Private Bet #10 Chapter II: Home is Where the Headaches Are.
by Shade

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and affiliates are the
property of Rumiko Takahashi, Rifts and
Phase World are owned by Palladium. Other
references belong to their respective owners.

part 2a: Warped Reflections and a Kink in the Introspection

A nagging feeling was bothering Rowan. It was telling him that
something had happened earlier that had the potential for a lot
of trouble.

He pulled out a VCR remote and hit the rewind button.(1)

His hunch was confirmed.

"This...is Bad."

Shadow and the Guardian exchanged looks, this was coming from
someone who thought having every molecule in your body explode
at the speed of light would be an interesting experience.

Time to start worrying.

Rowan hit the rewind button again.

A frown appeared as he watched
the event play out again on the
crystal clear water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Rifts Earth, Egypt-
-One Year After Ranma's Transformation

Ranma silently berated himself, he could now swear fluently
in over twenty six different languages and right now he felt
that he deserved each and every last one of them.

He should never have let Katrina go scout ahead without him.
Once he'd heard blaster fire he'd come running but was too late,
her abductors had already carried her off. Probably the same
people who had infected her with that weird bio-weapon his
med-scanner had picked up in her bloodstream.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranma had run into the amnesiac Ley Line Walker earlier during the
Gathering of Heroes, the two of them had been assigned to the
same task force shortly thereafter. Their group was going after
the demonic entity Pestilence, hoping to stop it before it
could join War, Famine, and Death. If they failed, all life on this
planet would die when the demons remerged with each other into
the Armageddon Beast.

 So far they had been successfully trailing the monster,
 following its path of desolation and death.
Every plant within five miles had been devoured down
to the roots by voracious insects. Disease and starvation
killed those unfortunate souls who were not immediately
consumed by the ravenous billions of locusts, flies, ants,
and termites that served the Demon..

None of those who had seen the atrocities commited had reacted
more strongly the Ranma and Katrina Sun. Both swore to avenge
the fallen people, human and D-Bee(2) alike. From their shared
sense of justice the beginnings of a deep mututal respect were formed.
In Katrina Ranma had found the big sister he'd never had, her distress
over her lack of memory also brought out his protective side.

Katrina on the other hand initially considered Ranma a brash
and foolhardy boy, her assessment quickly
changed after seeing him in combat for the first time.

After seeing Ranma take out a entire squad of Phoenix Empire
power armors by himself, she found herself forced to consider
that she might be wrong.

A warm shoulder to cry on during the nights that her
gap-ridden memory tormented her completed her change in her attitude toward

him. Despite his tendancy to somehow always know the wrong thing to say,
 Katrina found herself warming up to the kind and sincere heart behind
Ranma's rough edges. Her attempts to teach him some manners had won
laughs from both of them as well as their comrades. No matter how
hard Ranma tried he could never last more then an hour at most before
sticking his foot in his mouth.
~~~~~~~~~

He'd lost many friends before.

{Not this time! I'm not losing another one.
 Either I bring her back to the camp safe and sound.......}

Ranma's eys narrowed in determination.

{....Or I'll die trying!!}
~~~~~~~~

Sneaking into the pyramid had been the hard part.
Tracking the kidnappers had been relatively easy, it helped when
you could move faster then any vehicle on the planet.

The outer perimeter was bristling with alarms and sentries,
both magical and technological in nature. He'd been forced
to crawl through the sand to avoid the nearly invisible beams he
knew were scanning for any sign of moment. An unlucky fox
had shown that the beams also served a more sinister purpose.

The desiccated husk of what had once been living flesh rattled
eerily as the harsh desert wind swept through it. It sounded like
the wail of a soul being devoured alive.

 Ranma was once again grateful that he was no longer
 just a normal human, otherwise he'd never have been
able to pull it off.

Once he'd gone down far enough Ranma had just kept going
straight until he hit the foundation of the pyramid. A carefully
aimed Cosmic Blast later and he was inside.

The place reeked of evil.

Ranma gagged silently, it was as if the very stones
were oozing corruption. When this was over he was going
to take a long bath and do his best to scrub away this place's
vileness from his skin. Ranma hoped he could find Kat soon,
he didn't want to stay in this foul darkness a moment longer
then he had to.

Quickly he inspected the tomblike interior,
 it seemed deserted and was oddly quiet.

Too quiet.

{Where are the defenses?}

A hiss of escaping air reached his ears.

Ranma instinctively leapt up, trusting his
finely honed danger sense.

{Damn, I should know better then to ask something like that!}

From his clutchhold on the ceiling Ranma looked down.

{Armor piercing darts. Ouch. Probably poisoned too. Not
something I want to experience first hand.}

Cautiously Ranma descended back to the floor, being sure
to avoid the area the darts had sprung from. No telling where
the trigger was, best to just leave it alone and hope nobody
would notice until later.

No other traps greeted him but Ranma still kept a careful eye out
for any more unpleasant surprises as he snuck down the corrider.
~~~~~~~~~~

Something was wrong here.

He was being played for a sucker.

Ranma hated that. He really, really
disliked being led around by the nose.

It was simply too easy....
He should have run into someone else by now!
This pyramid wasn’t *that* big.

Even with a fully charged HI-80 laser rifle in hand
Saotome felt uneasy.

It was as if an unseen malevolent presence was watching his
every move and laughing at him.

A moment later he entered the main room in the heart of the pyramid.

The darkness was suddenly obliterated by the flash
of light that lit the room. Ranma froze, his eyes adjusting to
the sudden brightness.

The sound of a pair of hands clapping broke the dramatic silence.

"Well done, your antics to enter my base were very amusing."

Across the room from Ranma stood two dozen humanoids in
worn NGR body armor surrounding a pale bleeding Katrina. She
had not gone down without a fight. The various cuts and laser burns
looked extremely painful. Despite her injuries a pained smile
crossed her face at the sight of Ranma.

"You idiot. Now we're both in trouble."

Ranma shrugged.

"I'm always in trouble. One more time won't hurt."

Although the guards were now leveling a variety of assorted
black market weapons at him Ranma was more concerned
about the Thing that seemed to be in charge of them.

He radiated an aura of black power, many times stronger
then anything Ranma had ever faced before. The being was
similar to a man, except it was about four feet taller and had
a jackel's head. His presence practically screamed Evil
Incarnate. Ranma hated him on sight.

{Might as well try the direct approach}

"Release her, now." Ranma leveled his rifle at the Boss Villain.

A number of red targeting lasers instantly appeared on Ranma's forehead.

Ranma wasn't worried much, they were using lasers, particle beams
and a few ion rifles. No sweat, even the plasma mini-missile launcher
wasn't anything to get worked up over. Unfortunately Katrina wasn't
as durable as he was, as long as she was hostage he didn't dare risk
a firefight. there was too much of a chance of a stray shot hitting her.
Right now she looked like the next hit she took would be her last.

"You have the nerve to challenge the almighty Set on his own ground?!
I must admit that you have courage warrior, though you lack wits. Only
fools and the mad would dare to point a weapon at me when the merest
word to my servants would see you blown to pieces."

"Not before I put a nice pot hole in that overinflated poodle head of yours

jerk."

Set inhaled sharply, nearly giving the order to fire in a sudden rush of
anger that filled him at this human's words. The evil God calmed quickly
though, there was a power within this boy, a power that would soon be his
to
control with the proper...inducement. A proper vengence for those insults
could wait...for now.

He gestured to his guards, at his command the troops all aimed their
weapons at Katrina.

{Shit!}

He was good but he wasn't that good. He'd get eight, maybe
ten of them if he was lucky. That still left over a dozen guns
aimed at Kat, all it would take was one shot. A Cosmic Blast
would clear them all out but he couldn't use one without hitting
Katrina

Bluff raised and called.

Reluctantly Ranma lowered the muzzle of his weapon.

Set smiled, he so enjoyed tormenting these so-called heroes.
They were so pathetic with their concern for others, a fatal
weakness that he could so easily exploit. The Light's compassion
would always be its undoing to the forces of Darkness.

"Violence will avail you nothing here, although a mutual
agreement might.....persuade me to spare your friend's life."

"What do you want?"

He was still a little innocent but even Ranma wasn't that naive.
He also knew that Set was lying through his teeth
and would doublecross him as soon as the God
got what he wanted. But Ranma didn't have any other alternatives.

The Villain pointed to an area by Ranma's right side where
a previously unnoticed stone table sat. Upon its scarred features
rested a innocent looking vial of sparkly golden liquid.

"I promise you that it's not poisonous.
All you have to do is drink it and she's all yours."

Set smiled, what he didn't mention was that the potion
was supposed to change the imbiber into the exact
opposite of what they were as well as making the person
a utterly loyal slave to him. How thoughtful of Thoth to
create such a valuable prize for him to steal.

Ranma's gaze hardened. He smelled a rat here.

"How do I know you'll keep your word?"

"I am a God, there is no greater guarantee than my word."

{Yeah right!}

Ranma picked up the bottle and swirled it around a little,
 he couldn't identify any of the liquid's ingredients. It was
almost syrupy in texture, but oddly enough there was no
sediment at the bottom of the vial. Not a good sign, this was
no natural fluid.

He popped the cover and sniffed it.

There was minty lime scent wafting up from it.
No clues here as to what it was, but at least he
knew that it wasn’t any poison or potion he’d
encountered before either.

Ranma noticed that Set was watching him closely now.

{Why's he so interested in getting me to drink this?}

"Well? Are you going to drink or must my minions spill more
of this fair maiden's blood?"

The lackies raised their weapons a little higher.

"Alright already! I'll do it."

{Oh well. Bottoms up!}

Ranma closed his eyes tightly and gulped the potion down.
He braced himself for whatever effects the potion would have.

{....Kinda tastes like fresh butter. It's not bad though.....}

Strange, he didn't really feel any different, just a weird tingling
sensation all over his body like a minor itch. Ranma was still
trying to figure out what the liquid was supposed to do to him
when Katrina was pushed into him all of a sudden.

"Now kill her slave!! Tear her apart!!!"

The Jackel God was exultant, his most hated foe would be
slain by her own friend's hands and she didn't even recognize him.
The sadistic irony was so delicious, he would enjoy listening to
the Goddess's screams.

Ranma blinked. Then he smirked at the baffled Set and made
the magical one finger gesture that drives anyone who sees it
into a mad frenzy. To top it off he used one of the most insulting
curses he’d learned from the locals

"Forget it you “son of a bitch who’s ancesters ate dung
and drank the leavings of water horses”."

Shock was written all over Set’s face. Then sheer rage took over.

"IMPOSSIBLE!!! You dare to mock ME??! KILL THEM BOTH!!"

Energy beams crisscrossed the room as the guards and Ranma
simultaneously opened fire. Ranma shielded Katrina with his body, the light

suit of body armor he was wearing was almost completely destroyed
within the first thirty seconds of the battle. At the same time
his HI-80 Laser Rifle roared, a dragon's blast of red fire.

The first shot cut through the stonework over Set's head, burying him in
the rubble. One, then two, then three of the guards fell back
with steaming holes in their chests. A fourth screamed as the beam
passed through its arms, severing them cleanly at the elbow.
The sixth shot decapitated his target, the headless body continuing to fire

until it finally fell to the ground. The rest of the group finally
realized their predicament and scrambled for cover, their wild shots
striking the walls and the ceiling more often then hitting Ranma.

Taking the opportunity presented he fired a few more shots in
 their general direction, more intended to keep them from firing
back then to actually hit anyone. There had been enough death
here for one day.

Clad only in the tattered remains of his clothes now, the rest of his
garments just molten scraps of plastic and metal Ranma picked up Katrina
and
dropped his gun to the floor. He pointed his free hand at the wall next to
them.

"Better shield your eyes Kat, the real fireworks are about to go off."

"What are you Ranma!?"

"If we survive this I promise to explain everything."

As soon as he saw her shut her eyes Ranma fired a Cosmic Blast at the
stone wall. The sheer brilliance of it temporarily blinded the guards that
had
the misfortune of looking in that direction. A moment later a fresh
gaping hole leading to the outside of the pyramid had been made.

Ranma grabbed his rifle from the floor along the way
out as he carried Katrina and took off  into the open blue sky.

"I believe you owe me an explanation Saotome."

"Uh...it's a long story."

"I have time."

"Well you see it all started at this place called Jusenkyo..."
~~~~~~~~~

At the temple the Dark God finally freed himself from his
stony imprisonment.

His canine eyes burned red with rage.

Set would have revenge for this outrage!

“Ranma...I WILL KILL YOU IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~

"Aiyah. What a mess."

"What was that potion anyway?"

Rowan fastforwarded to the scene where
Ranma had a talk with Thoth.

Apperently the potion had been one of his
creations and had been stolen by the Jackel God.
However it wasn't quite what Set had thought it was.

"Potion of Universal Compatibility???"

Everyone’s eyes widened.

"Uh oh......"

"You mean....?"

"Let's put it this way, it gives a whole new
meaning to inter-racial romance."

"In other words if it's female and fits........oh boy."

(To be continued)

*$*$*$*$*
(1) What did you expect? Since they don't have the
    power of a deity they have to rely on cheesy devices instead.

