Title: A Legend reborn
Author name: Trugeta

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ as well as Akira Toriyama and many others. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Note further that I don't own any of the trademarks mentioned in this story.

This story takes place after Movie 10 of Dragonball Z and at the beginning of the Ranma series. It's an AU, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.

Chapter 17: The hunt for the wayward Airen

Monday morning started out as a great many days at the Tendo home since Ryo-chan had moved in, at least at first. The difference of this particular Monday became soon clear, however; finally, after a seemingly endless time, Ryo-chan had been able to acquire her birthform; and boy had she been happy.

Ranma, who'd been waiting for his sparring partner to come down had been quite surprised to see an unknown male appear in the garden, and from within the house to boot. But instead of acting rashly he'd surveyed the newcomer, and had soon come to the conclusion that this had to be Ryoga. No one else had fangs, and no one else was wearing this type of bandanna around their head.

After some small talk their sparring session had begun, but to Ranma it had been anything but challenging. Even without going SSJ it had been embarrassingly easy to avoid Ryoga's blows, something which had frustrated the Hibiki boy to no end. This had changed, however, when Ryoga had hit the koi-pond for the first time; a disgruntled Ryo-chan had immediately turned SSJ, something which had made Ranma grin and respond to the challenge. Soon it had been a satisfying spar, but in the end both teens had agreed that they'd have to train Ryoga's normal form as well, boring and strenuous as it would be.

The attraction caused by the pheromones was still there, even if not as strong as before; it did only present a problem during training times, when the pheromones level shot sky-high, but both Saiyans were disciplined enough not to give in to their base urges. Ranma’s bond with his mates helped him very much in that regard and Ryo-chan’s revulsion at the mere thought of doing that with a guy was enough to cool her down.

Training and how to make it more effective was the topic at the breakfast table while everyone was busy munching breakfast. Ranma and Ryo-chan were working on a training schedule to ensure that both halves of her would be trained properly, and Ranma had already found a competent fighter to ensure exactly that.

Starting tomorrow Genma would be a (more than reluctant) participant in the morning spars of Ranma and Ryoga, and his job was to make things more challenging for his son while they trained the human half of the Hibiki boy. Genma knew that he was largely outclassed in means of power, and he’d tried everything to get out of it, but Ranma had been just too... persuasive.

Genma still grumbled and moaned, but he could at least draw comfort from the fact that he'd have every other day to recuperate… wait, scratch that, ever since Tuesday last week the dojo was practically flooded with students who wanted to learn martial arts, and he and Soun could barely keep up with the demand. In three words: he was screwed.

Ranma ignored his fathers' 'plight' completely as he was busy polishing his dish. Soun Tendo, who'd felt that he couldn’t do much to console his friend was busy reading his newspaper; Nabiki was enjoying her third cup of coffee, Akane helped herself to some more soup and Ryo-chan had already finished her third helping. All in all a typical breakfast in a typical family, only that anything was hardly ever normal at the Tendo home in the Nerima ward; at least ever since father and son Saotome had enriched the lives of the Tendo family.

-.-

Little later the four teens were en route to school. Ryoga had been quite disgruntled that he had to attend as Ryo-chan, but seeing as she had been registered as a female there wasn't much she could do. To just claim a clerical error didn't make much sense, seeing as the curse could activate at any time. However, Ryoga wanted to try anyway; despite the fact that he'd as good as accepted the curse he still didn't fancy the idea of attending PE as a girl together with all the other girls.

They'd just walked around a corner when the hope to attend school as a boy despite everything went up in smoke.

"Hey Lady," exclaimed a disgruntled and most of all wet Ryo-chan, "next time look where you're aiming!"

"Oh my!" exclaimed an old woman who carried a ladle, "Did I get you, Miss?"

"Obviously." a dripping wet Ryo-chan groused, her left eye twitching due to the Miss-comment.

"I'm sorry. Next time I'll be more careful. But my eyes aren't the best any more, you know."

"Yeah, whatever." Ryo-chan grumbled.

"Come on now, we gotta get to school or we'll be too late to put Kuno in his place." Ranma said, and three girls nodded (and one of them was really disgruntled and actually looked forward to put Kuno in his proper place).

"At least I got this attest from Dr. Tofu so that I don't have to wear a girls' uniform." Ryo-chan grumbled. "The thought of wearing a dress to school still gives me the creeps."

