However, neither he nor his daughters would ever see the Saotomes. Technically speaking, they no longer existed. Time would continue to pass and more events would occur.

----------

A month later...

"Ah, my fair tigress! Your beloved husband-to-be has arrived to..."

WHAM!

Tatewaki Kuno was sent skyward after Akane belted him for the umpteenth time.

"Why can't he just leave me alone?" The short-tempered girl complained as she stomped into Furinken High with two of her friends.

"Well he is your fiance." Yuka said slowly.

"THAT PERVERT IS NOT MY FIANCÉ!" Akane shot back. "JUST BECAUSE HE GOT LUCKY AND BEAT ME THAT ONE TIME..."

At that moment, Nabiki walked up to her. "Technically speaking, he is your fiance. Remember, Daddy was the one who formalized the engagement when Kuno baby came in and offered all that money. And from what I remember from that fight, he wasn't lucky. He just finally figured out that he had to go all out to beat you."

"Shut up, Nabiki! This is all his fault! Him and that stupid speech of his!"

"Well, there is a way in which you can get out of this..." The middle daughter began.

This immediately got Akane's attention. "What? Tell me! I'll give you my allowance for a year!"

The second daughter of Soun Tendo thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No. That won't work. Forget it."

"TELL ME!"

"Well, remember back when Daddy told us about that pledge to unite the schools of the Anything Goes? Now since that promise was made before we were even born, then that should take precedence over Kuno's claim. Now if that Ranma Saotome were to show up, then you could tell Kuno that you're engaged to him."

Akane felt a glimmer of hope, though she blanched at the thought of openly admitting that she was engaged to some boy. However Nabiki then said, "But since he never showed up, I guess that flushes that idea down the toilet."

And along with that idea, Akane's hopes were also flushed.

----------

Another month later...

"OH, HO, HO, HO, HO, HO, HO! My, my, my! How very disappointing! I had hoped that the Furinken Gymnastics Team would have at least one competitor this year, but it looks like St. Hebereke wins by default again."

At the Nerima Hospital, Akane lay in a body cast after Kodachi Kuno had visited her the night before.

----------

"WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW????!!!"

Guess who's still lost?

----------

A few more months after that...

"Father! How could you?"

Kasumi felt betrayed as she was told that she had been chosen to be the bride of Picolet Chardin III. Apparently, Soun had neglected to tell his family of a certain promise he had made after losing an eating match.

----------

More time has passed...

"HA HA HA HA HA! Your sign now belongs to me!"

Soun was flooding the floor of the dojo with his tears as the Dojo Destroyer towered over his broken opponent.

Akane had thought she could win against this behemoth. After all, she was the best martial artist in Nerima, wasn't she? The time that Kuno had beaten her had been a fluke, right? She had been breaking more bricks and training dummies since then. Surely that beating she had received from Kodachi had made her stronger to take on this bully. She would triumph over him and show to all that she was still the best.

All these thoughts and other delusions continued to run through her mind as her body throbbed with agonizing pain. She was unable to get up as her opponent walked over to the front of the training hall. She felt her heart breaking as she heard the sound of wood being torn free from its foundation. When she finally managed to raised her head up, she caught sight of the Dojo Destroyer as he left her home. Slung over his shoulder was his latest prize, the sign of the Tendo Dojo.

----------

Still more time passes by...

The entire district of Nerima would suffer with the arrival of Soun and Genma's dread sensei, Happosai. With no one to keep the perverted master in check, the females and their undergarments were constantly harassed. Added to these problems were several acts of thievery and mayhem as the enemies of the lecher came one after another, resulting in massive property damage. As a consequence, many of the inhabitants of the district decided to save themselves and moved away. When Pantyhose Tarou showed up, things got even more hazardous. Nerima soon became a ghost town within Tokyo.

----------

Another key moment...

