The Legend of Ranma

Ranma 1/2, the Legend of Zelda and Sailor Moon all belong to their

respective creators. I'm just writing this for fun.

< >: Thoughts

[" "] Telepathic communication

Chapter 2

Card Sharks

In a place known as Mount Phoenix, a certain godling by the name of Saffron

watched a scene unfold in the waters of a mystic well. The images depicted

a strange young man with pointed ears who was actually battling against a

huge dragon and was winning.

"Very interesting." Saffron turned to one his underlings. "I did not think

that the Amazons had anyone who had the power to battle the dragon.

Apparently, even the powers of the Musk Dynasty were not enough to bend

those Amazons to my will. Are you certain that no one had seen this man

before?"

"No my lord. We are not certain if this stranger is an ally of the Amazons

or a stranger."

"I sense a great power within him. Something that I had never sensed

before! A source of power that is... not of this world! I would have this

power!"

"What are your orders?"

"For now, I shall leave the Amazons be as I investigate this new

development. I can see that he is now heading towards Japan." The scene in

the waters changed as they showed Ranma swimming east. "Contact our allies

in Japan and have them send some... challenges to him. I would like to see

just how capable this young man is."

"As you wish my lord."

In another part of reality, also called the Negaverse, Queen Beryl was

looking into her crystal ball when a sudden image appeared before her. The

evil ruler frowned as she saw who it was.

"Kiima! What does Saffron want now?"

The winged messenger frowned as she replied, "That's LORD SAFFRON, Queen

Beryl! You would do well to respect the one that had saved you from death!

Were it not for him, you would be but a memory after your last battle with

the Sailor Senshi!"

"I did not need his help!" Beryl hissed.

"That's not what I've heard. The Sailor Senshi would have destroyed you,

had my master not transported you out of the Negaverse at the last instant.

As of now, they believe that you had perished."

"Why you..."

"Now, now! No need to be so touchy! Your energy was all but exhausted and

you would have surely died, if Master Saffron had not been so generous and

powered you up, as well as resurrect your underlings, Jedite, Zoycite and

Malachite! You are in service to my lord. He would destroy you all in an

instant should you betray him! Never forget that!"

Beryl growled but replied in a tight voice, "What does he want?"

"A certain young man will be arriving in Japan soon and he possesses great

power. My master wishes for you to seek out this person and test him."

"But what about the Sailor Senshi and our own plans?"

"Saffron cares nothing about your little vendetta against the Senshi or

your petty schemes to drain the Earth of its life energy! His plans go far

beyond your limited imagination! Go about your own business, but keep a

lookout for this man! Is that understood?"

Beryl fumed at being treated as a minor annoyance, but nodded. Kiima

smirked as her image faded away. It was then that Jedite approached his

leader.

"My Queen! How much more must we suffer under the heel of that pompous

godling?"

"Patience Jedite." The evil ruler's mouth turned up into a smile. "Saffron

doesn't know it but he has just presented us with a golden opportunity.

Unknown to him, I was already aware of the great energy source that is

approaching Japan! I sensed that the man's life energy alone would put our

plans ahead by months! He is also in possession of something Saffron wants!

If he wants it, then it would be in our best efforts to get it first!

Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, my Queen!"

In the eternal flow of time, Setsuna, aka Sailor Pluto was still puzzled.

Why did the Triforce of Courage and Power suddenly appear after two

thousand years of absence? Did that mean that Hyrule still existed? And if

it did, how much had changed? She had sensed the presence of the TriForce

of Courage and Power, and was very concerned. She had detected evil

intentions with the TriForce of Power, and that could prove to be a grave

danger to the future of Cystal Tokyo. The legends of that ancient relic had

depicted its magical potential to be far greater than the Silver Imperium

Crystal and the late Queen Serenity herself. Even one-third of the TriForce

was enough to reduce the Earth to rubble a million times over.

And just where was the TriForce of Wisdom? She had not sensed its presence

That third component of the relic was supposed to keep the other two in

check and balance out its power. There were just too many variables and

unanswered questions. She couldn't even pinpoint the location of the

TriForce components as they were somehow hiding the presence of the ones

who possessed them. She could only feel faint emissions and they were not

enough for her to get a valid reading. The only thing she knew was that the

Triforce of Courage was heading toward Japan.

