Ranma and all related characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi.
Candidate for Goddess is not mine either. I am merely using these
characters and storyline for entertainment purposes only.


Pre-chapter Author's Notes: I have seen the series Candidate for 
Goddess, but haven't seen the actual continuation in the manga 
series...from what I have heard at least. So I am going to make some
assumptions about what happens later and change quite a few things.
Also, I will be mostly narrarating from Ranma and the candidates'
perspective. You will have to have seen Candidate for Goddess to 
really get what is happening to the other pilots. However, I am a 
total Ranma fan, and have read through the whole manga series. This
fic starts after Volume 38 a while after the ruined wedding scene.
It also starts a little more than a year BEFORE Candidate for Goddess
starts.

*Update! Spelling and grammar mistakes corrected. I don't have a copy
of Microsoft Word, but I managed to bring it to the labs and check
through it that way*


Candidate Ranma for Goddess

Prologue - Contact



It has been 3 years since the Victim had destroyed the second to last
planet. Scout 2352 came into the isolated system expecting the usual
desolate, empty system. They were quite surprised at the clear blue
of a planet with water and the green that indicated life.

"Scout 2352 reporting! We've found a lively planet, sir!" the officer
at the scanner unit said, "Confirmed reports of lots of oxygen and 
nitrogen. What the..." he stopped his report as his scanners started
picking up something in orbit around the planet as they continued
getting closer to it. "Sir! Sir! I have satellite activity. Lots of 
them! I can't believe it! We have a second Zion! It's OURS!"

"Scan population below to determine whether they're human and if 
affirmative, begin scan for potential candidates at once!" came the
immediate reply from GOA HQ.

"Yes sir!" They were new in range of the planet and could indeed
determine that, yes, they were indeed human, but they were hardly
at all advanced. They were still using chemical rockets to bring the
satellites to orbit and were still using radio and other primitive
slower-than-light means of communication. Initial scans also 
indicated there was hardly any readings of the power plants that 
linked man and machine anywhere on the surface of the planet. They
still had to use hydroelectric or fossil fuel based electricity
power plants. There were a few nuclear power plants, but they were
somewhat unstable compared to what the scientists on GOA could build.
They came into far orbit and, making sure they were cloaked in order
not to alarm too many people before they were ready, began the full
scan that would check each person's capabilities from orbit. This 
included the initial testing of EX and OE. They expected to be there
for a while, so they began converting the little shuttle into a sort
of permanent shelter in space, complete with cold sleep capsules.
After the second orbit, the powerful computer had already cataloged
every person with its own seperate ID. Now came the task of scanning
each person. It kept a running update subroutine that would add in 
those who were born while the scan was taking place. This...was
going to take a while...

-----

It was approximately 1 year after the beginning of their search when
they found him. Compared to what the world's computers identified
him as one Saotome Ranma. Strangely, the ground computer also listed
a Saotome Ranko (also cross linked as a Tendo Ranko) but it dismissed
that as a possible mistake. It had found names before, but no person
attached to them. It may have just been a mistake on the ground 
computers, after all. The computer began its insistent chirp and 
arose the cold-sleeping inhabitants. They found one! Among the 
billions of people on Earth, they found their candidate. They 
immediately started up the reconverted shuttle and began their 
descent to Earth.

