Flowing through his kata fluidly, a young man gracefully executes his
form. If someone were to look at him, it would seem as if he were
performing a dance of some kind, however, not everyone understands what
he is doing. Not many people understand the symbol of this young man's
fluid motions, his stances, his "dance" in general. A few of the people,
who might understand the hardships of this young man's form, and a few
of those people, might even understand the kata itself. But, only three
people understand this young man's reasons for this form, his suffering,
his sacrifices, his ultimate goal. The only six people who truly
understand the kata are the young man, Ranma, his fiancée, Akane, his
three siblings, and his mentor -grandfather-, Master Saotome. As Ranma
finishes his kata, he makes a few gestures with his hands, and in a
finally gesture of honor, he bows and leaves.

 As a young boy, Ranma was born into a middle-upper class family. His
family had the typical members of the household, two twin brothers, a
baby sister, a father and a mother. However, the family followed the
rules of a strict Chinese family. Naturally, as a youth, Ranma loved to
run around, and play with his friends.

Everyday up to his fifth year on this world had been joyful every
moment, nevertheless, life is not always fun and games. On Ranma's fifth
birthday, Ranma's parents threw him a birthday party, at a park. All his
friends had been invited to this party, it was supposed to be a day of
happiness and joy. However, fate had dealt a cruel hand. While Ranma and
his friends played hid and go-seek, Ranma's parents and almost
three-year-old sister sat on a park table with three other pairs of
parents. They were chatting amongst themselves, when suddenly a gang of
adults came by with guns and long knives. Demanding for money, the thugs
became increasingly annoyed by the sharp responses from Ranma's father.
Finally loosing their tempers, they killed them. Ranma's father was
killed slowly when one of the thugs cut him across the stomach. The
other parents were also killed most of them by gunshot wounds, however,
Ranma's mother was tortured, raped, and had her stomach cut open, with a
three month old fetus still in her body. She fell to the floor as the
thieves dropped her to the ground and ran away at the wound of the
sirens. As the murderers ran away, they failed to realize a small boy
sitting in a small tree, it was Ranma. He had seen it all. He had seen
the death of his parents.

 Suddenly he realized the two people who gave him life, had no more life
in themselves anymore. Quickly Ranma rushed over to the bloody field and
shook his father, his father was still strong enough to stand, but with
his multiple knife wounds he was dying rapidly. Helping his father get
to his feet, they made their way to his mother. There he saw a small
living thing in his mother's stomach and his mother dead from the hole
in her stomach. However something else he saw was his little sister,
Ranko, hiding under the park table, wide eyed with fear and horror.
Tears welled up in his eyes as, Ranma slowly coaxed his sister out from
the table. Turning his father, he saw him lying next to his mother,
whispering something into her ear, then beckoning him to come lower to
listen to him.

" Ranma, I'm afraid I cannot hold on much longer. Your mother had died,
and I shall be with her soon. I'm sorry Ranma, I hope you can forgive
me, one day, I hope that one day all of your brothers and sisters will
forgive me. I'm sorry to leave you. But before I leave, I must tell you
something. You must go to your grandfather's house and live with your
grandfather. There you must ask him to teach you the art of our family.
Every summer after that you must go to China and learn a new form of
martial arts. The reason I want you to do this is because this is your
legacy. One of my sons was supposed to become the next great leader and
head of our family. I have chosen you. You are my eldest son. The legacy
of martial arts is now passed from me to you. Son, I want you to take my
ring, and take your mother's ring. These rings have been in the family
for centuries, it signifies a leader. Your mother's ring, you must give
to a girl whom you hold dear to your heart, and she will become your
joint leader. Now my chosen son, bring your sister here, and your
brothers here, I wish to say farewell. It will not be long before I am
gone."

 Slowly Ranma turned and saw all his friends gathered around the death
site, and a few policemen running across the field towards them. Pulling
his brothers, Kenji and Baima, and Ranko towards his father. Quietly he
got up and turned to his friends and told them all to go away. Leaving
only his siblings and himself. Finally his brothers and sister got up
and walked over to Ranma. Quietly and together, they held hands and
greeted the officers. Their father was dead, their mother was dead. But
they are still alive , and even if their parent are not with them in
body, they will be there for their children in spirit, and heart.

The four siblings left the site of blood and terror, with the police.
Rather than having to have to fill out a pile of forms, Ranma's
grandfather came immediately to escort the siblings to his house. There
Ranma and his brothers and sister recuperated from the horrors they had
witnessed. After one full year of living in his grandfather's house,
Ranma remembered his father's last few word,

"I have chosen you. You are my eldest son. The legacy of martial arts is
now passed from me to you." Looking in his draw, in his room, he saw the
rings, which his father had given them. Staring at the rings, he asked
himself, the forbidden question. Why? Why did they have to die? Was
there some god who hated them? Why them? After a while, Ranma calmed
down, and began to think about his father's dying words. His father had
wanted him to lead the family, to protect his brothers and sister. In
order to do that, he needed a plan to protect them and to lead them.
Here he was six years old and already planning for the future.
Nonetheless he didn't care what anyone would think, as long as he had a
goal in life, he would fulfill it. His goal would not be for himself,
nor for his brothers and sister, it would be for the honor of his family
overall, for his father and his mother. He had failed his mother and
father before, and he didn't want to fail them again. Let their dying
wish be fulfilled.

As morning broke across the sky, an old man sits in front of a pond.
There he was sitting in seiza with a serene look on his face. It seems
as if he is waiting for something or someone. Finally after a few
moments, a young boy, six or seven years old, comes up from behind the
elder man. With a determined face, the young boy taps the man on the
shoulder, when there is no response, he sits behind the elder man in
seiza as well. After a few moments, Ranma closes his mind and thinks to
himself,

' Why isn't he answering? How much longer do I have to wait? I just hope
that father was serious about my training and my future. I really want
to move, but I can't because I don't want to seem like I'm impatient
with him or anything. The only thing I have to think about is this is
for mom and dad's honor." Resolving to remain still, Ranma sat there
until it was noon. Finally at long last, Ranma's grandfather stood up
and said to him,

" You're training will begin tomorrow six thirty in the morning." With
that he left a gaping Ranma still sitting in seiza. Regaining his
speech, Ranma asked,

" You knew I was there?" a nod was his only answer. And that was the
beginning of Ranma's training.

For several months Ranma trained under his grandfather, under his
guidance. During this time, Ranma proved to be a quick learner, within
months he had mastered skills for children twice his age. The only
reason why he had excelled so quickly was because of his determination.
He himself had set a short-term goal of mastering the principle of
kempo. Every week for the last seven months, Ranma had set a goal to
achieve the mastery of one block or strike, as a result all the basics
of Kempo were quickly learned and memorized. Going to school and
training had been very hard for Ranma, nevertheless, whenever he thought
about what he was doing and why, he was quickly motivated to press on.
Soon, summer came and Ranma was outside training, going through a kata
as usual. He was thinking to himself, I will double my efforts and learn
as much about kempo over the summer. Of course he had this goal set in
his mind, however, little did he know what his grandfather had in store
for him for the summer.

Ranma's grandfather approached Ranma from the side and let him finish
his kata before interrupting him. Regretting what he must do, Ranma's
grandfather stood face to face with Ranma. Looking directly into Ranma's
eyes, he saw fire, as well as determination. That was good, for that was
all that he needed for now, but for a child so young to undergo such
training is an absolute travesty. Steeling himself, Ranma's grandfather
slowly instructed his grandson to sit in front of the pond and await him
for further instruction. Of course having been his student, for so long
already, Ranma obeyed to his grandfather. Little did he know what he was
going to be told.

Ranma knew his grandfather was going to tell him something important,
because he had told him to sit in front of the pond. Whenever he has to
sit in front of the pond, this meant that his grandfather was going to
take another big step in his training. Calming himself down so that he
wouldn't seem too eager to hear what his grandfather had to say, he sat
still. Finally his grandfather sat in front of him and said to him in a
serious tone.

"Ranma, I assume that your father told you about your future?" receiving
a nod as a reply, he continued "Good, you see, you are destined to be
the future leader of your family. Now your family is not only consisted
of people named Lee or of people named Chang. No, your family will meet
you soon enough. My point is that, you have to be the champion of our
clan. Those people who murdered your family are our opponents. They seek
to destroy us and you, because they are afraid of what you will become
as you grow older. Every few thousand years there is a tournament
between our Earth clan and the other clan, the Kenji. The reason that we
have to fight such a fight is that years ago when the Earth was still
young, our two clans existed. In the beginning of our two clans existed
together as friends. Together we trained and formed the art of Tsong
Dai. In today's world Tsong Dai has penetrated many art forms, the most
basic art forms it has penetrated are Kempo and Kung Fu. Both clans were
fine until they began to train in the mountains.  Then one fateful day,
the two clans came by a cave. The elders of each clan decided to scout
out the cave, they had thought that perhaps they could derive different
techniques for the art in the cave. "

"That day was the day when they came across two battling pairs. One of
the two was pure black as hell itself. The other was radiated white. The
two fought until they both stopped from exhaustion. Finally noticing the
two sets of people standing to their side, the two figures regarded
them. They told them that they were both gods and that both needed
worshippers, either they could worship one of them or leave. Our clan
wanted to leave, but the Kenji clan all sank to their knees and kowtowed
to the black figure. The Kenji clan thought that the prowess of the
black figure was superb, so they hoped that by worshipping it, it would
teach them. The second figure came to our clan and told us that it would
not force us to worship it, however, it said that now that its
counterpart had worshippers, it would become stronger. Therefore the
white figure needed people to counter the evil counterpart of itself, so
our clan agreed to worship this white figure. That is how the two clans
were broken apart. Now every thousand years there must be a large battle
between the champion of our clan and the champion of the Kenji clan."

"You must learn the art of Tsong Dai, and the only way to do that is
that you must learn a number of arts. You see, Tsong Dai is the way of
putting the arts, which one has learned into one. So you see, Tsong
Dai's greatness reflected on the person training in it. You will be sent
to China and Japan. There you will train with the great masters. I
understand that you are young, so along the way, some of your aunts or
uncles will come along and aid you with any financial help or moral
help. You will be leaving this weekend, but there is one thing you have
to know. Just because you are going to travelling doesn't mean that you
are going to slack off from your education, every year you will be given
books which you must learn before the next time you meet another
contact. Please be careful." With all that being said and done, Ranma's
grandfather got up and left Ranma still sitting there. Ranma was trying
to absorb all this in.

This was such a shock to him as well as to his brothers and sister. He
didn't want to go, but many times in life, there are things, which you
don't like to do, but you have to do. It was his responsibility. He
would not let anyone down. He couldn't and wouldn't. Although he was
only seven years old, he knew his responsibilities. Never again shall he
disappoint his loved ones again. Besides he would get his revenge on
those bastards who killed his parents. His parents... his most loved
parents... he would not disappoint them. Silently he swore to himself,

" I will avenge you father and mother. You have my word of honor."
Thinking back to himself two years ago, he could still remember his
mother, tall and elegant, almost like a regal queen. She would
constantly hold Ranma, his sister and brothers. She loved them so
dearly, she was so gentle and kind, to have been violated and killed in
such a violent way always motivated Ranma to continue. It motivated him
to continue with his struggles and endure the pain, so that one day he
could make his parents proud. His father was a stern man, he was even
taller than mother. If one was to look at him, the would describe him as
a hard and unbending man, but as far as Ranma knew his father, he was
strong morally as well as physically. He never made a decision without
consulting mother first, and never did anything without a reason.
Everyday since Ranma could remember, his father told them about honor,
and the code of the family. Even back then Ranma still listened to his
elder patiently and learned quickly. He was so happy back then, so
innocent. Those bastards took away more than his parents, they took away
two of the only people he loved, and cared for. They made him fail in
his code of the family vow. They made him fail. Fail. No, he was never
going to fail again, not so long as he could prevent it. He would not
loose.

For the next few years, Ranma lived in China and Japan studying all that
he could about many arts. He was considered a prodigy among all of his
teachers. Ranma was more than a quick study. Many techniques mastered by
him were learned by just watching. His mind was very complex. In a
matter of minutes he could master the technique. All he had to was to
understand the art and its philosophy behind it. The philosophy of these
arts were complex, but through Ranma, it was understood in months where
it took others years to understand. By the time he was sixteen he had
mastered Wushu, which consisted of Wudang, Ermei, and the eight Shaolin
styles in addition to Wushu he learned Aikkido, Judo, Kempo, Kendo,
Jujitsu, Kenjitsu, Aikijitsu and Bushido. His training included Long
Fist fighting, Taiji, Southern Fist, Xingyi, Bagua, and Imitating Styles
-- Preying Mantis, Eagle Claw, Monkey, Tiger, Leopard, Drunken-Style--
and most deadly of all, Tiger-fu, otherwise called Cat-fu.Those were
just some of the styles which he learned. Along with his skills he
learned the art of weapons. He had mastered many types of Chinese
weapons such as Broadsword, straight sword, spear, staff, Kwan-sword,
double-swords, double straight-swords, double hook-swords, double-ended
spear, nine-section whip, rope-dart, chained hammer, 3-sectional staff,
2-sectional staff, daggers, and double short-staff, as well as the
staff. As far as to date, almost no one has ever been able to be this
accomplished. Only within nine years Ranma had learned and accomplished
a lot in most of China and Japan's martial arts. Once seventeen, he had
to go and meet his contact, at that time he had been finishing up his
training with his latest master whom was teaching him the art of the
Dragon.

The art of the Dragon was the hardest art, which he had to learn, but as
usual he set goals to accomplish his tasks. He had done them in the past
and forced himself to learn all those art forms. In time he began to
adjust his goals and time vigorously. By now he was determined to master
this art and all that his master had to teach him. He had learned how to
execute chi attacks and reversals from his masters and from scrolls in
the libraries of the Shaolin temples. The Art of the Dragon was an art
branched off from the Shaolin temples, it is very discreet, and it has
many cruel methods of teaching a student to learn. His current master
was not cruel, in fact he was patient, but the way of teaching it
demanded it. Ranma had just about learned all that he could from this
art, and stored it in his head. From the Dragon art, he learned how to
manipulate his chi into even more attacks, but furthermore, this art
allowed him to tap into something more than his chi. In fact it was like
sorcery from a fantasy book. With the Dragon Art, he controlled the four
basic elements of the world, earth, water, fire, and air, but that was
just the beginning. Ranma loved to control the weather, as well.

 The Dragon Art was also well known as the mystical art, for the reason
it wasn't true martial arts. Ranma had spent a whole year on the Dragon
art, because each technique required a different type of thinking.
However, Ranma still managed. He was approaching his final and last test
before he became one rank below his master. For his final test, Ranma
had to morph into a phoenix and do combat in that form. This art was one
of the most intriguing of all the arts, which he has learned. The reason
being that, besides controlling the elements of the world, he could
teleport, shape shift, heal, and create. Basically anything he set his
mind to do he could do it, all he had to do is absorb all of the chi
from his environment and focus it on that one thought. This art was very
helpful in aiding his chi attacks as well, because many times he could
only project so much chi at one time, by drawing upon the chi from all
over, he could project numerous amounts of chi attacks. All in all,
Ranma was ready for his final test, for after this he would go back home
and train on his own, perfecting his techniques, as well as combine some
of his attacks together.

Closing his eyes, Ranma stepped to the middle of the field, ten masters
stood around him in a circle. Slowly he began to draw in the chi from
the earth, the air, the water, and the power of the world and more.
Finally with a cry, he looked to the sky and raised his arms and cried,

" Firebird Phoenix Emerge!" Suddenly he was engulfed with flames, after
a few seconds the flames died down. A few more moments pass as the
ground rumbles and a giant phoenix rose from the ashes, delicate yet
strong. A golden crown adorns the head of the phoenix as its beak opens
wide and with a battle cry, the earth itself begins the combat against
the bird. The air, earth and water form around him attack Ranma from all
sides and the sky flashes with lightning and the ground shakes as the
bird defends itself. Finally after an hour-long fight, the winds die
down, the earth retracts itself, water returns to the ground and the
fire stops flaming the bird. All is quiet and the Phoenix is tired, but
still radiating beautifully. Suddenly from the shadows, a giant dragon
leaps out. The dragon is magnificent, however so black that it almost
blends with the shadows. With a cry, it attacks the weakened Phoenix.
The bird defends itself furiously as the dragon attacks. Soon the
phoenix tires and is struck to the ground. The dragon bellows a victory
shout as it glides down and prepares for the final blow. Ranma lies on
the ground and his life flashes before him, as he realizes that he is
going to die. Suddenly he sees his parents, both crying, and faces down.