(2) D-Bee: Rifts slang for Dimensional Being.
    Basically a humanoid of any race from a different dimension.

*$*$*$*$*$*


2b: Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Any Worse.
~~~~~~~~

"What was with the gun though? I mean, it's not like he really needs it."

Any subject was preferable to this newest complication in the Bet
going on. Even the Bard had winced as they listened in on Thoth's
explanation to Ranma of the exact nature of the Universal Compatibility
Spell.
~~~~~~

Apparently it permanently "altered" the victim in such a way
as to allow them to consummate a relationship with a person
of the opposite gender of virtually any humanoid race by
compensating for any severe differences in size or genetics
between the two.

The Ibis God confessed that it had never been intended for a
CosmoKnight though. There was no telling what side-effects
the magic might have on Ranma's cosmically charged body.
He had to admit though it would probably be very interesting.

He even offered a handsome sum to be able to observe and
record the results. Ranma politely turned him down.
~~~~~~~~

"Hmm? Oh you mean why he didn't just start blasting his
way through like a one man army?"

"Yeah, I mean look at him. He's got the firepower,
why doesn't he use it?"

"Same reason Rowan rarely uses his powers, it's the
equivalent of painting a nice fat bullseye on your back
while waving a sign around that says `Big threat here, please kill me!'
 Not to mention that it's not just overkill, it's extreme overkill.
 And that goes against the code of conduct for a CosmoKnight."

"Code of conduct?"

The Guardian closed his eyes and quietly counted to ten.

{Must.....control.....fist...of....death.}

"He talking about the silly chivalry and honor thing."

"Oh! Why didn't you say so!?"

"Ahem, a code of honor is not a thing nor is it silly. Just because
SOME of us make it habit of fighting dirty in order to win is no
reason to insult the ones who are civilized enough to have a
sense of morals."

The Guardian glared at Shadow meaningfully.

Shadow ignored it, he knew that irked the knight more then anything else.

"I use whatever works. Too bad Ranma can't anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"The code of the CosmoKnight is more flexible
then most. Basically your standard be good and
protect the innocent package deal. However part of the
code also means keeping a low profile and at least
attempting to do things the legal way."

"And if they don't?"

"They fall. That.....would be a bad thing."

"So what about when the law doesn't work?"

"When that happens, then they pull out the heavy firepower,
start kicking ass and taking names."(1)
~~~~~~~~~~~
-Juesenkyo

"Ah sir, you are most unlucky."

The guide had heard a scream and
arrived just in time to see a charred
boy wearing a bandanna leap into
one of the cursed springs.Not just any
normal cursed spring either, this particular
spring had a very ancient legend surrounding it.

Only the truly stupid people of the land, those who
blamed their misfortunes on others and relied on violence
to solve their problems ever fell into this spring.
The spring of drowned.....

"Hee Haw!!!" [Translation: “Ranma, this is all your fault!!!”]

...Jackass.(2)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-A Few Provinces Over

Genma was fleeing for his life.

If the Amazons caught him then the only
future he had was as a rug by the fireplace.

All he'd done was eaten one lousy feast!
Was that any reason to go on the warpath?!

Genma would have cursed his lousy luck
but he needed the all the air he had for running.

It was definitely time to leave China.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure you didn't forget anything sir?"

"Yeah, I've got everything all packed up to go.
 You worry too much Lo Shun, it's not good for you."

"Sorry Captain."

He hesitated then gave her a quick hug.

"It's okay, I'm going to miss your fussing over me."

"Captain!"

"My, such an interesting shade of red you're turning."

Hefting his two bags Ranma Saotome walked out
to the hanger, whistling a cheerful little ditty. Behind him
a very flustered Amazon tried to regain her composure.
~~~~~~~~~

"Good luck, Ranma." Tania's normally cheerful voice was subdued,
the loss of the finest man any of them had ever met was hitting her
the hardest out of the crew.

With longing eyes and aching hearts they watched on the viewscreens
as their former commander's Avenger Power Armor descended
toward the world below.....
~~~~~~~~~

It was an empty planet, mostly dry hot desert. Although the
atmosphere was just barely within the minimal life sustaining range
its lack of any type of natural resources and its distance from any
easily reachable population center had insured that the planet
remained uninhabited, it was too far from the normal trade routes
for even pirates to use as a base. If there was a bright center to
the universe this was probably the planet furthest from it.

"Okay, I'm here. Now what?"

Seeing no immediate answer forthcoming,
Ranma settled down to wait.
~~~~~~~~~~~

He waited for an hour.

Cosmoknights were supposed to be invulnerable
to extreme temperature changes.

He was roasting.

"Damn, it's hot."
~~~~~~~~

Another three hours had passed.

He'd had to dismiss his Avenger back
into its dimensional pocket to prevent the
generators from overheating. Still no sign.

Patience was a warrior's virtue.

Ranma was rapidly reaching the limit of his.

This was getting ridiculous.

"Hey! I'm HERE!! Make with
the Bippity Boppety Boo already!!!"

Silence answered him.

"Damn it! I wish something would happen!!"

Ranma's eyes widened as soon as the words
left his mouth, he'd done it again.

You'd think after all this time he would
know better then to say something like that.
When would he ever learn?

The ground beneath him collapsed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"

A moment after he passed through the underground
Rift it closed again with what suspiciously sounded
like a giant burp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Back at Juesenkyo

A rip opened in the fabric of space and time once more. A truly alien
mosaic of magic and quantom level energy that deposited several tons
of sand and greyish dirt onto one of the springs, filling it completely.
Several seconds later a young man fell onto the small hill that had formed.

Right after that a backpack and good-sized suitcase crashed into the
young man's noggin.

Ranma was back.

His arrival didn't go unnoticed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washu's curiosity was piqued. Her sensors had just picked up a
large dimensional anomaly that had lasted exactly 2.45 minutes.
According to the data, something had come through it.

 A familiar gleam filled her eye.

This was very interesting.......
~~~~~~~~~~~

Sailor Pluto spit out her tea in surprise as she sensed the
surge of power that marked the Rift's presence. And it
originated from the same general region where the recent
disturbance in the Earth’s leylines had come from.

Something had come to Earth.
Something powerful. Something dangerous.

She needed to find the Outer Senshi immediately.

Luna and Artemis were already meeting with the Inner Senshi.
~~~~~~~~~

The surge of power passed a certain temple.
Belldandy, Urd and Skuld all blinked in surprise.
Something was up, a call to the Almighty might be in order.

Mara was already on the phone with her superiors.
~~~~~~~~~~

Ranma dusted himself off, as landings went it hadn't been too bad.

He inhaled deeply.

He was back home. Well not really, looked like he was right back
where had started from in China. But this was HIS Earth, no monsters
or demons or killer aliens and having to save the world every couple of
days.

At last, Ranma had finally gotten back to a normal world, the weirdness
that had been dominating his life for the past four years was finally over.

If he'd been able to see into the future Ranma might not have
been so relieved.

But for now....Life was Good.

Other forces were already in motion......

(To be continued)
~~~~~~~~~

(1) This is argueably the most fun part about being
      a Cosmoknight.

(2) Inspired by Peter Suzuki's fic "Spring of Drowned Goblin"
      and Ukyo's classic line from the Anime.

The Code of the CosmoKnight(Condensed version):

  Defend the just and the good.
 Defend the weak and innocent.
 Defend nature.
 Protect the Cosmic Forge.
 Obey the law unless it's evil.
 Fight Evil.
 Never betray or abandon a friend or comrade.
 Always keep your word.
 Never give in to Evil.
 Show mercy to those who deserve it.
 Show respect where it is due.
 Never taunt those weaker then you.
 Die with Honor.

*$*$*$*$*$*

Private Bet #10 Chapter II

2c:Yet again....Here's Ranma.

<"Excuse I. Looks for overweight bear is bald fool. You sight?">

Ranma had picked up a few extra languages in
his stay in Phase World, Trade Language had enough
Chinese in it for him to be able to speak a little of it.
It was still pretty horrible though, English had been more
common and he'd concentrated more on learning that in
order to communicate with most of the people he'd encountered.

The fact that the poeple he was asking were looking at him
like he was a few bricks shy of a load wasn't very encouraging.
Ranma knew his father had come this way, the tracks were faded
but hadn't disappeared entirely. There couldn’t be that many runaway
grizzlies in this part of China.

When asked the guide had stunned Ranma by telling him that
only two weeks had passed since his disappearance in this world.
 In fact when Ranma first walked into the Guide's hut the poor man thought
he
was a ghost. It had taken Ranma awhile to convince him that he was not.
A small fee later and Ranma was pointed in the direction his father turned
grizzly had last been heading.

A few hours later Ranma had found himself
at the outskirts of a quaint little village. He noticed
quite a few weapons being carried around, almost everyone
here was armed with at least one sharp or blunt hand to hand weapon.
Some of them was familar with, others he had heard about and some
of the weapons looked so strange that he couldn't even begin to
guess how they were used unless he were to actually see them in combat.

He figured that this was as good a place as any to ask about his father.
(1)

His efforts seemed to be in vain though, the men he
had been trying to question had all just looked at him
strangely before going on their way. All of the women
seemed to be gathered around some kind of ring, watching
a martial arts match taking place on a log in the middle of it.

Curious, he walked towards it. Along the way he caught
snippets of the conversations the women were having.

<"...terrible......having to have....rematch...">

<"....Tournament.....interrupted..">

<".....animal.......ruining the...">

<"...eating sacred.....prize feast.....">

<"...Damn....find it....make a rug....">

<"....we ever catch it.....use it as main course....">

<"...Stupid.....bear...">

The last one caught his attention, surely it couldn’t
just be a coincidence. So caught up in the prospect of
finding his father, Ranma completely missed the looks
directed his way.

He tried to get closer, but a gnarled staff being thrust in front
of him stopped Ranma in his tracks. Despite having less then
a split second of warning two of his fingers automatically
intercepted the blow before it could strike him in the chest.

Ranma caught it less then two inches from his body.

Cologne was impressed.

She'd picked him out almost from the moment
he set foot in the village. Despite the worn
grey cloak that hid most of this stranger's body
she could see his skill in the way he moved.
Ranma's step was light and sure, like a large
confident cat that knew he could
handle whatever was thrown at him.(2)

His power was harder to make out, it was as if something
was obscuring his aura. Still, she sensed a strength within
this boy. In three thousand years of Chinese Amazon history
never had such a gifted warrior appeared. If his looks were
as good as his reflexes she just might have found a suitable
husband for her great granddaughter.

Only one way to find out.

Cologne's eyes twinkled as she retracted her staff,
then attacked repeatedly with it in a blur of motion.

<"Hey!"> Ranma yelled as the strange old shrunken
woman attacked again with her stick.

His right hand seemed to vanish as it moved to parry
the swift assault. The seconds stretched into minutes
as the two fought a duel that was almost too fast
for the naked eye to see. Ranma's attention was so focused
on keeping the staff away from him that he failed to notice
that their display was picking up an audience.

At first only a few Amazons noticed, but word quickly spread
of this stranger male sparring with Cologne and soon the
entire gathering was watching. This was impossible! A mere
male was defending himself successfully against a Village Elder?!

Eventually a lucky blow slipped through Ranma's defense.

*Slash* *Rip*

Ranma's cloak fell to the ground, cut cleanly in half.

The audience gasped in surprise, which quickly turned
to delight as they got their first good look at the revealed
pigtailed young man.

{Damn it! I knew I should have used both hands!}

"What'd you do that for?!!" Was she crazy?!

"Well, well, you are a looker.You gave me quite
a workout there sonny boy, the best I've had in a hundred years."

"Why you....wait a minute! You can speak Japanese?
Why'd you attack me?! I haven't done anything wrong!"

<"Shampoo, what do you think of him?">

<"What do you mean Great grandmother?">

<"The village needs strong warriors, grandaughter.
This one is as strong as they come, we'd be fools
to just let him get away.">

"Now wait just a minute! I'm here looking for a bear
that's my father....err...my father who's a bear....umm...
Pop the bear....damn....this sounds ridiculous even to me."

Those who could understand Japanese helpfully translated
for the rest. The mood of the crowd soured. They remembered
the bear alright, and their memories were not fond ones.

"That was your bear, the one that ruined the Amazon Tournament?"
Cologne was secretly delighted, it looked like this would be easier
then she had first thought.

"Uh, I guess...maybe." It sounded like something Pop would do.

<"So YOU are the one responsible for ruining my moment of triumph!!">

Ranma guessed from the enraged look on the girl’s
face that that had been the wrong thing to say.

<"Hiyah!! I will make you pay stranger male!!!">

"Wait!! Hold on!!"

{Aw what's the use.....she isn't listening to a word I'm saying.}

Ranma stepped back to avoid a bonbori to the stomach, tilted
his head to the side as a crescent kick spun past and leaped to
avoid a hit to a very sensitive place that Ranma was quite found
of and had no intention of risking. Even if she couldn't actually
hurt him he wasn't taking any chances. The first lesson that had
been constantly drilled into his head was that stupidity got you killed.

Or worse....