-----

Ranma was sick of this. After the ruined wedding it seemed that Akane
had lost all interest with continuing what budding relationship
they had. She still called him pervert, still malleted him, and still
jumped to conclusions without even facing the facts. The other 
fiancées weren't making it any easier for him. Neither was the male
component that ranged around Nerima. Mousse still said that Ranma
was hounding Shampoo and attacked on sight. Shampoo was still 
glomping him and running him over with the Bicycle of Death. Cologne
was still calling him Son-in-law, although she seemed to be laying
off a bit since Saffron. Ucchan was still trying to hang on as the 
"Cute fiancée". Kodachi still tried to drug him or kill his 
girl-half. Kuno was still spouting really bad poetry and trying to 
kill him, or date his girl-half. Ryouga was still trying to kill him
over something that he thought was putting Akane down. And 
Akane...well, she still malleted him. Couldn't they tell he was 
beginning to get a bit ticked off? He was beginning to vent some of 
his frustration off onto his father. Speaking of which, THEY ALSO 
were making it tougher on him. Both Genma AND Soun. They were still
insisting on the marriage. He honestly didn't know how much more of 
this he could take. So one week ago, he packed his backpack in the 
dead of the night and left a note saying he was going on a training
trip . . . ALONE! It didn't state how long. It didn't state where.
It didn't state WHY. THEY ought to know! If THEY didn't, THEY don't
deserve his attentions for the moment. He was getting too stressed
out. Which is exactly why he's here, far from civilization,
and far from anywhere he used to train. Take them a bit longer to 
find him, he figured. He was training his body, and his soul. He 
wanted to rest from the stresses of Nerima Life. 

As he trained this morning, he felt it at the very edge of his 
senses. Whatever it was, it was large. And LOUD! And coming this way
. .  very fast. From the sound of it, it sounded about halfway 
between a jet engine, or several of them, and a large resonating
crystal. It certainly began to unnerve him. It was coming from above.
He looked up just in time to see . . . something burst from the 
clouds. 

He didn't know what it was, but it was cloaked. It looked like a 
giant, clear . . . plane coming through the clouds, but it was too 
oval shaped to be a plane. It also had too short wings to hold it up.
He made out the shape of it as the wispy streams of water vapor 
parted around its bulk.

*How could that thing fly at all with those wings?* he wondered.

It seemed like it was going to come to him. It also looked like it 
was coming down at an angle that was WAY too steep for a plane. 
However, it was slowing down, it seemed. It was getting into the 
twilight zone for Ranma. He knew enough about planes and aerodynamics
to know that it shouldn't be doing that. And it was also clear. 
Clearer then anything man-made could be.

He briefly lost sight of it when the last wisps of cloud cover left
its edges, as suddenly, it shimmered into view. It landed and a ramp
opened on the side.

*Alien contact?* he wondered. He finally figured it must either be 
that, or some super-secret government project from the USA. Though
why the States would want to land here in Japan at all was beyond
him. He decided on the aliens. He hoped they were nice.

A man came into view. Ranma was startled once again. So it MUST be 
some kind of secret government project. The man looked him up and 
down.

In a somewhat surprised voice he said, "I thought you'd be a bit 
younger. Oh well. Mr. Saotome Ranma?"

Ranma jumped and nodded hesitantly. How did this guy know his name?
He also looked to be somewhat Japanese. A co-operative government
project? But that didn't explain what he was doing here asking for 
him by name.

"I have one HECK of a proposal for you..."


AN: Please send comments and reviews to Piemur_1@lycos.com
Disclaimer

Ranma and all related characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi.
Candidate for Goddess is not mine either. I am merely using these
characters and storyline for entertainment purposes only.




Candidate Ranma for Goddess

Chapter 1 - Transport




"Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!" The young boy enthused repeatedly,
his face planted into the window.

"What? Is this the first time you've ever seen a planet?" Another
older pig-tailed boy next to him said. The effect was somewhat
hampered due to the fact that his own face was pressed tight against
the window as well.

At his comment, the 4 other occupants looked at him strangely.
The oldest man, tall, well muscled, but with several specks of grey
in his hair, spoke. "Well, it IS quite uncommon, you know. And you 
realize that you also seem quite occupied with the view yourself,
you know." They now knew him as the captain of the transport ship 
they were currently on.

Ranma gave him a dirty look, "Well, being raised on the ground all my
life, I ain't never had a chance to go to space much, old man."

The boy with the glasses adjusted them with his middle finger; "I 
presume you've never had a chance to go in any flight simulators
when you were on your colony?"

"Colony? What's that? Some kinda candy?"