'No,' Ranma thinks ' I won't fail, no way. I've been through too much to
fail now. I must defeat this monster.' Mustering up all he could Ranma
rose from the ground and, as a phoenix, screams. Soon the scream dies
down as a beam of light shoots from a mouth and hits the black dragon in
the chest. As the beam continues, the Phoenix transforms into a large
golden dragon, breathing fire from its mouth. The beam continues as the
dragon writhes in pain and disappears. Finally just about spent, the
dragon collapses and changes back to a still form of Ranma.

When he finally wakes up, Ranma sees his master kneeing beside him.
Gently he sits up and turns to his master and asks,

" Master what was that thing?" Master Tsu looks up at him and says,

" That was the black dragon, you have many powerful enemies, Ranma. The
black dragons come from the art called Inshido, the way of the shadows.
The art of the shadows is very powerful, perhaps one of the most
powerful. The only other art, which opposes Inshido, is Tsong Daido, the
art of light. Tsong Daido literally means, " think then hit". Who are
you Ranma? Why are you able to change into the golden dragon?" Staring
at his master, Ranma asked in a confused tone,

"I did what?" His master sighed in a tired way, obviously something was
wrong. Looking directly at Ranma, his master told him in a slow and
quiet voice.

" At the last moment, when the Black dragon came down to kill you, you
rose up and shot a golden beam at it. At the time you were a Phoenix,
but once you kept beam at the dragon, you changed into the Golden
dragon. How Ranma? The Golden dragon is a supreme dragon, how did you do
it? You are more than you seem aren't you?" Looking hard at his master,
he asked,

" How much do you know about the Tsong Daido and the Inshido?" Sitting
in seiza, Ranma's master began to speak,

" Well they are two of the earliest forms of arts, hardly anyone is able
to learn them. The only people allowed to learn them are people
descended from the original creators. But they are the two most powerful
forms of arts. The Inshido concentrates on hiding in the darkness,
basically they are invisible in the night. Besides that, they can hide
in their own shadow and travel great distances just within their
shadows. When they fight in their shadow form, it is the most dangerous
to the opponent, because, they can harm you but you can't harm them. The
Tsong Daido is not very clear, many people who have tried to fight them
are often confused. Many times they fight in one style and in the middle
of the fight they change into a different style. Their techniques are
strange as well, they seem to fight using regular techniques, but the
effects are so strange. There are great differences between them is that
the Tsong Daido is quick, strong and precise. The Inshido is brute
strength and they cheat in a fight. It is still not know how they cheat,
but the opponents many times loose focus, and cannot perform simple
techniques. That is all that I know of them." Ranma eyed his master
carefully and calmly said,

" I am going to be a Tsong Daido, my grandfather and father were both
descendants from members of the creators." Wide eyed, his master
displayed an abnormal behavior by saying,

" What! You are a member of the most powerful form of martial arts, and
you still come here to learn from me? I'm truly honored." Then he bowed
to Ranma who had now stood up. Ashamed, Ranma helped his master to his
feet, and said,

" Master, you are still my master, a very good one at that. I thank you
graciously and hope one day to reward you for teaching me, but I must
go. I have family business to attend to, I postponed leaving, just long
enough to finish to the point of one level below you. You are one of the
best master I have had, remember that." Turning to leave, he gathered
his bags of books, scrolls, and weapons he had collected along the way.
He turned to leave. Before he left, he said over his shoulder,

" If you ever meet me again, then don't bow to me, let me bow to you,
until I have earned the right to be on the same level as you are at."
With that he was gone.

As Ranma hiked down the mountain, he was thinking to himself. 'Now that
I have learned as many forms of art, which I can learn in China and
Japan, I wonder what else there is to learn. Well first thing is first,
I will go to Hunan and to my dear Master Ching there, and meet my
contact there. They've probably been there more than a week already. I
have to hurry, last time I was late for five day, and Aunt Nodoka had a
cow. She was even going to call grandfather and tell him that I had
died. Well, Once I get to my contact, I'm going to go home, and start
training with Grandfather again, this time in Tsong Daido. It seems like
the last art I will learn. Once I do that, I will defeat the Kenji clan
once and for all." With determination on his mind, he realized that he
was very close to his goal. All these years of planning, adjusting to
each art, and struggling was finally worth it. He would try to make up
for his lack of honor during the death of his parents. Soon ... very
soon... he would be with his brothers and sister. During his last visit
with his relative, he had been informed that his sister was now fifteen,
his brother were both sixteen.

Thinking even more, Ranma contemplated to himself about the people he
had met along his travels. There was the sultan whom he had met a couple
times, they were good friend now, after all, Ranma had saved his life
once from being attacked by a vicious tiger, which was about to leap out
at him. He was a very nice person although a bit stuck up sometimes.
Then there was the Prince of Monacco, who was a nice person as well, he
was gentle and kind and only a few years older than Ranma. Ranma had met
him at a charity ball that he was giving, they had begun to talk about
his life, because at the time, he was only 9 when he first met him,
every other year he had gone to seen his old friend Prince Jean. He had
a few other interesting friends, who were movie stars, but since he
hadn't watched television very often, he didn't know who they were. They
had met each other when they were making a movie.

Just a year and a half ago, he had took a ship to America to see what it
was like, he had planned to take a month off to enjoy life a bit. He was
going to be learning the Dragon art and wanted to take a break, so he
went to America. There he went to a place named Hollywood, when some man
pulled him off the streets and asked him if he wanted to make money. Of
course Ranma had said yes, after all who couldn't use money? It turned
out that he was going to be an extra in some rodent movie. He was
dressed in some suit and told to act like he was at a party. Not knowing
what to do, he looked around and saw a bunch of cameras following a
couple. Confused, Ranma just followed the camera to see what they were
following, finally he stopped and saw two couples talking to each other.
Suddenly from the corner of his eyes, he saw a tall camera falling
towards the two couples. Quickly he rushed the four people and shouted
for everyone to move away. The camera fell and caused three people to be
injured, by the camera. From then on, after he found out that they were
the stars of this movie, he befriended them and soon they were like old
friends. Of course they introduced him to some of their friends. Nicole
introduce him to her husband Tom, the two of them made a nice couple
except for the fact that Nicole was a few inches taller than Tom. Baima
had told him about his girlfriend, Lauren. Tom introduced him to some of
his old friends Harry, Al, Michelle, and Tony. Finally there was Val,
Val was a strangely quiet person, and had told him about his wife.
Finally after two months, he left.

Then lastly but not least, he had met Bill. Bill was computer person. Of
course, he never knew much about computers, so he just shrugged him off
when he met him, but soon they became friends as well. Bill had come to
a temple Ranma was training at and wanted a good luck charm. When they
became friends, Ranma told Bill that his future would be excellent for
him. Ranma had also told him that there was a window of opportunities
for him. Bill told him that his problem was that he needed something
simple to help people control a program of his. Ranma told him that if
words didn't work the perhaps pictures would work. Bill looked at him
oddly and thanked him. Then after a while, Ranma saw Bill again, and
Bill said that because of him he had made a lot of money. He offered me
a part of his company, which was represented in money, stocks. Anyway,
Bill had put away a few million of these shares in an account of mine.
He visited Bill many times, for he was much too uptight many times. All
in all he felt that his trip was interesting, but it was coming to an
end. He would look up Bill and the others once he got back home.

Once in Hunan, Ranma looked around and saw the familiar temple of the
Shaolin. He was a week and half late, wondering if his grandfather had
been called, Ranma bounded off to the Shaolin temple, where he was
greeted by a pair of familiar people,

" Master Ching! Grandfather!" The elder men looked up and saw Ranma
leaning at the gates. Happily the two elder men went to Ranma and
saluted him, and Ranma saluted them as well. Not seeing his grandfather
and Master Ching in over five years, Ranma was overjoyed to see two
loved ones. His grandfather, or he would call at times Master Saotome,
had grown a few more wrinkles, and still walked with a cane. No matter
how old his grandfather was, he was neither small nor frail, in fact he
was a sturdy and tall person. Master Ching was an even older man, his
face was always full of wisdom as was his grandfather. Master Ching had
been one of Ranma's first teachers, there was a special bond between
them. After their customary greetings, Ranma said excitedly,

" Grandfather how are you? Still strong eh? And you Master Ching, have
you received anymore students who you had to discipline as much as me?"
The two elder men both had a bemused smile on their faces, and
Grandfather first replied,

" Well Ranma, you've grown much since the last time we saw each other.
Have you been training well? Well, I'll test you out later. At the end
of this week you will be coming home with me and your brothers and
sister. Oh, there's also a surprise. I recommend you not reveal yourself
to the young lady until we reach home and crowned." With a confused look
on his face Ranma asked,

" Crowned?" His grandfather just smiled and said,

" Well, you'll have to find out for yourself won't you?" Dismissing the
question, Ranma went into the temple with his grandfather and Master
Ching. Once inside he went directly to the training hall, where he saw
two identical twins, sparring vigorously, and two girls sparring as
well. The two boys were most likely a year or so younger than Ranma they
both had black hair tied into a ponytail, as Ranma had his tied. The two
were not as built as Ranma himself, and almost as tall as Ranma. The two
girls were probably two years or so younger than Ranma, the red hair
girl was very pretty, she reminded him of his mother a bit, but his
mother had brown hair, the other girl had shoulder length hair which was
blackish-blue. Both girls were a few inches shorter than Ranma.
Smirking, Ranma knew immediately that they were his brothers and sister,
although he didn't know who the girl sparring against his sister was.
Finally the sparring match between his brothers ended as one of them,
Kenji, was thrown by Baima. Both got up and saw Ranma, the two girls
stopped fighting as well and turned in Ranma's direction. For a split
second, time stopped as Kenji and Baima ran to Ranma and pounded him on
the back and laughed like old friends.

" Ranma, long time no see!" Kenji said, with a mischievous grin on his
face.

" Yeah I haven't seen you in ten years. Has these past years made you
soft or something?" Baima smirked. They probably would have exchanged
more words if Ranko hadn't ran to Ranma and hugged him tightly. Ranma's
eyes bulged as he felt himself slowly trying to breath.

" Uh<gasp> it's nice to<wheeze> see you<gasp> too Ranko. <Wheeze> could
you- um <ack> let go and< gasp> not hold on so tightly?" Ranko had grown
into a beautiful woman, any man would like her.

" Oh. Ranma, it has been so long, I still remember when Grandfather told
us that you went on a long trip and wouldn't be back for a long time. I
thought you had died or something." Letting go, Ranko continued, and
looked up at her brother smiling and crying.

" Oh great now, you've got her started." A voice from the side said,
turning to look at who it was, it proved to be a petite girl about
Ranko's age, she looked a mixture of races for sure. She had light brown
hair and seemed to always smile. " Hello, I'm Kasumi, I'm Akane's
sister. She's the one over there." the girl pointed to the other girl
standing behind Ranko. Smiling, Ranma bowed to them and asked,

" Are you two my brother's girlfriends or something?" Kasumi giggled and
Akane fumed,

" What? How can you say that? I would never be courted by one of your
brothers. First of all, I am older than them, I'm going to be seventeen
tomorrow. Second of all, my younger sister is, unfortunately, engaged to
your brother Kenji. My other sister, who is currently sleeping at the
moment is engaged to your other brother, Baimmy-boy there." Grinning,
Ranma looked at the two blushing brothers and asked,

" Engaged, huh? Boy you two have been busy while I was gone. It's a good
thing you're at least their age." Blushing even more, they stared at the
ground while Kasumi wrapped her arms around Kenji. Turning to Akane
Ranma eyed her carefully before responding, " You miss, have got a
serious attitude problem. You almost seemed offended that I asked it you
were involved with someone in my family." Akane fumed for a moment then
said,

"Well yes, after all I am being engaged against my will, I have to marry
the king of your little clan. Jeeze, I would have thought all this
arranged marriage stuff would be over with a long time ago, but no,
dad's gotta engage me to someone I don't even know. I'm just glad I'm
not engaged to a lowly vagabond such as yourself." Ranma's eyes became
bemused for a moment and answered her challenged,

" You know I would smack you silly right now, but I don't hit impudent
girls who are so ugly," Akane began to fume again as Ranma continued
"flat," Akane eyes went flat "sexless," Akane had steam pouring out her
ears by now, " and arrogant. No matter how much she looks like a boy."
That was the final straw, the others had backed away from Ranma, knowing
what was next. Perhaps this time Akane would meet her match and loose.
With a cry, Akane rushed Ranma and prepared to throw a punch at him.
Quickly Ranma stepped aside and caught her arm, flipping around, and
holding her in a choke. Smiling, Ranma said tauntingly,

" Gee, and I thought you might be somewhat of a challenge." Suddenly he
was thrown to the floor, and all the air rushed out of him as he hit the
concrete. His immediate reaction was to grab the arm, which had thrown
him and throw her as well. They both ended up grappling for a while,
until, Ranma got on top of her and trapped her. Smiling, Ranma said
again,

" Ha, pinned you again." Suddenly there was a loud shout at the door,

" Who art thou, unhand the beauteous maiden Akane." Looking up, Ranma
saw a Kendoist standing at the doorway, and holding an actual sword in
his hand. Getting up, Ranma helped Akane up, who was groaning a bit from
being crushed underneath Ranma. Then turning to the Kendoist he said,

" Hi, I am Ranma Saotome, nice to meet you. Nice sword you got there
know how to use it?" The Kendoist stood there and drew his katana, as he
said,

" Of course, I know how to use this sword, for I am the greatest martial
artist in the world, none stand in my path. I am Kuno Tatewaki, Blue
Thunder of West Beverly Hills High. I will allow you to grovel before
me, for insulting me by hurting the most beauteous maiden Akane."
Staring at the young man who was about the same age as himself, Ranma
said ,

" I do not grovel, and further more, why do you care what about her?
She's engaged to the king of my clan. Furthermore, I would advise you
not to draw that flashy sword in front of me."  Kenji began to object as
he cleared his throat,

" Um- bro? You might not want to anger him, he is the best martial
artist, even better than me, in school. And he handles the sword pretty
well." But it was too late, Kuno had roared and charged at waving his
sword around. Ranma just stood there calmly and looked Kuno in the eyes.
Suddenly as Kuno swung, there was a flash of light, and Kuno's sword was
cut in half. Just as quick he was turned around and booted into the
ground. All this took place in less than a split second. In the end they
just saw, Kuno flat on the ground , and Ranma holding an old katana in
front of him. Smirking, Ranma said,

" Never attack a master of Kenjitsu." Sheathing his sword, Ranma turned
to face the others and said,

" Come on, guys lets go, I know a real nice place to go, Baima, why
don't you go get your fiancée now and meet us in the front." With that
he offered the shocked face Akane his arm and whispered into her ear,

" I was just kidding about you being uncute and all that, I mean you're
real good looking. Let's let bygones be bygones, okay?" Smiling Akane
nodded and gave him a warm kiss on the cheek, and said,

" When I become the queen, I'll reward you somehow." With that they
left.

As the small group accumulated at the front gate, Ranma waited
patiently. For the first time in a long time he was with his family. So
much had changed so much he had missed. His brothers were now men as was
he, in fact they were engaged. Ranko had blossomed into a beautiful
woman, Ranma regretted the fact that he had missed so much of their
lives, but he had to make sacrifices. As a leader of the Saotome clan,
he had responsibilities. All those years of travelling on the road, he
constantly wrote to his brothers and sister, but lost contact with them
in the last year. Even though he was not with them physically, he was
with them in spirit. Everytime he had written to them, he was so much
like a father writing back to his children. But that was all behind him
for the moment, he was with his family, his blood family, and that was
all that mattered for the moment.

Ranma's brother's fiancées were definitely the same age as they were,16,
and they seemed to have a nice heart. Kenji's fiancée, Kasumi, was a
nice girl, she seemed patient and seemed ever so much like a mother.
Nabiki, Baima's fiancée, was very unlike her twin sister. She seemed
like a very wily person, she set traps to find out information, and does
it very indiscreetly. And then there was Akane, the eldest of the three
sisters. Akane seemed very short-tempered, but kind, in the way that she
had moral standards. Sometimes she could be very stuck up, but that's
how many rich people are like, pity she had to married to the king of
the clan, he somewhat liked her. Just then, Ranma's thoughts were
interrupted as he saw that everyone was here already. Grunting in
agreement, Ranma said,

" Alright, let's go." Leading the troop of teenagers out the gate, they
went into the city.

Walking down the street, Ranma chatted with his brothers and sister.
They all went to Beverly Hills High, because they no longer lived with
grandfather. Aunt Nodoka had taken them in, after Cousin Paul and Ben
left, Aunt Nodoka felt lonely, so decided to take the three of them in.
Grandfather agreed, because he had things to do, besides, they would
receive a better education than at the district he lived in. Akane and
her sisters went there as well, and that was how Kenji and Baima met the
two. After half an hour or so, they arrived at a dance club, which Ranma
knew the owner very well.

