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 18: Icy Rage

On the lookout Piccolo and Dende were engrossed in their meditations when the appearance of a strong ki brought them to full attention. "An Icejin." Piccolo stated. "It seems we didn't catch all of them. And they must have learned a few new tricks, seeing as we didn't sense this one beforehand."

Dende nodded. "It seems so, Piccolo-san. But Ranma is already handling it."

"I'll notify the others that intervention won't be necessary. Ranma should be strong enough to dispose of what little threat this Icejin poses." Piccolo said and concentrated.

'It seems as if I was right. Ranma's life is sufficiently chaotic by itself to draw challengers to him. Actions on our part are unnecessary.' Dende thought.

The little Kami had just finished this thought when Piccolo looked up. "Everyone aside from Vegeta has confirmed." he said with a growl.

"I can understand him, Piccolo-san. He still hates the Icejins for what they and especially Frieza did to his race, and him. Hate dies hard." Dende said sagely.

"Too true, kid." Piccolo agreed and concentrated on the fight once again.

Seconds later Dende closed his eyes and did the same.

-.-

Two fighters were standing in the empty lot behind Furinkan High, and silence permeated the area as they seized each other up. Just the wind was blowing as one permanently human-turned-Saiyan and a Jusenkyo cursed human-turned-Icejin took to a glaring contest, neither giving in the slightest. Even without knowing the hate and animosities between the races they glared at each other with absolute malice. Ranma, because he hated how Mousse twisted the Art into a perversity of itself and made it into a tool to reach his selfish goals; Mousse, because he viewed Ranma as an obstacle to his perfect love with Shampoo. And obstacles were for killing.

Icejin-Mousse floated upwards slowly, his hateful eyes never leaving Ranma's. An evil grin played on his face due to the fact that he thought Ranma incapable of flight, and he got ready to use his supposed advantage. His grin was soon replaced by an angry scowl when Ranma floated upwards too, cracking his knuckles. That Mousse had changed into something out of a B-movie had come as a surprise for the pigtailed Saiyan, but Mousses' powerlevel was nothing to laugh at despite his laughable looks. Actually, he seemed to be on par with his normal form, and the warrior in him welcomed the chance to engage in real combat.

The Saotome youth noticed that all Amazons, the Elder included, were watching him with looks of astonishment, apparently due to the casual demonstration of his flight-abilities. 'Heh, if this fight gets really hot I might show them with what they're trying to mess. But as long as I can hold my own against Mousse in my normal form I won't go Super. I want to enjoy this fight before I make short work of him. Besides, if they underestimate me I might just learn something useful. Heh, sometimes pops teachings are worth sumthin' after all.'

Ranma smirked at Mousse and made a come hither-motion, and the angry Amazon obliged all too gladly. The human-turned-Icejin shot forward with impressive speed, and for nearly everyone he seemed to blur. Ranma's smirk widened due to the surprised look on Mousse's face as he blocked the initial attack, a punch to the gut. 'This might just turn into a good fight.' he thought as his right leg lashed out in a snap kick.

This time Mousse blocked the kick, and subsequently fired an energy-blast at close range. Ranma batted it away casually, but realised in the second as the blast exploded in the sky that this fight was going to get dangerous. Not for him, but for sure for the spectators. "NABIKI" he yelled, "GET THESE PEOPLE INTO THE SCHOOL BUILDING! THIS FIGHT IS GOING TO GET HO... OOFF!"

The air was forcefully driven from Ranma's lungs courtesy of a fist buried in his gut, and as an elbow impacted his backside with force he mentally cursed himself for letting his guard down. He impacted the ground moments later, creating a sizeable crater in the process. Ranma jumped out of the crater with a growl not a second later, his shirt hanging in tatters. "So you wanna play rough, eh, asshole? Gonna get it. Nabiki, get those people away! The kids gloves are off now!" he yelled and catapulted himself into the air.

He came at Mousse faster than a cruise missile at top speed and let lose a hailstorm of energy-blasts. Mousse raised a brow and dodged and weaved around the blasts with ease. "If that's all you got then you'll be dead in a few seconds, Saotome!" the Amazon taunted.

Instead of rising to the bait Ranma smirked confidently. "I didn't even get started, pus-face."

His senses told him that the ki-signatures of Nabiki, Akane and Ryo-chan were moving towards the school building, and he was glad that the Amazons didn't even seem to think of stopping them. As far as he could tell they were much too spellbound by the fight. Grinning to himself Ranma raised his powerlevel somewhat, and casually deflected a violent combo of Mousse. In the following minute or two the combatants tested the others defences, which suited Ranma just fine. He'd only get really serious once he knew that Nabs was in relative safety. And this was the case... now.

-.-

Ranma raised his powerlevel to its current maximum in his normal form, and he could hear the song of battle in his ears once more as his blood flowed faster through his veins. Grinning like Vegeta at his best Ranma shot forward at a speed that surprised Mousse greatly. A mid-air leg-sweep and punch-combo met the Amazon unprepared, and the double-fisted blow to the head that followed sent Mousse rocketing towards the ground.

The Amazon made painful acquaintance with the ground, and dirt sprayed everywhere. Ranma remained floating in mid-air and crossed his arms over his chest; he'd wait for Mousse to get back into the fight instead of finishing it right now. If he wanted to he could've gone Super and would've finished Mousse in under a minute, but the warrior in him wanted to enjoy the battle, wanted to thrive in it. Ranma also sensed that there was more to Mousse than met the eye, and he wanted to coax everything out of this battle. A convincing victory against a worthy but honourless bastard of an opponent, that was what he wanted. He felt that this would be what could convince the Amazons best to lay off. That or turning Super in their faces and start frying their asses.

It didn't take said honourless opponent long to come to his feet, and Mousse immediately fired a barrage of energy blasts at the floating Ranma. When the Saotome youth dodged and weaved around the blows it became clear that the attack had only been a decoy, and the real attack followed in form of a downright vicious combo consisting of kicks, punches and energy-attacks. But as Ranma had had his guard up none of the blows managed to bypass his defences.

Mousse growled at his inability to land a decisive blow, and raised his powerlevel. Ranma grinned in anticipation, and his grin grew even wider when he blocked a strong roundhouse-kick to the head. "So you're not hopeless after all." he smirked and countered with a blast-punch-kick-combo that had Mousse on the defensive, but the snarling human-turned-Icejin's guard held.