"And why is that?" Akane asked in a huff. "A girl has to wear proper clothing in public."

Ryo-chan growled. "Boy-turned-girl here, remember? I don't fancy wearing dresses, and you can't force me."

"We'll see about that." Akane said confidently.

Nabiki and Ranma, who'd been quiet throughout the exchange, shared a smile. It was fun to see the two bantering, and who knew, maybe more might grow from it. After all, Akane despised boys, and Ryoga was half-girl, and a very strong girl to boot...

Ranma stopped suddenly about a hundred yards from the closed gates to Furinkan High. His brows furrowed briefly, then a grin spread over his face. "Do you sense the same as I do, Ryo-chan?"

Said neo-girl stopped her bantering with Akane and concentrated. "Hey," she exclaimed, "it's working! There're only twenty-two boys plus Kuno waiting behind the gate!"

Akane grinned at her older sister. "Nabiki, you're a genius!"

Nabiki smirked like the cat that had eaten the canary. "I know. But thanks for saying so anyway."

Ranma snorted good-naturedly. "Okay, on with the show. Business as usual. Akane, you and Ryo-chan go in first and lay out the boys for a change; I'll follow and pluck the rose out of the air as usual. Alright?"

"Wait a few moments until I'm in on the grounds. I need to supervise the betting pool." Nabiki said.

Ranma and the two girls nodded, and the three knew that the remains of the Hentai Horde would ambush them as soon as Nabiki walked onto the school compound. Stupid perverts that they were, but they'd learned that Ranma, Nabiki, Akane and Ryo-chan always arrived together. Predictably, as soon as Nabiki entered the school compound, assisted over the wall by Ranma, the main gate was opened and the boys stormed outside, their assorted weaponry at the ready.

Their battle-cries died on their lips however when Ranma dropped the Umi-sen-ken and cracked his knuckles; forgotten was the plan of just snatching the rose out of the air, some light sparring was much more after his taste. Ryo-chan and Akane nodded and grinned at Ranma, and the three teens charged. Soon sounds of battle could be heard, but it was not going in favour of the Hentai Horde. Not at all...

-.-

Little later Ranma and Nabiki sat in their class, and considering how much strength the Saotome youth had put behind his punch it was safe to assume that Kuno was still on an all-expenses paid (unassisted) flight around the globe. Best of all, he and the girls had once more managed to make Kuno look bad; the older Kuno sibling was just too stupid to manoeuvre himself out of the situations he was placed in, just as Nabiki had predicted.

His attempts at banishing the rumour were more than funny, and when he'd wanted to pay Nabiki for damage control once he'd realised this the Saotome youth had seemingly appeared from thin air and had punted him over the horizon, yelling his trademark "Get your hands off of me, Kuno!".

Ranma had acted this rashly and had risked the revelation of their scheme due to one important fact: he'd seen that Nabiki had been tempted by the offer of one million yen. That had happened the Friday before the weekend at the Briefs, and Ranma was quite sure that she wouldn't be tempted again after she'd seen what someone with a Saiyan intellect could do.

School had started out normally after Kuno and the Horde had been rendered insensate, and the teaching staff at Furinkan had long since accepted that a new wind blew at school; most of the teachers were silently rejoicing that the insane son of the even more insane principal was finally getting what was coming for him, and watching Akane Tendo, Ranma Saotome and this new girl, Ryo, downing the Hentai Horde and Kuno morning after morning was a world of fun. Not to forget the fact that when one watched the three fight one had the feeling of having been thrown into a martial arts movie with all special effects included. Thus it was no wonder that a lot of teachers were rooting for the new students and Akane. However, not so Mr. Gonda, the Vice Principal, and the man would soon spill trouble for Ranma and his friends...

-.-

Blissfully unaware of that Ranma and Nabiki said through their classes, and aside from the fact that Ranma was actually paying attention in class with the result that he learned something Nabiki and he exchanged small smiles from time to time. Both knew that their friendship was on a good way to evolve into something more, and as both had said in their talk at day one, they'd see where it´d lead them.

At present they had geography, and due to the fact that Ranma had travelled far and wide he knew more than enough, at least in his opinion. Thus he used the time to reflect about the 'love-triangle' that was evolving; for lack of better terms he'd called his relationship to Kasumi and Nabiki a love-triangle, for he had equally strong feelings for both girls. He didn't know if it was love, for he'd never exactly known what love felt like. But this feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever he looked at either of the older Tendo sisters told him that he was interested in more than just their admittedly phenomenal physical attributes.