Inside American music was playing loudly, hordes of people were jumping
around and dancing. Everyone was used to this, after all the excitement
was in the air as the group joined the dancing people. After a moment of
dancing with Akane, Ranma felt a tap on his shoulders, turning around he
saw that it was his good friend, Mao-se.

" Hey Mao-se, How's it going?" smiling Mao-se shook hands with Ranma,
the two laughed loudly and pounded each other's backs.

" Ranma, it's been too long, who's your girl?" looking over at Akane,
Ranma blushed and said,

"She isn't my girl, she a friend, alright? Anyway, this place is really
blooming in business huh?" grinning widely Mao-se lead them to a quieter
place to talk. Ranma's brothers and Ranko followed them to the office as
Mao-se gave them all drinks. Accepting the drinks, Ranma began,

" Well? Did they come back?" receiving a nod as an answer, Ranma
explained to the others,

 " There's a gang around this area, when I was here about three years
ago, their leader was really insulting to me and Mao-se, so I decided to
teach them some manners. The point is that they stopped attacking when I
was here, but trashed the place when I wasn't. I just came back to
settle the score. You see, the leader of the gang is a trainee of
Inshido." Kenji, Baima, and Ranko gasped and stared at Ranma, while the
other three looked confused. Ranma was just about to explain, when a
loud crash was heard. Rushing outside, Ranma and the others saw five or
seven tall men wrecking the bar and over turning tables. With a cry,
Mao-se ran down to the men and said,

 "Stop, aw come on, it's only been a week. Please stop." One of the men
just stood there and laughed,

 " Yeah right, three years isn't long enough for us to get back at you
for humiliating us, where's your friend now? Huh? He's not here, the
Inshido rule supreme." Suddenly, he looked up and saw Akane and the rest
of them, but not Ranma.

 " Whoa, who are they? Wait a second, those two look just like Ranma."
Signaling his men to follow him, the brute strode up to the group and
sneered at them,

 " Who are you? Ranma's brothers?" then noticing the girls, he leered at
them. " And who are you girls? If you want a good time, you can join my
friends and me." Enraged, Akane slapped him and yelled at him,

 " Why you- you- idiot! Why would we ever want to join you losers! When
Ranma gets here he'll beat the crap out of you guys." The smirk wiped
away from the man's face as he paled,

 " Ranma? Ranma's here? Oh crap! Let's go." Yelling to the others, he
turned to leave, but standing at the doorway was Ranma with a calm look
on his face. Looking coolly at the seven people, he said,

 " Well, it seems like you didn't heed my warning. Well, you idiots
never do learn or listen well do you? In addition to that, you harass my
family and their fiancées, nope, you guys can't get any dumber, except
if you honestly think you can beat me!" Enraged, the man shouted,

 " Attack him, and hit to kill." Each of them pulled out a gun and aimed
for Ranma, who still stood still. With a cry, they fired, as Akane and
the others tried to stop them. Time stopped as the bullets neared Ranma
who stood with his eyes flat. Suddenly a few inches from Ranma the
bullets broke into flames and disappeared, as Ranma was engulfed in
flames. Wide eyed, the group of thugs and Ranma's group stared at the
sight. Finally the fire died down, and Ranma stood there with his eyes
blazing white. The leader of the gang then shouted,

 " Yeah you think that's good, I have a few of my own tricks, I am Wong
Sun-Ding disciple of Inshido, I challenge you." Eyes still blazing,
Ranma roared back,

 " I am Lee-Jin-Kung, Descendant of Kung Lao, a Leader of the Tsong
Daido. I accept your challenge. You fool, you've just challenged someone
with skills far better than you." Sun's eyes glazed over as he realized
who Ranma was, but with a determined mind, he jumped down and faced
Ranma, otherwise known as Jin-Kung. Bowing to each other, the fight
began. Sun threw a barrage of punches and kicks at lightning speed, but
none of them got through. Jin eyed Sun the whole time and countered.
Throwing Sun across the room, didn't seem enough for him. Stalking over
to where Sun was, Jin prepared to fight again. However, Sun got up
quickly and slammed a table over Jin. The table was well over a few
hundred pounds, but using his skills as an Inshidoist, Sun managed to
crush Jin under the table. Panting for breath, Sun bellowed,

 " I won, I defeated a puny Tsong Daido master. This period's match will
be easy indeed. The Inshido will rule supreme." He was going to say
more, but the table exploded as a giant Gorilla appeared, then it spoke
in English

 " Brute strength? Well I'll show you brute strength." Quickly the
gorilla jumped onto the wide- eyed Sun and crushed his skull with a
punch. Slowly the body began to disintegrate and swirl around the
gorilla. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning as the gorilla threw
his head back in pain as the power of the body entered him. Having his
chi storage elevated, Ranma sank down to the floor and slowly changed
back to a human. Turning to the others, he said,

 " Well, anyone else want to go?" Six very panicked men ran out the door
and screamed in terror. Kenji and Baima ran to their brother and said,

 " What the hell was that? How did you change into that monkey?" Smiling
weakly, Ranma just said,

 " Well, what do you think I have been trying to learn for the past ten
years. Every type of martial arts there is, and sorcery counts as well.
Come on, let's go home." Nodding mindlessly, the others followed Ranma
as they left a shocked Mao-se still looking at his club.

 Back at the temple, Ranma, sister, Akane, and his brother and their
fiancées sat in a field with Ranma's grandfather and Master Ching. The
other Shaolin monks and disciples sat around them. Ranma was telling the
two elder men about his training. His training up until the point of the
Dragon Art astounded them. Ranma's grandfather stared hard at his
grandson, wondering how it was possible for someone to master an art in
a month. Finally Ranma told them about the Dragon Art, and his
accomplishments. When he finished, Ranma's grandfather gaped, and said,

 " The Dragon Art! That was just a legend. The are trainees of sorcery,
almost no one has ever been able to transform into a golden dragon
except our god. How Jin? I know you name means Golden Dragon, but I
didn't think it was possible." Looking to the ground, Ranma just said,

 " I don't know, I just remember pulling in all the chi from surrounding
area and blasting the black dragon into oblivion. I didn't event think
about what I was doing. All that I knew was that I couldn't fail. And
yes the Dragon Art is alive and well. I can control the weather, earth,
air, water, fire, and many other things. I can transform into any
creature I want to, and teleport. Basically anything I set my mind to I
can do, all I have to do it form the idea in my head and pour the chi I
gather into the idea and it is done. The only thing I can't do is
obliterate something. No one has ever been able to do that." Master
Ching looked at Ranma with a new profound respect and asked,

 " Do you think you can give us a demonstration of your skills in the
Dragon Art, and please don't hold back." Nodding Ranma asked everyone to
clear the area and to form a circle around him. Closing his eyes, Ranma
drew in the chi and held up his arms and released the chi, dark clouds
swirled at his commands, lightning flashed here and there, the ground
rumbled as the ground rose making a stage for Ranma. Flaming Birds
circled around Ranma as water creatures formed around Ranma. Finally in
one fell swoop, the creatures made of fire and water, as well as earth
stood on the ground around Ranma as the wind increased, lightning
flashed more, and Ranma continued chanting, throwing his chi all over
the place. Finally Ranma's final word was echoed, as he said,

 " NOW!" the wind and lightning swirled around him, as did the
firebirds, water dragons, and rock tigers. Creating a tornado of some
kind, the people around him were almost sucked into the swirling mass,
finally the wind stopped, everything died down as the earth stage sank
back down, and a pile of ashes appeared. All was quiet for a moment, as
the ground rumbled even more this time as the ashes swirled this time
and finally a giant red phoenix rose from the ground. It was even more
beautiful than at the test. Its head was adorned with a golden crown,
it's red feathers and body glistened in the night fire. It's magnificent
wings stretched wide as its beak cried out and it flew around the crowd
with exquisite grace. Suddenly the ground shook even more as the phoenix
began to blur and was soon just a large golden blur in the sky, suddenly
emerging from the golden flame was a golden dragon of noble bearing.
Roaring into the night, the dragon stretched. Finally everything stopped
as the golden dragon landed to the floor and fell into a heap. Then it
blurred and changed into Ranma, who was out cold again.

 As Ranma woke up, he saw Akane in the bed that was next to him, she was
tossing and turning. It seemed as if she was having a nightmare. With a
worried look he got out of bed and crawled into her bed. Wrapping his
arms around her, he thought about what she would think when she woke up.
She would be shocked, and the look on her face would be worth it.
However, he was surprised as she snuggled in closer.

 " She's so beautiful," Ranma thought to himself. " Like an angel.
Besides she feel really good in my arms. Too bad she's engaged, I think
I am really falling for her. I wonder who the king of our clan is,
Grandfather said that we would find out tomorrow. Oh, wait, it is
tomorrow. The rest of my relatives should be arriving now. I guess, I
can sleep some more." When Ranma tried to get out of Akane's grip on
him, it was impossible, so Ranma just rested his head on her pillow and
fell asleep.

 Next morning, a few hours later, Kenji, Baima, Kasumi, and Nabiki came
into the their older brother and sister's room, and they all gasped at
the sight. Ranma was topless, and Akane was in a white chemise, both in
each other arms, snuggled against each other. Kenji and Baima grinned as
Kasumi held her hand to her mouth. Nabiki was snapping a picture.
Meanwhile behind them, Ranko came in and smiled. All was quiet until a
cry was heard, everyone turned to see a steaming Kuno standing there in
a gi and hamaka. Both Ranma and Akane woke up and saw Kuno.

 " How dare ye, only I Kuno Tatewaki should be allowed to slumber with
the goddess Akane. For I am the king of the Saotome clan." Then just at
that moment, Akane realized that Ranma's arms around her, and she was
snuggled against him. With a cry, she pushed him off the bed and said,

 " Wha-What did we do? I know I was kinda drunk. Did you take advantage
of me?" Shocked for a moment, Ranma stood up and said,

 " No way, you were having a nightmare, and I just thought you could
have used a hug, but you latched onto me, and I just decided that I
would just goto sleep. It's not as if we did anything!" Then turning to
the still fuming Kuno, he said,

 " And what makes you think that you're the king?" With a simple shrug,
Kuno just said,

 " Well, I am the most noblest of all Saotome descendants. After all I
am the best martial artist." With a snort, Ranma said,

 " Yeah right, whatever, you're so good, that I beat you in three
seconds. Okay." Kuno began to fume again, then he spoke,

 " Well that will be decided today at noon, when the eldest of our clan
will test us to see which one of us is the king of the Saotome Clan.
Only one may pass through the barrier of the orb." Staring at Kuno Ranma
asked,

 " What orb?" With an arrogant sigh, Kuno just rolled his eyes and said,

 " The orb of our god Aldur. It is said to have an infinite amount of
power. And when the Lineage of the kingship was slain hundreds of years
ago, the dying king said that there was one surviving member. But this
member was hidden from the Inshido clan and kept in secret. It is said
that today the king shall return and all the governments of Asia, Europe
and America will bow down to the King of the Saotome Clan. They had made
a pact, which still holds true today, which stated that once the Saotome
king returns, all power will revert back to monarchy. The King will
appoint kinglets to each province. Then the Inshido Clan shall reclaim
their ancient land of Part of Europe, The Borders of Germany, Austria,
Hungary, and Romania, will separate Europe from the Lands of the
Saotome. The Soviet Union, Australia, Africa as well as Antarctica will
belong to the Inshido. Back to the orb, it determines who will become
king, because only the king shall be able to hold the orb without dying.
Then as the Alantian King comes to pass, he shall take a daughter of the
Tendo tribe to be his wife, which just happens to be Akane." Ranma's
eyes glazed over and looked sharply at Akane who was just listening
calmly. Then with a shout,

 " You mean I just slept with the queen of half the world?" Just then
everyone broke into a laugh and nodded. Akane just looked down and
blushed. Getting to his feet, Ranma left the room still half-naked.

 As Ranma was in under water in the pond, practicing a kata, he was
thinking to himself. He had been planning all these years for a perfect
revenge on the Inshido clan. He couldn't loose sight of that. Sure he
was very happy to see his brothers and sister, but he couldn't loose
sight of his major goal. Of course not, but life had just thrown him a
curve ball. His revenge will determine the rest of the world's fate. It
just wasn't fair. What was his destiny, why did so many people know so
much about him and his future? Well, no matter he would fulfill his goal
no matter what. Then he realized that his grandfather was at the surface
of the water motioning for him to come up. Rising slowly, Ranma broke
the surface, not even breathing heavy.

 " Yes, grandfather?" His grandfather just looked at him and said,

 " It is time, the whole family has gathered at the hall of the king. I
believe the situation has been explained to you. You just have to make
due with what you have. Come you must get dressed in your formal
clothing." Rising from the water, Ranma headed back to his room and took
a bath.

 'Today is going to be a long day.' He sighed.

 Finally he exited his room, Ranma was dressed in a doublet and had a
cape tied around him. He felt foolish to be dressed like this. But of
course he had to obey his grandfather, as he was lead to the front of
the room and seated before a giant stage. On the stage there was a large
podium with a jewel in the center. It was dark blue on one side and jade
on the other side. It had a large power signature reading from it, in
fact so powerful that Ranma noted that that must be the Orb of Aldur.
Finally as everyone settled, Ranma saw Akane and her sisters on the
balcony level. Sitting with them was Ranko, everyone was dressed in
formal and ancient garbs like Ranma. Looking directly at Akane, Ranma
just sighed and felt depressed. She was destined to marry a noble
person, but he probably wasn't good enough. Turning to the front, he
watched his grandfather begin,

 " For centuries we have awaited the return of our king, and the time is
near, these youths were destined to have a chance to test for the Orb.
One of them will become the king, our king. Without further adieu, let
the test begin." The first man walked up to the podium and tried to get
through the invisible barrier. Half and hour later, none of the men
succeeded. Finally it was down to Kuno, with a triumphant smile and in
an arrogant voice, said,

 " Your wait shall not be any further, I am your new king." With one
look towards Akane, Ranma saw dread. She didn't want to be married to
Kuno, but as fate would have it, she probably would have to. Suddenly
Ranma felt a sharp pain in his stomach, and he doubled over. Looking up
he saw Kuno frantically using his sword slamming against the invisible
barrier. With each hit of the sword, Ranma felt unbearable pain.
Finally, not being able to withstand it, Ranma stood up and shouted,

 " Enough! Kuno you are not the king, just accept it." Kuno looked at
Ranma and said,

 " But I must be King, there is no one else. Unless you are willing to
risk your life for this orb." Then Kuno continued hammering away at the
barrier, people moved to the stage to pull Kuno away. But Ranma signaled
for them to stop. With grim determination, Ranma moved to the stage, and
shouted,

 " Kuno I have warned you, and you have not heeded me. Therefore I must
force you away from the orb." With that Kuno's eyes went wide, as Ranma
glowed with chi. Then with a final roar, Ranma unleashed a chi blast,

 " Roaring Tiger Bullets!" Chi shaped like tigers slammed into Kuno
burning him, until he fell to the ground, not dead but in extreme pain.
Breathing heavily, Ranma faced the podium and looked at the orb. Somehow
it was enchanting, and caused Ranma to reach his had to the orb,
suddenly it leapt to his hand as he felt the power sear through him. He
burst into flames as he struggled to control the power of the orb. The
people of the hall gasped as he glowed brighter and brighter until they
could not see him anymore. Finally the light dimmed and standing in the
center of the glow, was Ranma in full armor, his old sword drawn and the
orb in the center of the centerpiece. Everyone was entranced by the
sight of their new king. Finally Ranma's grandfather said in a booming
voice,

 " Behold your new king, Lee Jin Kung, The Celestial Dragon."

 That day went quickly for Ranma because he couldn't remember much of
it. They had crowned him and placed a tiara on Akane. Finally they led
him to a room where Akane was sitting on one bed, the only bed in the
room. Akane heard him enter and quickly bowed to him, a stiff bow. Then
she stood up and said,

 " Will my Lord require anything?" Staring at her, Ranma just gaped and
said,

 " Akane just call me by me actual name okay?" Curtsying stiffly as
well, she said 'yes' but it was quite hollow as if she was angry with
him for some reason. Confused Ranma just asked,

 " What's wrong? There's something you're upset about and you're not
telling me." Akane just looked icily at Ranma and flared,

 " Don't act like you're innocent and all. You could have told me you
know. You could have told me that I was going to be married to you. Why
didn't you tell me?" Then she fell into a heap and cried. Ranma looked
at her sadly, and asked,

 " So you don't want to marry me?" With a weak voice Akane said,

 " No, I never said that, but it's just that you knew all along and
never told me. You led me to believe that you were just an advisor of
the king. At least we could have gotten to know each other better. I
mean I treated you so badly in the beginning and humiliated myself. I
just don't understand it, why couldn't you tell me? That could have
saved so much embarrassment for me." Ranma felt a little guilty and went
over to her and held her to him for a moment, and comforted her gently
and smoothed her hair.

