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. So suing is senseless.

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 7: Settling in

At the Tendo Dojo astonishment was still the prevalent emotion. And that was no surprise, seeing as the residents of said Tendo dojo had seen the most incredible martial arts demonstration ever. Even Soun Tendo was beyond impressed, and he had seen the master go all out.

Nabiki could hardly stop herself from drooling; not only did Ranma look like someone who could fight, no, he was practically a martial arts god. The urge to glomp onto him and yell 'mine' was getting stronger still. One look at her older sister told her that she was feeling much the same way.

The middle Tendo daughter was raised out of her musings when Ranma asked something. He looked rather sheepish, which made him look cute, thought Nabiki. "Err, could anyone show me the way to your backyard? I think pop landed there somewhere..."

"Of course, Ranma. Follow me." Nabiki said, and she knew that she had beaten her older sister to it by a second.

Akane shook herself out of her stupor and followed her older sister. Soun and Kasumi trailed behind, curious as to what would happen now.

Meanwhile Nabiki had led Ranma to the backyard of the Tendo compound, and she could tell that he had liked the view of her behind. Well, the feeling was mutual. "Here you are, Ranma." she said as she opened the door that led outside.

Ranma smiled at her. Not his normal, cocky looking smirk, but an actual smile. "Thank you, Nabiki." he said, and bowed politely. Nabiki returned the smile and the bow.

This caused Soun, who was standing a few feet back, to think. Maybe his middle daughter was more to Ranma's liking than his youngest. For although there seemed to be spunk between Ranma and his youngest, it was questionable if that was enough. Soun remembered the quarrels he had had with his dear departed wife with fondness, but a working relationship was not defined by quarrels, rather through how they were solved.

And Akane was rather lacking in this regard, for an uppercut or a mallet to the head solved nothing. But he would watch and see. He had promised the boy one year, and despite Genma's and his best efforts Ranma would be granted this year; in spite of himself Soun had to admit that it had impressed him how Ranma had held his own in the fight of wits against his father; maybe it had been a mistake to side with Genma when he had tried everything to join the schools.

Apropos Genma, at the moment it looked rather bleak for his old friend. Even with the Saotome Sealed techniques, which were obviously not very sealed at the moment, he had noticeably been unable to beat his son. Genma had even used the Yama-sen-ken on Ranma, but the young martial artist had only smirked and blocked everything.

The Tendos watched as said Ranma marched straight towards his father, who was sitting on the ground, nursing a sore jaw. "So oyaji, I hope ya finally understood, that I won't be forced inta any of your schemes any more. The girls and I will decide what will happen. In one year. And you ain't got a say in this, old man. Try anything, and I won't hold back on ya. You know that you don't wanna make me angry. Remember Cologne."

Genma gulped, but Nabiki was not afraid to ask. "I bet there is a story to this, Ranma. Care to fill us in?" she asked with a smile.

Ranma sighed, and smiled back, even if weakly. "Sure. Now that pops has hopefully understood how the wind blows I can finally tell you what happened to us. Including how I acquired this." he said and uncurled his tail from his waist.

Incredulous stares followed, and the glare from Ranma promised pain to anyone who'd dare to insult him because of his body appendage.

"Err, nice tail, Ranma." Nabiki finally said with a completely innocent face, sounding like someone commenting on the weather.

Needless to say, everybody facefaulted, Ranma included.

---

Minutes later the group had returned into the house; it had taken a bit longer than expected seeing as Genma had once more practised one of his most powerful techniques, the Saotome-foot-in-mouth-technique. Ranma had had no other choice but to stop his father from sprouting any more nonsense, and this was most efficiently done by knocking him out; he had to carry him once more, but the advantages such as peace and quiet outweighed this slight effort any day.

Once inside Kasumi went to prepare lunch for them, and the elder sister politely refused Akane's offer to help her in the kitchen. The twitch of her right eye had told Ranma, that kitchen-work and Akane apparently did not seem to agree with the other.

The Saotomes and Tendos, including Kasumi who had returned from the kitchen when everything was boiling along, sat down in the living room, and when Ranma sat down his tail curled up around his waist automatically. Fact that astounded the present Tendos quite a lot. "If you don't mind my question, how did you acquire this tail, Ranma?" Nabiki asked.

Ranma smiled at her. "Don't worry, I don't mind the question. I got the tail when we were sparring at Jusenkyo…" he began, and explained the whole story how they had sparred at Jusenkyo and what had happened there up to the present. "And here we are." he finished.

Everyone was in various stages of surprise, and Nabiki was the first to gather her bearings. "So that means you fell into a special kind of spring, which gave you a new permanent body instead of a curse that changes you with cold water? Is that about correct?"

The others except Genma looked at Ranma, who nodded. "Yeah. I fell, or rather was knocked, inta the spring of Drowned legendary Super Saiyan, whatever that may be. That's why I have that." he said, and waved his tail at them.

Which was something that was considered perverted by Akane. "Stop waving your... thing in our faces, you pervert." was her automatic response.