Nabiki on her part had watched Ranma closely while still paying attention in class (Kami-sama be blessed for multi-tasking), and knew that it was a bit selfish of her, but she had the strong feeling that Ranma was thinking about her. Which was a very nice thought. It had been a long time since anyone had ever been interested in Nabiki Tendo the person, and not in Nabiki Tendo, the Ice-queen without a conscience.

Ranma made her feel like a human being, he made her feel wanted, worthy, and it made her giddy. As giddy as the thrill of making money if not even more so, which was also the reason why she'd vowed not to have any more relapses into old behavioural patterns. In short, she was happy that she could be Nabiki the person around Ranma, even if she still maintained her shield in school and public.

She'd been the Ice-queen for too long as that she could just about stop her activities, and she was still supervising the betting pools, but she'd begun to relay a lot of responsibility to her second in command, Akemi Yugakawa. Soon the Ice-queen would be history, at the earliest once the Horde had been disbanded, at the latest after this school term.

The second hour was nearly over, and slowly, one by one the members of the Hentai Horde started trickling in. This time Ranma and the two girls had left a more lasting reminder in form of broken digits, and as the activities of Kuno and the Horde were being kept under wraps so had this. They'd probably cover it up as sports-accidents or something.

Kuno limped into the classroom a few minutes before break, heavily bandaged from head to toe, supporting himself on a bokken. "I shalleth get you yet, foul sorcerer Saotome!" he glared.

Ranma looked at the teacher who shrugged, then he got to his feet, towering over the delusional boy. "When will you finally get it," he glared right back, "that you've got a snowballs´ chance in hell to ensnare me? Look, I'm flattered, but even if I were gay, which I'm not, I could do a lot better. Get it through your thick skull, Kuno, I only like girls. Now sit down and shaddup."

While a lot of girls rejoiced (and Nabiki glared) Kuno sputtered. "I tell thou, vile demon, the mighty Blue Thunder hath never partaken in that kind of unnaturalness! How dareth thou to proclaim such lies about the noble scion of house Kuno!"

"Hey Kuno," Keitaro yelled, "how do ya explain that ya tried to grope me? That a lie too?"

"Yeah," Kenta added, "I saw it with my own two eyes! He muttered 'my fierce tiger' and tried to grope Keitaro. Kuno, you're as gay as they come!"

"How dareth thou!" Kuno bellowed, raising his bokken.

But before the insane boy could carry out a single move Ranma had grabbed a hold of Kunos right upper arm, applying crushing pressure to it. "As much as it makes me wanna hurl that I hafta touch you, I can’t allow that you harm a fellow student for speaking the truth." he said, and registered the look of honest thankfulness on Kentas face.

"Lies, all of them! Let go of me, vile sorcerer!" Kuno exclaimed, struggling against Ranmas steel-grip.

"Nope." Ranma said evenly, and his left hand grasped the bokken and snapped it in half. "Now either cool down or I'll punt you to the South Pole. There you can really cool down."

As Kuno continued to struggle and kept rambling on Ranma finally lost his patience. In one fluid move Ranma spun Kuno around and had already uppercutted the insane boy out of the classroom before anyone could blink.

Nabiki grinned. "The weather should remain good, the Kunos are flying high." she said dryly.

Nearly the whole class snorted. Ranma then looked at the teacher with a fake-sheepish expression. "Sorry for the new ventilation hole, teach."

"Not to worry, Mr. Saotome. The Kuno boy had it coming. I must say I fear that there's not much the administration can do to keep his problems under wraps."

"What exactly do you mean, teach? There's so much to choose from." Nabiki commented.

"True." the teacher said while everyone snickered. "I specifically meant his molestations of fellow male students. This is completely unacceptable, even for this highschool." he concluded with a twinkle in his eyes that betrayed that he knew very well what was really going on.

"So you mean it was perfectly alright as long as Kuno 'showered my sister' and Ryo with his 'affections'? How is this any different?" Nabiki asked to keep up appearances.