In the following minutes blows were traded back and forth, neither one giving or gaining in the fight. This was until Ranma used one of Vegeta's moves after a surprise blow to the ribs had sent him sailing backwards. Beyond angry Ranma gathered energy with both arms behind his shoulder, and suddenly brought the energy forward at waist level. "WILDFIRE CANNON, FIRE!" he yelled and released an energy blast about the size of an Onyx Wave.

The destructive blast hit Mousse dead on, and exploded with tremendous force. The Saotome youth couldn't see how much damage the energy attack had done, but that was of secondary importance. He'd used this strong an attack to drive home the point that he was no one to be trifled with, and from the looks on the Amazon's faces this point had been driven home. 'Good.' the thought with a smirk. 'The sooner they realise what they're up against the better. For them.' "And that was the weakest version, ya old ghoul!" he yelled down at the Amazons.

A grin spread on his face when he saw that he'd shaken them up further, then Ranma fixed his eyes on the rapidly clearing cloud of smoke his blast had caused; seconds later he could finally see that his attack had done a fair amount of damage to Mousse. From what he could see his opponent had suffered several cuts and bruises as well as minor and medium burns. However, that was nothing on what he planned to add to Mousse's list of injuries. An evil gleam entered his eyes as he realised that he'd be able to use all of the midair moves of the Saotome school on Mousse; the asshole was sure as hell tough enough. 'Mousse, prepare for pain.' he thought and cracked his knuckles.

However, a dry chuckle from Mousse stopped him in his tracks (and in mid-flight), a few yards away from his opponent with a ki-blast in each palm. Curiosity getting the better of him he let them dissipate and looked at the Amazon boy with a raised brow. "What now? Ready to give up already?"

Mousse's chuckling continued. "Far from it, Saotome." he said in an odd baritone. "I hadn't planned on using this, but seeing as you're a tad bit stronger than I expected you'll have the honours."

"Honours?" Ranma asked. "What do you mean?"

"THIS!" Mousse yelled, and he started to power up. Ranma was immediately pushed back by the energy Mousse was suddenly exuding, and the Amazon was surrounded by an aura of power.

'Now this could get really interesting...' Ranma thought.

Mousse's yell continued, and his power-level grew in leaps and bounds. Soon he'd reached a level comparable to that of a SSJ, and once he was finished a satisfied smirk graced his changed features.

Aside from the obvious increase in power his appearance had changed too; Mousse's body mass had increased and two horns protruded from his forehead, and his tail had grown longer and thicker. In short, it made him look ugly as all hell, but also very powerful.

Gauging from the self-satisfied look on his face Mousse hadn't looked into a mirror lately, and really, the only thing that mattered at the moment was power. However, a smirking Ranma was not about to reveal the true extent of his powers as of yet.

Before he'd do that to end the fight he wanted to find out if the powerlevel of his normal form could or would grow to or beyond the powerlevel of his SSJ-form. He'd had this idea late last night when he'd thought about his own increases in ki. Lately he'd done everything to push his SSJ-powerlevel and had come quite far, further than anyone had thought possible.

But then a thought had crossed his mind. What would happen if he were to raise the powerlevel of his base form? Wouldn't that affect his SSJ form directly and increase its powerlevel as well, pushing it constantly higher? It was a sound theory, and how better to verify it but in a serious fight?

With a grin he ducked from what seemed to be an invisible blow, causing Mousse's punch to miss. He countered with a ki-blast that pushed his opponent back and followed this up with a crescent kick; the powered up Amazon deflected the blow easily and fired a right back kick at Ranma. The pigtailed Saiyan was unable to avoid it and only managed to exhale all of the air from his lungs for best possible compensation, but the actual hit felt like a two-ton-hammer to the side.

A low growl escaped Ranma's throat as his anger flared, and he noticed that his ki grew. Focussing his anger on Mousse he used all of his speed to spring a high kick to the face with the heel of the right foot. The kick connected with a satisfying THWACK and Mousse's head snapped back. Ranma followed this up with rapid punches to the chest and abdomen, but not many got through due to the fact that Mousse reestablished his defences fast.

Mousse countered and dropped into a low combo that ended in a brutally fast kick that Ranma narrowly avoided. He tried to counter with a roundhouse-kick, but Mousse deflected it casually. The Saotome youth noticed however that his own ki was steadily growing, which seemed to prove that he was onto something with his theory.

Ranma watched his opponent and saw the anger that marred Mousse's features, accompanied by an increase in power. 'Shit.' Ranma thought. 'If he keeps this up I won't be able to compensate for long.'

He'd just finished the thought when he felt a sharp pain, and the next he knew was the sensation of falling towards the ground. Mousse had obviously used his increased speed to land a hard blow to his head, and damn, that hurt like a bitch! Ranma had a glimpse of the ground fast approaching, and then felt said ground cave beneath him as he impacted.

Groaning a bit he got to his feet, only to look into the alien face of Icejin-Mousse. With an evil smirk his right foot lashed out and kicked Ranma high into the air, then he seemed to disappear again. In reality Mousse used all of his speed to appear in the flightpath of Ranma, and he managed to overtake him. Waiting twenty feet above him Mousse readied a double-fisted axe-blow and brought it down just at the exactly right moment.

Ranma hit the ground with tremendous force a few seconds later, and dirt sprayed up in all directions. A smirking Mousse phased to the ground, crossing his arms in front of the dust-cloud. "And, ready to give up and die now, Saotome?" he taunted.

"Silly Mousse!" Shampoo yelled. "Ranma is not for killing, tribe need him alive!"

"I don't care. He's an obstacle to my perfect love with you, my Shampoo. And obstacles are for killing." Mousse stated coldly.

"Don't interfere with my plans, boy." the Elder said from her place amidst the Amazon girls, beating her great-granddaughter to the punch and preventing her from saying something stupid. "We need Saotome Ranma as breeding stock so that our tribe stands a chance against the legendary tribes we thought lost. Or have you forgotten that already?"

"Feh, I'm more than strong enough to handle them, old mummy." Mousse spat.

Cologne cackled. "You think you could stand against the leaders of the Phoenix and the Musk, boy? Hardly. And do you really think we'd use your cursed form as breeding stock? Do I look as if I want to contaminate the tribe with something as ugly as you? No warrior maiden would let you within ten metres of her, let alone her hut."

"Too too true!" several Amazons exclaimed from the sidelines.

