Subject: (no subject)
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 01:18:38 -0600
From: "Donny" <chengdo@shaw.wave.ca>
To: chengdo@shaw.wave.ca

Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of
their respective creators and companies.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga and a few
years after the Cell saga in DBZ.  It largely overwrites most of DBGT.

C & C welcomed.

Dragon Ball R1/2

by

Donny Cheng

Chapter 1

        Vejita slowly walked towards the regeneration tank made for him by
Bulma's father.  He grimaced as he the sharp ache in his side suddenly
exploded as he took another step.  His pride made him refuse to let out
a single word and also help from his family.  Wincing slightly, he
pulled himself into the tank and slowly sank down to the bottom.  A sigh
escaped from his mouth as the warm fluid warmed his and healed his
battered and bruised battle.

        He would have grinned if his face didn't hurt so much.  Kakaroto had
given him a very good fight today.  The best in years.  He would never
admit it to anyone, but he was glad the fool was back from training that
Buu.  Unlike the others, he thought of Uubu only as the reincarnation of
that monster they fought so long ago.  He had been disappointed in
knowing that the true Buu was no longer in the boy.

        Vejita turned at looked at the calendar that hung on a wall of the
room.  In a week he would turn sixty-four.  Sixty-six if he counted the
two years he spent in the Room of Spirit and Time.  His nosy wife and
her DNA tests told him that much.  She wanted to know the day he had
been born in terms of earth years so that she could help celebrate it
with him.  Her hope filled eyes put any thought of denying her his blood
sample.  His wife was one manipulative bit...

        An unexpected catch in his throat stopped him from finishing that
thought.  He would miss her when he was gone.  Not that he would ever
die at the rate life was going.  Sixty-four.  The average age of a
Saiyajin on Vejitasei had been forty to fifty.  It was the goal of every
man to die in battle.  Preferably by one's own son.

        It was not that he was suicidal, rather that he too yearned for the
honor of death by combat like his father before him and his previous
ancestors.  An average human's peak performance level usually lasted
from the late teens to the late thirties.  His race stretched that
twenty-year time span to about sixty years or more.  The oldest living
Saiyajin he recalled was an old general of his father's that lived to be
around eighty years of age.  At that time, the man had almost started to
feel the effects of old age before his son challenged him in combat and
killed him.  It had been one of the most memorable and beautiful events
in Vejita's life.

        The memories brought him back this his present problem.  With
Kakaroto's influence, Uubu would not be the one he could turn to in
hopes of going out in a final blaze of glory.  His son was an even worse
choice.  The boy had no sense of tradition at all.  What was worse was
that Vejita doubted that his son would take up his name when he died.  A
list of names passed through his mind as it always did when he was
alone.  Kakaroto wouldn't even kill him when he threatened to kill
everybody on the planet, the fool.  Piccolo had mellowed out too much
and would never kill him no matter how big he talked.  Kuririn and the
other earthlings were a joke.  The wife, #18, however might have been a
good choice a little earlier.  Motherhood softened her somewhat.  Damned
female hormones.

        Vejita frowned.  It looked like he would have to find someone himself.
He really had counted on Uubu to retain at least some of his evil
tendencies.  Now might be too late.  He didn't want to leave the mortal
plane when his body started to slip.  To do what he wanted, he needed a
suitable student.  Preferably one already trained, yet still young
enough to learn from him.  If there were none on earth, he could always
get Bulma to make a ship for him to travel to other worlds to find his
man.

                        * * * * *

        Soun looked over Genma's shoulder as he read what was written on the
letter his old friend had received this morning.  He then looked into
Genma's teary eyed face.  He felt his own tears rushing forth as the
looked at the paper again.  Then, simultaneously, the both of them
yelled, "Ranma, get over here!"

        "What is it?" Ranma grumbled out as he walked in from the yard where he
had been practicing.  With school over and summer vacation starting
Ranma was finding it harder and harder to keep his days occupied.
Before school, his father and him usually spent the day travelling.  Now
he didn't even have that to fall back on.  He ended up training more
than usual to fill the gap.

        Genma spoke first, seeing has how Soun was occupied with crying.
"You've been accepted!  When you were born, we signed you up for study
with the most renowned and powerful martial artist in the world.  Mr.
Satan!"

        "That fake!?"  Ranma had seen footages of Satan fighting.  It was his
opinion that he while Satan was probably one of the best wrestlers in
the world, that was hardly enough to save the world.  He even went so
far to believe he could quite easily beat Satan.  The so-called savior
of the world was not bad on strength or wrestling ability, but Ranma was
simply better.

        Soun and Genma both bopped Ranma on the head.  Soun was shocked at the
blasphemy coming out from Ranma's tongue.  "He's the savior of the
world.  I wish I had my own son for which I could send instead."

        Genma was also angry.  "If you weren't the only heir to the School of
Anything Goes, I would go myself.  The waiting list to be a student at
his personal dojo in Satan City is years long.  You should be honored
that your name has finally come up.  Most of the people there are years
older than you.  Many spend many more years simply to master even a
tenth of Satan's skill."

        An idea suddenly came to Ranma.  "Years?  You mean that I don't have to
go to school or anything until I'm finished?"

        Soun and Genma immediately caught on to what Ranma implied.  Genma and
his old friend glanced at each other worriedly.  "Completing a course at
the Mr. Satan's dojo would be worth more than any degree he could get in
a school.  And besides Mr. Satan's a traditionalist.  All the students
there except for his daughter are male.  The last I heard his daughter
was already married.  Ranma would be safe from his other suitors also
while he was away."

        Soun nodded.  Of all of Nerima, only one sensei had come from the dojo
in Satan City.  That man's dojo was packed with students wanting to
learn from him even though he had not spent a single day in school in
his life.  Mr. Satan held vast amounts of influence among the general
populace of the world.  "You're right.  Some time away might also be
nice for them.  Maybe the lack of female companionship while he is over
there would knock some sense into the boy."

        Ranma didn't even need to hear their affirmation.  He smiled as he
agreed to go to Satan City.  He had just been given maybe an extra few
years of putting off the engagements.  That coupled with the separation
factor, there was no way any of his suitors would want to wait for him.
Except maybe one, Ranma hoped.  It was a gamble, but he saw no other
choice.  Any other decision could potentially create quite a few
suicidal girls on his hands.  Having them leave him amicably would be a
dream come true.  That and he would no longer have to go to school
anymore even if it meant putting up with Satan.  He just wished that
_she_ would wait for him.

                        * * * * *

        "WHAT!?"

        News of Ranma's departure wasn't taken very well by certain factions in
Nerima.

        "YES!"

        On the other hand, there was a decidedly celebratory air among other
parts of Nerima.

                        * * * * *

        Nabiki smirked at Ranma's shocked face.  He was staring at the four
girls who all stood there in front of him.  What was shocking was that
none of them were angry at him for leaving.  Ranma should know by now
that if he paid her enough, she could handle nearly any situation.  In
this case it only took a few words.

        "Airen, have happy trip," Shampoo gushed at her husband.  She looked
around her at the other girls.  Mercenary girl was right.  What better
way to get rid of the other pesky girls than with time?  She didn't hold
much faith in any of them able wait for Ranma like she could.  After
all, in the eyes of Joketsuzoku, they were already married.

        "Ranchan, bring me back a souvenir," Ukyo said next.  Nabiki-chan was
right.  She smiled sadly at the other girls.  She felt sorry that they
all wasted so much time as they would eventually lose Ranma to her.  She
doubted any of them had the resolve that she had.  After all, she waited
ten years for Ranma.

        "Ranma-sama, I await your glorious return," Kodachi stated formally as
she bowed low.  Tendo Nabiki was right.  Those lowly peasants beside her
were not of the stock she was made of.  They would lose their resolve
quite easily.  Unlike her, born and raised to be the perfect wife to her
chosen mate.

        "Um, I'll be seeing you Ranma," Akane said softly.  Though she was sad
that Ranma was going to be gone for a few years, she could not help but
be happy for him.  Her sister was right.  Ranma would never had made a
decision at the rate things were going.  It was better if the decision
was made for him.  When everyone had finally given up, she would be the
only one left.  She supposed she could take pity on the jerk and marry
him when he came back.

        Ranma did not like the sight of four confident smiles lighting up on
four girls at once.  It filled him with a sense of dread.  He turned
away from them and nodded once to his pop and Mr. Tendo.  To his mother
he gave a hug.

        Nodoka could not be happier than this moment.  Imagine that.  Her son,
a pupil of the greatest man on earth.  However, she didn't like the idea
of Ranma spending years with a bunch of overgrown men.  She hoped that
Ranma would find a few girls to look over his 'manly' needs while he
stayed in Satan City.

        Soun and Genma were pounding on each other's backs.  Their dream of a
joint school just got the needed push it needed.  They each vividly
recalled Mr. Satan's voice asking them to raise their arms to save the
world.  They would never forget that moment.  Their decision to sign
Ranma up at the dojo was not a mistake.

                        * * * * *

        Ranma could here the imaginary snickers of passerbys as he stood there
on the street gawking like some country bumpkin.  But he couldn't help
it.  The building or rather several buildings were just so _huge_.  It
looked more like some university than a dojo.  He finally managed to
tear his eyes off of what he assumed was the campus of this school.  He
walked towards the administrative building to get signed up.  All of a
sudden, he began having doubts about whether or not he may have been
wrong about Satan's skill.  Even if he was wrong, there was bound to be
a fighter of some caliber in a school this big.

                        * * * * *

        "That's it?  So, I'm registered now?  Don't I have to see the master of
the dojo or anything?" Ranma didn't know if he liked the idea of being
able to join without the instructor's approval.  They would accept just
anyone?

        "Mr. Satan is a very busy man.  He only teaches those that are worthy.
Most new people learn from his various students before advancing.  They
will gauge you on your skill and you will advance accordingly," the
receptionist replied.  She looked over the teenaged boy in front of her
condescendingly.  His parents must have signed him up when he was still
a baby.  Most of the people here had trained for years before they came
to Mr. Satan.  This pup had no chance of seeing Mr. Satan for at least a
dozen years.

        Ranma thought that over.  That didn't sound so bad.  Maybe he could
learn a thing or two in this oversized dojo.  "So, what do I do now?"

        "Classes start at eight in the morning till six in the evening.  You
get one hour for lunch and one hour for rest after that.  In the
evenings after you have showered, dinner will begin.  This schedule may
change slightly depending on your instructor.  It's rest time right now
and most of the students will be at the arena competing.  Feel free to
join them."

        Arena.  Now that was a word that held his interest.

                        * * * * *

        Pan sighed as she knocked another of her grand father's 'top' students
out of the arena.  It wasn't that they were bad.  In fact everyone that
had fought her today would have been among the top fifty in the world.
It was just that none of them were good enough.  She desperately needed
some training.  She wanted to prove to her other grand father, now that
he was back from training Uubu, that she hadn't slacked off.

        Her friends and family were of no help.  Trunks and Goten claimed that
she would get hurt if they sparred with her.  The jerks.  It looked like
she may have to beg Uncle Vejita to spar with her.  She had heard that
he was using the facilities to train.  He had most likely destroyed his
own training room by underestimating his power again.  She winced at the
thought of it.  Uncle Vejita did not go easy on a person, even a little
girl.  In the meantime, she could get some more practice in to warm her
up for the challenge.  "Why don't you all attack me now, instead of one
at a time?"

                        * * * * *

        Ranma weaved his way through the throng of people to get a closer look
at the action in front of the arena.  He was surprised to find someone
as younger than him in this place.  So far it seemed that most of the
students were in their thirties.  He got through just in time to see
twenty obviously very skilled fighters rushing the girl that looked to
be no more than fourteen.  He felt a slight chill crawl up his back as
he watched the girl proceed to decimate them.  These were not untrained
teenaged boys, yet she defeated them with the same ease Akane had with
her foes back at Furinken.

        Pan dispatched the last man and turned her head to scan the crowd.
Someone was watching her.  A human with a power abnormally higher than
the students around her.  Her eyes landed upon a boy who stood there
looking back at her equally curious.  She was slightly surprised to see
how young he was.  He was easily the youngest person besides herself in
the school.  His parents must have signed him up the moment he was born.

        She ran through a list of names in her head.  she couldn't remember any
of her grand father Goku's human friends taking up any students.  That
meant he must have reached this level the same way Goku had.  Fighting.
She couldn't guess the number of battles he must have fought to get this
far at a young age.

        She smiled excitedly and hopped down off the arena to greet him.  "Hi!
I'm Son Pan and senior student here.  Are you a new student?  I haven't
seen you here before."

        Ranma was slightly put off by how the girl picked him out of a crowd of
hundreds.  Her size was also disconcerting.  She could not be an inch
taller than his female form.  "Uh, yeah.  I'm Saotome Ranma.  I just got
here today."

        Pan nodded.  "A few students graduated a week ago so there should be a
few new openings.  Anyway, you want to be friends here while you stay at
the school?  The next youngest person here is about twenty so I haven't
had many people my age to talk with.  It could get boring since you'll
probably be here for a few years."

        Ranma did not miss the similarities of when he first arrived at Mr.
Tendo's dojo.  Only this time he was not a girl.  He found himself
smiling as the girl's enthusiasm was very infectious.  "Sure, if you
don't think I'm too much of an old fogey."

        "Cool.  So you want to have a friendly spar before afternoon classes
start?"

        "I don't fight girls..," Ranma said and immediately regretted it.  Even
though he had noted the eerie similarities to his past, his mouth acted
as if it had a mind of its own.

        Pan's good mood dropped and was quickly replaced with annoyance.  She
thought she had finally found someone that she could have fun fighting
with.  He was just like Trunks and Goten.  She could feel her blood
begin to boil and her ki with it.  "What!?"

        "...that I like.  I can't fight a friend," Ranma lied.  His danger
sense picked up the little girl's incredible battle aura.  Hers dwarfed
those of the other girls in his life and his own for that matter.  For
the first time in a long while, Ranma felt he was in over his head.  He
wanted to fight her.

