged to the ground by the weight of the package.
“What is this?”
“A change of clothes.”
Ranma opened the package and found an exact replica of his favorite Chinese outfit (Red shirt and black pants); they were just a few hundred pounds heavier than what he already had. He jumped back into the house, splashed himself with hot water, dried off, and then changed into the new outfit. The fit was perfect. After a little bit he found he could walk around, albeit a little slower than usual. He finally made his way outside to Pan.
“These things weigh a ton!”
“That’s the point. Just be glad the Kame-Sennin training style has evolved a bit. Otherwise you’d be wearing a turtle shell right now.”
“And you expect me to spar like this?”
“Not yet. Just after you get used to it for a while. I figure it will take a month to cure Ms. Hinako. You wear that stuff and get stronger, and, after Ms. Hinako is cured, we can go after the Dragonballs.”
“Sound like a plan. This will just be a pain for a while.”
“I’m going to go catch Ms. Hinako for today’s treatment. See you in a few.” Pan jumped to the top of the wall.
“What am I supposed to do for my morning exercise?” Ranma called after her.
“Just walk around!” Pan jumped to next-door roof and off toward the high school.
“You’re too slow, boy!” Genma was stuffing his face with the food out of Ranma’s morning meal.
Ranma tried to save his food, but with the weighted clothing he couldn’t move fast enough to get the food. “Give that back, old man! I’d be plenty fast if I didn’t have these weighted clothes.
“You whine like a girl!” Genma went over and tried to throw Ranma into the pond, but he severely underestimated Ranma’s new weight.
The pause was all the Ranma needed to connect a punch to Genma face and send him flying into the pond. Ranma finally got his revenge, but had no breakfast left.
“Here. Have the rest of mine. I’m done.” Akane offered.
“Uh, thanks.” Ranma quickly wolfed the food down. “Let’s get going. Pan should be done by now.”
“What is she doing?”
“Hitting Ms. Hinako’s pressure points. We’ll cure Ms. Hinako and then go after the Dragonballs.”
“Is this the same Ms. Hinako that was chasing daddy?” Nabiki asked.
“The same.”
“Ever think she might try again if she is cured.”
“Depends on what form she ends up as. I don’t see why it would be a problem though. She won’t be draining me everyday.”
“I just don’t want another freeloader around here.”
“She has a job.”
“Never mind.” Nabiki got up and left for school. What was really bothering her was that she didn’t think anyone could replace her long dead mother.
“C’mon Akane, let’s get going.” Ranma picked up his bag and headed out the door.
“Wait for me.” Akane grabbed her stuff and quickly followed.
She needn’t have yelled. Ranma was severely slowed down from the weighted clothes. He couldn’t even jump on the fence to walk to school. He had to walk the whole way to school on the sidewalk, beside Akane.
“Those clothes must be really heavy. Are you sure you can take Kuno today with them on.”
“I’ll think of something.” Ranma replied. He didn’t want to admit that Kuno could be a definite problem. Without his superior speed, Ranma could easily fall.
Elsewhere, Pan was waiting in a dark alley a block away from school in the direction that Ms. Hinako went home everyday. Eventually an adult Ms. Hinako did arrive. Pan gauged the distance and her speed carefully, and pounced! She skillfully hit all the points at once and jumped clear to one of the adjacent rooftops before Ms. Hinako was the wiser.
Ms. Hinako staggered a bit, the breath knocked out of her. She felt pain on her right side. The flesh on her right breast was tender. She looked down her shirt and saw that there were several bruises. The pressure points! Somebody is trying to cure me!
Ranma and Akane arrived at the gates of the high school. Ranma held Akane up in front of the front gate. He peeked around until he found Kuno. Kuno was sitting in the open to the right side of the path to the front door of the school. Ranma walked back a few paces. “Hey, Akane! Come over here:
Akane walked back to where Ranma was standing. “What do you want? Why did we stop here?”
Ranma gently grabbed Akane’s shoulders and moved her to where her view of the wall was blocked by him. “I need you to kick me over the wall.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it!”
“No!”
“Just kick me you uncute tomboy!”
“Ranma!” Before Akane knew what she was doing, she had launched Ranma over the wall.
“WHAM!”
“Morning Kuno!”
Akane peeked around the wall to see Ranma standing on top of Kuno. Kuno was plunged a few inches into the ground from the Ranma’s weight. So that’s what he was doing! Why couldn’t that idiot say so!
Ranma stepped off of Kuno and joined Akane. “Thanks for the help, Akane.”
Akane couldn’t help but smile. “Baka.”
“Die Ranma!!!” Ryoga plunged at Ranma from out of nowhere, umbrella leading the attack.
“AHHH!!!” Ranma was in no position to be able to dodge in time.
Out of nowhere, Pan caught the point of Ryoga’s umbrella with one hand and stopped his descent. Ryoga slid down the umbrella until he was face to face with Pan.
