Superboy 1/2?!

The room was heavily shaded, lit mostly by the cigar that
the craggy and stout man that sat behind the office's desk.
In front of him, sitting nervously attentive, was a much
slighter man.

"We still haven't found any sign of that lost subject. It
was like he disappeared into thin air when he went to China.
He likely either died, or was just a null."

"Recall our agents then. I'd hoped to make sure there was no
one within Japan that could stand up against us, but even
so, he is but one boy. When Japan rises from the ashes of
our defeat and humiliation from World War II, nothing will
stop us." An evil smile broke his bleak features, sending
chills up his underlings back.

"Of course, sir." The littler man stood up and exited the
room.

The shadow shifted to look out over the dark city. "Damn
those vagrants and damn Dr. Kasugi for taking that boy in
when he was hurt." And damn him for having killed Dr. Kasugi
then.

-

Ranma lay on the roof of the Tendo's home, snoozing quietly.
It had been a slow couple of days and he didn't have
anything to do for a while. His mother had dragged his
father off and everyone else was just hanging out relaxing.

"Ranma! I lost P-chan again!" Akane called out from the
ground below.

The boy on top of the room sat up and looked around
sleepily. "He's behind the dojo," he called out drowsily. He
lay back down, preparing to snooze a bit more.

"What?" she called out. "This is probably some sort of wild
goose chase." She trotted around the corner of the dojo,
seeing her little pet sitting in front of a fire that was
heating up a kettle. "P-chan!" Akane swept up her pet piglet
and upended the kettle over the little fire.

A sudden thought occurred to her. She stomped back towards
Ranma. "What were you trying to do to P-chan?" she called
out angrily.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Why were you boiling water? Were you trying to hurt him?"

"If you hadn't noticed, I'm a guy right now and don't need
hot water."

"So you expect me to believe P-chan did that on his own?"

"In a word? Yes, you dummy!" Ranma laid back down. Ranma
couldn't believe how dense Akane could be sometimes. How
could she dismiss every single clue about Ryoga's curse?

"Grrr." Akane put her pet down and picked up a small
boulder. With all of her might, she tossed it at her
snoozing fianc,. "Don't you dare pick on P-chan again!"

Ranma rolled the boulder off of his face, shaking his head.
"I didn't do anything! You are so dorky, you dumb tomboy!"

"Just dry up and blow away, jerk!"

The pig-tailed boy rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. He must be
getting tougher. He'd hardly felt that. He picked it up and
hopped to the ground, sinking six inches into the ground,
almost stumbling. He set the stone back in place.

Ranma gave the ground an accusing glare. "Stupid dirt." He
reached down and crumbled it. It felt fairly dry, but it was
still pretty soft in his grasp.

"Ranma! I warned you that you needed to not hurt Akane's
feelings!" Ryoga shouted. Somehow in just the last few
moments he'd reversed his curse and managed to find some
clothing.

"What are you talking about, Piggy? I  ain't done nothing!"

"I can't believe you! Die, Ranma!" Ryoga shouted, lunging
forward to attack.

Ranma dodged the slower boy, seesawing between the punches
and kicks as if they were thrown in slow motion. "If you're
gonna fight, at least put some effort into it!" Ranma
catcalled.

"I'll show you! You don't deserve a girl as nice as Akane!"
Ryoga shouted again. He suddenly expelled all of his breath
as the slightly smaller boy tagged him lightly.

"Uh, yeah... right." Ranma couldn't put his heart into it
the jibe. It mirrored too closely to what he felt at times.
A fierce determination welled up in him. "But I ain't gonna
let some jerk like you put the moves on to her! At least I
don't sneak into her bed!"

"Ranma! Die!" The Lost Boy let himself be tripped to the
ground. With a tap, it exploded flinging him at his
surprised foe. "I've got you now!" And with that he imbedded
his fist in Ranma's stomach, fully expecting him to at least
leave himself open.

"Heh. I've been eating my Wheaties. You need to practice
more!" Ranma quipped, hardly feeling the blow and dodging in
between the others.

>From the shadowed recesses of the house, Akane watched the
fight absently. Why were those two always fighting? It just
didn't make sense. Why did Ranma have to be such a jerk to
Ryoga. Sighing, she put it aside until a different day.

Ryoga hated to admit it, but Ranma did seem to have improved
the most out of the two. He would just have to try harder!

Ranma, on the other hand, wasn't putting as much effort into
the fight as it appeared. It had only been a few weeks since
the failed wedding. The sun was beating down on this summer
morning and it was just too good to waste sitting around all
day inside.

-

Deep within his body, changes necessitated by growing up
were taking place. His body was only a few short weeks away
from his seventeenth birthday. Chemicals and RNA interacted,
lighting a spark deep within his brain. That spark jumped
from cell to cell, setting off a storm of changes in just a
few short moments.

Within each cell, useless seeming DNA and RNA started to
process in strange and unusual ways. Little changes were
swept up in the storm, energizing everything in its path.

-

Ranma felt something happening. It was like a warmth
suffusing his entire body. "Uh..." he moaned, sinking
unsteadily to one knee.

His opponent stopped, too chivalrous too beat him down in a
moment of weakness. Twinges within his heart told him that
he was over reacting. Ranma and Akane always acted this way.
It was almost as if they didn't know how to act differently.
Though he had seen the stolen glances, the looks of longing
that they wouldn't admit to each other.

 Ranma shook his head. "Whoa. I don't know what that was,
but it was kind of weird."

"Are you ready yet? I haven't finished beating you down!"

"Jeeze, don't get yer knickers in a bunch." Ranma was still
a bit woozy, even if he didn't show it externally.

"Your funeral!" he cried out, smashing a punishing, full
strength punch into Ranma's face.

Ranma fell over, bouncing once. He grabbed his face in
shock. He'd barely felt that! "What was that! I thought you
were finished playing?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I hardly felt that." Ranma bounced to his feet.

Ryoga blinked in astonishment. "You're lying!" he said
loudly, positive that Ranma must be trying to trick him or
something. He launched a jumping leap kick at Ranma's head.

"You had this coming," Ranma crowed, twisting just so to let
the blow slide along side of him. He lashed out with a
powerful punch, expecting to double over his opponent for
another attack.

He was shocked as Ryoga seemed to rocket away as if hit by a
train, smashing thru the wall of the compound. "Ryoga?"

The lost boy groaned and curled up into a ball. When could
Ranma hit so hard?

"Quit joking around. Ryoga, that isn't funny!" Ranma cried
out. He trotted over to him, seeing blood dribble out of
Ryoga's mouth. "Oh, damn. I'd better get you some help."
Ranma picked up the Lost Boy, not even noticing how light he
felt. With a bound, he ran off with his hurt friend. With a
single bounce, he was bounding over the roofs at record
speed.

"Ranma? Ryoga!" Akane called out, just seeing Ranma take off
with the injured boy. She knew something like this was going
to happen. She hurried off in the direction after them.

Ranma felt the air hammer against him as he rushed to the
nearest hospital. The ground and buildings blurred beneath
him, as if he was using his greatest speed. In what seemed
just a couple of seconds, he was at the hospital, explaining
what had happened.