        "Oh," Pan replied lamely.  She had to remind herself not everyone was
born with Saiyajin blood and felt fighting was a natural past time.

        Ranma was not very happy either.  There must be someway for him to
fight her.  Never before had he witnessed such an aura.  Neither Saffron
nor Herb held the power this girl did.  Her very existence seemed to
challenge him.  "I got it!  I have a cousin just as good as I am.  If
you can beat her, you can beat me.  She's just outside of the school.
I'll go and get her while you wait here."

                        * * * * *

        Vejita stopped and stood still.  The automated attack drones he had
brought with him from Capsule Corp., however, did not.  He grunted as
lasers came shooting at him.  He waved off the inconveniences with a
wave of his hand from which several balls of ki shot forth.  He didn't
even have to look to know that the robots were destroyed.

        He turned his attention back to what had made him stop in the first
place.  There was someone, a man most likely, within Satan's school who
had quite a high level of ki for a human.  Not so high as Pan's ki, who
was also in the vicinity.  Also not as high as any of Kakaroto's human
friends.  In fact, he would even have sensed it if there wasn't so many
'top' level human fighters in one area.  This man stood out like a wolf
among sheep.

        If there were others of this kind on the planet, he may not have to go
very far to find a suitable student that would fit his needs.  This man
may know of others that he could use.

                        * * * * *

        "Hi!  I'm Ranma's cousin, Ranko.  Pleased to meet you.  I heard that
there's a fight going on.  Mind if I join in?"

        Pan stared at the girl standing before her.  The ki.  It was
unmistakable.  This girl was really Ranma.  She looked around and noted
that he was nowhere in sight.  Also if this girl was not Ranma, his ki
signature should still be at least in the area.  Was this some sort of
transformation like Super Saiyajin?  Pan felt very weird as she asked
Ranko a seemingly stupid question.  "Ranko?  Ranma?  Weren't you a guy
before?  Are you really a girl?"

        "I'm a guy," Ranma's knee jerk reply escaped from her lips before he
could think.  "How did you know?"

        "I can sense ki, can't you?  Everyone has a ki signature that is unique
like a fingerprint." Pan walked up to the girl and pressed a finger
forward.  The breasts were real, she thought enviously.  She looked down
and herself and blushed.  It had taken her a little longer than most to
develop in that area.

        "I guess I can, but only if it's strong enough.  But I can't pinpoint
it or anything that fancy.  Just a feeling."  Ranma watched younger
girl's face closely.  Her experience with women had taught her that she
would get hit when she did stupid things.  "So you're not angry are
you?"

        Pan could see Ranma visibly trying hard not to flinch.  Ranma really
expected her to attack.  "That you lied?  No, why would I get angry with
that.  Most boys wouldn't like the fact that their transformation makes
them look like a girl.  So does this transformation make you stronger?
You ki level looks to be the same only slightly different.  Probably
because your gender is different."

        For one of the few times today, Ranma managed to hold her mouth for a
moment.  "Um, It makes me faster," Ranma truthfully answered finally.

        "Great!  So you want to get that friendly spar on the way?" Pan
grinned.

        Ranma grinned back in answer.

                        * * * * *

        Vejita grinned.  The people who had witnessed this grin and survived
after seeing it numbered less than a dozen.  That girl's ki was very
remarkable.  From what he gathered as the two girls talked, he knew that
this girl was in reality a boy.  That would explain the strong trace of
male ki surrounding Ranma.  He estimated the age of the girl/boy to be
around sixteen years of age and her actual level of ki to be just short
of Kakaroto and Piccolo when Raditz had came to earth.  Very surprising
for one so young.

        Very strong base in pure skill, he noted as Ranma weaved out of Pan's
attacks.  While very strong and fast, Pan lacked the martial arts skill
of Ranma.  However, Pan had been trained by Kakaroto so she could not be
taken lightly.  If Pan didn't go all out, this would be an interesting
fight.

                        * * * * *

        Pan frowned as Ranma dodged again.  She double-checked Ranma's ki level
and again noted that her own level of ki was still higher than her
elusive opponent.  Yet, she still couldn't land a blow.  It seemed that
greater speed and strength was not yet enough to overcome the obvious
difference in pure martial arts skill.  With that thought in mind, Pan
held out her arms and yelled, "Kiiahh!"

        Ranma found herself nearly pushed back from the force of Pan's aura.
Only one time had she ever seen an aura powerful enough to do that to
her.  However, she sensed that, unlike Happosai, Pan was still holding
back reserve energy.  Just how much ki did this little girl have?  Ranma
quickly went over her options as Pan continued to power up.  She still
hadn't been able to grasp even a tenth of what Pan was capable of.  So
far, the other girl was content to just use the advantage of greater
conditioning.  Pan suddenly stopped glowing, before Ranma could come to
any plan of action.

        Pan grinned as she rushed to the attack.  Still not up to her full
potential level of ki but miles ahead of her opponent in terms of raw
power.

        Ranma's eyes widened as Pan suddenly disappeared.  No, not
disappeared.  The other girl moved faster than Ranma's senses could
detect.  A slight rise in 'kill' ki gave enough warning for her body to
instinctively raise her arms.  The blow that came next could have been
described only as a punch thrown by Ryoga.  A dozen Ryogas to be exact.
She felt a trail of blood form at the edge of her lips as her body
involuntarily spasmed and coughed up some of the red substance.

        Pan stopped midway into her attack as she saw Ranma reel from her
punch.  Oops.  She had powered up much too high for Ranma.  She frowned
as she tried to think of another way to handle this situation.  If her
ki was not high enough, she risked losing because of Ranma's better
skill in the art.  If she raised it too high, not only would she be much
too fast for Ranma to handle, she also risked hurting him badly.  There
was no way around it.  She would have to employ low level ki blasts.

        Ranma looked up sharply as she felt Pan's ki drop back to the original
level.  She was pleased to note that her ki awareness ability improved
as she continued to use it.  What was that girl up to?  Even though Pan
was still faster than her at that level, her martial arts skill gave her
an edge in evading.

        Pan smiled at Ranma's confused look.  She held out her arms and felt
the build up of ki forming in both of her hands.  In a matter of
moments, two balls of ki floated above her hands.  Let's see Ranma dodge
this.

        Ranma didn't have much time to react as the two glowing balls sped
towards him.  She quickly danced out of the way, but was shocked to find
them unerringly follow her change in direction.  In the next second,
they impacted.  Ranma blinked.  That didn't hurt much.  In fact, she had
taken much worse from Ryoga.  Pan's ki blast should be much stronger.
It must have been a diversion!

        Pan saw Ranma's eyes finally light up in understanding, but by then, it
was too late.  Unlike the last time, Ranma would not be able block.

        Ranma's mind worked fast as she noted from Pan's stance that the attack
was totally defenseless to retaliation.  This brought back the hard
lesson she often learned and often forgot.  Mindless attacks had their
weaknesses.  Grabbing a page from Happosai's book of tricks, she reached
out tapped Pan's outstretched fist on the wrist.

        Pan suddenly found herself hurtling through the air as Ranma deflected
her punch wide.  Very wide.  She was surprised at the absolute change in
direction Ranma had accomplished with such a weak protective measure.
With the ground rushing to meet her, Pan flared up her ki and flew,
managing to miss the ground by a near margin.

        High ki levels, ki blasts, and now _flying_?  Ranma was beginning to
wonder how in the hell she had managed to miss fighting any of the
skilled fighters that must have trained this girl while she was growing
up.  This girl made Herb look like a weakling.  All that she needed now
was for Pan to start throwing ki blasts from where she couldn't reach
the girl.  Damn, she thought as a rain of ki blasts chose at that moment
to fall.

                        * * * * *

        Vejita deliberately started to raise his ki level ever so slowly.  He
smiled inwardly as he saw Ranma's gaze turn to his direction before
quickly looking back at Pan.  Satan's students gave him wide berth as he
started to glow.  Many of them had seen him beat up on Pan a few times
and that was enough for them to know he was not to be messed with.
Slowly, he started to expand his ki in all directions.  If one paid any
attention to him, one would have noticed that he was giving an
exaggerated step by step way of how one with enough ki could go about
learning how to fly.  That is if one noticed.

        Ranma noticed.

                        * * * * *

        Ranma put the fearsome image of the man staring right into her soul
into the back of her mind.  That man was power itself it seemed.
Concentrating on the task at hand, she copied the man's actions.

        Pan stared in shock as Ranma started to levitate.  Albeit very wobbly,
but levitate nonetheless.  If she didn't know for a fact that her mother
also learned how to fly in one day, she would have thought this girl
couldn't have been human.  She saw Ranma's head turned upward at her
with a grin.

        With a burst of ki, Ranma flung herself at Pan.  She had immediately
figured out how ki-draining, flying would be for someone with her lower
level of power.  She calculated that she had only a few minutes of
flight before it would totally drain her, so she opted to make the most
of it.  Fortunately, the Anything Goes School specialized in mid-air
combat.

        Pan found herself falling back towards the ground as Ranma's body
tackled her.  She closed her eyes and braced for impact.

        Ranma tried to disengage herself from Pan before they could reach the
ground but had sorely overestimated her ability to learn the intricacies
of flying in a few minutes.  As a result, she landed quite awkwardly
with her face on Pan's soft chest.

        Pan opened her eyes and her anger wasted no time in flaring up.  Ranma
had even admitted to being in reality a boy.  "You _pervert_!"

        Ranma scrambled off of Pan and saw her chance at winning.  Ignoring the
impulse to apologize, she fed fuel to the fire.  "Hey, I didn't do
anything!  Not like there was much to do anyway.  Not exactly filled out
like me, you know."

        There were few things that angered Pan, being a naturally outgoing
girl.  However, the flatness of her chest happened to be one of those
things.  It was _not_ her fault that she developed later than most.
"Die!"

                        * * * * *

        Pan groaned as she picked herself up.  The ground felt very uneven.
Looking down she quickly found out why.  An unconscious Ranma was
underneath her.  She tried to recall what exactly happened.  Ranma
yelling something and raising a fist.  The world spinning around and
around making her dizzy.  Ranma jumping into the tornado and holding
her.  And then nothing.  Ranma had saved her.  "Quick, get me a wash
cloth!"

        Her grandfather's students immediately fell over themselves rushing to
fulfill her command.  Pan grabbed the first offering that was at hand
and barely noticed the hotness of the cloth.  She dabbed lightly at the
girl's forehead.  As Ranma still did not wake up, Pan took some more
water from a kettle nearby.  Her hasty actions caused the kettle to
overturn directly onto Ranma.

        The gods were laughing that day.  Well actually, Dende, Namek God of
the Heavens was the only one that was watching.  But he _was_ laughing.

                        * * * * *

        Vejita walked up to the boy still lying on the ground unmoving.
Transformation.  He hadn't been aware that humans could transform before
meeting this young man/woman.  Perhaps this bore looking into.  "He had
wasted too much ki beforehand, so couldn't protect himself against the
crash very well.  A dunk in the regeneration tank in Capsule Corp. may
be in order.

        Pan felt the presence of Vejita and noticed his interest in Ranma.  She
watched as he picked the boy up and then started to fly away with him,
following them quickly.  The crash must have damaged something in her
mind.  For a minute there, she had thought she had seen concern in
Vejita's eyes.  For a human no less.  Impossible.

                        * * * * *

The End. (maybe)




From chengd@ucalgary.ca Fri Nov 27 14:25:05 1998
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 10:23:08 -0700 (MST)
From: Donny Cheng <chengd@ucalgary.ca>
To: chengd@ucalgary.ca
Subject: [Ranma][DBZ][xover]Dragon Ball R1/2: Chapter 2


Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of
their respective creators and companies.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga and a few
years after the end of DBZ.  It largely overwrites most of DBGT.

C & C welcomed.

Dragon Ball R1/2

by

Donny Cheng

Chapter 2

	Pan paced around worriedly as she watched the monitor every so
often.  A number of graphs and diagrams fluctuated in conjunction with
Ranma's physical condition as he rested inside the regeneration tank.
Though the numbers didn't show him to be in any danger and that he was
recovering at a rate that would make a Saiyajin envious, Pan was restless
all the same.  Where had Vejita run off to?  The moment he had secured
Ranma into the tank, Vejita had flown off again muttering to himself.  The
glint in his eyes as he watched Ranma was the reason she felt she should
stay at her new friend's side.  There was an unwholesome look to it that
made Pan shiver.

			* * * * *

	Vejita stared hard at Satan.  "Well?"

	Normally, Satan would have been cowering behind the couch at
Vejita's tone of voice, but fortunately his friend Buu was there in the
room with him.  As a result, his hands only did a bare minimum of shaking
as he poured Vejita a cup of tea.  "H-He's a new student.  A few of my
students graduated, so he was able to register.  I haven't even met him
yet."

	Vejita waved the man off.  "No matter.  I'm taking him off
your hands.  If his family phones, tell them he's busy."

	"F-For three years!?" Satan stammered loudly, almost forgetting 
who he was talking to.  "That's about how long most students stay here
for.  I can't cover for you that long."

	"Not my problem, it's your school.  Think of something."  Vejita
turned and left the slack-jawed Satan staring after him.

	Satan looked desperately at Buu for help.

	Buu looked back at Satan thoughtfully.  "Cake?" he asked after a
moment and pointed at the pastry on the table.

	Satan sighed.  Buu was right of course.  Debating right and wrong
with Vejita was as useful as arguing with the sky about the weather.
Besides, there was another tournament coming up and he did not want an
angry Vejita suddenly deciding that Mr. Satan was due for a downfall.

			* * * * *

	Ranma yawned loudly.  Or he would have if he hadn't been submerged
in water.  He coughed uncomfortably as the water flooded into his
mouth.  He barely had a second to pull himself together, when he was
suddenly upended out of the tank and onto the cold hard floor.  He
shivered at the sudden change in temperature "What the..?"