He kinda cute! Pan thought. “My name’s Pan, What’s yours?”
“Hibiki Ryoga.” Ryoga was a little shocked. This girl was holding his umbrella, him, and his pack, all with one hand!
“Sorry, but I can’t have you smashing Ranma. He’s a little handicapped right now.”
“He’s not in a wheel chair.”
“Just a wait a few days and then challenge him again, okay?”
“Sure, I guess.”
Pan tilted the umbrella down and put Ryoga on his feet. She smiled at him. “See you later then.”
Ryoga just stood there.
Pan turned back to him and took a closer look at him and noticed something in his pack. She reached passed his head, brushing his hair while her hand passed, and grabbed the object. It was a piece of tarp that had been painted red and had RR on it. She recognized it from the history books as the insignia of the Red Ribbon Army.
She held the piece of tarp in front of his face. “Where did you get this?”
She touched me. She touched me. Waitaminute, she’s talking to me! “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Where did this come from?” Cute, but slow.
Ryoga recognized the logo from the markings on the lab. “That must be from that wacky lab I got caught in.”
“What lab? Where?”
“Don’t bother asking directions, Pan. He couldn’t tell you.” Ranma said from over her shoulder.
“Shut up, Ranma!”
“Hey, I’m not the one who got lost trying to get to the vacant lot behind my house.”
“Hey, you two!” Pan interrupted. “Ryoga, just answer the best you can.”
“It was in a lab in the mountains.”
“Was the lab trashed?”
“Except for the holes I made in it, no.”
“Impossible.”
“Yo, Pan. What’s up?” Ranma did not like where this conversation was going.
“This is from a Red Ribbon Army lab. The only person that could run a lab like that would be Dr. Gero, the person that made Cell. But Trunks destroyed that one.”
“Let me see that tarp.” Ranma turned the tarp over and saw the marking on the other side. “Lab #5.”
Pan’s jaw dropped. THERE’S AT LEAST FIVE LABS!!! HOW MANY HAVE ANDROIDS!!! She grabbed Ryoga by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. “You have to tell me: Did you see anything strange there? Anything moving?”
“Nothing! I didn’t see anything moving I swear!”
“That’s a relief.” She dropped Ryoga on his butt. “See you later then. Let’s get to class before we’re late.
Ranma, Akane, and Pan left Ryoga there and went to class.
The rest of school was relatively quiet. Kuno was still buried in the ground, Happosai was flying to parts unknown, and Ms. Hinako’s power was deactivated for the rest of the day. So, besides Ranma and Akane squabbling, nothing happened until after school.
When Ranma and co. came home after school, they started practicing some more. Pan taught Akane how to more effectively control her Ki, and Ranma continued to just work on moving around normally. Nabiki was in the background, snapping away pictures.
“C’mon Akane, relax!” Pan chided Akane. “You can’t use your Ki well unless you learn how to relax.”
“But it’s hard!” It didn’t used to be hard. I could relax just fine before Ranma showed
up!
“Just put everything out of your mind. Stop thinking about what ever is eating you. Don’t say a word, Ranma!” Pan managed to cut off Ranma before he could aggravate Akane.
Ranma managed to stifle his comments. He was getting bored. Granted he was still working on building his strength, but just walking around was boring.
“Now put your hands out Akane. Now try to concentrate your power into your hands.” Pan demonstrated by putting forth her hands and drawing a small Ki ball into them.
Akane reached out her hands and tried to copy Pan’s actions. After about five minutes with no ball, Akane gave up and dropped her hands.
“I can’t.” Akane hung her head in shame.
“C’mon Akane! Keep trying until you get it!”
“Hey Pan! You old slave driver!”
Everyone turned to see a fairly handsome man dressed in black with a blue jacket sitting on top of the fence. On the sleeve of the jacket was the Capsule Corp logo. The strangest part about him was his mop of purple hair that was cut to ear length and parted down the middle.
“Trunks!” Pan flew over and tackled Trunks off the fence. Shortly, both returned over the wall and flew over to where Ranma and Akane were standing.
“Ranma, Akane, this is Trunks, the President of the Capsule Corporation.”
Nabiki started to look a little closer. Oh my God! He’s the current President of the Capsule Corporation! And he’s HOT! She went over and joined the others.
Nabiki reached out and grabbed Trunks hands and shook it vigorously. “My name’s Tendo Nabiki, Akane’s older sister. What brings a corporate bigwig like yourself to Nerima?”
Trunks was taken aback. All the girls at work all ogled him, but none of them were this forward. “I’m here to give Pan the Dragon Radar.” He reached into his jacket and produced a watch and handed it to Pan. “And to check up on her.”
“Will you be able to stay for a while?” Nibiki was trying her best to look seductive.