Ranma, who by now knew how this girl ticked, decided to take her down a notch to curb her behavioural problems. "Now listen here, this tail is a part of my body just as much as your hand is a part of yours. And its damn well nothing perverted!" he stated, putting some of his power behind his voice.

Akane instinctively wanted to deal with him like she did with the perverted boys at school, but a glare from Ranma, a Ranma who had brought out his battle aura stopped her dead in her tracks. "Don't even think about it, or I'll do worse to you than I did to oyaji. 'sides, do you hit every male who dares to speak up? What kinda behaviour is that?"

The youngest Tendo daughter was about to answer with an angry retort, but Kasumi beat her to the punch. "Ranma is right, Akane. You can't treat every male under thirty like that. What will happen if you punch a boy for asking the time, for example? He could sue you, and by proxy our family, and what would happen then? You know our financial situation, little sis. What Ranma did was not perverted, and he had every right to reprimand you. Please try to stop regarding everything that boys do as perverted, the perverted boys at your school excluded, of course."

Her little sister visibly deflated, and finally looked at Ranma, obviously chagrined. "I'm sorry, Ranma. I just can't jump over my shadow."

Ranma raised a brow at that. "I guess there's a story to that?"

It was Nabiki who answered. "You guess correctly. We'll fill you in later; now we'd like to hear your story." she said with a smile.

The pigtailed young man smiled back and complied. His tail curled up around his waist, and he continued his tale. "The guide had no idea what that alien has been, but I can remember something like a dream from my time in the spring. Something of a... fight. A fight for my life." he said, and his audience (minus Genma) listened spellbound. "And when I came to, the guide explained the curse to me. Only that I did not change back with hot water. We found out later that I am not cursed, but was given a new body by the springs. That's why pop changes, but not me."

"How did you find out that you are not cursed, Ranma?" Soun asked, having recovered somewhat from his surprise.

Ranma looked at the man and was confirmed in his assessment of the Tendo patriarch. The man was emotionally unstable, apparently highly so, and very much open to suggestion. Combined with a personality that seemed not to react well to pressure and always seemed to choose the easy path, meaning the path of least resistance, this made him an ideal target for his father's manipulations.

The Saotome youth was sure that had he not pressured the man into altering the agreement, he would be engaged by now, and most probably to Akane, as his father had proven. He was sure that Soun would have followed the lead of his father, regardless of their childrens' wishes; his behaviour when his father had tried to annul the honour pact made between him, Ranma, and Mr. Tendo was more than proof enough for this.

The pigtailed martial artist really wondered what was wrong with Akane, however. She was nearly as beautiful as her sisters with her long bluish black hair and expressive brown eyes, but more often than not she seemed to be angry at something. And that she had a hair-trigger-temper had been proven impressively. He would have to watch this girl to see if he could do anything to help her.

It wouldn't do for her to be angry all the time; Ranma knew this from experience, for his temper had been hell after the transformation. Only now it was balancing out (by the standards of the race he was now, Ranma suspected), but it still got its jollies when his idiot father did something stupid; which happened more often than not.

Switching back to the present, Ranma answered the question. "I'll come to that soon, Mr. Tendo. Well, you must know that the guide of Jusenkyo is somehow connected to the magic of the springs. That is how he knows what has drowned in the over a hundred pools that exist there, and that was also how he knew that I wasn't cursed. And later on I learned that he'd told me the truth…"

Nabiki whistled. "Over a hundred pools? And what has drowned in them? Did the guide tell you?"

Ranma had a dark expression on his face. "That he did. And believe me, this is a really horrible place, Nabiki. I got lucky, and pop can hold his own as a panda. But there are springs that would render you completely helpless. The spring of drowned piglet, for example. Imagine a life where you turn into a little piglet when hit by cold water."

Akane could find nothing wrong with this. "So you'd turn into a cute little pig. And?"

Ranma sweatdropped. "Akane, that spring turns ya inta a little pig, complete with everything that goes with that, body size, abilities, everything; and pigs are generally eaten on sight in China." he said, and silence reigned supreme at the table as everyone present imagined such a gruesome fate.

---

Akane had a clearly revolted expression on her face, and Kasumi left a mental note to herself to avoid pork for the foreseeable future. "Oh the horrors of Jusenkyo, they're too gruesome to comprehend!" Soun exclaimed, tears streaming down his face.

Genma nodded, mirroring the actions of his friend. "I can call myself lucky that the boy didn't knock me into a worse spring! Oh, why have the fates cursed me with such a w..."

"Finish the sentence and you'll only be able ta consume fluid food for a month, pop." Ranma said in a matter-of-fact tone.

The Tendos watched Genma's face go ashen, and the balding man sweated. "There... there will be no need, son." he said, trying to sound calm. For once he used his brain, and seeing as he'd received enough punishment for a day it was better this way.

Ranma nodded. "Thought so. Anyway, there're springs which are so horrible that they're disclosed by wooden fences, and the spring itself is then usually also covered in wood. And I was knocked inta such a spring by pop."

Genma crossed his arms over the chest. "Had you had your guard up, nothing would have happened, boy!"

