Disclaimer:  I did not create any of the characters belonging to other 
people.  All Ranma and Dragonball characters belong to 
their amazing, genius creators.  Please don’t sue the poor little 
writer.

Ranma 1/2 Z Neo: Part 11

*...*  actions
(..) thoughts 
~...~ emphasis on word
^  note from author

Closed Doors
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*Ranma, Ryouga, and Akane face Jet Stream, Tempo, and Treble.  
The former look determined, the latter confident, even smug. 
Jet Stream cracks a joke to Tempo*

Jet:  Well, they weren’t too scared to show up after all.  You 
loose the bet, Tempo.

Tempo: *smirks* darn.  *feels Argos, watching from the ship, staring 
down at them* (I won’t let you down, brother.  I can’t act until 
there’s a chance.) I guess they’re dumber than I thought. 

Ryouga:  Hey, watch what you say!  We’re stronger than you think!

Akane: *lays a quieting hand on Ryouga’s shoulder*

Ranma: P-chan’s- *suffers a whack on the back of the head* -right.  
We’ll give you a fight which you’ll wish you never agreed to.

Jet: What, are you going to embarrass yourselves ~that~ badly? 
*Laughs*

Tempo:  Now, now, Jet.  Give them credit.  They did, after all, have 
the guts to show.  We should at least give them a decent 
funeral. (Gotta act normal...)

Treble: *watching her closely* (She’s a bit off.  I’ll hafta keep an eye 
on her, just in case... Argos wouldn’t like it if she knew.) *his 
eye narrows even more maliciously than it usually is* (Wouldn’t 
want the precious reserve to rebel, now would we? We’d have to 
get rid of it if it did....)

Jet Stream: *talking through Treble’s thoughts*  Good point, Tempo. 
What should the theme of the party afterwards be?

Tempo: *appears thoughtful, then inspired* I know!  “The Best 
Always Win”.  Could be a costume party.  Of course, we’d go as 
ourselves.  *the three laugh*

Akane:  *yawns, sitting down* Are they done yet?

Ranma: *shoving cake into his mouth* Not yet.

Ryouga: *sipping hot tea*  I’m sure they will be soon. *Akane takes 
out a pillow*

Akane: Wake me when they do....  (Mmmm... that cranberry juice 
was good... always a great way to get to sleep, with a good 
taste on the t o n  g   u   e...) *falls asleep*

*a few minutes later*

Tempo:  Hey, I don’t think they’re listening to us... (Good, they’re not 
intimidated easily)

Jet: *observing the eating/sleeping group*  You know, you might be 
right.

Treble:  Then cut the chatter, and let’s fight!

Tempo: *gulps unnoticeably* (Here we go) You wake them, Jet. You 
put them to sleep.

Jet: I did not!  But I’ll wake them anyway... *Fires a small but 
powerful blast at the group. They are up and out of the way by 
the time it lands*

Ryouga: *soaked with his hot water, having been about to make 
another glass of tea* Hey! Now I’m all wet! 

Ranma: At least it was hot water, P-chan.

Ryouga: *glares at Ranma with a deadly look*

Akane:  Would you boys ~quit it~???

Ranma/Ryouga: *looking down at their shoes* Gomen, Akane.

Akane: That’s better.

Jet Stream: *incredulously* Arn’t they supposed to pay attention 
now???

Tempo: *Teasingly* I guess you’re just that boring, brother.

Treble:  Will you two shut up and get ready to fight???

Jet/Tempo: *looking down* Gomen.

*The two groups face each other again, and get ready*

Tempo: *glaring at Ranma* (Here it goes...)

Treble: *Smirking at Akane* (Finally...)

Jet Stream: *watching Ryouga carefully* (Right. Why do ~I~ have to 
fight the ox-boy?  He’s all strength, and I sure don’t see many 
brains*

Ranma: *calmly watching Tempo* (Wonder why she’s so on edge?

Akane:  *Looking up at Treble* (Where’s the head to that thing?  He’s 
huge!!!)

Ryouga: *staring at Jet Stream* (Why do I have to fight the pretty-
boy?  Too much gel, not enough strength.  Wonder if that hair 
slows him down any....)

Tempo: (Man, this is going to ~hurt~) Ready, kid?

Ranma: Anytime you are. And don’t think I’m going to go easy on 
you because you’re a girl!

Tempo: *smirks* At least you have respect for women. (Oh, why 
couldn’t I get stuck with another chauvinist, just this once???)

