Disclaimer:  Just one more of these to go!  At least, for this series.  I 
didn’t create any of the characters or settings that belong to 
DBZ or Ranma 1/2.  Please don’t sue, I’m rather poor.

Ranma 1/2 Z Neo:  Part 16

(thoughts)
*actions*
^translations or author’s notes

The Powers Within
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

*on the rooftop*

Syme: *leaning once again over Tempo* She’s still alive.

Ukyou: That’s obvious.  So?

Syme:  Her ki has been almost entirely drained.  Only the bare 
minimum is left.

Jet:  So she’s...

Syme: *kindly* Just sleeping, Jet.

Jet Stream:  *sighs in relief, dropping his head to his knees*  That’s 
good.

Ukyou: *raises an eyebrow* Worried?

Jet: *glares at her, raising his head a little* 

Trunks: *whispers over pendant, so only Ukyou can hear*  Ukyou...

Ukyou: *standing up* I’ll go watch the fight now.  *walks away, then 
talks back into the pendant* What?

Trunks:  What’s going on????????!

Ukyou:  Oh, it just turned out that the two that Ryouga and Ranma 
were fighting actually were aren’t that bad.  Rather, their leader 
is a genuine monster, and by the look on their faces, they didn’t 
know that.  The doctor guy’s okay, too.  I think the hulk that 
Akane was fighting knew about everything, though.

Trunks: *listening over pendant*  You do realize that makes no sense?

Ukyou: Too bad, Hon.  You should’ve been watching the TV.

Trunks:  *sweatdrop* You know, there’s no station that stayed behind 
to report this...

Ukyou:  Whoa!  Are they all sick or something!?!?!

Trunks:  Nah, the viewers have just seen alien invasions before.  It 
just doesn’t bring in good ratings anymore, once everyone’s left 
the cities.  

Ukyou:  *sweatdrop*

*other side of the roof*

Jet:  *listening to Ukyou talking quietly to herself (or so it seems), 
then turns to Syme*  Is she... you know, insane?

Syme:  *shrugs* I wouldn’t diagnose against it.

*high in the air*

Piccolo:  They to attack at the same time, not just cover each other.

Vegita:  Why should they?  I’m enjoying the fight as it is.

Goku:  But Vegita, they’re not doing very well.

Vegita:  *shrugs* So I’ll take over when they all die.

Goten:  *to Gohan*  He’s being morbid again.

Gohan:  *nods absently*  (Piccolo’s right.  They’d do better if there 
was more cooperation in attacks.  I hope they figure that out 
soon.)  Piccolo-san...

Piccolo: No Gohan, you shouldn’t go down and tell them.  That would 
just bring attention to us.

Vegita:  *grins*  I like the element of surprise.  Imagine his surprise 
when I come bursting out of nowhere to kill him...

*over the street*

Argos: Well, at least I won’t be totally bored by this fight.  *grins 
evilly*

Ranma:  *sarcastically*  Of course not.  Who could be bored by their 
own death?

Argos:  *eyes narrow*  You talk too much, boy.  *crosses the space 
between himself and Ranma, pooling power into his fists.  He 
hits Ranma in the stomach as Ranma dodges his other hand, 
not seeing his second punch.  The monster’s longer reach comes 
into play by forcing Ranma into exaggerated dodges, using up 
precious energy.  Argos lands a punch on Ranma, which he 
attempts to block.. except that this punch knocks him back 
twenty feet before he can catch himself and makes him wince at 
the pair of new bruises on his arms.  Every hit that Ranma 
takes, blocked or not, results in new aches, as even the lightest 
of Argos’s punches have the full force of four of Akane’s 
hammers at once.  Suddenly, Ryouga breaks in, covering a 
retreat for Ranma... with unexpected consequences*

Ryouga:  BAKUSAI TENKETSU!!!!!!^  *The ground explodes upward, 
providing a rocky cover for Ranma to escape through.  Ranma, 
thanks to Akane’s hammer and his over-exposure to Ryouga’s 
techniques, is able to fly through unharmed.  On the other 
hand, Argos does not fare so well.  Like Ranma’s water dragon 
attacks, the rocks seem to do more damage to Argos than any 
of the group’s ki attacks.  Unlike the ki attacks, he cannot dodge 
them all, though only a few of the sharpest so much as scratch 
him. The rest are deflected by his fur.*

^breaking point technique

Ranma: *seeing Ryouga’s effect on Argos* Ne?  Hey, Ryouga, how 
come...

Ryouga:  *shrugs*  I guess I’m just that strong.

Akane: I bet it’s because he doesn’t use ki for that attack, that’s why!  
Since that thing *points at Argos* eats ki, he must be vulnerable 
to non-ki attacks!

Ranma:  Yeah, that makes sense! Okay, let’s attack with non-ki 
moves!

