Azure: The first thing I'd like to say is I'm sorry for taking so long to update, I had put this story on a semi-hiatus status due to several things happening in real life that I needed to get through, family school and other big decisions. Mostly the last two though, I had to make a big choice about my school so that's one of the bigger reasons. Anyway I still hope that people will still enjoy my story even after so long, suggestions and reviews are welcomed for any ideas or improvements so thank you for being extremely patient with me.

I realized that I had been focusing more on Ranma when I needed some time for Ben, as much fun as Ranma and Gwen are this chapter is focused on the other people in the story that needed some time in the spotlight…

/Hey Ranma! Ranma!/ Ranko shouted from inside Ranma's head while the pig tailed martial artist was trying to help Nyx breath normally.

/What is it Ranko? Kind of in the middle of something here/ Ranma replied rubbing Nyx's back.

/Just bring Nyx upstairs and separate from me please!/ Ranko replied.

/What! Are you crazy we're still inside the Tendo household and you know how the tomboy and Nabiki don't knock when they come into the room!/ Ranma shouted.

/Come on please!/

/Oh fine, but this better be good…/ Ranma muttered before turning to Nyx. "Nyx-niisan are you okay now?"

"Y-yeah…I was just surprised by what Kasumi-san had seen last night." He replied weakly.

"Right…anyway can you come with me upstairs? I just remembered I had some problems with the homework from school and wanted to get some help on it before I leave." He replied.

"I'm surprised you could handle the school work with how you've been traveling your whole life." Nabiki commented as Ranma sent her a glare as he stood up with Nyx and just headed back to their room.

"Nabiki! That was an unnecessary comment." Kasumi said frowning at the middle Tendo girl who just shrugged.

"What I'm surprised he hasn't failed any tests with Genma as his dad." She replied, "how has he been doing in your class little sister?"

Akane just stabbed her food a bit.

"He's….actually pretty good in class…even though he's barely awake he can still pass…" she groused out.

"Uh huh interesting, it must be due to Nyxeus traveling with you Saotome…" Soun said as he drank his morning coffee as Genma mumbled something about pesky nobodies before he ate his food and stole some food off of Ranma's unattended plate.

"Okay so what's this about because I know we did your homework together." Nyx said as he folded his arms.

"Yeah Ranko wanted to ask you something. Give me a minute." Ranma replied as he activated his omnitrix but was suddenly splashed with a water bottle Nyx had, making Ranko sputter when she took Ranma's place.

"Nyx-niisan! What was that for Ranma was going use the omnitrix!" Ranko nearly shouted.

"You do know that Akane and Nabiki haven't heard of a thing called 'privacy' best thing to do was just activate your curse." Nyx replied, "so what was this thing you wanted to ask me Ranko."

"Oh yeah! Do you think I can explore Nerima by myself?" she asked, "like not in Ranma's head but as myself? Please! I've been so BORED and as much as I like talking to Vale, Kaze and the other aliens I wanna have a day or so to myself!"

/Hey I'll for that! I can go for a day without transforming!/ Ranma said from Ranko's head.

Nyx frowned as he rubbed his chin, "I'm not sure, I'm sure Ranma probably said something about not transforming but you two do know the only way we can separate you is through the kagami-sei alien's with those animal features."

"Come on Nyx-niisan you can't say you don't have a piece of technology to help!" Ranko said practically whining.

"Alright, alright I do actually have something I saw when I was studying some technology from this one alien species." Nyx replied as he grabbed his bag and rummaged through it as Ranko grinned and dialed on the omnitrix for the twin aliens and in a flash of green Ranma and Ranko were standing next to each other.

"Yes! Finally I get a day for myself without having to listen to Ranma's teacher's drone on!" she said happily.

"Hey waitaminute that means she doesn't have to go to school!" Ranma said glowering at the giggling Ranko.

"Hey the only Saotome registered at the school is a Ranma Saotome, not Ranko." Ranko replied bouncing on her heels.

"Ah..here we go Nyx said as he stood up and held up two blank faced masks with square sockets for the eyes and mouth. "now these will give the both of you normal human looks so no one will see your dragon or ca-..er…animal features." The alien explained changing what he was going to say when he saw Ranma twitch at a familiar name before he handed the items to Ranma and Ranko.

"These are safe right? They won't blow up in our faces." Ranma asked looking over the item.

"You really need to have more faith in my works." Nyx stated, his eye twitching.

Ranko immediately put the mask on and in an instant her cat ears and tails were gone but she still had her kimono outfit on.

"I wonder why I still have the same clothes on?" she wondered looking at her outfit.

