Chapter 4 Growing Relations

The next part of the tournament would be a team match. A lottery was held in
the beginning of the tournament. Although some matches had to be reassigned
as some of the contestants wouldn't team up with certain other contestants.
As their sets of beliefs and morals differed so much that they would end up
killing each other if possible.

Kiyone was teamed up with a Ki-Lin, a part horse/part dragon creature of
great good. Their opponents, a Kelpie and a Puck. Two of the most evil races
ever created. The Kelpie a half horse/half humanoid being. Something like a
knight in a game of chess, only with a wicked grin on it's horse-like
muzzle. They attack using their great strength, attacking with claw, hoof,
and teeth. The Puck was like an evil Satyr, although with longer horns on
his head. The odds for this fight was drastically in the Kelpie and Puck's
favor. With twenty to one odds on the outcome. The evil and pure meanness of
them drove those odds right up.

"Miya! Miya!" The Cabbit started squeaking out as soon as she caught hold of
a sent. Of course this caught Ryoko off guard as she was downing another
alcoholic beverage.

[spurt!] 'wheeze-wheeze' "Don't do that!" Ryoko exclaimed angrily.

"Miya!" The Cabbit projected the image of Ranma into the share link that the
two possessed.

"Ranma?! Where?" Ryoko suddenly started scanning the crowd for any signs of
the object of her chase. There! Entering the ring with the Ki-Lin! Red hair
in a familiar braid, along with even more familiar bracers. Hah! Thinking he
could hide in his cursed form. She could remember some interesting nights
with said form. With that she started to daydream about what she would do
with her later.

"Miya?" The Cabbit inquired, breaking her from her trance.

"Huh? What are you crazy? Of course I won't bet against him." She snorted at
her companion and settled in as the match was signaled to start.

[Beep, Beep, Beep!]

"Hmm? What do we have here?" With that Washu looked at the her readings
pertaining to Ryoko's status. *This can't be right. According to Sailor
Mercury's data, Ranma should be on Earth. But from Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki's
readings he was near them. Still Ranma could have arrived on Earth to report
in and then just teleported to the tournament. Causing his pursuers to
divide their forces thin. Hmm. I wouldn't put it past him. Still by the
chance that Ryoko was nearer to Ranma than any of the others it might be
wise to get there quick. Setting her currant experiments on auto, she
created a dimensional door to the tournament.

Nasuko cursed as she chased after this little six-inch figure that had
zapped her. No matter how fast she was, the creature was faster. It seemed
like the creature was toying with her. There she was, resting after a
relaxing workout, when suddenly.

[Bzzzzt!] "Owe!!!!!!!!!!" She had literally leaped ten feet in the air.
Finding the source of her pain as a little sprite-like creature, who just
laughed as she lead Nasuko on a merry chase.

"Come on! Please stop!" Kato yelled after the diminutive figure. The little
person just laughed at him and taunted him on to catch it.

He had again been at the task of trying to move that boulder which he was
sure held the secrets to the Saotome School of Martial Arts. He had just sat
down to meditate on the problem, when the boulder was raised into the air
seemly by itself. Upon closer scrutiny he caught his first glance at the
little woman lifting the boulder as if it weighed nothing. But before he
could see what was underneath it, the little woman put it back down and just
smiled a smug little smile at him. When he tried to get her to tell him how
she did that, she just laughed and ran away. He had been following her for
little over an hour now, running all over the compound. Sometimes he'd think
he lost her, she would then run between his legs in a opposite direction,
all the while laughing merrily.

Misuteri grimly continued on her search. For the past half-hour she had been
stalking this little doll-like individual. It would lead her on for a little
bit then disappear only to reappear where she least expected it. She would
vary between short sprints to slow moving easy strides. Still she was no
closer to catching it.

She had been in the task of working on her homework for the upcoming final
when the little doll had just walked into her room, smiled at her, and then
just as easily departed. Making sure that she had her attention, the little
doll-woman started to lead her all over the compound. The weird thing was
that none of the other students seemed to see the doll-woman. Knowing that
she wasn't crazy, she continued the chase.