Ranma: Come on, are we going to yak, or fight?

Tempo: *in answer, speeds at him.  He dodges, and returns with a 
punch at her face.  She gets clipped, and kicks, yet once again 
misses. The others, seeing them fight, start as well.*

Ranma: (Why am I hitting her so easily?  It’s too early for her to be 
tired, and I haven’t evened powered up yet? Is she holding back 
for some reason?)

Tempo: (Itaiiiiii!  You better appreciate this, Jet... This is for you! And 
Syme, too.  Why did I have to overhear???)

*hours before*

*Tempo sits outside the door of the little prison.  Inside, one of the 
Saiyajins groans as he shifts position.  All four are badly 
wounded, their healing processes slowed by the iron bands they 
wear.  Tempo yawns.  Suddenly, a clatter is heard*

Goten: Yow!!! What was that???

Vegita: Shut up! I’m ~trying~ to sleep*

Goku: *shuffling around* I think that’s a lunch tray, Goten. 

Goten:  Then that thing in my leg must be the fork, huh?

Gohan: Where? *Some shuffling, talking, severe swearing from 
Vegita, and a swift yelp from Goten, and the fork is retrieved 
and piled onto the tray, along with all the other utensils*

Tempo: (I thought Jet said all the dishes were in... Must have missed 
one. Teach him to never count.)  Push it through the slot... 
*Presses a button, and a small hole appears in the wall.  The 
tray appears, and she presses the button again, making it 
disappear again.  She walks down the hall, dropping it off in the 
kitchen, then starts walking back.  Along the way, she hears 
voices behind a closed door.  She looks around, and sees no 
one. Utterly curious, she stops and edges closer to the door*

Treble: --not, Argos?

Argos:  I can get energy anytime I need from weaklings.  But only a 
warrior’s strength will transform me to myself.  So for the last 
time, no!

Treble: *sulkily* Yes sir.

Argos:  And no, those Saiyajins won’t do.  Don’t think you can your 
thoughts from me.  You serve me, so I know what you think. 
Those Saiyajins are too... flexible... to be suited to my needs.  
In order to reach their full power, they must also undergo a 
transformation. Only a Zeal and a very few other races could 
possibly satisfy me.

Treble: Because they don’t transform, in any way?

Argos: Maybe you do know something, after all.  Be patient, Treble. 
I have a feeling that everything I need is in one of those two... 
probably Jet.  He is the stronger of the two.

Treble: But master... 

Argos: Yes, I feel the strange energy of the girl.  That is another 
reason you cannot touch her.

Treble: Yes sir.

Argos: I shall save the boy for a greater need.  If there is anything to 
these weaklings, I shall simply drain Tempo.  But for him... 
when my transformation is at hand, you know what to. *evil 
laugh*

Treble: *evil laugh*  Oh yes, I do.

Argos: *subsiding* Do you know, Treble? I chose my name from this 
planet, a long time ago...

Treble: Yes?

Argos: I visited a city bearing my name.  They thought me to be a 
god!  So I entertained them, and gave them tools to war against 
their rival, a place called Sparta. The fools still lost.  I should 
have supported their other rivals, Athens, but I couldn’t stand 
the place.  They were ridiculous. Anyway,-

Tempo: *leans away from the door, eyes wide. walks as silently as 
possible back to the prison door, and sits down in her chair to 
think* (What... was that... It couldn’t be... Me and Jet... just... 
just... ~batteries~ for that monster? What about home?  And... 
“...simply drain Tempo.  But for him...” What? What will he do 
to Jet? He ~can’t~! Can’t... What can I do?  Jet won’t listen... 
.............) *thinks for a while, ignoring everything from the 
room behind her* (All right. I know what I have to do. Even if it 
costs me my life, Jet will be safe.  And Syme... maybe he’s in 
with those two, but maybe not.  If he’s not, he’ll be free too.) 
*buries her head in her hands* (I just can’t let us win...  It will 
those kids to save us.  We can’t fight him ourselves, he could 
probably drain us too easy.  It has to be those young Saiyajins.)

*present*

Ranma: *starts pulling some punches and purposely slows down, and 
finds himself missing her* (So she’s not holding back, is she?)

Tempo: *gasps a little as various parts hurt* (He’s holding back 
now... I can’t pass as trying without avoiding his moves)

*off to the side*

Ryouga: Hey, where’d ya go? *looks around*

Jet: *taps Ryouga on the shoulder as he starts to wander off*  Hey, 
I’m over here!