	"Oh good, Ranma, you're okay!"  Pan quickly reached over for the
towel for Ranma to cover his body with.  She was glad that Vejita had had
at least the simple decency to leave the boy's boxers on.

	"What happened?" Ranma finally managed to ask out.

	"You remember the last thing that happened?  We were in that
fight.  You did some weird move on me but ended up saving me from it.  We
brought you here to help your wounds."

	It was all a blur.  But Ranma remembered cursing himself for his
stupidity.  Ryoga would laugh at him for having to resort to using the
hiryu shoten ha on a girl.  In all honesty, it had been pure instinct that
that caused him to use it.  He had regretted it the moment he launched it
and had as a result jumped into the tornado himself.  "I remember.  Are
you okay?  That was stupid of me to use that technique in a sparring
session."

	Pan laughed it off.  She punched herself lightly on the head.  "I
was the stupid one.  If I hadn't been so blind in attacking you I would
have been fine.  That tornado wouldn't have worked very well on a person
that can fly."

	Ranma sighed in relief.  He looked over at Pan and was surprised
again at the girl's ability at such a young age.  She figured out the
weakness of the technique already.  "That's good.  So are we going back to
the dojo now?"

	Before Pan could answer, Vejita entered the room.  He ignored the
younger girl's glare.  "No.  You will not be going back.  I've taken you
out of Satan's hands.  You will be staying and learning from me."

	"Hey, that's not fair," Pan objected.  Just when she finally found
a person she could practice with, Vejita took him away.

	Vejita merely glanced at Ranma.  "You have any objections with
this?"

	Ranma shivered and not from the coldness of the air this time.
The other man's eyes were deeply disturbing.  He found he could not turn
away from the penetrating gaze.  This was the man that had shown him the
art of flying just simply by example.  Unlike his father, Ranma held no
illusions as to what he could learn from Satan and he did not like it one
bit.  This Vejita, on the other hand, he knew was different.  "No."

	"Good," Vejita smirked.  "Your training begins an hour after
you've eaten.  Your body will need food after the time you spent
regenerating.  Pan take him to the kitchen and get him something to eat.
Bring him to the gravity room when he's done."

	"You can't..."

	"Does Videl know you were at her father's dojo beating up the
students again?"

	"...let him do that without getting him some clothes first," Pan
finished, cursing Vejita silently under her breath.  Her father wouldn't
do anything, but she knew that her mother would ground her for a week.

	Ranma finally pulled his eyes from Vejita's face and noted his
torn clothes on the ground beside the tank.  He shuddered at how strong
the hiryu shoten ha must have been to do that.  It reinforced to him that
he did want to learn from this man who was miles above Pan and himself.
"I have some extra clothes in my bags at the dojo."

	"No need.  Your clothes wouldn't last a second with what you
will be going through during your stay here.  In the corner there are some
of the clothes I've picked out for you.  I have other matters to tend to
first," Vejita said before he left.  He had to check if Bulma fixed his
room for him yet.  Sometimes that woman drove him crazy with what she
considered top priority.

	Ranma grimaced at the certainty in Vejita's voice about his
clothes being ripped and wondered what he had gotten himself into.

			* * * * *

	Pan tried not to gawk at the human vacuum cleaner sitting beside
her.  She wondered if it was possible that Ranma really was a Saiyajin.
"Sorry for getting you into this.  If I hadn't made you spar with me,
you'd probably be safe at my grandfather's place studying right now."

	Ranma didn't know how to tell Pan that he really didn't think her
grandfather could have taught him much anyway.  So it really wasn't that
very big a loss.  "Don't worry, I wanted to spar too.  And what did you
mean by 'safe'?"

	"Uncle Vejita seems to have noticed you.  That can't be good," Pan
shook her head.  Nothing good could come of this.  While mellowed out
since his younger years or so Pan had been told, Vejita 'disliked' being
around inferiors like regular humans.  Whatever Vejita disliked never
seemed to be around for long.  The sound of the kitchen door swinging open
stopped her before she could elaborate.

	"That is the last time I go on a double date with you, Goten,"
Trunks said with finalty as he stormed into the kitchen.

	"Hey, it's not my fault that the girls are hot for me," Goten said
defensively.

	"You were flirting with them, while you were on a date with
Marron's friend.  Marron is never going to let me forget this."  Trunks'
face took on a look of doom.  His girlfriend, not only in looks, was
exactly like her mother when it came down to coldness.  His bankbook was
going to feel a lot lighter, knowing how much it took to get back into her
good graces.

	"Hey, who's the kid?  Your boyfriend, Pan?" Goten asked, changing
the subject, as he caught sight of the pair.

	Pan sighed and wondered what it was that made uncles tease their
nieces.  "No, this is Ranma.  Uncle Vejita's new student.  Sorry about
those two, Ranma.  They can be a couple of jerks sometimes."

	Ranma wasn't listening though.  His eye twitched in irritation as
he felt the battle aura of the two young men.  Another pair that dwarfed
him.  Just how many people were there in this world that surpassed him?
He knew that he was not the best fighter in the world, but his ego refused
to believe that he was not even in the top five.  His stay in Satan City
was drastically changing that perception.  Having been called a kid made
his eye twitch even more.  However, the two idiots rolling on the floor
laughing was the last straw.

	"Good one, Pan.  For a minute there, you really had me going.  If
you didn't want me to go blabbing about your secret boyfriend to Bra, you
could've just said so," Trunks said, wiping tears of laughter from his
eyes.

	"Aren't you a little young to be dating?  Videl won't like this.
He _does_ look a little too old for you," Goten felt he should put in
since he was Pan's elder.  Personally though, he had been dating since he
discovered girls and miniskirts.  He didn't know why, but seeing a girl in
one made his heart race.  His mother told him that she would tell him why
when he was grown up.  He wondered when that would be.

	Pan resisted the urge to slap the two silly.  Slapping them would
only hurt her hand.  It turned out she didn't need to say anything.

	"C'mon, Pan.  Vejita said to be there in an hour.  It's almost
time anyway," Ranma said in an over exaggerated excited voice, "and I've
got a lot to learn from the guy."  Ranma smiled inwardly at the shock
replacing the laughter on their faces.  He didn't know why, but him
aknowledging that he was Vejita's student seemed to be a big deal.

			* * * * *

	Goten blinked first.  "I can't believe it.  Has your dad suddenly
gone nuts?  This is the sort of thing I expect from my dad."

	Trunks didn't know what to think.  His image of his father had
just been thrown out the window.  His father would never under any
circumstance teach a human or anyone for that matter.  The man barely
taught his own children as he simply didn't have the patience to be like
Goku in that respect.  He did not want his father to be put in jail for
murdering a kid.  Bra would know what was going on.  She was the favorite
after all.  Where was that brat?

	"I hope Pan will be okay.  That girl falls in love way too fast,"
Goten mused.  Trunks sister, Bra, did too, but Goten wisely did not say
that out loud.  Those two were destined to become old maids with the way
they acted.

			* * * * *

	Dumped again!  Bra's life was shot to hell.  She now knew what Pan
felt like every day.  The only consolation Bra had was that she was dumped
only five times to Pan's eight.  It was not really a consolation if she
thought about it since Pan was nearly two years younger than her.  It
irked her sometimes that her best friend got more guys with cuteness than
she did with her bigger chest.  However, both of them suffered the same
fate more often then not becuase of their ability to fight.  The idea
that your girlfriend was stronger was a major deterance in most young
teenaged boys.

	Boys!  Bra was in a decidedly unhappy mood.  She needed to beat
someone up, not caring that this was the reason she was dumped in the
first place.  She needed to beat a boy up, preferably.  Her brother or
Goten were perfect victims.

			* * * * *

	Vejita hadn't arrived at the gravity room by the time Ranma and
Pan reached it.  There was nothing else to do but wait.

	"No kidding, huh?  One's your uncle and the other is Vejita's son?
They look like they're in pretty good shape," Ranma grudgingly admitted.
Even in better shape than him.  "Why doesn't Vejita teach one of them?"

	"They're not interested maybe.  I don't know for sure.  Who knows
what Uncle Vejita thinks.  He and my other grandfather only seem to think
about eating, sleeping, and fighting."

	"What's wrong with that," Ranma asked, genuinely confused.  "Those
are my favorite hobbies too."  Vejita was starting to sound like a great
guy.

	Pan had been keeping quite calm since she met Ranma, except when
he mentioned her chest of course.  She was surprised and pleased at her
own restraint.  However, she just could not let the boy get away with what
he just said.  "Really?" she asked, smiling up at Ranma.  "I like fighting
and eating too."

	Ranma nodded approvingly, thinking of Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyo.
"I have some friends back home that are like you"

	"So you don't think it's weird that a girl is better than you?"
Pan asked hoping that nothing was betrayed in her question.

	"Heh, I get that stuffed into my face all the time.  That old
ghoul could beat me most of the time."  Ranma didn't see the need to
explain that he only had one clear victory over Cologne and that he was a
'cat' at the time.

	Pan was convinced.  This boy was made for her.  He ate like a
Saiyajin so probably wouldn't mind if a girl ate the same way.  She
couldn't help it if her Saiyajin blood craved food!  He also didn't seem
to mind about a girl being able to fight.  She had doubts about him caring
if a girl was better than him or not.  His right eye developed a twitch
when he mention that ghoul who could beat him most of the time.  Pan
banished that thought from her mind.  Plus he was not bad to look at.
Adding up the calculations, she concluded that he was a nine out of ten.
That was the best score she had ever given any boy.

	"Hey, who's the boy?" Bra asked as she entered the room.  Don't
say boyfriend.  Don't say boyfriend.  Bra did not know what she would do
if Pan had a boyfriend right now while she didn't.

	Pan frowned.  Too soon.  She hadn't laid the groundwork yet.  She
did not want to lose another boy to Bra and her chest.  Normally, she and
Bra were the best of friends, but not when it came to boys.  "Oh, he's
my... friend, Ranma."

	Bra picked up the hesitation quickly.  She narrowed her eyes and
gave the boy a quick once over.  She gave him another longer glance.  She
stared at the boy openly.  "Oh, hi.  My name's Bra.  I'm Pan's bestest
friend in the whole world."

	"Er... hi," Ranma prudently took a step back.  Pan's battle aura
had suddenly raised at a very fast rate.  Best friends?

	"Bra, what are you doing here?" Vejita asked as he entered the
gravity room.

	"Daddy?  Oh, I just wanted to have a quick work out before
dinner," Bra said quickly.  Her father did not like it when she firted
with anybody.  Many a boyfriend left because of a broken arm or two.

	Vejita winced.  He never got used to 'daddy'.  It made him all the
more aware of the changes he had gone through since he was prince of the
Saiyajins.  "You can use the room after I do.  Besides the gravity
controls don't work yet.  Your mother seems to have more important things
to do."

	Bra nodded meekly.  There were times when she could tease her
father and get him to get her anything she wanted.  This was not one of
those times.  Her father was in rare form today.  Must have been that
fight he had with Uncle Goku.  A fight always made Vejita more _intense_.

	"You girls get out and Ranma, you stay."

	Pan waved at Bra before the question could be asked.  "Not now.
Let's get out of here.  I'll explain later."

	And Ranma was alone with Vejita.  He immediately got into a
fighting stance as Vejita's battle aura started to manifest itself.

			* * * * *

	"...and now they're in there fighting," Pan finished explaining.
Since Ranma did not exactly have any ties to her, she had been forced to
explain the situation to Bra.

	"So, he's not that bad a catch, hey?  Same way, we always settle
this?"  Well the changing into a girl was not very appealing.  But
changing into an ape and having been born with a tail was also not very
appealing, so Bra decided to let that slide.

	"I can't believe you?  Always going after the guys that I like!"

	"It's not my fault that you only like older men.  If you stayed
in your age group, I wouldn't care in the slightest."

	Pan sighed.  There was no arguing with Bra.  Her friend had been
spoiled way too much by Vejita.  Bra was used to getting anything that she
wanted.  Pan nodded, "Okay.  No funny stuff this time.  You wore that
shirt with a button missing on purpose the last time."

	Bra agreed, "Deal.  You know if we don't get this one, we're
doomed."

	Pan nodded.  The both of them had dated nearly everyone in their
district already.  They dumped those that they didn't like and those
that they liked always dumped them.  Their reputations were sinking way
too fast for their tastes.  It was one of the reasons she didn't go for
boys her age.  They all feared her.  "Well, if you didn't get into so many
fights, we wouldn't have this problem in the first place."

	"Look who's talking..." Bra didn't get to finish as the door of
the gravity room was opened.

	Vejita came out, carrying Ranma over his shoulder.  He passed by
the both of them and headed for the room with the regeneration tanks.
"Tell, your mother to get a room ready and save some dinner for two."

	"Ick.  That didn't look very tasty at all."  Bra, made a face as
Ranma's black and blue face passed by them.

	"You want out?" Pan asked.

	"Not on your life."

			* * * * *

The End. (maybe)

What coming up next:

Another Time, Same Place: Chapter 5

More Preludes and Interludes

First Knight 3

Dragon Ball R1/2:  Chapter 3

The sequel to What Price Love? and For Love or Money.

Not necessarily in that order.

Fanboy and fanfic writer. ^_^
Homepage at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/4537



Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of 
their respective creators and companies.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga and a few years
after the end of DBZ.  It largely overwrites most of DBGT.

C & C welcomed.

Dragon Ball R1/2

by

Donny Cheng

Chapter 3

	Ranma tried again for a piece of chicken.  Again, the older man's
chopsticks got there before his own.  He glared angrily at Vejita for but
a single moment before he quickly went to the other plates on the table.
However, make no mistake he would get some chicken before the night was
done.

	Trunks looked thoughtfully at the two ravenous men at the dinner
table.  If he wasn't sitting at the table, he would not have believed it.
Though, even as he was here now he still doubted his eyes.  His father was
eating side by side with a human.  His father, who couldn't even sit
beside Uncle Kuririn at the dinner table, was sharing plates of food with
the boy.  A twinge of jealousy crept into him as he continued to look, not
quite sure what to make of it.

