Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Two Wallets ❯ Enter the "Bitch" Squad... ( Chapter 128 )

A Tale of Two Wallets

 

(An Altered Destiny)

 

Written by Jim Robert Bader

 

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

 

 

 

“Come to bed, Wife,” Hairbrush urged, “You can read that letter again better in the morning.”

 

“I can't help it if I'm being emotional,” Comb said while dabbing at her eyes, “My little girls are writing me all the way from Paris, France, where they're enjoying life with their new Airen. What mother wouldn't be thrilled with her little babies?”

 

“They'll turn sixteen in a few months, so you can't really call them babies,” Hairbrush argued, “I just hope that new son-in-law of ours treats Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung well and doesn't try to welsh out on our deal to marry them officially when they turn eighteen and it's fully legal.”

 

“He had better not…for his sake,” Comb said direly, “Or else he'll have that frog-like tongue of his shortened by at least a meter. But anyway, the girls say that they're doing well and they've enjoyed a visit to the Eiffel Tower. It's amazing them to learn how big the world truly is…and don't I well remember what that felt like when I first left our village to see the bigger picture outside of China.”

 

“Of course you chose to return home rather than marry a rich foreigner and live the life of a pampered princess,” her husband pointed out, “And now that events have come full circle…well, how do you think I feel about our little girls growing up so quickly? It seems only yesterday that they were just studying to master their first Dragon Dance, and now they share the same husband…”

 

“They do grow up quickly,” Hairbrush mused, taking a moment to glance towards the nearest wall before adding, “Unlike some I could name, who never seem to grow up even slightly.”

 

“Oh, let them have their fun,” Comb mused, “Grandmother's been a lot easier to deal with ever since she stopped running away from her destiny and at last decided to embrace it.

 

“Is that what it's called these days?” Hairbrush mused as he went back to reading the book on his lap, “Well, it certainly is an improvement from when she tried to control the lives of everyone around her, though mostly I think she just enjoyed being the grandmother that other people turned to for their problems.”

 

“Very hard to maintain that role when you look younger than my own daughter,” Comb mused, “Which is why I intend to keep her in that high school until she legally graduates, no matter how hard she protests against it.”

 

“Age is not a function of appearance but behavior,” Hairbrush quoted without looking up from his book, “I believe that was one of her fondest quotes, and now she has the chance to prove her point by showing her great wisdom and earning the respect of those she meets upon a daily basis.”

 

“But still…” Comb said more cautiously, “Do you really think that we are doing the right thing keeping our family here instead of moving back to China? I know that, with the ascension of Ambergris to the coveted spot of Prime among warriors our family constitutes the old regime and is thus not welcome…but still…”

 

“What is there to worry about, Wife?” Hairbrush asked, “Ambergris shows great promise of one day becoming the leader of the tribes and uniting them against whatever threat it was that Elder Lotion has foreseen awaiting us sometime in the future. To that end it is good to have our children out of immediate danger, and now that Shampoo is about to give us our first grandchild…”

 

“Oh, Gods of the White Mountain!” Comb winced, “I'm going to be a grandmother…how in the name of my ancestors did that ever happen?”

 

Hairbrush glanced up towards his emotional wife and just allowed his look to speak volumes in the intervening silence. She got the point and at once grew chastened, reminded of why she valued his company so much after all these years of marriage. He was the one who understood her best and was best able to cope with her mood swings, a skill he needed frequently these days as their family was often jolted by one crisis followed swiftly by another.

 

“Things will work out for the best, you will see,” he promised.

 

“I hope that you are right, Airen,” Comb averred, “I sometimes sense a shadow looming in our future, yet time and again it has been driven back, and in that I think we have Shampoo's Airen to thank, proof again that our daughter has made very good choices.”

 

“Speaking of which,” Hairbrush reminded his purple haired lady, “How did that meeting go between you, Atsuko, Nodoka and Genji the other day?”

 

“Genma,” Comb immediately corrected, “And I don't see why you even have to ask. I keep telling you that it is all in the past between us, and she can have the fool for all I care.”

 

“Well…as you say,” Hairbrush decided to let the matter drop, though hardly satisfied by such a stock pro-forma answer, “By the way, have you considered going back into Medicine and opening your own clinic? It shouldn't be too hard to obtain a Japanese license…not with our family's connections.”

 

“I'm sure I'll pursue that option soon enough,” Comb replied, “But for now we have a restaurant to operate. The clinic option is something to be reserved once we're on sound financial footing.”

 

“You just like keeping your grandmother in the role of a waitress,” Hairbrush said with amusement.