The three students followed their respective doll-woman to a normally active
training area. Usually it was common to find from two to ten individuals
working out here. As it was a respectable distance from the main buildings,
it made a good training area. This time the only one in the area was Kasumi,
who was sitting casually on the middle part of a training log.

It didn't take long for the students to notice their comrades, also chasing
doll-like individuals. After realizing that they were being lead here, they
slowed down to a more cautionary pace. They knew their instructors could and
would throw a training session at them at anytime. They were even more
shocked when their 'dolls' leapt onto the training log next to their Master
Kasumi. They then seemed to fuse together to form a larger aspect of the
'dolls'. It was that girl who sat at the head of the table the night before!

Many emotions ran threw the students as they witnessed this. Confusion the
primary emotion. With curiosity about how the girl could do such a thing as
split herself into three individual components, following it.

Kasumi and Ranma-chan couldn't help but giggle at the looks that the
students were sending their way. Yes Ranma was giggling, he has long
excepted his duel nature and was fully open with his emotions. "Just a
little something I picked up from a very close friend of mine."

Nasuko, Kato, and Misuteri looked at each other, then assumed an attention
position in front of their Master.

"Hello children, its time to begin your lessons."

Skuld grunted as she finished the final touches on the latest of her little
robots. Being the Goddess of the Future and Technology did have its
privileges. With that she sent it to follow it's fellows in their task of
finding Ranma. The last coordinates that she had gotten from Yggdrasill
before she was dumped out by Kami-sama, were the coordinates for Japan.
Still that was all she needed. How hard could it be to find him on one
little island? At least she wouldn't have to search the whole universe. With
that done, she decided to raise her energy incase some of her rivals showed
up, she would need as much energy as she could get. So with that, she went
in search of her super-super chocolate-fudge ice cream. She had been saving
it since the last time she had won. The sugar rush alone would be all she
needed. Its a good thing freezer burn doesn't exist in Heaven.

The Imperial Palace of Jurian.

Second Empress Tsunami was bored. The life of an Imperial Empress,
especially a married Empress at that, was not one of excitement. Not like
the adventures she had in her younger days with Tenchi and the rest. What
made it even more boring was that her sister, the crowned First Empress of
the Empire and co-wife of the Emperor of Jurian, had returned from her
diplomatic duties and had occupied most of Tenchi's time. There are only so
many games that one can play to keep oneself amused.

*What is taking them so long?* Turning to a monitor she called up the
captain of the guards.

"Yes your Majesty?" The Captain bowed before his Empress.

"What is the progress on the pursuit of the fugitive?" She inquired. The
Captain developed a large sweat drop on the back of his head.

"Yes Your Majesty. One of the Galaxy Police's top agents is on this. She has
reported that she has found clues to his whereabouts, and is closing in on
him." He answered briskly. *Why doesn't she just implant a tracer in him,
that might make the lease shorter.* Was his thought.

"SHE?! They sent a female operative after him?! Didn't they read the report
on him?!" She practically screeched. Knowing Ranma, if that operative caught
up with him, then he'd have another woman after him. The most irritating
part of it being that he wouldn't treating her in anyway different from the
way he treated everyone else. She would still fall for him.

"They sent a leonine after him your Majesty, they thought that would
alienate them from each other." The Captain was growing nervous, an angry
Empress, let alone one with goddess level power was something to be afraid
of.

"A leonine? Oh, well that's different then." Ranma's phobia of cats has only
diminished insignificantly over the centuries, what with his constant
contact with the likes of Nuku-Nuku and Ryo-Ohki. Still he was still a
little nervous around all felines. Of course being one of the most powerful
beings in the Galaxy he feared little. Maybe that's it, the reason why he
stayed with individuals of such power, ones that would be his equal or
superior in terms of Raw power if not in his skill level. He needed the
trill of a challenge even with his love life. And they sent a Leonine after
him!? Tsunami could only hope that she was truly competent for Ranma also
had a weakness for woman in trouble. If she wasn't already a Goddess, she
would be on her knees praying for the operative to be competent. All she
needed was for the operative to fall in love with Ranma on the way back to
her.