The teacher seemed to choose his words carefully. "I'm sad to say this, Miss Tendo, but it is different. As long as Kuno chased after girls it could be explained away as an over-healthy overreaching fixation of his, but now that he's shown his true colours it will be much harder to keep it under wraps. If it were to become public knowledge that the son of the principal is chasing boys it'd damage the reputation of this school greatly. That's why the administration will do everything to keep it secret. I must urge you to be careful, the vice principal might even go as far as notifying the principal."

"The principal!" the class chorused, looks of fright on all faces but Ranma’s and Nabiki's.

"What's so bad about that principal, Nabs?" Ranma asked, not noticing his use of the petname his Saiyan side had used in their ‘talk’.

Nabiki blushed faintly, but collected herself immediately. Inwardly she cried a ‘Yes!’ Before turning her head to look at Ranma. "Other than that he's a Kuno?" she asked with a raised brow.

"Okay, that's bad enough. Let me guess, he's as bad as his son, eh?" Ranma asked with an air of dejectedness.

"Sadly that guy is worse. He's not obsessed with girls, like Tatewaki, no, he has a hair-fetish." Nabiki began; at seeing Ranmas incredulous look she continued. "Goucho Kunos’ favourite punishment is to give boys a buzz-cut and girls a bowl-cut, regardless if that's against any rule or law. He just makes his own rules. Believe me, there’s a lot of stupid stuff he has pulled, and we all rejoiced when the idiot retired to Hawaii two years ago."

"Yes," the teacher added, "even we, the teachers were glad that he was gone; one can't rely describe his leadership of this school as anything but a reign of craziness and idiocy. But the administration might decide to notify him of the going ons. The principal wanted to be notified in case of emergencies, and his son apparently hitting on fellow male students... Well, I'd say that is an emergency."

Ranma and Nabiki shared a look, and while the pigtailed youth was unsure what to make of the situation the look of the middle Tendo daughter promised a full explanation later, and said at the same time that things weren't that bad. The Saotome youth nodded imperceptibly and returned his attention to the lesson once more.

Two minutes later the bell announced break, and Ranma and Nabiki exited the class-room together, the pigtailed Saiyan carrying his bentos in a backpack.

-.-

The two teens had walked towards an empty lot located in close proximity to the school so that the chance of their conversation being overheard was minimal. Once Ranma had used all of his senses to determine that no one was eavesdropping he nodded, then opened the first bento and made to ravish its contents.

Nabiki drew in her breathe. "First off, we can deal with the principal should he really return. The one thing that makes him dangerous is his craziness, which makes him unpredictable. From my prior dealings with him I'm pretty sure that he won't take well to resistance."

"Understood." Ranma said after he'd chewed and swallowed; he then picked up the next bento. "If we don’t take any shit from him he probably won't know how to react and might cave in. Nabs, we should get the others in our class to cooperate with us in such a case. If this loony returns I want to be prepared."

The middle Tendo daughter nodded. "Did you notice Kentas’ reaction when you defended him from Kuno? He was thankful. That's something we can use to our advantage."

Ranma nodded, polishing off the third bento. "True. Should this crazy principal return we'll be prepared."

Nabiki's eyes gleamed. "You have no idea how long I've waited to do something against the Kunos. Ever since the principal gave me a bowlcut, for which I took sweet revenge, I've longed to do something a bit more... permanent to them."

The pigtailed teen was about to say something when a female voice rang through the compound. "AIREN, WE HAS COME TO GET YOU!"

Ranma stared on in disbelief. "Airen... Airen... damn, I knew what that meant... but I can't remember!"

Nabiki looked at him with worried eyes. "Ranma, Airen is Chinese and means 'husband'. That can only mean one thing: the Amazons are here."

-.-

"Nabiki, I'll go and investigate. You follow whenever you deem it safe." with that Ranma cloaked himself in the Umi and was gone.

The middle Tendo daughter grumbled a bit, but saw the reasons why Ranma had gone off alone. If the Amazons were only a bit like he'd said, then they might react strongly to an 'outsider girl' accompanying the Airen of Amazons. But Nabiki asked herself how they could be as audacious to claim him as an Airen; after all, hadn't Ranma taken every precaution to ensure that he didn't knock them out?

Nabiki paled as a thought crossed her mind. 'I hope Ranma remembers that defeating them is out of the question. If he does they will have a claim, even if only by their own barbaric laws. I really have to use my channels to find out what can be done about them. No one hinders my progress with my stud.'