 " I'm sorry, I guess I should have been getting all those hints that
grandfather dropped by me. But Akane I just want you to know that if you
don't want to marry me, then just say it." Looking up to the ceiling, he
sighed, "God, so much has happened to me in just three days. It's has
gone by so quickly, I just can't believe it." Akane slowly disentangle
herself from Ranma, quietly she stood and said,

 " Ranma, I think- I think that I might just- just be in-. Well, I mean
I think that I might just be, um" finally taking a deep breath, she spit
it out, "Ranma I think that I might be in love with you." her eyes
immediately averted downwards. Ranma was bowled over with emotions. His
whole life, he had never heard anyone say those words to him except
perhaps, he mother and father. It was just a shock. He had also never
admitted to anyone admitted that he loved anyone else. But all his
mental barriers were down, and he was just as vulnerable as Akane.
Finally in a soft voice, he said,

 " Well, Akane, I think that I am in love with you." She looked up at
him and smiled, her eyes filled with tears of joy. This was definitely a
love-at-first-sight situation. Ranma quickly got up and said to her,

 "Well now that we've gotten that out of the way, what do you say we go
to sleep, huh?" humming in agreement, the two of them settled and fell
asleep in each other's arms.

 Next morning broke as Ranma awoke with the sun shinning brightly in his
eyes. He sat up and saw his brothers and sister standing in the room.
They were all smiling. Getting out of bed, and clad only in his boxers,
Ranma said to them,

 " Gee aren't you guys happy today?" Ranko spoke first and said,

 " Come on big bro, of course we're happy, after all we found out that
we were related to a king." Then Ranma looked at them and asked,

 "Well, what did you want? I might want to go to sleep, you know?" Kenji
first spoke and bowed to Ranma,

 "Well, the leaders from all over your kingdom will be gathering in the
hall to present themselves, Grandfather said that it would be best that
you get dressed with Akane and come quickly. There are a lot of leaders
here." Groaning softly, Ranma turned to Akane and shook her a bit, then
he whispered in her ear,

 " We have visitors." She woke gently and smiled at Ranma, and pulled
him down for a kiss. Ranma enjoyed the moment for a while, until he
heard his brothers and sister cheering them on. The two pulled apart and
blushed deeply. Then Ranma remembered that they had to go to the hall.
Addressing Akane, he said,

 " Akane, We've go some business to take care of. The leaders of the
world are here. They want to meet us and pledge their undying loyalty to
us. You want to come?"

 An hour later, the royal couple sat in the in the royal compartment.
Ranma was pacing around nervously thinking of ways to greet the rulers
of his kingdom. This was just not right, he had no training in the art
of diplomacy. Akane sat demurely at one side and just folded her hands
in her laps awaiting the fanfare to announce their presence. Ranma just
continued pacing, and racking his brains for ways to greet these people.
This was one of life's curve balls. He hadn't expected to his life to be
of royalty, otherwise, he would have planned to learn diplomacy, and the
way of the government. No he was a tactician, a fighter, and perhaps a
leader, but he sure as hell wasn't ready to take on the reins of half of
the world and serve as a monarch. He was fidgeting nervously with his
doublet and crown.

His crown. There were some things about the crown, which just made it
uncomfortable. First of all, the crown was much too uncomfortable. It
was a circular band, made of pure gold, and with a large jade stone in
the very center. Around the band an intricate design made in silver
adorned it. The tiara Akane wore was a silver circular band, which
curved down at the front. In the center of the curve was a sapphire
stone. Intricate designs in gold wrapped around the tiara. On one side
of the jewel of the tiara was a delicate drawing of a dragon, and on the
other side was a drawing of a phoenix.

 As Ranma continued pacing, he felt Akane gently wrap her arms around
him. Stopping, he turned to look at her. She seemed so beautiful, Ranma
mentally made a note that the only good thing about this curve ball is
Akane.

 " Ranma, if you don't stop pacing around, you're going to wear a hole
into the ground. Don't fret, diplomacy will come to you. If you must,
think of it as training, these people are the levels which you must get
through." Akane said soothingly. But the she said in a serious tone,

 " Ranma, today, you have to sort out which of these leaders are your
friends and which ones are your enemies. You will have to drop a few
leaders. Remember that you are now making decisions to benefit half of
the world. Choose wisely, Ranma." Then Akane got a playful look in her
eyes, and she hugged Ranma closer to her,

 " While where waiting, why don't we do something constructive?" Ranma
just began to sweat as she pulled him down for a kiss. Outside the
fanfare erupted announcing their arrival. Ranma was about to go out,
when Akane pulled him back down and said

 " Let them wait a while, we waited for them." The fanfare blew twice
before someone yanked the curtains aside to reveal the royal couple
locked in a passionate kiss.

 Sitting on his throne, Ranma was listening to the delegate from
Argentina talk on about how he was glad that the monarchy was in such
good hands. Slowly Ranma was trying to keep awake, when Akane elbowed
him in the ribs.

 " The President of the United States is here. Show some respect instead
of sleeping. Remember what we decided all right? Come on he's the last
one, then we can go back to our room and rest." Ranma quickly focused at
American President, Mr. Pulman. After a fifteen-minute speech he stopped
and bowed to Ranma. As he was about to leave, Ranma stood up and said in
a clear and strong voice.

 " I welcome you all, first of all, I would like to thank you for coming
to present yourself. I have a few modifications I will be combining a
few countries together so that I can manage the kingdom in a more
orderly fashion. All of Europe will be grouped together as one country,
it will be called Cherek, as it was called a while ago. From the borders
of Turkey to the eastern borders of India, will form another country
called Algaria. The rest of Asia will be considered Aloria, which
includes Japan and all surrounding islands. The islands in the middle of
the Pacific including Hawaii will be considered Riva. The current United
States, the islands grouped in the Gulf of Mexico, and Canada will be
where I reside, and it will be called the Vale of Aldur. From Mexico to
Panama will be the country Drasnia. All of South America will be called
Sendaria.

 Furthermore, I will appoint new rulers to each of these countries, and
they shall divide their country up into their decided provinces, and the
provincial rulers. I understand that not all of you will be satisfied.
Nonetheless, I have made my decision. For my kingdom to be divided into
so many smaller countries is not right. Remember now, you are all
considered united. United like the United States.

 From my reports I have read that there are many racial and religious
problems in my current lands. Right now, I will tell you that I will not
tolerate any type of that foolishness. If I hear of my very own people
killing each other, I will retaliate with violence. And trust me you do
not want to see my wrath in action. We are now one nation, and we will
fight together as one against the Inshido clan's lands. In your
portfolios are the countries, which make up their lands. All relations
to these countries must be cut until further notice.

 And now I will announce who will be the country rulers. My brother
Prince Kenji and his future Queen Kasumi will rule over Riva. My other
brother Prince Baima and his future Queen Nabiki shall reign over
Aloria. My sister Princess Ranko will rule over Algaria. Queen Akane and
I will rule the Vale of Aldur. The rest of the country rulers have yet
to be determined. The next time we meet I shall reveal them to you. For
now, I feel that my siblings and myself are still a bit too young to be
ruling for now. Therefore, we will reside in America until each of us
reach the age of eighteen, then we will claim our rightful seats. You
have until then to ally yourselves in the fashion, which I have
commanded. This way the people of the countries will not be as
surprised. How you do that will depend on you. Should you ignore my
command, I will have to enforce my command, and you wouldn't want that,
now would you? I will be watching you all for possible country rulers.

 Oh, also, one more note, if you think that since I will not be in
direct command of your governments, then you are seriously mistaken. If
I see something I don't like, then I have to power to command it to
stop. That is all for now gentlemen, until next year, when we all turn
eighteen." The leaders of his lands all shuffled out of the room, many
grumbling.

 At the end of the week, Ranma met with his good friend Prince Jean and
saluted him. The two shook hands firmly and Prince Jean greeted Ranma
warmly. Prince Jean was a twenty or so year old man.

 " Jean, it's nice to see you again. I see you heard about my elevation
eh?" Ranma started them off.

 " Of course, I came as soon as I could. It is indeed a great honor."
The Prince responded, then saw Akane enter the room, " It that your
beloved wife?"

 " Of course, Akane?" Ranma beckoned for her to come to him. When she
was next to his side, he introduced her to Jean. Finally after a long
talk they left together to America where Ranma had decided they would
live.

 Ranma looked out at the now bright sky, it seemed so different here. In
China, it would come over a mountain or over a plain, but here it was so
different. Continuing to stare at the sunset, Ranma sighed and went back
into their California house. They had agreed that they should finish
school before ruling such large lands. Slowly he started his kata in the
yard, at least the President Pulman was kind enough to give them a house
where they could live by themselves. Ranma thought that perhaps the
house-no mansion was a bit excessive, but the others did not mind. As a
matter of fact, they were quite ecstatic. Ranma had the rest of the
summer to learn how to drive since he was now seventeen and the eldest
of them all. Today would be their first day at school. Ranma had
arranged it so that everyone could finish their senior year before the
big change. Kenji, Baima, and Akane were all seniors like Ranma, because
they had skipped a year sometime ago. Feeling a bit dumb, Ranma felt
strange to be in the same grade as his younger brothers. Kasumi and
Nabiki were both juniors, and under a lot of pressure, because they had
took summer school to get into the same grade as the rest of them. In
order for them to finish their school year at the same time as the rest
of the group, Nabiki and Kasumi had to spend at least one semester as a
junior and the second semester as a senior. Yes it was a new change for
Ranma, but no matter what, Ranma had to keep his mind on his primary
goal; to destroy the Inshido and avenge.

 As Ranma pulled into the school parking lot, he looked at the large
school. He was also a bit uncomfortable, Akane had insisted that he wear
something else beside his Chinese clothes. So he ended up wearing tee
shirt and a pair of jeans. But the reason he was uncomfortable was that
Akane was wearing very little, a cut off shirt and a pair of very tight
jeans. Finding a place to park his new Jeep, Ranma huffed to himself,
today would be a long day. In the school, Ranma received his schedule
and saw that at least he had five of his classes with Akane, and the
other two he had with Kenji and Baima. Heading off to his first class,
he braced for the worst.

 By lunch, Ranma was ready to scream. He had never sat through such
boring classes. When he studied on his own, while travelling, he would
make it interesting. But all these classes, especially science, were all
so boring. Making his way to the cafeteria, Kenji told him where Akane
would be waiting for him. Smiling inwardly, Ranma said to himself,

 " At least I get to spend sometime with Akane, it is just the thing to
brighten my day."  When he rounded the corner, he saw two large guys
cornering Akane who was huffing and puffing, obviously from running away
from these guys. Angrily, Ranma wanted to pound them into the pavement,
but hid behind the wall and listened.

 " Listen Dan, Adam, I'm am involved with someone right now. Just leave
me ago, or else he'll come by and beat the crap out of you guys." Akane
said.

 " Well, guess what, Kuno ain't in school right now, so how's about we
go to my house later, or I could we could just stay in my car." One of
them said.

 " Yeah, well, my car's larger, so all three of us can fit in the back."
The other one said in a insinuating tone.

 "Better yet, let's go now." The first one said, and grabbed Akane's
wrist. Quickly Akane tried to kick the guy, but was tripped by the other
one, as they both went to the ground. The two of them began to drag
Akane away. Angrily, Ranma had seen and heard enough. Stepping from his
hiding place, he cleared his voice,

 " Um, I seriously don't think you should or can do that. I believe
attempted rape and rape is a crime in your country." The two students
stopped and turned to face, Ranma. The first one put Akane down and said
in a cool voice,

 " Yeah well, my dad's a really big lawyer, he's get us out of this. So
just butt out, new kid." Ranma just looked straight at the boy and kept
his cool long enough to reply,

 "I see, well, I should leave you guys alone to rape my fiancée, right?
Okay... like I'm really going to do that."  Spluttering the boy tried to
regain his tongue as the second boy dropped Akane.  Immediately she got
up and bolted to Ranma and hung onto him. Finally after a moment, the
boy regained his ability to speak and said,

 " What? There's no way, you're going to be her fiancée, I want her."
Ranma just sighed and laughed, at the same time, at the boy,

 " You are such a whiner, jeeze, let's go Akane." Turning to leave, he
was face with five other students who were also staring wide-eyed at
Ranma. Slowly Akane whispered into Ranma's ear,

 " Um Ranma, all these guys have been chasing after me for a long time.
Let's just leave all right?" But before Ranma could do anything, he was
attacked by all the boys at once. Pushing Akane to one side, he took the
full force of the attack. After a few minutes, Ranma lay on the floor,
as the other boys stood up and kicked him.

 " Ha, too bad, you're too weak to be Akane's fiancée." Suddenly Ranma
grabbed the leg and tripped the boy and broke his leg. Turning to the
rest of the boys, he eyed them one by one and began to shimmer. Akane
cried out for him to stop, but he didn't listen, suddenly in place of
Ranma was a large tiger. The tiger leapt at the shocked boys. The fight
ended as expected the boys were a pile of broken bones and crumpled on
the floor. Akane was off to one side crying, as Ranma went to her and
held her. Akane clung onto him and said,

 " Oh, Ranma, if you hadn't been there, they would have taken me." Ranma
just soothed her, as the teachers came and saw the sight. Immediately,
the group of boys were rushed down to the hospitals, as Ranma and Akane
were taken to the Principal's office.

 The principal was a stocky man, not too tall, yet not too short.
Nonetheless, he commanded such power. He paced back and forth between
Akane and Ranma, not speaking but visibly fuming. Squirming, Ranma just
tried to seem calm. Finally he stopped and turned angrily to Ranma, in a
deadly quiet voice he said,

 "Okay, I want you to tell me the whole story, and leave nothing out. Go
very slowly , because I want to know what exactly you did to those
boys." Ranma felt a surge of confidence and looked the principal
straight in the eye, calmly organizing what he was going to say. After a
moment's silence, he spoke,

 " Dr. Conrad, those boys were harassing my fiancee. First of all, they
made passes at her, then when she refused to go with them, they forced
her, by carrying her. I did what I could to stop them, at first by
trying to leave, but then they attacked me, and I retaliated. It is
their own fault that they are hurt, I was just simply protecting my
fiancee." Staring level at Ranma, the principal seemed to soften a bit.
However, his voice did not seem to soften.

 " And who the hell is your fiancee? Huh, what would they want with your
fiancee?" Looking confusedly at the principal, Ranma said,

 " Um, Akane is my fiancee, Dr. Conrad." The man started, then gaped at
Ranma. In a stuttering voice, he said,

 " What? Do you understand how much trouble you have just brought upon
yourself?" then he turned to Akane " Akane didn't you warn him?" Looking
abash, Akane flushed, and said in a low voice,

 " No." Sighing out of discomfort, Dr. Conrad just pulled up a chair and
sat next to Ranma, facing him and carefully organizing his words. He
said,

 " Ranma, most of the males of this school, students and some teachers
as well, are pretty much convinced that your fiancee is the
reincarnation of Venus herself. They are not going to take this news
well. It was a good thing that you could defend yourself against these
by, but I afraid they are not the last ones. Most likely they will
attack you in large numbers. I don't think you can handle yourself, so I
might have to ask you to leave, for your own safety." Ranma was
speechless for a second, then recovered himself,

 " No, I will not leave, I am under the protection and order of the
President of the United States to be here, if you will look carefully at
my transcript, then you'll notice that he ordered me to stay here." The
principal just looked hard, and said in a stern tone,

 "Don't lie to me boy!" At that moment, Ranma's eyes flared. Then
between his clenched teeth he grated out,

 " Dr. Conrad, I do not lie. IF you don't believe me, then just look at
my transcript." Narrowing his eyes, Dr. Conrad, stared hard at Ranma,
then pulled out his transcript. Looking it over quickly, Dr. Conrad's
eyes widened. Finally with an ashened face, he looked at Ranma and said,

 "Very well, you may stay, but you'd better get some protection quickly.
If you want, you can leave now with Akane and go home, until you do find
some protection." Laughing, Ranma said,

 "Oh, I don't think that will be necessary, I can take care of myself.
Beside, I promised my brothers and sister that I'd drive them home."

 " If you can drive." The principal muttered "Fine, stay, but don't say
that I didn't warn you." Leaving with Akane, Ranma was quite content
with himself, and walked confidently.

