Akane was suffering. Prior to her recent change of heart, Cerl wouldn't have cared. However, Akane had come to realize just how much she'd been projecting things when she shouldn't, and had fallen into a deep depression. Cerl's hope had been that Akane would wake up to the bad things and try to change them, but the end of their fight had set the tone for Akane's change. Cerl had been to a large number of psychology classes, but she didn't feel confident enough try to rebuild someone's ego. She preferred leaving that to a professional. The problem was that the family couldn't truly afford a therapist for as long as Akane might need one. Which was why Cerl was looking through a newspaper, hoping to find a job, a game show or something that would get them the money they needed. If they couldn't get Akane some psychological help, the poor girl might do something rash. Then, she saw an advertisement for a fighting tournament. Cerl arched an eyebrow. It was a little too convenient for a new tournament to appear shortly after Ihadurca's appearance. Still, the prize money was pretty good. If it was legitimate, Cerl wouldn't mind. Cerl shifted uncomfortably on the park bench. Her right femur had a small bone fracture. Nothing that would affect a normal person too much, but Doctor Tofu had told her not to do any training for a month to let the fracture heal. "What'cha looking at?" Sabrina inquired. "Well, we kinda need some money, so I'm thinking of joining a tournament." Cerl responded. "Are you sure you should? I mean, I heard you got badly injured in that last battle." Sabrina asked, motioning to Cerl's right leg, the bandages showing from underneath the blonde's shorts. "It's for family and besides, the fracture is a small one. I mean, so long as I don't go running, I'm fine right now." Cerl answered. "Actually.... uh, my aunt says she's got this healing potion that might heal that. I've had it before and it totally healed this long gash I got on my forearm." Sabrina offered. "Does it taste like crap?" Cerl queried. "Uh, yeah." Sabrina replied. "Good, I wouldn't trust it otherwise. I don't trust anything that's meant to taste good FIRST." Cerl told her. Sabrina laughed, "I guess medicine does have to taste bad. Most of the time, anyway." "Well, that's how you know it's working." Cerl chuckled. Sabrina helped Cerl up and the two headed back to Sabrina's apartment. Cologne looked at the tournament listing as well. She pondered it over. She wouldn't know if it was a front for Ihadurca without entering, but doing so might leave her open to a trap. Then, the answer came to her. Shampoo, Cerl and Ranma could enter as fighters and she could be their manager. Most of the fighters would likely have a manager that was rather old, so hopefully she wouldn't stand out too much. She would have added Mousse to the list, but the only listed tournament rule forbade weapons. "Grandmother, what is it?" Shampoo inquired. Cologne glanced up at her granddaughter, "There will be a tournament soon. It starts in a week. I believe it might be a front for Ihadurca, so we have to investigate." "Does this mean you increase training schedule of Ranma and Cerl?" Shampoo inquired. "No. If I were to increase it too much, they would be too busy recovering to fight decently." Cologne answered, "However, they can still complete their current training." Shampoo nodded, then asked, "And what we do about Gel?" "Sadly, nothing. The current rules don't allow for anything more than a Fight of Rejection, but you are not yet ready for that, because if she wins, you must become her partner." Cologne told her. Shampoo stuck out her tongue and winced in disgust. "Oh, by the way, Grandmother, I find... FOUND a strange game that have many Amazon customs written within." Shampoo said, holding up a black cardboard box that read 'Battletech'. "Hmm, interesting..." Cologne commented. (1) Meanwhile, across the city, Sabrina and Cerl were just entering Sabrina's apartment when Cerl noticed a strange smell in the air. "Did you leave a pot on or something?" Cerl asked. "No, I don't think so..." Sabrina began. Just then, a leggy and well-tanned woman entered the room, her short black hair reminding Cerl of Nabiki's haircut. She was wearing a kitchen glove and holding a pot, "Oh, hello, Sabrina. And who's your friend? I just made some spiderbread cookies." "Aunt Hilda?" Sabrina asked, a lump of worry and panic instantly knotting up her stomach. "Oh, don't sound like that. I just came for a little house- warming and see how things were going. You know, help you out with the first month. I remember this time when I moved into London and OH! That place smelled like a STY until my grandmother made me some spiderbread cookies. After that, the place smelled heavenly for weeks." Hilda responded. "Uh, that's nice. This is Cerl, she's a foreign exchange student as well, but part of her family already lives in Japan." Sabrina said, introducing Cerl to Hilda, then