The doctor prognosis was that Ryoga had internal bleeding,
brought about by their fighting. Ranma just couldn't believe
that Ryoga could be hurt so much from one punch from
himself. He sat alone in the emergency room, all by himself
until Akane showed up minutes later.

His fianc,e, for her part, couldn't believe how wounded
Ranma looked, sitting alone in the sterile room. His face
lit up when he saw her, the dark and gloomy cloud almost
entirely disappearing. But she could still see that
something was wrong.

-

"Yes?"

"Our satellite detected a momentary use of Class III powers
within Tokyo." It was the thinner, small man, holding an
officious looking folder.

The burly figure behind the desk didn't seem to take note
for a long moment. "And this concerns me how?"

"It is from an unknown entity. You wanted to be appraised
of..."

"I know what I said. I thought you would now enough to bring
only important issues to me. A Class III is relatively
unimportant." His eyes seemed to glow red for just a second.
"My plan is too far along to stop now."

"Should I send out some recruiters to that area?"

"Send Rei. Tell her that she is to be ready to depart for
the parliament at a moments notice if needed." He turned to
look at the row of windows that turned into a large screen,
showing a mob of people protesting somewhere. The people
seemed to be shouting and threatening the police. "I have
more pressing concerns."

"Yes, Sir."

-

Akane turned to look at Ranma as they walked home, hours
later. The doctors had said that Ryoga was going to be fine.
Considering how quickly he and Ranma healed, she expected to
visit sometime in the next week. She frowned as she saw how
withdrawn Ranma was. It seemed to out of character for him
for him to be so upset.

Although... Ranma had been pretty upset when he had thought
she had died. Could it mean that Ranma really did like
Ryoga? They always fought, but she did have to admit that if
Ryoga was really having a problem, Ranma was usually the
first one there to help. "Ranma? Are you alright?"

"Hmm? Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking. I really hurt Ryoga.
That shouldn't have happened. I need to go an a training
trip to retrain myself."

"It has been a while since we've been on a training trip,
hasn't it?"

"Huh? Oh... yeah. As long as you promise to make curry!"

"Are you insinuating something?"

"No!" Ranma said truthfully. He was desperately trying to
not to say something unkind about her cooking. It had
improved, that he had to admit. But that was the only thing
that had improved recently.

"Good!"

They were suddenly buffeted by a powerful gust of wind,
nearly knocking them over. Ranma was left clinging to the
side of the fence while Akane desperately trying to keep her
modesty, holding her dress down with both hands.

"What the heck was that?" they exclaimed to each other.

There answer arrived with another gust of wind. The young
woman floated casually above them, holding a small
computerized instrument of some sort. "Hmm. Not you," she
said, pointing the device at Akane. She turned to point it
towards Ranma. It pinged audibly. "Hey! Not too shabby if I
say so myself." She was garbed in an extremely tight one
piece body suit, colored lime and forest green, a stylized
kanji of power on her upper right breast.

"Um, who are you?" Akane asked.

"You may call me  Power Woman. And you, fellow, are the
person I was told to find." She smirked superiorly. This kid
was no threat.

Far away, a uniformed man frowned as he looked at the screen
which was showing her view to him. "Rei, do the pitch. If he
starts to talk about being a hero, take him out and bring
him back." Where had he seen that kid before, he thought to
himself. He put his hand over the headset's microphone.
"Hey, Hiro. Does this guy seem familiar?"

Hiro looked up from his identical computer setup, which had
a different view on it. "Shit! That's Ranma Saotome. The
boys upstairs have been looking for him for almost a year,
Kujo."

"Saotome? Wasn't he exposed to the K virus?"

"Yeah. Last I'd heard, he was probably some sort of null, no
effect was apparent."

"He's showed up as Class III. Pretty minor, really." Kujo
started to tap onto his screen. Why were these readings so
skewed and unstable?

"How did he hide for so long? The Eye Sat can usually spot
superhuman power use across the entire eastern hemisphere!"

"I don't know and don't really care. What is up with these
readings?"

>From behind him, another uniformed figure stepped up to take
a look. The woman, pretty despite wearing green fatigues,
frowned as she read the same information.

"I'm here to make you a job offer that you can't refuse. We
could use your help. It pays extremely well!" Power Woman
smiled disarmingly. "I'd like you to come along, so that I
can explain it in more detail."

Ranma shrugged. "Sorry, not interested."

Power Woman blinked in surprise. "Not even slightly?"

"Nah. I need to..."

Whatever he said was suddenly interrupted by his father
landing on his head. This had the effect of smashing Ranma
into the ground, face first. "Fool! I raised you to be
better than that!" Genma turned, grinding Ranma's face into
the ground. "Ignore my foolish son. Of course he accepts."

The green clad super-powered individual looked at him in
amazement. "Uh, really?"

"Old man, you've pissed me off! Get off of me!" Ranma
shouted, flinging his father high into the air. He shook off
the dust on his face.

"Aren't you worried about hurting him by throwing him like
that?" Power Woman asked, staring off into the air after
Genma.

Akane snorted derisively. "Are you kidding? Happosai has
thrown him further."

"Who is... Happosai?" she asked. Was this some sort of
superhuman that she wasn't aware of?

Ranma started to appear nervous while he looked around. "Now
you've gone and done it! You shouldn't have mentioned
him..."

"Hotcha! Woo hoo baby! Love the look!" a voice suddenly
called out. The small, wizened figure attached itself to
Power Woman's breasts, snuggling fiercely. "Oh, I'm in
heaven."

"Get off!" she shouted, grabbing the letch by his scruff. A
furious scowl adorned her fair features. She flung him off
in the same general direction as the other man. "I should
have killed him for that!"

Her attention was brought back to the pair on the ground in
front of her when Akane punched Ranma into the ground. "Quit
looking, you pervert!" Akane then turned back to her. "Um,
you might want to close your top." She shook her smarting
hand. Ouch.

The woman blinked and then checked herself out. Now that it
had been brought to her attention, her skin tight outfit had
been unzipped. Blushing, she zipped it back up. "That was
Happosai, I take it." Where had her sports bra gone?

Akane nodded as she let Ranma up.

Ranma, for his part was starting to wonder what was going
on. He kept getting knocked around, but he really wasn't
feeling the blows anymore.

Power Woman smiled winsomely. "So what do you say, Ranma? It
can't hurt to hear us out, can it?"

"Look, I've got more important things right now. Maybe next
week, okay?" Ranma was already thinking about what he needed
for his training trip.

She looked at him for one long second. "Sorry to hear that.
I thought you were kind of cute. Now I'm going to have to
smash in that pretty face." She suddenly zoomed in, throwing
a high speed punch at Ranma's head, missing horribly.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing?" Ranma asked, still
dodging her punches.

"I was told not to take no for an answer. Sorry. I kind of
liked you. It's nothing personal." Damn, he was one slippery
little bastard. He's got a lot more martial arts training
than she'd expected. Her eyes started to glow, beams of
pulsing blue-white light that slammed into Ranma like a
freight train.

"Oh..." Ranma mumbled, barely conscious.

"Hey! You leave him alone!" his fianc,e shouted, spinning a
kick at her unprotected head. It smacked into it with little
effect except to hurt her leg.

Power Woman turned towards Akane, a smirk on her face. "You
aren't any sort of threat, girl. Go home, before I hurt
you."

