The Great Crossover Crisis Disclaimer: What are you looking at me for? Kojiro: Cat Fist Fury Ranma T-Ranma: Ranmatech (Prototype, Tekno) D-Ranma: Dragon Child Ranma (Draco) B-Ranma: Fighting Blind Ranma (Koga) P-Ranma: Fist of the Pikachu Ranma (Trainer, Ash) < >: Thoughts (* *): Computer responses Chapter 9 Part 1 Six of a Kind P-Ranma absently stroked Raiden's ears as he and the other Ranmas neared the school gates. He then began considering what he had seen from T-Ranma's computer scans and decided that his Pokemon didn't need to hide, considering the craziness that his native counterpart encountered daily. "Raiden, you don't have to hide. I doubt these people are going to make too big deal about it." "Pika?" T-Ranma considered the Pokemon Trainer's comment, then shrugged. "I suppose that it wouldn't make any difference. Raiden can save his pendant's energy for when he really needs it." In an instant, the Pikachu reappeared and nuzzled his master's head. The crowds of students who caught sight of six duplicates of their most well known classmate collectively gasped. One Ranma Saotome was enough, but six of them? "Look!" "What the…?" "Six Ranmas?!" "Maybe they're brothers or lookalike cousins?" "Wow! They're so tall and handsome!" "What's that thing on that guy's shoulder?" "It looks like… a Pikachu?" "No way! Pokemon's just an anime!" "It certainly LOOKS real!" "Ooh! HOW CUTE!" "Who's that really tall Ranma on the end?" "What's going on?" High up on the second floor of the main building, Nabiki smirked as she watched the six Ranmas make their way toward the front doors. Her head was literally flooded with the possibilities of how much yen she could make with these new arrivals. She and her flunkies were already poised to get as much information about them as well as snapping photos. Beside her, Akane let off a snort of disgust at how those five duplicates of the native Ranma were getting so much attention. Akane had taken it rather personally after being insulted and then paralyzed by the blind Ranma last evening. The nerve of him calling her an ill-mannered brat! Those other Ranmas adding insults to injury made her boil with rage. How dare they belittle her skills as a martial artist! She was the heir to the Tendo School of the Anything Goes! Okay, she admitted that she hadn't been training as hard and that her skills weren't exactly up to snuff to Ukyo or Shampoo's, but she could still beat her Ranma, right? That Battle Dogi did say that she had great potential, right? She was also very angry to see Ranma alongside his dimensional counterparts. She had been very angry when he wasn't present to eat the breakfast she had worked so hard in preparing. On the schoolyard, the five dimensional Ranmas politely waved to the crowds as they approached the front of the main building. It was then that Tatewaki Kuno made his customary entrance to once again challenge Ranma and defeat him in order to free Akane and the pigtailed girl from his 'sorcerous clutches.' As he strode out, his gave out his usual poetic nonsense. "Ranma Saotome! Today the heavens shall at last smite thee with the sword of justice as the I, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, will…" "Aw, put a sock in it, Kuno! I ain't got time for you." Ranma retorted as he got into a stance. It was then that Kuno's jaw dropped as he saw his worst nightmare multiplied by six. "What dark sorcery is this? Has the coward Saotome conjured up demons fashioned in his own image?" "What are you talking about Kuno?" Ranma gestured to his counterparts. "These are just…. uh, my….?" He turned to his lookalikes for help. T-Ranma shrugged as he replied. "We're his lookalike cousins." "Er, yeah that's right. This is cousin Kojiro, cousin Draco, cousin Koga, cousin…?" Ranma gave Prototype and Trainer a puzzled look. T-Ranma shrugged again as he thought up a name at random. He made a note to hack into the school's systems and make the necessary changes. "I'm cousin Tekno, remember?" < Tekno as in technology. > "And I'm…." Trainer thought for a moment then remembered the name of a trainer that his associate Jeanette had told him about. "Ash… ura, yeah I'm Ashura, but you can call me Ash." "Yeah, this is cousin Ash and cousin Tekno." Ranma finished. "Liar! You dare to presume I would believe such a ridiculous story!" Kuno raged as he held out his bokken. "It obvious that you had used your foul black magic to conjure up