 Once outside, Ranma pulled Akane to the side and said to her in a low
tone,

 " Let's go for a small walk." Leading Akane to the courtyard, which was
a garden set in the middle of the school. Once they go there, Ranma sat
Akane down on a bench in the middle of the courtyard. Taking a deep
breath, Ranma sat next to Akane and in a calm voice asked her,

 " Akane, why didn't you tell me?" Silence invaded them both as Akane
was staring at her hands. Finally with determination, she responded,

 " Ranma, I didn't want to tell you, because, I didn't want you to think
of me as a whore." Ranma looked straight ahead and then looked at her
sharply,

 " Akane our relationship, is trust, and love. If you didn't trust me
enough to tell me, enough that all these boys were after me, then I feel
kind of betrayed." Suddenly, she just broke into tears,

 " No, Ranma, please just don't leave me." Quickly, Ranma held her by
her shoulders and said to her in a soothing tone,

 " Akane, I would never leave you, no matter what. I was just a bit
surprised you didn't tell me." Holding her, to him, he just smoothed her
hair and calmed her down. Finally, he spoke again,

 " Akane, I have to ask," he paused, " Did any of them ever succeed?"
Akane smiled and said happily,

 "No, I've always been able to fend them off, and Kuno helped too,
because he thought that he was going to marry me anyway." Holding her
tightly, Ranma felt relieved. Then he turned her to face him, and looked
deep into her eyes, and lowered his head. Soon they were engaged in a
passionate kiss. Unfortunately for them, the courtyard was located in
the center of the school, where most of the classrooms were faced. As
they broke from the kiss, a loud uproar was heard. Looking around, Ranma
saw that the windows to the classrooms surrounding the courtyard were
opened and many male students were leaning out trying to get to the
couple. Within a few minutes, there was a full-fledged battle against
Ranma.

 Walking out the front gate of the school, Ranma looked energetic, and
ran to his car, pulling Akane behind him. Soon behind them are Baima,
Kenji, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Ranko, running as fast as they can. Finally
there is a rumble, the ground shakes, and dozens of boys rush out the
doors of the school, quite intent on getting Ranma. Frantically, Ranma
tries to leave but to no avail, his way is blocked by a bunch of male
students. All around the car, young men were screaming at the car.
Finally, Ranma began to glow, and his eyes showed a look which was not
amused. Looking to the others in the car, he said in a low voice,

 " Brace yourselves." Then he stared straight ahead and said one word,
in a serious tone.

 " Teleport." Suddenly the car disappeared and reappeared in the parking
lot of their parking lot. The others were shocked, and gasping for
breath, while Ranma just patiently got out of the car and held his hands
to the sky, with a loud voice he said,

 " Lightning Bolts." Suddenly lightning filled the sky, for a brief
moment. After he was done, Ranma slumped a bit and looked to the others
who had just gotten out of the car. All of them stared at Ranma. With a
small wave, he said,

 " I'll tell you later." Just then a loud voice came from the garage.

 " Akane, Kasumi, and Nabiki, I've come see you!" All heads turning,
they saw a middle-aged man dressed in a dark blue gi, rush out of the
garage and to the three women. Ranma just looked, not understanding who
this was, and why he was in his house. After hugging the three girls,
the man  stood up straight and looked to Ranma and his brothers. Bowing
to them he said in a deep and clear voice,

 " I am Soun Tendo, their father, pleased to meet you." Ranma looked at
the man and just bowed back. Smiling Soun shook hands with Baima and
Kenji, and gave Ranko an affectionate hug. Then he turned to Ranma and
asked,

 " Who are you? And where is the king?" Sighing heavily, Ranma said,

 " I am Lee Jin-Kung, King of The Seven Kingdoms of Light, your
son-in-law." Soun stared for a moment, and abruptly knelt down and said,

 " Hail King Jin, I am honored that you have chosen the Tendo family to
bear the fruits of the lineage of the light." Helping Soun to his feet,
Ranma looked him straight in the face and said

 " As long as you will be related to me, you will never have to bow. Do
you understand?" Nodding, Soun smiled and embraced Ranma. Together they
walked back into the mansion, chatting of their happiness.

 That day had stared out badly, but ended happily. Ranma had gotten to
know Soun, who was lawyer, and to let him know just how much he loved
his daughter. Soun had decided that he would let Akane and her sisters
to stay under the protection of Ranma. That night they had talked
endlessly about the future, about political choices Ranma should follow,
and changes Ranma should put into effect. At the end of the evening,
everyone turned in, and Ranma told his father in law to pick any of the
rooms next to theirs.

 In their room, Ranma had quietly gotten into bed with Akane and thought
about his life. He had experienced such horror, such pain, such anger,
and yet through it all, he ended up with a beautiful fiancée, a loving
brothers and a sister. Life was good for him at the moment, and he was
truly content. Thinking happy thoughts, he fell into a deep sleep.

 The first few months passed quickly for Ranma and the rest of the
family. Every morning, Ranma would defeat the mob of boys who constantly
harassed him about his engagement to Akane. Though Ranma hated to beat
on them every day, he didn't want to use his chi attacks or any of his
special attacks. For him it was like training, so he didn't mind it for
too long. During those few months, he met some friends at his new
school. Mike, was the best of his friends, he seemed to have given up on
Akane, and befriended Ranma. He showed Ranma around the school and
sometimes around town. Kuno had returned but still had scars from
Ranma's chi blast. Ranma had expected him to be angry, but it turned out
that Kuno had become a powerful ally to Ranma. Then there was Jane, one
of Ranko's girlfriends, she seemed a bit nervous around Ranma and his
brothers most of the times, but Ranma had always found ways to help her
come out of her shell. Finally there was Adam. Adam was a computer freak
and insisted that everything had to be done with a computer.

 Ranma was quite content with his training as well as his newfound
friends. He and Akane's relationship had progressed beautifully, and so
had his brother's relationship with their fiancées. Overall life seemed
perfect. Determined to make his last year before his ascension to the
throne, Ranma decided to make the rest of the year a year of fun and
allow people to see his full personality. Taking his finals in February,
he finished his classes, but was still required to come to school.
Promising to himself, Ranma decided that this spring, the people of
Beverly Hills High will know him, as a person.

 Waking up with the sun shining in his face, he felt for Akane. For the
past eight months, Akane had been sleeping with him. Smiling, he could
still remember the first time he had slept in the same bed as Akane.
Looking fondly upon her, Ranma smiled and stroked her face while she
slept. Slowly she woke up and looked fully into Ranma's eyes. She
smiled, and they moved in for a kiss. For the next few minutes, they
laid on the bed and kissed each other passionately. It probably would
have lead to something else, but Ranma quickly pulled back and said to
Akane,

 " No. We can't, not yet, wait until we're married." Nodding, Akane just
smiled even brighter, because Ranma was so considerate about her. The
two slowly disengaged and went downstairs, holding each other's hands.
Downstairs, Kasumi was already up and sitting at the table eating
breakfast with Kenji. Nabiki and Baima were busy talking to each other
in the living room. Taking a seat, Ranma ate his portion of breakfast
quickly. Soon Nabiki and Baima emerged from the living room, both with a
glum face. Noticing it immediately, Akane asked,

 " What's wrong?" Nabiki just sighed and turned to her sister,

 " Well, Baima and I are senior officers, and we have to organize some
kind of fundraiser, for the senior trip to Monacco at the end of the
year. The thing is that the school lacks school spirit, and no one will
come to anything we can do, unless, we have someone famous there, or if
it involves themselves." Ranma looked up and said in a simple tone,

 " How about a talent show?" Nabiki, brightened and hugged Ranma,
exclaiming in a wide-eye face,

 " That's a great idea, I know, you can join, and, um, let's see, Akane
can sign up. There we go practically the whole school. Will come."
Looking confusedly at her, Akane asked questioningly,

 " What do you mean, the whole school?" Smirking, Akane's younger
sister, rolled her eyes dramatically to the ceiling and said in a bored
tone,

 " Akane, number one, the school's males will come just to see you,
while the school's females will come to see Ranma. Didn't you know that?
They're all attracted to Ranma for some reason." Akane seemed shocked
and just began to steam, but she calmed down and said,

 " Fine. Ranma and I will go through with it." Ranma just looked, and
said,

 " All right, I'll do it." So began the great Talent show preparations.

 Nabiki proved to be a superb manager and was quite efficient with money
management and investments. Ranma helped as much as he could, but in the
end let Nabiki handle it all. After they had finally posted the
advertisements of the talent show, the senior officers held tryouts, in
the auditorium only a week after Ranma had come up with the idea. The
tryouts turned out to over whelming, nearly the whole school showed up
to tryout. In the end after three days of tryouts, only fifty acts were
admitted. Ranma decided that he was going to put on a martial arts
demonstration with his brothers, which most likely would last half an
hour. Akane had also convinced all of them to make a band and put on a
show. Within one month, Nabiki had collected fifteen thousand dollars.

 That month passed the Royal family quickly with all the preparations,
but finally it came down to the night. The talent show was the largest
turnout, not only with students, but also with talent hunters, and
parents. Overall there were almost one thousand people there. Akane and
Ranma were both kind of nervous about performing in front of their
school. For one month, Ranma had gathered his brothers, Akane, Kasumi,
Ranko, and Nabiki together to practice for their band act. That night
was a night, which they would never forget.

 " Ranma! Akane! Come on, we've got to go!" Nabiki shouted to the house.
Finally the two emerged, Ranma was wearing a simple gi, with the sword
strapped to his side. Akane wore a simple tee shirt and a long white
skirt. Tapping her foot impatiently, Nabiki berated the couple. After a
few minor disagreements of how to get to the park section, where the
talent show was being held, Ranma finally let out a lightning bolt and
shut them all up. Reaching the park, Ranma was amazed at the large stage
that was sitting on the grass. Not only that, but, there were a bunch of
expensive cars parked in the parking lot and on the grass. When they
finally found their reserved parking spot, the day had already begun to
grow dim. Quickly, they unloaded and brought all their stuff, weapons,
bricks, ice pieces, wood, and so on, to the back of the stage. They all
went to their cramped dressing rooms, as Nabiki ran to the front of the
stage, and started the show.

 "Welcome all to the first annual Senior Talent Show." Roars from the
crowd it heard. " As a senior officer, I would like to thank you all for
supporting our trip to Monacco in June." The crowd is now filled with
extreme adrenaline as they scream for the show to start. Clasping her
hands together, Nabiki cried,

 " All right, You asked for it, may I present our first act..."

 The show had been going on for about three hours, but it had been full
of excitement. Students preformed musical pieces, magic tricks, dance
routines, martial arts demonstrations, and many more acts. Meanwhile in
the back, Ranma and company prepared for their acts. They were the final
acts, first Ranma, Kenji, and Baima's demonstrations, then followed by
the band's overall performance. Followed by a finale, courtesy of
Ranma's powers. Quietly in the shadows, Ranma set up the rest of the
breaks, and weapons, for their demonstration. Ahead of him was Nabiki
who was announcing his act. At first there were a few boos, but their
companions silenced them. As Ranma slipped into the darkness, he stood
still, with his brothers at his side, somehow all the nervousness was
gone. The lights grew brighter to reveal three figures, Ranma standing
in a red gi, Baima standing to one side of him in a blackish gi and
Kenji to his other side with a white gi. Then the music started to play,
the three of them closed their eyes for meditation, until their cue in
their music, " Mortal Combat!"

 At those words, Ranma and his brothers sprung into a bo staff form.
Twirling their staffs, and striking with them, the three brothers
executed the form perfectly. Then quietly, Kenji slips to one side,
leaving Baima and Ranma, a few moments after that, Baima slipped away,
leaving only Ranma. Finishing the form, Ranma struck one last time,
remaining in his stance. A few seconds later, Kenji jumped over him head
and lands in front of him. Calmly, Kenji executed a broken stick form,
as Ranma slips away. After Kenji finishes, Baima leaps into vision and
begins a two-ended spear form. Ranma stays in the dark until his brother
finishes his form. As the music dies down, Ranma walks to the middle of
the stage and draws his sword. Then another piece of music starts, as he
begins a katana kata. As he finished the kata, he thrust his sword out
into the air one last time. Unexpectedly, it bursts into flames.
Shocked, Ranma realizes that there are Inshido members here. Recovering
quickly, he stood up and bowed to the crowd. Stepping back, he heard the
crowd's roar.

 Next they began the breaks. With a flying kick, Baima broke through
five pieces of wood. Then came Kenji, then Ranma. The breaks were
finished in rapid succession. Finally it was Ranma's last break.
Pondering whether or not he should reveal himself to the trespassers, he
quietly gathered in his chi and prepared for a chi blast. Opening his
eyes, he looked at the ten pieces of ice in front of him, each piece
about a foot thick and five feet high. With a command, Ranma released
his chi,

 " Roaring Tiger Bullets!" the three tiger shaped bullets shot through
the ten pieces of ice. This had shocked the crowd, but soon, everyone
just believed that it was a special effect, and clapped. In the end,
Ranma looked into the crowd and saw five chi clouds, standing out in the
crowds. Then turning away, he left the stage to tell the rest about his
discovery.

 " What?" the six of them yelled. "Here?" Ranma had told them of the
threat, and said that he had also felt them leave as well. Akane seemed
a bit shaken up as she said to the rest of them,

 " I don't think that we should perform the last act." Nabiki nearly
cried, as she said in a teary tone,

 " You can't mean that, we've practiced so hard. Come on big sis."
Shaking her head in doubt, Akane didn't agree. Ranma was standing off to
one corner of the room thinking about the situation at hand. He couldn't
risk those innocent people, no, not them. Mass hysteria had to be
avoided at all costs as well. What to do? They were all depending on
him, on him. Struggling with the decision of whether or not to continue,
Ranma looked towards each of them. They were all so important to him, he
couldn't bear to put them in danger. As he thought about it, he weighed
the choice of risking the thousands of people or the lives of his own
family. With a heavy heart he decided that they would go perform,
besides if the Inshidoists were planning on attacking then they would
have already. Looking towards everyone, Ranma held up his hand and said
in a weary voice,

" We will perform, I will set up a chi shield, they cannot attack us."

The Saotomes and Tendos all stood on stage and began to play. Their
first song was of a girl who found true love, and wondered if the man
who came into her life was actually the man of her dreams. Song after
song they sang, duets of each of the couples, group songs, and solos, a
total of seven songs. Their songs entranced the crowd, and people loved
their music. It was full of such feeling, and perfect harmony. Then it
was time for their final song.

 On stage, the seven figures stood at their designated spots and
instrument. Soon the spotlight shines on Ranma at a piano, and he begins
to play. The song starts out soft, but then, as it continues, the rest
of the band joins in. Kenji at the drums, Baima at the synthesizer,
Ranko with an electric guitar, and the three Tendo sisters were singing.
The melody continues sweet and soft. The song itself is about a girl,
who must fight an evil creature to save the world from a life of
violence. This song was written by Ranma and Akane, it was of the fight
which they must fight, the odds they are up against, and the hardships
which they must go through. The singing continues, as the beat picks up.
Slowly as the song comes to a climax, Ranma stood next to Akane and
released his chi, in a spectacular sky show. The song ended after a few
moments with the words, which are whispered are " Peace, real peace."
And with that the performance ended, the students and audience roared in
applause. Leaving a desired impression on the seven figures.

 That night, they all arrived home in a tired, but happy mood. So much
had gone on, and they were just happy, that, the performance went so
well. Ranma pulled up to the driveway, and got out. He was happy, but
serious at the same time. Wondering why those Inshidoists left in such a
hurry had Ranma worried. Once in the house, he noticed there was a
presence in the house, actually a few. Cautiously he held up his hands
and told the others to stop behind him. Stealthily, he jumped into the
house preparing to do combat. However, once inside, he saw his
grandfather, Master Ching, and four others dressed like Master Ching.
They were involved in some type of conversation, and didn't notice
Ranma. Finally, he cleared his throat and got their attention,

 " Um, Grandfather, Master Ching, what are you doing here?" They looked
straight at him and stood up. Ranma's grandfather crossed the room
quietly and with a solemn face reported to Ranma,

 " Ranma, Jin, I have some very bad news to tell you." His eyes
displayed no emotion as Ranma steeled himself. His grandfather continued
" Ranma, ever since you came into power and made the command that the
countries were to be divided and combined, the leaders have been
following your order. However, do you understand what has been happening
in the Middle East?" Shaking his head Ranma all ready had very bad
scenarios in his mind. Behind him his brothers, sister, Akane and her
sisters came in, they took one look at the solemn faced people and knew
there was something wrong. Grandfather took a deep breath and pressed
on,

 " Currently in the Middle East, the countries are at war with each
other, over religious reasons. The Inshidoists are coming through that
hole in your kingdom. They are quickly infiltrating your country Jin.
You must do something, and quickly, or else you won't even be able to
fight for our clan. We've all ready gotten messages from our spies that
the Inshidoists, have already banded and forming their war supplies. So
far, we know they will not attack us yet, for many of the countries are
weak and need supplies. However, in a year, they will be ready. These
Inshidoists who are infiltrating our country, your kingdom, will destroy
you, right now they are observing you. We know for sure that there are
twenty of them here, all trained assassins. You must be careful. But
right now, you must stop the religious war in the Middle East before
more assassins can come in. Then while you're in the Middle East, you
must get rid of the assassins stationed there." Taking all this in,
Ranma got angry,

 " I told them. Those fools, they would not like to feel my fury, but
since they have not heeded, then I will punish them. As for the Inshido
assassins, I will deal with them. Five of them are all ready here, in
town. First I will dispense of them, tonight. I know who they are."
Akane quietly went to Ranma and said,

 "No Ranma, these people are professionals, make them come to you. Don't
meet them on their terms. Make them meet you on your terms." Shaking his
head, Ranma refused,

 " No there is no time, the are all in one spot, I will kill them all in
one shot." Turning to the others,
" Grandfather, Master Ching," squinting at the four other men, he
finally recognized them, " Master Ho, Sensei Saki, and Master Yang, you
will all board the private jet, the American president had prepared for
us in any use. Akane Ranko, Kasumi, and Nabiki you accompany them.
Baima, Kenji, you two come with me. We're going to take a little trip to
the Middle East, don't worry guys we'll be back in no more than three
days." Everyone moved to pack and to get ready. After half-an-hour,
everyone was at the front entrance. Ranma, Baima, and Kenji were in
their battle garb, while the ladies wore their gowns. Within minutes, a
limousine pulled up to their driveway. The girls and the elder men filed
into the car and went to the airport, while Ranma and his brothers piled
their weapons into the Jeep.

