------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ COMMERCIAL BRAKE!! And now... an Anime Fairy tale for the 90's: Today we bring you: "Akane Tendou and the three Saotomes." Once upon a time, in a land far far away. There was a teenage girl called Akane Tendou. One day, Akane decided to take a walk in the woods. Unfortunately, she ended up losing her way. As she searched and searched and walked and walked, Akane found a dojo and decided to go inside. "Hello? Is there someone home?" Akane inquired as she opened the door. As she gathered enough courage to step inside, Akane realized, that indeed, no one was home. Up ahead, there was a table where three bolls of ramen were set. One was big, the second was medium and the third was small. Since Akane was hungry, she decided to help herself. The first one was too hot, the second too cold, but the third one was all right, so she ate it. Once she finished eating, she went to sit on a couch. The first one was too hard, the second was too soft, but the third one was all right, so she sat on it and watched some T.V to kill some time. As time passed, Akane began to feel drowsy, so she went to another room and tried out the different futons that were in there. The first one was too hard and smelled as if an animal had been sleeping in it. The second was too soft once again. But the third was all right, so she lied there an feel asleep. Not long after Akane fell asleep, the three residents of the dojo, Genma, Nodoka and Ranma Saotome, came back from their stroll. Once inside their home, they noticed something was amiss. "Someone tasted my ramen." said papa Saotome. "Someone tasted my ramen too." said mama Saotome. "Hey!" Ranma snapped "Who's the jerk who ate my ramen?" As the three of them went towards their respective chairs, they noticed something else. "Someone sat on my couch." said papa Saotome. "Someone sat on my couch too." said mama Saotome. "Someone sat on my couch AND left a bunch of popcorn all over it." said Ranma. Getting more curious, and no less concerned that someone broke into their house, the three Saotomes went to their respective rooms to find more clues. "Someone slept in my futon." said papa Saotome. "Someone slept in my futon too." said mama Saotome. "There's a girl sleeping in my futon!" said Ranma. As the two parents went into their son's room, they noticed that, indeed, there was a girl sleeping there. Genma and Nodoka immediately cornered their son. "Ranma!!" shouted Genma, "I can't believe my own son sneaked a girl into his room to have sex with!!" "My son, such a manly boy." said Nodoka happily. "You finally made it to third base and became a man." "But I... but I..." tried to explain Ranma. "Tell me, boy." began his father. "Tell me that at least you DID use a condom!!" "But I didn't..." said Ranma. "You didn't use a condom???" gasped his mother, completely shocked. "Ranma, how could you?? Now she'll be pregnant for sure!" "But I didn't do anything!!!" yelled Ranma. "Then why is she sleeping in you futon??" her mother countered. "Don't even think you're going to abandon this girl with a baby on the way, young man!" papa Saotome declared. "Tomorrow morning I'll go to see this girl's father so we can engage you both, to compensate for the damage." "At least like that, honor shall be satisfied." commented mama Saotome. And so, they lived happily ever after... The End. END OF COMMERCIAL BRAKE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Van, was that really necessary?" Hitomi asked, slightly upset. "You could've had the team thrown out of the game." "Hey, if those guys can use martial arts during the game, then I don't see why we shouldn't be allowed to pull out some tricks of our own." her boyfriend replied. "Van-sama is right." Meruru encouraged. "He does have a point." Allen added, "At least now the difference in the scoring board isn't that big, plus we got the other team by surprise." "Well... I guess." Hitomi acknowledged. "It's odd though. I was expecting the referee to act more... well... strict about this." "I think now it's more than obvious that UBT has no intentions of following the rules by the book." Allen assumed. "Well then, let's use that to our advantage." Van stated, as he got up. "Serena?" Allen asked his sister, who was still sitting down and breathing hard. "Are you feeling all right?" "I... ... I'm fine, brother..." she barely spoke. "I just... ... need to catch my... ... breath..." "Try not to over do it." The ten minute brake was over, and after the cleaning staff finally removed all of Van's dropped feathers from the court, the match was ready to resume. The Gaia team seem to have more confidence than before. But the Street Fighters weren't ready to give up so easily just because there was a flying boy on the other team. In an attempt to put things more under control, Guile and Chun-lee were now marking Van. As long as he didn't get the ball, he wouldn't be able to score again. This technique however had a flaw. By using two players to block a single member of the Gaia team, you