Ranma and Akane were both rolling their eyes. They never thought they’d see the day when Nabiki would be falling all over some boy, especially without trying to blackmail him first. It must be the stench of money.
“Uh…” Trunks really didn’t know what to do with this woman.
“At least stay for dinner.” Nabiki tried switching to the sad puppy dog eyes.
“Yeah, Trunks. We never get to talk any more.” Pan had a few ideas of her own. He’s been single for too long. If I’m going to play matchmaker for Ranma and Akane, I might as well help him as well.
“All right.” Trunks relented. “I’ll stay for dinner, as long as it’s okay with the Tendos.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Nibiki could hardly contain herself. She usually tried to keep her emotions in check, but having the head of the biggest corporations right in front of her…The scent of money was intoxicating. The fact that he was cute and single (she read it somewhere) didn’t hurt either. “I’ll go tell Kasumi to prepare another setting.” Nabiki ran to the kitchen.
Akane pulled Ranma down so that she could whisper in his ear. “I think she’s in love!”
“I think she smells money.”
“Baka.” Akane punched him in the side (not too hard though). She knew her sister at least as well as Ranma did.
“Let’s go inside and let you meet everyone.” Pan led Trunks into the house. Everyone else was already in their places for dinner. Pan introduced Trunks around and they all had dinner.
Nibiki sat down next to Trunks. “So, tell us about yourself.”
Trunks was still a little intimidated by this girl. “I’m heading the Capsule Corp since mom retired a while back. I like to train and workout. Nothing much else besides that.”
Nabiki scooted a little closer. “So is there a Mrs. Trunks?”
“Uh, Hey Ranma! I heard that you managed to defeat Pan-Chan.” Trunks quickly changed the subject.
“Uh, yeah.” Ranma scratched the back of his head. “But she had been drained for the day.”
“Drained?”
Ranma explained about Ms. Hinako and her power and
how he managed to defeat Pan (neglecting the Hiryu Shoten Ha).
Trunks was
still impressed. Defeating a Saiya-Jin
(even weakened) was no easy task, especially if that Saiya-Jin was the
descendent of Son Goku.
“So Trunks, can you go Super Saiya-Jin?”
“Yeah, I’ve been able to since I was eight, when I fought with Pan’s uncle Goten.”
“Can I see it?”
“Sure. Let’s go outside, I don’t want to blow up the house.”
Trunks, Ranma and the rest of the family went outside. Trunks went and stood in the middle of the yard in front of the pond. He stood with his feet shoulder width apart and balled up his fists to his side.
“Now witness the true power of the Saiya-Jin. AHHHHH!” Trunks started to growl from the depths of his being.
The ground started to tremble. Small rocks at Trunks’ feet started to fly up in the air.
Trunks’ growl became a shout. The sky clouded up above the Tendo Dojo. Lightening started arcing between the clouds. Ranma and company could feel the power, and were frightened by the sheer amount.
Trunks shout went tone higher. His hair rose up and started to change color.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” With an explosion of golden light, Trunks had transformed into the blonde hair and green eyes of the Super Saiya-Jin.
Everyone took a step back. Trunks was glowing gold with the power of a Super Saiya-Jin. His aura was huge!
That’s definitely a cheaper alternative to hair dye. Nabiki was using humor to try to keep from wetting herself. She had not practiced her martial arts in years, but even a beginner could feel the power being radiated from Trunks. If I married him, our kids would be monsters! But he’s sooo cute and rich! I could look on the bright side…My kids could beat up Akane’s kids!
After he was convinced that they were all suitably impressed, Trunks changed back. Trunks gave Ranma a half-smirk. “What did you think of that?”
Ranma was trying to steady himself. He still couldn’t believe that much power could be in one place. “That…That…Was…Unreal!”
Trunks chuckled to himself. Super Saiya-Jin was always impressive to a person that has never seen it. Trunks looked down at his watch and saw the time.
“I need to be getting back. It was nice to meet all of you. Goodbye Pan-Chan.” He turned and went to fly off.
“Hey! Can you come by again sometime? Can I get your number?”
Trunks turned back to Nabiki. “Uh, sure.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a business card and handed it to her. “I’ve got to go. Call me sometime.”
“Sure will.”
Trunks waved and took off for home.
“It’s so nice that you’ve found someone Nabiki.” Kasumi had walked up behind Nabiki.
Nabiki quickly went back to her unemotional mask. “I may need a job or something. Nothing else.”
“Sure it is.” Kasumi laughed and went back to the kitchen to clean up.
The Tendos and the Saotome’s were not the only ones to witness Trunks’ demonstration. In the shadows on the walls of the Tendo dojo stood the knarled figure of Cologne on her staff.
Shampoo was right. Son-In-Law does have some powerful new allies. Shampoo is definitely no match for Pan if she has just a fraction of that power. She may have to be dealt with if she is still after son-in-law.
