New Love

First, the disclaimer. I am ridiculously poor because I own none of this. Please don't sue.

Second, the message to the readers. Please review. No author ever got any better at writing without some feedback. That little button at the bottom is a great review tool. Also, flames will be used to heat my cardboard box so be my guest.

The Tendo dojo. As a dojo, it naturally gained a reputation for being a great place for martial-arts battles. The Tendo dojo was a little different though. No other dojo was host to unbelievable, high-powered, form-changing martial-arts battles like those witnessed at the Tendo dojo. And then there was the center of all these fights, Ranma Saotome. The aforementioned martial arts prodigy was sitting on the wall surrounding the Tendo property, staring at the stars. Although the roof was also a great place for star-gazing, it had recently been discovered by all of the crazies in Nerima to be his favorite spot. Thus he looked for another spot and came to this little place hidden from view by a tree. It was perfect for hiding. As for the star-gazing, Ranma had been wondering.

Lately, things had made Ranma question himself. All his life, one of the few constants was his identity, Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, man-among-men. However, for the first time in his life, Ranma thought about his future. He realized that there was nothing for him on his current path. Did he truly want to live out his life married to an abusive possible lesbian while teaching children a minor form of the Art? No, although his father did try hard to convince him he did. Through his self-searching, Ranma discovered that he had never made his own decisions in his life. They were always made for him. To marry his soon-to-be ex-fiancé. To study martial arts and nothing else. To be the target of every high-powered nutcase in the entire world. None of it was by his decision. Well, this was going to end. He was already on his way up the stairs. No more was he going to take orders from everyone. Ranma Saotome was leaving the building.

As he was heaving his enormous pack over his shoulder, Ranma remembered another thing that had given him cause to look over his life. Who was he? Was he truly even a he? He thought about it and thought about it and finally he noticed something. He felt more comfortable as a girl.

As a boy, he could only practice the Art without feeling under scrutiny. As a girl, he could eat ice cream, cook, wear things other than his usual red and black kung-fu uniform, and even…..flirt…..without anyone questioning his identity. Why should he be forced to do one thing predictably? After all, he was now his own person!

It was his choice on whether he wanted to be a boy or a girl now. And he chose girl. He quickly splashed himself with a convenient bucket of water and went off.

Her first stop was to a little place in China. She doubted the Musk would really mind if she were to borrow a certain locking ladle. Just in case though, she felt it would be best to ask.

Silently slipping onto a ship bound for China, she prepared herself for the possible fight she was about to have. It was a good thing she had decided to unseal the Umisenken and learn the Yammasenken. They would probably prove useful soon.

The next several hours were spent in silent meditation. Ranma had recently had an idea for a new technique. She had seen a street performer do what he later learned was called telekinesis. Even though she saw that it was just a stupid magic trick, it had inspired her. She figured if she could just focus her ki into tendrils, she could move stuff around with only her ki. Using these ki tendrils, she could lift up things as big as an abandoned car that she stumbled upon one day with no effort whatsoever. The exact limits of the technique were as of yet unclear, but Ranma was relatively sure that it had none. More tightly focused tendrils seemed to make lightning. Nothing could incapacitate someone like a few thousand volts through their system. She decided to only use this technique in the case of an emergency as, not only was it deadly if prolonged, it was very painful.

It wasn't long before she had crates, boxes, and even herself flying around the room she was hiding in. She probably wouldn't even need the unsealed techniques!

'Let's see what Herb thinks when I'm flying around with him.'

Prepared for her ordeal, Ranma set off for the Musk territory.

Reaching the Musk stronghold, Ranma was met halfway by a Musk scout party.

"Wow! A woman! I've never seen one!" said one that looked very similar to a rat.

"Me neither." said the other that had a bit of an affinity to a hawk.

"Yeah well keep dreamin'. I'm just here to speak to Herb."

They suddenly got serious. "And why is that woman?" asked the hawkish one.

"It's none o' yer business! How about that?"

"Then I guess it's our business now. No one speaks to Prince Herb without our consent." the rat said, unsheathing two concealed knives. The other followed suit by notching an arrow into his bow.