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Ranma shouted, pulling himself
out of the wreckage of the stone wall that he'd collided
with earlier. His earlier grogginess was suddenly gone in a
surge of adrenaline. His Chinese shirt was totally shredded,
leaving him in his sleeveless under shirt.

"Still up, kid? Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't have
to worry about anything." Her eyes pulsed again, sending out
another wide concussive blast at him. She stopped blasting
when she realized that he wasn't there.

"Hiya!" Ranma cried out, slamming into her while throwing a
whirling series of kicks and punches. His first few seemed
to have no effect, but the last one sent her spinning, blood
dripping from her split lip.

She stood back up, shaking her head. Who was this kid?
"Control, I might need some help here."

Kujo, on the far side of the link, replied to her, "We hear
you. If you can not subdue the target, you are to break
off." He turned to look at the other controller. "Hiro,
we've got a situation."

"What now?" Hiro replied.

Ranma stood at ease, his eyes alert and alive. Power Woman
stomped her foot, transferring shockwaves across the ground
and sending the boy sprawling. In a blink, she flew at him,
swinging an even stronger punch at his face. At the last
moment, he twisted and spun in the air, the blow missing by
millimeters. Ranma's foot lashed out in a kick, shooting the
older fighter high into the air.

Holding her stomach, she stopped her flight. "Control, I
thought you said he was a Class III? He certainly kicks like
a Class II. With his training, I don't know how I'll be able
to subdue him before someone shows up."

She listened for a second. "I'll be back, Ranma Saotome."
She flew off, becoming a green blur that disappeared in a
thundering boom.

"And I'll be ready for you!" Ranma yelled out bravely.

"Ranma, what is going on?" Akane asked as she finally
regained her feet. She had scrapes and cuts on her knees and
hands.

"I really don't know. Say, how did she know who I was?"

A cute little pouty frown showed on her mouth. "I don't
know."

-

Rei wiped the blood from her chin. "What the heck happened
there? He was supposed to be some Class III punk, not a
Class II." She shook her shoulder length black hair into
place.

"I don't know. The sensors are showing him as a Class II
now. It doesn't make much sense. I'll have to inform the
commander..."

She snatched him up as easily as if he were a baby. "Don't
you dare. I don't want to look the fool. We'll plan a
different strategy and take him out tomorrow."

"I don't know..." Kujo started to say,

"Obviously. That's my job, now."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied stiffly. This wasn't good, but he
wouldn't be the one getting in trouble.

-

Ranma stretched at the breakfast table. "Thanks for the
breakfast, Kasumi."

"That's no problem, Ranma." Kasumi smiled brightly from her
seat at the table.

"What happened to you last night, Saotome?" Soun asked,
looking over his battered old friend.

"The boy got a lucky shot in. I'll be in tip top shape in a
day or two," Genma pontificated.

"Yeah, well, I'm not waiting for you, old man. I've got some
serious retraining to do and don't have time to wait on your
flabby behind to get better."

"Flabby!?" Outraged, Genma reached over and grabbed Ranma,
smoothly tossing Ranma across the yard into the koi pond.

Ranma sputtered as she surfaced. "Now why did you go and do
that for?"

"Ranma, didn't you want to catch that train?" Akane spoke up
suddenly, clad in her white gi with her own backpack on.

"Is it time already?" she asked, looking over at the clock.
"Yup! Time to go! I'll get you back for that later, old
man!"

The two disappeared thru the door in an eye blink.

"It's so good to see them spending time with each other!"
Nodoka said happily, walking in from the kitchen with more
bowls of food.

"She's right, you know!" Soun said. "Hmm. Hadn't somebody
better go and watch over them?"

"Hmm. You are correct, Tendo."

"Actually, I think it is quite romantic of the two being off
on their lonesome. It gives Ranma such an opportunity to
prove his manliness to Akane!" Nodoka sighed, her heart a
flutter at the thought.

Nabiki, Kasumi, Soun and Genma all sweat dropped in sudden
nervousness. How come they had a bad feeling about that?

A thin, balding man in a suit stepped to the side as two
girls ran down the road, heavy backs and martial arts gi's
proclaiming their dedication. "Kids these days." He turned
the street to walk over to a parked car. He tapped on the
window, which promptly rolled down. "So, any sign of the
boy?"

"Not yet. I'm sure he'll show."

-

Ranma looked up at Akane, who was sleeping while leaning
against the smaller girl. The run to the train station had
worn her out, so she'd napped out for the hour or so it
would take to leave the city. The announcement of their stop
roused Ranma from her reverie.

"Come on, sleepy head. This is our stop." She took a moment
to shake the other girl and then grabbed both back packs,
hefting them lightly.

Akane followed, rubbing her eyes. They left the train
station in the little town and headed off into the
mountains.

She found it hard, struggling to keep up, the red headed
figure up ahead of her seemingly infatigable. By mid
morning, they had finally reached Terror Peak again. This
was one of Ranma's more favored training area, with rugged
mountains and large forests. Yet it was also close enough to
civilization so that it would take too long to get back if
needed.

Akane groaned and flopped on the ground. "Finally. I don't
remember it being so rough to get here."

"You're getting soft is all. You need to practice more!"
Ranma said cheerfully. She put a thoughtful expression on.
"Hmm. I need to figure out some way to regain control."

"Well, why don't you first find out how hard you can punch
and hit things?"

"That's... not a bad idea!" Putting words into action, she
walked up to a large boulder. "Hiya!" she cried out,
smashing the boulder with all of her strength.

The results, to say the least, were spectacular. Ranma stood
with her fist outstretched at the center of a five foot
crater, a swath of destruction all around her except for
where her own body had shielded Akane behind her in a large
'V'. "Whoa. That was way more powerful than I expected."

"Ranma! Are you alright?" Akane cried out from where she
sat. She looked around in amazement.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Can't say the same for my clothes." She
pulled at the remnants of her shirt and pants. About the
only things that were left were her muscle shirt, the ragged
remains of her boxers and her gi's belt.

"Not even a scratch," Akane exclaimed in amazement. "How's
that possible?"

"I don't know. That's really... odd. Even by my standards."
Ranma stood there for a moment, scratching her head in
bewilderment.

"So you're amazingly tough and incredibly strong. Can you
think of anything else to test?"

"Uh... yeah! Speed!" she proudly exclaimed.

"Why don't you see how fast you can run. I can barely see
you throwing punches most of the time anyways!"

"Righty-o!" With that, she took off going up the mountain.
As before, the ground started to blur beneath her feet.
Concentrating harder, things began to be come clear, if
still insanely fast. It was exhilarating.

Akane watched Ranma's trail up the mountain, a dust plume
easily visible. "...three, four! Wow! I didn't know anybody
but the Flash that could run that fast!" She quit counting
when she lost sight, the runner zipping around a trail at
the top.

Ranma wished she hadn't taken that curve at quite that
speed, as she was now in freefall, headed towards the ground
hundreds of feet below! "Oh, crud! I'm gonna splat!" she
cried out, waving her arms frantically. Miraculously, she
started to slow and then stop. Ranma blink-blinked at the
ground a mere ten feet below her. "I'm flying?" she
inquired, quite perplexed.