Perhaps it was time for her to have another discussion with her fellow

Senshi.

Somewhere in the waters of Japan...

"We're almost there, Ranma!" Navi commented as the coast of Japan appeared

over the distant horizon.

"It's about time!" Ranma said in a tired voice as he continued to swim

toward the island of Japan. "I can't believe that I had to SWIM three

thousand miles!"

"Sorry Ranma!" Navi said in an apologetic tone. "It couldn't be helped

though. Japan was closer than China was and we were planning to go there.

At least with your Zoran Tunic, you didn't have to worry about drowning

along the way."

"Stupid dragon just had to drop me off into the China Sea! It was almost as

bad as King Dodongo and Volvagia! The trip wasn't very pleasant either! I

just had to be swimming in the sea when that storm came up! I ran into some

old water mines left over from World War Two! And I wasn't too keen with

that shark when it tried to make a meal out of me!"

"Well your Longshot weapon did make him reconsider."

"As soon as we're in Japan, I'm going to have me some shark fin soup!"

An hour later, Ranma was in the Tokyo harbor. When he got to within a

hundred feet of the nearest pier, he was all but exhausted. He decided that

he was too tired to continue on, so he silently called on his Longshot. The

tool appeared in his hand and fired off its grappling chain. The metal

spear pierced into a wooden post and began reeling the tired swimmer in.

Ranma hauled himself onto the pier and fell flat on his face. Navi floated

nearby, unseen by any passerby or docks worker.

"My poor Ranma. You've suffered so much. Here, let me soothe your tired

bones."

The Hyrule fairy began circling Ranma and released a shiny powder. His body

glowed with a soft white light as Navi worked her healing magic. In another

minute, the former Hero of Time sat up with a refreshed look about him.

"Thanks Navi."

"No problem Ranma. So where do you want to go now?"

Ranma's stomach growled in response. "Where else? After swimming three

thousand miles, I'm really hungry!"

A half-hour later, Ranma was sitting in a small restaurant, downing his

third bowl of soup. As he ate, he carried on a silent conversation with his

guardian fairy.

["So where do you want to go now Ranma?"] Navi asked.

["Well, since we're in Japan, I may as well check up on the local martial

artists and see what has changed since in the last eight, I mean six

years!"] Ranma swallowed the last bit of soup and motioned for the waiter

to bring him another bowl. ["Man! That tastes great! Anyway I guess my next

move is to find somewhere to stay for a while! You got any ideas Navi?"]

The fairy indicated that she did not. ["Oh by the way Ranma, do you still

have that ocarina that Saria gave you?"]

["Yeah, I still do. Even though I couldn't keep the Ocarina of Time, I

still have my Fairy Ocarina! Why do you ask?"]

["Well, I have been taking an inventory on the items you received from

Hyrule and I discovered that Princess Zelda had modified some of the mystic

songs you learned."]

["Oh yeah? Like what?"]

["Playing Saria's Song will allow you to counter any mystic music that is

used against you! It will also let you communicate with the forest spirits

of this world. Zelda's Lullaby will allow you to open mystic locks and

other magical portals. Epona's Song will let you tame and communicate with

other animals, not just horses this time. The Sun Song will cause sunlight

to appear and counter any undead creature. You can't make it day or night

anymore, since this isn't Hyrule."]

["Okay."] Ranma nodded as he began to assimilate the information. ["So what

about the other songs?"]

["Well,"] Navi continued. ["The Song of Storms can still make it rain, but

now you can summon forth other elements of the weather like snow, wind,

sleet and lightning! The Song of Time can cause a temporal displacement of

any thing around you for a few moments."]

["What's a temporal displacement?"]

["Take out the ocarina and play the Song of Time."] Navi instructed.

Ranma looked around and shrugged as he made the instrument appear. Holding

it up to his mouth, he played the Song of Time. Instantly, he was

surrounded in a corona of blue light. When he completed the melody, he

looked at his surroundings and his eyes widened. Everything and everyone in

the restaurant had become frozen in place. To his right, he saw the

bartender in the midst of preparing a drink, the amber liquid stopped in

mid-pour. Customers all around him were as motionless as statues. Many of

them were holding up their chopsticks and had food a scant few inches from

their open mouths. There was no sound in the restaurant. The only ones that

could still move and talk were Ranma and Navi.