"Well because one, I never thought I'd be using it like this and I didn't plant any women clothing in and it just adjusts itself to what you usual wear." Nyx explained as Ranma put his mask on and he was in his Chinese silk top and usual outfit.

"Hey this is great, I look normal and there's no chance of me changing into Ranko." Ranma said smirking.

"About that…you should be careful Ranma." Nyx said seriously.

"huh why?" Ranma asked before Ranko rolled her eyes as she took off her mask and asked Nyx to adjust it to an outfit so she could blend in better.

"Because dummy don't you think it'll be a LITTLE strange that all of a sudden you're splashed with water and you don't change? Especially if Genma and Nabiki found out." Ranko replied as Nyx handed back her mask and she put it on, making Ranma stare at the outfit she was wearing.

"Well at least it isn't the kimono." Ranma said chuckling as Ranko grumbled, "and I'll be careful to try and avoid getting splashed though that's going to be hard considering what a water magnet I tend to be…"

Apparently the only other girl outfit that Nyx had seen was Shampoo's Chinese outfits the only difference was it was a dark red that matched her hair rather then the lavender of Shampoo's.

"Well just try to avoid bodies of water then, now I believe its time to go." Nyx said standing up as he grabbed his uniform for the bakery while Ranko headed for the window.

"I'll see you guys later then!" Ranko said grinning but stopped when Nyx managed to grab her arm and put around her neck a small pouch. Ranko looked at Nyx questionable wondering what the pouch was for.

"You might need this Ranko, it's a bit of spending money." Nyx said grinning. Ranko quickly smiled back and hugged him before leaping out of the window down to the side of the house before scaling the wall and running on it into town.

"I hope she doesn't get into trouble…" Ranma sighed as they headed downstairs.

"She's your female half which means she probably still attracts as much chaos as you do." Nyx replied snickering while Ranme groaned and rolled his eyes.

"This feels so awesome!" Ranko cried out gleefully as she enjoyed feeling the wind through her hair for the first time in a while.

She had vague memories before she had fallen into the pool but the images were blurry. All she could remember was darkness, at least until Ranma had fallen into the pool. She stopped and just stood on the wall as she close her eyes relaxing.

'I really owe Ranma a lot for bringing me to life in a way…' she thought to herself as she smiled wistfully, 'I gained two brothers and a bunch of new friends in aliens…'

/You sure did sweetie./ a gently voice said in Ranko's head making her eyes widen.

/Kazehime? Is that you? But shouldn't you be with niisan?/ Ranko asked as Kazehime's soft laughter rang through her head.

/Ranko-chan, why would I be with Ranma when I'm a female alien? Like what Nyxeus said, you carry all the female aliens meaning you can transform into us if needed./ the harpy alien replied, /the only reason I'm able to communicate to you is because I'm the only one you've had contact with./

/Oh I see so basically the omnitrix between me and Ranma can be split into two without consequences?/Ranko asked.

/Yes, even though it was a side effect due to the curse Ranma has along with the alien species it's actually quite stable./ Kazehime replied.

/Interesting, I'll have to tell Nyx-niisan about this later but right now…Oooo an arcade!/Ranko said happily as she ran inside.

She quickly exchanged some of the money for tokens and practically dashed off to the fighting games. Sitting down at one of the stations she entered her token and picked her fighter and was soon enjoying blasting through the game. It wasn't until later another player challenged her.

"Hmm maybe this one will be a better fighter then the computer." She said to herself.

After a few rounds and meshing buttons until they were almost broken, Ranko finally came out victorious against the opponent and threw her arms in the air.

"Yes! Take that!" she said gleefully.

"Aw man I thought for sure I had them!" a voice across from her said.

Standing up she walked around the row of console games and saw a brown haired boy grumbling looking at his screen that said he lost.

"You were the other player?" Ranko asked making the guy turn his head towards her and nod.

"Yeah I thought I had you there." He sighed as he stood up.

"Well you almost did but I pulled out of that quickly. I'm Ranko. What's your name?"

"I'm Ben Tenneyson." He replied smiling as well as he stood up and walked closer to her.

Before any more conversation could take place there was a beeping from Ben's omnitrix as well as Ranko's, only because of her disguise it was hidden. Ben quickly covered his omnitrix and looked around if anyone heard it. But thanks to the loud games being played it was drowned out, the only problem is it wouldn't stop like last time and was flashing.

::Alien form detected…shall we attempt to scan?:: a mechanical voice emitted from the device making Ben's eyes widen and look at Ranko who was cursing.

'Dammit! There goes my fun!' she thought to herself as she quickly grabbed Ben's wrist and hauled him out of the arcade and down the street.