Ranma grinned. "Oh sure, pop. And you wouldn't have been surprised by a giant panda that came right outta the spring I knocked ya inta?" he asked, and then looked at the Tendos. "You know, that panda came right outta the spring and assumed the trademark attack stance of my pop. And then it attacked. Imagine my surprise."

The whole Tendo family nodded. Yes, they could see how that would surprise just about anyone. Seeing their expressions of understanding, he continued with the story. "As said, the guide knew that an alien had drowned in the spring, but he had no idea what a 'Saiyan' was. And normally you get turned back with hot water, but that did not work in my case. Some time later the guide found out through the magic that I had taken on a new body, the one you see here. The pool the alien had drowned in became uncursed, and the magic of Jusenkyo had blessed me, as the guide told me."

"Blessed you, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked. "How?"

Ranma smiled. "I found out for sure when the Amazon Elder I mentioned used some attack on me and threw me into one of the cursed springs. Before this crazy old ghoul appeared on the scene and challenged me, that guide had told me that I could never again be touched by Jusenkyo. And when that old mummy kicked me inta that spring and I didn't change, those chicks were surprised as hell. Then I knew that the guide had spoken the truth. Jusenkyo can't harm me any more."

"Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed, "That sure is helpful!"

Ranma facefaulted, as did the others, then the Saotome youth nodded. That was also a way to see it. "Yeah, I s´pose it is." he said.

After that he proceeded to tell the tale, how he had been ambushed by the Amazons, the subsequent fight first against the Elder, then against all five Amazons, the techniques Cologne had used (which caused incredulous stares), his knock-out of Cologne and their usage of the Saotome final technique: run away.

"But why did you run away, Ranma?" Akane wanted to know.

Said pigtailed Saiyan tilted his head. "'Cause these psycho chicks live by a crazy set of laws. The guide explained it ta me. When an outsider male, such as me, defeats an Amazon in challenge combat and wins, he automatically becomes the husband of the defeated Amazon. Then he is dragged off inta the village where those crazy chicks have their way with the poor sod."

Akane smirked. "Wouldn't that have been much to your liking? After all, it must be a boys' dream."

Ranma bristled. "I'll have ya know that I wouldn't have enjoyed that one bit. Ya know, I'm a person with feelings, and not some breeding stock. Would ya like to be treated like a possession, like a thing?" he asked heatedly.

Actually, that prompted Akane to think. Was it that different to how the boys of the Hentai horde treated her? Shaking her head she looked at Ranma. "No, I wouldn't. I'm in a similar situation every day, and I hate it!" she exclaimed with conviction, her battle-aura swirling around her.

Akane's exclamation made Ranma thoughtful, and he nodded absently. It really seemed as if Akane had some issues, but she was interesting all the same; as were her two older sisters.

---

That thought caused him to make a quick evaluation of the three Tendo girls while he refilled his cup with fresh tea. Helping himself to some cookies Ranma went over the information he had on the three girls.

The middle daughter, Nabiki, was apparently wearing her best garb and had sided with him. Add to it that she was easy on the eyes. For lack of words, she was a babe, this one. And from his observations he could tell that she knew what she wanted, something that he could easily appreciate. It seemed that his interest in strong females had increased ever since he had gained his new body.

That also made Akane interesting, as she was obviously quite strong regarding the physical department. But the youngest Tendo girl apparently lacked the mental strength of Nabiki; and the youngest sister had anger issues that could compare to his own after the transformation. Add to it that she seemed to have strange views of boys. Of the three sisters she seemed to be the least likely candidate for a life-mate.

Kasumi he could not evaluate as of yet. The young woman carried herself with a quiet strength and elegance, and Ranma supposed that she was one of the pillars of strength in the household; needless to say, she was breathtakingly beautiful with her long, flowing hair and bottomless but so caring brown eyes. Also, her quietness and apparent submissiveness could very well be an act. Still waters and all that.

It would be nice to get go know not only the girls, well Nabiki and Kasumi at the least, considering the attitude of Akane towards boys, but also the internal situation. A warrior, and that was what Ranma was becoming, knew as much as possible about the area he stayed in.

He had noticed the changes in his way of thinking lately. For example, like when they had arrived in Nerima he had scouted the area first. Ranma also felt that he evaluated and viewed women differently.

Before he had looked only for beauty, if he had had the chance to look at all that is, with a stupid father who insisted that girls were a distraction to the art; according to the panda practically everything was, and he had learned from the masters and sensei he had met and who had taught him what his fathers views were worth, namely naught.

Thus he had built his own value system without his fathers' knowledge; he was now taking attributes like strength of body and character into account, unlike his father. He would see what the fates would decide. Considering his past encounters with fate probably something utterly ridiculous.

Placing his cup on the table once he had drained it completely he looked at Akane, taking up where she had left off. "Then you know why I would have hated to be abused as a breeding stock. Like you I want the freedom of choice in all regards, and that's also why I fought stupid pops here tooth and nail regarding that agreement between our families. I don't want to be forced into anything, and I'm pretty sure that neither you nor your sisters want that either." he explained and ignored the indignant "Hey!" from his father.