The boy laughed, "Silly, unless you're from Zion, which I personally
doubt, EVERYONE has lived in a colony. Its an artificial living space
for people to live in, remember?"

"No, can't say I've been in any colony. I've lived on a planet all my
life," Shocked silence met this statement.

"You're really from Zion?!?" the excitable boy jumped in his face.

Ranma gave him another strange look, "What? No one's ever mentioned
Earth after its discovery? Man, and I thought WE were the dumb ones."

The captain grabbed his head, or tried to anyway, and shouted,
"For your information, that knowledge was CLASSIFIED!"

"Oh, right...but since the c-c-c...ah, you-know-what's outta the bag,
these guys outta know, right?"

"There is another planet the Victim haven't destroyed yet?" the boy
with the glasses asked incredulously, "Now, I can understand
the reason for the secrecy. If not many people know about it and keep
away from it, we can hope to keep the Victim from discovering
and destroying it, right?"

Shocked, Ranma looked at him, "De...Destroyed?"

"As far as we knew, Zion was the only inhabited planet that hasn't
yet been destroyed by the beings known as the Victim. We have been
defending against them, but steadily losing for quite some time. Zion
is our last hope. The fact that you've come from another planet 
indicates that you're quite lucky. But this also means that we may 
need to spread out our defenses once again to cover that planet as 
well, or it will be a prime target for the Victim." he now had a 
troubled look on his face.

Halfway through the initial explanation, the excitable brown-haired
boy went back to the window and kept up his mantra of "Awesome!"
throughout.

After hearing out the boy, Ranma turned back to the window himself,
a troubled look on his face this time.

"Don't worry, we've sent out a large secret force to cover your 
planet and request reinforcements when needed, Mr. Saotome," the 
captain said, trying to be reassuring.

The brown-haired boy finally seemed to calm down somewhat, and turned
around, "And I hardly feel sick anymore!"

The captain gave him a sharp look, "Sick?"

"Yeah, ever since we left I've been feeling a bit ill lately."

"You mean...you have...zero...gravity...sickness?
There was no data about this..." he started looking through his 
clipboard, tapping it with a little pen. Ranma came and looked over
his shoulder. It was one of those new electronic things that held a 
lot of data and was a lot easier to use than regular paper, he found.
"How can he be a pilot with this?"

"I will! I will become a pilot of one of the Goddesses. I have blood
type OE, EX positive as well. People with that combination are rare,
I know. We are the only ones who can become pilots. Which is why I'm
here" he reached into his shirt and brought out a keycard attached
to a chain.

"HEY! You made a hole in the boarding card! How can you do this? You
weren't supposed to do that! When did you?" the captain shouted,
suddenly enraged.

"If I didn't make this hole, I would have lost it!" the boy 
protested. Ranma surreptitiously palmed his own card, took off the 
chain, and stuffed it in his pocket. He did the same thing for the 
same reason.

"You should have just put it in your pocket!" the captain continued,
not noticing Ranma's movements.

The other white-haired passenger, silent throughout the whole ordeal,
turned away and went out the door commenting it was getting too loud.
The brown-haired boy and the captain argued some more and the boy 
broke away saying he wanted to get a better view of Zion. Ranma 
turned to the captain, "Hey old man, what kinda things are we gunna
be piloting anyway? I was only told that I was a potential pilot 
candidate, and everyone assumed I knew what they were talkin about,
y'know?"

The captain gave a smirk and simply said, "I'll just let you find out
yourself, shall I? You will see soon enough."

The bespectacled boy got up and, saying he wanted to go see what the
other two boys his age were up to, left the room. He still had a 
somewhat disbelieving look that Ranma didn't know what was going on,
and that he was from another planet, which hadn't ever had outside
contact with the rest of the universe. Ranma could see that in terms
of technology, Earth technology was practically Stone Age. 

"Well, anyway, uhh, I also had this kinda funny feeling when we came
out here to space. Not sick, but I just feel kinda weird." he said
finally into the silence.