With a slight thought, she nudged herself  forward. In just
a few moments, she was swooping and zooming around,
gleefully smiling. Ranma had always dreamed of flying,
instilled from the tenants of the Saotome School of Anything
Goes Martial Arts.

She didn't even notice when she shattered the sound barrier.
It was such an amazing thing to actually fly!

Left behind, Akane waited a few minutes and then decided
that if Ranma wasn't coming back soon, she'd prepare lunch.
Starting a fire, she started working on the one credible
dish that she could make, curried fish and rice.

She finally finished it, twenty painstaking minutes later,
when a breeze almost overturned her dishes. "No!"

"No what?" Ranma asked from behind her.

"Nothing, really. Back finally? Where did you go?" she
asked, handing her fianc, a bowl of food.

"Uh, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me!"

"Hokkaido."

"Really? But you aren't wet!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"I, uh, didn't swim." She felt quite foolish. How do you
tell someone you seem to have sprouted super powers?

"Wow! You can run across water like the Flash?"

"No, you dummy! I flew!"

"You flew?"

"That's what I said, didn't I?" Ranma blew a lock of hair
out of her eyes.

"There isn't a martial arts for that, is there?"

"Not that I've heard of."

They both chewed for a second. "You weren't bit by a
radioactive bird were you?"

"Huh? No!"

"Your family isn't secretly mutants are they?" Akane asked
seriously.

"Not that anyone has told me. Pop is kind of ugly though."

"I don't think that proves anything. You weren't secretly
adopted and you're actually an alien from another world are
you?"

"What? Hell no!"

"So what's left?"

"Government conspiracy? Magic?" Something tried to impinge
itself Ranma, some memory.

"You didn't drink another potion from Shampoo did you?"

The thought was disrupted. "What? Do you think I'm insane?"

Akane glared back at the smaller girl. "Do you really want
me to answer that?"

"Hey!"

Akane smiled sunnily. She loved it when she zinged Ranma.
"So you can't remember anything that you've done recently
that could have caused this?"

"Nope. I was just laying out before Ryoga showed up wanting
to kick my butt."

"Well, you helped me find P-chan and tried to scald him with
the hot water." Akane folded her arms, chin thrown out
aggressively. She hadn't quite forgiven him for that.

"I did not! You asked where he was, I told you!"

"You had to know where he was! You told me without even
searching!"

"He was right behind the dojo, right where I... saw... him."
Ranma's voice drifted off.

Akane blinked. "You saw him?"

"Yeah. Right thru the dojo, like it wasn't even there." How
could she have spaced that?

She snorted in response. "Yeah, right. Next you'll be
telling me you really do have x-ray vision, just like
Superman."

"Well, what else could it be?"

Akane rolled her eyes. "Why don't you prove it? Then maybe
I'll believe that you didn't try to hurt my P-chan!"

Ranma furrowed her brow in thought. "Ha! I know, I'll..."
She blinked for a long moment. "You're still wearing those
pink pokadotted panties?"

"You pervert! How dare you use your x-ray vision to peep on
me!" Akane cried out, jumping to her feet. She reached into
her backpack and retrieved her trusty mallet. She'd thought
she might need it! "Ranma, you dummy!"

Ranma, for her part, winced and braced herself for the hit,
expecting to be in quite a bit of pain. She felt the hit,
but no pain. She cracked open one eye to see Akane drop her
implement of retribution.

"Owie! That hurts!" she cried out. The mallet lay on the
ground, the head of it quite dented.

"Oops. Forgot about that. Are you all right?" Ranma asked,
standing up to gently take her hands and turn them over.

Akane for her part let Ranma act. A blush started to creep
up on her. This was so... intimate for them. The only thing
that marred it was her stinging hands. "It's... nothing. I'm
sure it'll fade."

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "Good! I couldn't have
taken you getting hurt... again or anything."

Akane glared for a moment, the reminder of Jusendo and the
wedding stabbing at her heart. "Well, don't you dare even
think about peeping on me again!" A thought occurred to her
suddenly. "Say, Ranma, do you think you have heat vision
like Superman, too?"

"How would I know?"

"Well, duh, you have to try, lame brain."

Ranma shot her a nasty glare and then moved the glare to a
rock. Nothing happened for a long moment and then a beam of
light shot out and pushed the rock away. "Wow!"

"That wasn't right! It's supposed to melt, not bounce!"

"Hey! This isn't easy, you know!" She tried again, imagining
it melting, not being hit. Twice more her vision blasted it
with little flickering beams. Finally, her vision turned red
and warmed up a spot on the rock, causing it to glow. "Ha!"

"So... does this mean you're Superman's son?"

"I suppose it could be. Doesn't seem quite right." She
shrugged and took a moment to grab the kettle out of the
fire and tip it over her head. Her figure blurred, leaving
him behind.

"You don't think your mom would do that?"

"Nah, I don't think Superman would do that! It just doesn't
seem like something he would ever do."

"Hmm. Good point."

-

The rioters had finally broken through the police barricade
around the parliament building. Cries for freedom from
western slavery were chanted on everyone's lips. The wind
was blowing on a new political direction, new leadership.

A sudden wind blew over them, almost sending people
tumbling. In front of the main doors, a group of distinctive
and highly recognizable figures appeared.

Martian Manhunter.

Plastic Man.

Wonder Woman.

Aquaman.

Green Lantern.

The Flash.

And Superman.

Merely being in their presence slowed the mob to a halt.
Superman took a step forward. "Please, this riot is not
solving anything with its violence." His earnestness touched
the heart of many.

A tall, slightly stocky figure suddenly stepped up. He was
wearing ornate robes of archaic Japanese style. "So the
lackeys of the Americans show up finally! Take you foreign
filth out of our proud country!"

"We do not answer to..."

"They call themselves the Justice League of America! Where
is the Justice League of Asia? Why must we always bow to
western imperialism?" he shouted loudly. "What gives them
the right to interfere with our internal problems when they
ignore true despots across the world?"

"What?" Superman was truly flabbergasted. Behind him, the
rest of the Justice League looked on in surprise.

"I'll tell you why! It's because they are the Justice...
League... of America! Looking down upon us from on high!
Their American President tells them what to do! They want a
compliant, corrupt Japan, not a pure, strong Japan!"

Superman looked on, a stern expression on his visage.

"JLA go home! JLA go home!" the crowd started to chant.

>From a nearby shadow, eyes narrowed in thought. His thinking
was suddenly disrupted when his darkness was dispelled.

"Don't think that we forgot you, Batman," a woman's voice
called out from overhead, where she'd bent a spotlight to
point at him. Power Woman radiated strength, power and a
cocky grin.

"Who are you?" the dark knight asked.

"Who we are doesn't concern you, but you may call us the
Japanese Elite! We bring Japan back to its true glory,
wrestling it from the grasp of greedy Americans. I've sworn
my undying loyalty to that promise!" she cried out, her
voice wholly into what she spoke.

"So what will you do now, Justice League? Why don't you
listen to the voice of the people? Or are you too high and
mighty to follow what you preach?" the spokesman for the mob
called out. Behind him the mob had kept up the chant.

Superman glared at the man for a second. "We'll be watching
you for anything unusual. We won't interfere with the
politics here, but we won't stand for such basic criminal
acts such as murder or robbery."