Akane sighed once more. "Look, I'm sorry for that back there. I'm not used to dealing normally with boys my age. Usually they try to jump me, tie me down and date me. Some try worse." she said with a scowl. "But I show them!"

Ranma appeared to be shocked. "They try what?" he exclaimed. "Where? Why? Since when?" he asked with genuine care and interest.

Even Akane, who really had unlearned how to deal with boys her age normally, noticed this. "What is it to you? Why would you care?" she asked with slight suspicion.

Ranma noticed the tone, but ignored it. The girl really had issues with boys, and it ran apparently very deep. Maybe he'd now find out why. "Because what you describe sounds as dishonourable as it can probably get. Why do those boys attack you? And where?"

It was Kasumi, who answered. First of all she sighed. "This was all caused by the stupidity of a young man named Tatewaki Kuno. He is the son of the principal of this wards highschool. A year ago he issued a rather ridiculous challenge."

At that Akane steamed. "Ridiculous my ass! He's freaking insane! He and his stupid challenge!"

Nabiki snickered, but Kasumi looked shocked. "Akane, language!"

Akane continued to steam. "But it's true!" she exclaimed, only to add "Sorry, sis!" a few seconds later in a sheepish tone of voice.

Kasumi nodded and resumed her tale. "He issued the challenge, that whoever wanted to date Akane had to best her in combat. At first the fights were somewhat civilised, but when little sis beat every single challenger handily things soon got out of hand. And at present about... how many boys?"

"Something between forty and fifty. Sometimes more." Nabiki supplied, and Ranma stared.

Kasumi nodded. "Yes, about fifty boys, and all of them are trying to beat Akane. Every morning, now for over a year. That is why she has such a bad image of boys her age. She does not mean harm, she's just a violent maniac."

"What?" Ranma exclaimed incredulous, ignoring the discrepancy in the statement of Kasumi. "Have those bastards no honour? No shame?"

Then he looked at Akane, and she noticed the concern in his blue eyes. And that was something that surprised her. Maybe her sisters were right, maybe Ranma was really no pervert. But she'd watch her back nevertheless. She'd made too many bad experiences with boys already to trust easily. "Let me guess," Ranma continued, "those losers attack you all at once."

Akane nodded, surprise obvious on her face. "Yeah, that's right. How did you know?"

Ranma looked solemn. "That's typical mob mentality. They figure that they'll have an easier job if they attack in the pack, and if everyone attacks, even those who'd normally do nothing will follow the lead of the others. The whole thing becomes a self-runner, and even the weakest boys will join in. And I bet some of those idiots even use weapons." he said with disgust.

Akane nodded once more, surprised both at his assessment of the situation as well as at his attitude towards her daily attackers. Before she'd have thought that he'd have gloated at her because of her predicament, and that he did not surprised her.

She'd really have to watch his behaviour in the future, before she did something she had not thought through. "Yes," she confirmed verbally, "those guys from the sports clubs attack me using baseball bats, tennis rackets and so on. But I always managed to beat them." she said, and cracked her knuckles in emphasis.

Kasumi looked disapproving. "It is not proper for a young woman like you to be engaged in fights like that, but due to the unique situation I can not really reproach you."

Nabiki nodded. "Yeah, with principal coconut keeping everything under wraps it is next to impossible to get the situation under control. That guy is as loony as they come, Ranma, but he has a lot of power and influence in the ward. Tatewaki has free reign. But I guess you'll come to know both Kunos soon."

That caused Ranma to look puzzled. "Whatever do you mean, Nabiki?" he asked.

"Oh, right boy, while we were on our way, I decided to enrol you into the local highschool; as of tomorrow you'll go into the same class as Akane. After all, the education of a martial artist must be well-rounded."

'Plus, you'll be in the company of Akane and Nabiki. And with one of them you will hit it off. You must, boy! The schools must be joined, and they will be joined! And I will ensure it!' Genma thought.

Ranma just nodded, "Okay with me, pop."

However, his internal thoughts were somewhat cautious. 'Ever since when does the old man consider education outside of the Art important? Now that's a new one. I bet he's scheming something, and I better watch pops closely in case he tries to drag Mr. Tendo into something.'

Then an earth-shaking grumble could be heard, and Ranma looked sheepishly at his mid-section. "Heh, seems that I'm a bit hungry…" he said with a sheepish grin.

The others had face-faulted. That was only a bit hungry? What would it sound like if Ranma was very hungry? Hopefully the house would remain standing then...

Kasumi, ever the perfect hostess, smiled. "No problem, Ranma-kun. I prepared extra helpings in addition to the normal meal, and I'm sure that they'll be suffice to get you filled." she said with a smile.

Ranma smiled right back. "That's nice, Kasumi. Thank you. And once we're seated I'll explain the rest of what has happened to us up till now." he said.

Then everyone sat down, and Kasumi started serving the meal. She was pleasantly surprised when Ranma offered his help, and accepted all too gladly. It had been a long time ever since anyone had done anything for her, and it felt nice. When Kasumi and Ranma had served the meal, everyone dug in.