Cologne hopped off the wall and back to the Neko Hanten to plan.
The next day Ms. Hinako was walking to school again, a little more watchful this time. She came to the alley where the last assault had come from. She snuck up to the alley and drew a 10 Yen piece out of her pocket. She jumped into the alley and attacked!
“Happo 10 Yen Satsu!”
She would have successfully ambushed Pan, if Pan had waited on that side of the road today. Pan leapt from the opposite side of the street and hit the pressure points and left.
Damn it! I’ll find out who’s doing this and stop them! Then Ms. Hinako thought of something else. Wait a minute; this could be a good thing. If whoever keeps doing this every morning, I’ll never use up the energy I took from Pan. I could be adult for days. I think it’s time to visit Soun again.
After school Ranma, Akane, and Pan continued training. Ranma started doing some basic katas (nothing involving jumping or kicking), Pan and Akane were still working on helping Akane focus her Ki.
Ranma came over to try to help. “Y’know Akane, It helps me to focus if I concentrate on an emotion. Like my pride for my Moko Takabisha, or sorrow like Ryoga’s Shishi Hokoudan.”
Pan shook her head. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. The only thing she has is an abundance of is anger. You’ve already seen what happens when she using that. It would end up destroying more than helping. That’s why we’re doing this the hard way, teaching her Ki concentration through the Kame-Sennin style.”
“I did notice that you didn’t have to focus any heavy emotion for your Kamehameha.”
“Exactly. That technique is all control. You take the total of your being and concentrate it into one spot and amplify it.”
“Would you guys shut up! I’m trying to concentrate!” Akane fumed.
Pan and Ranma clapped their hands over their mouths.
“Violent girl have problems thinking, hmm?”
They all looked over to see Shampoo and Cologne standing on the fence. Pan remembered Shampoo from her first day, but she didn’t recognize the wrinkled gargoyle that was with her.
“What do you two want?” Ranma set up in a defensive stance.
“I’ve just come to take a look at the girl who defeated Shampoo, Son-In-Law. You told Shampoo not to take her on, but I wanted to see her for myself.”
Pan stepped up beside Ranma. “So do you want to challenge me, or something?”
Cologne narrowed her eyes. “Or something…I heard you mention this as the ‘Kame-Sennin’ training. This wouldn’t have anything to do with Muten Roshi, the Turtle Elder would it?”
“He’s the father of it. Why?”
“So, how is that old pervert faring these days?”
Well, she obviously knows him. Pan thought. “He’s doing alright. How do you know him?”
“You may find out in time dear, but first we need to head to a secluded area for our duel.”
“Who said I was dueling? What am I dueling for?”
“Amazon pride and honor.”
“Why does that sound familiar?” Ranma remarked under his breath.
“Okay, when and where?” Pan figured she couldn’t lose.
“Where I trained Ryoga, Son-In-Law will know where, in one hour. Being a student of Muten Roshi, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting there in time.”
Before anybody could say anything else, Cologne and Shampoo bounded away.
Ranma relaxed. “I told Shampoo not to tell her.”
“You know Shampoo would never lie to Cologne. Especially if it had something to do with you.” Akane didn’t like this at all.
“Whatever.” Pan threw her hand out in a dismissive gesture. “How much trouble could a wrinkled old gargoyle give me?”
“You’d be surprised.” Ranma replied. “She’s over 300 years old, and she’s the one that taught me the Hiryu Shoten Ha and the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. She has ‘3000 Years of Amazon History’ blah, blah, blah.”
“I still don’t believe she could be a real problem.”
“We better get going guys.” Akane brought them back to reality. “The last time we took the trip it took the better part of a day to get there.”
Pan nodded her head. “Right. Akane, you’ll have to stay here. I don’t want to spend all my energy carrying Ranma and you out there.”
“Why does Ranma get to go and not me?” Akane was started to look angry.
“Have you been able to defeat Shampoo yet?”
Akane cast here gaze downward. “Well…no.”
“That’s what I thought. If this turns out to be an uneven fight, Ranma can keep Shampoo busy while I deal with the old fossil.”
“How is he going help you when he can barely move?”
“He can always ditch the clothes. And from what I can guess, that alone should be enough to keep Shampoo busy.”
Akane turned a heated gaze to Ranma. Ranma had kept silent intentionally this whole conversation for this exact reason.
Ranma threw up his hands. “I didn’t say nothin’, and I didn’t do nothin’.”
“Come on Ranma, Let’s go.”
Pan flew over and picked Ranma up by his armpits and rocketed up into the air. When they reached an altitude above the cloud level, Pan asked Ranma which way to go. Ranma pointed it out and they were on they’re way to meet Colonge in combat for the pride of the Amazon Tribe.
<Author’s note: This part is running a little long, so I’m going to cut it off here. All those with ADD will thank me. J>