also left one player completely unguarded. Being well aware of such disadvantage, everyone agreed that Serena would be the lucky player, since she didn't represent a big threat (unlike Angel-boy... I mean Van). "Okay, guys!" Ken encouraged, "Let's try not to lose our heads over this and score more points." "The ball is in Street Fighter's hands." Honey spoke. "Team Gaia takes the defensive and waits for the opponent." Guile's pass didn't make it to Ryu as Allen intercepted the ball. Van ran towards his opponent's basket but was unable to shake the two Street Fighters off of him, this keeping him from assisting his teammate as well. Since the young king was already busy, the blond Tenku no Kishin had no choice but to send the ball back before the defenders came any closer. Fortunately, Allen's efforts weren't in vain as Hitomi caught the ball and did a wonderful three point basket. The score was now 38 to 33. The following minutes didn't show anything out of the ordinary. Van didn't flew again since Guile and Chun-Lee kept him completely isolated from the game. Even though this frustrated him greatly, the only thing Van was able to do in order to help his team was keeping his two guardians away from their basket, therefore weakening the Street Fighter's defense. After ten minutes of game-play, the score was 54 to 49 in favor of the Street Fighter team. Surely the difference had decreased considerably, but both teams were far from having it easy. By marking Van with two players, it left only three players to deal with the remaining four from team Gaia. The Gaia team had troubles of it's own as well. Serena appeared to get wearier with each passing minute, this affecting seriously her performance during the game. "I'm open!!" Ryu shouted to Ken, as he began his advance towards the basket. Ken quickly threw the ball. Ryu and Allen jumped at the same time, trying to catch it. Both only managed in slapping it out of the way during their struggle, sending it on a random direction. Or to be more precise, right into Dan's hands. This wasn't good. For the Street Fighter team that is. "Watch out, everyone!! Cuz here I come!!" he shouted as he dashed towards his opponent's basket. [Oh no...] Guile thought. Meruru put herself in his way, but to everyone's amazement, Dan dodged her and kept his pace. All of the remaining players began to run towards the basket as well. "Dan, pass the ball!!" Ken shouted. "No way!! Dan told him, [It's about time everyone sees the Star of the team in action.] Gaia's defense didn't manage in reaching the basket at time. Dan was already in the small area and no one was close enough to stand in his way. He jumped. With his legs frozen in a running position while momentarily being airborne. As well as his hand charged up backwards while holding the ball. It would appeared that Dan was more concerned about looking cool than actually scoring the basket. [Here it is, ladies and gentlemen.] the martial artist said mentally, [Air Dan!] And it would've been a great basket as well... If he had slammed the ball and not his face against the hoop. Between the crowd, the hysterical laughter of blond Gai-jin who wore a red baseball cap could be herd. All the players began to fight for the lost ball. Hitomi quickly took it and threw it back, away from the team's basket. That's where Serena was, since she was the only player who didn't make to the other side of the court (due to her fatigue). Serena barely caught the ball and began to head towards the Street Fighter's basket. Ken quickly ran towards the blond woman in order to stop her. Since he was nowhere near as tiered as she was, he caught up with her in a fraction of seconds. With a clean hand swipe, he slapped the ball of her hands. This also made Allen's sister lose her balance and fall to the floor. The ball went out of the field. Ken let out a sigh of relief. Dan's clumsiness almost cost the team dearly. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back for taking the ball out of Serena's hands. As he turned his sight back to his opponent, he noticed she was still lying on the floor. [I think I over did it.] Ken said to himself, feeling a little guilty. "Hey, miss. Are you okay?" Since the fact that being on opposite teams had nothing to do with being a bully, Ken supposed that the least he could do to apologize would be helping the girl up to her feet again. "I'm sorry, I think I went a little overboard there." he went on as he helped her up, by offering his hand. Odd though. The girl's hair appeared to be gray instead of blond now. Maybe the sunlight was playing tricks in his eyes. As Serena grabbed his hand to get up, Ken also noticed that the girl's hands were rather large for a woman. Not to mention that her shoulders for some reason looked broader. It was only after his opponent stood up that Ken realized that the sweet looking princess stereotype he saw before, was now a tall guy with gray hair and with probably the most psychotic look ever seen in the face of a human being. "You made me trip..." the