began the counter-introduction, "Cerl, this is-" "I'm Sabrina's aunt, Hilda. It's so nice to know that Sabrina's already making such good friends over here." Hilda interupted, extending her free hand to shake Cerl's hand. "Nice to meet you. Actually, thsoe DO smell nice. Are there any ready to eat?" Cerl inquired. "Eat them? Oh, heavens no. You don't EAT spiderbread cookies, because they smell good, but taste like horse dung. You let them bake and cool, then you break them open and the sweet scent that you can smell right now permeates the room." Hilda responded. "Sort of like potpurri, then." Cerl acknowledged. "Yep. Only less likely to summon minor spirits." Hilda replied. Sabrina felt the knot in her stomach begin to stab painfully as Hilda re-entered the kitchen. "So, she must be your magic-using aunt. The one who knows the voodoo magic." Cerl commented, "She's pretty nice." "Uh, yeah. She is." Sabrina replied, happy that the first impression with her aunt went by rather nicely, "Hey, Aunt Hilda, can you whip up a batch of that healing potion that you made that one time? My friend Cerl has a small bone fracture and she needs to be in top condition for a tournament next week." "Hmm, bone fracture, huh? It'll take some doing, but with your help, I can have it ready in about twenty minutes." Hilda responded. "Um..." Sabrina began, looking between Hilda and Cerl. Cerl interupted Sabrina's apology, "I can read my newspaper. It's not like I'm in a rush or anything." "Great. There's a bed in the next room." Hilda told her. As soon as Cerl was out of sight and Sabrina was in the kitchen, Hilda cast a privacy spell to block verbal noise from exiting the kitchen, then turned to Sabrina, "So, what's the cover story?" "Well, you're my voodoo-using aunt." Sabrina responded. "Did she seem okay with that?" Hilda pressed. "Yeah. She thought you were nice. And she's the kind of person who's pretty laid back about things." Sabrina answered. Hilda considered that, "Do you think she'll react well if you need to use magic around her?" Sabrina nodded, "Most likely. Her cousin was using a magical dougi the other day and Cerl didn't really seem to freak out about it." "A magical what?" Hilda asked. Sabrina tried to explain, "It's like a uniform for martial artists. You know, the baggy pants and the vest-like jacket?" "Oh, like the kind you see Chuck Norris wearing in those karate movies?" Hilda inquired. Sabrina nodded. "So, what did this one do?" Hilda asked. "A lot of things. It boosted the wearer's skill level and physical abilities waaay up and the spirit of the dougi can take over in the fight if the wearer gets knocked out." Sabrina replied. "That sounds like the Battle Armor spell that Zelda knows, only adapted a bit for martial arts and more permanent." Hilda commented, "Anyway, if you think she's okay, I'd reveal your talents before it comes down to a confession under awkward circumstances." "You think so?" Sabrina asked. "Yeah. If she's seen a magic item in action, she'll probably react more favorably towards you than some people would." Hilda told her. Sabrina considered it. Cerl did seem to be like some of the good friends she'd made. "I'll do it." Sabrina agreed. "Good, now, don't keep her waiting." Hilda said, handing Sabrina a potion. "But... I thought..." Sabrina began, startled. "It's easy to do when you have a formula spell." Hilda answered. Sabrina arched an eyebrow, "And since when has a healing potion been a formula spell?"(2) "Oh, I had a lot of accidents in my day. You think being a klutz in this day and age is hard, try being a klutz when medical science was entirely 'Leech it!'." Hilda answered. Sabrina nodded slowly, then turned and exited the room while Hilda removed the privacy spell.(3) "Hmmmm...." Cerl commented as she re-read the paper. "What's up?" Sabrina asked. "Well, I've been looking over this tournament listing and it's very strange. For one thing, I think the prize money just doubled and I didn't get a new newspaper. Hmmm, must be my imagination." Cerl commented. Sabrina frowned and looked over Cerl's shoulder at the newspaper. She focused hard on the page and just as she suspected, a number of magical runes appeared in the ad for the tournament. Not huge ones, or even aggressive ones. The runes were meant to drive away most people's attention while catching a specific type of person. They also allowed for instant updates. Only a quick-minded person or someone with magical talent would be able to catch the updates and the former would brush it off as a trick that their own minds had played on them. Such things weren't that uncommon. Since the invention of the personal ad, there were spell-casters who used those runes intermixed with messages as a means of increasing the chances that they'd get what they wanted. The only thing was, as far as she'd heard, most witches and wizards in Japan didn't like being even sneaky with their magic and instead, preferred to travel to the