	Bra gently nudged her father.  He ignored her, which was unusual
in that he always had time to say something to her even if it was to tell
her to be quiet.  His entire focus seemed to be bent on eating all the
food before Ranma could.  She glanced at the boy again.  He was looking
better and better to her every minute.  This was one boy at least that had
gotten past her father's 'examinations'.  Of course, her father had yet to
know that she was seeing Ranma.  Ranma for that matter had yet to know
that he was seeing her.

	Pan glared at Uncle Vejita.  He was the one that had specifically
ordered that some food be kept for him and Ranma.  Now the big jerk was
eating all of it before her friend could.  She gulped as Vejita glanced up
from his food to look at her, seemingly reading her thoughts.  She lowered
her eyes from his gaze and when she looked up again he was back to eating.
She decided that maybe it was time to get Uncle Goten to take her home.

	Goten looked forlornly at the diminishing food.  The reason he had
skipped one of his mother's wonderful meals was that Trunks invited him to
dinner.  Being rich meant that there was usually more than enough for
seconds, even thirds, which were rare at Goten's house.  However, Bulma
only allowed him one plateful of food since Vejita wanted most of it for
him and his new student.  Goten had stayed after dinner because he didn't
think a human, even with Vejita, could clear such a large spread.  He was
wrong.

	Bulma glanced around to table to make sure she wasn't the only one
looking at the pair currently putting a small dent in their food bill.
From the short phrases she could get out of her husband, she gathered that
the boy would be staying with them a while.  After two decades of marriage
she thought she knew what went on in Vejita's mind, but this she had no
answer for.  What she did know was that she was _not_ going to let him
go off like Goku to who knew where for ten years.

	Vejita snatched another chicken from Ranma.

			* * * * *

	Ranma looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling.  Even asleep he could
feel Vejita's radiating power.  The man was not one to hold back, but
Ranma could sense that if his new sensei did not, the entire planet might
not be safe.  While he took pride in his growing ability to sense chi, he
cursed it at the same time.  Currently he felt at least a dozen chi
signatures great enough that he could feel them here even here in bed.
Some could be all the way on the other side of the world, Ranma knew.  It
did not help his confidence in the least bit.

	If any of them were as good as Vejita, Ranma didn't think that the
mantle as one of the best in the world would ever be his.  He thought back
to his first 'training' session with the older man.

			* * * * *

	Ranma stood in his battle stance awkwardly as the aura around
Vejita continued to grow.  The first wisps of chi pushed at Ranma, forcing
him to step back a step.

	Vejita stopped raising his chi level.  His current power was about
double what Pan had been using during her match with Ranma.  More than
enough to beat Ranma with both hands tied behind his back.  That is if
Vejita would ever do such a thing.  "I won't get into gravity training yet
since the room is still being repaired.  I will, instead, test you.  I
want to see just how far in your training you are.  Three times, I will
hit you.  Dodge or block them to the best of your abilities."

	Ranma tensed himself and nodded.  Vejita came at him with a
frontal assault to which he quickly sidestepped.  However, the moment he
turned around to reorientate himself, Vejita's elbow smashed into his
stomach.

	"That's one," Vejita said before he came at Ranma again.

	Ranma thought quickly and decided that blocking was the best
procedure.  Dodging against a faster more skilled opponent was fool hardy
and just a waste of movements and time.  This time he saw Vejita's leg
coming and blocked the following kick to his side with his forearm.
Knowledge from his previous battle with Pan told him that this kick would
have the power of an oncoming train, so he was ready to absorb most of the
blow after a sleight shifting of his weight on his foot.  Even with his
preparation, he felt his knees nearly buckle from the sheer strength.

	Vejita frowned as a grin formed on Ranma's face.  He easily dodged
the boy's counterattack.  He hadn't been prepared for Ranma to actually be
able to hit back under an assault from a much stronger opponent.  He
hadn't made a mistake when he guessed that this boy would be a challenge.
"Two," he counted and decided to wipe that grin from the boy's face.

	Ranma didn't even have a chance as the third strike easily passed
his defenses and caused his body to fly into the wall of the room and
denting the metal plating on it.  Ranma fell to the ground in a slump.
Groggily he tried to get back up as Vejita's voice called out to him.

	Vejita nodded approvingly as the boy fought to get up to his feet.
What Ranma lacked in power, he easily made up for in his willingness to
learn and determination.  "Three.  Not as high as I would like you to be,
but easily improved upon.  Now, I want you to hit me.  As hard you could.
I won't dodge or block, so use every ounce of your power."

	Ranma spit out some blood and gave Vejita a look of respect.  As
good as Pan was, she could not hold a candle to this man.  Unlike Pan, his
new sensei possessed a great amount of skill and experience to go along
with the power.  Vejita wanted power, Ranma would show him it.

	Vejita stood and watched as Ranma suddenly started to run.  A slow
jog at first, but gradually getting faster and faster.  A small aura
formed around the boy as he continued to run laps around Vejita.

	Ranma knew that his physical strength and chi alone were not
enough to deal any damage on Vejita.  He would have to draw upon outside
elements if he had any chance of it.  Turning his direction somewhat when
he reached his full speed, he ran directly at Vejita.

	Vejita had himself slowly began to power up when he caught on to
what Ranma was doing.  Smart boy.  The boy had reached the level where he
could transform kinetic energy into energy that he could use.  Vejita
prepared himself for the flying kick, but was surprised to find Ranma sail
over him.

	The moment Ranma's foot touched the wall, he started to call forth 
all of the chi in his body.  Using the wall, he rebounded off of it
back to Vejita.  This attack was a modified version of the attack he had
used to defeat Taro.  Instead, this time he didn't have the elastic
pantyhose to help him and needed the wall for its replacement.  "Vejita
Shooting Star Kick!" he yelled out.  He grinned as he saw the shock on his
sensei's face.  However, that would be the last thing he saw as a flash of
bright yellow erupted in front of him.

	Vejita dusted himself off as he looked at Ranma's unmoving body.
Good.  The boy really had went all out when as Vejita had commanded.  He
estimated that Ranma's chi was slightly lower than the average Saiyajin,
which was quite an accomplishment for one from such a weak race.  It gave
him a good idea as to where to start in Ranma's training.  Now all he had
to see was how fast a learner the boy truly was.  Vejita stepped out of
the small crater formed by their impact, and put Ranma's body over his
shoulder.  He looked back over his shoulder at the charred ground and
figured he would have to get Bulma to upgrade the room again.


			* * * * *

	Vejita stared up at the ceiling.  It was a strange feeling.  This
excitement.  Was this what Goku felt when he taught Buu's reincarnation?
He had to admit that he had once felt this way a few years ago.  Back when
Bra was young and also another time when Trunks was but a boy.  Both he
had taught and he had secretly took pride in how they both surpassed him
when he was there age.  However, both his children soon stopped coming to
him to learn.  Both had decided they knew enough and he did not press
them.  A father did not beg and the thrill of the battle really could not
be taught.

	This world of his was truly different in that respect.  Whoever
heard of a Saiyajin that preferred playing and working to fighting?  This
Ranma was a refreshing change.  A person, he could tell who enjoyed the
fight as much as he did.  He was sure the boy knew what the gap between
the two of them were but no fear was shown.  Remarkable.  Not for the
first time, he wondered again if somehow the boy might be Saiyajin.

	Bulma awoke just then and looked over at Vejita crossly.  "You're
stealing the all of the blanket again.  What are you still doing up?"

	"Nothing.  Go back to sleep."

	Bulma had a knack for knowing when 'nothing' was something.
"Thinking of that boy you brought home?  Ranma?"

	"Please.  He's just a human."

	"Oh?  Is that why you've brought him here, had me set up a room
for him, and will start training him tomorrow?  I know you.  You would
not do this for anybody.  Especially, a _human_ as you put it."

	"I need someone to fight.  I don't like Goku's friends."

	Bulma grimaced at Vejita's short curt answers.  Years of marriage
and they still couldn't have a decent conversation.  "Why him?"

	"He reminds me of me," Vejita said simply.

	Bulma laughed, much to her husband's annoyance.  "From what I've
seen of him so far, he's nothing like you.  He outgoing, talkative, and if
I'm correct about Pan and Bra, a lady's man."  Her husband, on the other
hand, was withdrawn, quiet, and she was the one that started their
'romance'.

	Vejita pointedly ignored his wife's still going laughter and
looked at her intensely.  "It's his eyes.  The fire in them is what I
remember I used to have."

	Bulma gave Vejita a worried glance.  Vejita rarely talked of his
past and his emotions, even in bed together like this.  She had caught the
emphasis he had put on 'used to have'.  It was true her husband had
mellowed out some.  She suspected the birth of the children were the main
reason for this and she hoped that she too were part of it.

	She looked back and remembered what had drawn her to him in the
first place.  It was the passion he displayed.  He wanted so much to
defeat 'Kakaroto' and it seemed to be his only reason for living.  Over
the years, Bulma saw first hand the fire being doused as Vejita finally
accepted that Goku was better, though he never stopped trying to top his
rival. In some ways, the made her sad even though Goku was her friend.
She had tried to get her husband interested in other things, but like
Goku, he was too set in his ways to change.

	With the addition of Ranma, she began to see the old Vejita again.
That grin of his, that drove her crazy during their youth, appeared on his
face again.  In fact, she noticed that he was also looking at her with
that same glint in his eyes that he had during their first time together.
"Aren't we a bit old for this?" she asked huskily as Vejita started to
move his hands about her body.

	Vejita ignored Bulma's half-hearted protests and bent his head
towards hers to shut her up.  He wasn't very successful about halfway
through the night.

			* * * * *

	"Where are we going again?" Ranma asked.  He looked down and
shuddered.  Once he had almost lost his concentration and nearly fallen
off the long pole that seemed to have no end.

	"Quiet.  Just keep climbing."  Vejita flew beside Ranma at a slow
pace. His mind was preoccupied with methods of bringing Ranma up to as
close to his level as possible and to do it in the least amount of time.
One of the best methods he knew was the Room of Spirit and Time.  That is
if one knew how to train there.  He had foolishly wasted his allowed
two years there without much of a plan.  While Goku had come up with a
course of action that used the Room's advantages to its optimum potential.
It was one of the few times Vejita acknowledged Goku genius, when it came
to fighting.

	Ranma grumbled and continued to climb.  He looked up and still
could not see an end in sight.  It was going to be a long day.

			* * * * *

	Dende stifled his giggle.  "This way, please, Vejita-san."  He
sneaked a glance over at Ranma again.  He shouldn't really be surprised to
see the human here.  After all he did watch the boy's adventures for over
a year.  Easily the most hilarious human he had ever had the pleasure of
spy... watching upon.

	Being Earth's Kami meant a lot of watching humans kill each other
over pieces of land.  It was draining work and once in awhile he would
amuse himself by turning his attention to a small group in Nerima that he
had come to love.  He had even helped Ranma sometimes by creating rain
clouds at the right time.  Though, once in awhile the martial artist would
do something that the Kami disproved of, and another rain cloud would be
sent to Nerima at the wrong time as punishment.

	Ranma felt the hairs behind the back of his neck rise.  Kami.
Never in his life did he ever expect there to actually be one.  The fact
that Kami was also an alien from another planet made it all the more
surreal.  The cause for his worries, though, was that Kami seemed to be
laughing at him.

			* * * * *

	Vejita looked at the clock on top of the doorway to the Room of
Spirit and Time.  He had used most of his time allowed there and had at
most a half hour left which amounted to about two weeks Room time.  Should
be sufficient to teach Ranma what he needed to know.  "Time passes faster
in this room.  One day in it is equivalent to a year.  Two hours, a month.  
The gravity is ten times greater than that of the gravity on earth.  The
temperature will often change varying from freezing to extreme heat.  The
air is also very thin in there much like being atop a mountain.  I want
you to stay in there for a month."

	Ranma stared at the room in front of him.  He had heard of a place
like this from his father.  During their ten year long training trip
together, his father often tried to find this place.  It was rumored to be
the best training ground in the entire world.  Who would have guessed that
it was miles above the earth?

	"I'll stay with you there for a day of Room time to show you what
I want you to do," Vejita said as he opened the door and stepped in.

	Ranma quickly followed in after him.  The moment he stepped
inside, he gasped.  They stood on a platform that was about the size of a
small house.  All around them, was nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  The
ground to seemed to stretch forever from every direction.  He moved off of
the platform to touch the ground.  He immediately fell on his face.

	Vejita watched as Ranma got familiar with his surroundings.  With
a slight rise in chi level, the boy got back to his feet.  Good, it seemed
to boy could survive.  Vejita had been worried that this might have been
too early, but with the Gravity room still unrepaired, he needed to do
_something_.  The boy was really too weak for Vejita to get anywhere.
"Survive here for one month and I will let you come out.  This is your
goal."

	Ranma watched as Vejita immediately started to power up.  His chi
awareness had become more acute with use and now he could tell exactly how
strong Vejita was at the moment.  "One month?  I can get there in a couple
of weeks," Ranma replied confidently.

	Vejita looked at Ranma's cocky smile and couldn't help but
remember that same smile plastered on his own back when he was still
young.  In truth, he didn't have much doubt that Ranma could reach that
level.  The strength he displayed to Ranma was about the same he had when
he first came to earth.  Goku had spent over four months on Kaio's planet
to get to that level all those years ago.  If Vejita was right in how
strong Ranma was and how smart he was, he should be able to almost
duplicate Goku's feat in the harsher environments of the Room.

	It was not much, but it was a start.  The boy could not even fly
for long periods of time at the moment.  That stopped Vejita from having
any hope of having sparring matches in the air.  Hopefully, one day of
teaching would be all that he needed to show Ranma the problem areas.
"Put these clothes on."