man who previously was Serena told the blond martial artist in a rather dark way. He also took the chance to squeeze Ken's hand while doing so. "What the Fu..." Ken answered in shock. "Do you know what happens to people who make me trip!?!?!?" the man asked, his voice brutally switching to higher decibels. Right now, Dilandou was holding Ken by the neck. In normal circumstances, Ken already would've pounded the insolent aggressor into a bloody pulp. But contrary to what one might of expect, Ken was actually very scared. Even if it looked like he could easily overpower the crazy guy with gray hair, the mere sight of those psychotic blue eyes made him feel like a five year old in front of the Boogie man. Never before had a pair of eyes scared the living shit out of him in such a way. Heck! Even M. Bison would be pissing in his pants right now, if put in his place. The rest of the Gaia members quickly took matters in hand and pulled Dilandou away from Ken, before she... he killed him. "This isn't over yet, blondy!!!" Dilandou shouted from the other side of the court. "I'll kill you!! You hear me?? I'll FUCKIN' kill you!!!" Everyone, except for the Gaia team, stared shocked at what just happened. One minute ago, a young, beautiful, polite woman who was considered Belldandy and Kasumi's equal in what sweetness was concerned, was playing basketball. Now, a madman with one of the most ear piercing voices was out to put Ken Masters in a coffin. "Oh my." Fuu declared surprised (although it didn't look that way). "I wonder what happened to Serena-san. This new demeanor is so much unlike her old one." Ranma was looking confuse. Surely gender changing wasn't something that surprised him anymore. But still, he would've at least expected the use of cold water in order to do the change. Even if he began to feel sympathy for Serena due to the similarity with his own Jusenkyou curse, the conscious part of his mind told him to stay away from her/him for his own good. "I'll rip open your stomach with a fork and then flush your guts down the toilet while you're still conscious to see the whole thing!!!" Dilandou kept on threatening while being restrained by his teammates. He then broke in one of his trade mark maniacal laughers. "And I thought Naga's laughter was bad..." Lina declared, as she recalled those hard moments on the road with her 'rival'. "Looks like Jinnai is now only second most dangerous laughing machine alive." Makoto Mizuhara pointed out to his friends. "I never thought I'd ever see someone out-laugh Kodachi." Ukyou said. "Guys, what are we going to do now?" Hitomi asked her comrades, as she did her best in holding Dilandou still. "Well we certainly can't quit now, we're finally catching up in the score board." Van responded, while assisting his girlfriend. "Besides, we don't have any spare players in the bench. I say we let him play." "Are you serious??" Hitomi questioned. "Well he certainly isn't tiered anymore." Meruru pointed out, as she held to Dilandou's leg. "I say he has energy to spare." "I'll go talk to the referee." Van told them, "You guys try to make Dilandou understand." The spectators began to talk among themselves. The match had suddenly stopped after Serena's transformation and no one seemed too sure of what was going to happen next. Pai not being an exception. Van went towards her to explain things while Allen made up a crazy story to convince his 'sister' in helping them out. Dilandou accepted to help as long as he could get revenge on Ken. On her behalf, Pai accepted the change of players as well (change as in *literally* speaking). The match was about to resume. "You're planning on using that?" Van asked his girlfriend, as he pointed to the pendant Hitomi placed around her neck. "I wasn't expecting to use it on our first match," she explained, "but due to Serena's... 'situation', I think we shouldn't take any chances. You still remember how to focus your heart, I hope?" "Don't worry. I still remember how it's done." the young king reassured. "O... kay. Looks like the match is still on." Honey spoke through her microphone. "Referee Pai blows the whistle and the clock starts running again. Nine minutes left before the end of the match. Sideline throw for team Gaia." The ball was back in Serena... er... Dilandou's hands right after Pai blew the whistle. Wasting no time, the ex-general from Zaibach made a mad rush towards the Street Fighter's basket (emphasis on 'mad'). Ken stood in his way, but quickly moved aside as Dilandou didn't show any intentions of avoiding him. That gave him the opportunity to score without any interventions. 