these demons and molded them in your image, Ranma Saotome! I can see that as the coward that you are, you think that you could send your creations against me? You shall pay for your deceit! Have at thee!" WHAM! Ranma easily evaded the bokken slash and delivered a hard roundhouse kick to Kuno's midsection. The insane kendoist was sent flying backward and impacted hard against the wall of the school building before sliding painfully to the ground. "That didn't hurt." Kuno mumbled as he faded into unconsciousness. As Ranma sighed and turned back to his counterparts and said, "Sorry about that but Kuno just won't quit." B-Ranma shrugged. "That's okay. I've got someone just like him back from where I come from as well. He's just as big a headache." "Same here." Kojiro affirmed. "Man! He's no better than the other Kuno! So this happens to you every day?" Ranma nodded. "I've never met him before." Draco said. "Neither have I." Trainer said. "Oh well, it's not like he could ever become much of a threat against us." Prototype remarked. (*Affirmative. Native Kuno's power level rated at 29 and skills are similar to Kuno in home universe. Threat STILL less than negligible. *) Ranma nodded. "Come on guys. We'd better get to class before the late bell rings and…" It was then that they noticed a huge dust cloud approaching from the side. Ranma and Kojiro winced as they saw who was running ahead of a mob of angry girls. It was a little gnome with a huge sack slung over his shoulder. Prototype became very intrigued at the power level of this dwarf, which was comparable to the energy signature of the Cologne in his world when he saved the Amazon village. "WOO HOO! What a haul! What a haul!" "Oh no!" Ranma groaned. "Happosai." Kojiro hissed as he saw one of the banes of his dimension come rushing toward them. Though the grandmaster of the Anything Goes was now a cripple in his universe, Kojiro still carried some bad memories about the freak and how he made his life miserable. First by sending Pantyhose Tarou after him, then trying to drag him back to the Tendo Dojo with that Moxibustion Point. The group of females that was chasing him were brandishing brooms, rackets, golf clubs and various other implements to pummel the ancient pervert flat. If they ever caught him that is. "Hey you…" Ranma started forward to stop the lecher but then felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back. He looked over his shoulder and saw Kojiro's serious expression. "Let me handle him." Ranma considered it for a moment then decided that he wanted to see how this version of himself could handle the old pervert. "Go for it." Kojiro nodded and leapt into action as his other selves watched. "Hey you freak!" Happosai smirked as he saw what he thought was Ranma rushing toward him. In his hurry to get away from his pursuers, he didn't notice that this Ranma was taller and more muscular than the one he knew. He decided to get rid of this nuisance by tossing one of his patented fuse bombs. He was having too much fun and wasn't about to let it get spoiled. "HAPPO-FIRE BURST!" Kojiro however, was far faster than Happosai expected as he knocked the bomb back with a swipe, then followed up with a ki blast. "RAGING TIGER BOLT!" KABOOM! KABOOM! Happosai went soaring from the double explosion. He was used to having his own bombs blowing up in his face, but that second hit by Kojiro's ki blast was something else! Though Ranma's Moko Takabisha had never hit him before, he had been confident of being able to withstand it. But that blast really stung! How did Ranma's ki projectile get THAT STRONG?! Happosai landed hard on the ground and moaned a bit as his precious cargo of stolen gym shorts, panties and bras was scattered all over the yard. By that time, the girls had caught up with him and… WHAM! POW! STOMP! KICK! MANGLE! KAPOW! CRUNCH! BAM! WHAP! CRASH! SLAM! WHACK! BOOT! WHUMP! THWACK! SNAP! After pounding the pervert flat, the girls then turned their attention to getting their unmentionables back. Happosai was a bruised and battered wreck. He then angrily got up and glared at the interloper. "RANMA! You just ruined a perfectly good haul!" Happosai cried out in outrage as his battle aura flared. "So what are you going to do about it, hmmm?" Kojiro took a stance of his own as he smirked at him with utter contempt. "Go steal some more? I'll just stop you again just like this time." "PREPARE TO DIE!" Happosai's