Ranma was still among the living and had every intention
of staying that way.

Shampoo's attacks were driving him back, Ranma was forced to
give ground in order to avoid her reckless thrusts and swings since he
still refused to fight back. He did NOT hit girls. Women serving in
combat was one thing, but he drew the line at actually hurting them.
He'd learned more pleasant ways to deal with girls after his hide,
although he'd found out that that method also had its drawbacks.(3)

The pigtailed boy leapt backwards up to the challenge log,
trying to find a way out of this dilemma. He knew
he could outlast her, already he could see sweat
starting to form on her brow as her frantic pace
of attack finally started catching up to her.

He thought she really looked cute like that.
There was just something about her seeming vulnerability,
he knew she wasn't even close to his league and he could
see that she was starting to realize the same thing. It made
him want to just give her a big hug and tell her that everything
would be all right.

Sentiment made Ranma sloppy, he was snapped back to reality by a
round mace nearly impacting into his face. Years of constant death
threats had sharpened Ranma's reflexes though, he bent back with
millimeters to spare as he instinctively used the countermove for that
type of attack.

The power behind the bonbori strike was such that Shampoo found herself
badly overextended and off balance as she saw the stranger male
finally take the offense for the first time. As soon as Ranma realized
what he was doing he he pulled back, trying to stop his blow from
connecting.

The Amazon had no way of knowing this
though as she attempted to simultaneously
twist to avoid the kick and hop back onto a better spot.

She landed on a part of the log made slippery by
the sweat from the previous fighters who had been
using it during the tournament.

Shampoo's foot slipped.....
~~~~~~~~

Shampoo's eyes squeezed shut as she braced herself,
she didn't have time to land properly.

This was going to hurt.

Strong hands caught her as she fell. Instead of the
expected painful impact into the hard ground Shampoo
found herself being held by something warmer and very firm.
Her eyes slowly peeked open to see her savior.

A concerned Ranma cradled her in his arms, his worried
visage was very close to hers.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I should have
stopped this sooner."

Ranma started worrying when all she did was stare into his eyes.
Had he been too rough catching her? Was she mad at him?
Why wasn't she saying anything?

Yelling he could deal with, but this uncomfortable silence
was driving him nuts. Ranma berated himself, dummy, dummy, dummy......

{Shampoo never see such deep shade of blue before.....}

Twin spots of red formed on her cheeks.
~~~~~~~~~~

"Ranma, Ranma, Ranma. That knight in shining armor routine is
the main reason why you're always getting into trouble. You really
should know better by now."

Shadow shook his head sadly, some people just never learn.

"He can not still be THAT naive about women can he?!?!?!"

Zora shrugged at the Bard.

"Old habits die hard."
~~~~~~~~~

~The scene turned all hazy as romantic violin music
started to play in the background and cherry blossoms
started to drift down. The handsome noble stranger swept
up Shampoo for a glorious kiss that would outshine the sun....~

"Hello?" Ranma waved a hand in front of the daydreaming girl.

Although he'd let her go she still hadn't said a thing, now he was
 glad to see that she at least seemed to be smiling now.
The reason behind her now goofy grin totally escaped him.
He figured it must be a girl thing and left it at that.

"I'll just be on my way now, sorry about this."

{Gotta remember to have a chat with old Pops. I'm through
putting up with him getting me stuck in his messes.}

"Hold it! Do you really think you can just walk away after defeating
Shampoo?"

"Uh...yeah. I didn't actually beat her, she just tripped by accident."

"I'm afraid we just can't let someone like you go,
your destiny lies here Son in law."

"And how are you planning on stopping me?" Ranma reached down for the bag
he
had dropped when he dived to catch Shampoo. There was some stuff in there
that he figured he would need sooner or later, most of it was irreplaceable

unless he ever went back to Phase World. That was probably not
going to happen for a long time, if ever.

A sudden sinking feeling made him look back up.

{I have got to learn to stop putting my foot in my mouth one of these
days.}

A horde of young unmarried Amazons charged in on him from all sides, the
afternoon sun glinting off their unsheathed weapons.

Cologne wasn't the only one to figure out that this
young man would be an excellent catch for whoever caught him.
And since Shampoo hadn’t given him the Kiss of Marriage yet
that meant he was still fair game.

<"HIYAH!!!">

{Eep!}

"YAAAAHHH!!! Saotome Anything Goes School
of Martial Arts Final Attack Revised!!! Strike Fast and Run Faster!!!"

Ranma then proceeded to do so.
~~~~~~~~~
-Much later

Around midnight the last girl chasing after Ranma
collapsed from sheer exhaustion. He had left
behind him twenty Amazons knocked out by pressure
points and the rest tired and panting on the road as he'd
proceed to sprint away and kept on running without stopping once.

This incredible display of stamina only increased their determination.
If he could last that long at running, who knew how long he could
last at other physical activities?

They couldn't wait to find out.

Ranma's escape was only a temporary setback. The important thing
was that he had defeated women of the Amazon tribe. Now all they
had to do was catch him and bring him back.

How hard could it be?
~~~~~~~~~~
-Several miles away

Ranma got a familar feeling of forboding. He nervously looked
around, normally that feeling meant that his women troubles
were about to make an appearence. But then he realized that the
girls after him were in several other dimensions, Ranma relaxed.
It wasn't like they could just show up one day to visit him right?

Thunder rumbled ominously from the heavens above.(4)
~~~~~~~~~
-One week later, Tendo Dojo

Soun Tendo read the postcard that had come in the mail.

Right after he finished he burst out into tears.

"Oh the tragedy!".

"What is it father?" Kasumi poked her head out from the kitchen.

"Yes daddy, please explain why you're making us the
embarrassment of the neighborhood."

Nabiki gave her father a stern look, she was trying to
watch the television without any interruptions.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

A concerned Akane came rushing in from the Dojo, still in
her sweaty practice gi.

"*Sob*...Sit down girls, I have something to tell you..."
~~~~~~~
-Meanwhile

People screamed in stark terror as a giant eating machine
tromped down the street. Grizzly Bears were unheard of
in Japan and known mostly by reputation. It was a very
undeserved reputation too, the bears tended to maul
more victims then they killed.

Needless to say, Genma quickly had a path
cleared in front of him.

He was almost there.....
~~~~~~

"FIANCEE?!"

"Yes, the son of a good friend of mine. A sacred pledge was made
to one day have our children marry in order to join our two schools
together
and carry on the Dojo."

"Wait a minute! Don't we get a say in this?"

"Akane's right, father. We don't even know his name yet."

"His name was Ranma Saotome and during a
training accident he DROWNED!!!*BOOHOO*
*CRY*SNIFFLE* WAAAAAHHHH!!!!"

Tendo Waterworks; Do not pass go,
do not collect 2000 yen. Very tragic story.

"Oh my. That's terrible."

{How tragic to be cut down in the prime of life.} Kasumi made a
note to visit the local temple later and pray for the poor soul.

"Whew! At least that nonsense is over then."

For a moment Akane had been worried, the last thing she
needed was having to deal with another pervert after her.
She felt a little bad, but since she had never met the jerk
it wasn't really any of her business. She had her own
problems to worry about.

"I know you hate boys sis, but that's harsh even for you."

Nabiki was digusted with her younger sister, someone really needed
to show the spoiled brat that she was not the center of the universe.
Okay, so maybe she was just a mite jealous of all the attention that
Akane attracted where as she hadn't even had so much as a single
guy ever ask her out yet. Could you blame her? And now here was
the news that their potential fiancee had just passed away and Akane
was relieved!?!

{I wish for once that there was a guy that was NOT interested
in my violent maniac of a sister.}

A stray breeze blew in, it sounded disturbingly like elfish laughter......

....and smelled like a wet fur rug.
~~~~~~~~

Ranma was almost absolutely, positively, totally sure
that he was going to kill his father when he found him.

The nerve of that...that...

Ranma used a word that referred to a six appendaged
fifth dimensional being committing an obscene and
anatomically impossible act on itself. The term was so
offensive that it was a declaration of war in twelve star
systems and the equivalent of a challenge to a fight to
the death in a hundred more. It didn't even come close
to describing Ranma's current feelings toward Pop but
it was the best he could do.

What kind of father used his son as collateral?! It was something
he expected back in Rifts, not here!! It had been almost too
easy to pick Genma's trail, all he had to do was look for the places
the old fart had ripped off. Once he said his name was Ranma Saotome
if he was immediately besieged by shopkeepers and restaurant owners
he knew that he was going in the right direction. Of course Ranma also had
to flee the town immediately, he didn't even want to know the
purpose Genma had in mind for him when he sold him. (5)
Nor did he want to know.

It hadn't taken him long to find that his father had fled China.

No sense in wasting money on a plane ticket, he figured.

Soon after that a human-sized shape was flying toward Japan
several times faster then the speed of sound.
~~~~~~~~~~~
-Tendo Residence

"Auuugh!!!" Soun screamed in panic,
 Nabiki decided to join him for once.

"It's a bear!!" Kasumi wondered how she
was going to clean up after this walking hair shedder..

"I'll kill it!!" Akane hefted the table.

"Growf!!" The grizzly waved its paws in negation.

It produced a wooden sign.

[Hi! Need hot water please.]

"It can communicate?" Akane dropped the table in surprise.

"Hold on a minute Mr.Bear. I'll get the water."
Kasumi went into the kitchen, it was a guest after all.

"What would a grizzly bear need hot water for?"
Nabiki hated being behind in information, it was
harder to make a profit off the situation when
you didn't know everything going on.

[It's a long story.]
~~~~~~~~~
-Not too far away

Ranma started walking, after a couple of bottles
of sake Genma had always used to go on about
his good friend Soun and the Tendo Dojo.
That was his best bet of finding him, according
to the streetmap he'd gotten it wasn't too far away.
~~~~~~~~~~
-One round of introductions later

"Oh Genma, how did such a terible
misfortune befall you?" Soun looked like
he was on the verge of tears....again

"Alas Soun, My poor boy was too weak for the training.
In our match I accidently kicked him into one of the springs
with my superior skill."

*Knock**Knock*

"I'll get it." Kasumi, always the polite
hostess went to see who was at the front door.

"Yes, who is...." The rest of her sentence died a
swift death as Kasumi got her first good look at
the person who had been knocking.

Her first thought was that this young man had just
stepped off the cover of one of those torrid passion
filled romance novels that she secretly hid among the
books she borrowed from Docter Tofu. His clothes and
light tan gave his already handsome features an exotic cast
that reminded her of all things of a dashing pirate. He only
appeared slightly older then her but Ranma had an experienced
look that made him seem even more mature then he actually was.

"Hi. I'm sorry to bother you but have
you seen a large grizzly around here?"

Ranma smiled.

*Doki**Doki* Kasumi could feel her heart racing,
Those blue eyes were so deep, she felt like she
was drowning in them.

And that accent just made him sound so manly.....(6)

Vaguely Kasumi realized that the handsome
young man had asked her something.

Her hand pointed inside.

Ranma thanked her and walked past her.

A few moments later Kasumi realized that she
was staring out at empty space and went in after him.

"....and so Tendo, despite my heroic efforts to save him
Ranma slid to the bottom of the spring. When I surfaced
after diving in I found myself within this horrible cursed form.
Oh the suffering a true martial artist must undergo!!  My poor
foolish son, oh why didn't you listen to me when I told you not to
go to Jusenkyo!!!"

"Put a sock in it Pop, you're a horrible liar."

"Wha...Who are you?"

"Father, we have a visitor."

"I can see that Kasumi, young man who are you?!"

"Oh, I almost forgot. I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."