Ben was having trouble keeping up as they ran for a while before she stopped at the park and behind a few trees so they could speak privately.

"Are you really an alien? You look normal to me…" Ben said eyeing Ranko.

"Well…sort of…" Ranko said laughing nervously not quite sure what to do in this situation, it didn't help that Ben's omnitrix was still flashing and beeping. The American boy grumbled as he messed with the dial trying to get it to stop making noises.

"Why won't this thing shut up?" he grumbled, "and what kind of alien are you anyway?"

"I guess there's no hiding it but you have to promise you won't tell ANYONE okay?" Ranko said seriously.

"Depends…you're not planning to cause any problems around here?" Ben asked.

At that Ranko couldn't help but laugh.

"Ben, if anything happens it its just because its attracted to the chaos around here." She said as she placed her hand on her face and then took off the mask.

Ben let out a cry of surprise as he pretty much saw the girl remove her face and he saw the girl's unusual features. But what really caught his eye was the omnitrix in the center of the belt around Ranko's waist.

"Hold on a minute! Why do you have omnitrix its suppose to be unique! Is that why my omnitrix is making all those noises? You're not working under Vilgax are you? If you are I'm not going to let you have the omnitix! " Ben shot at her as he backed away from her just in case.

"Uh let's see, no I'm not working under squid face, I wouldn't want nor am after your omnitrix, I think you're right about the noises from your omnitrix is making because of mine and well…why I have an omnitrix is a bit of a long story." Ranko replied folding her arms.

"Do you think I can scan you?" Ben asked.

"I…wouldn't do that unless you want to change into a girl…" Ranko replied dryly as Ben's eyes widen.

"What!" he exclaimed.

"Yeaah see I have a 'brother' and the thing is I have half an omnitrix…my omnitrix holds all female aliens while my brother holds all the male aliens." She explained.

"….how in the world did that happen?" Ben asked with a shocked expression on his face as Ranko shrugged.

"Dunno but that's just what happened, and I'm not going to bite you or anything." Ranko said, "so you can stop backing away from me."

"R-right…sorry…" Ben said sheepishly as he walked back to Ranko and let out a sigh of relief when the beeping finally stopped. The two sat down under a large tree in an awkward silence, both not really sure what to do now.

"So what kind of aliens can you turn into?" Ben asked.

"Actually I don't know, I only know I can turn into a harpy like alien." She replied shrugging, "what about you?"

"Uhm lets see, 15 if I counted them right." Ben replied. Ranko looked impressed.

"That's pretty cool are you any good fighting in them?"

"I'm decent for someone not having any formal training I guess." Ben replied shrugging.

He got curious as he looked at Ranko's twitching cat ears on the top of her head and reached up towards her head and started scratching them. He couldn't help but laugh when Ranko started to purr like an actual cat before she realized what she was doing and quickly moved away from Ben, her face burning.

"Don't do that!" she exclaimed covering her ears with her hands.

"I'm sorry I just got curious about them and wondered if you were just like any other cat." He replied.

"Yeah well now you know." Ranko retorted pouting, "so anyway what kind of stuff have you used your omnitrix for?"

Ben grinned at her as he started telling her all about the adventures he, his cousin and Grandpa Max had gone through for nearly the whole summer. All the while Ranko was paying attention, fascinated with all the things and people he had ran into.

"Wow…and I thought my brother was a chaos magnet, you just run into one weird person after another since you got that thing on haven't you?" Ranko said standing up and stretching, with Ben doing the same.

"Yeah but I'm not complaining, its never been a dull moment." He replied grinning as Ranko smiled and put on her mask, making her look normal.

"So why are you in Japan then?" Ranko asked.

"Well there's only so much 'weirdness' we can take and having to take of fight after fight after fight…Grandpa Max thought it would be good to take a vacation from a vacation.' Ben said.

"That makes sense, does your Grandpa have family here?"

"He's staying with an old plumber friend, Dr. Tofu."

"Ah I see…hey Ben?"

"Yeah Ranko?"

"Can you not tell your grandpa and cousin about this omnitrix please?" Ranko asked seriously, "its because well…my other 'brother' is the one who made it and he's kinda hiding from Vilgax"

"You don't have to worry about that, I promise I won't tell." Ben replied, making Ranko smile at him.

"Thanks…hey why don't we walk and talk, I'm interested in the people you ran into, especially this Kevin character. When was the last time you saw him?" she asked.

At that Ben got a depressed look on his face.

"I'm sorry if I brought up a painful subject…" she said.

"No it's alright, I haven't thought about him for awhile ever since I trapped him in the Null Void." He replied sighing.