The captain looked at him almost in the same exact way as he had with
the younger boy. Ranma gulped.

"No! I mean...not that way. I mean...I can't explain it, but the 
gravity feels...weird. I mean...you guys must use some kind of 
artificial gravity or something, cause it don't just feel right.
Maybe cause you guys have...I dunno...maybe you guys are used to some
different gravity or something, even though I don't feel any lighter
or heavier. I looked at your settings with the tech guy back when we
just started, and he said it was the same gravity as what my planet
is. Maybe it's just such a little change? After all, I am a Martial
Artist...right?"

The captain could practically hear the capitals. He grinned, "It may
be that, or you're just imagining things. What's a martial artist,
anyway? It's not a term we've had much experience about."

"Oh? It's a form of unarmed combat. Back on my planet there were 
several styles that were eventually developed, mostly in Asia. It has
been around for hundreds of generations. My family's Art is the best
though, since it's the most unpredictable, and I'm the best of my 
family. I've been training since I was 5." The captain could see he 
was beginning to brag and decided to cut him off before his head 
swelled any further.

"Well, I'm sure that you're the best on YOUR planet, but we have some
of the best training facilities and instructors that will put you in
the dust. When you come in, you will probably be the worst in your
age group, since you haven't had our style of training. So shut up 
and we'll see how good you think you are" He felt he was beginning
to brag himself. The snotty kid was surely not as good as he claimed
he was. Back home, probably, but not here. This was the REAL 
universe.

Ranma smirked, calculated to annoy the heck out of everyone. As 
suddenly as the smirk appeared, a frown of concentration soon 
replaced it. He felt something again. But it was different. Evil.
Not like the old freak, but just malicious. And as suddenly, it felt
like it exploded. He could FEEL the shockwave coming. 

"Uhh, sir, you may wanna grab sumthin, cause we may be rocked a bit
here." He shifted his stance a bit, and watched the captain, his back
to the window.

"Huh?" was all the time the older man had to say when he saw the 
bright wave coming and barely had chance to grab a nearby chair when
it hit. He lost his footing and stumbled into the chair. He looked
up at Ranma and saw he hadn't budged an inch. He could feel the whole
ship was still lurching around, but Ranma wasn't even leaning into
the waves. It was like he had planted his feet into the deck and had
a spine of reinforced steel for support. The ship rocked for a mere
2-3 seconds, but it seemed like 6-7. Finally, they were through
the shockwave and the ship regained control. Hmm, perhaps this kid 
was better than he thought. The captain felt the beginnings of the 
same type of smirk that Ranma had worn just seconds before. He 
quickly schooled himself and got up. But something wasn't right.
He thought back. Ranma hadn't even seen the waves coming; he just had
a blank look then told him to grab something. He looked back behind
him. Nope, there weren't any windows or monitors behind him. How did
the kid know? He looked back at him.

"Uhh...what was that?"

"It probably was a Goddess's Verdict. It's the explosion that we 
usually get when the Goddesses destroy a Victim." The captain 
replied. He brushed himself off and looked back at the clipboard.
Nope, the other candidates were fine as well. He looked up just in 
time to miss the spike of EX energy coming off from #88. Then it was
gone. 

He brought his watch up to his face and pressed a button as he spoke,
"All candidates back to the cabin. We will be landing shortly and we
DO have standards to maintain." He settled back.

The other candidates came back in after a while and the brown-haired
boy immediately pressed his face once again into the window. The 
captain sighed. This was going to be a long day. As they came in to 
dock, he went to the bridge to finalize the final approach and 
docking procedures inside the immense GOA hanger. As the door slid
shut behind him, he heard the boy change his mantra from repeatedly
saying "Awesome!" into "GOA!"

When the captain left, Ranma turned to the others and introduced
himself. "Hey, I guess I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Saotome
Ranma, from Earth, candidate number 90."