astral plane to do whatever magic they desired. "Oh yeah, here's the potion." Sabrina spoke up, handing the potion to Cerl. Cerl took a swig, made an 'URK' noise and then proceeded to fall over, Sabrina snatching the potion from her rigid hands before she could hit the ground. That had been her reaction to the potion, so it wasn't that implausible that it would be everyone's reaction. Sabrina corked the potion, cast a spell to label it as Cerl's, should she need it again, and placed it in a subdimensional locker. Then, she hefted the stiff form of Cerl up onto her bed. Then, she decided to look into the tournament ad.... Ranma was confused as to how he should feel. He already knew what he felt for Cerl was growing the more time he shared with the body-swapped girl, and he'd even managed the courage to confess, but he had yet to receive an answer. Cerl had just told him that it would take time for her to sort out her own feelings. However, the fact that it had taken her so long was beginning to nag at him. Was she even thinking about it, given the whole thing between her and Akane? What would he do if she didn't feel that way about him? Could he really stop thinking about her as anything more than a friend? "What's wrong, Ranma?" Ukyou inquired, interupting Ranma from his thoughts as they sat down on a park bench. "Mmm? Oh, it's Cerl." Ranma responded. "Sounds like a nice girl. Certainly better than Akane, anyway." Ukyou answered. "Well, I kinda told her my feelings about her and... she hasn't gotten back to me yet, but I'm pretty sure she's been really distracted." Ranma told her. "Hmmm... are you sure she feels the same way about you? I've seen a lot of girls give boys the "let's just be friends" speech." Ukyou warned him. "......" Ranma replied. "So, you just blurted it out at spur of the moment? Or did you think there was a mood going?" Ukyou inquired. "......" Ranma repeated. "That's not an answer, Ranma, and I don't have telepathy, so I can't read your mind. And trust me, I've tried." Ukyou informed him. "I thought we had a chemisty going, but things changed rapidly and I guess I was acting without thinking." Ranma answered. [This is almost like watching a bad soap opera or a romance comedy.] Ukyou thought to herself with a heavy sigh. There were organizations that spanned the dimensions, just as there were organizations that spanned galaxies. Many people would be fascinated to know that many of these groups found their purpose in keeping various realities from dying, an effort to stop or slow entropy. Obviously, organizations that spanned dimensions were often somewhat strange, usually led by a madman or a genius, depending on when one looked at said leader. One of these pan-dimensional groups shocked many who saw it's name for the first time: Evil, Inc. It was generally thought that only evil would ever want to destroy everything. This could not be more wrong. Just like color and shadow are not officially light or darkness, good and evil don't always act as most would assume. Evil, Inc. wanted to preserve the universe, but obviously, the first interpretation was that such a thing would go against the grain of evil. Not in the least. Evil, Inc. wanted to preserve the universe so that it could continue to manipulate it's inhabitants. Evil wasn't always stupid, after all. That was usually the cannon fodder and most of the pretentious losers who thought that they were superior (most of whom could be defeated by lame heroes, such as Mary Kate & Ashley, Kim Possible, Teamo Supremeo, the Smurfs or even the Super Friends). No, Evil, Inc. knew that it was power that was found from manipulating entire galaxies into doing what they wanted while the inhabitants remained unaware. Evil, Inc., however, often felt that a direct hand sometimes was needed to prevent things from getting too good or evil. A corrupted balance had to be maintained or else evil itself would suffer. The truth was, in many dimensions, the more common evil needed a helping hand to get on it's feet so it could distract good from the real evil (Evil, Inc.) and so, Evil, Inc. took in various aspiring villians, gave them the knowledge, power and (depending on their value) resources. "So, basically, you're going to make me a shield against any groups of heroes who might catch on to you and your operation." the young man repeated. The shape-shifting sorceror nodded, then changed into a rabbit. "Damn that blasted curse. This is why it's best never to take on another evil organization, even though it seems pathetic." the sorcerer commented, looking at his laptop before continuing, "Now, your dimension has an evil rating of 5, just typical evil, no real baddies just yet...." An alarm flashed on the screen, "Oop, no, there's one reincarnated sorceress. That raises it to 9." the rabbit-sorcerer said, then made a disapproving, "Mmmmm." "Is that bad?" the young man inquired. "Well, let's just say this: You would have been given an army and