Mousse scoffed. "We'll see what they say once I have killed Saotome. Then I'll have proven that I'm the strongest."

Cologne scowled. "No killing, fool. Remember, I could do far worse to you than the curse you have at present."

"Only if I let you, old mummy. And now excuse me while I kill Saotome." Mousse said uncaring.

"Foolish youngling. Do you really think I hadn't ensured your loyalty before you received your curse? °Freeze°!" she commanded.

Mousse's body locked up instantly. "What in the name of the Goddess did you do to me, you old ghoul?" he yelled.

"I placed posthypnotic commands into your mind before you were cursed at Jusenkyo, and I’ve other ways as well to ensure your obedience, male. My fellow Elders and I can render you helpless as easy as that." she cackled. "Once I release you, you will capture Saotome Ranma, understood?" Cologne commanded.

Mousse growled, but after fighting the influence upon his body without success he finally gave in. "Yes, you dried up old mummy. For now you win."

Cologne looked him dead in the eyes. "I always win, youngling. It's just a question of time, but the outcome is still the same. °Defreeze°!"

The Amazon boy growled when he could move again. He graced Cologne with a burning glare, but the old matriarch glared right back. "Don't even think about attacking me, youngling, or I'll freeze you again, and then I'll add some nice new curses to your current one and leave you frozen for all eternity so that my fellow sisters may laugh at you."

Shampoo looked satisfied, and Cologne's threat worked obviously quite well, as it was obvious that it caused Mousse to reign his anger in. "Understood. Now excuse me while I pummel Saotome." he said and cracked his knuckles, a look of gleeful anticipation prevalent on his face.

-.-

Ranma had laid low ever since the old ghoul had interfered. He'd used his ki to split himself in half using Gohan's manoeuvre so that he could observe the going-ons from a safe position; one part of him had remained in the crater, seemingly half-unconscious, while the clone had observed hidden under the Umi. What he'd learned from the 'conversation' was really interesting. It was now obvious that the obsessed fool Mousse was just a means to an end for the Amazons, which came as no big surprise; but the way the Elder had assured that Mousse couldn't turn into a loose cannon was beyond evil. Damn, this stone-old woman was ruthless.

Shaking his head at the fact that these people didn't give a damn about his wishes or that of anyone else outside their matriarchal society, or the question if he wanted to live in China in their backwater village or not enraged him. So they wanted to use him as breeding stock so that they stood a chance against those Phoenix and Musk people, whatever those were. Mousse was just a figure in a game of chess that should ensure this, he was a rook that could be used at the Amazons' convenience, a tool; but how the hell had the idiot gotten the idea that he wanted to take 'his' Shampoo away from him? That thought was completely ridiculous, but sadly just par for the course for his life.

Growling about the idiocy of it all he answered to what Mousse had said last. "Fat chance of that, asshole. If anyone's gonna get pummelled it's you. Now I'm gonna kick your ass big time!" he said icy-cold and got up while he integrated the clone into himself.

Ranma decided that he'd learned enough and began to power up, and the dust-cloud was forcefully blown away by the energy he was exuding. He made it a show to switch into his SSJ-form slowly, and relished in the disbelieving looks of the Amazons when he was suddenly surrounded by a golden glow. He grinned nastily when his muscles began to bulge all over his body.

However, the leers on some of the Amazon girl's faces sent a shiver done his spine. Power seemed to attract the weirdoes indeed, even if they were beautiful weirdoes. 'Back down, you!' Ranma thought, forcefully repressing the naughty thoughts his mind conjured. Inwardly he shook his head while he transformed; his urges were a lot stronger in this form, but he'd be damned to hell and back before he'd start something with those crazy Amazon chicks, as beautiful as they were.

He finished his power-up with a final yell, and the shockwave resulting from that sent all Amazons except Mousse reeling. "Now you know what you're up against, ya arrogant old ghoul. Once I'm finished with him," he pointed at Mousse, "I'll come for you. I long to settle the score between us."

Cologne looked into the teal eyes of Ranma and noticed the promise of violence beyond bounds in them, and she barely suppressed a shudder. Then, before even Mousse could react Ranma moved, and to Cologne and her fellow Amazons he just seemed to wink out of existence; the next they saw was Mousse flying backwards over the lot, a look of pain on his face. The cursed Amazon boy crashed straight through an array of trees, and remained lying in a sprawled heap.

Ranma turned his head over to the Amazons and shot Cologne an icy glare. "And so I begin."

-.-

The Head Elder of the Joketsuzoku was still recovering from the facefault she'd suffered from in face of such overwhelming power; Saotome Ranma had turned into a veritable powerhouse, and that development was very alarming. She'd been sure that Mousse's cursed form would be strong enough to defeat the outsider that had defeated even her, but now she was not so sure any more.

Saotome Ranma's transformation made the situation a lot more dangerous than thought, and it gave her every reason to be worried for her own health and the continued existence of the tribe. But in her mind there hadn't been an alternative to chasing Saotome Ranma, his abilities just made him too precious for them; they had to strengthen the tribe, especially considering that they'd learned that the legendary tribe of the Phoenix people was much more than just a legend.

Many of her sisters had disappeared close to a particular mountain, and the Joketsuzoku had only learned by chance that the legendary Phoenix people were very real when one of their warriors had survived an attack by a hairsbreadth and had managed to inform the tribe before she'd expired. The council assumed from the proof for the existence of the legendary tribe that another legend, the legend of the Phoenix God Saffron, might be true as well.

Careful as they were the other Elders and she had placed the tribe on high alert and made plans; if Saffron really possessed god-like powers they needed to be able to deal with him, and they'd realised that 3000 years of proud Amazon history and martial arts techniques wouldn't save them from Saffron's legendary attacks that were rumoured to be able to destroy just about anything. Which was the reason why they refrained from attacking the mountain they'd nicked Phoenix Mountain. They'd no intel on Saffron and his people, and sacrificing more of their sisters to gain said intel had been ruled out.

Their initial plan had been to use potent cursed springs to create a taskforce, but the only known safe potent cursed spring had been the Niuhoomanmaorenniichuan, and none of their warrior maidens had been willing to become this nightmare. Jusenkyo curses also held the problem of inopportune changes, thus this plan had been discarded. Hence a new plan had been thought up, and that one contained the doctrine to find powerful outsiders and bring them into the tribe. Preferably some of these super-powered beings that were rumoured to exist around the globe. To this end the Council had sent teams out into the world with the mission to convince those outsiders in case they found them, and convince them by any means possible outside hostilities.