Eventually, when Lychee and her Elephant showed up with their half of the sacred scroll, things turned from bad to worse. Akane accidentally got a hold of the piece of parchment at the exact moment that Prince Kirin showed up to claim his bride. Akane was taken away, never to be seen again as there was no one to rescue her. However, the marriage was to be short-lived as even a master fighter from the School of the Seven Lucky Gods Martial Arts proved to be no match for Akane's Pickled Souffle Surprise. As for the Tendo girl...well, let's just say that the inhabitants of Nekonron, China were not happy to see their ruler done in by his bride's cooking.

----------

And so the Anything Goes ends...

Soun Tendo became even more emotional (if such a thing were possible), after the loss of two of his daughters and his dojo. With the realization that his lifelong dream would never be fulfilled, there was no reason to go on. Soon afterwards, Soun committed suicide. The schools of the Anything Goes died with him. No one wanted to learn the discipline as it was connected with the infamy of Happosai.

----------

The aftermath...

Nabiki wiped her tears as the priest completed the ceremony and motioned for the pallbearers to lay her father's coffin in its final resting place. She could not believe that she was now alone. The last of her family was gone and there was just no need to stay in Nerima any longer. She then made her decision and a few weeks later, the family home was sold as the last of Tendo line departed for Osaka, hoping to bury her past and start anew.

As this was happening in Nerima, a young okonomiyaki chef continued on with his... her mission of vengeance and retribution against the former childhood friend that she thought had betrayed her. However, that all came to an end when she one day encountered the mother of that said friend and learned of his disappearance and was assumed dead with his no-good father. As a result, the honor to the Kuonji family had been satisfied and Ukyo was free to get on with her life as a girl. However, she never did forget her Ran-chan and her return to womanhood would take a turn that no one would ever expect.

----------

All of this was of no consequence to the being that was still slumbering within the Radam pod, as his identity as Ranma Saotome was slowly being wiped from existence. Nodoka later remarried and went on to live a happy life with her new husband and family, still believing that her first child was dead. Perhaps it was best that way, for she would not recognize her son when he would finally emerge from the pool at Jusenkyo. That would not happen for a very, very long time. Eventually, each and every person who had known of Ranma Saotome was gone. Their bodies would be nothing more than dust by the time he would reappear.

Due to the nature of the Springs of Jusenkyo, the alien device was totally cut off from any outside sources of power and it would take centuries before it could finally complete the transformation process. With the Radam gone, whatever emerged from that pod would be one of a kind.

---------

The planet Earth would go through many changes during this period. More wars would be fought as the people of the planet continued to fight among themselves. The landscape became devastated as mankind teetered on the brink of extinction, due to global civil war. Then... it happened.

The unstoppable force that had decimated even the mighty Radam had finally arrived. Whatever squabbles the humans had for one another was quickly cast aside in order to counter this new threat. However, due to the lack of resources from their own wars and conflicts, the people of Earth found themselves ill-prepared for the invaders. Soon, with their population at barely one hundredth of its original number of six billion, the humans were only left with two options... abandon their home planet, or keep on fighting.

Before the invaders began their final onslaught, a fleet of hastily-built colony ships were launched. Each ship had been designed to explore and terra-form whatever planets they came across. Several hundred people did stay behind to fight the alien menace, using a new kind of crystalline-fusion power source called Paksis, which the humans had stolen from the enemy. They waged a valiant battle until finally, they managed to overcome their oppressors. However, the cost was enormous and the remainder of humanity and the Earth were changed forever. What now inhabited the planet couldn't even be called... human.

By this time, the rest of Earth's survivors were long gone to the stars and it would be decades before they would hear from their long-lost cousins. However, even out in the void of space, the humans would still fight among themselves.

One ship in particular, the Ikazuchi, would soon become the focal point of a new conflict. Due to some arguments between the men and women of the crew, a fight broke out and the ship was split into two segments. One segment, which carried only men, eight in all, crash-landed on a barren and desolate world. They had very little in technology, and would have to fall back on their more baser instincts to survive.

The other segment, which housed only females landed on a more hospitable planet, with nearly all their technology intact. These people would go on to build a new world in which only their gender would reign supreme. Who needed men?