"What's going on Navi?"

"When you play the Song of Time, you cause a bubble of temporal disruption

to take place. Anything within that bubble is frozen in time for about one

minute! You can see how useful this spell can be! Mind you, since this

spell takes up so much magic, you can only play it twice a day!"

"Neat! So if I'm in trouble or something, I can use this spell to escape,

right?"

"You got it! And I'd say that in another ten seconds, those people will

return to normal. They won't even remember what had happened!"

True to Navi's words, exactly ten seconds later, the magic wore off and the

restaurant became the busy establishment it always had been. People resumed

their meals, the bartender finished making that drink and sound returned to

the place. It was if someone had pushed the 'play' button on the scene when

it was in 'pause' mode.

In the timestream, Setsuna blinked. She could have sworn that time had

stopped for just a moment.

<That can't be right. I could have sworn that the timestream halted for

just a moment. But I didn't use my temporal powers to cause the timestream

to stop.>

She pondered it for a few more moments before checking the current

timeline. She saw that nothing had changed and decided to put this strange

development off for a while. It may have been just a minor time

fluctuation, which were common in the neverending flow of the continuum.

She made a note to investigate this further at some later date, which was

pretty much all relative to her.

Back on Earth�

["So what else has been changed Navi?"]

["Well, you can't play any of those other Warp Spell songs, since there are

no TriForce Portals on Earth. Not that it matters, since those songs only

work with the Ocarina of Time."]

A while later, Ranma was walking down the streets of Tokyo, happily taking

in the sights and searching for a place to stay. As he continued on his

way, he soon caught the scent of something delicious and familiar.

["Mmmmm! That's okonomiyaki!"]

["Ranma! You just ate! You can't still be hungry! You ate enough to feed

all the Kokiri for a month!"]

["Sorry Navi! I can't help myself! Whenever I smell okonomiyaki, it reminds

me of my old buddy Ucchan!"]

["Ucchan? Oh yes! He was your friend from twelve years back."]

["That's right! He could sure make the best okonomiyaki! Let's see..."]

Ranma looked to his right and saw the restaurant where the smell was coming

from. His eyes became wide with shock as he read the name of the

establishment.

"T-T-The Ucchan's? It can't be!"

["Ranma?"]

["Navi! The name of that place is the Ucchan's! And according to the small

print below the sign, its owner is... Ukyo Kuonji!"]

["You mean that your old friend is the owner of that restaurant?"]

As if in answer to the fairy's question, the very person they were talking

about emerged from the shop and greeted a couple of girls who came to the

entrance. He was about a eight inches shorter than Ranma and was wearing

the traditional outfit of an okonomiyaki chef. On her back was a huge

spatula and he also wore a bandoleer with several smaller spatulas. He

smiled to the newcomers as Ranma observed from across the street.

One girl was tall and had long brown hair. She was wearing a housedress and

had a serene look about her. She appeared to be in her late teens to early

twenties. The second girl was about a year or two younger and had short

brown hair. She was wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans. When the two entered

the restaurant, the owner followed them in.

["So that was your old friend Ukyo Kuonji?"]

Ranma nodded. There's no mistaking those spatulas and that aroma! ["I

recognize that recipe! It was one of my favorites! I also saw how he moved!

He was training to be a martial artist, just like I was! That's him all

right!"]

["Are you sure that's Ukyo?"]

["Of course it is! I used to call him Ucchan! He used to call me

Ran-chan!"]

["I'm not asking about that! You told me he was a boy!"]

["He was! I mean he is!"]

["I don't think so! Either my mystical senses are off or Ukyo is using some

kind of glamourie!"]

["What are you talking about?"]

["Ranma, Ukyo is a girl!"]

["A... GIRL?!"] Ranma's expression was a mixture of shock and disbelief as

he heard this. ["No way! He doesn't look like a girl!"]

["Ranma, it isn't that hard to believe! After all, Princess Zelda fooled

you by pretending to be that Sheik person! Everyone thought she was a man,

even Princess Ruto!"]

["Yeah, but she used the TriForce of Wisdom to hide from your magical

senses!"]

["That's right. Since this Ukyo does not have the TriForce of Wisdom or any

other magical disguise spell, then I must believe what my senses are

telling me! If you want to make sure, why don't you use your own mystic

senses to probe her when you meet up with her?"]