(To be continued)
~~~~~~~

(1) After living in a dimension where heavy weapons are
     pretty much required dress items Ranma tends to
     think of any place where you don't carry blasters
     as peaceful.

(2) Did I mention Ranma has gotten MUCH better
     as a Martial Artist? And that he's finally learned the
     Art of being subtle, sorta?

(3) Anything Goes School of Marital Arts.
 If I need to spell it out for you then you're too young to be reading
this.

(4) Not a good sign. But you didn’t need me to tell you that.

(5) Something he would regret later.

(6) Uh oh.....

*$*$*$*$*$*

2d: Now the fun begins.....

"WHAT?!" Four voices rang out.

"Oh my." Correction, make that five.

For some reason Kasumi wasn’t as adverse
to the idea as might have been expected by
those who knew her.

Genma looked at him, this couldn't be his son....could it?
This guy looked like he could tear Genma's bear form
apart without even trying. There was a faint resemblance
to his boy, but this man looked older and possessed a
confidence that he had never ever seen in his son before.

Then he looked into his eyes. Genma froze like a mouse
staring up at a falcon diving toward him for the kill.

This was Ranma, there was no doubt about it.
An older, harder and much more dangerous
Ranma but it was him, the eyes never lied.
There was no disguising the wild spirit burning
within them, with terrifying certainty he knew that
whatever trials his son had gone through had only
made him stronger and that Genma no longer had
any hold over him. Fast on the heels of that realization
was the accompanying denial, he'd used the boy before
and he could do it again. After all he was Ranma's father,
 the boy had still respected that even after he no longer
respected Genma as an individual. He owned his insolent
son, a few weeks couldn't have broken his control so easily.

Somehow that line of reasoning wasn't
as reassuring to him as it should have been.

Nabiki licked her suddenly dry lips, the room was
feeling rather warm all of a sudden. This wasn't at all
what she had expected. A dumb jock this was not,
she was looking at some prime grade A beef here.
A flash of silver from his hand caught her eye.

Well, if he could afford a trinket like that he
wasn't exactly starving, she concluded.

Suddenly this engagement business
didn't seem so bad after all. Worse case
scenerio; she’d make some money off of
him, Best case: she’d have a well off husband
that wasn’t hard to look at. A win-win situation,
just the way she liked it.

Akane snorted rudely, he was a guy even if he
was kind of attractive. She'd had handsome guys
after her too and she knew they were all perverted
pond scum. Kuno was handsome and look
at how he behaved! This one was the same as the rest of
them she decided. Only Doctor Tofu was different from
the rest of the male gender. She HATED boys!!!

Although Akane was beginning to get a bit irritated that
he hadn't seemed to even notice her yet. If there was one
thing that Akane hated even more then boys it was
not being the center of attention. She was the most popular
girl in school after all, why else would all those stupid
boys be chasing her?

Soun was confused. So he did what came naturally to him.
Take the first emotion that comes along and run with it.

"I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE ALIVE SON!!!"

The Soun Tendo Glomp(tm), distant cousin
to the Amazon Glomp(tm), was locked on target and engaged.

"Huh?" Ranma moved to the side to avoid being crushed by what
appeared to be a hysterical water fountain. Soun found himself
clutching only air.

"Is he always like this?" Ranma asked.

"Not all of the time." Oh dear, she hoped he
would forgive Father's rude behavior. Kasumi wondered if
Ranma would think her too forward if she asked him out now.

To everyone else it appeared as if he had
just vanished and then reappeared at Kasumi's side.

There was a synchonized blink.

That finally snapped them out of their shock.

"You...YOU PERVERT!!"

How dare he try to take advantage of her sister like that!
Akane fumed, her mind lynching the mild sense of
disappointment that she had unexpectedly felt.

Ranma ignored her, his attention focusing on Genma now
that the immediate threat had been avoided. He did not
look happy, in fact the chilling glare he was shooting at
the overweight buffoon made a Siberian blizzard look
downright cozy.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to trouble you but is there someplace
that I can have a little *talk* with my father in private? There
are some things that need to be resolved before we can
finish introductions. "

"Well, the dojo's available...." Maybe she could ask him
after dinner, Kasumi drifted off a little as her long repressed
imagination and hormones started to explore that line of thought.
A harmless little daydream couldn’t hurt anyone and who
knew, it might not be just a fantasy for long.

"Thanks! C'mon Pop." He grabbed his old man by the ear
and dragged him out of the room despite Genma's protests.

"Ow! Hey leggo!! This no way to
treat your fath....Owowowow!!!"

"Hey!! I'm talking to you!!! Don't you dare turn your back to me!!!"

Akane's temper grew as her words had absolutely no
effect on this boy. How dare he act like she wasn't even here!

Nabiki's eyebrows raised.

{So the little princess finally meets a guy who won't
bow and scrape toward her...Interesting.
This fiancee is looking better by the minute. I wonder
what other goodies he's hiding.}

If there was one thing that motivated Nabiki more then money it was
her curiosity.Nothing piqued her interest faster then a mystery,
knowledge meant power and power meant control. Nabiki had been
seeking control ever since her mother had passed away, the drive for
answers and the order they provided had not dimmed through the years.

A small feline smile crossed her lips.
~~~~~~~~

In the Tendo Dojo a confrontation was taking place.

A flick of Ranma's wrist sent Genma sprawling onto
the hard wooden floor. Then he dropped his suitcase
and backpack on the worn boards. Ranma wanted to
have as much maneuverability as possible when he had
it out with his Pop, even though it had been years since
he'd last seen Genma he remembered all too well how
sneaky the old man could be, especially when trying
to escape responsibility for his behavior.

Ranma waited a few moments for his father to pull
himself together, taking the time to study Genma
through eyes hardened by knowledge and experience
and compare it to what he remembered.

{Funny, I thought he was taller then that.}

His last memories had been of a man who had been
an imposing master of the martial arts to be heeded, if not respected.
Despite his contempt for Genma as a parent Ranma still had
acknowledged the old man's skill as a fighter, so seeing him
now was a shock, Especially considering he'd only been gone a
few weeks in this world's time. He hadn't realized that the
years of fighting against some of the most powerful beings
in the Multiverse had affected his standards. The young knight
had become accustomed to beings possessing the strength of
ten men as the norm, many of his opponents had been many
times stronger then even he was and Ranma's own
enhanced physical prowess was nothing to sneer at.

All he saw now was the remains of a once formidable fighter
succumbing to years of excess and sloth. The ironcorded muscles
Genma had once been known for were steadily degrading into fat.
The once proud frame of steel that had survived so many battles
was weakening as it started to succumb to the first symptoms
of age and gluttony.

"Ranma! You're alive!!"

"About time that fact sunk in Pop. You looked like
you didn't even recognize me for a minute back there."

Ranma had found it surprisingly easy to fall back into
old patterns, the roughness in his speech bore
almost no resemblance to the educated
voice of Captain Saotome, hero of the Alliance.
It was a concession he had to make with his
return home, if he used his regular voice here it
would arouse suspicions he couldn't afford.

Sooner or later he'd have to transform and it
would be best if no one made the connection between
the recently returned Saotome and Earth's newest protecter.

He especially didn't want certain interested parties
to find out that a certain irritating CosmoKnight
was laying low in a backwater dimension that just happened to
be his home. The Splugorth had long memories
and they weren't the only ones after his head.
It had reached the point where he had lost
count of the number of beings that wanted him dead,
enslaved, or worse for ruining their nefarious little schemes.
He just seemed to have a knack for pissing the wrong people off.

"At last you can fulfill the pledge made between our two schools!."

"What are you talking about?" Ranma was caught off guard by
this sudden change in the topic.

Genma had decided to exploit the old chink in Ranma's
emotional armor, his honor. For as long as his son had
known about duty and responsibility he'd been using
that to get Ranma to do what he wanted. It was the
perfect weapon for someone without scruples,
the boy might complain and bluster but in the end he always
did as he was told.

{This occasion shouldn't be any different }
Genma thought as he explained the details
of the engagement to his unsuspecting son.

"WHAT?!"

Just when he'd thought the old man couldn't sink any lower.....

"So you see boy, it's a matter of family honor.
You must marry a Tendo."

"No."

"Good, so you'll choose.....NO??? This is your
duty as the Heir of the Anything Goes School! You can't refuse!
Do you want to disgrace the Saotome name?! Oh the shame!! My
son has no honor!!!"

"You're the last person that should be
talking to me about honor *Dad*."

The emphasis on the last was dripping with scorn as Ranma
got over his shock and got down to the business he'd
dragged his father in here for.

"Impudent boy!! I need to teach you to respect your father!"
For all his arrogant bluster Genma was unsure
if he could still defeat his son. There was hard streak
within the boy now, he couldn't find any explanation for it
but it made him nervous. But he couldn't let him get away
with that kind of disrespect!

Genma's Pride and Common Sense were at war with each other.
So far it was a stalemate, Genma tended to avoid situations where
he might lose but he WAS a Saotome.

"Anytime you're ready old man. You've got a lot of
explaining to do and one way or another I'm going to
get answers from you." That cocky tone had been the
doom of worse things then Genma. The pitch was
calculated to cause the maximum amount of irritation
and anger to Ranma's opponents and was extremely effective as
several deceased beings could testify to if they hadn't been reduced
to their component molecules.

Pride won out. Genma went into his ready combat stance.
"This is for your own good Ranma, know
that this will hurt me more then it will you."

{You have no idea how right you are, Pops.}

The pigtailed young man looked unconcerned as
he stretched his arms behind the back of his head
and yawned. Ranma had been blessed with the opportunity
to study the several milleniums worth of combat techniques
developed from all over the Multiverse and he had not wasted it.
Genma had no idea what he was getting into, the
only real challenge for Ranma was defeating his
relatively frail parent without accidentally killing
or crippling him in the process. Even a pulled punch
would probably splatter the old man across the dojo.
A quick review of his available styles found one that
should work, advanced Tai-chi was his preferred
choice when going up against normal humanoids
he needed to take alive and unharmed.

Well....mostly unharmed anyway.

Still, his careless manner wasn't quite
as open as it seemed. Genma was still a master
of the Anything Goes Style after all. Ranma's seeming
indifference to that was more bluff and deception
than actual disregard. One of the most valuable lessons
he had ever learned from his various sensei had been
that sometimes a confident front was more effective then
striking a blow in achieving victory over one's opponent.

And it was working, a fine sheen of nervous sweat
covered Genma's exposed brow as he tried to figure
out what his son was up to.

"Your move, Oyaji."
~~~~~~~
-Dimensional Lab Pocket

Washu frowned thoughtfully as her fingers danced on her
hyperdimensional terminal. That rip in the space-time continuum
that she had detected earlier had occurred in exactly the same
spot where an unusual energy phenomena had taken place only
a few weeks before the Rift had appeared. She'd only found that
now while cross-referencing her backup files. Her main system
was still repairing itself from the damage caused last month after
Mihoshi had dragged Tenchi off to a picnic and somehow
managed to get the two of them lost in her lab instead.

That Ditzy Detective was just....unexplainable!!

The genuis scientist in a twelve year old's body decided to
stop thinking about that, it only made her head hurt. This new
mystery was more of a concern. Washu didn't believe in coincidence,
she was the one who'd disproved its existance seven thousand years ago.

Any doubt she'd had about their visitor's existence was
laid to rest the minute her satellites had picked up a small
object moving faster then Ryo-ohki's ship form traveling
across the Sea of Japan. Unfortunately her equipment had
lost track of the intruder soon after it had landed
somewhere in Tokyo. This was going to take awhile,
but she was WASHU!! The greatest genius scientist in the Universe!!!
Whoever had entered this dimensional plane of
reality didn't stand a chance against her.

Ryoko and Ayeka shivered as the sound of
fiendish laughter rung throughout the house.
Hadn't Washu promised that her door was
soundproofed?
~~~~~~~
-Juuban District

"The time-stream has been disrupted."

"GAAAAHHH!!!! DON'T DO THAT SETSUNA!!!"

The Inners looked like they were
about to have a collective heartattack.
Couldn't the Guardian of Time ever make a *normal*
entrance for once?!

"I see the gang's all here."
A handsome mannish blonde leaned against the temple door.
Beside her were two other girls.

"Haruka! Micheru! Hotaru!"
Usagi looked happy to see her friends
despite the situation that had brought
them all together again.

"What's happened? How has the time-stream been altered?"
Ami went straight for the heart of the matter.

"A Rift has opened and let *something * into our Universe.
Whatever it is, it's good at hiding and possesses an
extraordinary strength. Its very existance has already sent
ripples along the very fabric of reality, I can attempt
to minimize the damage but this invader must be found and
destroyed quickly before the effects of its presence become permanent."

"Huh? Could you repeat that in simple Japanese?"

Makoto and Minako had gotten lost somewhere
around the second sentence of Setsuna's speech.
Their leader hadn't fared much better, Usagi's eyes had
crossed from the sheer effort of trying to break down
that giant mouthful into something she could understand.

Setsuna sighed. She sometimes forgot that they were just
high school girls now, not the educated princesses from
the Silver Millenium who had been well tutored
on the subjects of Magic and Dimensional Travel.

"Masaka...." Luna turned deathly pale
as the meaning of those words sank in.

Artemis was already white as a sheet so
it was hard to tell how much of it was
natural and how much was pure unadultrated fear.

They remembered all too well what
the potential consequences of this could be.