Sailor Mercury scanned the area about her. She was not a very happy little
Sailor Senshi at the moment. According to her readings Ranma should have
been in the area. But once she arrived here all she found was a long stretch
of nothing.

"How can my readings be so far off?" Being an intelligent person she did not
like it when her calculations turned out wrong. She was so deep into reading
her computer's readout that she didn't notice the shadow coming upon her.

"Hi Amy!" The cheerful, peppy voice of Nuku-Nuku made Sailor Mercury nearly
jump out of her skin.

"Eeep!" Sailor Mercury spun around and assumed a combat stance, only to
relax upon seeing who it was.

"Amy is looking for Ranma too?" Even though she might be a rival, Nuku-Nuku
was always happy to see a friend. With that she gave Sailor Mercury a big
hug, which in turn knocked the wind out of her.

'Wheeze' 'Cough' "Its nice to see you too Nuku-Nuku. And call me Sailor
Mercury when I'm like this." 'Cough, Cough' As Mercury tried to get the air
back into her lungs.

"Nuku-Nuku tried to find Ranma, but sensors say that he came here. But Ranma
isn't here." Nuku-Nuku has been tracking Ranma for a couple weeks now and
still when she came to this stop all traces of him simply vanished. It was
most confusing.

"Yes I can see that. Hmm. Well by my readings, he should be here. At first I
thought I had miscalculated somewhat, but giving that your sensors say the
same thing, it must be something else." With that she flipped up her visor
to get a more thorough reading of the area. Many different readings came
over her monitor. A quick glance at Nuku-Nuku gave her some interesting
power readings. *Hmm, looks like Nuku got upgraded again.* She was
momentarily distracted at the readings, that was until something else popped
up on her monitor. It was a residue energy signature. A very interesting and
familiar one at that.

"It seems Ranma knew you were on his trail. He came this way and then
teleported somewhere else." Ranma has been getting more crafty in his
dealings with women.

"Ranma can teleport? Without magic or transporter?" This confused Nuku-Nuku,
she knew a little of magic from her association with some of Ranma's other
suitors, as well as technology, but was still a little confused on how Ranma
could use his Ki to do the same. That and he had never teleported with her
around before.

"Oh yes, he's been able to do that for quite some time now. Although he
rarely done that because he had plenty of available transportation around.
How do you think he gets all over the galaxy and beyond?" *Sigh, This means
I have to figure in all new readings.*

"Oh. OK, bye Ami!" Nuku-Nuku exclaimed as she set off after another trail to
find Ranma.

"What? Wait Nuku-Nuku, I just said that Ranma isn't around here, that he had
teleported away." Mercury seemed shocked that someone would just ignore her
readings.

"That's alright, I can still smell him." She waved happily at Mercury and
continued on her quest.

*Smell him?* Yet according to her readings he should have teleported
somewhere else entirely. What if he teleported somewhere else, done what he
needed to do and then teleported back to the exact same place from which he
left. Thus covering his tracks and misdirecting any pursuers!

"Nuku-Nuku! Wait for me!" With that Sailor Mercury ran after the retreating
figure. Oh well at least she wouldn't look foolish in front of the others.
That and Nuku-Nuku couldn't possibly have the same appeal for Ranma that the
others did.

[Gong, Gong]

With that the battle started.

As neither sides have ever worked in concert together, they pretty much went
their separate ways. The Ki-Lin turning itself invisible which it could hold
indefinitely. This gave her an advantage over their opponents. For their
evil nature would work against them. Both were species that loathed life,
although in the Puck's case it related to all 'big people' not of the faerie
folk. Yes faerie folk. Although that did not make him any less evil than his
companion. Kiyone herself felt a great sense of piece from her partner,
almost as if together good will triumph over evil.