"I'm Clay Cliff Fortran, candidate number 89. Pleased to meet you"
the boy with the glasses responded, holding out his hand.

Ranma turned to the chanting boy and asked, "Hey, so what's your 
name? Hello? Hey! HEY!" he had to go up and shake his shoulder
to get his attention. 

The boy turned and said, "Can you believe it? This is GOA! I can't
believe I'm finally HERE!" Ranma gave him a sharp blow to a pressure
point to calm him down. It seemed as if it didn't have any effect
at first, but eventually the boy started to talk coherently.
"Oh, hi. How are you doing? Oh? You're Ranma? Hi, my name's Zero 
Enna. You can call me Zero." He winked then jauntily walked to the 
airlock. 

*Whoo-boy, this guy's got a LOT of energy for him to keep running
on what was still available when I hit his calming point.* Ranma 
thought worriedly *He's almost got as much as ME! Almost, mind. No 
one's gunna be better than Saotome Ranma. I'm the best there is, and
the best there will ever be. Wonder if he's any good at Martial
Arts. Wait, no one's ever even heard of Martial Arts here. Feh, 
there's gotta be SOME kinda fighting. Maybe some kind of kendo? That
idiot Kuno stuck to the old forms too much, I'm sure they have 
different forms here since they must've developed differently*
He began running through some of the routines that he knew and 
imagined fighting someone with a different style he didn't recognize.
Mostly he visualized himself fighting someone that had a formless
style like his. In simpler terms, this meant he was visualizing
himself fighting himself. He hoped to get stiff competition.
He didn't realize he hadn't asked the quiet white-haired boy with the
ruby-red eyes.

Finally, the ship docked and they could disembark. Ranma slipped
in behind the rest as they entered the giant ship.



AN: Please send comments and reviews to Piemur_1@lycos.com
Disclaimer

Ranma and all related characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi.
Candidate for Goddess is not mine either. I am merely using these
characters and storyline for entertainment purposes only.




Candidate Ranma for Goddess

Chapter 2 - Adjusting



Zero fell back from his opponent. "What are you up to now?"

The man stepped up over him, "As chief of GOA's sanitary station,
I cannot stand that unnerving haircut." He stepped right up to Zero
and knelt down next to him, snapping a pair of scissors right next
to his ear. "First of all, your clothes are not clean. 
Filthy...filthy..."

"C-Cutting them off? I'll take them off..."

"And you! Though your clothes are in better shape, you understand
that you may have brought numerous germs on them when you came...We
must get rid of them."

"Hey! Hey! No one's gonna burn my clothes! These're all I got!" Ranma
cried. "They're all I got left when I came..." he finished in a more
subdued tone. He began thinking of the home he left and the memories
that came when they talked about his clothes. They were his best set
of red chinese silk shirt and black pants.

"We can synthesize a new set for you, but you have to understand
that what are on them could be a hazard to our ship."

"...You can do that?"

"But you wouldn't be able to wear them."

Ranma facefaulted at that. "What the hell does that mean?!"

"You will be wearing uniforms." A voice spoke up behind them. Ranma
turned and saw it was the captain.

"I thought your duty was finished." Ranma quipped. The chief of the
sanitary station was busy cutting Zero's unruly hair, and he was 
making a powerful effort to avoid it at all costs. Ranma didn't know
that he himself was up next.

"Help! Ranma! Old man! Get this crazy guy offa me!"

The captain sighed, blowing out a plume of smoke from the cigarette
he was smoking. "I am not an old man. Sure I was the captain that 
brought you here on that transport. However, I am also qualified
to be your scary instructor during your stay that will show you the
way. I'm Azuma Hijikata. Nice to meet you"

"Nice ta meetcha, sensei."

Azuma's watch beeped. "Oh, it's that time already? I have to go now.
It's time for your entrance ceremony. Don't be late, you two! You 
should know where to go. I showed you when we came this way. 
Shouldn't be hard to find..."