["Meet up with her?"]

["Oh come on now Ranma! I know that you want to see her again after twelve

long years! Ten years by her reckoning of course!"]

Ranma was silent for a few minutes, then slowly nodded. ["Yeah, I really

did miss my buddy Ucchan over the last twelve years! Let's go see him... I

mean her!"]

Inside the restaurant, Ukyo was busily preparing a meal for the family, who

was sitting at a booth in a remote corner. As she delivered the Tendo's

order, she looked at the sad family with a compassionate eye.

Soun Tendo, the head of the family, was in a sad state. He was slouched

over the table and was absently picking at his food. His eyes were red from

frequently bawling, but today was one of those times where he REALLY had a

good reason to cry. His long black hair was a mess and it looked like he

hadn't washed in a couple of days.

Akane Tendo, the youngest of the family, was also in a depressed state as

she slowly chewed her food. She had long, black hair and was wearing a

simple blue dress. Her sister Nabiki, the second oldest, was busy writing

down some notes as she ate her supper. Kasumi, the eldest daughter put on a

gentle smile as she tried to console her father.

"Please Father. You must eat to keep up your strength!"

"I lost the dojo and our home!" Soun wailed as he blubbered into his

okonomiyaki.

"It wasn't your fault that the Tendo dojo was lost on a bet, Mr. Tendo."

Ukyo said as she approached the family. "It was because of that stupid bet

that damned Ranma had made with him ten years ago!"

Ranma froze in place just after he had entered the shop. <Debt? Ten years

ago? What is she talking about... oh no! It can't be that!>

The little fairy noted that her bond-partner was very pale at the moment.

["Ranma? What's wrong? Do you know something?"]

["I'm afraid I do Navi. When I was six years old, Ucchan and me came across

some creep who called himself the Gambling King. He was a real con artist

and he cheated a lot of kids out of their money. When I went up against

him, he fleeced me but good! Ucchan and me later wrapped him up and tossed

him away, but now I remember something else!"]

["What is it?"]

["It was just after he had conned me out of all of my money. I found a

paper among my Pop's things, which said something about a place called the

Tendo dojo. I... used it as collateral and... lost."] Ranma became even

sadder at this confession.

["Ranma! How could you?"]

["I was young and foolish at the time, but that's no excuse! I shouldn't

have gotten involved with that damned Gambling King! Now this family has

lost their home because of my mistake! I've got to make it up to them!"]

["What are you going to do?"]

["Get their home back!"]

With that in mind, Ranma approached the family.

"So what are you going to do about this?" Ukyo asked.

"That's simple!" Soun said a firm tone. "I'll go back to that con artist

and win back our home!"

"If you do that, you're liable to lose the gi on your back Daddy!" Nabiki

remarked. "He's obviously cheating and your stubbornness is what lost us

our house as well as the dojo!"

"Nabiki's right Dad!" Akane agreed. "That Gambling King beat you with every

hand! I thought Nabiki was about to win back our home, but then you just

had to make that all-or-nothing bet! We lost everything and we can't

challenge him again, since we have nothing to bet with!"

"If we had something we could use for collateral, then I could win back

everything!" The second daughter remarked. "I've watching him and he's only

good enough to beat little kids. His facial expressions are easy to read!

Although, his sleight of hand maneuvers are pretty tricky though."

"Curse you Saotome!" Soun wailed as he let out a deluge of tears. "Curse

you and your son! To think I had promised to engage my children to yours!

How could he do this to us?! If his son wasn't already dead then I'd kill

him!"

The restaurant had become quiet as Soun's outburst registered with all

those present. Soun looked around at the foreboding silence, then paled as

he remembered that he had not yet informed his daughters of the pledge to

unite the Schools of the Anything Goes Martial Arts. The emotional martial

artist smiled sheepishly as he reddened and turned away from the looks he

was getting. The shocked expressions on the three sisters and Ukyo were

very apparent. However, their looks of surprise paled to what Ranma was

feeling. He looked like he was having a stroke as the truth set in.

["Engagement? What's he talking about Ranma?"] Navi was getting more

confused by the minute. Just what kind of life did Ranma have before they

met?