The survival of the tribe was of utmost importance, and they'd redoubled their efforts when they'd come to know that another legendary tribe, the Musk, mightn't be as extinct as thought. Thus she'd not hesitated a second when she'd encountered Saotome Ranma, an outsider with the greatest potential she'd ever seen.

But now she was not so sure that her the-ends-justify-the-means approach had been wise, and she'd to admit to herself that her eagerness to bring Saotome Ranma into the tribe had clouded her senses; and it had cost her. The young man had turned out very dangerous, and seldom before had she witnessed such power, scratch that, never before. Only the boys' power came close, and with him she had means to keep him under control. How she'd accomplished this had been one of her masterpieces. She'd used Mousse's obsession with her great-granddaughter to convince the boy to try out one of the new, dangerous springs of Jusenkyo. After they'd been unable to retrieve Saotome Ranma in the valley of cursed springs she had been understandably indignant, and the Jusenkyo guide's lapse of notifying them of prime breeding material had given her the opportunity to 'discuss' some things with him.

In the end he had pointed her to a newly created spring, arisen from the death of a strange, but powerful creature. The guide had called it the spring of drowned Icejin, and once Mousse had been cursed the magic of the spring had vanished, much to her irritation. But it had been logical, seeing how much magical energy it took to contain so much power; as soon as the magic had transferred the curse to its new host it was only logical that it had vanished from the spring.

Once she had realised that the spring had made Mousse into the most powerful being she'd ever seen she initially cursed herself for not jumping into the pool herself; yet caution had been more important in her position, and an unfortunate curse for a mere male was considered acceptable any day. But Mousse's cursed form had turned out to be very powerful, and she'd thought that it would be enough to bring Saotome Ranma to his knees.

Due to his obsession Mousse was the ideal male to do the dirty work, and a few modifications to the story of how they'd met Saotome Ranma had been enough to send Mousse into a fit of rage. He'd instantly agreed to undergo the 'meditations' she'd assured him were necessary. In the end she'd gotten an incredibly powerful male under her control, but it seemed that their intended target was even more powerful. She didn't know what it was he had transformed into, but she'd been able to feel his power, and it had frightened her; for the first time in over 250 years she felt the cold grip of fear around her heart, and it was not a pleasant feeling.

Cologne was realist enough to know that she had reason to fear Saotome Ranma, a 'mere' male. She'd already found out that he was as well immune to pressure points as to Jusenkyo, and the method she'd used to ensure Mousse's obedience wouldn't work either, probably. That left the option to apply pressure through his family and friends, but if she did that she could be sure of the undying hate of Saotome Ranma. Was their ambition to bring him into the tribe worth that? Or was all lost already, and using such tactics couldn't possibly worsen the situation?

It was safe to say that Saotome Ranma was a wildcard, and a very dangerous one. It seemed as if they'd made a very powerful enemy, one who could probably eradicate their village with ease, which led the Elder to reevaluate her prior course of action. And while she made a decision on how to handle the problem that Saotome Ranma posed the fight raged on.

-.-

The Prince of all Saiyans stood on the rooftop of the Furinkan school-building unnoticed by all, his arms crossed above his chest in his trademark posture. He had been very tempted to just barge in into the fight and blow the ugly Icejin up, but as any good tactician he had observed and analysed the going-ons before doing anything. Besides, Ranma was apparently having his fun.

Due to the fact that his power-level suppressor and cloaking device were activated he had been able to fly the distance at full SSJ-speeds completely unnoticed, and he'd arrived just in time to come to know that there was more to this Icejin than met the eye. True, he was hell-bent on killing Ranma, that much was obvious, but his fellow Saiyan had called the Icejin 'Amazon'. That had given Vegeta pause and had prompted him to observe further, and due to his keen Saiyan hearing he'd been able to catch what that old human onna had said.

So this ugly-as-hell Icejin was really a cursed human. 'Very interesting.' Vegeta thought as he felt and saw Ranma turn SSJ, absently noting that the powerlevel of the brat had grown once again, 'It seems as if I should pay this 'Jusenkyo' a visit. If it can turn normal humans into such dangerous creatures it must be eradicated. Threats from the outside are one thing, but the Prince of all Saiyans won't tolerate threats to his family from the inside.'

His decision affirmed to do away with this Jusenkyo Vegeta continued to watch what he assessed as a good fight.

-.-

Mousse had been surprised by the power behind the blow, and whatever it was that Saotome had transformed into, it could seemingly keep up with his higher form. A low growl escaped him. He would not lose, not to Saotome, and not in front of his Shampoo. He jumped to his feet with a snarl and an angry yell escaped him as he powered up further. He'd never tried out his full potential in the higher form as that might have been a reason for the old mummy to do something stupid, but now he had no other choice. Consequences be damned, he would kill Saotome.

His power-up finished he shot forward, and both combatants met in mid-air; blows were exchanged immediately and at a speed that most people would regard unholy. The force of their blows sent shockwaves through the air that damaged the surrounding vicinity, and the spectators stared in awe. This wasn't just like in the movies, this was way better. Mutterings had started among the students who'd seeked shelter in the school-building, but Ranma ignored the comments his keen hearing picked up.

He snarled in anger; once more he'd made the mistake to refrain from using his full power, as he'd started out as a basic SSJ to prolong the battle in order to punish Mousse more thoroughly; seeing that his powerlevel had been above that of the transformed Amazon boy this had sounded like a good strategy at the time, but now Mousse had pulled another rabbit out of the hat, and now he had to go one further.

With a growl he reached into himself and pulled out all of the energy he had, and didn't even feel the kick that glanced his ribs. His golden SSJ aura doubled in size and his muscle-mass increased even more, and once he'd finished powering up his hair stood straighter. Ranma's powerlevel was now half-way between that of a basic SSJ and that of 'Super Vegeta' during the fight with Cell in his second imperfect form, and the head that had been bowed before was slowly lifted to reveal icy-cold teal eyes.

The Saotome youth blocked an incoming fist and smiled evilly. "Now you're going down, Amazon tool."

That said he'd already buried his fist in Mousse's gut, and the high kick that followed suit sent a pained Amazon into the sky. Ranma didn't waste a second and disappeared in front of the astonished spectators, and Cologne sent a silent prayer to her ancestors that Saotome Ranma wouldn't use this kind of power against the village.