The shattered remains of the Moon Kingdom
were a grim reminder of what had happened
the last time a Rift had appeared on Earth.....
~~~~~~~~

In a darkness beyond any hope of light,
three presences stirred. Their mistress had finally returned.

A chill filled the dimensions of the chamber, one
that caused the blood to freeze and the soul to gibber in fear.

Metall'a was here.
Bery'l dropped to her knees before her lord and master.

Zois'te and Malach'te both stiffened, they secretly feared that this
 was only the prelude to a fate far worse then death. Alien
Intelligences weren't known for mercy, their capacity of cruelty
and sadism was infamous throughout the Megaverse as being on
par with most Greater Demons and Diabolic Gods. Metall'a in
particular had little use for those who failed her, even though
they be her own life essences. The generals had been absorbed
by the malevolent entity over a thousand years
ago, their souls now belonged to it forever.

"Incompetents.......I AM SURROUNDED BY
INCOMPETENT FOOLS!!!"

The psychic backlash from the entity's telepathic
temper tantrum caused barbed lances of icy hot pain to
shoot through its minions' temples, an agony they bore
silently less they attract her attention.

How long had they been trapped here?
Time seemed meaningless in the Negaverse.
No sun lit the desolate skies, the denizens of this
eternally static realm of dark nightmares were ageless,
living only to feed and to hate.

It seemed as if only yesterday that their
physical bodies had been destroyed, banishing
the life essences animating them back to the
dimension they originated from. It had always been that way,
Queen Serenity had never realized that all the evil threats
 that had appeared time and time again within the Silver Millenium
had actually been only a single one that kept returning time and time
again. Each and every Youma, even the Generals and Bery'l herself were
mere tiny fragments of Metall'a's very life force. They could not be
truly killed except here in the darkness that had spawned them, anything
else
merely sent them back to the Negaverse where their creator awaited.

"You cost me dearly Bery'l."

The mighty selfproclaimed queen of evil
paled as she was singled out. Metall'a had
been raging ever since their defeat in the Arctic,
and her wrath had been truly terrifying to behold.
It appeared that she was finally finished and ready
to at last renew her eons long assault against
that pitiful third class dimension that had
thwarted her at every turn.

The issue that interested Bery'l
more was whether or not a certain
red-haired villainess would live long
enough to be a part of those plans.
She had sacrifeced her soul to this malevolent
being, there was no turning back now or ever.

A giant dark crystal materialized in front of the black
cloud that was the intelligence's true form.
Within it was imprisoned a figure that was familar to all.

"Jedi'te!!" The three gasped as they looked
up from where they knelt, surprise momentarily
overcoming their fear.

"I do not appreciate losing my servants, more so
when their loss costs me power!!!"

 Bery'l screamed as her mind was
systematically flayed alive, the pain was
excruciating yet left no physical marks on her.
The fact that it only felt real was no comfort however,
the mental rape was intense enough to make her want to
die yet always remained just below the point of driving
her totally insane. Torture was an art after all, and Metall'a was
enjoying her meal with the finesse of a gourmet diner.

The diabolic entity was a Psychic Vampire to whom
pain and fear were meat and drink. The stronger the
emotions the sweeter they tasted and she proceeded to squeeze
every last drop from her servant. Every cry of agony was a
choice morsel that she greedily devoured, the bursts of unremitting
terror only whet her appetite for more, always more.....

At last the malicious cloud released its captive. Bery'l
slumped bonelessly to the ground, too weak to even
roll with the impact.

"You shall live foolish Queen. I have invested
too much time and energy into you, to just destroy
destroy you now would only hamper my efforts. But
make no mistake Bery'l, I will tolerate your bungling NO LONGER!!!
You will heed my every command or else what you have just felt
will pale in comparison to what I will do to you. If you can not serve
me in one form, you will serve me in another."

Bery'l's eyes widened  in stark horror at
the sight of the jeweled sword that was revealed
within the smoky tendrils of her Master.

A nearly complete Rune weapon that was lacking
only its source of power.......

......a Soul.
~~~~~~~

The crystal prison shattered.
The last of the three Dark Generals
was free once more.

Once there had been four of them, cruel
and merciless agents of chaos and destruction.

Then the unthinkable had happened.

Somehow Nephlite had broken free from
the Master. Instead of returning to Metall'a and
a suitable punishment the traitor had actually
managed to escape and return to being just a
human soul.

A free human soul.

The Generals found themselves envying Nephlite.
~~~~~~~~~~

"How'd I get stuck with this?!" A tall, bronzed and well
built white-blonde Goddess of the Past (On probation)
asked herself as she walked around the streets of Tokyo,
already bored out of her mind. She had better things to do
then search for some mysterious visiter from another dimension,
her favorite soaps were on now!

*Flashback*

"Jan Ken Po!" Two hands swung back and
forth to finally reveal an open palm and a closed fist respectfully.

"Hah hah! Paper beats rock!! Have fun Urd!!"

"Arrrrggghh!!!"

"Now Urd, Kami-sama needs one of us to investigate this."

"Easy for you to say Belldandy, you're not the one who's
powers have been suspended. It'll take me forever!! "

"Tough luck sis!" Skuld raspberried her older sister in victory.

"I want a rematch!!"

"No way old lady!! You lost!!"

"WHAT did you call me?! Grrrr.....I'll get you!!!"

"Oh dear."

"Help!!"

"COME BACK HERE PIPSQUEAK!!!"

*End Flashback*

{Stupid anomaly! Unless the being that came
through that rip is tall, handsome and knows
how to show a girl a good time I'm gonna blast it
into a million little pieces when I find it for getting me
into this.}

"Hmm? I could have sworn I heard thunder....."

{Must just be all those men collapsing when they see me, I guess.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The strained silence stretched out between the two combatants.

A koi briefly broke the surface of the pond.

"OY TO SHAH!" Genma opened with high punch
sweep kick combo that would have caught the old
Ranma flatfooted and given him one heck of a bruising.
This wiser and much more experienced Ranma tilted
his upper body a fraction of a degree to the side, the punch
missing his face by a hair. A subtle shift of his shoulders and a
redirection of Genma's forward momentum sent the older man
tumbling to the right, his aggressive style was being turned
against him. This would be Ranma's only freebie, a new unexpected
and unwelcome discovery had been made him in those first cruical
seconds. A tingle of danger that had started the moment his father
had launched his attack, and that had been followed by the shock
of actually feeling the impact of the deflected kick as he'd countered
it. that should not have been possible unless....

The young CosmoKnight realized that the damn
curse must have somehow altered his father
into a creature of magic in both forms, and
unfortunately that was one of the few things
that could actually injure or even kill him.

{Damn! So much for just a simple takedown,
he's got no compunctions about beating the
crap out of me but I can't use anything except
my most passive styles. Well I wanted a
challenge, looks like I got it.}

A few more testing strikes from Genma were
all avoided or blocked, in return the bald man
was slammed into the floor a few times but escaped
relatively unscathed.

"Do you know why I tracked you here Pops?
Haven't you wondered why I simply didn't just
leave and go off on my own when you left Jusenkyo?
I certainly would have been better off."

Father and son circled each other warily, looking for
any sign of an opening. Ranma had dropped his careless act
and taken his old fighting stance with a few modifications.

"You're my boy! You'd never desert your old man!!!"

"Hmph. Tell me Pops, does the name Li Zang ring a bell?
Or how about Kisaragi, Daikokuji, or the other dozen or so
families that I can name offhand that you swindled? Not
counting of course the several hundred stores and restaurants
that you used *ME* as collateral to pay for your debts!"

{Uh oh, looks like he's found out about them.}

"Uh....I can explain!!"

"Oh you're going to be doing a lot more then just telling,
you're going to be making amends for a LONG time.
 I'll make sure of that."

Genma started to sweat again, this was not good.
That was enough of a distraction for Ranma to close
the distance between them before he realized it.
The fight ended rather quickly after that.
~~~~~~~~~

The Tendos' curiosity grew as the sounds of a
scuffle drifted from the Dojo. They could hear some
shouting and heated conversation but the distance and
walls of the building in between made the exact words
the two were saying indecipherable. Several suspicious thumps
came a few moments later followed by complete silence.

Somehow the absence of sound was worse then the shouting.
The seconds stretched into minutes, the curiosity of Soun and
his daughters had just reached its peak when the door slid open.

A smiling Ranma dragged his semiconscious
father back into the house.
~~~~~~~~
-A little later

"Once again, this is my dear old friend....

"Genma Saotome." The bald, slightly overweight
martial artist's voice was subdued when he spoke this time.

"And my son....."

"Ranma Saotome. Pleased to meet you."

He smiled politely from his seated position, trying to make a
good impression. It would make things easier when Ranma
explained that he couldn't accept the engagment. At least
that was what the Martial Artist and occasional Savior of the Galaxy
hoped, he still had a nagging suspicion that stopping this would be
more difficult then just a simple "no".

None of the girls met his eye, Kasumi was staring down at
her hands with a slight blush on her rosy face. Nabiki was observing
her younger sister while occasionally stealing a glance of Ranma,
trying for the *meek and proper prospective wife* impression.
Akane was still irked over being ignored earlier and pointedly refused
to even look in his general direction.

{Oops, have I committed a social blunder?}

Ranma hoped not, his memory of proper Japanese manners was rather fuzzy
though. The closest thing to it that he `d encountered had been the Bushido

Federation of the Onis and he doubted that those customs would be well
received here.(1)

"Ah well then, these are my daughters."

Soun could barely restrain himself as the
dream that had sustained him through the
master's training and his wife's death was
at last being fullfilled. The Schools would
be joined at last!

"Kasumi, she's nineteen."

"Oh my." Kasumi hoped that she would be picked. Her
expectations weren't high though, Nabiki or Akane would
probably be the one chosen since they were so popular.(2)

"Nabiki, she's seventeen."

{Pick me! Pick me!!}

"And Akane, she's sixteen. Pick any one you want
and she'll be your new fiancee."

"Hmph! You better not choose me!"

Akane finally glared at this guy who she'd probably
wind up engaged to anyway since neither of her older sisters
had her good looks. Only Docter Tofu hadn't noticed that she
was in the full bloom of womanhood and she was working
on changing that.

"Um...I've got just one question for you Mr. Tendo."

"Yes?"

"Exactly how drunk were you and
my father when the two of you made this promise?"

"Uh...." Stammered the mustached father of three.

{How'd he know about that?!}

"I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid I've
got to refuse your generous offer. See, I never
agreed to this engagement business
and Pops..."

A slightly irritated look was shot at the instigater of this mess.

"...well I finally convinced him that I'm not going to
be the one paying for *his* mistakes."

"What?!!" Of all the responses they'd been expecting,
this wasn't one of them. Today seemed to be just full of
surprises for the Tendo family.

"But this is a matter of family honor!!"
Soun wailed, his dreams crashing
around him like expensive pottery
at terminal velocity.

"I don't care. If I ever marry, it'll be for love.
 Not for honor, not for duty, and sure as heck
not because my pitiful excuse for a parent thinks
I'm some kind of merchandise to bartered away
to the highest bidder. Hell, if I'd wanted a bride I
could've gotten hitched a long time ago to any number
of girls that asked, but I haven't met the right one yet."(3)

{Though not for the lack of them trying....}

The sound of crashing cash registers echoed loudly in Nabiki's head.

{No! No!! NO!!! This can't be happening!! I finally meet
a prospective fiancee and he's NOT interested in this engagement!?}

Akane's mood improved slightly, at least
 this guy didn't want the engagment too. Although that
last comment about all the girls chasing him was rubbing a
few of her nerves the wrong way. The nerve of him!
What did he think he was?! God's gift to women?!

Kasumi had yet to make a response.

Ranma studied the eldest daughter carefully, he really
didn't want to hurt anyone but an arranged marriage
was where he drew the line. So far Kasumi had been
the only one to make him feel welcome, the tea had
been just the thing he'd needed after that match with his father.
He admitted to himself that he probably could let himself
fall for someone like her. Ranma was sometimes dense but
he wasn't blind, even covered in that housedress he could tell
that Kasumi's beauty would be a rare and precious
treasure once it was revealed. Add that to the mild psychic
abilities his partner had picked up and the genuine compassion
 he saw in her eyes and you had a woman that made going home
something to look forward to.(4)

 If he'd been anything else except a Cosmoknight, Ranma might
have just gone along with this engagement nonsense and picked
the eldest daughter to live happily ever after with. But his duties made
it too dangerous, no girl deserved to be put through the kind of chaos
that Ranma routinely danced around with. He didn't want to one day
find out that one of his many enemies had killed or even worse captured
someone he loved to use as a pawn against him. Ranma had seen it happen
to a few other Knights before, it wasn't pretty. Most of them had
Fallen, in two cases Ranma had been forced to kill the Knights for
succumbing to
the darkness and the madness of revenge when their loved ones had been
slain. It was one thing to strike down an inhuman demon that you knew
beyond
a shadow of a doubt was evil and deserving of death, it was another
story entirely to raise your weapon against someone who'd you called friend

and worked alongside just hours before.

Or worse yet,even if by some miracle his spouse
was able to avoid all the troubles and dangers that
were as much a part of him as his Cosmic Armor.
He would still be forced to watch as the girl  he chose grew
old and died peacefully as Ranma lived on physically unchanged
by the years and decades as they rolled ever onward long after
her remains had crumbled into dust.

Ranma had decided it was better to simply wait
until he knew he could take that risk. He still wasn't
ready for a relationship of that magnitude.

The Tendo patriarch was finally coming out of his
shock as the younger Saotome became lost in his
deep thoughts. Since tears and pleading hadn't
worked it was time to switch tactics.

"YOU WILL MARRY ONE OF MY DAUGHTERS
AND  FULLFILL THE PLEDGE  BETWEEN OUR SCHOOLS!!!"

Aside from making Ranma wish that Mr. Tendo had paid more
attention to his oral hygiene the shouting had no effect.

"No."

"Are you saying my daughters aren't good enough for you?!!!"

The first stages of the Dreaded Demon God Of Terror Giant
Head Attack started to emerge. The older man's eyes started to
glow like yellow coals as his tongue blackened and forked out

"No, I'm just not going to be forced to marry them."

He tried to keep calm, how many times was he going to
have to repeat these same words before it sunk in that
Ranma was NOT going to be pushed into this?

"WHY YOU!!!"

The terrifying image appeared overhead as Soun
unleashed his ultimate attack to cow the boy into submission.
This dreaded technique had even defeated the dreaded master,
a mere teenager didn't stand a chance. The schools would be united by
noon tomorrow!

Except that this young man's sky blue eyes hardened and returned
the manifested projected outrage glare for glare.

It was an attack and Ranma treated it like one. Offended pride met
solid control and unshakeable confidence, the air around him
chilled as the Knight briefly let a glimpse of the person lying within
him show in his eyes. For the span of a heartbeat Soun saw a man capable
of tearing apart titanium steel girders like folder paper and who knew
exactly what he was capable of and how to use it with deadly precision.
It was like looking into the eyes of a giant predator, one that was safe as

long as it was left alone but quite able to make the idiot that disturbed
him
regret it. Ranma had experienced worse things then this simple scare
tactic,
Mr. Tendo would have to do a lot better then that!

Soun was locked in a staring match that would
determine the decision of the Tendo-Saotome union.

He flinched, unable to meet that overwhelming gaze any longer.

Ranma grinned, there had never been any doubt in his mind
as to what the outcome would be.

"Won't you please stay for awhile at least?"
Kasumi finally spoke up.

{Oh no.} That familar sinking feeling was back,
Ranma swallowed hard as he looked at her
silently pleading expression.

The region just below his ribs turned to jelly and the young
knight was suffering the oddest sensations in the vicinity of
his brain as his logic centers melted.

Common sense lost to big brown eyes.

"Ah...sure, okay."
~~~~~~

"He has no backbone when it comes to women."

