Standard disclaimer: I don’t own any of the main characters from either Ranma1/2 of Dragonball, they belong to their respective owners!

C&C always welcome!

(Sorry about the lateness of this chapter but now since my exams are over I can at last continue my fics!!!!!).

 

Ranma Zero

Chapter 5

The ULTIMATE WEAKNESS MOXIBUSTION!

 

Ranma was getting annoyed, for the past week since his return, the ancient master of anything goes had been attempting to grope not only Kasumi and her sisters but every young girl he laid his eyes on.

What was even more annoying him was that no matter how many times he pounded the old pervert into the ground, he would still be up and around the next day. He had considered using more extreme and permanent methods but the old pervert wasn’t actually doing any real harm, ‘except giving young girls the fright of their lives’. He added as an after thought.

"Look old man give it up all ready!!".

Happosai ignored Ranma continuing to stare openly at female passer-byes, drooling from his current position imbedded in the ground.

"Look I said you could come with me to buy some groceries BUT I didn’t mean it so that you could grope every young girl you walk past!".

Ranma said in a disgusted tone as he picked the old man up by his collar.

Happosai having unbelievable stamina shook off the previous beatings.

"B…but Ranma don’t you just want to look and feel those lovelies….". indicating to a passing girls’ chest.

The girl turned slightly giving them a disgusted look than proceeded away quickly.

"FOR THE LAST TIME NO!!". In frustration Ranma threw the pervert into the ground creating another small crater in the process, than walked off having had enough of the old freak for one day.

*That boy’s just a bit too strong for my liking…*, Happosai thought as he fell unconscious.

 

Not too far away was a duck which appeared to be hiding in the bushes observing the pair. What was particularly strange about this animal was that it wore comically thick glasses, and appeared to be seething with anger. (if one had ever seen an angry duck).

After observing the pigtailed young man disappear down the street, it took off.

 

In another part of Tokyo the familiar silver hair warrior from another universe was getting directions from an ice cream vendor.

"SO your sure that this shop is in Nerima and nowhere else?".

"Oh…yeah I’m sure, I mean no other place in all of Tokyo sells the weird stuff that old man does".

"So how far is this Nerima from here?".

"Well son, if you take the train it’ll be a ten minute ride, but on foot it’ll probably take up to an hour in that direction!".

"Well thanks….bye". The silver hair man walked off hurriedly in the direction the shop keeper had pointed.

*What else can go wrong….I mean first I find out that the charge converter is fried and now only one person in all of Japan sells this part publically??*.

The time travelling warrior sighed heavily, things just seemed to get worse, if only he had bothered with regular maintenance all this would have been avoided.

With that last thought the stranger hastily headed towards Nerima, decided to walk in order to help take his mind of his frustration.

 

In a secluded area of a park, surrounded by trees and bushes was a small familiar figure standing inside a chest looking for something.

"Now where did I put it….??".

Happosai said to himself while rummaged through an ancient looking chest. Scrolls, parchments and small statues littered the ground around him.

"Ah HA here it is". Opening up a very old looking scroll, a smile grew upon the master’s face.

"Now we’ll see who’s going to stop me!". Quickly placing everything else back inside the chest, he grabbed it and placed it in subspace, before quickly heading back to the Tendo dojo.

Inside Nekohaten

Cologne sat at the counter slowly drinking some herbal tea, unable to shake the feeling of approaching doom that had been with her since she awoke. *Something is going to happen today….*.

Brushing aside the thought she momentarily turned her attention to her great grand daughter who was at the moment in the kitchen. She seemed content enough to do the cooking even if she was an amazon. *Son in law is proving more difficult than I had anticipated, although….he is most definitely worth it*, she thought as she remembered their fight.

The elder was shaken out of her thoughts as more customers flooded the restaurant, it was time to get back to business.

 

Tendo Dojo

Ranma began to smell the wonderful aroma provided by Kasumi’s cooking, as soon as he entered the house later that evening, immediately following his nose he headed for the kitchen, ignoring both his father and Mr. Tendo who were again playing their version of Shogo.

Kasumi looked up from her work, trying not to look flustered.

"Oh…my your back!". She said with a startled look immediately grabbing a cloth in her apron to clean her face.

"Huh…I was only going to get the groceries you wanted". He replied in a slightly confused tone.

"I…I haven’t finished cooking dinner yet…". She said in a slightly surprised tone as she had expected Ranma back much later.