-.-

The pigtailed Saiyan grinned as he reappeared three-hundred metres above the ground, his golden aura flaring around him. He brought his fists up and hammered them down as soon as Mousse was near enough, and the body-numbing double-fisted axe-blow to the back sent the Amazon boy to the ground like a missile. "Revenge is sweet." the Saotome youth commented and phased to the ground.

In the time he'd needed to get to the ground Mousse had staggered to his feet, but a high kick, five quick punches, a block of Mousse's retaliation, the drop to a squat followed by an upwards straight punch to the gut, which was followed by a fast punch to the chin changed this fast. The strength behind the last blow sent Mousse all the way through a couple of walls and straight into the wall of the school-building, into which he was deeply embedded.

Mousse had just freed himself from the wall and come to the realisation that his power might not be enough to keep up with Saotome when he saw a blur rush at him. Ranma employed a punch-kick-roundhouse-kick-blast-punch-combo, and Mousse was not able to block anything. He was tossed around like a rag-doll, and the last punch Ranma had employed drove the air out of his lungs and sent him to his knees. But the Amazon boy was far from finished, and his want to prove himself to his Shampoo fuelled his energies. With a yell Mousse gathered all of his strength and managed to fire a powerful energy-blast that hit the Saotome youth in the chest and sent him flying backwards.

As Ranma felt himself crashing through walls and trees he cursed himself for not having employed an immediate follow-up. He remembered what Nabiki had said to him about being too arrogant, and he could not deny the truth in her words any more. He had the tendency to get too cocky, and he knew it; he'd had it before his change into a Saiyan and it had only worsened thereafter.

Grumbling he used his ki to twist his body so that his legs and head switched position. Ranma looked over his shoulder and saw a housewall of a residential building fast approaching, and as soon as he felt contact he pushed off of the wall as hard as he could. He saw immediately that Mousse hadn't stood by idly to give him the chance to get back into the fight, and the human-turned-Icejin sought to use his perceived advantage right now. He even landed the first blow, a rising uppercut; but due to Ranma's massive increase in power and speed the Super Saiyan was able to deflect the blow easily, as well as the follow-ups, a low kick and an elbow blow to the chest.

Ranma had just batted the last blow away when he switched into full offensive mode; he started with a high kick as a feint attack which Mousse unsurprisingly blocked, but two of the three fast punches to the face got through due to their sheer speed. The blows seemed to weaken Mousse for a second, but he recovered quickly enough to block the roundhouse-kick to the head.

The Saotome youth grinned and didn't notice how his enjoyment of a good fight overrid his common sense once again; it seemed as if Mousse still had some fight left in him, which was good in his book. 'Now to find out just how much.' Ranma thought with a manic grin as he launched himself at the cursed Amazon boy.

Ranma increased the speed of his attacks drastically and hit Mousse's defences with Earth-shattering blows, and the cursed Amazon was hard-pressed to keep up. After two whole minutes of constant defence this also seemed to dawn on Mousse, but he was far too proud to ever admit that his enemy was stronger; in his mind he'd never lose to an outsider like Saotome Ranma, especially not in front of his beloved Shampoo!

A determined expression appeared on his face and an icy rage coursed through his veins, eliminating all doubts. Mousse flexed his muscles and steadied himself for the next exchange of blows, his aura swirling around him. The cursed Amazon boy drew upon all of his energy, and he was confident that he'd pound the annoying outsider into a smear. He would not lose in front of his beloved Shampoo. Saotome would go down.

-.-

Mousse gnashed his teeth and launched himself at Ranma with renewed energy and determination; the thought just how richly his Shampoo would reward him after he'd killed Saotome had become his driving force. She'd confess her undying love to him right after he'd beaten the arrogant outsider to death, for then he'd have proven that he was the top-dog.

Fists and feet and every other limb that could be used as a weapon clashed, and the blows that were exchanged were so strong that they could be felt miles away. The exchange of blows continued, but the Amazon boy grew soon irritated due to the fact that he still wasn't able to penetrate Saotome's defences at all. Rather the opposite, despite his own increase in power he was already on the defence again. Saotome wasn't tiring out in the slightest, rather the contrary. If anything, his defences and overall power seemed to improve by the minute, something which was utterly impossible! Could it... could it really be that Saotome, the asshole that'd dared to hurt his Shampoo was stronger? No, that couldn't be! That mustn't be!

The Amazon boy snarled in hate and anger and drew upon every ounce of energy he had. Bringing it out he fired an enormous energy-blast at Ranma, who looked shocked. Did the bloody idiot even realise what he'd done? If that thing hit the Earth it could crack up the planet to the core! And he was an idiot himself! He'd let his enjoyment of battle lure him into prolonging the fight, stupid!

"ONYX WAVE!" he yelled, launching his energy wave at the angry-red blast.

The yellow-green wave of energy shot out of his palms and intercepted the planet-destroying blast (for that was what it was, unbeknownst to Mousse), and after a brief struggle during which Ranma poured more of his ki into the Onyx Wave his attack began to overwhelm Mousse's and finally pushed it back.

With a yell Ranma increased his energy-output even more, and his Onyx Wave doubled in size and immediately increased its speed, pushing the other attack into space where both exploded harmlessly. Mousse surveyed him with a look of undisguised hatred, and was about to ready another blast when Ranma suddenly appeared in front of him. In a flash he'd grabbed both of Mousse's hands and applied ever-growing pressure.

Mousse's face contorted in pain and he bit back a cry as he struggled vainly to get out of the vice-like grip Ranma had on his hands. The cursed Amazon kicked and trashed, but Ranma either took the blows or blocked them. He locked eyes with the Amazon boy and snarled. "Do you fuckin’ idiot even realise what you have done? That blast would have blown up the planet had it hit! With your precious Shampoo on it! And you say that you love her? What a joke!"

"What?" Mousse exclaimed uncertainly, before his mind closed down on the possibility that he could've endangered his precious Shampoo and twisted what Ranma had said to fit into his world-view. "You liar! How dare you claim that I don't love my precious Shampoo! I would never hurt her, and for claiming that you'll pay!"

Due to a sudden burst of power coming from Mousse Ranma was pushed back, and he was forced to let go of Mousse's hands. The Amazon boy flew straight at him with a look of rage on his face, ramming him in the abdomen with both fists.