rage went up as he suddenly launched a huge, snakelike ki blast at the insolent boy. Kojiro smirk became even more pronounced as he readied his 'claws' and then lashed out at the attack. "RIPCLAW SLASH!" To Happosai's surprise, and to everyone else who was watching, Kojiro's ki-powered slash cut through the pervert's projectile as if it were nothing, The attack fizzled out, leaving the ancient master agape with his jaw hitting the ground. "What the…?! How did you…?!" Happosai began to feel a rare emotion; fear. If he didn't know better, he'd swear that he just saw Ranma use the dreaded Cat Fist… on a conscious level. "SPECIAL ATTACK…" T-Ranma frowned as he saw the buildup of Kojiro's battle aura. "He's going a little overboard." "Don't worry." Koga said as he reached out with his senses. "He may have some resentment toward Happosai from his own world, but I know him enough that he won't kill this Happosai. Just give him a sample of what he can really do and show him that he's not someone to mess with." Ranma could only stare in awe. This was what the real Cat Fist was capable of? Happosai desperately leapt high to avoid whatever attack Kojiro was about to launch. However, the Cat Fist fighter smirked as he made a backward somersault and lashed out with a kick. "SABER SLASH KICK!" A crescent-shaped ki blast lanced forward and upward, catching Happosai in midair and exploded. This caused all the fuse bombs he carried in his gi to also go off. Happosai was hurled off into the distance. "I'll get you for this Ranmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The old lecher was soon a distant point in the sky and vanished. "Don't call me Ranma!" Kojiro called after him. He then dusted himself off and breathed out a sigh of contentment. That had felt good. All around him, the crowds of students began applauding him, especially the girls. On the second floor, Nabiki let off a low whistle. "Hmm, it seems that Kojiro was more than able to handle Happosai better than our Ranma could." She then gave her sister a teasing smile. "He certainly proved that he's better than you." Akane had been stupefied by the display of Kojiro's skills when her sister's comment brought her back to reality. "Hmpf!" Down on the schoolyard… "Way to go!" Koga commented as he and the others went over to congratulate him on his victory. "That was totally awesome! You've GOT to teach me those moves!" Ranma said excitedly. Before Kojiro could respond, the late bell sounded. T-Ranma moaned as he said, "Uh oh! Looks like we're late now. C'mon guys, we better get going." Ranma nodded as he turned around to face off against a little girl in a yellow dress, Ninomiya Hinako. "Why aren't you and the rest of these delinquents in class, Ranma Saotome?" "Oops! Sorry Hinako-sensei, but I was just getting to homeroom right now and…" "You are a delinquent Ranma Saotome, and therefore you must be punished!" Hinako said as she took out a five-yen coin and held it up between the index and middle fingers of her right hand. "NO!" Ranma rushed forward and aimed for the pressure points to stop her. "HAPPO-FIVE-YEN SATSU!" Too late. The other five Ranmas stared in amazement as their native counterpart was reduced to a thinner, weaker version of himself as his ki was sucked out of him. T-Ranma's scanners were busy analyzing the process, as were Koga's senses. Fortunately, Prototype was in front of his group and his nanties were projecting a disruption field to shield him and his counterparts from the ki- absorption effect. Then, to the five Ranmas amazement, plus to the drooling looks of every male student who was watching, Hinako suddenly morphed into a shapely, twenty-year-old woman. The yellow dress she wore now became skintight and just barely cleared her fanny. Her now ample chest almost seemed to burst out from her front. Akane smirked as she saw Ranma get drained after reaching for Hinako's chest. T-Ranma frowned. (*Analysis indicates that subject had used some kind of life-energy absorption technique, similar to the Krystellian Energy Leeches of Vagus Nine. Exercise caution. *) Koga also frowned. Ranma moaned as he collapsed to the ground. He was as weak as a kitten and it would take him a while for his body to recover. Until then, he hoped that his enemies wouldn't get wind of his weakness and attack him. T-Ranma went over to where Ranma fell and placed his hand on his shoulder. The computer acknowledged as