The Kelpie transformed itself into a Stallion and started bucking around,
not taking the chance that the Ki-Lin would try and sneak up on him to
attack. This start raising a cloud of dust which the Puck used to his
advantage. Coming short and quick at Kiyone, his head bent low to impale
her.

Kiyone leaped over the Puck and grabbed him by the horns in an effort to
throw him. The problem being that the Puck has had experience in fighting
the 'big folk', so brought his talon like hooves into her back. She had to
release him or suffer a mortal wound to her kidneys. She quickly got some
distance between them, for do to his smaller stature, the Puck could recover
faster than she could. Unfortunately this brought her within striking
distance of the Stallion shaped Kelpie. She had to roll with the kick to her
shoulder, if not for genetically enhanced body, her shoulder would have been
broken. Still she needed a moment to recover.

The Puck wasn't going to give her the chance, as he again charged her. Just
a he got within striking distance, he was suddenly hurled away. He had
forgotten all about the Ki-Lin who had given him a double back kick. While
this gave her a breather, it did little damage to the Puck.

Soon the Kelpie and the Ki-Lin were going full out bronco style. That is
like wild horses go at it. The Kelpie would rear up on its hind legs and
lash out with both of his front hooves at the Ki-Lin's head. The Ki-Lin used
her horn to parry one of the blows, but not the second. She used the
momentum to spin herself around to deliver a powerful double blow to the
Kelpie's mid-section. Still the blow she received from the Kelpie's hoof
dizzied her for a moment. The Kelpie using his own supernatural metabolism
to recover more quickly. Transforming back to his natural form, leaped at
the Ki-Lin and took a large bit out of her back mid-section, the Ki-Lin let
off a horrible scream.

Kiyone quickly came to her partners aide. Springing into the air over the
Kelpie, she brought both hands onto both sides of the Kelpie's head. This
staggered the Kelpie enough for the Ki-Lin to break free. The Puck though
was not sitting idly by. Just as Kiyone finished launching her attack on the
Kelpie, the Puck made his move while she was still in the air. Spinning at
incredible speed, he launched himself at her mid-section. The speed of his
speed combined with the sharpness of his horns made it so that Kiyone
herself screamed out in pain. If she were a normal human, that attack would
have disemboweled her. Again thanks to her genetically enhanced metabolism,
the Puck's horns only pierced the outer layer of muscle tissue, keeping her
internal organs in place. Still as she rolled away from the Puck she used
her left arm to stop the flow of blood.

The Ki-Lin looking to return the favor, charged at the Puck to give Kiyone
the time to staunch of blood. The Puck barely leaped over her and landed on
the Ki-Lin's back. He then stuck his claw-like hooves into her flanks. The
Ki-Lin then started spinning around, trying to buck the Puck off. In a burst
of desperation the Ki-Lin completely flipped herself over, completely
berrying the Puck beneath her. After rolling back to her feet she again made
herself invisible to give her time to heal and get a breather.

Kiyone, having trained again larger opponents chose at this time to bring
her attacks against the Kelpie. The Kelpie charged her in a feigned attack.
Kiyone expected this and let loose a leg sweep followed by a leaping bicycle
kick. The first he expected as he leaped into the air to avoid it, while the
second caught him in the middle of the leap. He received four kicks that
launched him in the air.

The Puck after shaking off the effects of the Ki-Lin's attack was not to be
kept from his previous victim, for like the satyr he mockingly resembled, he
had a vicious appetite for females. As he used the natural abilities of all
fairies he made it so he could see the Ki-Lin. This allowed him to avoid her
and continued onto his prize. Unfortunately when he got there the Kelpie and
Kiyone were still deep in battle, and the Kelpie, an eater of human flesh
would not give up on his prize. Soon the two of them were fighting among
themselves for the right to fight and then dine on Kiyone. For although this
was a tournament, it was an anything goes one. Anything short of planet
destroying techniques and weapons were allowed, and deaths were expected. It
only made the crowd more blood thirsty.