"That is all we ask. We are not barbarians, after all. We
just wish to change our corrupt government."

With that, the JLA took to the air, Green Lantern assisting
those who couldn't fly by themselves. Plastic Man was the
first to speak up, his head turning into a question mark.
"So, Supes, what are we going to do?"

"We are going to watch. That's all we can do."

Batman had an intense frown on his face. "I don't like this.
Something doesn't make sense."

Wonder Woman grinned mirthlessly. "At least the Prime
Minister and his cabinet were already evacuated."

Superman nodded, gazing across the city. "The JSDF is on its
way. We'll just have to see what happens."

-

Ranma leaned up against a log, idly flicking pebbles across
the campsite. He'd found this the easiest way to help regain
some of his control. Akane was running thru her own
exercises, fists pounding on a large tree.

"Heh, heh. It took me long enough to find you, fem-boy.
You'd think you were running away," a familiar sarcastic
figure said, stepping out from the forest. His green, scaled
shirt and loose pantaloons were unmistakable. As was his
attitude. He held one hand behind him, hidden away.

Ranma rolled his eyes up, as if asking, 'why me?' "What do
you want, Pantyhose?"

Taro's mouth twisted into a snarl. How could that one
comment from this sex-changing freak anger him so? "I'm here
to beat you up."

"Again? Can't you get another tune?" Ranma bounced to his
feet, worries forgotten in the face a known adversary.

"Nobody here to save you this time. And this time, I'll get
my name changed for sure!"

Ranma suddenly remembered his boosted strength. "Uh... Like
that has ever worked. Pantyhose, I don't really want to
fight you."

"I don't care what you want. Happosai wrote me a contract. I
deliver you to him trussed up and dressed up... as a girl...
and he'll change my name to whatever I want."

"And you're actually going along with this? I thought you
were a moron before, but this takes the cake."

Taro produced a bucket of water, slopping some of it onto
himself. "Heh. Heh."

"Pantyhose, this is a big mistake. I don't want to hurt
you."

"Ranma!" Akane finally cried out from the sidelines of the
confrontation.

 Taro stepped forward one huge step, his monstrous hooves
crushing twigs beneath him. His wing and tentacle writhed in
anticipation. The Jusenkyo monster lashed with a punch, his
whole body flowing with the attack.

Ranma let himself be slammed backwards, ripping right
through some bushes and snapping tree limbs. He had felt
that a bit more than Akane's, but not greatly more. "Hey!
Why aren't you listening to me?"

"Heh. Heh." Without pausing, the minotaur-hybred creature
snatched Ranma up with his four octopus tentacles. Without
pause, he started to squeeze while his too small crane wings
lifted him into the air.

Ranma felt a momentary flash of panic. He didn't have to
worry about being dropped. So far, this was a bit like
wrestling with his dad.

Down below, Happosai chortled loudly. "Bwahaha! I'll get my
revenge for a pittance! And I'll finally get to see Ranma in
this teddy that I bought!" As if by magic, he procured a
very sheer little black negligee.

"Ranma would rather die than wear that!" Akane exclaimed,
blushing at the proffered underwear.

"I'll crush his ego so he can finally learn what it means to
be my student!"

Far up in the sky, Ranma was starting to get bored. "Are you
done yet, Pantyhose?" He showed no signs of discomfort to
his foe. To be quite truthful, he seemed to be getting
stronger by the hour. It worried him a bit. How was he
supposed to be a martial artist if he could be hurt and any
punch would lay his foe down?

"Heh. Heh?" Taro narrowed his eyes in thought. His off hand
splashed Ranma with the remainder of the water from the
pail, releasing it to fall to the ground far below.

"Hey! Why'd you do that, you jerk?"

Ranma got her answer a moment later, as both gigantic hands
clapped together on her head, even as the tentacles squeezed
tighter. In response, Ranma shook her head to shake off the
momentary daze. Even as she did, she was flung at the ground
hundreds of feet below.

"Whoa! Aaah! Why am I screaming?" The girl stopped in an
instant, the large creature zooming past her.

Taro turned to look over her shoulder, banking to head back
towards the incongruously floating martial artists. He
poured on the speed, attempting to slam into the much
smaller target. As easily a hummingbird, Ranma flew
backwards, right in front of the fist. The older boy started
to get an odd feeling of worry. Where had this ability come
from?

Ranma glanced down a second to check on Akane. The red-head
suddenly stopped, the Jusenkyo Terror bouncing off of her
like a bug slamming into a windshield. "Akane!" she cried,
suddenly rocketing towards the ground.

"Stay back!" Akane commanded bravely, trying to hide her
terror at the diminutive master of the Anything Goes School.
He had backed her up against a tree.

"Why, Akane, I just want to get to know you better! Please,
let an old man comfort himself in his last dying days!"
Happosai was radiating lust even as he rubbed his hands
together, his stubby legs slowly advancing him towards his
victim. He suddenly looked into the air, surprised to see a
rapidly approaching martial artist heading towards him.

Ranma slammed into the ground with the force of a grenade.
"Stay away from her, you creep!" Happosai had ducked at the
last moment and the force of the blast had been directed
away from Akane.

"Ranma, how dare you interrupt me! I've taken enough abuse
from you!" Happosai cried out with a righteously indignant
voice.

"I'll dare more if you lay a finger on Akane!" Ranma had
always held a bit of fear for the old man. Not enough to
stop her, by any means. But Happosai had hit her with the
weakness moxibustion, stealing all of her strength. Even
with the new powers, Happosai might still do something like
that.

A large firecracker appeared in his hand, the fuse already
lit. "I won't let you stop me this time."

Ranma ignored the bomb as it was thrown at her, letting it
detonate.

BOOM!

"Wa ha ha! I got 'em! Now there's nobody to stop me!"

Faster than his eyes could follow, a hand emerged from the
blast, grabbing him about the neck. "Wrong, I've got you!"

That wasn't supposed to happen. He brandished he iron pipe
suddenly, spinning it like a baton. With stunning force, he
brought it down on the weak wrists that were holding him.

"That actually stung, you know," Ranma said
conversationally.

"Ranma, you've become a true paragon of the Art now. You've
surpassed my expectations of you," Happi said cheerfully,
his eyes becoming large and innocent.

She looked at the ancient martial artist in suspicion.
"You're just trying to distract me, aren't you?"

Happosai nodded. "Yup."

"Ranma! Behind you!" Akane called out. Ranma was doing
uncommonly well.

Ranma turned to see Taro rocketing towards her, prepared to
skewer her on sharpened horns. With her head turned,
Happosai attempted to break free. He had no desire to get
caught up in the impact! His eyes nearly bugged out of his
head as Ranma held up her other hand, palm first even as her
iron grip on him didn't weaken in the slightest.

With all of the power of a runaway truck, Taro hit slammed
into the immovable object known as Ranma's hand. Arms, legs,
tentacles and wings snapped past Ranma, trying to continue
on the momentous passage, only stopping because Taro's head
stayed attached to his body, both stopped by the fragile
seeming red haired girl in the ruined rags of a gi. Taro
slumped to the ground in a resounding thud.

"I have got to  admit, that's rather impressive. He's
totally out of it," Happosai said in that infuriatingly calm
tone that teachers use on their students.