He gave Ranma no time to recover, and drove his knee into the Saiyan's ribs. The pigtailed boy grunted, but gave no other outside display of pain and instantly upped the ante. He grabbed the leg which the Amazon had used on him and threw him over his shoulder. Mousse was too surprised to react when the pigtailed boy fell on him in a frenzy of kicks and punches.

The Saotome youth had finally had enough and attacked now all out, his want for challenges be damned; Mousse was simply too delusional and too powerful, and he'd to take him down now before a chance-shot could endanger anyone. No games any more.

-.-

The look in Ranma's teal eyes had gone hard when he'd finally realised that Mousse could've killed his mates because he'd allowed it. He was undeniably stronger than Mousse, but did that entitle him to play with his opponent like a cat did with its prey? The answer was no, for the simple reason that mice could hardly employ attacks that destroyed planets.

He'd nearly botched it, and that thought made him angry. Ranma focussed the anger he felt at himself on Mousse and used all of his power when he attacked Mousse anew. Ranma didn't hold back in the slightest and the Amazon boy barely managed to block the first barrage of punches the Super Saiyan had thrown at him. He held his own just barely and only managed to carry out one single counter-attack that consisted of a roundhouse-kick-punch-blast combo. But Ranma shrugged all of these blows off like they were mosquito stings and continued his relentless offence. Mousse sensed from the drastic increase in the attacks' strength of his opponent that he might be overwhelmed soon. Desperate as he was he used everything in his arsenal against the other boy, ki-blasts, fists, the full monty, but nothing worked. Not even the finger-beam had any effect, and the resistance he offered seemed to only spur Ranma on.

The pigtailed Saiyan attacked without pause and systematically weakened the Amazon's defences by striking what he perceived as vital areas. He'd just finished a combo of punches and kicks that ended with a massive punch to the chin that sent the other boy flying backwards when the Super Saiyan saw his chance to put an end to this fight. Drawing upon all of his speed he blurred and reappeared in Mousse's flightpath, stopped the flying body with his left knee and used his right foot to kick Mousse high into the sky. Ranma's expression remained impassive as he phased out of sight, and just the glint in his eyes had revealed that intended to do something nasty and painful.

Not a second later the Saotome youth had reappeared in Mousse's flight path, and he kicked the cursed Amazon boy downwards as hard as he could. Then he disappeared again and reappeared on the ground where he waited for the falling human-turned-Icejin. As soon as the flailing body was about to hit the ground Ranma stepped into its path and applied a brutal backbreaker that nearly did what it was named after. Mousse slid off of Ranma's knee in a world of hurt, and anyone who'd watched the fight knew that Mousse had lost. To add insult to injury Ranma threw Mousse’s half-unconscious form into the wall of the Furinkan school building once again, and this time Mousse couldn’t remove himself out of the indention he’d made.

The pigtailed Saiyan phased in front of the cursed Amazon and reached for the pained Mousse; he lifted him forward and up by the throat with one hand. A ki-blast writhed in the palm of his right hand and was growing bigger and bigger, and the pigtailed Saiyan snarled in Mousse’s bloodied face. “You know, I should really kill ya. Yeah. Ya threatened my mate, and no one does that without paying the price. Now prepare to die.”

Ranma’s SSJ-aura flared to life around him, and he got ready to shove the ki-blast in Mousse’s face. “RANMA! DON’T KILL HIM!” yelled Nabiki above him.

The shout from the first-story window stopped him in his tracks, and his head turned around and upwards while Mousse dangled from his one-handed steel-grip. Ranma’s teal eyes met Nabiki’s brown eyes, and the emotion in them mesmerised him. “Don’t kill him for me, Ranma. Please.” his younger mate whispered, knowing that his keen hearing would pick it up.

Ranma looked into those brown eyes a few seconds later before coming to a decision. A smile played in the corner of his lips, and Ranma nodded nearly imperceptibly. "Endgame." was all he said before a single vicious punch to the face stole Mousse's consciousness. The fight was over.

-.-

Piccolo and Dende, who'd watched the fight avidly, saw how a golden glowing Ranma slowly made his way over to where the Amazons were standing. Both Nameks could see the looks of fright on their faces, and the little Kami mused that some of them would soon wet themselves should Ranma keep up this 'mask of doom' he'd slipped on his face. It was a truly frightening sight, and to look into those cold, expressionless eyes chilled one to the bone, for one had the distinct feeling to look into the eyes of a ruthless killer. And while Dende knew that Ranma would normally hesitate to kill anyone, regardless the circumstances, his Saiyan nature coupled with the fact that one of his mates had been threatened made him very dangerous right now.

"I know they would probably deserve it, but as Kami of Earth I can't stand back when a member of the Z-Fighters is about to kill seven women." Dende commented.

The taller Namek watched the approach of Ranma in his minds' eye. "I normally don't meddle in human affairs," 'much' he added mentally, "but I tend to agree, kid. It wouldn't look good if one of us slaughtered 'poor defenceless women' in front of a public school. Get a hold on me, I'll teleport us over." the gruff Namek said.

Dende did just that, and seconds later the two Nameks were gone from the lookout.

-.-

One hundred miles to the South one Ranma Saotome slowly advanced on his prey. He'd promised the old ghoul to settle the score between them, and that was exactly what he intended to do; to scare her and her groupies shitless he used a variant of the Demon-head technique Soun was apparently so fond of using. He wasn't sure of its immediate effects in his SSJ-state, but in his normal form it had looked pretty darn scaring.

Gauging from the looks on the Amazon's faces it had to be effective, for the five women looked about ready to run for the hills. 'One sec,' Ranma thought as his mind caught up to that fact, 'five? There were seven of them plus pus-face here, so where is the rest?'

His anger flared and due to this his SSJ-aura even increased in size. "Old ghoul!" he yelled, covering the distance between them in a second so that he seemed to reappear in her face, "Where the heck are the other two bitches? Have you sent them on a mission to capture my friends? Answer!" he bellowed.

Cologne gulped, but one of her charges obviously didn't possess enough common sense to recognise just how close they were to becoming ashes. "How dare you speak to us this way, outsider! I punish you!" the girl, Xian-Xa yelled, swinging a haymaker at him with a sword.

Ranma growled, and a quick ki-blast reduced the sword to nothingness. "Next time this will be your arm. Now go and play with your dolls, blondie." he snarled viciously, locking his eyes on the Elder.

