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.