"That's... right." Ranma's blue eyes shifted back to
Happosai, who suddenly started sweating nervously. "I don't
want you coming back this time, Happosai."

"What are you going to do, kill me?"

"Nah." She released her captive to fall to the ground. Even
as Happosai prepared to touch down, her forward foot
pivoting, the hind leg building up a massive side kick. "I'm
just gonna kick you all the way to China!"

"Wha...?" Happi was silenced by Ranma's kick breaking the
sound barrier. He barely felt anything as he was rocketed
away, high into the stratosphere.

"Heh. I shouldn't have to deal with him for a while." Ranma
brushed the dust off of her hands.

Akane trotted up, looking at the bruised pile of odd
creature parts. "What are you going to do with him?"

"He's probably already awake. His cursed form is incredibly
resilient."

As if in answer to that statement, Taro cracked an eye open
to peek at the two girls. He blinked in surprise when Ranma
blurred away faster than he could follow and reappeared with
a steaming bucket of water.

"Yow! That's hot!" Taro glared at Ranma, even as she poured
the rest of the water over her head. "Okay, how did you pull
this stunt off?"

"Don't know. I just got real powerful, yesterday. I could
have really hurt you, you know."

"I kind of figured. Don't worry, I'll find some way to
negate your new strength and defeat you like normal."

"How come you're always unconscious first then?" Ranma
quipped.

"Shut up!" Taro shouted, even as he stormed off.

-

Akane watched as the angry young man walked off. She waited
to turn to talk until he was far out of sight. "Do you think
you've trained enough?"

"Yeah, well, I didn't really hurt Taro much, did I?" Ranma
sighed even as he plunked down on the ground next to the
remains of the fire.

Akane asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"It isn't right. It wasn't me that defeated those two, it
was these stupid powers!" Ranma snapped out. "How can I be a
martial artist if no one is a challenge anymore?"

"I don't know. I'm sure you'll figure something out! You
always do!" Akane giggled suddenly. "At least you don't have
to be worried about being bullied by anyone."

>From farther away than the two teenagers could believe, a
pair of blue eyes watched them intently. There were definite
signs of some sort of genetic alteration, but from who and
for what purposes, he could not determine. Superman had been
worried for a second, afraid that this young boy had become
a murderer with an incredible mental ease that worried him.

But both of his attackers had already mostly recovered, the
old man in mid air, already planning some sort of revenge,
hardly concerned about such petty matters as his ballistic
trajectory took him into China.

"I am going to make contact with this new metahuman now,
J'onn."

'I hear you. The rest of the JLA will continue our own
investigations.' An incredibly ordinary looking Japanese boy
walked down the road just a few blocks away from the rioting
going on. He was in the process of following the charismatic
leader of the rioting.

Ranma turned when he felt a powerful presence approaching at
high speeds. It didn't feel threatening, but it was always
safe to be sure. Ranma blinked in surprise, Akane following
suit as they both took in the appearance of the world's
premiere superhero.

"Excuse me, but I think you might be able to help me."
Superman looked over them at close quarters. Just teenagers,
at least outwards appearing.

"Superman? Ah, sure! No problem!" Ranma babbled out. Wow, he
was much more imposing in real life than on TV.

"Thank you. I appreciate your cooperation. If you'll follow
me? It should only take a few hours at the most."

"Right. Akane?" he asked his fianc,e with just his tone.

"Unlike you, I've still got some training to do. Nobody's
interested in me, so why don't you go on ahead?"

"Follow me, kid!" With that, Superman flew off into the air.
He turned to see the younger man following his lead easily.
"What is your name?"

"I'm Ranma Saotome! Pleased to meet you! This is really
neat! I've always dreamed of flying!"

Talking became impossible as they flew off faster than the
speed of sound, still accelerating. Minutes later, they were
landing in a large metropolitan area. The large complex
spoke of the military and scientist, Ranma thought to
himself. Now, why did it feel so familiar?

Superman led him into a large secured room, a strange tube
that glowed with green light dominating the entire area.

A technician walked up and said something in English that
the boy couldn't follow. Superman gestured towards the tube.
"The teleporter is set, please step on through."

Ranma shrugged and stepped through. He blinked in surprise
at the ultramodern room. The teleporter flashed behind him
again. Superman stepped thru lightly.

"Welcome to the Watchtower. Please, follow me." Superman
turned and walked off.

"You said you needed my help with something?" Ranma asked.

"Yes. We ran into a 'Power Woman' that had signs of genetic
alteration, similar to yours. We were curious were you had
gotten them."

"I, uh, really don't know. I just started getting these
powers the other day. I don't remember doing anything
different." The young man paused to look at the Earth in the
sky.

"Nothing at all?"

"Nope. I was just laying out, getting some sun and I saw
through the dojo. Then I got into a fight and in the middle
of  it, I suddenly tingled and almost collapsed. That's when
I started to find out how tough and strong I'd gotten."
Ranma shuddered a second. "I hurt Ryoga pretty bad. Luckily,
he's tough and he's going to get better."

Superman looked at him, checking his heartbeat with his
hearing. He wasn't lying. "That's very... odd, to say the
least. That was almost identical to how I found out about my
powers."

"Huh? I thought you always had super powers?"

"No. But I don't dispel that common misconception either. I
had a normal childhood. I didn't develop powers until I was
your age, maybe just a bit older."

"Really? But I'd heard you were an alien?"

"That's true."

"So what about me? I'm human, aren't I?"

"As far as I can tell. Your genetics is human, but altered."
Superman opened the door in front of him, leading them into
a laboratory.

Ranma looked around. "Altered?" That made him think. Where
had he heard that before.

Superman shrugged. He motioned Ranma to lay down on the
table, which Ranma did automatically.

"That's it! I remember something now! I got hurt a year or
two ago, during the training trip. Pop took me to some
military base in Hokkaido. There was some weird nutso there
talking about fixing me up better than before."

"Hokkaido? Anything else?"

"Nah. The only other thing I remember is that Pop had to
spring me and it wasn't long before we had to get out of the
country."

Superman stared at the screens for a moment. Something about
that pattern tugged at his memory. That couldn't be, could
it? He'd have to check it personally, later. "Do you mind if
we check out your powers a bit more thoroughly?"

"No problem! How do we do that?"

"We'll spar and the Watchtower sensors will do the rest."

"Aren't you afraid of breaking things?"

"Outside?"

-

This had to be insane, Ranma thought to himself. He just
couldn't be standing on the Moon's surface, holding his
breath! But Superman had said they were going to fight, and
Ranma Saotome never backed down from a fight.

Superman stood over three hundred feet, holding up his hand.
With a chopping motion, he signaled the start of the fight.
He'd try to push the boy as hard as possible without hurting
him. Superman snapped toward him with a burst of super
speed, launching a light punch at his jaw.

For his efforts, he nearly got his head handed to him as
Ranma dodged the blow effortlessly. His movements smooth,
deadly and fast! Superman hadn't had the chance to slow down
from his burst of super speed, a speed this boy was matching
easily.

Time to up the ante, he thought to himself. He blasted Ranma
with a burst of heat vision, sending him staggering. Not
letting up, Superman through a double-handed blow that
slammed into the younger man, sending him skidding along the
ground and thru a few boulders.