the standard base hidden in a different dimension when it was level 5. Now, we give you a sewer base (Ninja, Turtle and Mutant free when we give it to you), locate some bottom-rung personnel for you, grant you generic energy draining powers and give you our 2001-20004 catalog." the sorcerer told him, changing into a bottle of Clorox, a flying tortilla roll, a penguin and finally back to a vague human-shape in the process, before pulling out a catalog. "Uh, don't you mean 2004 and not 20004?" the young man inquired. "Damn type-o." the sorcerer commented, shifting into a sorceress, then a bean burrito. The young man stared at the burrito that had the Evil, Inc. catalog laying on it. "Don't worry about me. Just pick up the catalog. It's really heavy." the sorcerer's muffled voice came from the burrito. "Uh, right..." the young man said, picking up the catalog. The sorcerer returned to his original shape, but he looked like the squat image shown in a circus funhouse mirror. Or an image that had half of it's height reduced, but nothing had been cropped out. "Anyway," the sorcerer continued, "you should choose a new name. It helps get into the Evil Overlord mindset. Plus, it's easier for both of us if we call you by your Evil Overlord name instead of your real name." "Hmmmmm, I've always like names that had a Z sound to them.... how about Zangulus?" the young man asked. "Taken." "Zagraguttural?" "Taken." "ZZ Top." "Taken. Twice...." "Xenon?" "Not taken." "Good, I'll take it." the young man declared. "Oop, taken." the sorcerer said, then chuckled, "Just kidding." "MUST... CONTROL... HAND... OF DEATH!" Ihadurca didn't have much to do while she waited for her body to recover enough spiritual strength so that she could move more readily. Her envoy to Shadowloo was completed and now, the only thing she could do until Bison filled his end of the bargain was watch television. Of course, mass media was known to be one of the biggest corruptors of the human mind. "MIKA!" "YAMAZAKI!" Whirlwind of Love was pretty good. If only those two could stay together for more than two episodes. Things weren't looking good, the ancient warrior decided. And the worse it went, the more likely he would suffer. It was insane, but for the last three hundred years, their plans had failed at a critical juncture, and all because of a small area in China that produced phenomenal fighters. Were it not against the rules to directly or indirectly attack any fighter on the planet, it would have been over long ago. Instead, he had to appease himself with the fact that for every tournament that the inhabitants of this miserable planet won, it only gave them a single tournament of leeway. Unfortunately, they had already managed NINE tournaments of leeway. Shang Tsung sighed a weary sigh. If they did not win the next Mortal Kombat, Raiden could file a seal, which would prevent Shang Tsung's master, Shao Khan, from ruling over the world. Sheer endurance was something the natives had in spades. If brute strength would not abide, Goro's many bruises could attest to that, then it was time for a little strategy. Shang Tsung smiled. After all, the tournament could operate in any fashion he saw fit, so long as it could be deemed fair. It was time to call up the souls of a few Lin Kuei he knew. The tournament was still a year away, but it wouldn't hurt to train extensively. Xenon sighed. It was difficult moving in, but the effort had been well worth it. The idea of a sewer-based fortress had been unappealing, but the entire sewer had a scent filter, canceling anything but fruit-flavored scents from catching the nose of anyone in the sewer, and a gas detector was set up to warn if any high concentrations of gases got loose. He wore a white cape over a fairly nice t-shirt jeans combo. He couldn't afford an official uniform yet. Hell, he had only been able to purchase some minor items to help out in his first money-making scheme. Before him was a blondish-brunette with her long hair in back being tied into a long braid. Her bright green eyes and her one (always visible) fang were sort of cute. And best of all, she already had a fairly decent minion outfit, a black shoulderless leotard with baggy white and grey short-shorts and an identical jacket that had puffy shoulders. She wore black and grey boots and black fingerless gloves. Of course, she didn't seem to have a last name or know where her parents were, but she remained uselessly energetic and she was currently still in high school, though she assured Xenon that she would be graduating soon. He just wished he knew why he'd accepted her application. Then, he remembered that he'd chosen her because she was actually better than most of the other candidates, many of whom would likely pawn whatever was given to them for beer money or blow off any assignment that was more time-consuming that 'sit on toilet and poop'. "HAIL, LORD XENON!" the girl declared. "Ah, Excel, good of you to come on such short