Soon everyone was glad, that Ranma and Soun were seated on either side of Genma, for watching the Saotome patriarch eat required a strong stomach. Instead of eating the food normally by chewing and swallowing it, Genma swallowed large amounts of food half-chewed.

It was a gruesome spectacle, and the three girls were glad that Ranma was eating much more sophisticated; granted, he was eating even faster than Genma, but far more well-mannered. Well, Ranma had had to make some adjustments due to his Saiyan appetite, thus a faster and more sophisticated method of food consumption had been called for.

As Ranma was a true master of improvisation, it had not taken him long to come up with something. The end-result was a refined art of speed-eating, which only bordered on indecent instead of being downright revolting, like the method Genma used.

After everyone was finally fed, which took a lot longer in the Saotomes case, something that Nabiki noticed with worry, Ranma continued to tell the story of their adventures after Jusenkyo. "…You see, those crazy Amazon chicks pursued us for at least three weeks, until we finally managed to lose them. Those chicks are really sore losers, and the other outsider rule they have fits perfectly into the cabinet of oddities. Ya know, if an outsider woman wins a challenge fight, regardless if she started it or not, the Amazon who lost has to hunt the woman to the ends of the earth and has to kill her. Crazy bitches, eh?"

Kasumi was the only one to exclaim "Language, Ranma.", while all others except Genma had disbelieving looks on their faces.

"You're making that up, aren't you?" asked Akane in a worried tone, and one could see that Nabiki was worried too.

Ranma shook his head, a totally solemn expression on his face. "I wish it were so. When the guide told me about this stuff I didn't want to believe it either. But when those crazy chicks attacked me and wanted to bring me into their tribe, I knew that one outsider rule was true. So it's pretty safe to say that the other is true, too. Idiotic bitches!"

Kasumi scolded him once more, and Ranma had the grace to look sheepish, even if he did not take it back. And it was a sentiment that was shared by all present. Nabiki shook her head in disgust. "Sounds to me like they have some primitive eugenics program running. But to force the male 'participants' into something like that… and then that 'must kill stronger outsider girl' bit… now that sounds like a sore loser deal, if I ever heard of one. You're right, Ranma, those Amazons are really crazy chicks. But what would interest me, how probable is it that they're persistent enough to follow you even here?"

Ranma placed his right arm on the table and propped his chin in his right hand, a thoughtful expression on his face. "To be completely honest with you, I haven't got the foggiest idea. They made a pretty darn persistent impression, but if they ever appear here I'm gonna kick them straight back to China. I really have no patience with idiotic women like them."

Soun looked somewhat worried, but Nabiki nodded. "Hmm, if they really appear on the scene, I'll have them deported so fast that their heads will spin. I have a lot of connections in this ward, and I'm not afraid to use them." she said in a steely voice.

Ranma smirked. Nabiki was really a woman to his liking. She had a hard edge to her personality, which was unsurprising as she had apparently had to earn the money to keep this household afloat. Nice. "But please after I have beaten some sense into them. I still own that darn Elder a more thorough trashing for those attacks she pulled. And then that dishonourable act, to attack me with the aid of her warrior girls in a one-on-one-fight! I'm gonna show them what I think of dishonourable fighters. And to consider me as some possession, a darn breeding stock for their tribe…" he said in a cold voice, and clenched his fists.

The Tendos actually felt nearly sorry for the Amazons, nearly being the key-word here. Should they ever appear here in Nerima, a quite pissed Ranma Saotome would be waiting for them. And from what they had witnessed in the last few hours, that was not something you wanted to encounter…

---

Meanwhile a certain Namekian warrior was well on his way to Nerima, seeing as he had zeroed in on his target. The source of the ki-spike was most definitely a Saiyan, and his analysis of him was getting clearer and clearer the nearer he came to the district of Tokyo called Nerima.

Piccolo applied his technique of invisibility as he zeroed in further on the Saiyan, but he was surprised by what he felt. He didn't seem to be that strong compared to the Saiyans in their group, and possessed a powerlevel of approximately 300,000, Piccolo guessed. That was barely a fraction of what the strongest Saiyan in their group, Gohan, had at his disposal.

But something felt off about this power; not only was it shrouded in chaos as he had distinguished earlier, no, it seemed as if most of the potential of this Saiyan was somehow… hidden. Drawing nearer to his target Piccolos' eyes flew open in surprise. If he wasn't wrong then this Saiyan had immense potential, more than he had ever felt in a fighter, maybe as great or even more so than the vast potential Gohan had.

The Namekian was just flying over a dojo when suddenly a shout could be heard, accompanied by a strong flare of ki. "BAKA OYAJI! HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY FOOD!" followed by a lot of noise that sounded like someone beating upon something, and shortly afterwards a human missile broke through the roof of the dojo.

Piccolo nodded to himself as he watched the man impact the pond; it seemed as if he was at the right place. However, the Nameks' eyes widened at what he witnessed next. For instead of the portly, balding man a growfing and growling panda exited the koi-pond. What in Dende's name was going on here? That bore further watching.