54 to 51. "Ken, what are you doing?" Guile asked him. "You were suppose to block him!" "He's out to get me, man." Ken told him, sounding very scared. "I can see it in his crazy blue eyes. You gotta keep him away from me!!" Guile began to slap some sense in to Ken. Ryu decided is to call time out. It was time to reorganize the defense. "Get a hold of yourself, soldier!!" Guile shouted, as he kept on slapping Ken through the face. "Guile! You're not in the army anymore!" Chun-lee declared as she interfered between the two. "Stop it or you'll kill all his brain cells!" "Be that as it may," Ryu added. "we have to think of a way to stop them. That guy... or girl... or whatever, is playing a lot better now. We can't afford to leave him unguarded." "I'll take care of him." Chun-lee said. "Guile, Dan and I will strengthen the defense. It's up to you two to score more baskets. Ken do you feel up to..." It was then that everyone saw that Ken was sitting on the floor, knees pressing against his chest while holding his legs tightly with his arms wrapped around them. He seemed to be in some sort of shock. "Creepy guy... with gray ha ha hair... he's gonna get me... I know it..." "Ken!! Snap out of it!!" Ryu shouted, as he took his training partner by the collar of his shirt. "I need you to score!!!" Those last words didn't sound very good to the crowd's ears (not to mention it put Ryu's sexual interest in doubt). Terry Bogard didn't waste the opportunity Ryu gave him. "See!!" Terry said out loud. "I always knew they were gay!!" Ryu made a big effort in not heading to the public in order to beat the shit out of Terry. Andy, Joe, Kim and Mai were starting to make themselves veeery small, wishing they wouldn't be there at the moment. That little eventuality put aside, the game kept it's course. The tables had turned. Now team Gaia had the advantage. Van and Hitomi surprised everyone with some impressive combined plays. Before the Street Fighters got a chance to do something, the two of them were already there spoiling their plans. Almost as if they new in advance what was in the opponent's mind. That wasn't all. The young couple seemed to share some sort of mind link as well. Without even the need too turn around and spot their partner, Van and Hitomi exchanged the ball with perfect accuracy, making the Street Fighter's mark on them practically useless. As if that wasn't enough, Dilandou's intervention proved to be rather helpful as well. In the end, Serena's 'change' came quite profitable. Starting by the fact that it affected Ken's concentration. Right now, the Street Fighter's were the ones having a rough time. Ken's basketball had become sloppy which meant Ryu couldn't count on him like before. This hampered the team's scored points. After six minutes of game-play, the score board was 76 to 70 in favor of team Gaia. [Those two youngsters are able to coordinate their thoughts by using their feelings for each other.] Urd analyzed, while observing Van and Hitomi. [Very impressive. But that Ryu guy is nothing to sneeze at either. His aura is very powerful, but not as much as his determination. It's a pity that there can only be one winner. Both teams really deserve to win.] Chun-lee managed in setting the score board 76 to 72 after braking inside Gaia's defense. Two minutes left. "Man, I can't believe it." Tomahome declared, as he rubbed his shoulder. "They're the ones playing, but I'm the one feeling tense." "You're not the only one, man." Taski responded, as he began to chew on his iron fan. Next to him, Nuriko was firmly holding the handrail placed in front of him. Team Gaia was now concentrating more at the defense. If they could keep the Street Fighters at bay for a couple of more minutes, victory would be certain. On the other hand, the Street Fighter team was determined on winning . This was clearly shown through their offensives. Guile passed the ball to Chun-lee. The Chinese martial artist jumped and threw the ball to the basket. Meruru managed in intercepting it. One minute thirty seconds left. 'Com'on!' 'Score!! Score!!' 'Defense!! Defense!!' Ken caught the ball and was immediately fouled by Dilandou. Pai blew her whistle. "Offensive foul by number 7. Number 10 gets two free shots." the referee declared. The spectators' hearts began racing. All this suspense was killing them. Everyone remained seated, paying close attention to the outcome. Ken took the ball with both hands and bounced it a couple of times, trying to concentrate. The rest of the players gathered at the board's sides. First shot. It went in. 76 to 73. "All this tension is killing us." Tenchi said to his partners. He saw Aeka next to him, her hands pulling and twisting her own hair, while firmly looking at the game. Ryoko, who was next to her, already didn't had any nails left to bite. Second shot. 76 to 74. A was head. Nuriko finally broke the handrail he was holding so firmly, due to all the tension in the field. The players felt no less stressed. Less than a minute left. Anything could happen now. Either one of them could win. The most insignificant mistake could cause the loss of this match. Dilandou made his advance while dribbling the ball. As he reached the small area, he had a considerable number of defenders gathered around him. He passed back to Van, but the ball got intercepted by Ryu. Several spectators began cheering and others "boo"ing as the captain of the Street Fighters ran towards the basket. Allen quickly put himself in Ryu's way and managed in slapping the ball off his hands, it bounced back to the Street Fighter's zone. Pai looked at her watch. 