["I have NO IDEA Navi! It this is true, then I don't DARE tell these people

my name is Ranma Saotome. I still have to help them, since it was my fault

that they're in this mess."] Taking a moment to calm himself, he took a

deep breath and listened in on the conversation between Soun and his

daughters.

"What do you mean you promised to engage one of us?!" Akane cried out. "I

HATE BOYS!"

"You better come clean Daddy!" Nabiki added.

"Well..." Soun began in a quiet voice. "You see... before any of you were

born, an old friend of mine and I trained together in the Anything Goes

Martial Arts! Before we went our separate ways, we made an oath to unite

the two schools by engaging any children we might have! Not that it matters

now, since Genma's son Ranma has been dead for more than ten years!"

"It's a good thing that he is dead!" Akane snarled. "I'd never marry some

stupid boy! Especially someone who bet our dojo away!"

Ranma winced at her words, but he really couldn't disagree. It was his

fault that the family was homeless. He continued to listen in on their

conversation.

"You're not the only one who's mad at Ranma." Ukyo said in a hard voice. "I

thought he was my friend, but ten years ago, he and his father stole my

father's yattai and left me on the side of the road!"

<I did what?!> Ranma thought.

"Oh how terrible!" Kasumi said.

Ukyo nodded. "Well, since you people already know that I'm a girl, I may as

well tell you the whole story. Ten years ago, my father and his father

arranged for me to be engaged to Ran-chan. My father's cart was supposed to

be my dowry."

"What?! But Genma had made his vow to me first!" Soun exploded.

Ukyo shrugged as she continued. "It's true! Genma had agreed to the

engagement, but he and that jerk son of his took my father's cart and

abandoned me! Since that day, I swore that I would never love another man!"

"Is that why you came to Furinkan dressed as a boy?" Akane asked.

Ukyo nodded. "Ranma had already ruined me for marriage. I saw no reason to

keep my femininity. If it weren't for that time when Kuno split open my

shirt during that fight, no one would have known that I was really a girl.

Since Ranma's dead and his father has gone into hiding, I am denied any

chance of revenge!"

["Kami-sama! I was engaged to Ukyo?"]

["It looks like you and your father had done some very bad things!"] Navi

remarked.

["I didn't know Navi! I SWEAR I didn't know! If I knew that our getting

that cart meant that I was engaged to Ukyo, than I never would have allowed

it to happen! Damn you Pop! How could you made me do that to her? Now I

know why he asked me of whether I liked okonomiyaki or Ucchan!"]

["So what are you going to do now?"]

Ranma began considering his options and replied. [" First of all, I'm going

to win the Tendo's home back! Then... later on, I'll have to deal with Ukyo

somehow."] Taking another deep breath, he waved a hand to the group,

getting their attention. "Excuse me, but I'm new here and I couldn't help

overhearing your problem about losing your home to this con artist. I think

I may be able to help in getting your property back."

"Who are you? Why would a complete stranger want to help us?" Akane asked,

her voice dripping with her usual contempt for boys.

"My name really isn't that important." Ranma said. "What is important is

that you people have lost your home and I'm quite sure that whoever this

Gambling King is, he had cheated somehow, right?"

Everyone nodded as Nabiki replied, "Somehow, he slipped the Joker into my

hand during that final bet. I can't prove that he cheated since he did it

so fast."

"Okay, how about this?" Ranma reached into his pants pocket and pulled out

a huge wad of yen notes. Nabiki's eyes widened as she mentally counted the

amount presented to her. It was more than five hundred thousand yen! "I'll

put up this money to wager against him. I'll win back your house and dojo

for you."

"And what's the catch?" Nabiki asked suspiciously. Her eyes were still

fixed on the huge roll of money he had in his hands.

"No catch at all! I just couldn't stand the thought of such a nice family

being on the street, due to some careless actions of an irresponsible boy,

ten years ago. If I win, then you're no longer homeless. If I don't then I

lose some money. Either way, you won't lose anything else."

"We don't take charity!" Soun said in a proud voice.

"Oh come on now! From what I heard, it was due to your pride and

stubbornness that lost you your home in the first place."

"He's right Daddy!" Nabiki agreed. "If you hadn't kept betting away every

room in the house, just to get the dojo back, then we wouldn't be in this

mess! You just couldn't stop and cut your losses!"