"You're one to talk, Mr. “Yes Minako-chan, I'll be happy
 to do the cleaning and the cooking”."

"Have you ever tasted my wife's cooking or
seen a room after she's cleaned it?"

"Uh, no. Actually I can't say that I have."

"Trust me, I love her with all my heart but some
things are better left alone."

"That bad?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Ah, I see. That bad huh."

"Let's get back to the story."
~~~~~~~
-Actually not that far away

Pantha Zo'a  had struck again.

Cutey Honey looked up to see the
shining full moon hanging overhead and
as if mocking her a faint image of her
eternal foe grinned back evilly at the
lovely warrior.

{"As long as mankind exists, so shall we!"}
Those were the words Dolmeck had taunted her with.

{"Then I will fight you each time you come back,
Cutey Honey will not lose!! Even if I have to return
again and again, I will defeat you!!!" }

She'd lived by that promise ever since she sent Dolmeck and
Pantha Zo'a back to the Hell that had spawned them. But Evil
refused to die so easily, instead it took a different route. The
 weakminded and the easily corrupted were first seduced
by Zo'a's whispered promises then transformed into twisted
and powerful monsters when they succumbed to the darkness within.

No sooner had the city been freed from a one menace then it
had found itself threatened by an even more insidious threat
This night had been just another in a long series of running battles,
and once again the only real winner had been Panth'a Zo'a.
Honey could do nothing for the people that had been killed by
Diamond Tarantula tonight, nor could she say anything that would ease
the suffering of those who had lost family and loved ones. Even
when she finally killed the misguided fool that had taken Zo'a's
offer of power the villain's soul was only sent to the Dimension of
Darkness to feed the Dark Specter.

Cutey Honey was a Battle Android, the most
advanced one on the planet.

But even her indomitable spirit was starting to flag as the
never-ending tide of youma continued to come......

Only a miracle could stop the slow but steady losses the
forces of Light were taking in this War which could have
only one eventual conclusion.

A miracle called Ranma Saotome....

But was it already too late?
~~~~~~~~~
-Back at the Betting Plane

*WHUMP*

Shadow was the first one to pick himself
up from the massive group facefault.

"Phaseworld Technology.....a CosmoKnight.....
....and now MAGIC TATTOOS?! Are you out of your mind?!!"

The Cosmoknight he was addressing just looked smug.

"Is that even possible?!" The Guardian asked as
Rowan pulled out his sourcebook.

"I'm afraid so, there's nothing here that says he can't
get them since Ranma is *technically* still human."

"You're hiding something from us aren't you?"

"Yup" Zora finally answered.

Shadow pulled out his own sourcebook and
rubbed his eyes, the beginnings of a killer
headache starting to form.

Surely *THAT* couldn't be legal.

*$*$*$*$*

(1) The Kunos would probably be the only ones who'd *like* it.

(2)*Shrugs* She's been working to keep the family in one piece,
can you blame her for lack of confidence in her ability to catch a guy?

(3)How many of us have used this excuse before?  Ranma's not as
confident with the ladies as he sounds.

(4)If you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about you are
    obviously too young to be reading this.

*$*$*$*$*$*

Ranma sighed as he scrubbed himself in preperation
for a long hot soak the Tendo's bath.

{How do I wind up in these situations?}

Somehow during that brief period of temporary insanity he'd
wound up agreeing to stay at the Tendo home as a guest for an
undetermined length of time. It hadn't helped any that every time
he'd tried to raise an objection either Kasumi or Nabiki
had given him that *look*, the one that twisted his tongue around
into saying "yes" instead of "no". It was just too humilating, after
finally getting out of this whole fiancee mess he wound up stuck here
anyway.

After washing off with a bucket of cold water
the young man proceeded to enter the bath proper.

A low hiss of pleasure escaped Ranma's lips as he stepped
into the welcoming warmth, the water starting to relax the
tension in his muscles that the last few hours had built up.

{At least this isn't too bad, things could be worse.}

[You're hopeless.]

{Ishtar, you're too much of a cynic. Nothing has exploded, no
assassins running around trying to cut my head off, and the only
magic for several miles in any direction is the stuff I brought back
with me. Trust me, there's nothing to worry about.}

[That you know about, you mean.]

{It'll be a piece of cake.}

[So says the man beguiled by a pair of puppy dog eyes.]

{It's not my fault! Dad's the one responsible for this!!}

[Fine, be that way. I'm not jealous. Oh no, I'm just your
weapon and sometimes partner so I couldn't dream of...]

{Ishtar! It's not like that!! You know I'd free you if....}

[It's okay....I'm sorry Ranma, that was uncalled for. But it's just
that......]

{I know....believe me, I know. *Sigh* My life's changing so fast that
I can't get stuck dwelling on everything that goes wrong. Even though
I came from this world it seems so alien now, I'm not sure if there's
anyplace that feels like home anymore.}

[The Great Saotome, Pirate Extraordinare and Most Eligible
Bachelor in six quadrants is feeling sorry for himself? The sky
must be falling, someone notify the Galactic Inquirer!!]

{That's not funny!!}

[Yes it is!]

{No it's not!!}

[Is too!]

{Is not!}

[Is too!]
 ~~~~~~
 -Phase World, Rifts Earth, Wormwood, and Various Other Places

The same phrase was uttered a thousand different ways in a
hundred various languages in over a dozen different dimensions.
But the meaning was always the same,
"Find Ranma Saotome and kill him!".

Word of the infamous troubleshooter's mysterious
vanishing act had spread across the Multiverse faster
then you could say "Spulgorth suck slime" despite the
best efforts of the Alliance to keep their officer's sudden
leave of absence a secret.

Needless to say this did not bode well for our hero.....
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 -Kreeghor Imperial Center

"So the Untamed Stallion is without her captain?"

"Yes, Admiral."

"You've faced the Wild Horse before haven't
you, Captain Jarenz?"

"I've confronted him sixteen times in the past two years, sir."

"So you feel that you have some insight as to how the man thinks?"

"Yes."

"Tell me, do you think that the rumors are true
and that this Rebel has run off to hide in fear?"

"No Sir!"

"Oh? Explain your reasoning Captain."

"Saotome isn't a coward, he's never have lost a
fight against our forces or anyone else's. He is
the enemy but even most of our officers hold a
grudging respect for his skill, the only man that is
possibly his military equal is Captain Tylor of the
CCW Space Force. If the Wild Horse has indeed
left this dimension of  his own free will it is because
he is following a higher plan, one that could possibly
threaten the Empire itself."

"Are you sure of that assessment Captain?"

"I'd stake my life on it."

"Then you will."

"Sir?"

"Congratulations Captain. You are
now appointed commander of our Imperial
Operation Codename: "Broken Mustang" to
capture Captain Ranma Saotome for his public
execution by an Imperial Firing Squad.
Here is where you will meet your Task Force.
Serve the Empire well."

"As you command Admiral."

{Soon Saotome..... You will face the Ironclaw
 again and this time *I* shall be victorious!!!}
 ~~~~~~~~~~~
-Atlantis

"But Lord Splynncryth has forbidden any direct action against
the one called Ranma without his personal permisson.....NO!...Please
have mercy!! AAAAGHHAAAIIIiiiieee......."

*Snap*

The other advisers watched as the tentacled horror that
they called master proceeded to twist off the head of the
unfortunate soul that had contradicted him as easily as a normal
man would twist the cap off a bottle of beer.

Sluggar'n popped the head into its main
feeding orifice and crunched gruesomely
down on the tasty tidbit. The rest of the body was
stuffed in bit by bit, drool and other less savory fluids
dripped down to coat the corpse and made it easier to
slide in.

As the Splugorth Intelligence finished its impromptu snack
it shot a dangerous look at its minions, now minus one.

"Does anyone *else* have an objection to raise?"

The bipeds all shook their heads in negation enthusiastically,
their vocal cords weren't working at the moment.

"Good."

{Good help is so hard to find, I'll have to remember this loss when I
finally get my appendges on that cursed do-gooder. He has much
to answer for.....}
 ~~~~~~~~~
 -Phase World, The Center

"They won't take it."

"What?! The Galactic Assassin's Guild turned this job DOWN??!!!
Did they at least say why??"

"Apperently the man has made too many friends in the wrong places.
The Guild wants no trouble with Justin Tylor or Vash the Stampede,
let alone the rest of Saotome's allies and contacts. Besides which
they already tried, apparently after losing nearly three quarters of their
best agents as well as several of their High Council members they
decided to cut their losses and run. Ranma is permanantly exempt from
them. None of the professionals could be persuaded to go after him either,
they just told me that it couldn't be done."

"Damn! That means we have to use company assets!! Which means
a loss of revenue!!! Damn that Saotome's hide!!! Why couldn't he die
cheaply!!!!"

"Shall I contact our people in public relations then?"

"OF COURSE!!! Naruni Enterprises never lets someone who's
interfered in its deals go!! It's bad for business!!!"
 ~~~~~~~~~
-I send you into Another Dimension

Kasumi was busy in the kitchen preparing the evening meal. She was paying
even more special attention to the food then was normal, even for her.
She wanted everything to be perfect for their guest...er.....guests.
Delicious smells emanated outward as the eldest daughter went all out,
cooking up a feast that would be able to feed twenty people and just might
be enough for the entire household and the Saotomes.

"A man's heart is won through his stomach.", that was how it
went in the novels followed by the heroine being taken away for
steamy passionate...

A slightly dazed gleam filled the cooking girl's eyes.
One spilled bottle of soysauce later that went all over
the front of her apron and dress was a reminder that
now was not the time to be having naughty daydreams.

"Oh dear, what a mess! I need to clean up, it would be rude to meet
Ranma....  ..uh I mean the Saotomes in this."

In her distraction Kasumi promptly forgot a few things.
Like the fact that someone else was already using the bath.
Or that she'd meant to warn her sisters that Ranma was in
the bath.....

Dinner was fine though, nothing short of Demonic Possession
could cause Kasumi Tendo to ruin a meal.
~~~~~~~~
-Upstairs

Nabiki Tendo was scheming.

That was nothing new.

{I have to somehow persuade this hunk that
I'm his best choice...but how?! Maybe a quick
soak will clear my head....}

Now this on the other hand......
 ~~~~~~~

Akane was fuming. This wasn’t unusual.

"That...that...THAT JERK!!!"

Nor was this.

Her fist smacked into the well worn punching bag as
she worked off her anger in the Dojo.

Or this.

She'd tried to be nice after it turned out theat the Saotomes
would be staying here for awhile. She'd offering to spar with him
and see how good of a martial artist (not as good as her of course)
he was. That BAKA had smiled weakly and....

...AND HE'D TURNED HER DOWN!!!

That arrogant, condescending, chauvinistic.....BOY!!!

As her anger cooled slighty from the physical extertion
Akane realized that her stained gi was getting a little.....rank.

"I guess I need a bath."

That always helped to relax her. Then
she could figure out a way to deal with that
sexist attitude of Ranma's, she would get him
to fight her even if it killed him!!
~~~~~~~~~
-Watching you from afar

Rowan started counting.

   "3....2......1....now."
 ~~~~~~
-And we’re back

 Just as Ranma was toweling off his
 head the door to the bath slid open.
 He was so involved in his telepathic
 argument that he missed it entirely.

Three pairs of female eyes widened.....