Ensuring that he was as well invisible as unnoticeable Piccolo floated down onto the roof of the dojo. The next thing he saw was a stream of apparently hot water being thrown at the panda, and in front of his astonished eyes the panda changed into the balding man he had seen before.

Out of the door stepped a tall and well-muscled young man who was holding a still steaming bucket, which he let fall to the ground. The young man cracked his knuckles and flared his aura, and Piccolo had his confirmation; this young man was indeed the source of the power-spike. Yes, the tail that was curled around the waist of the young man was a dead giveaway. This was indeed a Saiyan.

Good that they'd used Shenlongs' powers to wish the moon back without the wavelength of light needed to change a Saiyan who retained his tail into the destructive were-creatures known as Oozaru; this had been necessary to ensure the safety of Earth twofold: on the one hand the placeholder he had created could not simulate the effects of the real moon like the tides which would have proved disastrous in the long run.

On the other hand it would just not do to have rampaging Oozarus running around. Who knew how many Saiyans were scattered across the universe, and how many of them would come to Earth to seek out the other Saiyans? This young Saiyan here was proof for this.

Looking at him Piccolo noticed that the Saiyan looked pissed off; from the look of it, at the balding man. Well, he'd watch and see how things evolved. Challenging the young Saiyan to a fight would make no sense at this stage, considering the vast differences in power between them. Silent observation was called for in this case, and he'd surely get an accurate picture of the Saiyans prowess through watching the fight that was apparently going to ensue.

---

For Genma Saotome things weren't going well at all; he'd only tried to get his boy engaged in some speed-training by stealing his food, but his son had not been amused, much to his confusion. They'd always engaged in such fights in the past, so why the extreme reaction? And had the boy had to hit him that hard?

Shaking the excess water out of his fur he yowled in surprise when he was suddenly hit by a stream of hot water. Looking for the source of that unexpected attack he suddenly looked straight into the gleaming eyes of his son; at the latest when Ranma cracked his knuckles Genma knew that he should have left the plate of his son well alone…

He had barely arrived at this conclusion when his angry son launched himself at him; he tried to block the incoming blow and managed to deflect it, but the follow-up came to quick to defend against, and Genma was thrown into the wall that surrounded the Tendo perimeter with enough force to leave a deep indention.

Genma tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head in order to get back into the fight, but his son didn't give him the opportunity. He barely managed to avoid the fist that punched right through the wall by jumping into the air, and the fact alone that his son was not holding back showed that Ranma was very angry with him.

The Saotome patriarch had just landed on the roof of the dojo to get a breather, when he was suddenly kicked hard in the side by a roundhouse kick from Ranma who had practically teleported onto the rooftop; the kick sent him slamming into the wall at a high velocity. The wall gave in from his impact and a lot of debris landed on top of Genma.

Genma propped himself up on his elbows after he'd shoved away as much debris as possible, groaning and moaning, but with enough fight in him left to regain his footing. Using the opportunity that his son was not initiating a follow-up he switched into the Umi-sen-ken; little did Genma know that Ranma had switched into his own version of the Umi-sen-ken or that he could detect his father.

Suddenly the Saotome patriarch more felt than heard something behind him, and he acted on instinct; he dropped his invisibility and punched, but his reaction had been several seconds too late. A kick hit him out of the blue, and only at the last possible second he saw the air shimmering where his son dropped his own invisibility.

This was the moment Genma learned how to fly, sadly for him not under his own power. The Saotome patriarch landed heavily on the roof of the dojo, and miraculously the roof remained intact; incidentally he had landed only a few feet away from where Piccolo was standing, and the Namek was very impressed by the prowess the young Saiyan displayed.

He might not have much power-wise yet, but his skill at martial arts was superior to anything what the Z-Fighters had, as far as he could tell; especially his invisibility technique was impressive. Well, something would have to be done to bring the powerlevel of this young man up, and he had just the right idea what. This Saiyan was indeed worthy of his attention, just like Gohan had been.

Sadly his erstwhile price pupil had slacked off due to his harpy of a mother, but maybe something could be done about that if another Saiyan around his age joined the group; it might just spawn some healthy competition. Saiyans were very competitive people after all, as the example of Goku and Vegeta proved beyond a doubt.

It was a pain for Piccolo to see how Gohan, one of the most powerful fighters of the universe, or at least the Earth, was wasting his potential; thus Piccolo was unsurprisingly looking forward to work with someone who had at least as much potential as Gohan, or maybe even more.

There was something about the ki the young man was emitting, something he just could not put his finger upon. He was however sure that he would find out in time. For now it was time to put his plan into motion. Soon the young man would have opponents at his hands that would be challenging. And once he had finally reached Super Saiyan Level he would reveal himself to the young Saiyan.

Taking into the air unnoticed Piccolo watched impassively how the young Saiyan landed one hard blow to the back of the head of the balding man, instating instant unconsciousness. Yes, he had potential. Allowing himself a seldom smirk Piccolo left the Tendo compound, his invisible cape billowing behind him.

---

A satisfied Ranma was walking up to the passage that led to the living quarters with his unconscious father draped over his shoulder, when he noticed the three Tendo sisters standing at the door.