Ryouga: Hey, stop wandering off!

Jet: *sweatdrop* (Maybe I should let Tempo face this guy... she’s not 
doing so well.  Maybe she’s sick... Syme can look at her later.) 
*flies over to interrupt Ranma and Tempo by catching Ranma’s 
fist.  He takes over the fight, much to Ranma’s surprise, and 
motions Tempo to Ryouga.  She glares briefly at him, then goes 
to fight the Eternally Lost Boy, taking only a few minutes to find 
him.  Ranma, getting over his surprise, fights back. The boys 
move away from the main fight, gradually sparring off over a 
still slightly inhabited area.*

*Jet catches Ranma’s foot an inch from his face and kicks up in an 
attempt to catch the thigh bone and break it, but misses as 
Ranma yanks his foot sideways and up, ripping it away from Jet. 
The heel of Ranma’s hand swipes by where Jet Stream’s nose 
was a half instant before, and moves to block a punch as a 
follow-up.  Jet Stream dodges the retaliation and jabs with his 
knee at Ranma’s stomach.  Ranma jumps up and over Jet, 
landing behind him and reaching over to grab Jet’s shirt for a 
body throw. Jet catches himself in the air, and charges Ranma, 
who dips his head out of damage range and attempts to sweep 
Jet’s feet out from under him.  Jet jumps and links his fingers, 
bringing them down onto Ranma’s neck with the force of a 
falling elephant.  Unfortunately for him, he misses, and the 
follow-through sends him in a mid-air flip, leaving him 
vulnerable to Ranma’s identical [except hitting the target, that 
is] maneuver. He crashes through a building, leaving a large 
hole down the middle of a hall.  A few inhabitants peek out, to 
see a red and black blur following the path of the ‘intruder’.*

Little old lady: There goes another one.  Really, you’d think those 
construction workers would stop using each other to tear down 
buildings.  And this one isn’t even on the list. Tsk tsk tsk.

Neighbor: ... (Time to send her to a retirement home.) Yes, Mrs. 
Stone, it sure is rude of them.

Mrs. Stone: No Timmy, I won’t go to the retirement home.  So stop 
thinking of it. *slams door and goes back to watching her soap 
opera*

*Meanwhile, Akane stares at her mountain of an opponent as he 
descends.  She almost freezes, until she notices something... 
at the last second, she ducks aside, rolling between his legs 
to avoid the crushing blow.  He turns [surprisingly quick for 
~his~ size] and lashes out.  She gets clipped hard on the cheek, 
and meets a building face-to-face.  Getting angry, she assumes 
her position. This time, when he attacks, she doesn’t bother to 
dodge.  She counterattacks*

Akane:  GIANT NO BAKA!!!!!!!! *Her ki hammer materializes, and she 
grand-slams Treble out of her vision.  Minutes later, he appears 
again, looking only mildly worse for wear.*

Treble: The name’s Treble!

Akane: Oh, ok. TREBLE NO BAKA!!!!! *repeats former maneuver* 

Treble: *appearing again*  Alright, little girl, now you die!

Akane:  *assuming fighting stance* Go ahead and try to carry that 
threat out.  

Treble:  *smirking* trust me, I will.  *Pulls his arm back.  He releases 
a tremendous punch, worthy of leveling mountains.  Then again, 
Akane isn’t a mountain.  She’s a girl.  A pretty nimble girl, 
because of her recent training with Ranma.  She bends out of 
way, and kicks out.  She hits him, hard.  He doesn’t even seem 
to notice.*

Akane: *gulp* (I really ~am~ fighting a mountain...) *She backs off 
a little, gazing up at him.  Her bangs whip into her eyes in the 
breeze, and she absently wipes them back.  Not too far away, 
Ryouga notices the action, and is briefly distracted.*

Ryouga: (Wow... Akane... She’s gorgeous!)  Oooph! *Gets punched in 
the stomach*

Tempo: (Hey, he was supposed to dodge that!  Baka...)  *Ryouga 
jumps and goes into a roundhouse kick, which Tempo refuses to 
take.  She flies a little into the air, and lands on his head* Hey 
boy.  Watch where you’re going.

Ryouga:  *grins* The name’s Ryouga. 

Tempo: Hey Ryouga.  Watch where you’re going.

Ryouga: Okay.  *He watches his fist very carefully as it reaches up to 
swipe her feet off his head.  He then watches his knee very 
carefully as he flies up and knees her in the belly.* Like that?