Two of the other girls made moves to attack him, but this time the Elder shook her head. "Stay down, you fools. Don't you see that he could kill us all in a second if he wanted to?"

"But Elder," Lan-Lan protested, "he just mere male! He inferior to us!"

The pigtailed Saiyan let loose a barking laugh before Cologne could answer, and one second later he had her bonborries in hands and crushed them slowly. "You're very foolish if you hold on to your believed superiority despite proof to the contrary, little girl. Now shut yer bloody trap while I deal with yer Elder. Got that?" he asked with his most intimidating glare, to which added his 'mask of doom' for effect.

The 'poor' Amazon girl felt herself nodding involuntarily, and Ranma focussed on Cologne once more. "Do I have to check for myself or are you going to tell if I'm right? Did you send two of your girls out to capture Akane and Nabiki?" he asked with undisguised threat.

"Yes, I did, Saotome Ranma." the Elder conceded.

Ranma snarled in answer. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you on the spot." he spat, balls of yellow-green energy writhing in both his palms, growing bigger by the second.

"Because you are no killer, Ranma." said a new voice that made the Saotome youth whirl around.

"Dende!" Ranma exclaimed, "And Piccolo! What are you two doing here? I mean, fancy meeting you here, but I have some business to attend to."

"We know, Ranma. But killing them won't solve the problem. If you kill them," Dende gestured to the five Amazons, "what then? I can give you the answer. You would have to eliminate the whole Amazon tribe to get your peace and quiet. Is that something you want, Ranma?"

"Stay down if you know what's good for you, boy!" could be heard from several yards behind them. Heads turned while Ranma was still engrossed in contemplations, and they could see that Piccolo had his teeth bared and aura flared, effectively cowing Mousse into submission by this display of pure power.

"Don't worry about the Amazon boy, Ranma. Piccolo is handling the situation. Now back to the question at hand. What would you do?" Dende asked again.

"Who is you to interfere, outsider?" one of the Amazon girls asked, pulling a sword out of nowhere.

The Kami of Earth smiled and brought out his aura, and a feeling of power and commanding authority swept over them. Cologne's eyes widened in an instant. "Kami." she breathed.

"Exactly." Dende said. "Your handling of the situation has been very unwise, Elder Cologne."

"You can say that again." Ranma snorted. "If my friends have been harmed no one will be able to hold me back from tearing you apart. Limb from limb." he added with a threatening growl. "Not even Kami."

"Don't!" the Elder commanded as her four charges tried to draw their weapons. "Am I only surrounded by incompetence? A warrior realises when she is outmatched, so stash your weapons, foolish younglings!"

"Good. That's a start." Dende commented. "Ranma," he said, looking at the young Saiyan, "I'm sure your friends are safe."

Ranma met his eye. "I sure hope so, Dende. For them. Now excuse me while I investigate if she" he glared at the Elder, "did something that gives me an excuse."

-.-

The pigtailed Saiyan had flown about half the distance to the school-building when he saw Ryo-chan, Akane and Nabiki heading his way. A large grin split Ranma's face as he saw that Ryo-chan was in her SSJ-form, and carrying two unconscious Amazon girls on her shoulders to boot.

Inwardly whooping with joy due to the fact that they and especially Nabs were safe he touched down in front of the girls who came to a stop in front of him, large grins on their faces. "Very good job." he commented with a look at the beaten and bruised Amazons.

"Aww, it was mostly Ryo-chan who did the dirty work. Akane's mallet helped out too, but that Super Saiyan transformation of Ryo-chan really stole the thunder of those bitches." Nabiki commented.

"Oh I don't know, sis, that high kick of yours was nothing to laugh at." Akane commented. "Sure as hell surprised that blonde bimbo."

"Just luck. And a good sensei." she said, smiling at Ranma, who smiled right back.

"Good job you all. Especially you, Ryo. I knew you would be able to handle everything." Ranma said with a grin.

Ryo-chan cracked her knuckles. "Sure thing, Saotome." she smirked. "Those girls were hardly a challenge, only sprouting 'Outsider girl, you I kill!'. Once I had liberated them of their weapons dealing with them was easier than stealing a lollipop from a newborn. Pathetic girls, believing that they're better than anyone; but they've to hide behind their foolhardy laws to threaten others into submission. How wretched is that?"

"Actually, I can see the logic in that." Nabiki said, drawing all eyes upon her. "Think about it. If you have a law that states that any outsider male who manages to defeat an Amazon, seemingly regardless of if the outsider agrees to the challenge or not, and another law that states that you have to kill any outsider girl that manages to defeat an Amazon you make yourself damn near unassailable. Other tribes would surely think twice about attacking, and any poor foreign sod who lands in the village would be fair game. Quite clever, that."

Ranma growled. "If they try that with me again I'll turn their village into a crater. No questions asked." he promised coldly. “No one threatens my girl and gets away with it.”

Ryo-chan cracked her knuckles. "And if any of those other chicks over there dare to yell 'Outsider girl, you I kill!' I'll strangle them and kick them to Mars so that the Martians can have a shot at them."

Akane brandished her mallet. "We shall see what they say once we dump these girls at their feet. It's about time that this nonsense is over."

"Couldn't agree more." Ranma growled. "I would never have thought that these crazy chicks would be obsessed enough to follow me all the way to Japan. Quite touched in the head, ain't they?"

"Too true, Ranma. But I would like to get this over and done with, and if we want to have them shipped out of the country by evening we should get cracking." Nabiki said.

"What are we waiting for, then?" Ryo-chan asked and began marching into the direction where two Nameks were holding five Amazons and one human-turned-Icejin in check.

-.-

Elder Cologne managed to hold her disappointment in check when she saw that her backup-plan had failed, and that obviously rather spectacularly. As she surveyed the outsider girl that was carrying two of her apparently unconscious charges on her shoulders she immediately noticed the similarities between this girl and her new son-in-law. Yes, taking that into account it was no wonder that Bing-Bing and Lin-Lin had failed.

"I believe those are yours." Ryo-chan said with contempt as she dropped the unconscious girls to the ground.

Which was something that the other girls didn't take well to. Lan-Lan drew her bonborries. "Outsider girl, you I kill!" she yelled and swung her weapons at the Saiyan girl.

Ryo-chan glared at the offending girl with contempt, and two seconds later Lan-Lan was disarmed and dangled from a steel-grip. "If any of you yell 'Outsider girl, you I kill!' ever again in my presence I'll personally strangle all of you till you're unconscious, and then I'll kick you to Pluto. Got me?" she growled, her SSJ-aura flaring around her.