   *$*$*$*$*$*

  Captain Rashul "Ironclaw" Jarenz: True Atlantian who commands  the
Imperial
Battle Cruiser INS Dark Impaler. He is Saotome's deadliest rival in the
Three Galaxies and they've clashed repeatedly over the years. His nickname
comes from his oversized bionic left hand that is built to look like a
Dragon's talons. The original hand was initially in a armored gauntlet
until
Ranma cut it off during a daring rescue misson inside the Impaler. This
event left the officer nearly dead from blood loss and a created a thirst
for vengence that has only burned hotter as time passed. He's a villian but

one with a code of honor. In Rift's terms he's got an Aberrant alignment
(Lawful Evil for the AD&D people). Possesses a fair amount of magical skill

and  owns an Impaler Rune weapon that his ship is named after, both serve
to
make him extremely dangerous to the brave CosmoKnight. The bionic hand is
gimmicked too of course. Vibroblades and laser fingers make this one hand
you do not want to shake!

*$*$*$*$*$*

2d:(part 4)......No comment.
~~~~~~~
-Aboard the Untamed Stallion (Don't you just hate when I do this. -_^)

Communications officer Tania sighed.

She'd been doing that a lot lately for the past three weeks.
In fact so much so that it was getting on everyone else's nerves.

"Would you stop that!" Commander Ayla snapped at her,
the metamorphasized Dragon's nerves frayed to the breaking point by
that constant irritating sound her Elven subordinate made.

The normally perky girl cringed, cowed by this uncharacteristic
display of temper. Usually Ayla was the very model of
composure, able to get her point across with a few carefully
chosen words or a simple stern look that got even the most
rowdy crew member in line. For her to start behaving this way
something had to be seriously wrong with her. And they all
knew what it was, they were all feeling it too.

The force that bound them all together into a unbeatable united team
was gone, the one that had smoothed over individual rough edges and
friction
and been the very heart of the Untamed Stallion was missing.

Reflexively the pretty blonde turned to look at the Captain's chair,
a whimsical hope that perhaps he'd be there and everything would go back to

normal crossing her mind.

The emptiness that greeted her eyes was a cruel one.

Ranma was gone.

Ayla had refused to sit in that seat even though she was now
the one in command of the ship. It would have felt like a betrayal,
that seat belonged to only one person, the true captain of the
Untamed Stallion.

She noticed Tania's glance toward the empty seat
and her conscience berated her. They were all feeling out
of sorts, losing her temper did nothing except lower the
crew's already rock-bottom morale. She had a responsibilty
to them all, the Captain had left her in charge......Ranma....

{Why? Why did you have to leave?!}

It was a question Ayla had been asking herself constantly as
every day passed and his absence took its toll on them. Three
weeks had gone by without any word from him after they had
taken Ranma to one of the Rim worlds and simply left him there.
Three quiet, boring, long weeks without even a hint of action to get
their minds off worrying about their commnader. It was driving them
crazy, things couldn't go on for much longer like this before
something gave.

The Chiang-Ku was especially worried about Akiko and Yukio. The
twins had become quiet and withdrawn ever since Saotome had left,
that was a bad sign. Distracted fighter pilots usually ended up as
dead pilots. No one else onboard could fly those Katanas as well
as the Turbo Jockies, so replacement was not an option.

Even if she simply suspended them from flying until
they snapped out of their funk it would mean cutting their
fighter strength in half and reduce the Untamed Stallion's
actual combat strength by nearly a third. Without the Katana Starfighers
 they had only the Black Eagle Medium Fighters to deliver the giant
antimatter cruise missiles that were one of their most important
anti-ship weapons.

{Damn it all! We need you Captain...RANMA, WHERE ARE YOU?!}

Finally something broke the strained atmosphere.

*BEEP**BEEP*

"Incoming transmission!"

Tania's alarmed voice was like a shot of highly
concentrated caffeine, the entire bridge snapped into
alertness as they took their ready stations.

"Source?"

"Checking now......It's from Fleet Command!"

"The flagship?!" The first officer found herself asking, unable
to believe it at first.

"Confirmed! Hyperspace squirt from the HopeBringer! Priority 1,
Condition Red, using the full Antilles encryption package!
Slicing now......"

{What could they possibly need us for that they'd use a
Hypertransmission station?! The cost for those are prohibitive!}

As Ayla read the decoded
message her eyes widened.......

{My Gods! They're actually going to do it??!!!}

"Commander?" Lily looked worriedly at the
shocked expression on the officer's face.

"Sammy, Bring us about and set course for the Ristmoth System,
 Maximum warp!"

"Acknowledged Commander! Engaging FTL Drive."

The chestnut haired former Imperial Guardsman
turned helms(wo)man swiftly moved to fulfill the order, her hands
flashing across the controls that directed the mighty Contragravity
Engines.(1)

The sleek warship seemed to briefly stretch into infinity as matter
achieved a velocity faster then Einstein's laws of relativity allowed.
~~~~~~~~~~~
-Rifts Earth, North America

Janet Braddock was after a man.

Not just any man, but a very special man.
And as the second in command of a large
and prominant mercenary company who
also happened to be the daughter of the
man who ran the company she usually got
what she was looking for one way or another.

The fact that the mercs had just been hired
by Erin Tarn to find the exact same person she
wanted to find was an unexpected bonus.

{It's time we settled some things Ran. Then I
need to talk to Daddykins about that "No Dating"
rule of his.}

Around her neck was a small locket with a
photograph of the man that had saved Janet's life
from the psychopathic traitor who'd joined the
company several years ago. A Braddock never
left a debt unpaid, no matter what.

A certain pigtailed young man
was about to get the surprise of his life....
~~~~~
-Phase World Center

Katrina Sun looked around inside the giant indestructable
structure known as the "Center" where over ten million
beings of practically every known race and species could be found
as they made deals that either made them or broke them.
 Even the Dimensional Market of Splynn
paled beside this trans-universal business node
of the Megaverse. Everything one could desire was
available for sale here, any whim or fancy could be
satisfied......for the right price.

There were simply no words capable of describing
the giant bustling chaos that was Center, it was
an old joke that the only thing harder then seeing
the Center was surviving it. Crime was not unheard of
even in the upper levels, the lower levels of Center were
places only fools and the desperate dared tread. Full scale
battles between bitter rivals occasionally broke out in the
many halls despite the Prometheuns attempts to restrict the
presence of combat robot vehicles and other instruments
of mass destruction. This was the place for adventure and excitement,
with danger lying around every corner and potential rewards
that could boggle the mind.

The Ley Line Walker had no eyes for any of the
dazzling sights though. After weeks of searching
she'd finally gotten a lead to Ranma's whereabouts.
The amnesiac Goddess turned adventurer wasn't
about to let the most noble man she had ever met
just walk out of her life without a fight!

Her contact had mentioned the Free World Council,
now all she had to do was find them.....

{Soon Ranma.....}
~~~~~~~~~
-Planet Playtex, Headquarters for the Legion of W.A.R.S.

The Lusty Lingerie Amazons were not happy.
Weeks of searching with their best agents had
turned up nothing, even their allied cousins from
the secret world of Victoria had been unable
to find the one that the legion had been created for.

Ranma Saotome had vanished from the face of the
Three Galaxies. The 6.4 billion beautiful girls on the planet
were quite ready to start panicking now.

Their race had originally been solely female, reproducing through a giant
network of automated cloning machines. Their civilization
 had never even seen a man until the day that the Untamed Stallion
and the Soyokaze literally stumbled onto their small empire.

Captain Tylor got off lucky, Empress Azalyn had declared him
to be under her protection. Though they might desire him the
Amazons were smart enough to know that he was off limits
for the moment.

Captain Saotome on the other hand.....

The scary thing was that they were quite willing
and even eager to share him. The Lingerie Amazons
had a saying "Love is something  to be enjoyed by all".
In Ranma's case they meant that literally, especially
since that meant that the other girls after him would
be available as well......

They *were* a passionate people after all.
~~~~~~~~
-The Tendo Bath (At last)

Time seemed to grind to a halt.

The screen door inched its way open....

The Tendo daughters carried a small towel
each and nothing else. Although it was slightly
unusual for all of them to use the bath at
once it wasn't unheard of. They had shared
the facilities on occasion during their childhood.
So there were no surprises to be found as they
disrobed and prepared to get nice and clean.

The surprise awaited them in the Bath proper.....
~~~~~

Ranma dried his hair, he felt much better now.
Even a jealous Rune Weapon couldn't put a
damper on his mood, the steaming hot water
had felt so good.....

His telepathic sparring with Ishtar
was pretty much on familar ground,
she was always this way whenever
he met a girl no matter how nice
they might be. She was always
suspicious of them, worrying about the
vile deeds they might commit upon
his trusting body. But Ranma now understood
why she did that. It had surprised him learn
how deep Ishtar's feelings really were the first
time they'd touched minds, he'd never
imagined that she cared that much about him

Ranma had rescued the enslaved Goddess of Light
from a Splugorth Intelligence that had made the
fatal mistake of underestimating his newest
captured experimental subject. Though normally a
Cosmoknight's morals wouldn't allow Ranma to keep
a weapon that used the captured soul of another being as
its source of power he'd found himself being asked...even
begged by Ishtar to be wielded in the name of all that was Good.
It was a request he'd been unable to refuse and one he'd
never regretted accepting. Her psionic and magical talents had
proven invaluable, with Ishtar's help even the most magically
gifted opponent could be defeated with a reasonable chance
of success. Ranma had tried to find a way to free her though, only
to discover to his horror that although it was possible to destroy a
supposedly invincible Rune Weapon, doing so meant that the soul of
the being trapped within it would be forever lost!

So it had remained, with a bond as close as lovers
between the sentient weapon and the man who
carried her yet the only way they could ever meet was
while he slept, within the brief paradise of his deepest
dreams. It was a bittersweet union between them,
the one person who the Cosmoknight trusted absolutely
without reservation was also the only one he could never truly
be with.

He never heard the door open....

There was a sharp intake of breath as Kasumi,
Nabiki and Akane were treated to the sight of
 glistening, well toned and very nude prime
male flesh.

The angle was just right so that they could get good
looks at both his front and part of his lower rear anatomy.

The term buns of steel suddenly popped into Kasumi's
head for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

With the towel over his face Ranma couldn't see
his three unintentional voyeurs and kept on toweling off.

The girls stared long and hard at his well muscled frame,
their towels dropping unnoticed to the floor. Their gazes
roamed up and down his exposed body. They noticed
something almost immediately that had been hidden from
them before.

Ranma had tattoos.

Nabiki was awestruck by the finely detailed Phoenix arising from
flames that lay over the young man's heart, it almost looked....alive.
She wondered what it would taste like.....

It would have shocked her to find Kasumi was wondering the
exact same thing of the armored knight on Ranma's right shoulder.

Akane's eyes caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a tattoo of three
 eyes just above the inside of his elbow. The other two power tattoos just
behind Ranma's wrists went unnoticed for the present.(2)

As if by popular vote the three pairs of
curious eyes descended south of the border......
~~~~~~
-We interrupt this scene for the following announcement

*CENSORED!!!*

"HEY!" The female participants cried as the large
black dot appeared to cover the entire scene.

"Sorry folks, we're not allowed
to show this in the mainstream."
The Bard had his best used car salesman act on.

"Thank goodness." Shadow whispered
to the Guardian who nodded in agreement.

Rowan hit the fast forward.

Zora just smiled, a mischievous gleam in her eye.
~~~~~~~~
-Too bad, you missed it.

{MINE!!!} Nabiki's first rational thought was
almost violent in its intensity.

{EEP!!!} As if transfixed by a cobra Akane's wide eyed
stare fixed on a particular portion of Ranma's body.
her mouth kept opening like a fish out of water and
about as much came out. Her face was threatening to
explode from all the blood rushing into her cheeks.

{Oh my....this is most improper...I shouldn't be
doing this........I'll just turn around and......
turn around....turn....and....um....another minute shouldn't hurt......}

Kasumi found herself unable to tear her eyes away.

Just as things were about to get interesting Akane noticed
her older sister starting to head toward Ranma with a eerie
determined gleam in her eye and panicked. Her arms reached
out to snag both of the other girls and yanked them back to the
safety that lay behind the doorway before slamming the door
shut.

*BANG*

"Huh?" Ranma looked toward the doorway after removing the towel,
 he thought he'd heard someone. But there wasn't anyone there....

{What was that all about?}

[*Snicker* Looks like someone just got a free peep show to me.]

{What?!}

He couldn't get another answer out of her,
Ishtar was too busy laughing.
~~~~~~~~~
-Elsewhere in the house

Genma and Soun were plotting.(3)

"Genma! The houses MUST be joined!!"

"I know old friend, but the boy is stubborn. We can't
simply force him into this, somehow he's become too
strong and independent for such measures. We need a
subtle plan to make him marry one of your daughters.
By the way who is going to marry him anyway?"

"Uh...."

{Think of something Soun!}

"Akane! Yes Akane shall marry him!! He's a martial artist,
she's a martial artist, it's a match made with heaven's blessings!!"

Common Sense groaned in disgust and went off to sulk.

"Well then all we need to do is get them
together and let Nature take its course!"

"Alright then!! It's Soun and Genma's..."

They shouted out together much to the dismay of the neighbors.

"....Operation: Get Them Hitched!!!"
~~~~~~~
-Where Real-Space and Other-Space Meet

The Cosmic Forge lay hidden, always
watching but never interfering directly......