"What's a Null Void?" Ranko asked.

"Its basically a jail the plumbers use for aliens they capture, the only thing is its in another dimension." Ben replied.

"Why did you trap him in there in the first place Ben?" Ranko asked as they walked down the street.

"Its because he wanted to kill me." Ben replied.

"Isn't that a bit much?" Ranko asked surprised.

"Not really, I kinda accidentally turned him into a mish-mash of my alien forms. He can absorb things into himself." Ben replied, making Ranko wince.

"I'm sure you tried to apologize to him…did you even talk to him?" she asked.

"I've tried that…every single time I've tried talking some sense to him, when we kept running into each other, when we framed me for all these crimes, the battle tournament in space even in the null void where he helped Vilgax take the omnitrix away from me!" Ben ranted.

"and not once he listens? What happened when you first met?" Ranko questioned.

"He…was a friend when we first me showed me around the town without Grandpa Max or Gwen around either, but then I found out he just wanted my omnitrix for its power…" Ben said, "I got away but he absorbed some energy and that was what got him to 'transform'."

"But then its his fault for absorbing the energy in the first place." Ranko said.

"I know that but…it still hurts that he betrayed me like that so easily no matter what I said he wouldn't listen." Ben replied.

"He was your first real friend wasn't he?" Ranko asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah…I never was popular at my school and it didn't help I always got picked on. So having Kevin as my first real friend made me so happy." Ben stated.

"Who knows…maybe you'll see him again Ben." Ranko said as they stopped at a convince store to grab some snacks.

"I don't know Ranko…you can't just leave the null void…" Ben said. "Its meant to keep things in, not let things out."

"Well was Vilgax in there at one point?" Ranko asked making Ben stop and look at her.

"Yeah actually, he was suppose to be trapped there but when I was 10 he somehow escaped and attacked my home…" Ben said.

"So that means it is possible to get out and maybe he'll be out and you can try again to make him your friend again." Ranko said.

"If he doesn't kill me on sight first." Ben replied sarcastically.

"Oh stop being so pessimistic and just try thinking of the good things." Ranko said, "besides you never know you might have feelings besides wanting to be friends…" the girl added teasing making Ben choke on his snack and look at Ranko, his face blazing.

"It's not like that!" Ben exclaimed, "I just want him to go back being my friend that's it!" but it was hard to believe him with his face that shade of red.

"Uh huh sure that blush of yours is telling me everything I need to know about you and your dear Kevin." Ranko replied laughing as she ran ahead of Ben who chased her.

"I don't have feelings for him like that! I don't!"

"Tell me that when your face isn't imitating a tomato! Then maybe I'll believe you!" Ranko shouted back grinning.

Despite the light arguing both of them were having fun running down the street chasing the other.

For Ben it was having someone here he could talk to, especially with his concerns about Kevin but still able to enjoy his stay in Japan and not be bored like he had been yesterday. For Ranko it was meeting Ben and having fun with him to spend time with…and for her to enjoy life once more since 'dying' in the spring a thousand years ago, it was fun feeling the earth and everything again.

Unfortunately their fun was going to be interrupted by a certain squid like alien and the aftermath would be the last of their problems.

"Sir, we finally triangulated the area where the omnitrix may most likely to be located." One of the robot soldiers stated from one of the many computer consoles.

"Its about time, send some droids in there immediately, I want the omnitrix in my possession soon…" Vilgax growled out.

"Yes sir!"

"Maybe if I'm lucky they'll find that blasted Nyxeus and drag him back as well…." Vilgax muttered under his breath as he sat on his throne watching the screen for any activity.

The robot typed in a few commands in the console and several droids were leaving the ship and heading for their destination…the Nerima district….

By this time Ranko and Ben had stopped running and were just walking together down the street and Ben's stomach had growled.

"Wow I didn't even think of what time it was…" Ben said as he looked sheepishly at Ranko.

"Same here now where should we go eat?" Ranko mumbled tapping her chin trying to think of something to eat.

"As long as its not sushi…I had enough of that yesterday." Ben replied groaning as her rubbed his stomach.

"Okay so Sushi is out…hmm…" Ranko thought but before she could come up with something out of nowhere surprised her when a red laser blast nearly hit her.

"What the hell!" Ranko exclaimed as she turned around to see what had blasted her and her eyes widen when several robot droids came down firing more lasers, making Ranko and Ben dance out of the way.

"Those are Vilgax's robots!" Ben said quickly activating his omnitrix.

"Oh great that just means ugly found us…" Ranko growled as she removed her mask and summoned her staff.

There was a flash of green light and a small green lizard like creature that was standing next to her was no taller then her knees.