As they were doing their work for them, Kiyone and the Ki-Lin just hung back
as the two creatures of evil battled each other irrationally. The Ki-Lin
took this time to heal Kiyone of the wounds she had sustained in her fight.

With a look to her now visible comrade, Kiyone gathered her Ki. The extra
bit of confidence that the Ki-Lin gave her made her attack even more
powerful. So she waited until the two of them were right next to each other
and then........

"MOKO TAKABISHA!" She released her Ki at them, slamming them into the valley
wall. This stunned them for a minute, the Ki-Lin and Kiyone used this minute
to rush over and then put them out with multiple blows to the head. Not to
leave things to chance, the Ki-Lin started running in place, only to phase
through the two. This left bloody gashes all over their bodies.

Not wanting to be left out and wanting to give the crowd a thrill. Kiyone
leaped into the air as wings composed of Ki kept her aloft. And with,

"SHINSEI BATSU(1)!" A long lance of Ki formed in her hands and she hurled it
at the ground between them. A huge dome of Ki enveloped around them which
resulted with a large explosion. The resulting explosion threw both the
Kelpie and the Puck to opposite sides of the valley floor. Thus ending the
match with a flair, that made the crowd scream in appreciation.

The signal of the end of the match was all Ryoko needed to hear. As soon as
the duo started for the exit, she flew from her booth. On route to the
victors, something caught her eye as she noticed a dimensional pocket open
just near the entrance to the ring. Her eyes narrowed as she thought this
was familiar to her.

"Washu!" She growled as she increased her speed. No way was that demented
scientist besting her this time. Washu seeing her move in for the kill,
increased her speed also. For some reason though, just as Washu got up to
Ranma she stopped. Well her lose. With that Ryoko tried to grab her prey.
She would have to if not for that fact that her prey decided to dodge her.
She had to quickly faze or else become a big red blot on the wall behind
her. This in turn shocked her even more, what the heck was happening?

"Hey! What's the big idea?" She exclaimed before turning to her prize,
something was wrong here. "Your not Ranma!"

"Not Ranma!?" This new voice caused the small group to turn. What they saw
was a young Leonine covered with blood and sweat come out from the entrance.
"What do you mean, not Ranma!? I have been tracking him for months now!
Working undercover in this gross pit as a TOWEL-GIRL and you have the gall
to tell me that, she isn't Ranma!?" The group just watched as the galaxy
police detective third class had a minor nervous breakdown. Kiyone and the
Ki-Lin were the ones who were truly perplexed. They just shrugged and walked
to her dressing chamber. Leaving the crazy people to argue among themselves
behind her.

Kiyone was toweling herself off as she entered her dressing chamber. She
didn't even register the presence of the being that was waiting for her.

"Hey there little firefly." Hearing that voice, Kiyone spun around. Only one
person called her that, although she had never seen a firefly before. She
turned to see Ranma in his male form smiling at her. With a exclamation of
joy, she quickly jumped into his arms for a big hug.

"Were you watching the whole time?" She had to admit, she was surprised to
find him here. Given the life that he lead, you can never know when or where
Ranma might show up next.

"Of course. Although it took you long enough in that last fight didn't you?
I mean there were only two of them." He gave a slight grin to let her know
he was only fooling with her. He was very proud that she had made it this
far in the tournament. Only the most exceptional beings with combat skill
were even aloud to try out for it. Although some were automatically
excepted, based on their reputations. If Ranma wished to enter the
tournament they would not have even question his skill. While someone like
Kiyone, even though she studied under him, had to undergo an intense testing
of her combat skills. (This also helped the bookies rate her for the
tournament.)