 Driving quietly down the road in minutes, they were in front of the
school. Not understanding, Ranma explained to his brothers that the
assassins were here and that they would be waiting for them. The
assassins are the five transfer students. These transfer students had
always seemed strange to Ranma. First of all they were constantly
avoiding Ranma and hoping that he wouldn't meet them. But that night at
the talent show, he had gotten a look at the aura clouds, and they
matched the auras of the five exchange students. As they got out of the
car, Ranma saw, from the corner of his eye, three arrows heading
straight for them. quickly he pulled his brothers out of the way and let
the arrows fly over their heads. Looking into the darkness, he saw seven
aura clouds. Gritting his teethe, he yelled into the air,

 " Step out and identify yourself, I can see your aura clouds." Suddenly
seven figures jumped into the moonlight, five boys and two girls. They
said nothing and attacked. Ranma and his brothers barely got out of the
way, as a few knives landed in their previous spot. Standing up, Ranma
was armed with his sword, Kenji armed with his sword, and Baima holding
his staff. Looking coldly at the seven, Ranma bellowed,

 " Attack!!!!" the fight lasted for well over an hour. The assassins
were very resourceful, and knew many death touches on the body, as well
as many concealed weapons. Finally, Baima was stabbed in the stomach
with a knife, and the black ninja closed in for the killing blow. With a
shout, Ranma unleashed his fury.

 "Hiryu Shotenha (Rising dragon annihilation)!!!" within moments nine
bodies were strewn across the lawn due to the massive chi blast. Quickly
Kenji got up and rushed to Baima, who was in a delicate state. Carrying
him over to his older brother, he lay him down. Baima was in a critical
state, he was loosing blood fast, and he was already pale. Quickly Ranma
touched his brother's stomach and a surge of hi chi was transferred from
him to his brother. The wound closed, but Baima was still weak.

 " Kenji I'm going to teleport you guys to the airport, I'll join you
shortly. Once there, I want you to tell Master Yang what happened and
ask him to heal Baima completely. I merely closed the wound, but I can't
extract the evil from the wound." Shaking his head, Kenji said,

 " No, you're the king, I have to protect you. We can finish them much
quicker together." Anger flashed through his eyes, Ranma them said in a
deadly tone,

 " Kenji go now, you're family, I will not allow you to sacrifice your
brother's life for mine. The family code is first. Obey me now!" with
that he teleported them to the airport. Turning to the yard, he saw the
figures slowly recovering. Then they surrounded him. Ranma took a deep
breath, and said,

 " You fools, you first kill my parents, and then you try to kill my
brother. Do you honestly think I'll let you?" With that, a boiling
exhalation came over him as he release his final blast at them.

 " Tsung Lo Lian Shing (Godly dragon justice)!!!" Searing white balls of
energy hit the assassins each in the chest. As they crumble into dust,
the seven figure's chi whirl around Ranma creating a huge chi whirlwind,
finally it stopped and entered Ranma. Ranma fell back with exhaustion,
and felt the new chi restore his body.

 Akane sat on the plane fidgeting, Kenji and Baima had just appeared in
the lobby of the plane. Baima had been seriously hurt, and what Kenji
had told them it was a bad case for Ranma when they left him. Slowly she
looked into her hands and cried, the tears just wouldn't stop. She was
just so worried about him. The assassins had obviously set a trap for
him. No he was alive, she would have felt him leave this plane if he had
died. Even this fact didn't stop Akane from crying, she loved him so
much. If he did loose, then she would feel empty. Suddenly she felt a
hand touch her shoulders. Slowly she waved whoever it was away,

 " I'm alright, I'm just worried." Then the owner of the hand began a
deep laugh, Akane's eyes widened and turned around to see Ranma alive
and well. She leapt up and embraced him. Still laughing, Ranma hugged
her back. They whispered 'I love you' to each other, as they
disentangled themselves. Then Ranma told his grandfather to tell the
pilot to go.

 The plane softly landed at Israel's International Airport. Its
passengers had not awoken from the trip. As the plane came to a complete
stop, they slowly rose one by one. The city of Israel was like a war
zone. In fact if they had been awake to look out the window they would
have seen the destruction between the clusters of countries. People were
dying, they were suffering, and it was Ranma's responsibility to stop
it. Looking out the window, Akane saw destruction. Buildings were
destroyed, it was a wasteland. The others got dressed and went out the
plane. The Israeli and Arabian presidents came to meet them. Pulling up
to the plane, the two men stood and waited at the door. Ranma came out
first followed by Akane, then the others came out. The two men shook
hands with Ranma nervously, and said in unison,

 " We're sorry, we couldn't control them." Ranma just gave them a cold
stare. However, it softened and Ranma said,

 " Don't worry about it, I knew there would be trouble here anyway. My
dilemma is that I must unite these countries together. The problem here
is the differences in religion. But we will discuss that later, right
now, how's about some accommodations?" The two men felt relieved and
nodded their heads.

 In the art room, Ranma looked around, after being chased out by the
Arabian women who tended to Akane. Baima, then Kenji later joined him.
Finally his grandfather came to him. Ranma carefully asked their
grandfather about the whole story of their clan and religion. So he
began.

The Saotomes were actually called Alantians, but with the sinking of
their homeland, they abandoned that title. The legacy of the Alantians,
was one of before time began. They were the first species to be created
from The Light. The Light created the universe, time, dimensions and
space.

 The Light was a vast omnipotent divinity. Being alone had been the
Light's hardest time, that was until The Light decided to create the
Alantians and the Universe to live in. Next The Light created mortals
time and space. Finally the destinies were created from The Light.
However, something occurred, which destroyed The Light in a magnificent
explosion, which sent the planets into orbit, and created stars,
quasars, and comets. However from that explosion came darkness of the
most vile nature. The darkness blinded the remains of the light and
reeked havoc upon the mortals and the Alantians until the stars, remains
of The Light, banded together with the universe time and the damaged
destiny. From this, they created the Destiny Dragon. The Destiny Dragon
was a large golden dragon whom flew from a volcano to battle the
Darkness. In retaliation the Darkness also created a dragon of
blackness. The two dragons met in a huge battle to the death in an
undeveloped solar system called the Milky Way. The battle raged for
years, until the Destiny Dragon revealed the Destiny Staff and destroyed
the Black Dragon.

 Following the death of the Black Dragon, the Destiny Dragon used the
remaining power of The Light's power to create the Earth dragon (earth
meaning any planet's ground ), The Water dragon, the Wind dragon, Light
Dragon, Thunder Dragon and the Fire Dragon. Finally sacrificing itself,
it created his own son, The Chosen One. All the dragons took Alantian
forms. However as the balance would have it, the dragons could not
appear until evil came again. That would not happen until Belphera's
time, The Dark time. Belphera was a man of amazing feats and also the
last known bloodline to the Alantians before Ranma. Because of his
amazing powers, it brought upon the Dark time. It was when the Black
dragon was resurrected and infused its dark soul within the body of
Gshan, a Prince of Alantis, and Belphera's brother. From that time, The
Black Dragon killed Anu, just after he transferred the power of the
Destiny Dragon to Belphera, giving the power to the true Chosen One.

 Each of the Dragons had a lady by their side as a guide. All the
dragons had guides except for the Destiny Dragon until a princess from
Riva, named Beldaran arrived, at last the Son of the Destiny Dragon had
a guide. All was well until The soul of the Black Dragon decided to
strike again. When Belpehra's brothers and sisters banded together to
draw out the power of the Destiny Dragon, they discovered that The Black
Dragon had also created his own dragons, the opposite of each of the
Destiny Dragon's team. Finally in a battle the two teams collided
against each other, however without the Destiny Dragon. For the Destiny
Dragon still could not use his powers. So finally Destiny Dragon's team
sealed the Dark team in a temple for four thousand years. After it was
over, the other dragons and guides were dead. Most of the universe had
been obliterated. Destruction was everywhere, and Beldaran was dead.
Filled with frustration and anger, Belphera finally released the power
of the Destiny Dragon, healing the universe and reincarnating his
brothers and friends unto Earth.

 The Light was the creature who the Saotomes had originally saw and
begun to worship. The Dark was the being who the Hibikis worshiped. Both
the Saotomes and the Hibikis were Alantians, but the Saotomes were just
the side of good.

 Ranma took all this in, and pondered it. He was part of a very powerful
lineage. It was just such a shock. His life was turning into a fantasy
book plot. The eternal war waged between good and evil. It was just
surprising. Finally he asked his grandfather,

 " Am I the reincarnate of Belphera?" His grandfather looked thoughtful
for a moment, and said,

 " No, well not exactly, Belphera's reincarnate died a long time ago.
You are just his successor. However you, yes now I understand, are the
son of the Destiny Dragon now. Your other titles also include Lord of
the Universe, Master of Time, Wielder of the Fate Sword, The Chosen One,
and the Beholder of the Ardehken." Suddenly, his eyes glazed over as he
said in a new revelation,

 " Ranma, do you understand what this means? Why you are the one they
prophesied. It was said that after Belphera had died, he proclaimed that
one of his descendants would become the next Son of the Destiny Dragon.
I know for a fact of this because, the Prophecy was written down and I
read it. It said,

 ' And the son of descendants would come to obtain the full power of the
Ardehken. His siblings shall become his most faithful allies, as well as
servants. He will appear when he becomes the creature of hope, in his
most dire time of need.'

Ranma you are the Chosen one. I must reveal this to the elders of the
clan." Quickly he rose and left. Ranma sat there with his brothers
thinking deeply. After an hour, Ranma spoke,

 " Well, you two have to be two of the dragons, but you can't transform
unless you had a catalyst to change. Well, we'll just have to wait. Now
stop gaping and get Ranko here, If this to work then I need her." Baima
and Kenji immediately scattered and return in a few moments with Ranko.
She quickly entered the room and sat in front of Ranma, then she
demanded,

 " Ranma, I was in the middle of relaxing when Baima and Kenji dragged
me here. What is it?" Ranma simply reiterated the story to her. In the
end, he left her wide-eyed in shock. Ranko just didn't know what to say.
Leaving Ranma left her to take in all this information.

 That night, little did Ranma know, he was going to be told something of
dire importance.

 Ranma walked through the mist, which seemed to go on forever. He
wandered aimlessly, until he heard sounds of fighting. When he finally
reached the source of the fighting. Before him was a girl fighting with
another girl. The two girls were definitely related. One was taller than
the other, but not by much. The taller girl had brown hair and was very
fair, while the other had blond hair. Somehow they seemed very familiar
to Ranma, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but then they stopped
fighting and spotted Ranma. Ranma noticed that he was in his kingly
clothes. Quickly the two girls ran over to him and happily hugged him.
Obviously they knew him, but he didn't know them. Smiling, he set them
down and faced them and asked,

 " Who are you?" The two girls, still smiling, replied in unison,

 " We're your sisters." Ranma looked in shock, and saw the similarities
of his mother and father in them. Finally convinced that they were his
sisters, he looked at them and asked,

 " How?" The older one said in a serious tone,

 " Ranma, I'm your twin sister X'Nedra. I was never born because mother
was too weak to have me. My physical body perished, but my soul and
spirit matured here in the Elysian fields. Since I was five, mother has
joined me, and brought me up."  Then the other sister perked up and said
in a cheerful voice,

 " And now me, I'm your sister Ehlana, I was supposed to be Ranko's
sister, but it was the same as X'Nedra's case, I just couldn't make it.
Mother has brought me up since three." Ranma was about to ask where his
mother was, when X'Nedra began to talk again,

 " Ranma, Ehlana can be set free, but only in one place, it is called
the Jusenkyo. There they will have dozens of springs. The one you need
to jump into is called the Nynanichuan, Spring of the Drowned girl. Both
you and Ranko will have to jump in there, Then Ehlana and I will lock
onto your bodies, to form our body. After that we'll handle it. And you
get your old body back." Suddenly there were sounds of thunder, as
X'Nedra said in a quiet voice,

 " Ranma you have to go now, I'm sorry, you have to go, I wish we could
spend more time talking to each other. But we will be together once more
soon. Remember only you can set us free." Suddenly the thunder grew
louder, as Ranma bolted up from the bed and heard the bombs.

 Standing in the streets, Ranma looked angrily at the sky. The Arabs
from all around were shelling Israel. Behind Ranma were Ranko, Baima,
and Kenji. Baima and Kenji were utterly shocked at all the destruction
while under the protection of Ranma's protection shield. Ranko was
crying, and Ranma just continued to look into the sky. Finally the
shelling stopped, it was obvious that the Arabs had either used up its
supply, or they noticed that none of the shelling was getting through.
For a few moments, Ranma held his shield, until he spotted a whole
division of soldiers marching in their direction. Feeling the need for
direct confrontation, Ranma let his shield down. The people of Israel
had been evacuated and the Israeli army was waiting for the signal to be
launched. The division of Arabians quickly filtered into a city, but
found no one. Finally they reached the center of the country and met
Ranma. He immediately stopped the army, by putting up a barrier.
Confused, the division of Arabs tried to get through, however to no
avail, they looked around and wondered what was going on.

 After a few moments of confusion, a tall and well-built man walked to
the front of the army. Seeing Ranma, he pulled out a pistol and fired at
them. To his amazement none of the bullets go through, so he walked over
to them.

 " Who are you people, and what are you doing?" he demanded in an
furious tone. Ranma folded his arms and looked evenly at the man and
said in the calmest tone he could,

 " That's not important, the question is who are you? And what are you
doing?" The man quickly straightened his back and tried to look down at
Ranma. Then in an arrogant voice he said,

 " I am Mazouf. I am the new ruler of all of Arabia, the Seven deserts.
Our foolish leaders actually tried to become friends with these
outsiders. I just simply took over. Now if you may, please get out of
the way, or else I will not have any hesitation to kill you." Baima,
Kenji and Ranko simply started to laugh in a hysterical way. This
brought a look of puzzlement over the man, quickly he became angry and
said,

 " Why do you laugh, get away, I do not wish to kill young kids like
you. Hear me, for I am a demi-god." With that he drew his hand back, and
let it burst into flames. With a roar, he shouted,

 " Now you will die, for standing in the way of a god." Then he released
a fireball. Cursing, Ranma held out his hand and simply absorbed the
fireball. Mazouf's mouth dropped, as he stared at Ranma, but he quickly
recovered, then he shouted,

 " Elite unite!" Immediately, ten men teleported to Mazouf. They each
wore an ancient type of battle garb, and each carried a type of sword
with a particular gem in the centerpiece. Mazouf pulled out his own
Chinese broadsword. Smiling wickedly, he said,

 " Move back, we will dispose of these impudent mortals." Still looking
calmly at them, the Alantians stood still. As the army moved back to
give the two teams room, they began to cheer. Mazouf and his men circled
Ranma and his brothers and sister. After a moment, Ranma said in a even
tone,

 " Very well, you want a fight? Fine, Inshido." Mazouf and the others
stopped and looked at the four. Mazouf said in a suspicious tone,

 " How do you know who we are? You are merely mortals." Sighing he
turned to Ranko and said,

 " He sounds a lot like Kuno, doesn't he?" The attack began after that
comment. Ranko, Baima, and Kenji were each fighting three warriors at
one time. Meanwhile, Ranma had a showdown with Mazouf and another
warrior. Easily handling himself, he beheaded the warrior with his
flaming katana. Realizing that his elite guard was being defeated and
massacred, he stood back from Ranma and the fight, within minutes, the
Inshido assassins/warriors were dead. Mazouf began to laugh and change,
after a few moments a giant dragon stood before them. It was extremely
fierce, and was an ugly shade of gray. Fire poured from its mouth as it
continued to laugh. Finally it stopped and in a horrid voice it said,

 " Now you will die, whoever you are!" It opened its jaw's of doom and
shot fire at them. Ranma moved to block it, but Ranko had already jumped
up to meet the beam of fire. Shocked, Ranma tried to go after her, but
it was too late, the fire engulfed her and stopped. At that precise
moment, Ranko's body began to change. It grew quite large and her body
became a large bird, a phoenix. She wasn't a red phoenix, instead Ranko
had turned into a large white phoenix. A silver crown adorned the bird's
head. Screaming, it circled the gray dragon, which was now desperately
trying to hit the bird with its flames. However, Ranko gracefully glided
from the beams of fire, at the same time, she clawed the dragon's face.
However, she couldn't control her new body for long, and she was hit.
Triumphantly, the gray dragon tried to step on the fallen bird.