	Ranma grabbed the blue jumpsuit as Vejita threw it to him.  His
arms nearly came off from the weight.  At first he thought it was the
gravity of the room, but when he stepped off of it and back on to the
platform he found that the clothes were still quite heavy.  He shrugged
and put them on.  His father had trained him in the wearing of heavy
objects before, so this was not unusual to him.

	"The clothes are about the same weight as your body.  Where them
at all times.  Also, they are made of a material that should survive the
elements in this room."

	"Elements?"  Ranma's question was answered by the room itself.
The temperature suddenly raised at a dramatic increase.  Flames sprouted
from the ground itself.  The entire area seemed to be on fire.  "Oh."

	"Now, we begin."

			* * * * *

	Vejita stepped out of the room.  He had been wrong when he thought
that it might take a day to explain to the boy what needed to be done.  It
took only a few hours for Ranma to grasp the training program.  Very
adaptive martial artist.  Someday, he would have to see this father of
Ranma's.  The man was obviously very skilled indeed if he were able to
train that into a boy no more than sixteen years of age.

			* * * * *

	Beads of sweat flowed from Ranma's face as he performed the basic
katas again.  After another hour had passed, he stopped and let out a deep
breath.  Only two hours and his body was pushed to the limit.  Before he
could do these basic katas in his sleep.  He sighed at how far he still
needed to go.  A quick dinner and an half hours rest, he should be able to
try again.

	Stepping back on to the platform, he headed to the fridge.  The
platform was quite strange in that the fridge was always stocked with
food.  No matter how much he ate.  Too bad the bed didn't make itself,
though.  It was also the only place the gravity was normal.  Already he
could feel the strain on his muscles decrease.  But he did not let go of
his hold on his chi.

	Another thing he learned from Vejita.  It was true in a battle,
chi should be kept as low as possible to avoid strain tiredness and only
pumped up when needed.  However, when training, the more the body worked,
the better the results.  There were limits of course and Ranma was
determined that he extend that limit as far as possible each day.

	One day was almost done, twenty-nine more to go.  Vejita had
warned him to start with the basics first.  Basic katas, involving only
fewest of varying attacks.  Punches and kicks in a standing position.  It
was a roundabout way of training, but necessary in a new environment.  He
needed to give his body time to adjust and the basics were the best place
to start.

			* * * * *

	Ranma stared at his duplicate.  It had taken him twelve days to
get this far.  He was surprised that it actually worked.  When Vejita had
shown him on the first day, Ranma had eagerly lapped it up.  With enough
chi, one could use half of it and create another body.  With even more
chi, four bodies could be created.  The body moved as his mind willed it
to.  It took extreme concentration to control his own body in tandem with
that of the chi created one.

	The practical purposes were very apparent.  One could effectively
create a sparring partner where none was available.  Also one could use
this against an opponent.  It would not work against multiple opponents
though, Ranma figured, since the concentration would be split.
Immediately, his mind had searched for weaknesses.  If Vejita showed it to
him, there might be a chance that either his sensei will use it on him or
his sensei will be able to counteract it if Ranma used it himself.  He
smiled at the challenge.

	His counterpart remained stone quiet.  With a mental command, the
both of them collided and the sparring began.

			* * * * *

	Ranma examined the ball of energy in his hands.  Another thing
Vejita had explained to him.  While emotion had been needed at first to
spark his first chi blast, it was hardly needed.  Only primitive races, as
Vejita pointed out, relied upon emotion to do something as simple as this.
Experimentally, he threw the ball towards one of the blocks of ice that
covered the entire ground.  The impact was quite a bit more destructive
than his moko takabisha.  Maybe he could modify this somehow.

			* * * * *

	Vejita frowned.  Three hours had passed.  Did something go wrong?
He had specifically said a month.  He decided enough time had passed that
Ranma should know that a month was done.  He stepped towards the door and
found that he did not have to go in after all.

	Ranma stepped out.  His blue jumpsuit barely covering his body as
it was ripped and torn in many places.  "Sorry, I was late.  Did you know
that the room is as big as the entire world.  I know, because I tried
flying around it."

	Vejita narrowed his eyes.  He hadn't told Ranma that on purpose
because he had planned on making it a training lesson for the boy.  "You
can do it already?"

	"That's not all I can do.  Want to spar?" Ranma asked cockily.

	"I was counting on it," Vejita replied and was surprised find his
own voice just as cocky.  This would prove to be interesting.

			* * * * *

The End. (maybe)

Fanboy and fanfic writer. ^_^
Homepage at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/4537






Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of

their respective creators and companies.



This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga and a few

years after the end of DBZ.  It largely overwrites most of DBGT.



C & C welcomed.



Dragon Ball R1/2



by



Donny Cheng



Chapter 4



	Vejita hardly needed to do any stretching for his upcoming battle with

Ranma, but decided to warm up anyway.  It would allow him some time to

study his opponent.  However, he soon found it next to impossible to

discern anything as Ranma had discovered how to keep his chi level to a

non-existent level to keep as little strain as possible on the body. 

That meant only that the boy was ready to fight.



	Vejita had little doubt that Ranma followed the training procedure word

for word and maybe even added something extra.  If Ranma didn't let up

on his body, kept his chi level as high as possible, and for as long as

possible, Vejita guessed that Ranma was on par with him when he first

came to this planet.  In other words, Ranma should be as strong as the

strongest Saiyajin once was and at a younger age.  Vejita shook his head

at how naïve he once was about his strength.



	Ranma forced himself to stop from flying all over the place.  It was

frustrating to keep the power that boiled within him for spilling out. 

He just felt so damned light.  If he didn't feel the ground beneath him,

he would have sworn that he was flying.  Wearing a new lighter set of

clothes than the ones he wore in the Room of Spirit and Time was also

uncomfortable to him.  It took him a while to get use to exerting a

minimal amount of strength to the lifting of an arm, since the heavy

training clothes no longer weighed him down.  For the first time in

weeks, he could breath normally.  The air pumping into his lungs as he

took gulp after gulp of it in, the effects of fighting for breath each

moment of his time in that thin atmosphere.



	"Shall we start?" Vejita asked when he thought Ranma was ready.



	Ranma nodded.  His flight around the world sized room had him already

warmed up.



			* * * * *



	

	Piccolo gave Dende his most glaring look, but to his mild annoyance,

the young Namek just smiled up at him.  He knew it was the "Nail" side

of him that the Namek saw and not him.  "What is it?" he asked finally,

sighing, knowing that he would never be able to change the current

Kami's perception of him.



	"I thought you might be interested in seeing something," Dende said

mysteriously.  He knew that it would just drive Piccolo's curious side

insane and since the older Namek wasn't the type to ask questions, it

made it all the more fun to tease.



	Piccolo rolled his eyes.  He would have to give in, if he wanted to

Dende to stop with the teasing.  "What is it?"



	Dende's eyes twinkled mischievously, "There happens to be a 'friend' of

yours involved in a battle with a human right now."



	Piccolo's eyes immediately turned in the direction of a chi signature

not far from the area.  Piccolo only had two such 'friends' that Dende's

tone seemed to indicate.  "Vejita.  There is another person beside him. 

A human by the chi signature."



	"Use your eyes," Dende gently admonished.



	Piccolo was about to snap back, but decided against it.  The "Nail" in

him again.  Dende, of course, referred to the powers of who could be

called his father, the elder Piccolo and also the previous Kami.  The

boy didn't know how much he disliked being reminded that he was not the

true original Piccolo.  Going to the edge of Kami's platform high in the

sky, Piccolo focussed his eyes and looked.  What he saw nearly made him

fall off the platform.



			* * * * *



	Goku listened to Goten's words as they sat together for dinner and
couldn't quite believe his ears.  He believed in nearly anything, but this
_was_ Vejita they had been talking about.  Even in death, Vejita had been
quite clear to tell Enma, God of Death, that he did not want to be put in a 
cell next to any human or any member such weak race.  Goku had seen first 
hand that Vejita was a better sort now, but still, eating and training a 
human were a little way out there.



	Even so, his mind was concentrated on Vejita's chi signature somewhere not 
far from his home.  It was quite low at the moment, which led Goku to conclude a 
battle was about to take place.  Normally, they all kept their chi at high 
levels, which helped in increasing their chi.  In a real battle, however, one 
only used chi as it was necessary to conserve as much strength as possible.  Who 
Vejita could be fighting or training was something that Goku was very curious to 
know.



			* * * * *



	Ranma struck first, but kept his chi level to a minimal, knowing that

Vejita would do the same.  Partly to as a check to see how much stronger

his base power level had gotten and partly because he wanted to get used

to the normal fighting conditions of the Earth again.



	Vejita blocked and dodged most of Ranma's so called assault.  There was

really not enough power being used to even harm his Saiyajin body at

zero chi level.  Normally, he would have just stood there and flicked

the offending human away as he had always done whenever he had the

unfortunate battle with a human during one of those tournaments Goku

loved so much.  However, this time the human was not bad at all even

with no aura to speak of.  Saiyajin's did not have any real martial arts

style to speak of.  The closest thing their style could be referred to

as was kick boxing.



	Their philosophy was very simple.  Punch, kick, throw, dodge, and block

as fast as mortally possible.  The 'destination to from point a to point

b' philosophy as Bulma once put bluntly.  However, Vejita did not assume

the role as the strongest of the Saiyajin back when there were still

abundant Saiyajins without learning a few tricks along the way.  It was

this experience he relied upon now as he fought Ranma to a standstill. 

Where the boy's style flowed with complexity, Vejita's style stood

simply and solidly against its crashing tidal force.



	Ranma backed away from Vejita as it didn't seem that he could get past

his new sensei's defense any time soon.  The man did not fall for any of

his feints or waste much movement.  Vejita did not seem to be very

mobile with his feet spread slightly apart, one foot in front of the

other, yet he managed to evade nearly everything Ranma could throw.



	Vejita decided it was his turn as Ranma seemed to be caught with

momentary lack of ideas.  It was different fighting on the ground, even

though he preferred it.  Flying battles were so much a part of their

lives that he along with Goku tended to train in that area more.  It all

came back to him easily as he chased after Ranma's fleeing body.



	Ranma spun around, ducked a punch he knew was coming from above, and

ran the other way.  He quickly decided his father's tactics against

opponents using offense as the best defense technique would not work in

this situation.  Ranma would get tired before Vejita would, even if the

latter punched and kicked nonstop and he did nothing but escape.  He

tried redirecting one of Vejita's out thrust arms into a throw, but

again the older man's experience showed through.



	Vejita shifted his weight so that Ranma's leverage on him was reduced. 

The boy had followed his example quickly and soon they both stood in one

spot at a standstill again.  Their hands on each other's clothes.  He

looked at Ranma and let go.  His student did the same.



	There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between them that playtime was

over.  Ranma stepped back a ways and started to raise his ki to the

level he had before he went in to the room.  He then created the

duplicate of himself as Vejita had taught him and then smiled.  It had

taken him a short while to find the weakness.



	Vejita was not disappointed at all that Ranma decided to use the

duplicate body technique.  The boy continued to surprise him with an

adaptability rivaled only by pure Saiyajins like himself.  He had

deliberately taught the boy this technique so that he could test this

adaptability further.  The smile told him that he would not be

disappointed.  Quickly, he raised his own chi to double that of the real

Ranma's current power.



	Ranma waited until Vejita finished before willing his counterpart

towards his sensei's flank and he, the other side.  As he expected,

Vejita was prepared.



	Vejita grinned as he weaved his way between the two Ranmas.  There was

an inherent weakness in the technique Ranma was using.  While it allowed

the user to attack in a group of two to four and had the same advantages

of such an assault, such as distraction, it was limited by what could be

done.  The other bodies used could not think on their own and were thus

only as effective as the person controlling them.  Ultimately, the

clones would end up attacking in the same fashion as the original body. 

Cell was the best that Vejita has seen, at using this skill.  However,

Goku had still beat Cell's version of it because of his knowledge of the

techniques Cell used.  One could not win when one used the same tactic

over and over.



	Ranma grunted as his other self disappeared.  The other form could only

stay as long as he kept his concentration.  "Heh, I knew you would be

able to deal with it.  Even if I made two more bodies, I think you would

be able to handle me."



	"You still used it, even though you knew?" Vejita asked, keeping his

eyes on Ranma.  The boy's chi level remained exactly the same even

though he had knocked the other body away.



	"Had to make sure," Ranma shrugged, "and besides, I needed to practice

it first.  This time for real."



	Vejita watched as Ranma recreated a duplicate.  Again, Ranma's chi did

not diminish, so his power had have been doubled in the month spent in

the Room.  "What is this going to prove?"



	Ranma ignored his sensei for a moment as he scanned the area.  He

grinned as he found what he had been looking for.  He hadn't chosen this

battle ground out of randomness.  "You'll see."



	Vejita raised his eyebrow as Ranma walked over to a nearby stream

flowing nearby.  A splash later, a girl walked back to him.  "A girl is

supposed to do a what a boy couldn't before?"



	Ranma continued to grin and sent her still male duplicate towards

Vejita in the same manner as before.  "I don't know.  Maybe, maybe not."



			* * * * *



	Piccolo blinked.  That was different.  "Since when did human boys

transform into human girls?"



	"Magic," Dende replied.  Magic was not uncommon to himself, but Piccolo

had not lived among their own kind so would not be as used to it.  Even

so, Piccolo had Nail's and the former Piccolo's memories, so the concept

wasn't too hard.



	Piccolo went back the scene below.  It was true that this Ranma had a

strange aura around him.  The full extent of his own magical abilities

went only so far as to create simple objects like clothing.  But, his

father had created the dragon balls, so he knew first hand just how

powerful the right kind of magic could be.



			* * * * *



	Goku stopped eating.  The chi was different.  Another person would not 
have
 noticed the very small difference, he was sure.  The yin and yang of the

person Vejita was fighting just shifted slightly.  Almost as if a boy had turned 
into a girl.  Could it be transformation?  Goku decided it was time to head 
towards the battle.  He gave Chi-Chi a look and she gave him an exasperated 
sigh, but she nodded.  She was good that way.  He teleported instantly to
Vejita's position.