"Well here’s the things you ordered". Indicating to the two large bags now on the kitchen table.

She had deliberately chosen ingredients that were somewhat more difficult to purchase. So that she would have had time to prepare a literal feast as she knew how much he ate.

"Oh…thank you Ranma".

"Hey it wasn’t a problem Kasumi-chan!".

Kasumi lowered her head blushing slightly, she still wasn’t used to being called ‘kasumi-chan’ all the time.

He went to her and gently grabbed her hand, showing her that the cloth she was using was already dirty.

"This thing isn’t going to help, besides you look kinda cute like that…". Ranma suddenly stopped, his words and actions finally caught up with his mind. *What am I doing???* he asked himself over and over again.

"…..". the eldest Tendo daughter was again left speechless as she slowly replayed what Ranma had said over and over in her mind.

"So what are you cooking?". Ranma asked shaking of his earlier thoughts.

"Oh….just some new type of soup, I found the recipe in one of my old cook books".

Ranma’s stomach grumbled.

"…mm….oh sorry….guess I more hungry than I thought".

Kasumi giggled turning around and returning to her cooking, taking a spoon and sampling the soup.

Ranma didn’t know why, but he always seemed to smile whenever Kasumi laughed.

The sound of a cooking spoon falling on the floor made him turn around quickly, only to see Kasumi had apparently fainted.

 

The ancient master stood discretely near the kitchen doorway watching the events carefully.

*Good the potion worked….now to wait for just the right moment*.

In the blink of an eye Ranma was already underneath Kasumi catching her from a painful fall, concern evident on his face.

Kasumi slowly opened her eyes, *Wh…what happened….I just felt so tired all of a sudden*.

Their eyes met again as they looked up at each other again both feeling the strange electricity flowing up their spine as time seemed to stand still.

Until Ranma cried out in pain as he felt a severe burning sensation in the middle of his back.

Turning around quickly Ranma saw that nobody was there.

*strange….what the heck was that!?*. the burning sensation already gone.

"Oh my….what’s that?".

"huh?? What??". He asked turning around.

"There’s something on your back….some kind of writing". Kasumi said as she what appeared to be a word burned through the back of Ranma’s shirt.

"Can you read what it says?". He asked very curiously.

"Um…..let me take a closer look", she said as she lifted Ranma shirt. The temperature of the room seemed to have doubled in the past few moments, she noted.

As luck would have it, it was at that moment that the youngest Tendo daughter decided to enter the kitchen.

Akane as usual jumped to conclusions, it was obvious in her mind that Ranma was trying to seduce his sister in the kitchen like in all those novels she had read where the men were always perverts.

Although Akane had to mentally slap herself into ignoring the partially naked Ranma that was directly in front of her.

"PERVERT!!!!".

Ranma looked up and saw that the youngest Tendo daughter was already charging towards him with what appeared to be a giant mallet. *Where the heck does she get those things!*. he thought as he automatically began to block.

Akane took her hardest swing hoping to catch the pigtailed martial artist off guard.

"CRACK…!!".

She was surprised that her attacked connected.

"Huh….".

Kasumi slowly looked towards where Ranma now lay imbedded in the wall of the garden, having been thrown through the window.

"Oh…my…".

Akane stared dumb-folded at her still clenched fist as if it was something unrecognisable. Silently she turned around and headed up the stairs, a small grin plastering her face.

 

Ranma slowly opened his eyes, trying to ignoring the throbbing sensation in the back of his head.

"Hu….what….hit me?". He finally managed to ask.

"I’m afraid Akane did…". A familiar voice spoke.

Something clicked in Ranma’s head, that something was not quite right about what he remembered had happened. Firstly he had been KO-ed by the youngest Tendo daughter and secondly he was lying on something soft.

Feeling something wrong with his jaw he slowly reached up to rub it.

*I’m bruised…..this hasn’t happened since my fight with Ryouga or Cologne…*.

Kasumi carefully applied an ice pack to the bruise on Ranma’s cheek.

"Oww…where am I?".

"Your in the living room…I brought you in here from the garden while you were unconscious".

Ranma was in shock from his realisation of events.

Firstly he had lost but secondly he had lost to Akane, a human that didn’t even have enough ki control to fly.

Secondly she had been able to knock him out.

*how can this be…*.

Upstairs in Akane’s room, the youngest Tendo daughter was sitting on her bed staring at her fist.