Her face settling into her ice-queen mask the middle Tendo daughter walked towards the school compound, and the first thing she noticed was the unusual silence that permeated the area. Scanning the area she noticed that someone or something was perched on the wall, balancing on a staff. From the description Ranma had given this had to be the Elder that had tried to capture him, Cologne. To her sides stood respectively three Amazons and one cloaked figure, and the middle Tendo daughter suppressed a gasp at seeing their attire and equipment. 'This is a small war party.' she realised. 'Ranma was right, they do want him at all costs. But how were they able to bypass the borders?'

Pushing these thoughts into the back of her mind she walked over to where Akane was standing. Or she tried to do so.

"Halt, outsider!" one of the Amazons on the wall exclaimed, jumping down.

"What?" Nabiki inquired, ignoring the drawn sword. “Wouldn’t it be you who’s the outsider, considering that you’re in my country?”

From the corner of her eye she noticed that Ranma was looking tense, and he was apparently ready to intervene at a moments notice should she need help. It was a comforting thought.

"Who is you to dare speak up?" the Amazon barked, edging closer.

"I'm Tendo Nabiki, and this is my school. You're blocking the way." she stated coolly.

The Amazon, Lin-Lin, didn't take too well to being talked back to. In a swift motion she had her sword at Nabiki's throat. "You have deathwish?" she inquired. "I is too glad..."

Whatever the Amazon had wanted to say was cut off when Ranma suddenly disappeared and reappeared right in front of the Amazon, already having snapped her sword in two. Akane and Ryo-chan, who had been limited to watching ever since Ranma had signed them to do nothing noticed, that the eyes of the troll-like woman nearly popped out of their sockets when Ranma moved.

"No one threatens Nabs and gets away with it." he growled, positioning him in front of her, thus facing the Amazons and the cloaked figure.

'He cares for the girl. Excellent. That is a weakness we can and will exploit.' Kuh Lon thought to herself, her stoicism allowing the barest hint of a smirk to appear on her face.

Her great-granddaughter jumped down, right in front of Ranma and Nabiki. "We come to retrieve bad Airen. Should know better than to flee from wives."

Ranma snorted. "Yer crazy. I never fought none of ya. Ya stupid girls knocked yerself out. So even by yer own laws I ain't nobody's Airen." he stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

His dismissal incensed all Amazons but the Elder and the cloaked figure. The other five girls jumped down too, stepping beside the girl Ranma knew to be Shampoo. "You is dis... disobedient. Must learn proper place." an Amazon commented.

"Yes, male who not knows place will learn place." another Amazon girl added, brandishing her sword.

"And yer girls are gonna teach me?" Ranma asked with a snort. "Hardly."

"Ranma is right." Nabiki said. "You have no legal ground for this, so you better be careful before they'll deport you to China."

"You is obstacle." Shampoo exclaimed with a glare. "Obstacles are for killing!"

With that she tried to bash Nabiki's skull in; tried, because Ranma caught the bonborri effortlessly and crushed it one-handed. Next he grabbed a hold of Nabiki, pressed her against his body and flared his ki. This had the effect that the Amazon girls were blown off their feet; Shampoo, who'd been closest to Ranma was literally blown into the wall, her second bonborri sailing through the air in a high arc. The purple-haired Amazon was just about to get to her feet when her bonborri impacted her head, inducing instant unconsciousness.

Elder Cologne cackled. "This affirms our claim on you, outsider. I hereby declare my great-granddaughter the sole wife of the outsider."

“WHAT?” Ranma and Nabiki exclaimed in unison.

“Ya gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’!” Ranma added, a red glow surrounding him.

“That’s the greatest bunch of bullshit I’ve ever heard!” agreed Nabiki, loosing her cool for once.

Through all this Cologne, the matriarch of the Amazons looked smug; she finally had a claim on this fine male specimen, or rather, her great-granddaughter had. “You can do nothing. Our laws are quite clear: you defeated her, you’re her husband. Simple as that!”

"My Shampoo!" the cloaked figure had exclaimed at the same time, jumping to the ground in a swift motion while Ranma and Nabiki were engaged in a glaring contest with Cologne; her fellow Amazons kept their distance from the couple, seeing that Ranma still glowed a disquieting red.

“Did he just say his ‘Shampoo’?” asked a student puzzled, referring to what Mousse had shouted.

“Yeah, I heard the same. Does that guy want to wash his hair or what? Weird.” another student said.