Tempo: ... *Tries to get her breath back* Yeah. *blocks punch.  She 
does a sort of back flip in the air, getting a bit of breathing room 
to compensate for the hit, and rolls at him again, smashing his 
legs from under him.  He hits the dirt hard, yet gets back up 
easily.  It has yet to occur to anyone to use special moves, for 
all are still in the stage of mildly warming up.  After all, it’s not 
as if there were a time limit....*

*Behind the spaceship*  

Ukyou:  *talking into her pendent* Hey, Trunks, I’m here.

Trunks: ready? 

Ukyou: Yeah.  *performs a few quick stretches* And limber, too.

Trunks:  *tries desperately not to dwell on that last comment*  Great. 
Anyway, get out the slicer.

Ukyou: *pulls out a small capsule.  She opens it, and with a quiet 
“pop!” it opens*  Hey, Trunks, isn’t this thing supposed to make 
a bunch of noise?

Trunks: Well, Mom put a silencer on it.

Ukyou: *thinks about it for a sec* Cool.  *gets back to work* Okay, 
how do I use it?

Trunks:  See the long black strap?

Ukyou: *looks through a bundle of cords* Yeah.

Trunks: Place that against the side of the ship.

Ukyou: *Places it against the side of the ship* Okay.

Trunks: Now hook up the small blades to the other end....

*Inside the ship*

Goten: ZzzzZzzzZZzzz....

Vegita: *jabs Goten* Shut up.

Goten: *wakes a little*  Wha-? Huh? *looks around... but of course 
can’t see anything* Whatever. *goes back to sleep*

Gohan:  *to Goku*  Hey, Dad, do you think we’re on Earth right now?

Goku: *concentrates, then gives up* No idea, son.  I can’t sense 
anything outside this room.  It’s probably shielded. 

Gohan: I hope Videl and Pan are all right...

Goku: Can you see Videl ~not~ being all right?

Gohan: *tries to imagine a cowering Videl, but fails miserably.  The 
closest he gets is an image of her glaring murderously at the 
young man who defeated them, standing in front of Pan, so not 
attacking so as to remain in her protective position.  Nothing 
even close to cowering enters his mind*  Uh... good point.

Goku:  I used to imagine your mother whenever I felt like the 
situation was hopeless.  Just know how much she needs me is 
enough to find the extra strength I need to keep on going.  I 
know she would never stop fighting to save you, so I knew I had 
to be strong myself if I wanted to see her smile again.

Gohan:  *smiling at the image of Chichi*  Never mind that you would 
look silly if you couldn’t fight as long as Mom.

Goku: *grinning* True.  But then again, she’s a strong lady... 
*suddenly, something occurs to him*  Uh, Gohan, if Trunks 
does rescue us, could you make sure I’m left behind until your 
mother has a chance to calm down?...

Gohan: *laughs* Forget it, Dad.  If I’ve got to face her, so do you.

Goku: *sighs*  Well, at least I tried...

*outside* 

Ranma: Not bad, for a beginner. *He slams his fist into Jet’s chest, 
but does little damage.  He receives a foot to the cheek as a 
reminder that Jet is a little more than a beginner.  Not far off, 
Akane flits in and out of Trebles range, sustaining few hits so 
far.  Ryouga unsuccessfully tries to find Tempo, having looked 
in the wrong direction at the wrong time.  She tries to stave off 
her annoyance and finds him to continue the fight.  The warriors 
are watched carefully by Syme and Argos in the ship, 
overlooking the battle.  Behind the ship, Ukyou does... 
something.  The battle of the future rages on.*

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author’s notes:

What is Ukyou up too?  Will Tempo be able to control herself enough 
loose her battle with Ryouga?  Will Ranma have enough left in 
him to fight the terrible Argos, or will he ever get the chance? 
For that matter, will he want too?  Sign on next time for chapter 
12.

Okay, that’s it for the advertising junk.  I apologize in advance for the 
lateness of the next chapter, since this one actually isn’t.  That’s 
what happens when I go to school, everything else gets shoved 
aside.  I also apologize if the fight scenes aren’t too great.  This 
is my first attempt at a fanfic, so I realize they may not be 
perfect.  Gomen.

Okay, I’ve advertised and I’ve apologized.  What else? Oh, yeah... 
You can e-mail me at fanime_Lynn@hotmail.com with all 
C&C.  I think that’s it... Well then, gotta go, so ‘Bye for now!