			* * * * *



	Vejita bent his head to the side, narrowly missing a fist in his face. 

His ear tinged slightly as he didn't manage to avoid all of it.  He

grunted as the girl behind him managed to kick him in the midsection. 

The male duplicate followed up her kick with one of his own to his

head.  Vejita flew across the ground, his body skidding along the

ground.  Ranma didn't pursue him.



	Ranma waited a few meters away.  That attack was not strong enough to

have hurt Vejita much.  Dozens of bruises on her body taught her that

lesson all too well.  Instead, she fired off a chi blast to where

Vejita's body lay.  Vejita immediately began to glow with power and was

in another place by the time Ranma's chi blast hit.



	Vejita frowned.  The girl managed to get him to increase his chi level

first.  "Very effective style," he admitted grudgingly.



	Ranma grinned as Vejita stayed at this new level of power.  It was a

small victory in having made her sensei react first, but a victory

nonetheless in her mind.  "I figured that the reason you would be able

to handle my first try was because you knew what to expect, not

mattering how many times I split myself.  But, what if I fought in

totally different fashion?  It would be impossible for a mind to think

differently, but not for two different bodies to react differently to

attack.  Heh, I trained for a whole week in my girl body getting it to

respond differently than my male body.  It took me awhile to separate my

form completely."



	"It won't work a second time though."



	Ranma shrugged.  She waved her hand and the duplicate disappeared.  She

then flew over to the stream again and fired off a chi blast into it.  A

showering wave of heated water rained down on her.  He came back to

Vejita, a man again.  "I know.  I just wanted to try it out and I'm sure

I could make it work better next time."



	Vejita shook his head.  The boy's confidence reminding him again of his

youth.  He waited until Ranma's chi level raised to match his own.  He

was right, the boy had at least doubled in strength and more.



	Ranma took to the air and Vejita soon joined him.  The wind blew by

him, making his pigtail flutter in the wind.  This was his element,

Ranma felt.  He could still remember all those years of training, of

jumping and leaping in the style of Anything Goes, never quite reaching

the sky.  This was what Saotome-ryu was meant to be.



	Vejita easily dodged Ranma's flailing arms and legs, but he easily

could not have been there.  The boy wasn't even serious in attacking

him.  He could see Ranma's closed eyes as complex katas after kata were

performed in the air.  He marveled at how contented the human looked at

the moment, but this was not the time.  He then began his counterattack.



	Ranma felt his arm being block, instinctively, he opened his eyes just

in time to see and duck the countermove.  He berated himself silently at

losing himself in the middle of the battle.  He watched wonderingly as

Vejita's attacks whizzed by him, missing him completely.  Double

checking, he saw that their power levels were still the same.



	Vejita floated back away from Ranma as it looked like nothing was

getting through.  He was sure that the boy had only just learned the

skill to flying.  A month and a half in the Room could not have been

this beneficial.  Ranma took to flying like a duck to water.  Grimacing,

Vejita hesitantly increased his chi level again.  It was time to test

how far he could go with the boy.



			* * * * *



	Ranma spit out some blood.  Pushing himself off the ground, he tried to

raise enough chi to fly, but found he didn't even have enough to do that

much.  Wearily, he stood up and used what little of power he had left

for defense.  Vejita did not look like he was done.



	Vejita walked forward and grimly watched as Ranma got up again.  He had

deliberately raised his power to double that of Ranma's, yet the boy

still resiliently stood up.  How much further could he push?  Was it

time?  "Ranma if you can survive for another minute, I'll let you rest

for the day."



	Ranma did not say anything, only looking at his sensei suspiciously. 

One more minute?  He had practiced another move of his quite extensively

in the room for an occasion like this.  He had wanted to save it as a

wild card against Vejita, but the way the older man was looking at him,

left Ranma little doubt as to whether this time was good as any.



	Rather than relax his stance, Vejita once again raised his chi level. 

He had to take opportunity of every moment if he were to raise Ranma to

high enough level to be a challenge.  He had to see if Ranma's will to

live was great enough to handle to harder training that was to come.



	Ranma braced himself as Vejita took a small step forward.  A blur of

speed later his sensei was upon him.  It was then that they danced.



	Vejita was surprised to find himself lured into Ranma's spiraling

movements.  This was the technique that Ranma had used against Pan. 

From what he had seen of it previously, it was not a move that would be

very effective against himself.  Pan had foolishly rushed into the trap

that Ranma had set, when she could have easily flown out of the twisting

wind had she kept better attention.  Vejita had both the speed and

ability to fly out of such a move.



	Ranma nearly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Vejita did not

stop the spiral from happening.  While it was true that the weakness in

this move was that it could not affect a person able to fly, it was not

the whole truth.  He had usually used the hiryu shoten ha's tornado to

do most of the damage, because it was far less destructive.  The true

strength lay in sending the actual chi blast generated from an

opponent's chi aura back at them.  Had he used that against the students

of Furinken that time he first learned it, they all would have died from

the blast.  He only dared using the full power of the technique on

people like Saffron and Herb.



	There was a catch, however.  The chi blast generated came directly from

his upthrust fist, meaning his attacker would have to be directly over

him.  He would have to get hit, to be able to hit Vejita.



	Vejita had waited for Ranma's move, when he suddenly found himself

already in the middle of the spiral.  The boy was willing to make a

sacrifice in order to hit him, it suddenly occurred to him.  He

connected with Ranma's chest and at the same time felt a fist ram into

his stretched out arm.  It was really just a light tap, yet a sudden

burning sensation engulfed his arm.  It was then he recalled the flash

of light that occurred when the move was used similarily on Pan.  He had

passed it off as Pan's aura, and it was, but a chi blast with Pan's chi

signature would have been more correct.  A moment later the chi blast

carried him up into the sky and he came down to a crashing thud.  Or he

would have if he hadn't suddenly landed in the arms of one Son Goku.



			* * * * *



	"Student?  Vejita, since when did you like humans?" Goku asked, puzzled

as his friend picked the boy named Ranma up.



	"I don't like humans."



	"But...," Goku tried to continue, but Vejita was already starting to

leave.



	"Meet me at Bulma's in two days."



	"Er, okay, Vejita," Goku agreed.  He was used to Vejita's curt way of

speaking.  He figured everything would be explained by then.



	"Oh, and be sure to eat before you come."



	Goku watched as Vejita flew away.  A grin suddenly came to his face. 

Vejita's face had formed a snarling grin after that last sentence.  It

was something that Goku had not seen since after he left to train Ubuu. 

He had missed seeing it on his old rival's face in the recent years.



			* * * * *



	"Where are you going, Piccolo?" Dende asked as Piccolo suddenly got up.



	"To train."



	The words were simple, but Dende felt a heavy undertone in them.  He

could see Piccolo's eyes burn with determination.  Vejita wasn't the

only one that had mellowed out in the intervening years.  The current

Kami beamed as this little show seemed to break his old friend out of a

years long funk.



			* * * * *



	Pan smiled as she happily cleared the arena again.  With Vejita

training Ranma, she didn't doubt that Ranma would become better than

her.  That would get rid of that silly twitch Ranma seemed to develop

when she mentioned about girls beating him.  "Come on.  You guys can do

better than that.  This time, I'll tie one hand behind my back, okay?"



	"What is she so happy about?" One student asked another as they helped

each other up.



	"She's in love."



	A collective shudder went through the crowd of students.



			* * * * *



	Bra watched as Trunks came into the weight room, dragging Goten along

with him.  "What are you doing in here?" she asked suspiciously.  Trunks

did not train very much with him being so busy at Capsule Corp. and with

his girlfriend, Marron.



	"Training.  Why are you training all of a sudden?" Trunks asked

suspiciously.  Bra did not usually use the weight room, claiming that

muscles were unattractive.



"Him.  You?"



	The boy, Trunks should have figured.  "None of your business."



	"Him too then.  Jealous?"



	Trunks ignored her.  He was not jealous of a boy taking so much of his

father's time.  He wasn't.  "C'mon Goten.  You haven't trained in

awhile, also.  I need a sparring partner."



	Goten rolled his eyes.  His friend was jealous.  Oh well, if he got a

free dinner out of it, he was willing to help.



			* * * * *



	Mr. Satan looked over the sign up sheet for this year's tournament.  He

looked over it several times and each time it did not change. 

Considering there were still a couple of months before the tournament,

there would be a lot more sign ups before then.  It was going to be one

of those years.  "Buu.  I think it's time for me to retire and send you,

my star pupil in my place."



	Buu smiled and licked some cake of his face.  It would be nice to see

Goku again.



			* * * * *



The End. (maybe)



Subject: Dragon Ball R1/2 5
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 17:53:13 -0700
From: Donny <chengdo@shaw.wave.ca>
To: chengdo@shaw.wave.ca

Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of
their respective creators and companies.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga and a few
years after the end of DBZ.  It largely overwrites most of DBGT.

C & C welcomed.

Dragon Ball R1/2

by

Donny Cheng

Chapter 5

His life was starting to fall into a pattern, Ranma felt as the door of
the regeneration tank opened with familiarity.  He pulled himself out of
the tank and started to change into the pair of clothes Vejita had left
for him.  Before leaving the room, he gave the tank one more admiring
glance before he headed towards Vejita's chi signature in the gravity
room.  How much further would he had been if he had such a thing to aid
him when he first started out?  The tank allowed him to go through days
of intensive training and all out battles without needing a break.
After every battle, though physically drained, he could sense an
improvement that was hard to deny.

He reached deep inside himself, ready to bring forth the hidden
Power he knew had grown by leaps and bounds compared to his previous
level.  They would be training today, so Ranma could afford to have his
body fall under the strain of exerting such chi levels, without having
to worry about additional factors involved in battle.  His body, after
over a month in the Room of Spirit and Time, was adapting very well to
the test.  He could still remember his battles before coming to Satan
City.  Though he had been much faster than Ryoga, he had had to hold
back and he knew Ryoga did the same.  The body could only take so much
chi, before its stamina diminished at a frighteningly fast rate.  Today,
he intended to find out exactly how far he could push his body.

                        * * * * *

Vejita had waited to hear this from the boy.  Now, with his full
cooperation he could go even further.  At first, Vejita had not been
sure, though he did not show it, on what Ranma felt about this
situation.  It was not like he had been given a choice on the matter.
"Is that _it_?"

Ranma frowned at his sensei.  The man didn't move a single facial muscle
when he officially asked Vejita to train him.  True, Ranma had already
accepted it, before this, but it had been the short menacing man doing
the asking.  After the announcement their training had taken a different
tone.  It had consisted of Ranma performing every technique that he knew
of before coming to Satan City.  "What do you mean, that's _it_?"

Vejita snorted.  "Chi blasts that rely on emotion.  A technique that
relies on the enemy specific conditions.  Another one that is useless
when you have reached your current level.  Dozens more locked up because
of a promise between you and this Ryu.  Pity, I would have liked to see
how these skills would have fared with your current level."

"Hey, I hit you with my useless moves, didn't I?  I can probably do the
hiryu shoten ha without moving now.  Your energy spirals outward when
you raise it.  I could stand there all day throwing them at you.  And
I'm working on the chi blasts.  I think I can gain better control of
them if I modify them with emotion."

The boy would just have to learn the hard way.  Vejita was going to show
Ranma even if the boy hadn't said what he said.  "I went easy on you.
The truth is you should be dead had you lowered your chi level to zero.
You don't believe me?  Do it right now."

Ranma nodded slowly and moved over to the middle of the gravity room.
The moment Vejita's chi started to rise, Ranma was sure that with his
skill he could fire off another hiryu shoten ha quickly.  Lowering his
chi to a level that was nonexistent as Cologne had taught him, he
prepared himself for Vejita.  "Ready..."

Unfortunately, Ranma would not complete that thought.  Vejita's chi had
risen so fast, Ranma didn't even have a chance to lift his hand.  With
only chi, his sensei had been able to force him to the wall of the room
and held him there.  No technique, no contact, just pure chi that the
body naturally emitted and he was defeated.  Giving up, Ranma let the
chi flow into his body again and soon he was able to stand on his own
two feet.  He stared towards Vejita and could only gape in awe.

"This is transformation.  There are some species that for some reason or
other conceal their true strengths.  We conceal it because we simply
have too much power.  This is not my strongest form.  I can transform
yet again.  To remain at zero chi levels when I am in this form is pure
folly."

Ranma did not know what to think.  Vejita had grown slightly larger, his
hair a bright yellow, and a whole lot more menacing.  "I get the point,"
Ranma finally said.  He had to forget the way he had trained and his
previous battles if he wanted to reach this upper echelon of fighters
Vejita seemed to be a part of.

Vejita powered down at Ranma's acknowledgement.  He didn't let the humor
come into his eyes at Ranma's lack of fear.  The boy was too busy
feeling sorry for himself.  For a human this young, Ranma was certainly
not as bad as he might think he was.  But he would not say anything on
this, since he somehow knew that this was exactly the type of motivation
that the boy thrived on.  "What's this about using emotion to control
your chi blasts?"

Ranma perked up at this, pushing how far the gap between he and his
sensei was aside for the moment.  "Yeah, look."  Ranma concentrated on
his depression, since his confidence was at an all time low.

Vejita watched the small ball of energy wobble out of Ranma's hand.  It
did not dissipate for a long time and just hovered to where ever Ranma
pointed, before it finally exploded harmlessly at the wall.  Usually one
needed a huge level of control over one's chi to do that.  Kuririn was
one such human that could control chi energy to a great degree for his
relatively poor ability when Vejita had first met him.  But Ranma had
not had the same extensive training period with chi from what he had
learned of the other fighters in their group.  "This trick is probably
useful at your current level.  If I am right about the feel of the chi,
that is a negative emotion, most probably depression you're using."

Ranma refused to let himself be impressed.  "Yeah.  It's called the shi
shi hokodan.  I used this as a template for my own version.  I've never
been able to pull off a perfect version of my own move, but I have seen
one for this version.  I figure if it's this strong now, when I perfect
it, I can pull off a perfect shi shi hokodan about ten times, maybe a
hundred times, stronger than Ryoga's."