"That was a nice show, Ranma." stated Nabiki.

"Yeah," added Akane, "I was quite reminded of the guys from the Cell Games."

That confused Ranma, and his brow furrowed. "Cell Games? What's that?" he asked.

Nabiki chuckled. "We forgot that you practically disappeared from the face of the civilised world for ten years, Ranma. How about we return to the living room, resume the meal and we fill you in?"

Ranma nodded. "Fine with me. But really… Cell, what a stupid name."

Akane agreed. "That’s what we thought too. But then this thing began killing people everywhere and destroyed entire armies without any effort. He even destroyed a wide scope of islands without a second thought, but luckily those were uninhabited. This Cell was a monstrosity, and he nearly destroyed the Earth. Had it not been for Mr. Satan…"

Nabiki snorted. "Yeah, right. Mr. Satan. As if. The idiot could not fight his way out of a wet wastepaper-basket. No way in hell could he have beaten someone as strong and dangerous as Cell." stated Nabiki as they walked through the passage.

"Nabiki!" exclaimed Akane. "The man's a hero! A living legend! Of course he did defeat Cell! Who else should have done it?"

The middle Tendo daughter shrugged and opened the door that led to the living room and walked in. "As I don't have enough data I can only speculate. Fact is that no definite proof exists that Mr. Satan beat Cell; there're no recordings to prove it, just his word. And that is not good enough for me." she said and sat down in her usual spot. The others followed her example.

Ranma dropped his unconscious father on the floor in front of the shogi board; Soun had already prepared the board for a game and was disappointed that no game would take place now. However, Genma groaned and sat up, which solved the problem. While Soun looked happy Ranma just snorted and walked over to the table where the girls were sitting and sat down in a vacant spot.

Akane snorted at her older sisters' comment. "Who should have beaten Cell then if not Mr. Satan? The young delivery boy who fought Cell? Get real, sis. Those lightshows these strange fighters and Cell used looked pretty impressive, but they were just tricks. No way could that have been real."

Ranma, who had no idea what they were talking about, wanted to know more. "Lightshow? Tricks? What kinda tricks did they use? And who was this 'Cell'?"

In the following minutes the girls gave Ranma a recount of what had happened a few years ago when Cell had nearly managed to destroy Earth, until he was apparently stopped by Mr. Satan, a martial artist from Orange city (which had been renamed into Satan city after the death of Cell); Ranma was quite impressed, and Nabiki's comment that this Cell had all but wiped out the JDF made him whistle. That guy had to have had some serious power.

"As for those 'tricks', Cell and this young boy shot beams of light at each other, and both were able to fly. Both were also super-strong, and if I say super I mean super. Many people claimed that to be a trick too, but Cell shattered a mountain with just a punch." explained Nabiki.

Akane snorted. "Nothing of that can have been real, oneechan. It has to have been a trick."

Nabiki snorted right back. "That's typical for most people. They go for the easiest explanations and exclude those that are a bit farfetched, but would fit the data so much better. Remember, sis, after this explosion of light the television broadcast was completely on the fritz. Do we really know what happened after that?"

"Beams of light, sis? Come on. This is no sci-fi movie or a manga, this is real life. There are no Sailor Senshi or energy blast shooting meta-humans. Things like that don't exist."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you're wrong." said Ranma.

Instantly all eyes were upon him. "Huh? What do you mean?" asked Akane.

Instead of answering Ranma just brought out his ki and formed a ball of ki in the palm of his hand; he willed it to grow larger until it had reached the size of a tennis ball. Even the fathers, who were busy with playing shogi, looked up at this.

The three Tendo sisters were looking at Ranma with their mouths' hanging open. "Oh my! What is this, Ranma-kun?"

Said Ranma just smiled. "This is ki, Kasumi. If you have a great enough reservoir of it, and if you have mastered your ki you can do incredible things with it. I suspect one could even use his or her ki to fly. Fact is, I can use my ki as a weapon. Easily. So this Cell and the boy shooting 'beams of light' at each other is not impossible. Flying ain't either. And you can easily augment your body's' strength with ki." he said and let the ki-ball fade away.

"What can you do with your ki?" asked a curious and giddy Nabiki and beat her sisters to the punch.

"Well, I can use it to strengthen my body if I want to, but due to my natural abilities I don't really need to. Currently I'm working on a way to increase my own body weight through my ki to make my body heavier, making it harder to perform the moves of my katas. You can compare what I have in mind to fighting in a higher gravity, and the goal is to become stronger in a faster way. At present I can also use my ki to fire ki-blasts, and those are pretty destructive." Ranma explained.

"How destructive?" asked Akane, this time faster than her sisters.

Ranma put a hand to his chin. "Very. I could blow up this building like nothing." he said. 'Actually I'm pretty sure that I could blow up the entire block if not the ward, but they needn't know that.' he added mentally.

Akane and her sisters were staring at him wide-eyed, and Ranma knew that he had made the right decision in not telling them the true extent of his powers. "You're kidding." said Nabiki finally.