thousands of nanites began releasing a portion of their stores of ki energy into Ranma's body. T-Ranma glowed with a soft blue light as he lent Ranma some of his power. In moments, Ranma's body filled out again as his strength and health was fully restored. Ranma stood up in surprise and turned to his benefactor. "H-H-How did you do that?" T-Ranma shrugged as he waved it off. "It was nothing." Hinako was stunned to see the student she had just disciplined up and about so soon as she glared at the person who interfered. Even though she saw six nearly identical Ranmas, she merely assumed that since they looked like him, then they were all delinquents, just like the native one. "How dare you interfere with my disciplining my student! You must be a delinquent too if you're helping this delinquent!" "I beg your pardon? And just who are you to say how students are to be disciplined? Besides, that's no way for you to speak to a teacher, young lady." "Teacher?" Hinako said in disbelief. The crowds of students that were now gathering at the windows of the building also began murmuring among themselves. "He's a teacher?" "No way!" "He looks too young to be one!" Hinako became more agitated as she came to the conclusion that this person was fibbing. "I don't believe you! No teacher would help a delinquent. You're lying and that proves that you are a delinquent! You will be punished!" "Look out!" Ranma called out as he saw her aim her coin at T-Ranma. The nanotech warrior shrugged as he motioned for his counterparts to step back. "Don't worry, I can handle this." On the second floor, Akane watched with interest as Prototype faced off against Hinako-sensei. A part of her hoped that he got his ki sucked out, after the way he and the others berated her skills. "HAPPO-FIVE-YEN SATSU!" T-Ranma stood with his feet braced and his arms crossed as Hinako tried to absorb his ki. However, his computer had already set up a disruption field to prevent any energy from being drained. When the girl-turned-woman saw that she wasn't absorbing any of his energy, she mistakenly assumed that her opponent had figured out that by not attacking, she could not use the Happo-Five-Yen Collection against him. "Impressive. However… let us see if you can handle this!" She took out a fifty-yen piece. "HAPPO-FIFTY-YEN SATSU!" To everyone's shock, T-Ranma was still standing with no decrease in ki at all. Hinako's eyes widened, as she still could not drain the nanotech soldier of his energy. "Having trouble?" T-Ranma asked nonchalantly as his scanners continued to analyze the woman in front of him. After they had given him all the information he needed, he then smiled and said, "All right, if you want my ki so badly, then here you go." His battle aura then flared to life. This made Hinako grin as she focused her concentration on the battle aura. However, after a moment, her smile disappeared as she realized that something was wrong. The energy she was absorbing was enormous and too erratic! Her body trembled as every cell in her body was flooded with raw energy. "W-W-Wait! S-S-Stop!" Hinako cried out as her limbs shook and quivered. She began to feel her legs give way as T-Ranma's battle aura flared even brighter. "Come on now! You're barely a tenth of the way there!" The students watched in awe as T-Ranma displayed a level of ki manipulation that was unheard of. Sweat began to pour down Hinako's forehead as she tried to halt her energy drain. However, her body wouldn't listen as it continued to greedily suck in the power that her opponent was generating. Koga's senses were on full alert as he detected huge amounts of ki being exchanged between the two. Hinako's body was going critical and if she did not release that power immediately, her body would explode! "Guys, get back! This going to be messy!" The other Ranmas took their blind counterpart's advice and dove for cover. The entire schoolyard was glowing with a blue light and the spectators had to squint in order to see what was happening. "P-P-please… stop!" Hinako begged as she desperately tried to halt in taking in more ki. The fingers that held the coin were locked and she couldn't move her limbs as they were pulsating with power. T-Ranma smirked as he relented and reached over to flick the coin out of her hands. Hinako cried out with joy as she found the strength to hold up both hands with her thumbs and forefingers in a triangle, aiming them, point-blank