 On the ground, Ranma was watching this all with interest. However, when
Ranko was hit, he felt his blood begin to boil,

 'That damned fool, he hit her, I'll kill him.' Concentrating instead of
his phoenix form, he turned into the golden dragon. Going to the gray
dragon, he said,

 " No, she will not die today, you shall." The evil dragon looked
startled and proceeded to fly away, it was frightened for it's life, for
he knew he couldn't stand up to the Destiny dragon. Ranko quickly flew
back up in her phoenix form and said in a loud but gentle voice,

 " People of Arabia, please, stop, I am the Goddess Ranko. I beg for you
to stop committing such horrors. I will return in a year or so, please
be patient, I will return to be your queen. For now I will leave, but
remember I love you all. When I am gone, I don't want any of you to
fight anymore, you are all people, and should be at peace. Spread the
movement of peace, not violence. In the end, the power of peace is
greater than any violence. Farewell, my people, I shall return one day."
With that pretty speech, she disappeared, and left Ranma still standing
there in his dragon form. Facing the people who were still there, he
said,

 " People of Arabia, you are now the people of Algaria. Your goddess
forgot to mention the task of unification. You must all put aside your
petty differences and combine your countries. Soon from the borders of
Turkey to India, will be known as Algaria. The people of Russia, Germany
and Northern Europe are now your enemies. Heed my words or else my wrath
shall be greater than your goddess." Finishing his speech, Ranma
teleported him and his brothers back to their lodging.

 Back at the palace-like structure, Ranma smiled at Ranko and said,

  "You did well, Ranko. Your plan was superb, I just hope you can handle
it all." Looking up at her brother, Ranko smiled weakly and said,

 " Of course." Nodding off, she fell asleep.

 Next morning, the group gathered at the plane and said farewell to the
leaders of the Middle East. When they were finally in the air, Ranma
spoke to them in a serious tone.

 " Grandfather, your interpretation was mostly true, except for the fact
that Belphera's sisters became a phoenix." The elder man admitted his
own mistake and let Ranma continue,

 " Everyone, first off, I have decided to change my name to fit my
legacy. So while we're in public, I'll be Ranma, but my actual formal
name will be Belgarion. You each must choose formal names. Secondly I
know where to find two of our missing siblings. They came to me in a
dream." Everyone looked at him as, Ranma took a breath and began to
explain,

 "Well, the thing is that they are twins of myself and Ranko. They just
died at birth. However, their spirits have been in China, at a place
called the Jusenkyo. We must go there, and release them. I have already
instructed the pilot to take us to the Himalayas. There along the trail
of the highest mountain will be the Jusenkyo." Quickly everyone nodded
their heads and began to pack again.

 After a few hours, Ranma's plane landed at an airport in Nepal. They
quickly skipped through customs and immediately headed for the
Himalayas. Ranma was currently drudging through the grounds of the
Himalayas. This guide said that he knew where these springs were, but
they had been walking for hours. Akane was behind him, tiredly walking.
Everyone was tired, but they couldn't stop. None of them wanted to miss
out on the chance to meet their new relatives. Only Kasumi and Ranma's
masters stayed behind. The Himalayas were beautiful, and the scenery
provided a type of entertainment for the weary travelers. It was so
peaceful here, that Ranma many times lost his pain, and numbness, by
just staring at the mountains. Maybe when this was all over, he would
come back here and enjoy the scenery, but now, he was in a rush. They
had to find their two missing sisters.

 Coming around the bend, they came upon a large Chinese sign, which
said,

 ^ Caution You are now Entering the Cursed Springs of the Amazon Tribe
Jusen ^ Disregarding the sign, the group entered the springs. The
springs were beautiful, Ranma couldn't believe his eyes, it was the
perfect training ground. The springs were no doubt dangerous, but that
was whole part of training, trying to make it real. The bamboo poles in
the water were placed so that one could maneuver, if they were able to.
Without thinking, he quickly jumped onto one of the poles and hopped
from one to the other. The guide shouted at him,

 " No, sir, if you fall into one of the springs you will be cursed to
have that body for the rest of your life!" However, Ranma was too far to
hear, so, Ranko went after him. After an hour, the others built camp and
waited for the two to return. Meanwhile, Ranko caught up with Ranma, who
was now squatting in front of a spring. Looking cautiously at it he
seemed to be trying to determine something. Finally Ranko approached him
and tapped him on the shoulders. What her brother did next was
absolutely strange, he threw her into the spring.

 As Ranko fell, she hit the spring. Almost immediately she felt another
presence, turning to her side she saw a blond girl next to her, she
seemed happy, and hugged her. She looked directly at her and Ranko soon
lost herself in those blue eyes. Next thing she knew was that her soul
was pushed aside, and the blond girl's entered her body. Rising from the
spring, she saw Ranma. He seemed happy, and quickly helped her out of
the spring. With a mischievous smile, she pushed the other soul over and
controlled her body for a moment, and pulled Ranma in.

 As Ranma noticed Ranko surface, he smiled and saw that it was Ehlana.
His blond hair sister was very beautiful, especially when she smiled.
Grinning, he wondered, if it was Ranko or Ehlana in control of the body.
Quickly he bent down to help the girl up, when he felt himself pulled
in. The only thought, which he had before he hit the water, was 'That
was definitely Ranko.' Then the water claimed him.

 Once in the water, he felt a tap from behind. As he turned he saw that
it was X'Nedra. She was grinning impishly, and seemed happy. Clasping
her hands to Ranma's hands, she made a motion with her hand.
Understanding, Ranma closed his eyes, and allowed himself to be taken
over. It felt very much like taking a hot bath on a cold day. At that
moment he knew his sister was in charge, because he was in her body.
When he felt them surface, he quickly took over and pulled them out of
the water.

 X'Nedra looked around, it was just as her mother said, beautiful. Being
in the Elysian Fields was nice, but feeling alive was a total different
feeling. It felt like... well... like being free. Turning to her younger
sister, Ehlana, she said,

 " Alright, let's go, I don't want to cramp, Ranma for any longer."
Nodding, Ehlana just hopped from pole to pole to the next pool, the
spring of the Soul splitter. The two of them held their hands, took a
deep breath, and jumped in.

  Meanwhile, back at the camp, the group was talking. Ranma's
grandfather sat at the edge of the plateau, and the rest of them sat by
the campfire.

 " Well, what do you think they're going to look like?" Baima asked the
others " I mean, Ehlana is Ranko's twin, so they should look alike
right? But I just can't imagine Ranko with blond hair."

 " Well, it you adjusted some of her features, then she could have blond
hair. After all, they don't have to be identical." Akane said in an
anxious voice. " What I wonder is how are they going to get them out of
these springs. That guide said that once a person falls into a pool,
they take to shape of the thing which resides there."

 " Ranma said something about their souls combining with their body,
then splitting it later." Kenji said in a knowing tone. Nabiki was
asleep, and did not join in with the conversation. Akane was about to
say something, when they heard voices and giggling. Turning to face the
springs, she saw two figures, Ranma was carrying two bodies, and Ehlana
was walking beside him, and giggling. As they came into the light, they
noticed each of the two figures, which Ranma was carrying, were covered
in one of Ranma's shirt. Finally as they neared the camp, Ranma laid the
two figures down. They were girls. One of them had brown hair, and was
she was bundled in Ranma's heavy jacket, she seemed to be about Ranma's
age. The other one had blond hair, and was bundled in Ranma's second
layer of clothing. The two figures were shivering and wet.

 Ranma put down his sisters and quickly surrounded the area with fire to
warm them up. The transformation they had gone through was astounding.
He had never seen anything like it. When he climbed out of the pool and
pulled Ranko out, he realized that he was a male again. Then he noticed
Ranko, she had a large belly, which was growing large by the second.
After half a minute or so, she let out a scream and gave birth to one
baby. Reacting as quickly as he could, he caught the child. It was so
small and beautiful. But that did not last long within a minute, it had
fully grown set of hair, another minute went by and he realized that
this was his twin sister, and she was growing at an accelerated growth
rate. Then he remembered Ranko, and turned back to her. To his surprise
she was round again, as she let another scream, another baby was born.
Juggling the rapidly growing, girl to his other hand, he caught the
other baby. Five minutes both babies were walking. As Ranko recovered,
she stood and asked,

 " What happened?" Ranma simply said in a voice of awe,

 " The souls of our two sisters went into you and you gave them birth.
Right now, they are growing at an accelerated rate. Together with Ranko,
he saw the two girls grow even taller and older, finally after half an
hour they were fully grown. The two collapsed to the ground, both cold
and breathing heavily. Ranma ran over to help them but turned away.
Ranko was surprised and asked,

 " What's wrong?" Flushing, Ranma said,

 " Well... they're girls, and they aren't wearing anything. I just feel
uncomfortable. You go and help them." Then he stripped off his jacket
and his shirts. Giving them to Ranko, he said,

 " Here, give them these to wear." After a few moments Ranma had been
informed that they were now modest, but cold. So Ranma carried them back
to the camp.

 The others blinked at the story, and thought that Ranma was being
delusional. But one look at the two girls, and Ranko, they knew that he
was telling the truth. Akane quickly scramble through her stuff to find
some clothes for the newcomers to wear.

 The next morning, Ranma awoke to the smell of food, slipping out of the
tent, which he shared with Akane, he quickly followed the smell of the
food. Finally he saw that by the campfire was X'Nedra. She was making
breakfast. Looking at her, Ranma suddenly looked shocked as he saw that
she looked almost like his mother, just a bit younger. Walking to her,
Ranma greeted her,

 " Morning. X'Nedra." She turned and smiled. Then she motioned for Ranma
to sit. Sitting next to her, Ranma began a conversation.

 " So, how's it like, being alive?" Smiling gently, X'Nedra said,

 " Well, it feels free, unlike the Elysian Fields. Here, I have the new
sensation of breathing, just feeling alive." Nodding his head, Ranma
continued,

 " How's mother and father?" X'Nedra looked sadly down at the ground.
Removing the pan from the fire, she said,

 "Mother and father miss you very much. They miss you and our brothers
and sister. They talk about you nearly everyday. I nearly broke my heart
to leave them. Now they're alone." Then she began to cry. Holding her in
close, Ranma comforted her, and changed the subject. The two talked
until the rest of the group woke up. By noon, they were ready to leave,
when suddenly, the plateau shook with a great force, and Ranma felt him
knocked off the mountain. Descending to the ground was a large dark
green dragon. It was fuming fire from its snout. Suddenly without
knowing how, Baima and Kenji changed into dragons. Ranko and Ehlana
each turned into a Phoenix, Ranko was white, while, Ehlana was light
brown. And finally X'Nedra changed into a giant silver phoenix. Facing
the dragon, the mythical beings, looked in triumph. But suddenly two
more dragons descended followed by two phoenixes. The first dragon was
dark green, the next one was gray, the one after him was dark green and
the last of the dragons was silver. The three phoenixes looked just like
Ranko and Ehlana, but they were dark blue, and dark copper. Kenji
shouted at the newly arrived creatures,

 " What do you want?" The Dark Green dragon stepped forward, and said in
an obnoxious tone,

 " Why, we want to see you all dead, of course, Gshan will be here
shortly. He is the black dragon. Without the Destiny Dragon here, you
are doomed." Then he turned to Akane, who was backing away from the
scene, and grabbed her. The dragon then purred

 " You're now mine, as it was meant to be." Baima launched himself at
the Dark Green dragon with a shout,

 " Stay away from my Queen!!!" The fight then began.

 As he fell, he heard Akane scream after him, Baima, Kenji and Ranko
were fighting some type of creature. This mountain was as sturdy as any
mountain, the only things or people who could move it would be himself,
the Black Dragon, Kenji, and the Dark Earth Dragon. The Dark Earth
Dragon! Of course, the Gshan may not be able to cross the portal, but
his minions can. The fact of the matter was that he began to remember,
no he did remember. He was not just the chosen one, he was Belphera,
Lord of Atlantis. The others were infused with the memories and
knowledge of their past lives. Though they were not fully the body and
soul of the last Atlantian royalty, they knew what they knew, they had
memories of their ancestors. Searching through his memory banks, Ranma
remembered who the Dark Earth Dragon was, and immediately went into a
rage. The Dark Earth Dragon was his rival, Ashur, during Belphera's
time. They had competed for Akane, however, when Akane chose Ranma,
Ashur abducted Akane and intended to kill her unless she chose him. He
scarred Akane mentally, and for two long years, Akane had nightmares of
the horrors, which Ashur showed her. From below Ranma saw flames all
around and the Earth moving together. Good, Kenji and the rest must have
morphed into their other form. Some 1000 ft below, on a slab of rock,
Ranma heard Akane scream and Baima bellow

 " Stay away from my queen." Something suddenly snapped in Ranma's mind.
There was a sudden ringing in Ranma's ears, and a boiling exaltation
surged up in his veins as he rose to his feet. His body rose and a
golden light illuminated the mountain. Darkness shrank from the light in
fright, and a ball of golden light circled Ranma, at first it circled
him slowly, then quicker, until Ranma's body could not be seen. A scream
of birth shook the mountain. As a golden dragon rose from the rock and
rose up, a bellow of anger escaped its beak.

 Above Ranma, a battle between a magnificent red dragon and a dark green
dragon took place. A lady stood between them and power emanated from his
hand, healing the Earth. The Fire Dragon hovered cautiously above the
Dark Dragon. Suddenly an avalanche occurred and the Fire Dragon was
knocked down. Two other figures stood below, two women. One woman was
trying to calm the other woman however, the Dark Dragon swooped down and
grabbed the other woman. Under the rubble of rocks the Fire dragon
bellowed

 " Stay away from my queen!" In a gesture of sheer power, more boulders
fell as the Fire Dragon was once again trapped under the rocks, this
time unconscious. The lady was trying to keep the mountain together, by
using all his concentration. With a triumphant bellow the dragon started
to fly higher. That is when a golden light appeared and the Dark Dragon
stopped and turned around to see a magnificent golden dragon, with
flames escaping its nostrils, and its eyes narrowed. In a voice which
shook the mountain and rocks cower in fear, it said,

 " Ashur, how dare you try to abduct the queen. Again???!!!!" In a raspy
voice, the Dark Dragon replied

 " Milleniums ago, you corrupted Akane's mind and made her choose you
over me. Imagine that, she chose you over me. Now you will die, for your
crime." With that the Dark Earth dragon launch itself at the Golden
dragon, while dropping the woman. From below, the fire dragon caught the
woman. Not even flinching a bit, the Golden dragon opened its mouth and
the whitest flame surged from its mouth and the Dark Earth Dragon was
blown out of the sky and into space. While falling away, the Dark Earth
Dragon called out,

 " I will be back."

 Not far from Ranma's team, three other dragons were fighting one dragon
and two phoenixes. Not bothering to change back to human form, Ranma
turned to see the Wind Phoenix and the Water Dragon battling with the
Evil Fire Dragon, Evil Wind Dragon, and the Evil Thunder Phoenix. The
Light Phoenix was battling with the Evil Light Dragon. Ranma was digging
the Fire Dragon out from under the rubble, while Ehlana  healed the
earth. Turning to Baima, who was lying on the ground unconscious, the
Destiny dragon blew flames upon him and in place of Baima was a red
dragon, who looked like a clone of the Destiny Dragon. Finally after the
transformations were complete, the Earth Phoenix, Fire Dragon, and
Destiny dragon flew high above in the air, with the two women mounted on
the two dragon's necks. Following the lead of the Destiny Dragon, the
other dragons flew to the plains below to face the three dark dragons.