 

“Well…” his wife reluctantly admitted, “I'll confess that is one of the perks, but she brings in so much business waiting on tables in that cute little outfit I bought for her. And besides, now that she and Siren have finally taken the plunge and settled down…”

 

Another sound penetrated the woodwork, to which Hairbrush idly noted, “I'm not sure if `settled down' is the term that I would use, but…there you have it.”

 

“Elders should show more respect to their kindred, and at their age no less,” Comb mused, “But as I was about to say, it is for Siren to determine affairs from this point onward. After all, she is senior Airen in that match, and she's admitted to me how much she enjoys seeing Grandmother prancing around in her outfit, so until she voices objection to having lots of strange men ogle her every morning…”

 

“Whom she could easily turn into newts if she did have such objections,” Hairbrush noted.

 

“But of course,” said his purple-haired lady, “Which wouldn't be too good for business, but as you say, she has shown remarkable restraint up to the present.”

 

“After you consented to allow her to open that herbal tea shop next door to our place,” Hairbrush again helpfully supplied.

 

“Well, that and the magic shop in the back helps keep our books in the black,” Comb remarked, “But as you have noted, it is in the name of doing good business.”

 

“How did you ever learn to be so devious, Wife?” Hairbrush asked as he eyed her sidelong.

 

“Between you and Grandmother? I had good teachers,” Comb answered, “And life itself has been the ultimate teacher, or so Silk would say if she were here to needle me with her barbed witticisms.”

 

“Fortunately she has her own husband to turn her favors upon,” Hairbrush said, then considered his wife carefully before saying, “You know…I've always loved your hair exactly as it is, but sometimes it does get annoying having to assure people that you don't use a coloring agent.”

 

“Hah!” Comb snorted, “Like when I had to dye it black in order to attend Beijing University and not appear too reactionary? Let people speculate what they will…or are you telling me that you'd prefer it a different color?”

 

“Not at all,” Hairbrush replied, “And if it doesn't bother you, then I'm content to leave things as they are…even if I am getting along in years, and more and more people are wondering if you're my oldest daughter rather than my Airen.”

 

“Are you saying that I'm too young for you?” Comb asked in surprise.

 

“Appearances would suggest it, even if you have assured me over and over that we are of similar ages,” Hairbrush noted, “Not that there is anything wrong with looking young and hearty at the tender age of forty…and your family is noted for its longevity…the evidence in the next room being a prime case on example.”

 

As if on cue another drawn-out screech assailed their ear, informing them that someone had just scored another point in the game of love that the two elders were playing back and forth together.

 

“Yes, but I don't have the connection to the Juraian trees through the staff that grandmother carries,” Comb pointed out, “So one day I will start to show my age…just not as soon as with other women, and as you say, there is nothing to be ashamed about in that admission.”

 

“I'm just saying…there may come a time when you may have to consider a life lived under a very different arrangement,” Hairbrush cautioned, “I may not always be here…”

 

“Stop!” she promptly ordered, “You are my husband, and a life lived without you is simply unthinkable. Don't talk nonsense to me, you know that I would never permit it.”

 

“I just needed to hear you say that,” Hairbrush smiled, “But for the record…if there ever did come such a time…I would want you to be happy. Your happiness has always been my foremost consideration.”

 

Comb glanced down at their bed and considered allowing the tears to form that she felt stinging her eyes, but for pride's sake she refused to be as weak as a man by giving into such temptations. Instead what she said was, “And yours is important enough to me, Airen, not to want to compromise what we have shared together these past two decades.”

 

“Time enough to worry over that,” Hairbrush said, both moved and amused by his wife's declaration, “Now, off to bed for the both of us, or we'll be setting a poor example for our Elders.”

 

“Oh yes, wouldn't do to stay up late and give Grandmother cause for one of her lectures,” Comb grinned with impish delight, “I'd much rather be the one to do that to her in the light of the morning. Imagine keeping us all awake at this hour of the morning…simply shameful.”

 

And with that she turned off the lights as she and her husband put aside their reading matter and his glasses, and then they drifted off to sleep despite the continuing ruckus going on next store to their room.

 

 

And, meanwhile, in the selfsame adjoining room, Siren and Cologne paused for breath, panting softly as their exertions of the moment past had momentarily taxed even their formidable constitution. In the dim moonlight of evening both women studied one another's agelessly youth features and then grinned like the pair of randy teenagers whom they resembled before one of them said to the other, “They must think us no better than a naughty pair of delinquents for behaving this way, Kho-chan.”