Kiyone suddenly remembered the three woman thinking that she was Ranma and
trying to grab her because of it. While not fearing for his life, for she
knew he could take on anyone, but she also knew about his dislike of causing
emotional distress to those of the opposite gender.

"You have to get out of here. There was three crazy woman out there looking
for you!" She then gave him a description of her assailants. To her
surprise, he just grinned even more.

"They are, are they? Hmm? Three you say? I wonder who the third was, I don't
know any Leonine?" With that he just put his hand behind his head and
laughed. "Well it wouldn't do to disappoint them, now would it? Good luck on
the rest of the tournament." That having said, he vanished down the
corridor.

"You've been following me haven't you!?" Sailor Jupiter accused her
comrades. All four of them had searched over a good portion of Japan, trying
to find Ranma Saotome. Of course tension have gotten higher and higher as
they were continually coming up empty in their search.

"Of course not." Sailor Venus remarked dryly to her long time friend. "You
know as well as I do that this is one of Ranma's regular training spots."
Sailors Mars and Saturn nodded their heads in agreement. They all turned to
view their surroundings.

A large waterfall was the most prominent landmark, which flowed into the
pristine valley below. How Ranma ever found the place was anyone's guess,
for it wasn't on any of the maps. Behind the waterfall was a cave that led
to a series of tunnels that went deep into the earth. One could get lost for
weeks down their and never see the light of day. In those tunnels somewhere
could be Ranma. Where the tunnels ended up, the group didn't know for he
never brought any of them all the way through. The only way they even knew
about the place, was that Ranma had brought them there to train which lead
to other, more, intimate things.

"Well Ladies are you sure about this?" Mars asked her companions. They knew
that they could get lost in there if they weren't careful. It would be
ultra-humiliating calling for help, especially for the reason that they were
entering it for. The Game was not common knowledge. If the populace knew
that those, for whom they depended on for protection, acted like a bunch of
hormonal, sex starved, teenagers, they would lose face before them. Besides,
it was embarrassing.

Saturn looked at her longtime friends and just started, "You don't think
Ranma would really be in there all alone do you? I mean its not like
he'd........" She trailed off as she noticed the others looking down at the
valley floor. She turned also, only to stop dead as she say what they saw.
It was Ranma! Down in the valley floor! He just smiled at them and then
dived into the waterfall, and then into the cavern behind it.

"Ranma!?"

"What!?"

"I saw him first!" This came from Jupiter as she leapt after him. Her
companions only stared at her in shock for a minute, before exclaiming and
leaping after her.

"You bugged me didn't you Washu!" Ryoko just ignored the weeping form of
Galaxy Police third class, Yutaka Harada. The Leonine just could not believe
that she had spent weeks working as a towel, only to have it come to
nothing.

"What ever do you mean?" Washu tried the innocent look, although Ryoko
didn't believe a word of it. By now they had joined Ryo-Ohki in their booth,
for some reason Yutaka followed them. They were about to get into a heated
debate when they were interrupted by the Cabbit.

"Miya! Miya! Miya!" Ryo-Ohki started jumping up and down, and took off out
of the booth, not even giving them a chance to ask what the problem was. So
they took off after her.

"Miya!"

"Arrgh!" They knew that scream, it was one that always came from the Cabbit
ran into one of her favorite people. You'd think he would have gotten over
it by now, but Ranma couldn't help but scream at least once, although after
that he would calm down.

This just caused the group to speed up, Ryoko not even bothering with the
doors. Yutaka didn't know what was happening, but if it excited this group
she should be there. They turned the corner to see Ranma with Ryo-Ohki
rushing toward his arms. He smiled a large smile at them. That was until
Ryo-Ohki changed into her humanoid form, which was completely naked, and
leaped at him. This caused Ranma to dodge out from under her flight path,
and then take off running down the hall. Ryo-Ohki just lay sprawled
uncermononiously on the ground, trying to regain her senses.