Ranma just smirked. "Perfect. You guys will make great practice targets." she said while rising into the air.

Ignoring their awe, she immediately reached out with her ki and grabbed the hawk man. Just a thought later and he was thrown approximately thirty feet straight up. As soon as his buddy left the ground, the rat guy did too, leaping at Ranma with a speed almost rivaling her own. His progress was immediately stopped in mid-air and he found himself spinning around rapidly. The hawk man started his descent screaming and remained so, even after Ranma grabbed him again just a few inches off the ground. Giggling in delight, she tossed him into a tree and set down the rat man before he blew chunks. Both were out like lights and her path was open.

On the outside, Ranma just had a bit of a smile, but on the inside, she was ecstatic. With this kind of power, she would never have to worry about challengers again! Just send them flying be done with it, Then she could devote herself to something new. Now she wasn't limited to practicing martial arts for the rest of her life!

Before she could do that though, she had to become a full girl.

The few guards that she encountered were easily tossed away. Her march up to the throne room was nearing its end, impeded only by the next door. A wave of her hand and it flew off of its hinges. Behind the door, sitting calmly in his seat, was the Musk prince himself, asleep.

After the initial face fault, Ranma got up and yelled, "What the heck man! I fought my way up here just to find you sleeping? So much for the big showdown."

The outburst woke up Herb and he fell out of his chair. "Wha-what? R-Ranma? What are you doing here?…..AND WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DOOR!"

"I knocked your door down and I'm here for the locking ladle!" she said, pointing her finger at the Musk prince.

"Okay, take it." he said with a dismissing gesture.

"Man you're just out to kill my mood today aren't cha?"

"Well why would I want it? I've had enough of it after our ordeal."

"I suppose that's true. Well then I'll just use it and be on my way."

"Whatever. Just don't ever comeback! Those were my favorite doors" Herb said, muttering the last part.

He help out the ladle and bucket in a bored manner and Ranma walked up to it.

'Am I really sure I want to go through with this? This is a permanent effect and I'm not sure Herb would appreciate my return.'

Fortunately for her, Herb got tired of waiting for her to make up her mind and splashed the water on her form.

"Okay, now that that's over, GET OUT OF MY PALACE!" He sent a ki blast at her, expecting her to be blasted off.

What he didn't expect was her to bring her hands up and a piece of the ground lift up and take the blast. Leaping away from the shrapnel, he stared into the place where he sent the blast. Ranma walked out of the dust and said calmly, "You don't have to be rude. I was going to leave anyway."

"Now you know I can't let you leave now. I have to see just how powerful you've become." He then face faulted when she jumped into the air with a "Yes!"

Growling at her impudence, he leapt at her firing of a large ball of ki. Ranma clapped her hands together and in response, pieces of the walls came together to form a rough stony shield in front of her. The blast slammed into the stone and dissipated. She then threw her hands forward and the shield was fired at Herb with the force of a cannonball. Herb took to the air and flew towards the ex-aqua transvestite. Ranma jumped straight up while Herb flew beneath her. He immediately turned and fired a ki blast straight at where he judged she would land…..and hit nothing. He turned rapidly, searching for his opponent.

Above him Ranma just smiled. 'I knew he'd freak.' Bringing up one hand, she plucked a boulder out of the wall and held it directly over him.

As soon as his danger sense went off, Herb fired a ki blast straight up, obliterating the boulder. Then ignoring his shock, he flew up to meet Ranma on level ground.

"I see you've learned some new tricks." he said.

"A few." she responded.

"Let's see how well you can defend against this." he said closing his eyes.

Cupping his hands together in an O, he started gathering energy. When he had what looked like a pure white golf ball in his hands, he threw it at Ranma. She laughed a little and brought a stone up to defend herself again. Her laughing ceased when the ball shot straight through the stone and impacted with her stomach. The ball exploded and she fell to the floor in a boneless heap.

Just before she went unconscious, she heard something along the lines of, "Guards, chain her up in a cell. I have finally found a bride worthy of siring a great son for me."

To be continued…..

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