*Wow…I did it, I beat Ranma!*.

Akane jumped up stretching her arms and legs.

*Now I’ll show that old pervert and any other perverts who try anything with me or my family!*. She thought triumphantly.

 

Ranma could still not believe it, he had lost.

"This can’t be…".

"Ranma what’s wrong??".

"I…I don’t know….". He stared blankly at her, too shocked to think properly.

He stared at his hands once powerful enough to shatter the very earth itself, *if only Piccolo was here, he’d know what was wrong with me!*.

"Shhh…It’s okay, take your time". She said in a comforting tone.

"Where is everyone?", Ranma asked curious that his father was not here.

"I afraid Mr Saotome and my father decided to go for a drink at the local bar again…".

It was at that moment that Happosai decided to show himself.

"My, my what ever is the matter Ranma m’boy?".

The huge smile present on the ancient perverts face, left no guesses as to who was responsible for the earlier event.

"Wh….why you….". Ranma inhaled deeply controlling his anger just like Goku had showed him.

"Master Happosai were you responsible for what Akane did to Ranma?". Kasumi asked in a stern tone, being as angry as she could ever be.

"What for Ranma being defeated by your younger sister, why I didn’t touch him".

"Why you lying perverted old….", Before he knew it Ranma found himself flying though the backyard and again into the far garden wall again.

"Tut tut, you shouldn’t be so disrespectful to your elders". Happosai said in an arrogant tone.

"Ur.rr….Grrrr, why that’s it!". Ranma shook of the circling stars and charged the grand master of anything goes.

For the third time that day Ranma found himself imbedded in the wall.

*All right if the direct attack won’t work….*.

"Okay old man you asked for it!". Ranma said seriously as he raised an open palm towards the old man.

Happosai mere continue smiling and puffing on his now lit pipe, looking unconcerned.

Kasumi noticed something was not quite right about the situation, just yesterday master Happosai was practically begging Ranma not to hurt him. Now the grandmaster did not even seem to be even the slightly afraid of him.

Looking over at Ranma, she was slightly surprised that nothing had happened yet.

Ranma could not understand it, if was as if all his ki reserves were gone. No matter how much he tried to focus not so much as a spark erupted from his hand.

*This…this isn’t possible…..*. he thought in shock while staring at his hand.

*But it does explain why the old freak seemed so fast all of a sudden….*.

Happosai’s exaggerated yawn snapped Ranma back to reality.

"What’s the matter boy, can’t take a pounding from an old man like me….hehe?".

Before Ranma could retort, Kasumi decided to intervene.

"Master Happosai?".

"Yes Kasumi dear…".

The ancient pervert said slowly as he turned around, appraising her for a bit to long, ignoring the enraged Ranma.

"I was wondering if you could possibly help me by putting out the laundry today?".

Happosai was about to reject all out, but then remembered that raiding laundry was where he got his best catches.

"Why…I would be delighted to!". He said with glee hopping off to the washing room.

When Kasumi turned back to see if Ranma was okay, he was already gone.

*Ranma….*.

 

Akane meanwhile was lying on her bed smiling.

‘I did it, I beat him and I proved once and for all that I am still the best’.

For years she had been considered the best fighter in all of Nerima, until Ranma and his father came.

From than onwards, it had been continually rubbed in her face that she just was not any good, however all that had appeared to have changed since than.

‘I must have improved a lot…..’. Akane thought to herself bristling with confidence.

 

Outside the Neko-Haten

A familiar duck with comically thick glasses appeared to be staring longingly at the Chinese restaurant.

*Soon my love we shall be united the duck thought to himself….soon!!*.

With this last thought it took of in the general direction of the Tendo dojo.

 

Tendo dojo

Happosai was delighted now there was no one that could get in between him and his acquisition of female undergarments.

*Hm…..perhaps I can find more of these pretties in dear Akane’s room….*. he thought as he closely examined a more exotic undergarment raided earlier from the washing room.

Eventually satisfied with his catch, the ancient pervert hit to the streets to look for more treasures to add to his vast collection.

 

Kuno mansion.

Kuno was busy beating the stuffing out of a practice dummy in the middle of the yard.

A small figure dressed all in black, looking like a ninja approached the kendoist, just before he reached him, he turned around.

"What is it now Sasuke?". He asked in a tired and slightly annoyed tone.

"M…master I bring you news!".

"Well speak up than fool and stop wasting my time!".