Elder Cologne ignored the students entirely as she switched her focus to her great-granddaughter. "Don't worry, boy. She's just unconscious." she said after a few moments.

The cloaked figure didn't seem to have heard her. Brown eyes flashed under the hood, and seconds later steel flashed as a battery of knives and shurikens flew from the sleeves of the cloaked boy. "For what you did to my Shampoo you'll pay!" he yelled.

The audience watched petrified how the deadly weapons flew straight at Ranma and Nabiki. That the boy had thrown the various weapons at him was forgivable, he was a warrior, he could defend himself. That he'd hazarded the consequences of killing Nabiki was completely unacceptable and unforgivable. His mind made up Ranma switched into full fighting mode.

-.-

Analysing the vector and flightpath of the deadly weapons Ranma immediately came to the conclusion that they'd hit innocent bystanders should he just evacuate Nabiki and himself from their flightpath. Growling to himself he gathered his ki. "ONYX WAVE!" he yelled, and a yellow-green energy-wave, which was his variant of the trademark Kamehameha-wave, rocketed towards the incoming knives and shurikens, completely annihilating them on contact. Ranma raised his arms upwards and remote-controlled the energy-wave upwards.

He only noticed at the last possible second that his opponent had drawn a sword and was slashing at him in the same motion, and he just had time to raise his hands once more before he was forced to leap sideways. Just as Ranma evaded the attack the Onyx Wave exploded one mile above their heads, and with enough force to rattle the windows in a radius of ten miles.

Nabiki noticed with satisfaction that the Elder looked at bit pale, before the sensation of moving very fast assaulted her senses. A second later she found herself standing beside her sister, and Ranma, who'd slung an arm around her waist looked at her with a serious expression. "Stay out of this at all costs, this is beyond dangerous. Use the Umi if need be, but don't let them get you. And don't interfere, I need a clear field. Understood?" he asked with his ki-backing his voice.

"Yes, sensei." both Tendo sisters said.

"Ryo-chan," he then said, "I trust you with their lives. Turn Super if needed, but don't let any harm befall them, ‘kay?"

"Understood, Ranma. Anyone who wants to get to Akane and Nabiki has to go through me first." she said and cracked her knuckles.

Ranma nodded with a small smile, and in the next second he was already gone, only to reappear in front of his opponent. "The name's Ranma Saotome. Who are you? I like to know who I beat to a bloody pulp." he smirked.

The cloaked boy growled and removed his cloak, revealing a handsome raven-haired young man with brown eyes. "I know who you are, Saotome! I am Mousse of the Joketsuzoku, and I'll be your end! For what you did to my Shampoo you shall die!"

"Silly Mousse," Shampoo said as she staggered to her feet, "need new Airen in one piece."

Then she looked at Ranma. "Wo ai ni, Airen. You come back to China with Shampoo now."

Ranma slapped his forehead. "How can anyone be so full of themselves?" he sighed. "This is so not my week." he complained.

With a growl he trained icy-blue eyes on the Amazon. "But of course I'll leave with you to China, I'll burn every bridge just for you. It isn't as if I had a life here." he said, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice.

"Too too good, Airen! We leave now, go back to China and make strong daughters." Shampoo exclaimed happily, the sarcasm completely lost on her.

Another person hadn't caught on the sarcasm either. "How dare you steal my Shampoo! DIE, SAOTOME RANMA!" Mousse yelled.

Yet more weapons flew from Mousses’ sleeve, throwing stars, shurikens, daggers, knives and even potty trainers only being a few examples. Seeing that Ranma had been standing with his back towards the wall he deemed it safe to escape the volley of weapons by leaping out of the way. A high backwards somersault carried him over the wall that surrounded the school compound, and Ranmas destination was now the empty lot behind the school building where he and Nabiki had talked not too long ago. To Ranma it seemed as if that talk about the principal had taken place a lifetime ago, and he cursed the Chinese curse that damned him to a very interesting life.

From the other side of the wall he could hear Mousses’ shout. "Yes, flee, you coward! But I'll get you yet!"

Ranma just grinned to himself; he knew that Nabiki and Akane were safe with Ryo-chan, for not even the troll would be able to beat her if she went Super. He'd noticed Ryo-chans´ attitude towards Akane with interest; it would be interesting to see if something developed between the two. After all, Ryoga was half-girl, thus the ideal catch for someone who despised boys. Chuckling to himself he concentrated on the fight, and in a few big leaps he´d reached the lot. Crossing his arms over his chest he waited.