"What is that suppose to be?" Ranko asked raising an eyebrow, the lizard creature smirked.

"Just watch!" he replied and four adhesive tongues shout out of his mouth and grabbed onto one of the droids and ate it before spitting it back up only as a blast that destroyed another droid.

"That's…one useful alien there…" Ranko said as she back flipped out of the way and summoned a flurry of thick icicles piercing through two droids and making them explode.

"This shouldn't take long between the two of us…" Ben said smirking.

Ranko just grinned back as she jumped up on top of one and stabbed her staff in one as she blasted another one away with water and leapt off the droid as Ben finished it off by eating it and using it as ammo once again.

"We just have to keep them here so that they don't go into where the school and other places are…" Ranko said as she created a water shield to block the lasers before sending the droid back with the current of water.

"Yeah last thing we need is for someone to get involved and…behind you!" Ranko shouted blasting shards of icicles behind Ben just as a droid was about to try and slice Ben in two.

"Thanks Ranko!" Ben said as he swallowed a laser from another droid and shooting it back at him.

As the two were taking care of the robots before they had entered the more populated area of Nermia, neither of them noticed a certain bi-speckled amazon male standing on top of the building watching the fight.

He was coming back from a delivery he had heard some noises that weren't usually heard in the district. Curious on what was going on he quickly made his way to the area and his eyes widened when he saw Ranko and a young boy standing next to each other as some strange things surrounded them. What had him staring though was the rather unusual outfit Ranma was wearing in his girl form.

'I never took Saotome to actually wear girl clothing when he's in the form or be one to carry around a weapon.' Mousse thought to himself.

Mousse found himself in for another shock when he saw the boy next to Ranma suddenly disappear in a flash of green light and in its place was some sort of creature. From then the near-sighted Amazon boy could only just stare at what the two were doing to take care of the surrounding enemy. He watched as the smaller green creature pretty much ate his enemy and then threw it back at them, he did the same with the lasers. But what really got him staring was how fluidly Ranma was controlling and summoning water with that staff in her hands and then turning it into ice in a split second. There was no need for him to help Ranma, not like he wanted to anyway but he needed to report this to the elder.

'Whatever you're hiding Saotome Ranma, we will find out…' Mousse thought as he made his way to Colonge.

Once the last droid was destroyed Upchuck ate all the scrap metal and then swallowed it instead of using it as a weapon destroying any evidence that there was a fight here.

"Well…besides the scorch marks hopefully no one questions what happened." Ranko said as she dissipated her staff into water as she put her mask back on.

"Yeah…. hopefully now what are we going to do about lunch?" Ben asked making Ranko stare at him.

"What is it with guys and thinking with their stomachs?" Ranko asked exasperated, "come on let's see if we can find some where to have lunch."

"OW! You mummy I wasn't seeing things!" Mousse said glowering at the shriveled up old gnome standing on top of a cane that was three times her height, "I am telling I saw Saotome Ranma manipulate water and some weird guy next to her…him….IT changed form!"

"Mr. Part-time worker may need stronger glasses." Cologne said rolling her eyes, "what you're suggestion impossible."

"Gah! It was not and Ranma didn't even GET splashed and you know that victims of the pools are water magnets." Mousse tried again but just got hit hard in the head again, making him fall to the floor so he ended up looking at Cologne from the floor.

"Mr. Part-time worker should get back to making ramen lunch rush is going to be coming soon I don't need to hear your nonsense." Cologne huffed as Mousse grumbled and stood up rubbing his head and headed to the kitchen. Just as he was about to enter the kitchen the door opened and Cologne turned to great the potential costumers.

"Welcome to the cat café how may I help-? "Cologne asked but stopped when she saw a brown-haired teenaged boy and a familiar red head girl who suddenly paled.

"Son-in-law this is a surprise." Cologne said making the brown haired boy blinked.

"Why…is the talking gnome calling you a guy Ranko?" he asked only to get clonked on his head.

"Respect your elders young one." Cologne stated firmly.

"Ow that hurt!" Ben groaned rubbing his head.

But before Ranko could try and fix this Mousse stormed right up next to Cologne and pointed a finger at the two.

"See elder! I was not seeing things this is Ranma that I saw fighting those strange things and that's the kid that changed into that creature.

"Oh crud…" Ben said staring at the two suddenly wishing he hadn't wanted to try Ramen.

"Nyx-niisan is gonna murder me…." Ranko added facepalming.

"It seems we're going to have a very interesting lunch…" Cologne said rubbing her chin making the two teens in front of her sweat as one similar thought passed through their heads.

'Why me?'