Vejita did not know who Ranma was talking about, but this 'perfect'
version of Ranma's low level chi blast sounded foolish.  "A fight
between two users of this 'depression' blast is a waste of time,
especially if the users have relatively the same level of energy.  A
vicious circle would form.  Depression is fed off of one another."

This time, Ranma was not able to hide his respect.  He grinned at the
idea that someone could think as fast as him.  "Exactly.  The perfect
shi shi hokodan draws power from a person that has nothing left within
him _but_ depression.  I can't seem to make an upward spiral of my
emotions into pure confidence with my own technique.  Ryoga used some
cheesy trick to get depressed, but it took me a while to realize that it
really wasn't needed.  All that is really needed is to keep the vicious
circle from breaking..."

"Eventually, this perfect technique you speak of would be useable by
both practitioners," Vejita finished for Ranma, but he had not been even
aware that he had said it out loud.  A vicious circle.  Depression.
Anger.  "Show me again, this shi shi hokodan."

Ranma felt the urge to flee as Vejita stared at him.  Although Vejita
was not in his 'super' body, he seemed so much more dangerous with his
teeth flashing and his eyes giving off some strange glint.  Ranma
quickly performed the shi shi hokodan again and his sensei left as soon
as he was done.  Vejita had not even bothered opening the door, opting
to blast through the wall.  Ranma did not want to be the person the
older man met up with.

                        * * * * *

Goku looked up at the ceiling, knowing that a person was just above the
thick walls.  It was Vejita.  Apparently, his rival could not wait the
two days.  That was good, because he couldn't either.  "Chi-Chi, I'm
going out for a second.  Keep the food warm."

Chi-Chi turned around to glare angrily at her husband, only to find
empty space.  She went over to the window and Vejita's unmistakable form
stood floating in the air.  She sighed.  Men!  Goku was going to need a
big meal tonight.

                        * * * * *

Goku sat cross-legged on the ground waiting for Vejita to finish
preparing.  He sat on the other side of the clearing, cross-legged as
well, meditating.  What was wrong with Vejita today?  Usually, Goku knew
his rival to be much more aggressive and sought to begin the battle as
soon as possible.  "Vejita?  Are still hurt from the last time?  I
didn't mean to punch you so hard."

Vejita opened his eyes.  Trust the idiot to say something tactless to
start the ball rolling.  "Kakaroto, you imbecile!  You are always
mocking me with your stupidity.  How could one with such intelligence
best me?"

Goku blinked.  Vejita hadn't insulted him that hard in years.  Sure, he
had been called dumb on many occasion by his rival, but never three
times in succession.  It was then that he saw a ball of chi fly in his
direction.  Automatically he batted it back at Vejita, knowing it to be
quite weak in power.  What surprised Goku was that the other man just
stood there and took the blast.

The blast barely tingled Vejita.  But it registered enough on his mind.
"There you go again!  Scoffing at my power.  Just because you had
reached the third transformation of a Super Saiyajin before I had."

Goku scratched his head.  Vejita's power had raised slightly.  But not
nearly as high as the two of them were used to fighting.  He again
batted the next ball of chi back to Vejita and again his rival just took
it.

Vejita felt a larger tingle when his own chi blast collided with his
thigh.  "I, the Prince of the Saiyajins, can't even defeat a lowly foot
soldier!"

Goku blinked again.  This time a familiar grin appeared on his face.
Who would have thought that Vejita could think up such an ingenious
plan?  His power level had again risen a notch.  The chi blasts sent his
way became progressively stronger and Goku could tell also 'heavier'.
It looked like he might have speed up the process.  Thinking of some
insult that might work, he set about to work.  "Your hair is funny!"

Vejita could feel the anger rise up within him at Kakaroto's stupid
words.  The idiot had obviously figured it out.  He concentrated on the
depression of that little fact.  Always the genius when it came to
battle.  Always one step ahead.  "Because of you, I have see the depths
of hell!"

Goku settled into the rhythm of sending insults and blasts at Vejita.
It took them five minutes before Vejita reached Super Saiyajin one
form.  It was going to take awhile.

"You caused me to return to Freeza a broken man that first time!"

Goku sighed.  A very long time.

                        * * * * *

Goku brushed the hair from his eyes.  The chi blasts had grown
progressively faster and more destructive, causing him to change into
his Super Saiyajin three form.  What he couldn't counter with chi
blasts, he had resorted to using his body to block and it had taken its
toll.  Vejita was hovering in the air, his eyes blank, at the peak of
the Super Saiyajin two form.  It would be close now.

"Because of you, I will die an old man.  If you had killed me all those
years ago, I would not have to live with the unfulfilling death of age.
Where is the honor or the glory in that?  The only way I could die now
is if the blasted sun exploded.  Even then, I would not be too sure,"
Vejita said, his voice breaking, with anger and sadness.

Goku didn't even have time to blink as the ball of negative energy sped
past him in another direction.  He was too late to use a chi blast.
Instead, he immediately teleported in front of the rapidly descending
bomb.  He was just in time to block it with his bare fists and
deflecting it harmlessly into the air.  Turning back to look at Vejita,
Goku cheered silently as he could see the beginning of the new
transformation.

Vejita could literally feel the shifting of the his bones to accommodate
the excess mass he had seemed to gain.  His face burned with pain as the
bones shifted so that his brow resembled those of their other more
simian transformation.  If Vejita didn't know better, he suspected that
he was turning into a gorilla with each successive change.  However, it
was still not enough.  His hair slowly began to shrink back and the
density of his body drastically lessened.  Because of you I will lose...
Bulma will not... I will not be able to see her....

Goku was about to yell another insult when the transformation process
seemed to stall.  But it resumed again after only a small delay.  That
last insult about the way he dresses was probably what put him over the
edge, Goku guessed.  Anything to help out a friend.

"Shi shi hokodan!"

Goku looked up into the sky and stared.  A ball of energy, roughly the
size of a small hill slowly descended upon the earth.  He could destroy
it he was sure with a blast from his palm, but there was no telling what
would happen when such a large ball was dispersed all of a sudden.  He
would have to do it the old fashioned way.  Push it away.  Determined,
he flew over to the ball and placed his hands on the searing underbelly
of it.

                        * * * * *

Vejita's hair stopped growing.  He stood in that one spot for roughly a
minute before finally letting go of his iron grip on his anger.  Slowly
the negative feelings within him ebbed and his sanity came back to him.
He had done it.  He had caught up to Kakaroto's!  Vejita turned around
to look around for the fool.  The last thing he had remembered was
something incredibly heavy coming out of hiis hands.  It was then that
he noticed he stood in the middle of a large crater with Kakaroto's limp
body lying on the ground.  The fool was grinning like an idiot.

"Hey, you did it!  How'd you ever think of something like that?" Goku
asked as he pushed himself off the ground.  His hair back to the normal
shade of black and his body bloodied in many areas.  That last blast of
Vejita's was as strong as a fully powered Kamehame-ha.

Vejita's mood was indescribable.  It was an exhilaration similar to when
he had his first win, his first kill, the first time he transformed to
his first two forms..., and when he had married her.  Smirking, he lent
a hand down to his fallen rival.

"We have to have a rematch soon," Goku said earnestly.  The thought of
fighting another Super Saiyajin three form was making him giddy with
excitement.  "Of course, we'll have to find some place safer.  I think
the earth was already beginning to strain just with the power of two of
us.  If we were to have another fight, I don't think she can handle it."

Rematch.  The words gave Vejita a sense of satisfaction.  It was
Kakaroto that asked for a rematch this time.  Vejita generously nodded.
"Let's fly to Bulma.  With those injuries, you won't be able to fly very
fast and your woman is much father away."

Goku gave a Vejita a friendly smile, but was inwardly puzzled at his
behavior.  This was the first time that he had ever offered his arm and
home to Goku.  "Vejita, you're not sick are you?"

Vejita wouldn't let his good mood be ruined by Kakaroto this time.
"Let's just go home."

                        * * * * *

Piccolo didn't have to look at the sky to know that it was once again
its pure blue color.  Two Super Saiyajins at level three.  It was a
wonder that they were all still standing on this planet.  Instead, he
concentrated on himself.  After a day of intensive searching, he had
come to the conclusion that he had reached a limit.  He could not push
past this invisible block that prevented him from taking his training to
the next step.

There was a way though.  It had been something that Piccolo often
thought of but had never implemented due to his pride.  But at his
current rate, pride was not going to get him anywhere.  With that
thought, he concentrated on Nail, the first Namek he had fused with.
Nail was always there hidden somewhere in his mind, healing from the
wounds Freeza had given him.  Piccolo, however, knew that Nail would be
fully healed if he came out at this time.

A wrenching pull on his body caused him to fall to the ground of his
campsite.  His limbs, body, and mind felt as they were being slowly
stabbed.  He was being split apart, he felt, by the a dull edge of a
blade.  With one last grunt he pushed.

Beside him lay Nail, equally gasping for air.

                        * * * * *

Goten applauded loudly.  "You almost did it that time.  If you held it
for a few more seconds, I think you would have been able to do it."

Trunks flashed Goten a grin.  This will show his father.  The image of
his father staying up all night watching Ranma in the regeneration tank
brought a sharp pang of jealousy to his heart.  "You know we will have
to make you transform to Super Saiyajn two also.  Gotenks just wouldn't
be the same if I was so much higher than you."

Goten bigsweated.  His friend had to be kidding.  Thoughts of his
beating up of Trunks to create anger camee to his mind.  "Can't we ski
it?"

"No."

                        * * * * *

Pan stretched lazily.  It didn't matter that Bra was older.  Pan had
spent much more time training.  "Why are we doing this again?"

"I'm sure we can change into Super Saiyajins.  It was easy for Trunks
and Goten because all they had to do was get angry for a few seconds.
It's easy to feel pure anger as a child since the brain is still young
and other thoughts do not cloud it.  We never had the chance to take
advantage of that.  So, it'll probably take an all out fight to bring it
out," Bra said.  All that she said was theoretical at best from her
mother's studies on her father.  She had no idea if a girl could
transform, however.

Pan sighed.  Her grandfather had tried to help her transform when she
was five, but Pan just couldn't get angry at him no matter what he did.
It didn't help that Goku sucked big time in the insult department.
"Maybe, you're right.  So you sign up for the Tenkaichi-budokai yet?"

"Of course.  When I saw Daddy fly to Mr. Satan's dojo, I knew he had
that thought in mind.  If Ranma is his student, he has to show up."

Pan nodded.  A good fight was what brought grandfather Goku and
grandmother Chi-Chi together, she had been told.  Her mother also fell
in love with her father because of a fight.  It might even be a family
curse for all Pan knew.

                        * * * * *

Vejita saw that Ranma had used the gravity room on his own.  The machine
indicated that a pressure of twenty times the force of gravity had been
used.  He must have trained all day to from the looks of the sweat that
plastered the clothing to his body.  Vejita had a strange smile on his
face as he watched the boy sleep for a moment before taking Ranma to his
room where he could be more comfortable.

                        * * * * *

The End. (maybe)

--
Anime Fanboy and Fanfiction Writer ^_^
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/4537
ICQ #: 13236148


sclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of 
their respective creators and companies.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga and a few 
years after the end of DBZ.  It largely overwrites most of DBGT.

C & C welcomed.

Dragon Ball R1/2

by

Donny Cheng

Chapter 6

	"Is that your uncle Goku in the regeneration tank?" Bulma asked 
as she walked into the kitchen to eat dinner with her family.  Her two 
children, Bra and Trunks, pointed inconspicuously to their father who 
sat with the paper in front of him.  His entire face was covered from 
view.

	Years of being Vejita's wife had taught her to know when he was 
in a good mood and from the way he didn't grumble at the mentioning of 
her long time friend, she figured he was in a _very_ good mood.  She 
could imagine that infernal smirk of his behind the paper, just waiting 
for her to demand an answer from him.  She decided against asking him 
about Goku directly as his ego seemed to be big enough for a dozen 
Saiyajins at the moment.  He was most insufferable when he was like 
this.

	She rolled her eyes for the benefit of her children, knowing what 
they must have gone through asking Vejita about Goku.  "Well, Trunks?"  
She asked, turning to her eldest child, deliberately ignoring her 
husband.

	"Oh, Dad brought Uncle Goku in.  I think they had one of their 
fights again."  Trunks was still slightly surprised to learn that his 
father had surpassed the Super Saiyajin Two mark into the third 
transformation.  He smiled when he remembered his father's jaw lock 
into place when both he and Bra said they must have missed it.  The 
gravity rooms were designed to block most of what went inside from the 
outside world and vice versa.

	"He looks pretty badly beaten.  Did he have a fight before this?" 
Bulma asked loudly, noticing the paper Vejita held twitching 
uncontrollably.

	Bra managed to hold her giggle in at her mother's implication of 
Daddy only putting Goku in this state because Uncle was softened up.  
"No, I don't think so.  I haven't felt any sudden rise in chi from 
people other than Daddy and Uncle for a long time now," Bra smiled when 
she saw the paper stop twitching.  "It's more likely Uncle was still 
tired from his last fight with Daddy.  Daddy does have those 
regeneration tanks and Uncle doesn't."

	*Oh dear,* Bulma thought as she saw the veins on the hand 
gripping the paper pop out.  She gave a look to Bra, admonishing her.  
Bulma shook her head as her daughter simply smiled impishly back.

	"Oh, Daddy, you know I love you," Bra giggled as she went over 
and wrapped her hands around his neck.  She gave him a peck on his 
cheek, his stony face didn't even soften a bit.  "Congratulations.  I'm 
happy that you've reached a new level."

	Vejita merely straightened the paper he held as if only caring 
that his daughter's open show of affection had creased it.

	Bra wondered if she had went too far, but she then felt her 
father's hand on her own.  It was gentle like always when he wasn't 
training her.