"Precisely! Now, will you swallow that pride and let me help you?"

"We really don't have anything to lose if we accept his offer, Father."

Kasumi said.

"It's the best offer we've gotten since that Gambling King came here!"

Nabiki added.

Akane said nothing as she still suspected that the stranger had an ulterior

motive behind all this.

Soun looked at his family, then at the stranger who was offering them a

chance to regain their home. He took a long and tired sigh and gave him a

reluctant nod.

The Tendo home was a place of great activity as the Gambling King cheated

and conned large crowds of children out of their money. Neon lights flashed

and the place was loud with the sounds of slot machines, roulette wheels

and other gambling devices. Ranma, Ukyo and the Tendo family made their way

through the crowds toward the dojo, where the Gambling King was sitting on

a lavish throne and was busy parting his opponents from their cash and

other belongings.

Ranma's eyes narrowed as he gazed upon the person that he lost the Tendo

dojo to, when he was six. He hadn't changed a bit. The Gambling King still

looked like the face card of a poker deck. As he observed the con artist

play against another youngster, he noted that he always raised a card in

the hand he had and the kid would take it, revealing the Joker. He had also

noticed that the crooked card player would slip the Joker into his

opponent's hand when he or she wasn't looking. After a minute, he walked

toward the table and slapped the wad of yen notes on the table.

"Gambling King! I hereby challenge you!" Ranma announced as he sat down.

The con artist's eyes widened as he saw the amount of money in front of

him. He looked up and gazed at the intense and determined person in front

of him. "Well now. You must not have a very good sense of value if you are

betting that much."

"Put up or shut up!" Ranma replied.

"As you wish." The Gambling King began dealing out the cards.

Ranma then looked out of the corner of his right eye to Navi, who was

floating near his shoulder. ["Navi, it's obvious that he's going to cheat

all the way through the game!"]

["That's for sure!"] The fairy agreed. ["It's apparent that he has no idea

what the word 'fair' means!"]

["Are you ready Navi?"]

["No problem Ranma! My special transference spell should take care of it!"]

Ranma then nodded as he picked up his first hand. He saw that the Joker was

already there, but he knew that was coming. He then looked up at the

Gambling King with a smile and said, "Let's start small shall we? I hear

you also own the entire Tendo house, correct? I hereby wager that money

against... the bathroom."

"Done!" The Gambling King replied as he reached out to take a card from

Ranma's hand.

The Hero of Hyrule smiled as he raised the Joker card slightly. The

Gambling King took the bait and frowned when he realized what Ranma was

attempting. When his fingers were an inch away from the Joker, he then

moved his hand to a card beside it. He had chosen the Three of Spades.

However, Navi had spotted this and cast her spell. The Three of Spades and

the Joker exchanged places. When the con artist looked at the card, his

expression became even more depressed.

"Damn!"

"Well, it looks like I win that hand." Ranma replied. "Now how about

betting my money against... the kitchen?"

The Tendos, Ukyo and the rest of the crowds were intensely watching the

stranger as he won his first hand against the Gambling King.

"That was just a fluke!" Akane snorted.

"Well, at least we have our bathroom back." Kasumi remarked.

At the table, Ranma picked up his next hand. He didn't see the Joker so he

assumed that his opponent had it. Reaching out toward his foe's hand, he

selected a card. Below his line of vision, the Gambling King was secretly

trying to slip something into Ranma's hand. His hand motion was so fast

that no human eye could track it. However, it wasn't fast enough to escape

a fairy's eye. Navi spotted the Joker and used her magic to switch it with

the Five of Diamonds from the Gambling King's hand. The face card man was

shocked to see that the Joker was still in his hand. He quickly smothered

his expression as he took a card from his opponent.

As soon as he chose the Six of Clubs, Navi switched it with the Joker in

his hand. When the con man looked at what he had selected, he did a frantic

double take.

"What the heck?"

"Oh my." Ranma said sweetly. "I guess I won again. Now, shall we wager the

living room?"

The crowds became even more astounded as the game went on. With every hand,

Ranma began winning the Tendo home back, room by room. The living room, the

front hallway, Akane's bedroom, Nabiki's bedroom, Kasumi's bedroom, the koi

pond, the back yard, the front yard and many others. With every hand, the

Gambling King became even more frustrated. Fifty hands later, he got

desperate.