He left then. Zero started making louder and louder cries for help.
Ranma looked at him, and wondered if HE was going to have to have a 
haircut himself. And his ears hurt.

-----

"Finished! Now you can go anywhere without being so embarrasing!"
With that, Zero, clad in a new black and white uniform, Zero left in
a dejected manner. When the door closed, the chief turned to Ranma
sitting at a waiting chair, the light in just the right position
to overshadow his eyes. They glinted in what seemed an evil way. 
"Now...it's YOUR turn."

Ranma sweatdropped. "Uhh, you just gotta give me a uniform...right?
Cause aint NO way yer cuttin off my pigtail!"

"We have regulations. Your hair is not regulation standard. I must
correct this." Ranma coulda sworn there was a faint hint of a 
maniacal laugh in there somewhere.

"No way! No one's gunna cut off this pigtail! Principal Kuno never
could, and you aint either!" With that he decided to invoke the 
Umisenken's cloaking ability and disappeared from view. He figured
that that ability would be fine to unseal from his father's forbidden
techniques because he wasn't going to use any of the other 
devastating forms. He just wanted to disappear.

"What? Where did he go?" The chief was startled to see the boy 
suddenly disappear. He looked back and forth, then hit the lock on 
the door at his console. <Bap!> "Aha! Found you!" He leapt at the 
door and managed to tackle Ranma, knocking him out of his Umisenken
cloak. "Thought you could escape that easily? Think again." He 
lowered his voice in a conspirital manner, "Don't worry, you will 
still keep your general hairstyle. I need to make sure there are no 
parasites on your head and I have to simply trim around the top. 
Candidates are allowed to keep their hairstyles they want, but they
have to be within a certain length and what is mostly emphasized
is the top of the head. Your pigtail, as long as it stays in that 
pigtail will not be touched. If anyone sees you change your 
hairstyle, you MUST come to me for approval. You got it?" He snipped
the scissors next to Ranma's ear.

Ranma looked at the chief strangely. "So why the, uhh, bit being so 
mean to Zero? You scared him to death"

The chief laughed, "That kind of person needs to be forced into doing
what must be done. Usually, all candidates are handled in this way.
But since you are much older, I'm sure we can handle things like 
adults. Now, please..." He indicated the chair. Ranma reluctantly
sat. "Now, I hope you won't mind...but I WILL have to shorten your
pigtail a bit. It is just a little long, and the ends are not very
even. I will trim your bangs so they won't get in your way, and take
a little off the top for balance." As he spoke, he began trimming
the indicated areas. Ranma kept a close watch on him when he trimmed
the ends of the pigtail right below the Dragon's Whisker. "And I have
something much better than this string to hold your pigtail in 
place." He made to take it off.

Ranma shot out his hand and caught the offending appendage in a 
titaniam-strength grip before it could touch the Dragon's Whisker.
"This is a very powerful artifact on my planet. I cannot allow you to
touch it. There are powers that can spell catastrophe if this falls
into the wrong hands." Ranma's voice had gone hard and menacing.
"I'm sorry, but this Whisker stays. I can take it off for a bit if 
you need to style something, but after that, it's going back on." The
chief could hear the capitalization of "Whisker" and decided not to 
comment on it. He was still wondering how Ranma disappeared
without the slightest trace of EX reaction in his hair. He was sure
GOA was generally shielded against EX usage, but even after taking
Ramna down, he still didn't see any reaction afterward. He nodded.

"Alright" And Ranma took the Whisker off. Trimming the hair until
it was even, and rebraiding the pigtail, the cheif motioned to allow
Ranma, who was holding the Whisker possessively, to retie it.

"Now for the uniform and mark."

"Mark?"

"It's an identifying mark to tell our system who you are. You are 
referred to as candidate #90, correct? Well, it's like a tattoo of 
sorts with 90 on it on the inside of your right forearm. You saw me 
put it on for Zero and the others. Don't worry. It's 100% painless."