	"Your chi level has raised.  Yours too, Trunks."

	"A little bit.  I'm going to train some more now.  Pan said she 
will be back later tonight," Bra said, surprised her father had 
detected that.  She blushed as he patted her hand again, indicating he 
approved.  *He must really be happy today.*

	"Ah, yeah, I guess a bit.  The next tournament is going to be on 
soon and I thought I might enter this year," Trunks said, trying hard 
not to stammer as the spotlight centered on him.  Pride welled up in 
him as he heard his father give a noncommittal grunt.  Anytime his 
father didn't say anything at all or outright disapprove of it was a 
good sign.

	"I'll come by later and see how your training is going."

	"Okay," Trunks said.  He was beginning to wish he hadn't been 
training all afternoon.  The fight his father and Uncle Goku had must 
really have been something to watch for his father to be this happy.

	Bulma watched with a smile as her children left the table.  
"Looks like it's just us two for dinner again.  They sure grow up 
fast."

	"You coddle them.  Trunks should have been off on his own years 
ago.  Bra should be married to a strong warrior by now."

	Bulma ignored her husband's words.  He didn't really mean the 
things he said.  This was a man that nearly destroyed a school when Bra 
had a paper cut when she was still in elementary school.  Not to 
mention the number of boys that Bra brought home to meet him, fleeing 
after only a minute of talking with him.  Bulma also remembered the 
time Trunks had been going through his rebel days and threatened to run 
away and nearly did one time.  It had been Vejita that flew after the 
boy, carrying her sleeping son back over his shoulder.

	"Hmph.  Call Chi-Chi and tell her to pick up her husband in the 
morning.  The injuries his body took might take awhile to fully heal."

	Bulma blinked.  "Okay, that's it.  You are not my husband.  Is 
that you Oolong?  What are you trying to pull here?"

	"What!?" Vejita thundered.  "Are you out of your mind, Woman?"

	"Now that's the Vejita, I know," Bulma said as she put her 
fingers to her ears, muffling the loud deafening noise.  She could now 
see her husband's face.  It was angry as usual.  "Finally.  I was 
wondering when you would take that damned news paper away and talk to 
me."

	Bulma was shocked to see her husbands angry frown lighten up as 
she neared him.  While he never remained angry at her for long, he 
never forgave that quickly before.  "You can't be that happy about Goku 
in the tank and you out here, can you?"

	"Of course not," Vejita lied.  It was so silly, but what Bulma said was true.  A Saiyajin should never be happy at so small a victory, but he was.  Well a small part of it since Goku had been mostly acting as his punching bag.  His contentment had come from something even more stupid a thought than winning a mere match.  When he was younger, being anything less than the best was enough to send his blood boiling.  Now, he was happy with a simply gain on his quest to 'catch up'.

	"Well, I suppose you want to 'celebrate' later.  Should I cancel 
my evening appointments?" Bulma asked as she sat on her husband's lap, 
initiating things between them for once.  Vejita had an utter lack of 
interest in what age she was when they were in bed.  Try as she might, 
but convincing him that a woman in her fifties was different from the 
woman he first met was impossible.  Bulma had to admit though that it 
did wonders for her self-esteem.

	"I knew I married for some reason," Vejita growled softly as he 
nestled his nose at the hollow of her throat.

	"What?" Bulma asked, giggling like a school girl as his nose 
tickled her.  He would always answer that question the same way.  His 
answers were often frustrating:  Sex, bear my children, you have wealth 
and power, you were the closest...  Bulma's ire grew as she remembered 
the past reasons her husband gave her.

	"I... you."

	Bulma blinked.  "What did you say, Vejita?"  She couldn't make 
out the word between the 'I' and 'you'.  Did he say it?  All she got 
back from her husband was a grunt as he excused himself from the table 
to go looking for Trunks, leaving her there with a look of bewilderment 
on her face.

			* * * * *

	Trunks frowned, his good mood disappearing quickly as he entered 
the gravity room.  It seemed Ranma was back at work training.  The 
boy's stamina was amazing.  From the logs in the computer he knew that 
Ranma had just started with training in the room at twenty times the 
force of gravity.  And now here was he was again.

	"Hey," Ranma said after noticing Trunks entering the room.  He 
carefully put the dumbbells down.  Everything he did had to be done 
carefully as even the smallest error could pull his arm from its 
socket.  He couldn't even contemplate how Vejita and the others could 
work out at four hundred times the force of gravity.

	"Hey.  You mind if I use this room to train?  Pan and Bra are 
using one of the two rooms I just had installed and the other one is on 
the fritz."

	"It's your house," Ranma shrugged.  He sighed with relief when 
the older boy returned to room to its regular gravity.  He felt the 
sudden wash of power surging in his veins now that the power was no 
longer needed for him to move in the room.  It took only a second for 
him to dissipate the power his will controlled and he was left with an 
empty feeling that he had gotten used to.  

	"Never ever seen a human rise as fast as you," Trunks said, 
starting the conversation.  Just what was it about this human that made 
his father take notice?  Trunks couldn't believe it was power since as 
impressive as Ranma was for a human, he just wasn't all that impressive 
when you looked at the people his father associated with.

	"Well, I am the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes," 
Ranma grinned modestly.  "But from what Vejita tells me, I'm slow in 
improving compared to you.

	"M-My dad said something about me?" Trunks asked, not sure if he 
could believe it.

	"Yeah, you reached that first stage of that transformation thing 
you guys do faster than he did," Ranma recalled from his conversations 
with Vejita.  Well they were more like the other man talking and Ranma 
listening.  Vejita was not a man of many words but when it came to 
motivation, the use of taunts was not above him.  Ranma hated the 
grating voice telling him of how even a person like Trunks, who had not 
fought seriously for almost ten years, could beat him in three seconds 
flat.

	Trunks was still quite shocked by the fact that his father even 
thought of him at all, so he did not notice the glare Ranma sent his 
way.  "He mention anything else?  He never tells me these things."

	Ranma felt kind of silly glaring at a now melancholy looking 
Trunks.  The expression on his face dropped as he sat down where the 
older boy was.  "Heh, better than what I get from my pop.  All he wants 
from me is martial arts.  Vejita doesn't seem that obsessed with you 
learning it as much as my pop is."

	"Maybe," Trunks replied.  His thinking however was the opposite 
of Ranma.  Trunks could still remember when he had told his father that 
he wanted to do other things in life other than fight.  His father 
argued with him but in the end he got his way and his father never 
trained him again.  *Why didn't you stop me, Dad?  I would have if you 
did.  You're the lucky one, Ranma.  Your father cared enough about what 
he wanted of you.*  "Then again, maybe not."

	Ranma felt suddenly uncomfortable as a long silence enveloped the 
two of them.  "Say, you want to spar?  I need to get rid of some of the 
kinks I have that the workout couldn't take care of."

	Trunks looked over at the grinning human.  An image of his father 
superimposed itself over Ranma's face.  Trunks shook his head to clear 
the illusion.  That grin is almost identical to Dad's.  A grin appeared 
on Trunks face that mirrored Ranma's and his father's exactly.  "Sure."

	"Hold it," a loud voice said.  "Boy, what did I tell you about 
over training?"  Vejita walked into the room with a frown on his face.

	"Ah, wasn't really over training.  Just a light workout to finish 
what I started this morning.  Passed out before I could."

	"You passed out because you were going too fast.  Get out of here 
now.  Besides, I have to test Trunks for the night.  Go do something 
else."

	Ranma deliberately walked slowly to the door.  Vejita's 
intimidation had not diminished a bit since Ranma had first met him.  
It increased if that was believable, but that had strangely made Ranma 
more determined not to let his fear show.  He nearly succeeded before 
Vejita's scowl deepened and his legs involuntarily moved faster.  *I 
just need a breath of fresh air,* Ranma thought quickly to himself.

	"Heh, was I ever like that?" Trunks wondered aloud.

	"Worse."

	Trunks couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his father's 
expression, no matter how he long looked at it, was not taunting or 
even angry.  "Uh, so what did you want to do?" Trunks asked as a 
familiar frown greeted him suddenly, making him wonder if he had been 
mistaken earlier.

	"I've been going through the logs of the computer the past week.  
You've stepped up the number of hours you train recently from what you 
normally do."

	"Y-You monitor my progress?"  *Does that mean you do care?*

	"It's one thing to decide you want to do something else, but 
quite another thing to give it up entirely.  No son of mine will be 
like that bookworm Gohan."

	Trunks failed to even grin as he normally did when his father 
complained about Gohan.  Gohan had reached the level two of the 
Saiyajins the earliest of them all at eleven years old.  It was not so 
much as wounded pride rather than regret, Trunk knew.  Regret at never 
having fought the person that could have been the strongest ever known 
had he tried.

	*How long have you been monitoring me, Dad?  Since I first 
decided to stop?* he wanted to ask.  Instead he just nodded his head as 
his father assessed how his training was going.

	"I've seen the readings also.  If I'm right you should be at the 
pinnacle of the first transformation.  One more step and you should 
surpass it.  Do you want to reach it?"

	*No,* Trunks remembered had been his answer when he was younger.  
He knew what Vejita's question meant.  His father would go all out on 
him, causing him pain unimaginable.  The thought of that happening has 
sickened him, and yet he would have done it if his father had pushed 
the idea on him.  Before he had thought his father didn't care enough, 
but now he didn't know.

	"Yes, father.  I want you to train me."

			* * * * *

	Bra fidgeted as she stood outside the gravity room waiting for 
Ranma.  *Thank you, Daddy!* she thought.  She wondered if her father 
would have asked her to watch over Ranma for the night to make sure he 
didn't train again, if he knew what she had in store for the pigtailed 
martial artist.

	"Oh, hey, Bra" Ranma said as he exited the room.

	"Hi, Ranma!"  *No, stupid, too loud.  Act natural.*

	Ranma looked on nervously as the aura around the girl flared 
brightly.  *Does she want to fight me?*

	"Um, you missed dinner.  I know how much you like to eat, so I 
wondered if you want to go out and get something to eat."

	"Food?  Hey, sure.  Now that you mention it, I am feeling hungry.  
Just let me get dressed and we'll be off."

	Everything was going perfectly.  *I just know this is one date 
where I won't get dumped!*  It then occurred to her that she was 
forgetting the small matter of a girl coming to train with her.  Bra 
raced to a phone and dialed the Son household.

	<<Hello, Son residence, Pan speaking.>>

	"Hello?  This is Bra.  Look something came up.  I can't train 
with you today, okay?"

	<<What?  You were the one that made me beg my mom to go over 
there.  Something wrong is going on there,>> the voice said 
suspiciously.

	"Nothing is going on here.  Don't you trust your very best 
friend?"

	<<Now, I know something is up.  This doesn't have anything to do 
with Ranma, does it?  I'll be over in a second!>>

	"Wait a minute..."

	Ranma came back from his room only to see the aura around Bra 
flaring uncontrollably.  There were remnants of what used to be a phone 
in her hand.  *I think this was a bad idea.*

			* * * * *

	*This is just too good to be true,* Bra thought as she scarfed 
down her ice cream, watching Ranma do the same.  *He doesn't really 
care how I eat!*

	Pan was in heaven as she ate another bowl of ice cream.  
*Finally, a date where I can eat decently for once.*  She remembered 
the horrors of the previous dates where she had to go through, starving 
but feared eating anything large lest her Saiyajin heritage rear it's 
ugly head.  Once she got eating, she just couldn't stop and this tended 
to make for very messing evenings.

	*Now if only she wasn't here,* Bra and Pan thought as she glared 
at each other.

	The store owner looked on with mixed emotions.  On one hand the 
business was good with three hefty eaters, but on the other hand, all 
his other customers sitting around the three had left in a hurry.  The 
strange thing was that as messy as they were, none of the ice cream 
landed on themselves.

	Ranma was oblivious as he continued to eat.

			* * * * *

	Dende laughed as the older Namek threw him up into the air and 
then into a bone crushing hug.  "Is it really you, brother?"

	Nail laughed.  "Yeah, it's me.  I haven't changed that much have 
I?"

	"But, I thought Piccolo and your were merged," Dende said.  "Your 
old body was too injured for you to live on."

	"It has been thirty years ago, Dende.  My body has healed in that 
time, but I had freely given myself to Piccolo so I had no right to 
demand to be free.  However, Piccolo has decided otherwise and given me 
a second chance."

	Something then clicked in Dende's mind.  "The block!  He couldn't 
pass through the block barring his way from increasing his power.  The 
both of you are going to join again, aren't you?" Dende asked sullenly 
as reality came crashing down upon him.

	Nail turned to his younger brother and sighed.  "It's the only 
way.  The both of us will train until we reach that block neither of us 
could think of a way to pass.  At that time, we'll have a fight to see 
who gets control of the remerged body."

	Dende saw a familiar glint in Nail's eyes as he talked.  He was a 
Namek made specifically for battle.  This was his calling, Dende knew.  
"I want to cheer for you, but..."

	"I know.  Piccolo has been treating you well.  It was not 
entirely my influence that did that.  You would have to thank Gohan for 
that actually.  Besides, if I win, it would not be like I would force 
Piccolo to remain inside me forever.  If nothing else, I'll do that 
silly fusion dance routine so the process only lasts thirty minutes."

	Dende perked up at this and smiled.  "This year's Tenkaichi-
budokai will be something to watch then."

	Nail only smiled.

			* * * * *

	Buu watched Satan's deflated face and was worried.  The list of 
participants was growing larger with the number of the top martial 
artists of the world.  Satan's only chance of survival was if Vejita or 
Piccolo didn't win.  From the power he had felt recently, he knew that 
the Saiyajin had quite a large chance of winning this year.

	Looking dejectedly at the cake in front of him, Buu ignored it 
and got up from his couch.  His bulk waddled in response.  He needed to 
get some training in, it would seem.

			* * * * *

	Goku slept blissfully unaware of what was happening outside the 
regenerating tank.

			* * * * *

The End. (maybe)