Ryouga: *looks briefly at Ranma* I could have told you th- *his 
words cut off as Argos attacks him.  He takes three hits as Argos 
first gets in a kick, then a hit, then another hit in Ryouga’s 
moment of distraction.  Ranma intercepts the fourth, knocking 
Ryouga back out of the way.  In return, Ryouga launches into 
another breaking point, this time calling on energy inside 
himself to increase the effect.*  BAKUSAI TENKETSU 
CHOUKYOSEI SHINSEI!!!!!!^ *The air around him burst with a 
crackle of energy as every stone and cement block for a mile 
bursts apart.  Ryouga concentrates on sharpened edges, and, 
oddly enough, the rocks seem to ~agree~ with him, even obey.  
A kilometer’s worth of stone, cement, and plaster separates 
itself from the ground and storms Argos.  At the last moment, 
he draws a bit of ki to protect himself, and deflects the majority 
of rocks.  Akane, floating just outside a circle of flying stones, 
senses a moment of weakness in her enemy.  She consciously 
calls on the power of the phoenix, summoning an attack.*

^breaking point super nova

Akane:  HOUOU SHOUNETSUJIGOKU: SANSHUU!!!!^ *instead of 
punching Argos, who blocks rocks much to far away to reach, 
she points a finger at him.  Fire pours from it, reaching Argos 
and wrapping around him, like the wings of a phoenix* (Now 
if Ranma follows up with his ice attack...)  *she looks 
expectantly at Ranma, who looks back, also sensing his role.  
Unfortunately, he still recovers from his last attack, not yet able 
to use his abilities.  The fire clears, and the group gets a good 
look at the damage done.*

^phoenix inferno: revision

*Argos stands in the midst of something right out of a volcano.  
Melted rocks cover the ground, hardening slowly as the air 
touches them.  Some of the gray fur covering Argos has singe 
spots on it, and where it does, deep cuts made by hot, sharp 
rocks show.  Still, no serious damage can be seen.  Not enough 
force lies in just two of the fighters.*

*on the rooftop*

Ukyou:  *watching the fight*  (I wish I was over there... I could have 
done something...)

*over the street*

*Argos stands up, irate.  He flashes forward, dealing blows to each of 
the young warriors in turn.  Not even Ranma is fast enough to 
block his sudden attacks, for he moves at incredible speed.*

Ranma:  (Now I’ll have to cover for both of while they ready their 
next attacks. I guess I’ll have to distract him...)  Hey, Argos!  
*shoots a stream of ki at him* Catch!

Argos:  *does exactly that*  Alright.  Your turn!  *throws Ranma’s 
own energy back at him.  Ranma dodges, then confronts Argos, 
flying into his face.  He punches at the creature, but misses as 
Argos dodges.  Argos clips him gleefully in the back of the head, 
and prances about to force a foot into Ranma’s abdomen.  
Ranma gasps, bending in half.*

*on the rooftop*

Ukyou:  Ranchan!  (Forget this!!!  I’m not sitting by an instant 
longer!!!!)  *flies off the roof to help her friend.  Behind her, a 
figure stirs*

Jet Stream: Tempo?

Tempo:  *groans* J-Jet? 

Jet: Yeah, brat, I’m here.  

Tempo:  *grins wearily*  Jet, I’m so tired...

Jet:  Then sleep, stupid.

Tempo:  No, I can’t.  *tries to sit up, but finds she can’t*  But maybe 
I’ll just watch from here...  *manages to roll over onto her side 
to watch the fight as she summons up her strength*  

*over the street*  

*Ukyou dives into Argos’s back, knocking him over Ranma and 
sending all three tumbling.  Argos recovers first and grabs 
Ukyou by the hair, flipping her into the ground below with a 
twist of his wrist.  Ranma catches himself against the now 
stationary Argos and uses his proximity to pound a fist into 
Argos’s chin.  Argos barely twitches, and grabs the fist that 
Ranma used to hit him.  He raises Ranma a few inches into the 
air until Ranma stares at him eye to eye.  Argos prepares to 
whack Ranma with a hammer-like appendage when Ukyou 
rudely interrupts to save Ranma by knocking her leg into 
Argos’s knees.  Argos stumbles and drops Ranma, who rains a 
tenshin amiguriken onto him.  Ukyou joins in with a smash to 
Argos’s head, interlacing her fingers and bringing them down to 
meet his skull.  He hardly notices, but she comes away with 
stinging hands, thanks to Argos’s spiky natural armor.  Argos 
takes advantage of her distraction to clock her across the 
temple.  Ranma desperately grabs onto Argos’s arm to stop this 
action, but ends up being swept into the move, unable to stop 
it.  He instead kicks Ukyou out of the way as gently as he can, 
getting his feet in front of Argos’s hand.  Argos twists his arm 
until he grasps Ranma’s, and swings Ranma around in a 
continued circle until he spots a convenient spot to slam Ranma 
into, finally settling on the ground.  Ranma hits with a force that 
shatters the already broken ground.  Ukyou rushes to block 
Argos’s next attack at the fallen Ranma, but to no avail, as she 
has less speed and power than either.  Ranma’s SSJ2 power 
provides a power way above Ukyou’s own.  Yet even his power 
alone does not match that of Argos.*

*on the roof*

Tempo:  *Drowsily, absently, she begins to sing a little tune well 
known to her.  Jet listens absently beside her, sensing she 
draws some sort of strength from it, using it to focus what little 
power she has left.  Intertwining with her ki, her wind energy 
gives her just a little more life than before as the tune winds 
on.*  Earth, fire, storm and water,
elements touched by the wind;
changed by the wind.