Sasuke stared warily at the bokken in his master’s hands and even more so at what was once a practice dummy behind him.

"It is about your love the fair Akane Tendo".

At the mention of her name Kuno’s eyes seemed to glaze over momentarily.

"What news have thee about my love?".

"Um….I have confirmed that…a young man by the name of Ranma Saotome resides in the Tendo estate!".

"WHAT!!!!!!!!". Kuno bellowed obviously enraged.

"I have also discovered that he is engaged to one of the Tendo girls, but I don’t know which one!".

"FOOL it could only be the beauteous Akane, what other woman would any man choose!!!".

"Um…of course master", Sasuke said carefully, frightened slightly by his master’s sudden outrage.

"This villain Saotome…..I will smite thee!! and free the fair Akane from your evil grasp!". Kuno cried as lightning appeared to flash behind him.

 

Tendo dojo.

Ranma looked slowly over his bloody and bruised hands, than back at the un-scratched wooden and blood stained training dummy which had been the victim of his relentless assault for the past ten minutes. *Urgg………*.

Where once Ranma had to power to destroy whole planets without much effort now he could not even splinter wood.

Again he tried to focus his Ki as he had so easily done many times before, not even a spark appeared.

He was still fast by human standards, but without access to his full reserves of ki…..

*what if I tried transforming…., just enough to see if I still can….*. He thought also slightly worried that if he was successful there wouldn’t be much of a dojo left.

Ranma tensed staying silent and focused for several minutes.

"HIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA……". A bright aura exploded around him, his hair turning bright golden yellow.

"YES…I did it!!".

However his joy was short lived as when he tried to move, intense pain erupted in his back.

"arrgghhh……!!!".

Ranma collapsed on the floor of the dojo breathing heavily having reverted back to normal.

*Thi…this isn’t possible*.

"Are you all right son-in-law??".

Ranma turned round surprised that the Cologne and Shampoo were standing at the dojo entrance observing him with worried expressions, Kasumi could be seen just behind them.

"h…what are you guys doing here?".

"Shampoo worried about you". The amazon said already at his side and helping him to his feet.

"We heard rumours about your condition and came to investigate….".

"What??? That’s impossible I only found out this problem today!".

Cologne handed Ranma the flier she had picked up.

"apparently your grandmaster is helping to spread the word".

On the flier was a single sentence ‘RANMA IS POWERLESS".

"WHY TH……I’M GONNA KILL THAT LITTLE FREAK!". By now Ranma was shaking with fury.

"Elder Cologne isn’t there anything you can do?". Kasumi asked now standing next to her fiancée.

"Well…..unfortunately the moxibustion technique is one which I am not that familiar with".

Ranma looked even more downcast.

"I do know the effects though…".

Ranma, Shampoo and Kasumi stared intently at the amazon waiting for her to continue.

"Several thousand years ago, a group of fighting monks developed a special technique that would make even the strongest martial artist no stronger than a baby, it worked by cutting off the martial artist’s access to his or her’s ki….".

"huh…but I can still open doors and lift heavy books". Ranma queried curiously.

"Well I believe that that is due to your exceptional large reserves of ki".

"Oh..".

"However I will see what I can find out….!". *Besides this will be an excellent test to see whether you are truly worth the effort*.

"What I do know is that a temple somewhere near here does have a vast number of scrolls on older forms of martial arts….".

After several moments of silence Ranma finally spoke having clamed down,

"It’s worth a try I suppose….".

 

Elsewhere in Nerima.

*Phew…..I finally managed to buy this part, who would have thought buying older parts would be more difficult in the past!*. he thought as he tucked the component away in subspace where he had earlier placed his sword.

Just as the time travelling warrior left the junk shop, he glimpsed what appeared to be an old troll dancing across the rooftops opposite to him dropping flyers.

*must be some kinda circus*.

Catching one of the flyers floating around he read.

Time itself seemed to freeze for him as he re-read the flyer a least a dozen times to be sure he was reading it correctly.

"No….no….it’s not possible…..it’s got to be a coincidence".

*Could it be him……..either way this must be investigated!*.

With that last thought he hurriedly chased after the old man following the trail of leaflets.

Tendo dojo.

Ranma returned back home the following evening, by his posture Kasumi could tell that the trip had been a failure.

Nabiki had accompanied him and using her numerous resources managed to get them there and back within a day by means of more conventional forms of transport.