The pigtailed young man looked her straight into the eyes. "Nope. Watch. Wildfire!" he exclaimed, and a yellow-greenish blast of light exited his palm and headed straight for Genma.

Said father of Ranma had no chance to avoid the blast, seeing as it was much too fast. It hit the balding man head on and exploded on contact. A charred Genma slumped to the ground, obviously unconscious. Soun surveyed his old friend to find out that he was breathing regularly, then he sent a wary glance at Ranma.

"You just blew up your father." Akane stated incredulous.

Ranma just shrugged. "Pops is an idiot, but he's tough. He'll survive it. 'sides, he deserves much worse for the shit he pulled in my life."

"Remind me to never get on your bad side, Ranma." said Nabiki only half in jest.

The pigtailed martial artist smirked. "Done."

"Damn, Saotome, you're really a number." Nabiki chuckled.

"Too true, Nabiki." chuckled a smirking Ranma. "Too true..."

to be continued…

Omake by Trugeta:

"Beams of light, sis? Come on. This is no sci-fi movie or a manga, this is real life. There are no Sailor Senshi or energy blast shooting meta-humans. Things like that don't exist."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you're wrong." said Ranma.

Instantly all eyes were upon him. "Huh? What do you mean? The Sailor Senshi do exist?" asked Akane.

Ranma nodded and pulled a henshin rod from somewhere. "But of course. SOL STAR POWER, MAKE UP!" he exclaimed and was transformed into a busty, young redheaded magical girl, complete with red-coloured tail. "Fighting evil everywhere, ensuring the victory of love and justice, I am Sailor Sol!" she exclaimed, posing in a classic nosebleed-pose.

"WAAAAAAAAAHHH! Your son is your daughter and a magical girl, Genma, WAAAAAAAAAAH! Now the schools will never be joined!"

"And why is that, Soun, old friend? She's still as much a boy." Genma stated.

Nabiki looked at him like one would look at a never before seen creature. "Don't you know? It's a rule that a magical girl will end up with a magical boy! Everybody knows that!" she exclaimed.

Needless to say, Genma joined Soun in his wailing.

---

Omake 2 by Trugeta

Kasumi and Nabiki stepped into the hot, steaming furo. They knew that Ranma was in it, as the occupied sign proved. A very muscular and very naked Ranma. Smirking at each other the sisters checked their utilities.

They had prepared themselves perfectly; Akane lay gagged and bound in her room so that she could not interrupt their moment with Ranma through her usual immature cries of ‘pervert’. Kasumi had even surprised her middle sister when she had revealed her supply of whipped cream, and the bullwhip had actually made her facefault.

Being naughty herself Nabiki had brought her handcuffs and facemask. In short, the girls were prepared. Any more prepared would have been considered criminal.

Kasumi opened the door boldly and stepped through in all her glory, displaying a forwardness no one had seen in her ever before. She was instantly rewarded by a Ranma who gasped. However, his next words where completely unexpected…
“Ka… Kasumi, fancy seeing you here! You come often to this restaurant? Wait, let me help you… waiter! A table for two!”

“I think he’s broke.” said Nabiki to a disgruntled looking Kasumi.

“And I bet it’s all his fathers fault! GENMA NO BAKA!” growled Kasumi, uncharacteristically angry, and a mallet appeared in her hands.

In the kitchen a certain father or Ranma felt an inexplicable shower run down his spine…

---

Omake by Tai Khan

Nabiki continued to watch Ranma going through the same antics as Dr. Tofu whenever Kasumi's around, and slowly she began to frown as Ranma continued to search for the non-existent waiter. Of course, it did have its advantages, since Ranma was completely naked while stumbling about the room, making for some interesting... bobbling.

"Hmmm," Nabiki mused, as a slow grin beginning to appear on her face, a novel idea bubbling to the surface of her quick little mind. "Oh, Ranma," she called cheerfully as she took her sister's arm and lead her over to the washing stools and urged her to take a seat, mallet and anger forgotten in face of Ranma’s… attributes.

"What? Nabiki? You're here as well?" Ranma muttered, stumbling into the towel rack. "Oh, pardon me, sir. Have you seen the waiter?"

"Ranma, have you forgotten already?" Nabiki said, taking her own seat. "YOU'RE the new waiter! You just started today. Now... come take our orders! We’re very hungry…"

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

tech0, blindelf22, darthjag, RagnaBlade, Lord Oberon, SotF, Rejhan, Zero-Vision, trunks and goten, Bobboky, ss4-link, ranryu26, Taiki, michael, DoWnEr, Dragon Man 180, TheWhiteMonk, GMan, genma fan, Malichite, Choas Babe, EnnX-K-10, AZant, borg rabbit, Jax9, arekuruu-inabikari-no-She, LordThom, BrianDarksoul, Dumbledork, crystlshake, Innortal, Wild Dude, Deathevn, ninofchaos, ron, RockBane, RubberNeck, ranma hibiki, ranger5, Xtor49, dark dragon mage, Wonderbee31, MysticSuperSaiyanGohan, JohnnyG, D-sama, Silverscale