20... 19... 18... "Hitomi passes to Meruru." Honey narrated. "Meruru to Hitomi again. Dilandou gets the ball and dodges Dan!! He jumps!! Guile jumps too!! The ball goes towards the basket!! It hits the hoop!!" 12... 11... 10... "Ryu wins the rebound and everyone starts heading back to the other side of the court!!" Honey continued, no less exited than all the other spectators. 8... 7... 6... "Ryu isn't moving!!" Honey said, rather shocked. "He's just staying there, ball in hand while everyone else is running to the basket!! What is he planning to do??" 5... 4... Ryu took the ball with both hands. He then extended his arms in front of him with the sphere object placed between his hands. It appear as if he was pointing the ball towards team Gaia's basket. 3... "HADOUKEN!" The ball was shot like a bullet out off Ryu's hands, leaving a trail of blue light behind. None of the members of team Gaia was close enough to the board to intercept the throw as the ball dangerously approached the hoop. 2... The ball went into the hoop. 1... 77 to 76 in favor of the Street Fighter team. 0... Pai blew her whistle. The match was over. Team Gaia had lost. The crowd began cheering. What a way to settle the outcome of this match. Some spectators still couldn't believe their eyes. And most of all, the Gaia team couldn't believe it had lost. Hitomi feel to her knees. So close... They were so close to winning. She really felt like crying right now. A comforting hand rested on her shoulder. Van helped his girlfriend up. "Hey, don't worry about it, Hitomi." he encouraged. "But we... we were so close." she responded. "Hey, it's okay." Van told her, as he gently used his index finger to cover her lips. "We had a great time. Even if we didn't win, it's no big deal. Besides, who needs a crapy little wish." "He's right you know." Allen cut in. "This was after all, our first match ever. I think there's nothing to be ashamed of." "I had a lot of fun!" Meruru declared, apparently not affected by the defeat. "Let's do it again next year!" Hitomi began to abandon her gloomy expression. In the end, her friends were right. Even if they lost, so what? This turned out to be a great game. They gave their best. Ryu approached the young leader and extended his hand to her. "That was a great game." he said, "It was an honor to have your team as an opponent." Hitomi shook his hand in gratitude as well. A couple of feet back, Ken was running away from the blood thirsty Dilandou. Near one of the sport center's doors: "It appears the Street Fighter team has won the contest." Narsus told his purple haired coworker. "Uh hun." Shinobu responded. "I must admit it was a close call." "Uh hun." "It's a pity that team Gaia won't play anymore. But so are the rules of the game." Narsus added. "Uh hun." "Now the Street Fighters have made it to quarter finals." "Uh hun." "And their next match will be against team Garo Densetsu." "Uh hun." "You do know what that means of course?" Narsus asked. "The shit is going to hit the fan." Shinobu responded simply. "Uh hun." Narsus acknowledged. Keiichi Morisato wandered through the endless UBT corridors. He was so absorbed by the match between Gaia and Street Fighter that he completely forgot about Belldandy's little reconnaissance mission. The fact that she didn't show up back at the sport center at the end of the match, just made Keiichi more nervous. Belldandy might be a goddess, but that didn't mean something couldn't have happened to her. Keiichi sincerely hoped that she was all right. His heart calmed down as he recognized Belldandy's voice up ahead. He quickly ran to join up with her. Maybe she had found something important. Next to the goddess, Keiichi saw a girl in her early twenties, with long brown hair tied in a ponytail. It surprised him how much she resembled Belldandy. "Oh no, you see, I'm must take responsibility for my actions." Belldandy told the other girl. "Since I'm the one who bumped into you. It's up to me to apologize." "You're being much too kind." Kasumi responded, "But it was all my fault." "You're troubling yourself with nothing." the goddess continued. "It was all my fault." "No it wasn't, it was mine." "I still think I'm the one responsible for that accident." "No, I was the one who didn't pay attention." [You've got to be kidding me...] Keiichi thought, as a huge sweatdrop appeared by his head. End of chapter 4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Author's notes: Believe it or not, I actually rushed this entire chapter. I'm starting to think I'm taking too much time in writing them due to the long basketball sequences. E-mail me, if you think I should speed up the basketball matches. Kasumi: But really, I'm the one who didn't pay attention where I was going. Belldandy: No, really, it was me. My apologies for bumping into you. Kasumi: You don't have to apologize. It was my fault. I'm sorry. ::Julian sweatdorps:: See you all in chapter 5...