Life flowing, swept up by the breeze,
dancing like flying leaves,
floating like blown leaves.

Earth, fire, storm and water,
these need the air,
these change through the air.

Talking, singing, loving and knowing,
we are each touched,
by the wind are we touched.

Earth, fire, storm and water,
each unchanged until it touches;
to change they need the wind’s touches.

A world moves by its breath,
and the breath will touch others,
and it will fill the others.

Earth, fire, storm and water,
they exist far away,
but they are alone so far away.

Go, my singing breeze,
go, my breath
and change earth, fire, storm and water with your breath.

*As she sings, and her power mingles with her ki, a change comes 
over her.  Her long black hair seems to highlight itself sky-blue, 
her eyes become reflections of mist, grey-blue and mysterious.  
A peculiar comfort, like a sea breeze on a hot and humid day, 
seems to fill those around her.  Jet, who would have probably 
panicked at his sister’s change at any other time, watches with 
hopeful interest, as if he can feel the rightness deep inside of 
him.  Yet not even her wind can revitalize entirely the deep 
aching emptiness in her bones where once her ki, her power, 
filled her.*

*over the street*

Ukyou:  *She picks herself up from where she was flung in her 
attempt to protect Ranma.  Suddenly, she sees Akane and 
Ryouga both watching the fight with an intensity that could 
only mean one thing:  They want to join in.*  Ranma!  *He 
turns his head to look at her, clearing away from Argos as he 
does so to avoid getting hit.  As soon as he is out of the way, 
Ryouga starts the chain of attacks*

Ryouga:  BAKUSAI TENKETSU Surge!!!^  *Rocks explode from the 
ground below, rising into the air as if of their own volition and 
casting themselves at Argos.  As the first hits, Akane steps in*

^Breaking point technique surge 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Akane: HOUOU SHOUNETSUJIGOKU: SANSHUU!!!!^ *Her phoenix 
follows her point to wrap around Argos, burning away yet more 
fur and melting rock against him.  This time, Ranma is ready.*

^Phoenix inferno: Revision!!

Ranma: DORAGON YA BAKUHA!!!!^ *His stormy water dragon rises 
quickly, and follows his pointing arms to encase Argos.  The 
heated rock quickly hardens and becomes brittle.  Ukyou acts on 
a hunch, using Ranma’s still-going attack as a conductor*

^Dragon arrow blast

Ukyou:  RAKURAI UCHINUKU!!!!^  *She punches into Ranma’s 
dragon, electrifying it.  Her lightning traces up to where 
Ranma’s cool water has made Ryouga’s rocks brittle by stealing 
away too quickly Akane’s heat.  The electricity shatters the 
rocks, and proves Ukyou’s hunch right by eliciting a howl of pain 
from Argos.  Her storm spirit proves to be the final attack, and 
the four float away from the figure amidst a pile of rubble.*

^Lightning punch

Ranma: Ukyou?  *turns to her, a questioning expression on his face*

Ukyou:  *grins*  I really didn’t think that my lightening attacks could 
be entirely ki.  *Ranma smiles back*

Akane:  *gasps a little from the shock of the moment*  Wow.  That 
was... *stops and shakes her head, unable to describe the 
feeling caused by the group attack.*

Ryouga:  *nods*  Yeah.  Crazy, wild, impossible, cool, horrible, hard, 
wonderful, um.... I none of those quite cover it, ne?

Ranma: You can say that again, P-chan.

Ryouga:  *turning to Ranma*  Ranma-

Akane:  *warningly*  Guys...

Ranma/Ryouga: Gomen, Akane.

*high in the sky*

Vegita:  *sounding disappointed*  Oh, well, guess it’s over.

Piccolo: ... (Something’s wrong here...)

Goku: Hey, let’s go down and say hi!

Gohan:  Great idea, Dad!

Piccolo:  No, wait - 

Goku:  Why, Piccolo?

Piccolo:  *pauses*  Something’s... missing.  *group looks at him with 
a questioning expression, except Vegita, who ignores them all.*

Vegita: *starts flying down*  I’m going home.  Bulma ought to have 
dinner ready by now.

*On the rooftop*

Tempo:  *shakes her head*  No... don’t stop now...

Jet:  *looks at his sister*  What?  It’s okay, they’ve won.

Tempo:  *keeps on shaking her head*  No.  Not yet.  *strains, and 
sits up*  They’re not using their full power yet.

Jet:  *a little annoyed* Ash-brains, you know better than that.  Who 
uses their full power if they don’t have to?  That’d be a waste.

Tempo: ... *a worried look in her gray-blue eyes shows her doubt that 
the group has won so easily* *whispers to herself*  They didn’t 
use their full potential.

*above the street*

Ranma:  *with a relaxed expression*  Glad that’s over.  Time to go 
home.

Akane:  *pauses*  Hey - did you...?

Ryouga:  *also noticing something*  Feel that?  *Akane nods*

Ranma: What?  *extends his senses*  Oh, no...

*Amidst the rubble on the street, a rock falls off a prone figure.  A 
hand twitches, and suddenly curls into a fist.  Argos rises to his 
knees, fur scraped and burned off in places, some of the many 
spikes protruding from the back of his head broken off, and 
looking rather peeved.  More than a few veins make themselves 
evident on his forehead and neck.  The creature stands again, 
evil and anger radiating from it.*

Ranma: Awww, come on, can’t just ~one~ guy who wants to kill me 
~stay~ dead!?! 