<I don't understand it! I'm cheating my very best and this young upstart is

still beating me! At this rate I lose my business here! I can't afford to

give up the best setup I ever had! It's time to end this!>

After losing the Tendo house and all the gambling equipment in the dojo,

the Gambling King held up two playing cards. One was the dreaded Joker and

the other was the Ace of Spades.

"I must admit, you are one of the most challenging players I have ever

faced. So what do you say to a final match? I have two cards here." He

slapped them face down on the table before Ranma. "If you choose the Ace,

you win! If you choose the Joker, you lose! Winner takes all!"

"I'll take that bet!" Ranma said with confidence.

"No! Don't listen to him! He's cheating! I know it!" Nabiki called out.

"The young man has already accepted my challenge! I will brook no

interference!" He turned back to Ranma. "Choose." The crowd held its breath

as they waited. The Tendos and Ukyo were especially nervous.

Ranma looked at Navi, who was floating over the two cards.

["He switched the Ace with a Joker didn't he?"]

You got it Ranma! He hid the Ace in his right sleeve! All that switching

around has exhausted me! I'm not sure if I can transfer the right card."]

["Don't worry Navi! I got it covered."] Looking up to his opponent, he took

out his Fairy Ocarina and asked, "Do you mind if I play a small tune before

I choose? It's been a long game and I need to loosen up. I'm sure everyone

would agree."

The Gambling King smiled as he assumed that Ranma's request was just a

futile attempt to stall for time. "Go right ahead. Not that it's going to

make any difference! I could use a little entertainment before I take back

what is rightfully mine!"

"Thank you." Ranma held up the instrument and played the Song of Time. The

melody wafted throughout the Tendo compound and invoked its spell. Everyone

within the place became frozen in the temporal displacement bubble,

including Ranma's opponent. Ranma smiled as he reached down and flipped the

two cards. He saw the two Jokers and shook his head.

"Typical!" Ranma sighed as he reached over and retrieved the Ace. He placed

one Joker into the sleeve and put the Ace and the remaining Joker face down

on the table. He then sat back and waited for the time freeze to end.

Fifteen seconds later, the entire scene unfroze itself.

"Now young man, you have played your music. Pick your card!" The Gambling

King said with a smug look.

"Okay." Ranma calmly turned over a card. It was the Ace. The crowd gave off

a loud cheer as the Tendos and Ukyo crowded around him to congratulate him.

Soun was bawling buckets as he swept up Ranma in a hug that was making him

blue in the face.

"You did it! You won back our home!"

"ERRRK!" Ranma replied as his breath was squeezed out of him.

The Gambling King's expression turned from confidence to absolute shock.

His mouth fell and hit the floor as he stared at the card. No! It can't be!

I'm sure I put down TWO JOKERS! He can't have been able to pick the Ace! He

can't! The con man hit his fist on the table in frustration. It was then

that the Joker in his sleeve fell out. A young boy noticed this and picked

up the card. He then shot an angry look at the card man and then turned to

the crowds, holding the card aloft.

"Hey look everybody! He had a Joker up his sleeve! This man's nothing but a

rotten cheater!"

"N-N-Now wait a minute!" The con artist stammered as he saw the crowd of

children turn toward him. Even though he was older and bigger, the children

outnumbered him. Before he any chance to react, they were upon him like a

swarm of bees. The dojo was soon ringing with the sounds of a man being put

through excruciating pain.

"OW! STOP! NOT THE BEARD! YOW! OUCH! DON'T PULL THAT! NO! DIDN'T YOUR

MOTHER TEACH YOU THAT IT'S NOT NICE TO... MY EYE! OFF! YEOW! MY SHIN! I

TOLD YOU! NOT THE BEARD! LEGGO! OUCH! NO BITING! OWIE! NO KICKING! OWIE!

THAT HURTS! NO MORE! OW! WHO DID THAT?! WAIT! OW! OW! OW! OW!

The Gambling King was a mess when the children finally let up on him,

twenty minutes later. After returning the money and property to each child

and sent them away, Ranma walked up to the battered man and hauled him up

with one hand. The con artist could barely see straight since both eyes

sported a shiner and were half-closed. He then gulped as he realized that

he was two feet off the ground.