More years would pass, and the two sides would evolve civilizations and their own separate cultures. With the absence of the opposite gender, each side had to procreate by way of cloning methods. Furthermore, with the lack of women on the male planet of Tarak, and no men on the female planet of Mejale, plus the hatred that both sides bred into their successors, it wasn't long before the people of both planets believed the opposite sex to be an alien species, despite the fact that they all originated from Earth. By the time of the third generations, the two worlds became locked in war once again.

----------

Back on Earth, five hundred years after that fateful plunge...

Though nearly all the pools of Jusenkyo were now either inactive or evaporated from war and the alien invasion, one pool remained intact. Now, with the magic of the waters finally fading away, the Radam machine began making up for lost time, and speeded up the process to convert the subject within into one of the mightiest warriors in the cosmos. Then, one day, it finally surfaced and broke open, releasing the person from his slumber. The pod exploded, scattering icky pus and fluids from within as a figure emerged naked from its depths. After using the last of its energy reserves to complete the process, the pod dissolved into a putrid, gooey mass, unable to reproduce itself to spread over the Earth. Not that it mattered since the planet was more or less unsuitable for most plants to be sustained.

The being stood up and surveyed the area as he waded toward the edge of the pool. He was a tall figure, standing about two inches above six feet. His raven hair wafted gently in the evening breeze as he set foot on the dry ground. His build was lean but finely muscled, hinting at power and grace. His blue eyes scanned the landscape and noted the increased humidity as he glowed with a soft, green-white light. Occasionally, lines of red light would flash across his body, displaying the Tekkaman circuits that ran through his body, infusing every cell with quantum energy, and was also boosting his potential to generate ki to its highest levels.

The young man raised a hand toward a large boulder that was nearby simply focused his inner energies. His hand glowed and the lines within were briefly visible as a huge blast of ki with minute amounts of quantum energy exploded from his palm to reduce the solid granite rock into powder. The man looked down at his palm and contemplated it for a moment. What would have taken a trained martial artist a lifetime to accomplish, took him only seconds. The person who was once Ranma Saotome would have taken some time to develop his own ki projectile, even with his formerly amazing ability to learn techniques quickly. The Radam pod had in a way, put Ranma through the equivalent of a hundred lifetimes of martial arts training with its biological alterations and enhancements of his body. His strength, reflexes, recuperative powers and all his other physical attributes had been enhanced to inhuman levels. He was what the Nazis of World War II had strived to create... the superior human.

Despite having slumbered in the pod for more than five centuries, Ranma looked to be around seventeen years old, and his face had become more angular and defined. The Radam device had slowed down the aging process in order to make the necessary changes to his biostructure. The only detail that the pod left from his original body was the thin scar on his face that he had received when he was six during the Cat Fist training. That mark did not detract from his appearance, but made him more rugged-looking. The pod thought that the mark was of no consequence and did nothing to change it. However, its mission to totally convert Ranma into a servant of the Radam was never realized. With nothing left of that alien race, the individual had his own free will and was permanently in control of the power that the pod had given to him.

Due to the interfering magical energies of Jusenkyo and the intense spiritual training Ranma had undergone, the pod had been unable to wipe out every memory of his former self. Ranma could not remember the details of his former life or even his own name, but he did still remember the rules of being a martial artist, which included defending the weak and innocent. As a result, the former heir to the Anything Goes had no desire to subjugate anyone, though he had more than enough power to do so. He was confused and alone. All the people that knew of him were gone. There were no Radam masters to serve, therefore, he was on his own.

In his mind, he kept on hearing a name that was not his, yet sounded so right to him.

Slade... Slade... Slade... Is that who I am?

He looked back down to his hand and began focusing on it. A bright flash of light appeared and something materialized in his palm. It was about the size of a baseball and glittered in the moonlight. Ranma's... Slade's Emerald Tekkaman Crystal glowed with power as the young man considered it for a moment. In his mind, he began receiving silent instructions in his mind that had been left by the pod. This was supposed to be the key to his transformation process. When not in use, it was kept in a subspace pocket.