Akane:  *her face furrows in distaste* I guess not.

Ryouga:  I don’t know about any of you, but I’m not sure I’m quite 
ready to do that all again...

Ukyou:  *nods*  We may use some ki in our elemental attacks, but I 
don’t think that that makes up for elemental energy.  

Argos:  *from below*  It seems I underestimated you.  I won’t do that 
again.  *launches off the ground*

Ranma:  U-chan!  Watch-  *He sees his words prove utterly futile as 
Argos has reached his friend even before he uttered her name.  
He kicks in his SSJ2 speed to be by her side as Argos unleashes 
an attack.  Ranma slams a block to her defense, and takes the 
brunt of the punch, falling backward.  Akane and Ryouga also 
join the brawl, with Akane wrapping her arms around Argos’s 
neck in an attempt to strangle it.  Ryouga draws forth from his 
endless supply of hammer-space bandanas and uses them 
distract Argos as he attacks with punches and kicks.  
Throughout this all, Argos hardly feels a thing.  Instead, he 
returns fire by a barrage of punches and kicks to his attackers, 
first dislodging Akane from his back, then slams a fist into 
Ryouga’s jaw to stop the bandana barrage, then grabs Ukyou by 
the shirt collar and swings her into Ranma.  Akane drops a hard 
kick to his knee as he does, trying to drive him off balance, so 
he kicks at her.  The brawl proves to be devastating to the four 
young heroes, as Argos’s longer reach and great strength make 
them no more harmful than flies.  Only Ranma has even the 
power block attacks without breaking bones, and does so as 
much as possible for his friends.*

*high in the air*

Piccolo:  *growls*  I knew that wasn’t it.

Goku:  Oh no!  That guy’s more resilient that Cell was!!!  What’ll they 
do?

Gohan:  Dad’s right.  We’ve got to do something!

Piccolo:  Like what?  Do you really think you’d be any better off than 
they are?  Pure strength doesn’t help much, and ki does nothing 
at all.  They need the fifth element.

Goku:  The what?

Piccolo:  Wind.  *Piccolo sweatdrops as Goku starts fanning the air 
with all his might*

Gohan: *remembering Tempo’s earlier attack* B-but that girl... can’t 
she...

Piccolo:  *nods*  That’s what I hoped.  But she can’t without her ki.  

Goku:  *pauses, remembering the technique he picked up (by Goku 
style: watching) from Ukyou*  Ano... Piccolo, that’s no problem.

Piccolo: *turns to him*  What do you mean?  The girl can barely even 
sit up!

Goku:  Oh, that’s not much.  *without explaining this, he leaves the 
confused and annoyed Piccolo and flies straight down*  Oi!!!

*on the rooftop*

Jet:  *hearing something from above, looks up and sees a man with 
black hair descending like a speeding bullet.  Jet jumps up in a 
thought to protect his sister from the idiot who obviously 
doesn’t plan on stopping in time to spare the building, only to 
see Goku pull to a complete stop inches above the rooftop.*  
W-what?  I thought ~you~ were in the ship!!!

Goku: Nah, I left.  *Jet Stream’s eyes take on dinner-plate size at 
Goku’s casual admission of escape.  The bandages around him 
testify to having help in that area.  For the first time, he realizes 
that Ukyou was not there at the start of the battle.*

Jet:  A-A-anoooooo.....   *big question mark over his face*

Goku:  *clapping Jet on the back so hard the boy falls over*  How’s 
it going?  You’re not planning on still hanging around with that 
guy, are you?  *points to Argos, Jet just shakes his head* Great!

Jet:  *looks suspiciously up at the tall smiling guy*  (I think this guy 
must be an airhead.)  What are you doing here, anyway?

Goku:  *cocks head in trademark Goku way* I thought I could help 
the kids from the past by making wind.  *Jet just ~looks~ at 
Goku, not understanding in the least.  Tempo, on the other 
hand, smiles wearily a little, deciding that the four fighting 
Argos must be “the kids from the past” and figuring out what 
Goku means.*

Tempo:  It’s okay, Jet.  He’s going to help.  He’s... planning on giving 
me some more ki?

Goku:  *nods* Yup, that’s it.  But I’m not sure my ki would work... 
I’m not the same species and all.

Jet Stream:  *deciding that Goku does, after all, have a working 
mind, but just doesn’t like to show it*  Use mine.

Goku:  Alright.  *sits down behind Tempo*  Sit down on my other 
side.  *Jet obeys.  Goku places a hand on each of their backs, 
and concentrates.  Ki flows through Jet into Tempo.  When Goku 
feels that he has taken over half of Jet’s energy, he relents and 
takes his hands away from the two.*

Jet:  *falling over with a groan*  yow...  I feel exhausted now... You’d 
better appreciate that, Ash-brains.