notice." Lord Xenon began, still trying to get the feeling for being a leader down. It was best to start thinking rationally and allow the ego to swell in proportion to actual accomplishments. Excel bowed, "I'm always happy to answer my Lord Xenon's requests, no matter what they may be." As Excel slipped into a daydream and began making peculiar moaning sounds while rubbing her hands up and down her body in an erotic fashion, Xenon quickly grabbed his Evil, Inc. catalog and flipped through it to find the subject on Bottom-Rung Minions. Bottom-Rung Minions are sometimes given false memories and/or loyalty neurochips to ensure absolute loyalty. Sighing as he realized exactly what Excel was moaning about (he now wished he had remained in the dark), Xenon continued with the conversation, doing his best to ignore Excel, "As you have no doubt noticed, we are lacking in vast quantities of capital. Ordinarily, we would simply go out and get jobs." Xenon stood up from his somewhat uncomfortable throne-like chair and struck a dramatic pose, "HOWEVER, we are no ordinary organization. We are the secret para-military organization ACROSS! Thus, we will be making a form of capital that will ensure that we will only improve the organization while we are on ACROSS time." "Um, does that mean we don't get free donuts?" Excel inquired. Lord Xenon paused, then looked in his catalog, before answering, "Only if we don't do well." "BANZAI! ACROSS! BANZAI!" Excel cheered. [It was going to be a LONG first mission.] Xenon thought to himself, [A VERY long mission.] "Excel, please be quiet while I explain our mission." Xenon ordered. Excel quieted instantly. "Now, our first mission is to collect energy from humans in the city. We'll sell that energy in order to pay off the loan on this fortress as well as gain capital so that we can expand our operations. I have been loaned the magical ability to drain energy, but I could not afford the same ability for you, so you'll have to rely on this." Xenon said, holding up a vaccuum. Excel tilted her head in confusion, "Nyah?" "This is a specially modified vaccuum. DON'T USE IT to clean up your clothes or clean around your house. It drains energy only." Xenon explained, "It does NOT need to be plugged in. Just point the end toward a crowd and turn it onto low. It'll switch off once it reaches it's maximum capacity. Once that happens, return here. If I'm not here, just leave the vaccuum and report here tomorrow at the same time." "I, Excel, will do my best to complete this mission for you, my dear Lord Xenon!" Excel declared. [Well, at least she's very eager to please. I won't need to worry about her backstabbing.] Xenon thought to himself. "Yes, for you, Lord Xenon, I will do anything! Through fire! Burning, burning! Through water! Pouring! If you ask me to strip, I'll strip right away! If you want me to throw up, I'll throw up!" Excel continued, "As a loyal member of ACROSS, and as a maiden who's in love with Lord Xenon," Xenon sighed and raised a barrier, "OH! LORD XENON, TAKE ME NO-" Excel slammed into the barrier and slid down. Xenon looked down at her, "Let's stay focused." "Right..." Excel mumbled. A week passed with little to no complications. Doctor Tofu HAD been a bit suspicious about Cerl's 'miraculous recovery', but he'd seen stranger things and the bone fracture _was_ gone. Cerl had returned to her training with Cologne and Ranma to finish out the week and the training. Cerl shifted uncomfortably as she leaned against the wall. She was wearing a new white dougi that had the kanji for 'Tendo' sewn on the back and as a patch on the front, courtesy of Kasumi. She'd pulled her hair back into a ponytail to prevent it from getting in her face during the tournament. It hadn't bothered her much during her fight with Akane, but the last thing she needed was to be distracted at a critical moment. Ranma was wearing his white chinese shirt and usual black pants. Shampoo, who had joined, much to Cerl's surprise, was wearing light pink pants and a red and pink shirt that was elaborately embroidered with gold. According to the amazon, it was her favorite fighting uniform. Cologne eyed the trio. She had no doubt that they'd win against most of the fighters in the tournament, but she was very uncertain if they would be able to avoid a trap, should it be one of Ihadurca's. Fortunately, the three were in separate divisions, meaning that the likelyhood that they'd face each other right off the bat was minimal. That would allow Cologne plenty of time to investigate the tournament hall, in search of the person who's arranged it. In the audience, many of Ranma and Cerl's friends sat, eagerly awaiting what was sure to be another excellent fight, especially considering how awesome Cerl and Akane's fight had been. Sabrina sat between Haruka and Ukyou, the latter grumbling about how it was unfair that weapons weren't allowed in many tournaments. Haruka had brought eight of her friends