"That's Ranma?" Yutaka asked the others, at their confirmation, she pulled
out her gun and badge. "Freeze! Galaxy Police!" Ryoko and Washu just rolled
their eyes at that and sprinted after Ranma's retreating form.

They turned the corner only to find a large group of males waiting for the
stalls to be free, so that they could relieve themselves of their bodily
fluids. Of course Ryoko and Washu didn't even slow down, as they pushed
themselves through into the Male's bathroom. Yutaka hesitated for a moment,
before yelling out, "Galaxy Police, Official business" with that she ran
into the restroom.

"Aaah!" she screamed as the Grimbor who had taunted her earlier, turned
around from the urinal he was using to see what the commotion was about.
What had caused her to scream was the fact that he didn't bother to put his
equipment away when he did so. She was so startled that she fired off her
weapon at him. It being set on freeze, the Grimbor suddenly got cold below
the waist.

"Aargh!" The Grimbor screamed as he lost all feeling in his manhood. He then
looked like he was going to get violent.

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! Let me help." With that she set her weapon on
heat and fired at him again. Again it not being her day, she used it for too
long and again the Grimbor screamed as he had a weeny roast. The old
chestnuts were roasting on an open fire alright. Just to be on the safe side
she put the weapon on stun at full power and fired three shots into him to
make sure he was put out. It took all three of them to fully relieve the
Grimbor of consciousness.

Ryoko and Washu just watched as this went on. They had already searched
every stall, to the discomfort of their occupants, but he was not there.
Ranma had disappeared, although Washu was able to determine that he had
teleported. She had recorded his energy signature and was already tracking
him using her computer. The thing being was that Ranma didn't teleport
directly to where he wanted to go. He first phased into another dimension
and then teleport to a place in it before phasing into another dimension. He
did this a half a dozen times before returning to this dimension and
teleporting where he wanted to go. Of course he did this light years away.
Still the two enjoyed watching Yutaka handle the Grimbor.

"Are you sure you don't have any humanoid ancestors?" Ryoko inquired before
the two of them burst out laughing.

'Huff, Huff, Huff' Nasuko panted from the exertion of the exercise that
Master Kasumi was putting her through. All three of them have been training
together for almost a week now with Master Kasumi and the girl Ranko who was
helping her. Although today seemed different somehow. Oh sure, Master Kasumi
was just as intense. Like the past mornings it started out with Kato,
Misuteri, and her self sparring with the Master, not one of them held back
in the slightest. After that they would then receive a lesson with Ranko,
who would have them do separate seemingly pointless tasks. Even the Master
trained when told to do something, although it was entirely different. They
had already figured out that she was from the house of Saotome, and that she
was Chinese. That was from the accent she always seemed to have, although
Misuteri was almost sure she heard her talking without it once.

Today was different though, Ranko seemed more reserved. It was if she was
waiting for something to happen. All day she was like that, usually she
jumped in with the training. Ever since that morning she has only gave
instructions. To Nasuko's small group and to the other groups that she was
training in the advanced techniques. It was late afternoon when they found
out why. She was in her spot on the lop watching the younger students go
through their forms, when these two twin guys just appeared out of nowhere
and walked up to her. They looked like they were related to her, they could
be siblings if not for their different hair colors. The kids got a big
surprise when the two guys just merged with her. After that she just got up
and stretched before jumping down to perform a kata that they have never
seen before.

Everyone with the exception of Kasumi just stared at her in shock as they
finally realized who was instructing them. Even the elders who were
observing the group were stunned into silence. Here they were slacking off
in front of the Grandmaster of the school, and they did not even know it!
Ranma just sighed to herself as she knew that everyone would be reacting to
her differently now. What she had been trying to put off for sometime now,
was revealed because of her own need to show off. When would she ever learn?

Later that night when Kasumi asked about what had happened. Ranma just
smiled and told her about a very strange and hard to master technique called
the Tri-form technique, which she had learned in her travels. That and she
needed to make sure she had plenty of time to train before he had to leave.

1. DIVINE RETRIBUTION