Tempo: *standing up unsteadily*  Yeah, yeah, I owe you one, 
Mold-head.  *turns to Goku* Thank you. *bows politely* I will 
do everything I can to aide your friends in defeating Argos.  
*Flies off the roof, leaving the two boys there*

*on the street*

*Akane’s face meets the rocky ground as she ducks a kick.  Where 
once pavement would have split her cheek, a sharp rock raised 
by the brutal abuse of the surroundings does the job instead.  
Ranma pulls her out of the way as a foot steps down where she 
was, then dodges as Argos punches at the two.  Ryouga futilely 
kicks at Argos’s knees, doing no damage.  Ukyou is the first to 
retreat, having not as hard a body (since she never went 
through Akane’s hammers or Cologne’s Breaking Point training).  
As she backs off, a cool hand places itself on her sweaty and 
bruised shoulder.  Ukyou looks behind her to see Tempo, blue 
highlights and gray-blue eyes evident.*

Ukyou: ... What do you want? *on guard a little, though she senses 
no mischief in the other girl’s eyes*

Tempo:  *hesitates, trying to figure out how to say something* You... 
I need to help.  I ~can~ help you.  *indicates her blue eyes and 
highlights*  Your spirit-power needs to be joined to your ki.  It’s 
not.  You can’t beat him otherwise.

Ukyou:  What, and you can do that?

Tempo:  *nods*  I can.

Ukyou:  *looks dubious, but something in her senses sincerity coming 
from Tempo.  She nods* All right.  But don’t do anything dumb.

Tempo: *laughs a little at this* Like what, blow up something?  I 
already did ~that~.  *Ukyou giggles too, realizing the humor in 
it.*  Just stand still.  *puts her hands on Ukyou’s back.  For a 
minute, Tempo stands at a loss of what to do, remembering her 
own transformation, but unable to figure how to elicit it in 
another person.  She finally just mentally finds Ukyou’s ki and 
spirit powers, and stirs them together.  As she does, Ukyou’s 
hair, which was already SSJ blonde, gets a few streaks of what 
appears to be paler yellow than the rest of her hair.  Ukyou’s 
eyes fade from blue-green to shockingly pale gray, almost 
white.  Finally, Tempo takes her hand away.  She breathes 
deeply, as if the effort has made her tired.  Ukyou looks closely 
at her, knowing that the girl was drained of energy earlier.*

Ukyou:  How did you get so much energy back so fast?

Tempo:  My brother gave some to me.

Ukyou: *nods*  *both girls turn to the scene in front of them.  Argos 
still fights with Akane, Ryouga, and Ranma, none of whom can 
do anything against him.  Tempo raises a hand, and summons 
a ball of wind to her fingertips.  Though her ki mingles now 
freely with her wind spirit, the ball is pure wind.  Ukyou realizes 
that before, every attack that the warriors have done has been 
diluted by ki as two powers struggled to free themselves from 
within.  Now, with only one power source, it is simple for Tempo 
to distill a little bit of wind power from her ki.  She throws the 
ball into the fray, where it dodges through Ukyou’s friends to hit 
only Argos.  He howls as it pushes him out of the group of 
three, and Tempo and Ukyou head forward.  Ukyou realizes yet 
another advantage of her new form: control over her elemental 
power.  While before her spirit power was depleted with every 
attack, now she has the ability to choose how much she uses, 
like ki.  Ukyou smiles to herself, impressed at the difference.*

Ranma:  *straightens to see both girls walking toward them*  
Ucchan?

Ukyou:  Hey Ran-chan.  She *indicates Tempo* is going to make 
everybody stronger.

Ryouga:  *suddenly interested*  Really?

Akane:  Ummmm.... *the others turn to see Argos charging them 
again.  Ukyou leaps beside Akane and shoves her out of the 
way, toward Tempo, before summoning as small a bolt of 
lightening as she can to repel Argos again.  Argos absorbs the 
shock, to Ukyou’s great surprise, though it does make him 
stumble.  He stand back up and keeps coming.  Ukyou steps out 
of the way as he swings a fist at her, as do Ranma and Ryouga.  
The three waltz around Argos, each dodging to the best of his 
ability.  Ryouga steps over a kick, and looks up to see an 
unexpected punch aimed at him.  He instinctively reaches up an 
arm to block; a loud snap is heard as the bone breaks.  Ranma 
covers for him as he stumbles back, distracting Argos with an 
elbow to the head.  Argos winces, as Ranma actually does some 
damage with his power.  Suddenly, a small ball of fire hits Argos 
square on the back.  He turns around with a howl as the flame 
burns away a little fur and leaves a blackened area of skin with 
an impossible blister.  Akane stands behind him, her hair 
highlighted flame red and her eyes burning hazy red-gray, like 
a fire viewed through its smoke.  Ukyou snaps a bolt of 
lightening at the burned patch on Argos as he charges angrily at 
Akane.  He howls in pain as the sensitive flesh is hit.  Rather 
than standing vulnerable in between the two powerful girls, he 
backs out of the group of heroes.  Ukyou sees that Ryouga has 
left them; she assumes he will no doubt appear with his inner 
power awakened in a few instants.  Ranma stands between and 
behind both girls, standing in his favorite ready pose: relaxed 
and appearing off guard.  Argos stares at the three, then jumps 
off the ground and into the air.  They follow, keeping 
themselves in position.  Argos halts 60 meters off the ground. 
The three follow suit.  He growls.  Akane readies herself, 
sensing an attack.  Suddenly, the air explodes in front of her.*

*in between the fight and Cap Corp*

*Vegita flies towards his home.  Behind him, he senses four major 
powers, though they are a little odd.  A fifth had been fading.  
Vegita pauses in his flight as he feels the fifth stop fading, and 
start growing again.  He turns around, wondering if he might 
get his fight after all.