along, Michiru included. Michiru sat on the other side of Sabrina while the rest of Haruka's friends sat behind them. "Helloooooooooooooo, Nerima!" came the voice of the announcer. The young man who looked like he was wearing a cross between a mime and a dog outfit, waved energetically as the lights illuminated the ring, granting a better view of the strange man. He had a bright red clown-like nose, floppy ears that looked like a cross between a thin-eared rabbits and a floppy-eared german shepard's. The only article of clothing he wore was a pair of brown pants which were held tightly in place by a rather plain-looking belt. "I'm your announcer, Yakko Warner. Now, I'm sure many of you are unsure of what the heck is going on, and I'd like to tell you, but I don't know myself." the strange man explained. Just then, he looked at one of the exits, yelped, and ran off. As an overweight guard ran around the ring after the strange man, the audience gave sideway glances at each other, then hesitantly applauded. Then, a normal-looking man wearing a tuxedo walked into the ring and took the microphone, "LLLLLLLLLLLLLLET'S GET READYYYYYYYYY TOOOOOOO RUMBBBBBBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEE!" Again, though this time even more hesitantly, the audience applauded. "Introducing our first two contestants. First, in the red corner, Tendo Cerl, heir of Tendo Anything Goes School," the announcer continued, "And in the blue corner, the legendary stealer of faces and styles, the infamous Copycat KEN!" Cerl arched an eyebrow as she walked to the ring's edge. A style-stealer? She hopped into the ring and saw her opponent for the first time. Copycat Ken was an unassuming type. Black hair, yellow shirt with snot-green vest, tan pants and a Genma-esque hankerchief over his head. "Heh-heh-heh! I've been watching you, Cerl Tendo, and I know ALL your moves." Copycat Ken chuckled evilly, "Give up now and I won't embarrass you... too much." "Only the weak trash talk before proving themselves." Cerl responded calmly. Ken's face turned bright red with anger for a few seconds, then he forced himself to settle down. He would have all the chips soon enough. The referee entered the ring and took the microphone while the announcer exited and headed for his ringside table. The referee cleared his throat and began, "This is a single elimination tournament. You may not use weapons. If you are thrown out of the ring, stay down for a count of ten, or, the gods forbid, kill your opponent, you are eliminated from the tournament. Also, deliberately striking an opponent in the groin is forbidden and will count as a penalty. Get three penalties and you are disqualified." The bell rang. "Heh, watch this!" Copycat Ken chortled, pulling out a cloth and backflipping onto his corner post. In an instant, Ken was transformed into a replica of Cerl. Cerl-Ken leapt down and sneered at Cerl, who calmly shifted into an aggressive stance. Cerl-Ken shifted into the same stance. Cerl charged, which Cerl-Ken copied. Suddenly, Cerl dove for the mat at her feet, rolling and kipupping into Cerl-Ken's stomach. The surprized shapeshifter stumbled backwards. "AAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Cerl roared with laughter. "What's so funny?" Cerl-Ken demanded. "I can already tell that you're going to lose." Cerl told the copycat, circling to the right, a knowing grin on her face, very similar to the one of a cat that had figured out how to get into the goldfish tank at a pet shop and not get caught. Cerl-Ken growled and tried to rationalize out the flaw in her technique. Normally, when she watched someone and then took on their form, her opponents fell into a predictable pattern. However, Cerl hadn't even been fazed by the transformation, nor was she falling into a pattern. Cerl interupted Cerl-Ken's thoughts by suddenly jumping against the ropes, then flying at Cerl-Ken faster than the copycat could react, catching the imposter with a clothesline that sent Cerl-Ken to the mat. "I can't believe it! Copykat Ken's rated as one of Japan's top ten fighters!" a nearby crowd member declared loudly. Cerl, upon hearing that, again began laughing, slapping her knees as she struggled to regain her composure. However, every time she caught sight of Cerl-Ken, she burst into fresh laughter. Finally, she caught her breath and forced herself to face the now recovering Cerl- Ken. "Whew... I almost puked." Cerl commented, still snickering. Cerl-Ken coughed a few times to make sure her throat still worked. The clothesline had been both unexpected and quite powerful. Whatever training the girl had done, it had given her more strength than Cerl-Ken had counted on. The magical cloth that granted her the power to assume another's form did increase her physical attributes, but the user had to have an accurate idea of said target's attributes, otherwise the cloth simply made slight boosts. "KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" Cerl-Ken cried, lunging at Cerl, throwing a hundred punches as quick as she could. Cerl leapt away, then frowned, "Why in the nine hells are you calling out the name of a training technique? Don't you know that it sounds stupid? Jeez, why not yell something like 'Branch Fist' or 'Oceanborn'? You'd sound less stupid." Cerl-Ken leapt at Cerl, intending to catch the blonde flatfoot as she landed, but Cerl caught Cerl-Ken's foot and flung her into the corner post. Cerl winced as Cerl-Ken impacted with the corner post, then collapsed to her back. The announcer's voice, which Cerl had been ignoring, stated the obvious, "And Copycat Ken... at least I think that Ken... is down again. The referee has decided to begin counting. 