Right now it was having a good laugh, even
ultra powerful nearly omniscient artifacts have
a sense of humor. Its chosen one just seemed
to attract chaos wherever he went. But of all the
beings that it had selected over countless millennia, this
boy Ranma had come the closest to achieving the necessary
qualities that the Forge had been searching for. The Knights
were a test, they had been given the first hints of the gift
but all had never been able to move on to the next step.
After so many failures the ancient creation was starting to
dispair of ever being able to find
the One, but now.....

For the first time in nearly a millennia the Forge knew hope. This
chosen one had constantly pushed the boundries of his gift and
discovered new ways to use it, ways that went beyond anything
any other Cosmoknight had been ever able to achieve. Right now
he was at cruical point, if he was able to actually take the next step
to the level beyond.....

The Cosmic Forge, Guardian of the Three Galaxies
laughed.....

...and prayed.
~~~~~~~~
-Somewhere

Ryoga the donkey was running as
 if the entire population of the Nine
Hells were after him.

"Git back here Bessie! I got needs to be relieved!!!"

If anything Ryoga ran faster after hearing that.
Bad enough being used as a pack animal but that....

That was a fate worst then death!!!!

{DAMN YOU RANMA!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR
 FAULT!!!}

Ryoga kept on running long after he lost the grizzly
old man that was chasing him. He didn't pay any
attention to where he was going

Say, didn't that bunch of pools up ahead look familar?

That stray thought took awhile to get the occupied jackass's attention.

{AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!}

*SPLASH*

It was going to be a long night.

*$*$*$*$*$*

(1) Contragravity involves using anti-graviton particles to
neutralize the effects of gravity on an object. This technology
is the basis for anti-gravity systems and the primary method
for achieving speeds greater then light.

(2) Tattoo Magic: each tattoo can be activated to give
Ranma a specific power for a limited amount of time.
All use up a lot of power since Ranma has to pay twice the
amount of energy they normally require because he has only
five tattoos.

(Chest)Phoenix arising from flames: Super Healing &
Resurrection(Restricted)
-Can revive a person who has been dead for no more then six hours, but
doing so requires the tattoo bearer to permanently sacrifice a part of
their
lifeforce and power in the process. Extremely costly to activate.

(Shoulder)Knight in Armor: Magical Armor
-Chosen armor style is chainmail, the armor *is* transparent.

Three Eyes within a Pyramid: *Special* Enhanced Supernatural Vision
(Includes see invisible & detect magic)(Behind wrist)

Heart in Chains: Limited Invincibility (Ditto)
-Magical Blue Aura that absorbs most damage, aura gets
dimmer as the protection fades.

Eye between two lines with Rune Mark:
*Special* Mage Sight(Able to recognize all magical
items and symbols plus can also use scrolls)

(3) You didn't really think they'd give up that easily did you?

*$*$*$*$*$*$*

Chapter II ......Moonlit Interlude.
~~~~~~~~
-Tendo Guest Room

{Unfamilar ceiling.}

Ranma lay on his futon looking up
at nothing in particular, only the light
background noises of the Japanese
suburbs at night and the chirping of
some tenacious crickets broke the
quiet stillness of the late hour.

Sleep eluded him. Not that he
really needed it, but there was no
sense in exerting himself without
the need to.

[Still awake?]

{Yeah, guess I`m still too used to feeling the rhythm
of Untamed Stallion's engines. At least in China I could
gaze up at the stars, it's just too quiet here.}

[It has been quite a day.]

{You can say that again.}

[Something is still bothering me though.]

{What is it?}

[It's....a feeling. Are you sure there's no magic
around here? You didn't try an active scan and
with enough shields even a half-rate mage can block
a passive search. I could do a quick check now if you want.]

{It would give our presence to any sensitive
that might be in the city though. While I highly
doubt there's anyone with even a moderate
amount of magical talent on this world I'd be
willing to wager that there are at least some
fairly competent psychics around. I'd rather
wait until any evidence turns up before
dropping the element of surprise. Besides, you
worry too much.}

[And you don't worry enough!]

Ishtar's concern was mixed with exasperation,
if she could have she would have pulled out a
blunt instrument and beat some sense into that
thick head of Ranma's. As the weapon was locked
inside of Ranma's suitcase at the moment she had to
settle with simply berating him instead.

[You dolt!]

{Well, I was kinda curious about everyone's
behavior during dinner....}
~~~~~~~~
-We are watching you

"What are you doing?"

"Uh......nothing!" The Bard quickly
ditched his dirty bootlegged copy of the
future plot devices in this Private Bet.

Shadow shot a probing glance at him, still
suspicious of the fast talking rogue musician.

"By the way Bard, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What?"

"What the heck's your real name anyway?!!
I'm getting sick and tired of having to always call you the Bard!!!"

"Uh....it's kinda embarrassing actually...."

"Spill it."

"Bar*mumble*mumble*"

"What?! Speak up!"

"It's BarthalamuDraconiousfranchesicabobescacalifradalisticexpialidocious
the Third."

"Good grief!!!"

"So now you see why I prefer being just called the Bard."
~~~~~~~~
*Insert a Flashback sequence intro here*

Dinner had been uneventful. Mostly.

"This sukiyaki is delicious Kasumi! The beef is
so tender and sweet! You can really sink
your teeth into the meat, it's just so good!"

For some reason Ranma couldn't understand
all three of the Tendo girls had turned beet red
after hearing that. This was the best food he’d
had since leaving the ship!

Things got even weirder after he asked Akane
for some sweet buns. She'd nearly choked on
her drink, but when he had asked what was
wrong she said that she was fine.
~~~~~~

Genma had decided to steal his son's food
under the guise of training. The fact that the boy
had actually taken normal sized servings didn't
go unnoticed, the older man lamented about this
obvious slacking off from the Founding Principles
of the Anything Goes School. He would have to
start teaching the boy all over again.

When Ranma's attention was focused elsewhere
Genma's chopsticks struck out for a pickle.

*Snip*

With a self satisfied smirk the glutton prepared
 to claim the prize.

Then he looked down.

Never taking his eyes off of Kasumi who was
questioning him about China, Ranma allowed himself a
small smile.

Genma stared dumbly at the cleanly sheared ends of his
once much longer pair of chopsticks. Then he looked
at Ranma, the boy appeared to not have even noticed.

Genma couldn't understand it so after getting
another pair he tried again. This time Ranma's
head was turned as he passed some fishcake to Nabiki.

Again the master food thief made his attack.

*Snip*

Once again he pulled back two little wooden stubs.

{How'd he do that?!!}

A cowed Genma decided that discretion was the
better part of valor and for once in his life actually
ate with what passed for manners. Something was
definitely wrong with the boy.
~~~~~

Nabiki Tendo had finally regained her
composure and self control after
a very cold shower. Her natural
tendency to question things was
returning to her as the multiple
overwelming shocks to her system
she'd received ever since Ranma
had arrived had started to wear off.

Several nagging doubts had popped
up ever since she'd had a chance to think
rationally about this engagement and more
importantly about their potential fiancee.

With great effort the infamous "Ice Queen"
of Furinkan pushed away the effects of
that free show she'd gotten. She couldn't let silly
hormones influence her judgment at a time like this.

Nabiki's eyes narrowed slightly as she studied the
friendly but rather quiet young man.

He was too good to be true. There had to be a
catch here somewhere, unless this guy was an
absolute saint he was hiding something. A
disturbing possibility occurred her.

{Say......we never did find out if
he was cursed like his father! What if he turns into
a little black pig! Or a white duck! Or a yeti riding
a bull with a crane and eel! Or worst of all, a
buxom young GIRL!!}

The middle Tendo daughter wanted to bang her
head against the table for missing such an obvious
thing like that, was she really that hard up for a date?!

This mistake would have to be remedied.

{No time like the present to find out.}

"Say Ranma...."

"Yes?"

"Oops...."

Nabiki *accidently* knocked over her glass of water.

Somehow Ranma was in the water's path
as it started to fall but he wasn't there when it hit.

*Splash*

"NABIKI!"

"Sorry Akane."

{Damn. Missed!}

She'd have to wait for another oppertunity. Not now,
but when his guard was down. How hard could it be?
~~~~~

Akane excused herself to dry off. In the bathroom
she started banging her head against the wall while chanting
"I hate boys, I hate boys, I hate boys..."

It had been a mistake to peep on Ranma.
She felt like a complete pervert. If he ever found
out about that she'd just die from complete embarrassment
~~~~~~~

"Um....Ranma?"

"Yes Kasumi?"

"Do you...I mean...do..." She
faltered, unable to complete
her question.

"Hmm?"

"Are you....cursed in any way like your father?"

There, she'd said it. Contrary to some people's
belief Kasumi was not stupid, nor was she on a high
prescription of Valium. It would have surprised her family
to find out that their dear sweet innocent housekeeper
possessed a mental acuity that rivaled Nabiki's. She simply
utilized it differently. Kasumi had become something of a
minor legend in the marketplace for her ability to get the
lowest prices no matter where she shopped. Her aura
of niceness combined with a intelligence that few expected
from such a seemingly normal girl never failed to get a discount.

{Oh boy....}

Now, how to answer that without actually lying...

"Um...well I don't a have a Jusenkyo curse if that's what you mean....."

Nabiki and Kasumi both caught the implied "but"
at the end of that statement.

{What is he hiding!?}

*End Flashback*
~~~~~~~

In the Guest Room a large shape turned slightly to observe
a second smaller one that lay only a few feet away.

A careful glance revealed Ranma was not moving,
his chest rising and falling with the evenness of someone fast asleep.(1)

With a sneakiness that came from long practice
a giant lump inched its way out.
~~~~~

Genma scratched the kerchief on his head as he
read some of the stickers plastered all over the
innocous gray case.

`Hug a Pikachu!'

`Wendy Rider Concert Live!'

`Be nice to Wookies! Or else they'll rip your arms out!.

There were also several luggage stamps. Yavin IV, Lazlo,
Melva, Pern, New Hope and several other places were
listed. A large sweatdrop had developed behind Genma's
head by this time, this was beyond odd and heading straight
into downright bizarre.

But he could smell an opportunity for profit a mile away.

During their training journey Ranma had only one small traveling
pack of supplies and personal belongings. So naturally Genma was
*ahem* curious as to what was in these two rather large pieces of
luggage. The boy wouldn't mind, surely a small trinket or two
was for him. He'd just take it early and save his son the trouble......
~~~~~~~~

{Quiet Night.}

[Quiet Night.]

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZAAAAAPPPPPP!!!!!*

[What's that?!]

{Sounds like Pops discovered the anti-theft mazor in my suitcase.}

[A microwave taser? Where did you find it?]

{Traded a Flame-blade for it at that little shop in Perv, works great too.
As effective as an electrical stun gun without the risk of fatality.}

[Ewww....it smells like roast pork over here!!!]

*Sweatdrop*

{Sorry about that, it does tend to leave the victim a little crispy.}
~~~~~~~~
-Up the stairs and down the hall we go

Kasumi slept alone.
With any luck that would soon change.

{He seems like such a nice young man. I wish......}

A smile lit her peaceful slumber.
~~~~~~~~~

Nabiki Tendo was suffering the agony of indecision.

{Do I or don't I? Argghh!!! I can't decide!!!}

Was the risk really worth it? Should she just try to use
him or did she dare to go for the big jackpot?

The whimpering coming from downstairs wasn't helping either.
~~~~~~~~

Akane couldn't sleep a wink. Every time she closed her
eyes....IT appeared. The scene from the bath continued to haunt her,
every inch of Ranma's body seemed to have etched its way into her
memory.....

{I am not a pervert!!!}

Now if only she could believe her own declaration.
~~~~~~~
-Not quite far enough

Sailor Mars paused for a moment.
Just a minute ago she'd felt a presence
brush past her. It looked like their quarry was
on to them......
~~~~

Yohko looked out at the bright moon from
the hotel balcony. She was going with
Mrs Saotome to meet her future fiancee.

{I hope he's cute.}

Admittedly she'd been reserved at first
about this whole business. But Aunty Nodoka could
be very persuasive when she wanted to and anyway Devil
Hunting was a lousy way to meet guys. They either got
killed or tried to kill her. Plus most people thought
she was just plain weird, but Mrs Saotome had actually
been delighted with her combat skill. If this Ranma
guy was even a tenth as good as his mother said he was
she'd take him!
~~~~~~~

Belldandy finished her wards, the entire shrine was now
shielded enough to withstand anything short of Ragnarok.

No matter what happened Keiichi would be safe.
~~~~~~

Ranma was almost about to fall asleep when an urgent
buzzing in his mind awakened him.

[Ranma!]

{Wha? Huh??}

[Remember what you said about there being no traces of magic around?]

{Yeah?}

[Well get a load of this!]

The sentinent weapon opened the link between them fully
to let Ranma "see" what she'd just picked up.

It was one heck of a nasty surprise.

{Impossible! Those sources weren't
there earlier!!}

[So what do we do?]

{We wait till tomorrow then start looking. Ishtar....}

[Yes?]

{I've got a bad feeling about this.}

[Join the club.]
~~~~~~

(End Chapter II)