*over the street*

*Akane flits backwards as Argos launches a ki attack at her.  She 
dodges each ball of ki, well aware that while such attacks have 
no effect on Argos, they can still harm her.  He has maneuvered 
his way around so that no longer is he in front of all three, but 
instead beside Akane, as if facing a line of opponents.  Akane 
flies backwards and down, under an attack, then back up over 
another.  A third hits her in the stomach, sending her tumbling 
out of control.  Argos moves on to Ranma and Ukyou, who team 
up to face him together.  Below them, Ryouga starts flying 
upwards. Argos halts, and suddenly disappears.*

Ryouga:  *sensing something falling by him* Huh?

Ranma:  *figuring out what has happened*  That girl!  *Sure enough, 
Argos has dropped down beside Tempo.  As Ranma and the 
others race to her aide, she jumps back from the charging 
Argos.  He fires a thin beam of ki straight at her, piercing her 
shoulder.  Tempo grabs her wound, instinctively trying to stop 
the bleeding.  Argos uses this distraction to force a fist into her 
stomach.  She collapses, and he brings his hands down as if to 
hammer her on the back of her skull.  Ryouga, closer than the 
others, flies by and grabs her with his one remaining good arm.  
The two roll out of the path of the punch.  Ranma rams into 
Argos, knocking the monster over.  Ukyou tosses a bolt of 
lightening into his back, keeping him down long enough for 
Ryouga to remove Tempo from the danger area.  Akane rejoins 
the group, having recovered from her forced flight and made her 
way back.  Ranma, seeing Akane’s return, follows Ryouga.  As 
the girls hold off Argos, he lands beside his friend.*

Ranma:  Is she okay?

Tempo:  *smiling a little* I’m fine.  It didn’t hit anything vital.

Ryouga:  *wrapping a bandana around the seeping wound* You sure 
about that???  *she nods*

Tempo:  Thanks.  *turns to Ranma* Your turn...?

Ranma: Yeah, I wanted cool highlights, too.  *grins boyishly*

Tempo:  Come here, then.  *Ranma does so.  Tempo touches him, 
and mixes his ki and water spirit as she did for Ukyou.  Ranma’s 
pigtail (and the rest of his hair, too) gets dark blue stripes, and 
his eyes turn stormy water gray, a darker version of Tempo’s 
own coloring. When she finishes, Ranma helps her stand.  He 
starts to feel her practically trembling with exhaustion and pain, 
though she has more energy now than she did after Argos stole 
hers.  She ignores his quizzical look, and flies back to where the 
two girls keep Argos busy without falling behind.*

Ranma:  (I wonder how long she’ll take to recover from this?  She’s 
got a lot of endurance, though.  Wish I stick around for a spar 
after this battle is over... but I’ve got to get Akane and the 
others home.)  *The three land near Argos and Ukyou and Akane*

Tempo:  When we use our attacks, go all out.  Don’t hold anything 
back as far as elemental power goes, though make sure you 
don’t dilute your attack with any ki.  We’ve got to take this guy 
out now.  I don’t think any of us can last until we regain our 
energies.  *Ranma and Ryouga nod*

Ranma: I think we ought to attack in about the same order as before, 
with Ryouga first, then Akane, then you *looks at Tempo* 
before me, then Ukyou.  *Tempo shakes her head*

Tempo:  No.  We need to all attack at once.  That way, we can catch 
Argos in the middle of the attack, and destroy it once and for 
all.  *Ryouga nods.  Ranma hesitates, then does the same.*

Ryouga: So who’s going to tell them?

Ranma: *looks sideways at Ryouga* We are, of course.  I’ll tell 
Akane, and you talk to Ukyou.  *Ryouga doesn’t looks so happy 
at this, but agrees.  He flies to stand beside Ukyou as she tosses 
a bolt at Argos, while Ranma halts beside Akane.  Both boys 
describe the plan as discreetly as possible, trying to avoid 
having the creature they fight overhear.  Unfortunately, his 
hearing turns out better than they allowed for.  Argos breaks off 
and flies upwards yet again.  Ukyou and Akane use the brief 
respite to rest rather than to give chase, attempting to rebuild 
their elemental energy.  Keeping Argos distracted between them 
had been too big a job to be stingy with power.*

*Argos flies upwards until he hits mid-level to a skyscraper.  Looking 
down, he realizes he has no pursuers.  Argos looks around, 
trying to figure a way to protect himself, or at least power up.  
Below, a couple of small figures move about on a rooftop.  One 
has the familiar aqua hair of the young Jet Stream.  Argos 
smiles to himself.*

*on the rooftop*

Jet: *Jet watches his sister float in the air with the four people he 
started out fighting.  She and the others look around to warily 
to find Argos, and she glances Jet’s way briefly.  She smiles a 
little at him.  Beside him, Goku sits, watching everything 
interestedly.*  (I can’t believe that Argos is that... that thing.  
He told us our world was destroyed, and that we could never go 
back.  The traitor.  I bet Zeal is still perfectly whole.  Tempo and 
I’ll go back after all this.  Just as soon as they destroy Argos.)  
*A hand breaks through Jet’s thoughts, jerking him backward.  
The object of his newfound anger stares down at him, grinning 
cruelly, its single eye glinting smugly.*  Hey!  Let go!  *Jet 
struggles against the hand that holds him.  He cries out to his 
sister, who stands searching so nearby, yet so far away.*  
Tempo!  Over here!!!