Ranma barely recovered in time to block the next few
attacks. He tried to blast Superman with his own heat
vision, but missed horribly, the older fighter seeming to
know where it was going to strike. His own head was suddenly
engulfed in a block of ice as Superman puffed a breath of
super cold air at him.

Ranma rolled with the next punch that struck his head,
letting it shatter the ice and spinning to the side.
Superman had the advantage, knowing how to use his powers in
this sort of fight. He'd have to do something different to
win! With a burst of even faster speed, he dodged backwards
while cupping his hands.

Superman blinked as Ranma started to glow a bright blue, an
incandescent light forming in his hands. What sort of super
power was this? He barely dodged to the side as the young
man threw a beam of force at him. Even at the edges of it,
it still slammed him hard.

Ranma gaped at the divot he'd made in the mountainside. That
cost him, as Superman's fist rattled him hard, ending the
fight.

"Dang," Ranma muttered moments later in the airlock.

"Actually, you did very well. I'm quite impressed. You'll be
quite the fighter once you get the hang of your powers. That
blast you did with your hands nearly caught me by surprise."

"Huh? Oh, that. Just a ki blast. I've been able to do that
for a while. Tho' it wasn't that powerful before I got these
powers."

"You could do that before? So that was a martial arts move?"
Superman thought aloud.

"Yep."

"Superman. The Japanese Elite want to speak to Ranma," a
guttural said from the shadows.

"What?"

Batman stepped out, his mere presence setting Ranma on edge.
There was something dark and scary about that man. "Follow
me."

"Ah, Superman. Ranma Saotome. We have been looking for you
for a long time now. It is good to see you blossom into a
true warrior of this day and age." The face looking down
from the screen was the same as from the riots yesterday. He
was still wearing the archaic robes.

"Who are you?" Superman demanded. Behind him, Batman stuck
to the shadows, watching intently.

"I am the Spirit of Japan, Superman. I am the leader of the
Japanese Elite. And we are the precursor to the new future
of Japan. No longer must we cater to corrupt politicians and
greedy businessmen. We shall become the warriors that the
world fears."

"What do you want with this boy?"

"I wish to see if Ranma is a true Japanese." With a rough
movement, the Spirit of Japan pulled a young woman into the
camera's view. "Join us Ranma, as we lead Japan into a new
future of greatness."

"Ranma!" Akane cried out just before the camera shut off.

"Akane!" he cried out it in response. His expression turned
grim as he spun about.

"It's a trap," Batman said suddenly.

"It don't matter. I've gotta go."

"I can't let you leave yet!" the Dark Knight replied coldly.
"I've already shut off the teleporter."

Ranma's expression matched his intensity. "Get outta my
way."

"I didn't want to do this-ooof!" Whatever he was going to
say was interrupted by a powerful blow to his chest, robbing
him of breath and stunning him.

Ranma disappeared in a blur, going so fast that he left
afterimages of himself behind. On his way out the building,
he tore through the airlock like it didn't exist.

"Great Scott!" Superman cried out, even as the Watchtower
sealed up behind him.

"Damn. He's fast. I didn't even have time to try the Green
Kryptonite." Batman stared off into space through the
monitors.

"What?" Superman cried out in surprise.

"Jon reported to me that the laboratory has records
concerning modifying the human genome to mimic Kryptonian
powers.

"So what does that really mean?"

"We could be facing a group of Supermen."

-

Ranma screamed through the void at an unchecked pace. He hit
the outer atmosphere hard, the air screaming like the sun on
fire to get out of his way. His eyes narrowed, looking past
the blazing ball of superheated gasses around him.

The new shooting star stopped over Tokyo, awing those who
viewed it. "Where are you?" Ranma screamed out. In front of
him rose up a red star.

"Ranma Saotome! If you wish to see your fianc,e, come with
me!" said the red garbed man. With that abrupt
pronouncement, he turned and rocketed towards the parliament
building. The two of them lightly landed and entered.

"Ah. Ranma Saotome. Heir to the Anything Goes School of
Martial Arts. It is good to meet you. I am Kuja, the Spirit
of Japan as I call myself."

"Uh, okay."

"Will you join us in liberating Japan from under the heel of
foreign oppression?"

"I guess so." Ranma was looking around the building, sighing
in relief when he spotted Akane fuming in a locked room.

"Good. You, go bring the girl here." Kuja stood up, walking
outside onto a balcony. "Japan has become weak in this day
and age, Ranma. We need all of our warriors to wrest her
back on the path of righteousness and power."

"Yeah, I heard Mr. Tendo bemoaning the state of things one
day. Didn't really seem too important to me, but I'm just a
kid.

"You are far more than that now, my young friend." Kuja
waved to the crowd behind him of costumed Japanese people.
"Each of these men and women share in my dream and are
willing to die for it. Are you?"

"Well, I care about Japan, but I'm not too sure about
anything else. Heck, I just got these stupid powers."

"Ranma! You're here!" Akane cried out.

"Of course, dummy!"

"Will you join us, Ranma Saotome?"

A panicked look crossed his face. There was no way that he
could protect Akane right now. "Uh, sure."

"Good! Let the world tremble!"

"Spirit! China has just declared war on us!" Power Woman
called out as she stepped into the room. "They just told the
UN Assembly that they fear what we'll become under your
leadership."

Kuja turned to look to the far west. "Already they send
their planes against us." His face tightened, tense and
angry all at the same time. "They dare? They dare?! They
dare send their nuclear bombs against us?" He spun around to
tell his subordinates to deal with the attackers when a
thundering boom shook the whole room. He turned around just
in time to see shards of glass and steel from the windows
arc into the sky. "Who?"

"That was Saotome!"

Kuja's face became bleak. He himself was a Class I metahuman
and could barely succeed at that sort of speed. His vision
turned to look through the walls, to see the ragged clothed
figure already among the jets that were flying escort among
the bombers. "Impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible for Ranma!" Akane declared.

"Really?" the leader of the Japanese Elite said
sardonically.

"He's the greatest martial artist that's ever lived."

"A true martial artist? Hardly, I think."

"He is! He can't even bring himself to fight those that are
too weak!"

Kuja's face clouded. "That is... too bad. I have no need or
place for such a weak fool."

"What? Ranma weak? You idiot! You don't know him in the
slightest!" Akane stated loudly, a touch of pride for Ranma
in her voice.

He stared at her for a second, trying to see something deep
within her eyes. "And he would do anything, for you,
wouldn't he?"

The young girl's face flushed bright scarlet, irritation and
embarrassment evident in equal shares. "No! That dummy can't
get anything right!"

"Terrible, that." His hand lashed out, slapping her with
amazing force. Her body flung through the air to smash into
a wall and land in a heap, dribbles of blood starting to
seep through her clothing from her shattered body.
"Terrible."

-

Ranma ducked and weaved in between missiles and MiG's, a
dangerous dance. He suddenly zipped through a hole in their
defensive line. Before him flew two bombers, their doors
already swinging open. He smashed into the first one,
breaking the plane right at its main wings. A scant moment
later, it exploded fierily. He was swinging around to smash
the second one when it launched a large missile.