 Kenji was struggling against the Evil Water Phoenix Anzu, the two
dragons were both equal in strength, but the draw back was that the
dragons and phoenixes could only be injured, and not killed here. So
Kenji was being exhausted, while The Dark Thunder Dragon came from
behind and knocked him out of the sky with its flames. Just a few
hundred yards away, Ranko, his sister the Wind Phoenix, was easily
retaliating the Dark Fire Dragon's power. Just before loosing
consciousness, he glanced to the side to see that at least X'Nedra was
defeating the Evil Light Dragon. All of a sudden there was a scream,
which shook the universe, as Ranma descended with Baima, Ehlana, Akane,
and Nabiki.

 Ranma descended with a bellow of anger as he saw Kenji fall. The three
dark dragons and phoenixes looked up and ceased their attack on Ranko.
With fear in their glowing demonic eyes, they joined their power and
began to chant. Ranma knew that they could not attack them until they
their chant was done. So Ranma landed beside Kenji. Above the chanting
dragons a portal began to open as the Dark Earth dragon. Finally the
light around the world began to dissipate as a stark black dragon
emerged from the portal. It was him, the Black Dragon, Gshan. Rising
into the air, The Son of the Destiny Dragon, came in an eye to eye with
the Black dragon.

 " Well met Oh Destiny Dragon. I trust that thy hast been well in
health?"

 " My health should not concern thou putrid mind. Though it is my power
thou shoudst worry." In a evil voice, the Black dragon laughed. But he
stopped all of a sudden and came inches away from the Destiny dragon's
face, his beady red eyes flared with anger, and smoke emanating from his
nostrils.

 " Still in humor. Even when thy death cometh near." Then rising to his
full height, the Black dragon bellowed. " For as foretold in my destiny,
I shalt obliterate thy Destiny Dragon's soul. Thy power mayest be
strong, nevertheless I am stronger than thou. Darkness shalt triumph and
all shall bow their heads, ever so humbly to me! The demons and shadows
shall roam free to terrorize once again, as it was meant to be when The
Dark created the Universe."

 " The Light created the universe until hell was created, then darkness
sprang from it. Causing chaos after the light had dissipated. Thus my
father was created to end the destruction of thy evil ways. Demons and
shadows alike fear the light, for light always overcomes darkness.
Besides thou canst not destroy me on such a plane. The only place I
could be destroyed would be the plane of destiny. If thou fight me in
this plane, thou shalt surely loose, and they destiny will end with your
death." Angrily the Black Dragon began the attack.

 " Rise up and protect the Earth from Darkness." With that command, The
Light Dragons and the Dark Dragons clashed and the world trembled at the
blows. Both sides were equally matched in wits, and in power. Each
dragon and phoenix was locked in a death struggle with their clone,
except Ranma who was fighting with the Black dragon and the Evil Thunder
Dragon. Suddenly they all reverted to Alantian forms. Actually, Ranma
and the others reverted to their human forms, whereas the Dark team
reverted to their immortal Alantian forms.

Ranma's perspective:

 A lot can happen in five minutes.
 Five minutes ago Akane was looking up at what some people would call a
life-and-death situation. On one side of her was my brother on the other
side I stood crouched over. My other brothers stood off to one side
defending themselves. Nabiki was off on the side bleeding from a wound
on her arm. Quietly I said to myself.
 " That's mistake number one on their side." Finally I stand and face my
opponents with death in my eyes. Only three people are standing on their
side and two of my brothers are standing.
 That was five minutes ago.
 A lot can happen in five minutes.
 Now my brother's fiancee holds his head in her lap crying. For once in
my life, I wished that my rivals were all dead. Before I had only hated
their leader. But now, I truly wanted him dead. The three remaining
members of the other group advanced towards me snickering. Still mute I
eye each one of them
 " Pitiful fools, do they honestly think they can beat me?" I think to
myself. I walk straight up to them, just then one of them caught me in
the solar plexus with a stick. As my head is down, I can hear them
snicker at me. The next thing I knew was that the world exploded around
me as I staggered around. White light exploded around me, as I was, for
the first time in my life, afraid of dying. A heart wrenching sickness
came over me. Believing that my skull had been cracked, my body began to
tremble.
" I am too young to die." I said silently to myself. My life flashed in
front of me as I fell. Memories flashed before my eyes. Memories of my
grandfather and what he taught me.
 Two figures stood in the sunlight. One old the other young and
reckless. The sun glimmered off the lake as the old figure struck the
young one across the knuckles and spoke sharply to him.
 "No, you should keep your arm straighter. The back leg should be
locked." The younger figure nods and fixes his stance as he straightens
his back leg and fixes his arm. A few minutes later the younger figure
is finished with his exercises and faces the elder figure and bows.
Together they sit and on the grass. After silence invades the two for a
few minutes, the younger figure asks the elder figure,
 " Grandfather, what is Kempo?" The one called grandfather looked at the
younger figure and said,
 " It is of defense and discipline."
 "Then if I use it to defend someone, but attack the other, would I be
wrong?"
 " No, you would be doing a noble thing. But remember to discipline
yourself. You posses the knowledge of an art which not many people can
use effectively. So you have an advantage over someone. Never abuse that
advantage."
 " But what if you opponent was truly deserved to be beaten to a pulp."
 " Then based on your judgment and your discipline you should administer
the punishment which he truly deserves. However I must tell you, you
must do it on your better judgment. Do not get carried away."
 " Yes grandfather, I will always remember that."
 " Also, never underestimate your enemy. For that could be your down
fall, maybe even leading to your death."
 " I will remember that." Once again silence invaded them again. The
young figure once again spoke to the figure called grandfather.
 " Grandfather, have you ever been afraid?" he asked.
 " Yes, many times, but I always use my fears to my advantage, as you
should."
 " I understand however, I don't think I can ever accomplish that, I
always become frightened and I feel as if I become a coward."
 " NO! Before your grandmother, she tried to teach you that no matter
what you do, you are not a coward. Never. She tried to teach you that it
was not wrong to be afraid, however do not let it cripple you so that
you forget your friends and family. Never forget, your friends and
family are the most important thing that you can have."
 As I come back to reality, the threesome move in closer as my eyesight
stayed blurred. Time seemed to slow once again as I begin to slip into
an unconscious state again, I remember a time I had spent with my best
friend, now my fiancee, and what I had sworn upon my honor to protect
her.
Under the moonlight, in a field, two figures were lying on the ground
and staring at the stars. Peacefully, they listened to the cricket's
chorus surrounding them. The summer's breeze blew over them as one of
the two figures spoke,
 "Ranma?"
 " Yes?" The other figure replied drowsily.
 " What would you do if someone had tried to hurt me, or did hurt me?"
the first figure said.
 " Well, first I would beat the crap out of them, then roast them over a
slow fire, then finally boil them in a pot of hot oil." The second
figure replied with a hint of amusement.
 " Really?" the first figure said in surprise.
 " Well, everything except the roasting and boiling." Said the second
figure, still in an amused voice "Why?"
" Oh, I was just asking." Said the first figure, brushing off the
question.
 " No, seriously, why?" the second figure asked, pushing the subject
further.
 " Well, I got into a fight with Dan. I just wanted to say that it was
over with and that we were now engaged. He seemed pretty angry when I
left."
 " Oh, I see," The second figure said with anger in his voice. " Did he
do anything to you? If he did, I'll kick the crap out of him."
 " No, nothing, except, he just doesn't seem to get the idea that we are
over with."
The first figure replied in reassurance.
 " Oh, well I'll just have a small chat with him." The second figure
said in a pugnacious tone.
 "No, I would never want you to be hurt on my account." The first figure
said quickly. With a smirk the second figure said,
 " Of course."
 " And what's that supposed to mean?" the first figure.
 " You know, like in the summer, the time your souvenir purse was thrown
into the water in Florida. Since you couldn't reach it, you had me jump
off the docks into shark infested waters, to get it." The second figure
said.
 "Well, I had gotten a great bargain off of that chauvinistic vendor at
the market, I wasn't about to my prize of that debate of the sexes, go
off into the water." The first figure said laughingly " Besides it was
only one shark."
 " It only takes one shark to eat me." The second figure said slightly
injured.
 " Oh, Ranma, you're such a kidder." The first figure said laughingly
and fondly touching the second figure's hand. But her eyes grew serious
as she sighed and said" You know that all my life I've been moving here
and there, because of Daddy's job and all. Every time I came to a new
environment, I felt helpless and afraid. That was until I met you and we
became friends, and then fell in love. You were always there to protect
and comfort me." Then she looked pleadingly into his eyes and said "
Promise me that you'll always protect me."
 " I promise." I said.
 A sudden fear of not being there for my friends and my family, rushed
over me. Seeing my grandfather's head shaking in disappointment as he
walks by my casket, had me down on my knees. Once again I feel them
beating on me, kicking me, spiting at me, laughing at me. Slowly I begin
to slip into another unconscious state as I remember my final moment
with my grandmother.

 As the young boy stands at the edge of the bed in the hospital, he does
not weep. No, he will not weep, he has never broken down before. Never.
Nor will he break down now. No, no matter what happened, he would not
crumble his foundation. He hadn't made this journey from China in the
middle of his training to let his grandmother see him break down and
cry. Silently he walked over to figure lying in the hospital bed.
 " Grandmother." The boy called softly.
 " So you came." The one called grandmother said softly. " I have been
waiting for you."
 " Why? I would have seen you when you got back home anyway." The boy
said optimistically.
 " Don't try to cheer me up, Ranma." His grandmother said impatiently "
I'm dying, and I want to die."
 " But-" the boy began.
 " No buts. I haven't been the same since your parents died. No,
actually I haven't been the same since your mother died. I loved as my
own daughter, and almost as much as your father loved her. That isn't to
say I didn't love your father, but your mother was so much like your
aunt who died before you were born. However, the day she died, my mind
was changed. " She said sadly. "It isn't fair to the rest of you,
because soon I would become a totally different person. I might hurt you
and then my soul would become corrupt. That is not how I want you to
remember me."

 " Damn it, I'm going to drag Baima, Kenji and grandfather in here if to
make you pull through. I'm not letting you die on me." The boy said
furiously. Suddenly he saw something he had never seen before. His was
grandmother angry. Not just pretending to be angry to make us apologize,
but actually angry. Here eyes flared and she looked straight at him and
said

 " I do not think that that decision is yours to make. Besides I already
have your grandfather's and your brothers' permission."  She said
indignantly.

 " What?! Why are you asking me last?" the boy said in a shocked voice.

 " I knew that you would be the last to convince." Suddenly she coughed,
the cough racked her body as her breathing became labored. She suddenly
looked up and with tears in her eyes she said

 " Please don't let me go with you on my conscience."  The young boy
looks down, feeling ashamed.

" Why should I deny my grandmother the right to rest in peace for
eternity?" the young boy thought. " She has given so much to our family,
she deserves so much more, at least I was given the chance to say
goodbye." Then with a pained look the young boy looked at her and said

 " I give you permission to go." With that he could feel her dying
quicker. The woman looked up and said

 " Thank you, but before I go, you must promise something."

 " Anything." The boy said.

 " Promise, that what ever you do, you will always protect your family
and your friends. Please."

 " Yes, I promise. I swear it on my honor." The boy said on the verge of
crying.

 " Thank you. Now I can die in peace. But before I go I want you to know
that I will always be watching you from my resting place." And with that
the boy's grandmother died.

 Silently the memories all come back to me all so sudden, and I arrive
at one conclusion; I must survive.

   My opponents surround me, and the fear of disappointment begins
again. My stomach tightens up, as I feel as if someone has their hands
clasped around my heart and my throat goes dry, so that I can't breath.
Within me the battle of my fear and my word begin, as the physical
battle around me begins as well.

 The first blow comes as I block it upon reflex. However, when the odds
are three to one, if you block a blow then you are vulnerable to the
other two opponents. Pain runs through my body as I grab my side and
kick my assailant in the face. With that again I fell, being too weak
after the other two opponents attack me furiously.

 " You promised."

 As I look up I do not see a trio of people coming towards me, instead,
a white light with two figures in the center, was there to greet my
painful eyes. One of the figures was my grandmother. Standing next to
her was a woman wearing an elegant dress. She had the most luminous
beauty. I loved her from the moment I saw her. However it wasn't the
love I shared with Akane. Somehow she looked familiar. Something from
the past. Suddenly, I knew. I knew who she was. She was my mother. I
have not seen her for 12 years, not since I was five. Not since she
died. She had a kindly smile, which always went straight to my heart.
She had the wealth of dark brown hair tied back. Her regal shape moved
towards me. Soon I stood over her, for she was shorter than I. Still
smiling she spoke,

 " My baby. My dear little Ranma, you have grown so tall. Nearly a man."
From behind her my grandmother commented in a gentle voice.

 " Already a king."

 " I knew he was the one, even as I carried him within me. He was and is
the Chosen One."

 " Mother." I finally said crying. Suddenly another figure emerged from
the light. It was my father.

 " Hail Ranma." He said simply "Your mother, grandmother, and I must
leave, may the luck of the world be with you." with that he left, with
his mother and grandmother. As they were leaving, he heard his mother
and grand mother's voice.

 " Your honor."

 " Your word."

 " Your promise."

 With that they left, to the great beyond. Leaving me with a new rush of
greatness and honor. What had I to fear? These three were only immortal,
and immortals had their weaknesses, I am just glad that my weakness can
be used as a strength for me. From my fear of disappointment came a
renewal of hope, pride, and anger.

 As I am on the ground, I slowly crawl away to recuperate enough to
strike back. I could still hear them laughing, taunting me. As I look up
to look upon the faces of my opponents, I catch a glimpse of Akane being
flung to the side. Her scream of pain rang through my mind saying

" Why? Why aren't you helping me? You promised."

All of a sudden a ringing sound came to my ears and kind of boiling
exaltation surged up in my veins as I stopped and stood straight up. The
taunting of my enemies soon stopped, due to the reason that I had
tackled one of them to the floor and kicked another one in the face. All
thought stopped in my mind, the only thing that went through my mind was
that my opponent had just hit my love.

That was it, my word and honor was not to be tarnished any further. My
opponents would pay dearly for forcing me to break my word and tarnish
my honor. I suddenly see my grandmother again as she slowly nods her
head and tells me not to be afraid.

 " I hear you mother, I am not afraid anymore." I said to myself
quietly. My opponents get up and the leader says,

 " You should be." Then he launches his attack, with agility I defend
myself. My opponent before me suddenly was not a man of my age, but a
maimed face of a demon, his accomplices also became demons. The reason
for this sight is because only a demon could make one break their honor
and promises. Angrily I struck these maimed faces over and over. More
angry than I have ever been in my life, I struck the maimed face of one
of the demons.

 " I will not let you win this one you demons, my friends and family are
counting on me."

"Honor."

Quickly turning I kicked the feet from under one of the demons. While
catching the foot of another demon and twisting it at an abnormal angle.

"Family."

As the demons keep coming, I defend myself and throw them to the ground.
One demon actually hit me, in a rage I took the arm of the demon and
break it. Still grabbing the arm I kick the demon a few times.
"Love."

I look into the face of the demon and say between my clenched teeth,
" This is for Akane and my family." With that I strike once more and
throw him over my shoulder.

" Self-discipline."

Slowly I decrease my attack on the demons.

" Forgiveness."
Soon my attack stops as I bow to them.

Finally out of my trance-like state I realize that the three were on the
ground with severely wounds on their faces, broken arms and legs. Soon
they began to rise again as I knew what I had to do. A change came over
me as I felt myself melt and change. Finally I stood, not as an Earth
being, but as Ranma, Son of the Destiny Dragon, King and Overlord of
Atlantia

Finally the Destiny Dragon had had enough.

 " In the name of the Almighty Light, I abjure thee, creatures of
darkness," The Destiny Dragon said in a booming voice, clouds gathered
at his voice, the winds increased, and the world shook even harder.
"Return to the hell that spawn thee, and never more corrupt this world
by thy foul presence. Begone and take with thee they hatred and evil."
The Dark Dragons were thrown through the portal, along with their guides
of darkness. With that the magnificent Destiny Dragon released his power
by bellowing the closing of the portal spell.

 " Hear me oh Great gate of the of the heavens! Seal thy gateway of my
lands, so that we mayest open the river of the Light again, another day.
Thou shalt not reopen unless upon the command of the Beloved Dragons.
Until then none shalt pass through the portal, no mortal, nor immortal,
no dragon, nor god. Sleep again Oh great stargate of the heavens. Sleep
again and sleep in peace."  Slowly the portal diminished until it was
gone. Turning to his fellow teammates, Ranma said in a tire voice,

 " Alright let's go home." For some reason, meeting the Black dragon
felt like the beginning of his journey. Even though he had achieved his
goal of revenging his parents. He needed more, but that is another
story.