Goku: *from behind Argos* I don’t know who you are, or why you’re 
here, but Earth doesn’t want you.  *His aura expands as he 
attempts to power up to SSJ.  He finds he can go no further 
than SSJ1.  Still, Goku being Goku, he kicks at Argos with all 
the strength that he does have.  And of course, being Goku, that 
is enough to make Argos stumble away a little.  Argos does not 
relinquish his hold on Jet Stream; rather, he drags the boy 
along with him.  Jet cries out in pain as this smashes him into 
an awkward and unnatural position.*

Tempo: *calmly, as she arrives beside them on the rooftop* Let my 
brother go.  *turns to Goku*  You can go now.  *Goku, sensing 
a major attack about to happen, nods and backs off*

*Argos does not respond to Tempo’s words.  Rather, he slams a hand 
down into Jet’s shoulder.  Jet cries out again as he feels his 
energy being drained.  His own aura becomes evident, a light 
green color, as does Argos’s own again.  Tempo, frightened by 
this, does not bother with anything fancy.  Instead, she grabs 
Jet’s other arm and attempts to pull him away from Argos.  Jet’s 
aura slowly begins to disappear.  As it fades into Argos’s black, 
thousands of rocks in the background detach themselves from 
the ground at the sound of Ryouga’s voice.  They slam into 
Argos from behind, knocking the now unconscious Jet out of 
Argos’s last-ditch attempt to restore his power.  Tempo catches 
her brother and pulls him out of the way so that she and the 
others can make their move.*

*Tempo takes aim along with Akane, Ranma, and Ukyou, and all add 
their attacks to Ryouga’s.  From the left, fire and lightning 
pound Argos.  From the right, water drowns him.  From the 
back, rocks pound him.  And from the front, wind barrages him.  
The force from the five elements combines and encases the 
thing once known as Argos.  When the five young people can no 
longer sustain their attack, they halt, each dropping to his or 
her knees in weariness.  The sphere of power glows like a sun 
under the cloudy sky, as if the warriors had brought it down 
from the sky and held it on the rooftop.  Slowly, the light dims.  
Where once a monster stood, nothing remains.  Ranma’s last 
sight before he looses consciousness is a gloriously empty rooftop.*


*two days later*

Ranma:  *yawns and sits up, throwing back a cover* Hmmmm?  
Where am I?  *looks around, and recognizes his room at Cap 
Corp* Oh.  I’m back here.  *Ranma gets out of bed and walks to 
door, feeling surprisingly good again after exhausting himself so 
badly.  He looks down and notices he is wearing different 
clothes, clean ones.  For a moment he smiles, then his eyes 
widen as he remembers something.  His hand reflexively 
reaches to his pocket, which, being a different pocket than the 
last one he remembers, is empty.  He races out the door only to 
bump into Bulma, sending them both flying.*

Ranma: *standing up quickly and racing to help Bulma up*  Gome 
nasai!^ Are you all right?

^Sorry  

Bulma:  *accepts Ranma’s help up* Yes, I’m fine.  *brushes herself 
off* What’s the hurry?  If you’re going to check on everyone 
else, they’re all still asleep.  You’re the first one awake.

Ranma:  Really?  How long has it been?

Bulma: Two days.  *giggles at Ranma’s expression*  When all of you 
collapsed, Goku and his sons and Piccolo brought you back here. 
You’ve been sleeping since.

Ranma: *shakes his head*  Wow.  *remembers what he was rushing 
to find out*  Ummm... Bulma-san, where are the clothes I was 
wearing?

Bulma: In the laundry room.  *pauses*  Oh yeah, *catches Ranma as 
tries to run off to the laundry room... a good thing, since he 
doesn’t know where the laundry room is*  I found something in 
one of the pockets.

Ranma:  *pausing suddenly and turning to Bulma*  You did?

Bulma: *holding up a small black box*  Yours? *he nods and takes it*  
So who’s it for?  *Ranma blushes, staring down at the box that 
contains the ring he bought in the middle of the fight.  Bulma 
grins teasingly, then walks down the way she was going before 
Ranma bumped into her*

Ranma:  I guess it’s time...  *Turns around, orienting himself, then 
walks into a room three doors down from his own.  On the bed, 
Akane stills sleeps, but as Ranma closes the door behind him, 
she wakes up.*

Akane: *sleepily* Ranma?  *yawns and sits up*  

Ranma:  *blushing* Gomen, didn’t mean to wake you.

Akane: Oh, that’s okay.  I woke up a little while ago, but went back to 
sleep again.  It’s time I got up again.  *pauses*  What time 
~is~ it?