"NO!" Ranma screamed, smashing the second bomber. Hardly
even noting the planes destruction, he suddenly flew faster
than he ever had before after the cruise missile.

His eyes suddenly glowed red, sending out beams of crimson
energy against he missile. He was shocked when it merely
started to glow, the tiles on it shielding it from the heat.
Without a pause, he pushed himself even faster.

When he reached out to grab it, he was startled to feel some
sort of field stopping him. With a snarl of concentration,
he pushed against the barrier, up and higher. Slowly the
missile changed its course, heading up into the air. With a
massive heave, he threw it out of the atmosphere, just
moments before it exploded.

>From the ground, the eyes of Tokyo looked upward to see a
short lived star in the daylight sky. The crowd murmured,
even as car and lights flickered out, plunging Tokyo into a
short dark age.

"He survived! Even being that close, he still survived!" the
Crimson Sun shouted, looking up into the sky. His red and
white costume was emblazoned with the true symbol of Japan,
the rising sun.

"I can see that. He is wounded, ripe for the pickings." The
Spirit of Japan smiled mirthlessly. Just as he'd planned.

High up in the air, Ranma shook his head and looked back to
where the Japanese Elite were. His face went slack in shock,
unable to believe what he saw. "NOOOOOO!" he screamed, so
loud that all of Tokyo heard him.

"Here he comes," Crimson Sun shouted in alarm.

With a snap, he appeared in front of the wrecked windows.
"How... Why... What had she ever done to you?" Ranma cried
out.

"Kill him!" Kuja shouted out, following his own command with
his heat vision.

The assembled superhumans struck as one, slamming differing
attacks into the stunned martial artist. After a moment,
they stopped their attack, leaving a smoking figure laying
on the ground.

"So ends the threat of the 'martial artist'." The Spirit of
Japan spat on the ground and turned to walk off.

The figure groaned and pulled itself upright. "I-I'm not
dead yet, bastard," Ranma snarled, anger and adrenaline
surging past the pain of his burns and bruises. His aura lit
into the visible spectrum, his hand cupping next to his
midsection, a particle of pure sunlight growing within its
space.

"Impossible!" the leader of the Japanese Elite shouted.

"I'll see you in hell!" Ranma screamed, lashing out with a
flattened ki blast and heat vision. Four of the Japanese
Elite were cut in half by the ki attack, barely slowing the
blast before it disintegrated the walls behind them. Shards
of glass were found as far away as the waterfront. Six more
were almost atomized by the blast of heat vision. A heat so
intense, that the concrete behind them caught fire.

The Japanese Elite struck back futilely; punches, kicks and
beams of energy missing by the barest margins.

-

High up in the JLA, the gathered superheroes turned to a
newly activated screen. All except Superman, who was looking
directly on the scene.

"What's going on down there? It's looking like World War
III!" the Flash exclaimed.

"My God, I've never seen such a vicious fight. He's killing
them. He's killing all of them!" Superman exclaimed.

"Who?" Wonder Woman asked intently.

"Saotome. They killed his girl friend and he's killing all
of them!"

"All of them? I thought they were all just about as powerful
as you?" Green Lantern exclaimed. He looked down at his
power ring, thinking about how it was a good thing he just
recharged it.

"He's adapting to his super powers and increased fighting
ability at an incredible pace. I can barely go that fast
myself!" Superman declared.

"We need to get down there and take control of the
situation. Superman, stay here until we need you. Green
Lantern, your in charge of getting us there now!" Batman
commanded, even as he slipped out a small, lead box.

-

Power Woman cried in pain, holding her shattered left arm
carefully. She was the last Class II left alive, all of the
others were dead already. That left the three Class I's.
Whitefire, another successful survivor of the K Serum and
Voltais, a man with the power to disintegrate mountains with
his violet hand blasts were all that was left of the
Japanese Elite, other than their leader.

"You fool! You've destroyed Japan's last chance at
greatness!" the Spirit of Japan shouted, his heat vision
melting a path behind the blurring martial artist.

"He's too fast!" Whitefire shouted, just before his jaw was
shattered, the blow smashing him into the stratosphere.

"This ends, now!" commanded a voice that spoke of the
darkness of the coldest shadows. Behind Batman, the rest of
the JLA spread out. On his finger, a glowing green ring set
an odd counterpart to the Green Lantern's ring.

Waves of weakness  beamed from the ring of kryptonite,
sending all but one of the Japanese to their knees.

Kuja snarled out, "Voltais, kill Saotome! Now!" With great
determination, he tried to struggle to his feet.

Blindly obedient, the purple and black clad Voltais raised
his hands, electric purple lightning flying towards the
weakly struggling Ranma.

"Oh, no you don't!" Green Lantern called out, blasting with
his ring.

Voltais shrugged of the emerald attack, focusing even more
on destroying the young man in front of him. "Die for the
glory of Japan!"

The blinding lightning grew to an intolerable brilliance.
With a shattering boom, the entire building shook.

Aquaman slammed into Voltais, his deep sea muscles striking
as hard as diesel trucks. A moment later, twin Amazonian
fists crushed his nose flat. The Martian Manhunter finished
the fight with a massive uppercut that flung the unconscious
body into the sky.

"It's over, Kuja. Your insanity ends here, before it can
destroy the world." The Batman walked up to the
semiconscious mastermind.

"I'll never give up! Never!" he spat out weakly in response.

With a single blow, Batman knocked him into unconsciousness.
Behind him, Plastic Man looked over the many crushed bodies,
many burnt beyond recognition. His face looked almost
comically sad. "I... it's sad, you know?"

"We know, Plas. So many lives destroyed. More lives than
should ever have been ruined in the name of pride," the
Flash said.

With a crack of thunder, the skies let loose a torrent of
rain that drowned the city in sorrow.

-

"Ranma!" she cried. A green aura encompassed him.

Ranma reflexively inhaled as air became available. It had
been such a long time. With air, came coughing. Who was
that, trying to talk to him?"

Akane threw off her mask. "Oh, Gods, I thought he'd killed
you!" The mask dissolved into the void.

"Huh? Akane?" She was alive? But he'd thought that... His
thinking was interrupted by her throwing herself into a
tight hug. Ranma smiled, his heart relaxing. He must have
been mistaken. He started to blink, his eyes starting to
come into focus. His regenerative powers had also increased,
so even now, his burns were fading.

"Yes, you silly. Now we have to get out of here. Wherever
here is, anyways." Great. How?

Ranma glanced around, seeing absolutely nothing for as far
as he could see. "Where are we? All I remember is getting
blasted and thinking I was going to die!"

"I've got it!" Akane crowed suddenly. 'Ring, take me to
Japan by the fastest means possible!' Her willpower surged,
green energy flaring in response. Someplace Ranma and I can
be happy, she hoped. Where we can fit in.

"Huh? Where did you get...?" Ranma started to ask, when the
void around them turned into a rainbow of coruscating
colors, seemingly traveling around them like they were in an
immense tunnel. With a burst of light, they appeared above a
forest.

"Where are we?" Akane asked, spinning around in the air,
trying to see a familiar sight. Ranma tumbled to the ground
lightly, five feet below.

"Say, what are you doing in that Green Lantern getup?" Ranma
asked, turning his head to look at her closely.

"Dummy! I am Green Lantern, now!"

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