"Listen here pal!" Ranma said in a hard tone. "If I ever see your stupid

face again, I'll pound you so hard, that there won't be a doctor in the

world with enough bandages to put you back together! Now get lost! Go get

an HONEST job, because if I find out that you've returned to your cheating

ways, the next thing you'll be gambling for is your LIFE!"

Ranma released his hold on the Gambling King, who then scrambled his way

out of the Tendo compound. A minute later, the man disappeared over the

horizon. He sighed as he turned to face the Tendos and Ukyo.

Soun smiled as he put his arms around the shoulders of his daughters. "On

behalf of my entire family, I would like to give you our gratitude for

saving our home! By the way, we never got to know your name!"

"My... name?" Ranma replied nervously.

"Yeah! I'd to know who you are too!" Ukyo added.

Ranma became a little pale as he tried to answer. Fortunately, Navi came to

his rescue. She hovered to his right ear and whispered a name. A moment

later, Ranma replied, "My name is...Link."

Near the Gates of Time, Sailor Pluto was again dumbfounded when time

suddenly stopped for a minute, then started again. Once again she checked

and found that the future was still unchanged for the most part. Cystal

Tokyo would come to pass, but now she noticed a slight difference. In that

future utopia, a family named Tendo was now thriving. She didn't know what

to think about it. She had looked back into their past recently and

according to what had happened the last time she checked, the Tendo clan

had become homeless due to losing their dojo and home to a con artist. As a

result, their family line and martial arts discipline had died out. The

last important act of their line was done by the head of their family, Soun

Tendo, as he made one final attempt to regain their property and lost.

However, when time neared that point in the continuum, stopped and then

started up again, it now recorded that Soun and his family had somehow

regained their property and thereby avoided that dire future. She was only

one of the few individuals that could detect any change in the flow of

time. Everyone else would not have noticed such alterations.

The Tendo clan had no direct impact whatsover on the coming of Crystal

Tokyo, so whether it survived or not was of no real consequence. Still,

this slight alteration was enough to make Setsuna more determined than ever

to find out just what was going on. The new alteration had also traces of

that same anomaly she had detected earlier and she also sensed minute

amounts of magic that was associated with fairies. With all the

interference that the TriForce parts were causing, she still couldn't

pinpoint where they were, nor discern the identity of whoever possessed

them.

Though she did suspect that whatever or whoever had saved the Tendo family

from ruin might be connected. She decided that now may be the time to

contact her fellow Senshi. She disappeared from the Gates of Time to meet

up with Haruka and Micharu, alias Sailor Uranus and Neptune.

Meanwhile in another district, someone else also noticed that something

strange was going on...

"Guys! My computer just registered another temporal anomaly again!"

"Really?" Said a cute blond girl with really long pigtails. "Er... what's a

temporal anomaly?"

"It means that something has been manipulating the timestream! Usagi, this

is the second time today that time had stopped!" Ami replied.

A girl with dark hair and wearing a white gi top and red skirt became

thoughtful. "Hmmm... this may have something to do with last night's fire

reading."

"Really? What happened?" Asked a tall and athletic girl with brown hair.

Rei nodded to her friend Makoto. "Last night, I had a... premonition, as if

something important was going to happen soon. I made a fire reading and

saw...I'm not sure how to explain it."

"What did you see?" Minako asked.

"I'm not sure what the images meant, but I saw a guy dressed in green

clothes. He had pointed ears and was carrying a really big sword. I also

saw an image of three triangles, arranged in a much larger pattern. The

last image I saw was of Queen Beryl!"

"That can't be right! Beryl's dead!" Usagi stated.

"Yeah! We finished her off a long time ago!" Lita added. "The last we ever

heard of her was during that Doom Tree thing!"

"Do you think that it might be the Negaverse again?" Minako asked.

"I don't know." Ami said.

"Well, if it's the Negaverse again, then the Sailor Senshi are ready to

beat them again!" Serena said as she wolfed down another dozen doughnuts.

"Save some for the rest of us!" Rini said as she tried to get a hold of one

before her future mother left nothing but crumbs.

To be continued...

Author's Notes

Well, some of my readers have asked to get Setsuna and the other Senshi

involved so I decided, why not? I'll be using the Japanese names as the

overhaul continues.