Akane had been boasting to almost everyone about her recent victory, so that those that did not believe what the flyers said would at the least believe her.

"Ranma??". She asked carefully

"Oh….hi Kasumi…..". he said as he walked past her disappearing up the stairs.

Kasumi looked to her sister for answer which did not come from Ranma

"I’m afraid it was a dead lead". Nabiki said, her voice betrayed no feelings.

"Oh…. how is he doing?".

"Well he is calmer now than when we talked with the old monk….". Nabiki said after a while as she remembered Ranma talking privately to the priest in a very calm tone which un-nerved even her.

"He does seem slightly better today…….". the eldest sister said thoughtfully.

"How’s my younger sis doing since all this started?".

"Hm….actually she’s been the complete opposite of what Ranma likes, she actually happy!". *Even when she isn’t breaking things in the dojo….*, Kasumi added as an after thought.

*Guess Akane didn’t waste any time…..*. Nabiki thought calculating how this could be turned into a profitable situation for the family.

"Perhaps you should go talk to her, she does seem a bit out of character, by the way Nabiki…thank you".

"It’s not a problem sis, just looking out for everyone in my family". She said with a wicked grin, as she went upstairs to her room missing her elder sister’s slight flush.

 

Neko-haten.

Shampoo slowly did the washing up in the kitchen of the Neko-haten, the rush hour having ended hours ago.

"Is something bothering you grand daughter?". Cologne asked entering the kitchen.

"Oh…nothing great grandmother….".

The emptiness in her voice said otherwise.

"Your thinking about son in law again aren’t you?".

Shampoo only sighed heavily in response, it was true, she had been thinking of nothing but Ranma all day.

"Great grandmother can I ask you something?".

"Of course child". Cologne replied already having a good idea as to what the question would be.

"Wha…what if Ranma no get his strength back??".

"Well…he will be declared unworthy of joining our tribe and we shall return home".

Shampoo was on the verge of collapse at this point.

"…however…I believe that son in law will regain his strength, he has a look of determination within him that I have seen in few in all my life".

"Bu…but what if??".

"Hush, child you need not worry yourself about such details, all you need to do is go about gaining Ranma’s affection".

"Okay I will do great grandmother!!". The amazon said now with much more life in her voice than before.

Cologne departed to think about how to resolve and turn this situation to their advantage. So deep in thought that she did not notice the a small black blur literally fly past the shop window followed by a white blur.

 

Somewhere in Nerima.

Happosai could not believe it, whatever he tried to do he just couldn’t get rid of the kid that had been following him around for the last couple of hours. At first he thought he would just play with the punk but as soon as he tried to loose him, he found that he couldn’t.

"Damn…now how do I lose the kid…..".

Realisation struck Happosai as he noticed that he was coming up to a bath house.

It was the perfect plan, not only would he be able to lose the kid but he would also be able to broaden his collection, if the kid was like any of boy he wouldn’t even think of following him in there.

 

One hour later….

The silver hair warrior had soon realised that this person was possibly the worse pervert he had ever known including master Roshi. In his haste to capture the old man he had in-advertidly followed him into a bath house, needless to say that the female bathers were less than happy. The bruises and cuts he received from projectiles still stung, but he ignored the pain instead concentrated on waiting for the old man to wake up,

He was still quite impressed that this person had been able to last as long as he did.

"Urrr……".

"Don’t even think about jumping off, old man". The stranger warned in a dangerous tone.

Happosai slowly opened his eyes, looking to the source of the voice, he also noted that he was in what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse of some sort.

"Huh…wha…what’d you want with an old man like me sonny?".

"It’s quite simple really, I want you to tell me about this!". He said in a deadly tone showing Happosai the leaflet, ignoring Happosai attempts to goad him.

"Hmmm….". The ancient pervert looking around seeking an avenue of escape, he saw many but decided against it, considering that he had lasted only ten minutes against this boy even when he was going full out!

"What about it?".

"Tell me who this Ranma person is, what’s he look like and most importantly where he is now!".

Squatting down Trunks stared the old man down.

Happosai talked fast, explaining everything he knew and some things he just made up.

After 10 minutes the man stood up, his worse fears confirmed, the destroyer was here, how he didn’t know but he was here and that was what mattered the most.

He knew that the old pervert was already gone, but it didn’t matter he had more important thing to worry about, he had to go and confront Ranma, if not for revenge than for all the sake of all the people on this planet.

 

End of chapter 5

(To be continued….)

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