at T-Ranma's chest. "HAPPO-NO-YEN RETURN!" Hinako discharged all of her stolen ki in one massive blast. The students all became blinded as Prototype received all his stolen life energy, with interest. There was a tremendous flare of light as trees were knocked down and windows were rattled from the shockwave. When the brightness finally died down and the dust settled the onlookers were totally dumbfounded at what they saw. Standing in a huge, fifty-foot crater, T-Ranma was still standing without a scratch as he looked down at the diminutive Hinako, who had reverted to her child form. The little girl looked up at her opponent with confusion. "Are you done?" Tekno asked casually. Hinako then pitched forward and fainted from exhaustion. The nanotech martial artist quickly caught her in his arms before she hit the ground. Behind him, his other selves ran up to him. "Prototype, are you okay?" Kojiro asked. T-Ranma nodded as he held up the unconscious Hinako in his arms and began to slowly head towards the school. "I'm fine. I'm just a little dizzy from reabsorbing my own ki." "You absorbed all that power?!" Trainer asked in amazement. T-Ranma shrugged. "It's no big deal. My body has been storing it for years, so it wasn't that hard to contain it again. It was my ki after all." "What the hell happened?" Ranma asked. "How did you beat her?" "Easy." T-Ranma replied. "I figured that she had an upper limit to how much ki she could hold. My body contains far more ki than she could ever hope to drain. When I let loose with my battle aura, her body tried to absorb all of that energy at once and went into near overload. That forced her to discharge it back at me. My nanites reabsorbed the ki and the strain of releasing that much power was too much for her and she fainted. Simple really." "Whoa!" Ranma couldn't believe how powerful the oldest Ranma was. He then remembered what he had to do and reached for the pressure points to seal off Hinako's powers again. T-Ranma backed off when Ranma tried to grope her chest." What are you doing? She's harmless now." Ranma then gave his other self a serious look. "Look, don't think of this as something perverted, okay? I have to apply these pressure points on her or she'll go right back to absorbing ki again!" T-Ranma studied the small child in his arms, then shook his head. "No, I don't think that will be necessary." "But…" "Don't worry about it. Look, you and the others are late for classes now, so you better go now. I'll take care of Miss Hinako. I'll explain everything to her and get this misunderstanding all cleared up, so none of you will get punished, okay?" The other Ranmas gave him a wary look, then decided that that since he hadn't steered them wrong yet, they all hurried into the school building as T-Ranma carried Hinako to the nurse's office. The rest of the students could only watch in awe. Ten minutes later… T-Ranma watched the sleeping child on the cot and wondered about her. He had gotten the files on Ninomiya Hinako and was surprised at the information. According to the records, she was supposed to be in her early twenties, but she retained the body of a ten-year-old girl. That didn't make any sense. Unless of course, she had some kind of rare disease such as systemic hypoclasia, which prevented her from aging. That didn't sound right to the interstellar troubleshooter as she attained her rightful age whenever she drained someone else's ki. Since ki was the energy of all living things, it must have meant that her own personal stores must be very low and she only had enough for a ten-year-old body. So she could only become an adult by taking the ki of others to make up for the difference. However, the transfer seemed to be highly unstable as the file had depicted photos of her returning to her childlike state. (*Compliance. *) A minute later, T-Ranma's biocomputer had completed scanning and was now giving him the results. (*Subject seems to have an altered metabolism that allows her to absorb high amounts of ki energies. However, the metabolic rate of how she uses that energy is accelerated and causes her to deplete all borrowed energies in a short time. Personal stores of own ki is low, due to inherent weak constitution. Suggest using nanites to bring her metabolic rate back to normal. *) (*Nanites can also alter genetic code to restore constitution to normal levels. An infusion of host's own ki will also be required to jumpstart