1... 2..." Cerl-Ken groaned as she sat up. It wasn't working, she decided as she unsteadily got to her feet. Time to switch. With a flip, she took out her cloth and changed into a different person. Cerl didn't seem to even blink in surprise as Ranma-Ken turned around, "Heh heh heh! Let's see if you can wail on your boyfriend." "You don't seem to understand, do you? You can't beat me using that cheap trick." Cerl told the fake Ranma as Ranma-Ken leapt to the mat and charged her. Cerl slid into Ranma-Ken's guard, surprising the shapechanger, and proceeded to punch him twice in the face, then kneed him in the stomach before catching his head with one hand and flinging him out of the ring. "Hmph. You weren't worth my time." Cerl told Ranma-Ken before he hit the ground, backfirst. "THE WINNER, CERL TENDO!" "Ranma, you sure Cerl is sane?" Shampoo asked. "Yeah... she's just... not fazed by much." Ranma answered, sweatdropping. Cologne sighed as she flipped through the folders. It seemed that a lot of fake files had been included in the file cabinets she was looking through, ones made to throw off anyone who wanted to learn things they shouldn't know. Finally, she found a folder marked 'Mary Bo Peep' in English. Inside was the donation roster for the people who had financed the tournament. Most of the names were resturaunts or corporations who had purchased rights to sell or advertise at the tournament. However, for some reason, the Prime Minister had made a donation to the tournament, one equal to the listed prize money for first place. Cologne pondered that fact. Why would the Prime Minister of Japan supply the prize money for a tournament? She would have to do further investigation. But first, it was time to see how well her next pupil was going to do. Ranma yawned. Whoever Dan Hibiki had been, he'd been a certifiable quack. If it weren't for the fact that Ranma had seen other fighters employ similar distractions to aid their weak fighting style, Ranma might have been in for a serious fight. As it was, it was Shampoo's turn to fight. "In the blue corner, from Location Deleted, China," the announcer began, pausing a bit to consider that, "SHAMPOO! And in the red corner, from southern Hokkaido, current heir of the Kidou Karate fighting style, YUKA TAKEUCHI!" Cerl watched as a girl with longer hair than even Shampoo's and a pairs of breasts that made it look like two watermelons were under her shift entered the ring. She wore her hair in a ponytail with a red ribbon tying it and she was wearing a white button up shirt with an orange waitress skirt. In fact, she looked like she'd come straight from a job at Hanna Miller's.(4) Even Shampoo seemed to be eyeing the girl's bust, wondering what kind of bra could possibly hold that chest in place during a fight. In the audience, Haruka received a intestine-gouging elbow from Michiru. "What?!" Haruka demanded. "You were thinking it." Michiru responded. Haruka's face flushed red as she did her best to ignore the girl in the ring. Sabrina sweatdropped, "That's gotta be one hell of a bra." "I wonder what her diet is like..." Ukyou murmurred, stroking her chin thoughtfully. Sabrina glanced at Ukyou, then decided to focus on the fight. In terms of physical fighting skill, Yuka was weaker. Shampoo's training had been much more extensive and vastly more difficult. On the other hand, in terms of ki, Shampoo was a raindrop before a waterfall. Yuka had power to BURN and in spades. The problem for Yuka was that she didn't seem to have the control or perhaps the training necessary to reach that power. "This will be interesting." Cerl noted. "You really think so?" Ranma inquired. Cerl nodded, "Yuka's got a lot of power. I'd estimate almost enough that it could compensate for her lesser skills." "I don't know. Shampoo's got a lot more speed and a large strength advantage." Ranma responded. "Not so much that Yuka couldn't compensate. It'll be close, that's for sure." Cerl declared. The bell rang. Yuka and Shampoo both charged. Shampoo leapt into the air and jump-kicked at Yuka, who slid to a stop when Shampoo jumped and backflipped away from Shampoo. As Shampoo landed, Yuka rebounded off the ropes and retaliated with her own jumpkick, which Shampoo leapt over. Yuka