"I thought you wanted to kick them to Mars so that the Martians could have fun with them?" Nabiki asked, feigning curiosity.

"Details, details." Ryo-chan said to Nabiki, before drilling holes into the Amazon girl. "Have… You… Understood… What… I… Said?" she growled, emphasising each word.

Lan-Lan barely avoided shitting herself and nodded slowly; a puzzled Akane looked at Ranma. "What got into her?"

Ranma shrugged. "Saiyan temper. Those girls can count themselves lucky that Ryo kept hers, otherwise... well, let's just say it wouldn't be a pretty sight. Vegeta can tell you stories about cases of 'lost temper' that would turn your stomach."

Akane sweatdropped, and while Ryo-chan used the opportunity to glare at Lan-Lan one last time before she planned to let go of the Amazon three Amazons made moves to draw their weapons to aid their sister.

Cologne saw this of course and smacked her forehead. ° Stop this instant, young fools! ° she yelled, effectively halting the three girls in their tracks. ° Are you so hell-bent on getting yourselves killed? You have witnessed just as much as I that we are outmatched! Haven't they taught you any battle-tactics in the village? ° she bellowed in Chinese.

"But great-grandmother, sisters only do what tribal law says. Must kill outsider girl and bring Airen back to village!" Shampoo exclaimed.

Twin growls drew her and the attention of everyone on Ranma and Ryo-chan, and four Amazon girls gulped when they saw writhing balls of ki in the palms of both Saiyans. "Wanna bet on that?" both growled at the same time, making the girls flinch.

Shampoo stood her ground, however. "Is tribal law, and law everything." she stated confidently.

Nabiki snorted. "Your tribal laws have no meaning in this country. They're a direct affront to Japanese laws, international laws and several conventions I can name, and I'm pretty sure Beijing wouldn't be too thrilled either." she stated frostily.

"Yeah!" the other three teens agreed.

Cologne smiled, much to their surprise. "Do you really think I would have travelled to a foreign country without coming prepared? I have ambassador status and enjoy diplomatic immunity. Beijing doesn't care what I do, or have your petitions against my country had any success?" she asked, her smile turning nasty.

This came unexpected for the teens, and seeing as they were too stunned to come up with a retort Piccolo decided to butt in. To his immense surprise he was beaten to the punch by someone wholly unexpected. Vegeta, who'd watched the going-ons from the rooftop, deemed some good old intimidation necessary, seeing as his new subjects were obviously not willing or experienced enough to handle the situation correctly. He deactivated the cloak and the ki-suppressor and seemed to appear out of nowhere.

The Amazon girls were shocked shitless by this and behaved according to their usual behavioural patterns; read, they drew their assorted weaponry instinctively. Vegeta’s face contorted in anger and the Saiyan Prince quickly powered up to full strength with a growl. His power-up had the effect that it sent the girls careening to the ground, and on a side-note, Piccolo had to grab Dende so that the little Kami didn't lose his footing. It was quite a funny sight, and despite the seriousness of the situation, Ranma couldn't suppress a snort of amusement. Cologne wasn’t amused at all. Yet another super-powerful being had appeared, and this one’s power surpassed even that of Saotome Ranma. ‘I should’ve stayed in the village…’ were her morose thoughts as she watched how her charges got to their feet awkwardly.

The Prince of all Saiyans on his part was busy with seizing the Amazon girls with his patented death-glare, his SSJ-aura flaring around him. "If any of you little girls wave your toys in front of the Prince of all Saiyans again it will be your funeral. Understood?" he asked with all the pleasantness of a nuclear weapon short before detonation.

One of the girls wanted to speak up, but Cologne bopped her on the head. "Foolish girl, didn't they teach you anything in the village?" the Elder bellowed, and Lun-Lun, the girl in question, lowered her head in shame. Cologne assessed Vegeta, and her headache grew. This one was even stronger than Ranma, and from the look in his eyes a lot more ruthless. "What do you want?" she finally asked.

Vegeta smirked nastily, and Ranma knew in an instant that this was going to get good. "This is not a matter of what I want, but what will happen." the Saiyan Prince stated, and the steel in his voice left no room for objections. "I am Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans, and as such those two," he glanced at Ranma and Ryo-chan, "are my subjects. You will refrain from attacking or harassing them and everyone around them, or I'll find your base and will turn it into molten glass."

"You have got to be joking!" Cologne exclaimed, shocked. However, one look at the Saiyan Prince convinced her otherwise, for in Vegeta's eyes she saw nothing but the cold promise to do exactly what he'd promised. "My tribe would..."

"Die." Piccolo interjected calmly. The Namek had lost his patience with Mousse and had beaten the boy senseless; he’d walked over with the cursed boy slung over his shoulder once Vegeta had made his appearance and dropped Mousse in front of the Elder. "Vegeta destroyed entire planets and civilisations before without a hint of remorse, your so called tribe would be nothing but a mere footnote."

Vegeta smirked nastily, and Cologne paled further. "What are you?"

"Your death if you breathe the wrong way. I’m also someone who's a lot more ruthless than you'll ever be, human." the Saiyan Prince answered with a cold glare. "And if one of your girls so much as moves in a way I don't like I'll have to start removing limbs. Which would be such a waste." he smirked nastily.

The four Amazon girls looked at each other and gulped, and two of them held their stirring comrades down and explained to them what had happened up till now. The formerly unconscious girls looked disbelieving at first, but at seeing SSJ Vegeta and the power he was exuding they had no other choice but to believe their sisters. "What now?" one girl asked.

"Exactly that is the question." Ranma commented, crossing his arms over the chest. "What are we going to do with you?"

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.

Sorry for the minor cliffhanger. But I had to end it here or it’d have grown even longer.

Some explanations: yes, Mousse was cursed to become an Icejin. This was decided very early on in the story, and I want to convey my heartfelt thanks to Innortal for his input pertaining that matter.

I know I painted Mousse in a very bad light, so sorry to all the Mousse fans out there; but keep in mind, he was willing to go to any length in the series to get rid of Ranma (trying to turn Akane into a duck after abducting her comes to mind, as well as several other situations). I honestly believe that he’d do anything to get ‘his Shampoo’. But that’s just me.

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

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You can find the Q&A section for the last chapter at my Yahoo group, as usual.