Ranma: *grins*  Two days past when we went to sleep.  *laughs at 
Akane’s expression*  Yeah, that’s what I said, too.

Akane:  *eyes narrowing*  Which makes me wonder... what do you 
have to say about sneaking into my room?  *smiles dangerously 
at him*  Why shouldn’t I mallet you for coming in here?

Ranma: *backs off, waving his hands defensively*  I wasn’t going to 
to do anything!!!  I-

Akane:  *seeing something in Ranma’s hand, interrupts him*  Ranma, 
what are you holding?

Ranma:  Uhhh...  *blushes and quickly drops his hands again, then 
hesitantly walks forward*  Um, Akane...

Akane:  Yes, Ranma?

Ranma:  *kneeling down by her bed so he sits eye-level to her* You 
know how when our dads first told us we were engaged?  How 
they didn’t ask us first?  Well, I only objected because I 
didn’t have a choice.  I think maybe it was the 
same for you?


Akane:  *nods, smiling a little at the memory... and as she starts to 
figure out where Ranma’s heading*  So?

Ranma:  Well, I wanted it to be your choice.  *holds out the box he 
bartered for in the middle of the fight*  Akane Tendo, would you 
marry me?

Akane:  *eyes water a little, and she reaches forward and takes the 
the little black box, not bothering to look inside it* Oh, 
Ranma...  Of course I - *Ranma hold up a hand to stop her, and 
she looks at him quizzically*

Ranma:  Just a sec, Akane.  *Walks over to the door and opens it.  In 
falls the entire Son and Brief family (except Vegita), and of 
course Ryouga and Ukyou (who are sharing a tissue that looks 
suspiciously like one of Ryouga’s bandanas).*

Bulma:  *from under the pile of people*  Uh... hi?  *everyone 
sweatdrops*

Ranma:  A bit of privacy, please?  *points out the door and down the 
hall.  Reluctantly, the whole group disperses, except Ukyou and 
Ryouga*  And when did you two wake up, anyway?

Ukyou:  *sniffle sniffle*  About five minutes ago.  *points at Ryouga*  
He walked through my wall and woke me up.

Ranma: *cocks head with his little smirk at this* Hey, Ryouga, how’s the arm?

Ryouga:  Oh, it’s better.  Bulma-san fixed it up right away.

Ranma: *shakes his head with a grin and points in the same direction 
everyone else took*  You can’t stay and listen, either.  
This is private.  *They reluctantly follow the path of the 
others.  Ranma goes back to sit beside Akane* Gome for that.

Akane:  *hiding a grin*  That’s alright.  Now, could you start again?  
*Ranma facefaults, and Akane laughs*  You don’t have to start 
from the ~very~ beginning.  

Ranma:  Okay, okay.  Akane Tendo, will you marry me?

Akane:  Yes, I will.  *She opens the box, and her jaw hits the floor as 
she sees the ring, a single diamond amidst a field of ruby petals 
set in gold.*  R-Ranma!  How...?

Ranma:  *blushes*  Ummm, let’s just say that Nabiki helped me a 
little. *adds as Akane looks at him, surprised*  And no, we 
won’t spend the next 60 years of our lives in her debt, either!  
*Akane laughs*
 
Akane:  You know, Nabiki’s not really as bad as people make her out 
to be.  She just tries to make ends meet for the dojo.

Ranma:  Really?  You think she’d let off if we started teaching classes 
or something?  *Akane looks at him, thoughtful.*

Akane:  Teaching classes?  Like martial arts?  *Ranma nods*  Hmmmm...

*A few minutes later*

*Ranma and Akane walk into the room beside their own, where 
everybody has gathered.  Someone quickly flips on the TV, to 
hide the fact that the wall has quite a few ear prints on it.  On 
the television, a scene is playing out.*

*A light glaring from a rooftop nearby reveals five young people 
standing in an approximate circle around a large bubble of 
energy on a roof.  Everyone watches as all five young people 
collapse to their knees.  Four go from blonde to black-haired, 
the fifth keeps her hair the same black it was.  For an instant, 
five highlighted sets of black hair kneel facing a bubble of 
energy.  Then the light fades, and... nothing remains.  
Simultaneously, the five collapse, color disappearing from each 
head.  A tentative man dressed in red and black walks up to 
one, and the screen fades back to show an announcer.*

Anchor Lady:  And that’s the scene that one of our operatives 
captured two days ago.  Who are these people who seem to 
have saved the city?  No one knows, despite multiple efforts to 
identify them.  In other news-  *Bulma stands up and flips the TV off*

Bulma:  I guess someone stayed behind to tape the battle, after all.  
*shrugs*  Hey, they’ll get used to it eventually.  Who wants 
something to eat?  *Sweatdrops as every hand in the room 
raises*  Why’d I even ask?  *walks out of the room*

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Author’s notes

Well, finally, that’s done!  Just the epilogue left.  Sorry it took so long 
to get this out, but it obviously turned out to be longer than I 
thought it would, even split up in half.  (My system tells me it’s 
40 pages long, and this is before editing... ^,^**)  Thanks for 
sticking with me for so long.  Hope you enjoyed!
     
  			--Fanime Lynn
Send all C&C to:  Fanime_Lynn@hotmail.com