landed and spun to catch Shampoo's almost-surprise punch and flung the amazonian warrior into the air. Shampoo twisted and landed on a corner post instead of the hard concrete outside of the ring. Like a projectile out of a bow, Shampoo shot at Yuka again, but she landed early and began striking at Yuka. Though she had a large chest, she wasn't hampered by it's size or weight. Shampoo grew more and more frustrated as Yuka cleanly dodged every strike. Finally, she retreated to catch her breath. How Yuka had managed to dodge every single attack, even the ones aimed at her chest, was amazing. Most opponents who had an overgrowth (such as a fat belly or a large breasts) were too slow or awkward in their dodging to avoid EVERY strike. Usually, they slipped up and allowed their overgrown body part to be struck. Yuka seemed to have trained around that flaw. "You not fight back?" Shampoo asked. "Just seeing what you could do." Yuka said, before gathering energy into her right hand, which was clenched tightly. "What the-" Cerl began, sensing a large energy spike from Yuka. "SHAMPOO!" Ranma cried. Shampoo realized seconds too late of the power that Yuka was gathering. "SCREAM DEVIL BULLET!" Yuka cried. A basketball-sized ki blast of red energy flew from Yuka's fist and catapulted Shampoo out of both the ring and the tournament. "Shampoo! Are you okay?" Ranma asked, racing over to his friend's side. "Oh... I think I overdid it..." Yuka apologized, hopping out of the ring to help check on Shampoo. Cerl hummed to herself. If Yuka could manifest that level of attack already, then she would be a very dangerous opponent. She would have to go all out with no restraints, should she face Yuka in the ring. ======================================================================= Amusing Ancedote: Back in the late 80s-early 90s, some friends (who have since moved away) and I used to make lists about dream teams, similar to the Olympic Dreamteam from the NBA. The dream teams we came up with were usually based on things like music or games. I recently rediscovered a lot of these dream teams that I only vaguely recalled and, flipping through the list, I found many very VERY _VERY_ poorly chosen names. But, I was only about eight to ten years old back then and a lot of things hadn't come to our attention back then. One dream team (remember, late 80s-early 90s) was if M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice joined up, they could call themselves Hammerin' Ice. I'll let that settle in your brains until you get the wrongness of it. Well, obviously, I busted up laughing at the names, and, with my new circle of friends, set about creating a brand new list of sheer wrongness. Best Result: Outkast and Aerosmith make Aer Out O'Smith's Kast and their hit single would be, "I'm Sorry, Miss Jackson, For What's In The Elevator." Eye Roller: Run D.M.C., M.C. Hammer and L.L. Cool J make R.A.P.P.E.R.S. M.A.K.I.N.G. C.R.A.P. U.P. Weakest Result: Christina Aguilera, Brittany Spears, Ginger Spice and Madonna make 4 Blondes (antithesis to 4 Non-Blondes). (1) Omake!: "AIYAH! SCENE IS CHANGING ABRUPTLY!" Shampoo cried. "OH NO, YOU DON'T, A-KUN!" Cologne shouted, before raising her staff and taking on a narrative voice, "Meanwhile, across the city..." (2) Formula spells are often researched by witches or warlocks who have frequent use of a specific potion. The spell automatically conjures up the ingredients necessary from the nearby area and creates the potion just as the witch would. The spell, however, takes only two minutes to finish the selected potion, provided it doesn't requite anything outside of the ingredients. Due to the fact that some ingredients are more rare than others (and thus, more likely to get the owner of said ingredient angry at it's sudden disappearance), it's usually safest if the caster collects all of the ingredients beforehand. (3) Privacy spells must be cast carefully. If a full Privacy spell is cast in the middle of the street, the effects are rather noticeable as an opaque sphere appears around those within it's radius. If the same privacy spell is cast in a closed room, anyone trying to peek in will be irritated to find that SOMETHING is always blocking their view and it will sound like the two within are whispering, regardless of what hearing aides the peeper brought with them. Obviously, the desired effects can be chosen prior to casting. (4) Hanna Miller's (Anna Miller's in the real world) is a resturaunt that serves American food. The japanese are fascinated with it, which is why you saw Ranma-chan and Akane munching on burgers during the first season. It's also from Variable Geo, which happens to be one of my biggest obsessions. "My sweet silky milky May!" - Kotoro Nanbara, Hand Maid May Chapter 7, Complete. Stay tuned! Next chapter: The next few rounds of the tournament unfold! Cologne discovers the truth behind the tournament! Evil Inc.'s first plot unraveled! And Cerl versus Ranma!