Transformation...? What does it mean? Slade wondered as he held the crystal aloft to gaze at it. His eyes then narrowed as he clutched the object in his hand and shouted out one phrase.

"TEKSETTER!"

Instantly, the crystal flashed and pulsated with energy as Slade was engulfed by that light. He had called upon the universal forces of time and space which began his incredible metamorphosis. A tiny glowing symbol that resembled his crystal appeared on his forehead. The Tekkaman circuit lines ran over his body and glowed as sections of alien metal appeared and attached themselves to his flesh. His body became endowed with impenetrable armor (by human standards), and was given quantum energy weapons. His already superhuman abilities were further increased as the process continued. In less than a few seconds, the one who was formally Ranma Saotome had disappeared. Only Tekkaman Slade remained.

The Tekkaman now stood at a height of over seven feet and looked like some kind of space-age knight. His shoulders had huge armored epaulets and his helmet looked like an insect's head. Though he was massive, his body retained its graceful, sleek lines and he looked like was built more for speed rather than brute power. On his back, a couple of narrow nacelles opened up and low-density plasma engines fired up. Soon the Tekkaman was airborne and streaking off into the heavens at several times the speed of sound.

Slade decided to do a quick survey of the planet, and saw that it was not a very hospitable place. Nearly all of the surface was flooded by heavy rainstorms with only a few small landmasses, including the place where Jusenkyo once stood. A huge metal framework of gears, cams and levers surrounded the planet, with one large bulge on the northern hemisphere. That particular area was where the Earth's moon had been engulfed. The interior of the frame housed a few sprawling cities, but Slade had no interest in visiting them. With constant rainstorms occurring between the frame and the planet's surface, the Earth was like one huge washing machine. It was a very dismal existence indeed.

After deciding that the Earth was no longer fit for human or any other life form, the Tekkaman then made a beeline for the stars, in search of his destiny in the cosmos.

----------

Several months later, in a factory on Tarak...

Slade sighed as he sat down at the table and gazed at his lunch. Food on Tarak consisted of nutrition pellets which tasted awful, though they did provide three hundred hours of energy for labor. With Slade's hyper-metabolic rate as a Tekkaman, he couldn't really complain. This was all there was to eat on Tarak.

For the past few months, he had been soaring the space ways, stopping periodically on any planet to rest and replenish his stores of energy. He had taken various shortcuts through space warps and such, to traverse great distances. With no Radam influences, the Earth Tekkaman could stay in his transformed state for as long as he wished, without losing control, though his powers did use up tremendous energy. He had seen many things during his interstellar travels and had encountered hundreds of different alien races. He had endured many battles and was well-versed in the ways of combat, both in his human form and his transformed state.

The Tekkaman had arrived on Tarak some time ago and had set himself up as a third-class worker. He had no intention of spending the rest of his life on this world as a menial laborer. He had only taken this job in order to stock up on energy and rest. Soon, he would move on.

As of now, he had been taking part in assembling the planet's newest weapons, the Van-Type Bangattas, or Vanguards as they were called. These machines were large, humanoid mecha that were twenty-five to thirty feet in height and sported a variety of close-quarters melee weapons. They were primitive in comparison to his Tekkaman armor, but the work was steady, and provided him with three meals a day and a roof over his head.

He had also learned much about the culture of this world and was somewhat disgusted by it. The men were totally ignorant of their so-called sworn enemies, women. They pictured woman as hideous monsters that devoured the innards of their victims and sucked the life out of men. Every person that Slade had met described females as ugly, terrible beasts that should be destroyed as soon as they were seen. Never mind the fact that they had never seen a woman before. It was all just rumors and propaganda generated by the government.

However, Slade knew what they were. They came from the same place he came from after all. So did the men of Tarak. He still remembered what a female was. The lessons he had learned as Ranma Saotome were still with him, though his memories of his past life were all but shadows in his mind. He knew about the 'birds and the bees' from his travels, though he mentioned none of this to the other men. It wasn't his place, and he'd probably scare the living daylights out of them if he did.