subject's own ki recovery. *) T-Ranma thought about it for a while as he looked at the sleeping girl. He had talked to the other teachers and they had informed him of the disrespect of some students and her nickname of Hina-chan sensei. She did use her ki-sucking powers to discipline rowdy students, but to be reduced back down to a ten-year-old again, well that must really give her a hard time with her identity. He felt sorry for her and decided. (*Acknowledged! *) The intergalactic bounty hunter placed a hand on her forehead and began telephasing thousands of his microscopic robots into the girl. At the same time, his hand glowed softly with ki as the tiny, technological wonders went to work. Ninomiya's body began to grow and age as the infusion of ki was fed into her. When she reached the proper age and build, the nanites went about the task of stabilizing her metabolism and altering her constitution to that of a normal woman of her age. The process took less than two minutes and after completing their directives, the nanites were telephased back into their host. A moment later, Hinako moaned and opened her eyes, feeling remarkably refreshed. It was as if she had just drained a delinquent and had become an adult. However, she felt different somehow… She then sat up and saw T-Ranma grinning at her from her bedside. "Hello Miss Hinako. I'm… Tekno Saotome, and I'm the new history teacher." He then held out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet with a co-worker." After explanations were made… "Are you serious? I'll never revert back to being a child again?" Hinako couldn't believe it. "That's right, Miss Hinako. I noticed your… shall we say unique constitution and I happen to know a few techniques that corrected the imbalance in your metabolism." "I… don't know what to say…" To Hinako, this was new feeling for her. She would now looked up to as an adult and those bratty kids won't ever call her Hina-chan sensei again. She could finally see other people and maybe even fall in love? She started giving T-Ranma a funny look. T-Ranma missed the expression as he continued with his explanations. "Of course, I had to alter that ki-draining ability of yours in the process." "But… how will I discipline the children if I can't…?" T-Ranma held up a hand. "I said that I altered that ability. You'll still be able to drain another's ki in self-defense or to discipline someone, but you won't absorb it. It'll simply be dispersed around you." He then gave her a wink. "But I'm certain that a pretty lady like you can keep the students in line." Hinako blushed at the compliment. Now that she was an adult at all times, she could really appreciate compliments about her looks. Whenever she changed into a child, people looked down at her and treated her like a child. It was very distressing at times. Especially during that time she had pursued Soun Tendo. "I don't know how to thank you…" T-Ranma held up a hand and said, "Just don't be too hard on Ranma or the other students. Don't be too quick to judge and at least hear out the whole story before you decide to discipline anyone, all right?" Hinako nodded. After hearing T-Ranma's explanations as to what happened in the schoolyard, she realized that she had been too hasty. "All right. I will apologize for my… impulsiveness." "Sounds good to me." T-Ranma said as he got up. "Well, now that everything's been settled, I have to get to my first class. It'll be a pleasure working here at Furinkan High and with you. Good day to you, Miss Hinako." As Hinako watched him leave, she secretly smiled as she admired his well-built form. Other than Soun Tendo, he was the only one who had ever been nice to her. She still couldn't get over how similar he was to Ranma Saotome and thought of him as Ranma done right. He had that certain charm that drew other girls to him like a magnet. However, this version of him was more seasoned and mature, making that charm so irresistible! And now that Hinako no longer had to worry about reverting back to a child… Back in that place beyond reality… Ranma Blue shook his head. "Uh oh! Do you see that look in Hinako's eyes?" Ranma Red smirked. "Oh boy! This is going to get complicated! And it's only their second day!" To be continued… Author's notes Well, as expected the five dimensional Ranmas are making big splashes and things can only get more tangled as they try to make sense out of the native Ranma's life.