"Eh, just wondering. It's what everyone's got, right?"

"Right. All pilots and pilot candidates have to have them."

"Alright. And I would like a set of uniforms that are just a little
stretchy. So it feels a little like my old clothes. And...well...this
is embarrasing, but could you get me another set of my old clothes
for sentimental purposes?"

"No problem" And the chief smiled.

-----

Leaving the sanitary station, Ranma looked around and reviewed
where he was. Oh yeah, he had to go to the entrance ceremony.
Zero and the others must be there already. He jogged over, getting
the feel of the new uniform. At least it didn't restrict his movement
in any way. It actually felt very nice. He turned at the right 
hallway and entered the waiting room Azuma indicated they should
go. Upon entering, he saw the ruby-eyed boy, who he found was named
Hiead Gner, and Clay, who told him about Hiead. Zero was nowhere
to be found.

"Where's Zero?"

"We've been discussing this. We think he's lost." Clay replied.

"Great...another Hibiki. Hope he aint strong as an ox and doesn't
go around declaring vengence for anything I do..." Ranma muttered
under his breath. He looked at Hiead. It didn't seem that he didn't
say a word from any of Clay's rambling. He decided it must have been
a very one-sided conversation. "Well, do you think we should find 
him?"

The door opened and Instructor Azuma came in, "Well, are all you 
candidates here? The ceremony will start soon."

"Hey, old man!" Ranma quipped.

"Who's an old man here? Wait, where's #88? Bathroom?"

"I dunno. I just got here." Ranma said

"He probably got lost somewhere...that's my guess." Clay added.

Azuma sighed, "What's he up to now? That idiot...wasting
my time again" He turned to a nearby console and placed his palm on 
it. "Instructor #9, Azuma Hijikata"

"He's an instructor?" Clay said surprised.

"Candidate #88: Zero Enna, current location"

"Affirmative" the computer responded. "Candidate #88: 
Searching...Candidate #88: Not onboard GOA"

"What? Not present? You know that's not possible. Enlarge area...do
it again"

"Candidate #88: Not onboard GOA" it responded again. A large red sign
popped up saying, "No marker"

"What?" Ranma cried. "I just saw him!"

"He couldn't have gotten onto another shuttle this quickly" Clay 
said. "He was so enthusiastic when he came, he wouldn't have givin
up already."

"He should be locatable anywhere inside GOA...that's what the marking
is for."

Ranma said, "Yeah, that's what the chief of sanitary stations said."

"Yet he can't be found...that means he either left or..." He gasped.

"What?"

"You three stay here. We can't start anything until everyone is 
here." He walked through the door quickly and before the door closed
the others could see him beginning to sprint down the hallway.

"Man, it must be really serious..." Ranma mused.

"Quite interesting indeed..." Clay pushed back his glasses with his
middle finger.

After a bit, alarms began flashing throughout the station. "Grade
#1 candidates, board Pro-Ings and wait for further commands"

Hiead stood up and looked very tense. There must be another attack!

Ranma looked up at him and saw in his eyes and expression a sort of 
longing, and a fear he didn't understand. It was a sort of look for
certain fighters. He knew something big must be up. It musta been 
something about that Victim attack or something. It would surely
delay the entrace ceremony, so he sat back and prepared to wait it 
out. He wouldn't be able to fight anytime soon until he became an 
official candidate with his own mecha to fight in. They told him that
he was one of the rare people with something called EX that allowed
them to connect to their "Pro-Ing" so they could fight. He didn't
understand it, but they said that his EX would naturally flow and the
computers will do the connections automatically. He wondered if it 
was his ki that they were talking about. If so, why didn't they also
find the other martial artists, and select them as well? Ryouga had
a ton of ki. So did Shampoo and Mousse...heck, even his own father
had a strong ki well. But they told him he was the only person on 
Earth with this reaction. He didn't understand at the moment, but he
was sure they would be able to tell him later on. He will protect
his planet at any cost.




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