The men of Tarak were arrogant and extremely prideful. They disregarded many important factors as they continued to wage war against their relatively unknown enemy. For one thing, the women had superior technology and tactics, while the men were just barely making it in space travel. The female space pirates had decimated the Tarak Space Fleet and were raiding transport ships at will. The men were focusing all their resources on war, instead of concentrating on improving their planet and their lifestyles. Technology that could have benefited medical, agricultural and scientific research was instead being used to wage senseless battle against an enemy that they were trained to hate since birth. And with every battle, the men lose a little more of what few resources they possessed. Though they still persisted because of that overwhelming pride. Sometimes, he wondered if he had ever been like that before being transformed.

Though Slade did understand their need to overcome the ones who attacked them, he also understood that they were fighting a losing battle. However, it was not his place nor his world to interfere. Once he got enough food and rest, he would depart and leave this system. There were other worlds out there for him to explore, and new challenges that awaited him. Though as a martial artist and fighter, he did have that instinct for combat, and at times wanted to pit his mettle against the women. However, he knew that it would be no contest. The women had impressive technology, but that didn't compare to the power of a Tekkaman. He didn't like beating up on the weak.

Just then, his cast his attention over to a vid-screen where the High Prime Minister of Tarak was giving his speech. Apparently, in addition to the Van-types, another huge project was nearing completion. It had been the colony ship that had brought the men to this world in the first place. However, the Ikazuchi had been rebuilt as a battle cruiser and would soon be launched to be the flagship of the new Space Fleet in just a few hours.

At that point, Slade made a decision. Why wait any longer? And why waste any of his own power, when he could just hitch a ride aboard that ship? Without finishing his meal, he got up and left the cafeteria of the factory, heading toward the small domicile that he was currently residing in. Thirty minutes later, after collecting what few belongings he had into a travel bag and slinging it over his shoulder, he began to make his way toward the military base. Thanks to the martial arts and thieving skills he had learned from his previous life under Genma Saotome, he easily made it past the guards and security and was soon inside the great battleship as it stood ready on the launching pad.

----------

After an hour of wandering through the bowels of the huge craft, he finally found a place where he could sleep until the ship was deep in space. From there he could fly out an airlock and be on his way.

The place appeared to be a large storage room, which was filled with rows and rows of the new mecha that the men had built. Though they were primitive, Slade felt a bit of a kinship with them. They were weapons of war, just as he was created to be an instrument of war. Setting his bag off to one side, he sat down and leaned against the leg of one of the huge machines. Folding his arms over his chest he soon drifted off to sleep.

----------

As the Ikazuchi was being prepped for launch, other individuals were hard at work. Out near the orbit of Mejale, a group of space pirates were preparing for the biggest score of their careers. Their target... the Ikazuchi.

Now the stage was set with one factor that pirates had not counted on. The last Tekkaman in the universe was snoozing aboard their intended prey.

End of Prologue

Author's notes

Well, that's it for the prologue. I know that it was long but I had to fill out some gaps and such. As one may have guessed, there is no Hibiki Tokai and Ranma as Slade, will be making quite an impact as this new series commences.

For those of you who are wondering, yes Ranma is acting OOC, but he has been transformed and only a few of his traits will emerge from time to time, making some interesting character interactions. Also keep in mind that without Genma's influence or Akane, Ranma will be quite different from the one we all know.

As for what had happened to the Nerima Wrecking Crew, well... no Ranma. That meant that things that would have happened never did and disasters that could have been prevented were not. End of discussion.

After watching the entire Vandread Series and also Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Blade II, I decided to make a few changes, such as the title. I'll be using the Tekkaman Blade references, except for the name Slade, (which I like better than D-Boy, though you may expect that name to pop up). As for the storyline, this fanfic will mostly follow the Vandread series, with a few key changes. I won't be retelling Vandread word for word, and there will be a few surprises that many of my readers won't be expecting. That's what fanfics are all about, right?

(1) I couldn't resist this quip after reading Shade's Private Bet #10