-.-

Ranma Saotome, human-turned-Saiyan and newly Amazon-plagued warrior didn't have to wait long. His senses told him that all Amazons were approaching, with Mousse in the lead. He growled in annoyance when he noticed, that Nabiki's ki was drawing nearer too, accompanied by Akane's and Ryo-chans. Ranma chuckled to himself; the headstrong middle Tendo daughter must have convinced her guard to watch the fight, and he'd give good odds that she'd used Ryo-chans’ weak spot: she couldn't resist watching a good fight either.

Mere seconds later Mousse came at him, while the other Amazons held themselves to the sidelines. The Amazon boy attacked in a predictable pattern; he threw two volleys of weapons at Ranma, obviously in hopes that the weapons would be successful due to their numbers. These hopes shattered almost immediately. "ULTIMATE BLAZE!" he yelled, and a blue-green beam of light, six inches wide, incinerated everything in its path, scorching the grass.

The Amazon girls looked wide-eyed at the destruction and the obvious prove of power on Ranmas part, before they got themselves under control, eyeing him with a superior air. However, the Saotome youth noticed the underlying look of fear, and though he hated the thought that he had put it there, a position of unrelenting strength was necessary in dealing with this crazy bunch of chicks.

His opponents right foot suddenly lashed out, and something told Ranma that this was hardly a normal kick. Instead of catching the foot he sucked in his gut and let the kick bypass him, seeing the gleam of metal as the shoe missed him. 'A metal spike.' Ranma realised. 'That dishonourable bastard. Okay, no more nice Ranma.'

Ranma caught the left-legged kick that followed up and used a focussed ki-blast to melt the spike away; touching it was out of the question, seeing as it might be poisoned. The Saotome youth growled at this. This idiot was out to gut him, and he obviously used every means available to reach this end. This perversion, this twisting of an Art meant to help and protect angered Ranma greatly, and he only barely kept himself from going Super. But that was his trump card, and he'd only reveal it if absolutely necessary.

In the one second Ranma had been distracted Mousse performed a backwards somersault to free himself and connect a hit to Ranmas jaw at the same time. This manoeuvre might have worked had Mousses´ opponent been human, but the Saiyan reflexes Ranma possessed were much faster. In a flash Ranma had caught Mousse by the foot, and the Chinese boy was now hanging upside down from Ranmas steel grip. The Saotome youth growled, and seconds later the spike in Mousses´ right boot shared the fate of its brother.

With another growl Ranma whirled around and threw Mousse into a convenient wall. "I hate people like you. Perverters of the Art, who just use it to fulfil their base desires. The Art is meant to protect, and not as a tool for you so you can reach your selfish goals. You should be shamed by your actions!"

Mousse regarded him with an odd look that clearly asked 'and what have you been smoking?'. "And I will protect my Shampoo from you, Saotome. Now that my usual tactics have failed its time for the big guns." he said with a smirk.

The Amazon boy produced something from his sleeve, and Ranma readied him for an attack. He was completely unprepared when the ‘weapon’ turned out to be a bottle filled with what seemed to be simple water, which Mousse opened. 'Does he want to drink? Shitty timing for that.' Ranma thought.

But Mousse was not thirsty, and when he raised the bottle over his head it was Nabiki who'd put the clues together. "RANMA, LOOK OUT! JUSENKYO!"

However, it was already too late. Right before their eyes Mousse doused himself with cold water, and transformed...

to be continued...

Thanks for reading. Also, thanks to everyone for helping me out with suggestions, comments, ideas and c&c in general. Special thanks go to the people at Shinjis board.

I know, I know, the evil, blasted cliffhanger. But I had to end it here. Plot bunnies for ‘Chaotic Rebirth’ kept on gnawing at me, and I had to act on them. As for that, you can expect the next update on Monday.

As for this story, I can promise a lot more action for the next chapter. That here was but a hint of what is to come…

On another note, a reviewer asked if I planned on including Goku. Well, I don’t really have an opinion on this. The story could well work without him, but it wouldn’t be too hard to include him. What is your opinion on this, dear readers? Should Goku be in or not? Your opinion is asked! Thanks!

Many thanks to those of you who were kind enough to leave reviews for the last chapter(s):

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