 

“Let them think what they will,” Cologne murmured back, “Comb can make what she wants of our behavior…I let her indulge in the pretend act of playing my aunt for the sake of my legal standing in this country, but that doesn't mean she actually has the right to impose a curfew on my behavior.”

 

“Well, technically she does,” Siren pointed out, “You left her the deed to the property, and since you can't prove that you're the original signer on the lease it naturally falls to her since she is---officially at least---your senior by about a decade or two, at least as it concerns the authorities here in Nerima.”

 

“Devil take Japanese laws and customs,” Cologne said in frustration, “If not for this curse inhibiting my illusion generating powers…”

 

“I wouldn't so much call it a curse myself seeing how it was the reason we finally got back together,” Siren studied the beautiful profile of her Airen before adding, “But you did resist my advances for so long that I was beginning to doubt it would ever work for us again. What made you change your mind and decide to accept the magic?”

 

“Perhaps you were just so annoyingly persistent that I forgot my reason to refuse you,” Cologne shrugged, “Or perhaps saving my life counted for something in my re-appraising all that I thought I knew about you…”

 

“Ah, I thought that might be it,” Siren sighed softly, holding her dark haired Airen in her arms and feeling the beating of their hearts slowly coming together in synch, “Persistence always was one of my chief virtues.”

 

“One of the very few virtues that you possess that are worth noting,” Cologne teased, “As I recall things, one of the issues that broke us apart three hundred years ago was your wandering eye and fancy for other women.”

 

“Really?” Siren mused, “And here I thought it was because of that curious infatuation you developed for a certain pervert who visited your village. What was his name again?”

 

Cologne playfully swatted a hand against the thigh of her beloved, then leaned her head softly between the harbor of Siren's breasts before musing, “Perhaps in all truth I've just been more lonely than I was willing to admit…and then I began to remember what it was that attracted you to me in the first place…”

 

“You mean my keen wits, my good looks, my gregarious personality?” Siren suggested.

 

“More like your insatiable appetites,” Cologne chuckled, running a hand over smooth skin then deliberately cupping one breast and feeling its soft texture, rolling the nipple between a thumb and forefinger, which caused a soft groaning noise to escape from the lips of her blonde-haired Airen.

 

“Oh…yes…that,” Siren said with obvious approval.

 

“I am not often given to say this aloud,” Cologne murmured, “But in a way I am actually grateful to Happosai for giving me the chance to find that which I thought had been lost long ago, but only recently I have rediscovered.”

 

“And that is?” Siren groaned as Cologne continued to tease and fondle her bosom.

 

“My self-respect as a woman,” Cologne answered, “I had thought myself happy to be the Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku, but so much weight and responsibility hung about my shoulders that when it was taken away…I did not know what I should do with myself. Starting out life all over can be frightening when the foundations of your world are knocked out from underneath you…but thanks to a certain stubborn mage of my acquaintance…I have begun to learn more about myself than I had ever known from meditation and reflection.”

 

“I really must remember to thank Happy for…that,” Siren gasped, “Should I turn him…into something unpleasant that would please you?”

 

“No, I rather like the fate that he brought upon himself by his own actions,” Cologne chuckled, “Being married to that psychic vampire of a teacher is all the punishment that I could ever wish upon the pervert.”

 

“You're right,” Siren said while caressing her hands across the smooth muscles of Cologne's back, “Turning him into a bug would be a mercy compared to that.”

 

“In the meantime, Airen,” Cologne said meaningfully, “Do not squelch on your marital duties…as you wanted this so bad, work for it and convince me that it truly is myself whom you most care for.”

 

“If you mean more than I care about myself,” Siren noted wryly, “I should think I've already proven that time and again…but if you do need convincing…”

 

“By all means,” Cologne urged, “Convince me.”

 

Green eyes met scarlet within the darkness where all colors are indistinguishable tones of gray, and then Siren whispered back fervently, “With pleasure, my love, and three hundred years of accrued interest…”

 

And so the night wore on as two lonely souls made compensation for many decades of self-imposed abstinence and continued to carry on as if their apparent ages were their actual ones until long into the first pale light of day, their “friskiness” a testament to an affair long interrupted yet which was still as vibrant now as it was three centuries earlier when their love had been as fresh as the dew of the morning grasses…

 

 

Cologne awakened with a start from the incongruous images that had haunted her at rest, the face and texture of a familiar womanly presence in her arms making her feel things that she had thought long buried within the dusty corridors of her aged breast. It had felt so real, that sense of limbs entwining, of tongues exploring taste and texture of skin and going deeper into very intimate places that only lovers could know…and incongruous array of images and impressions that caused her to shudder slightly, wondering if her first female lover were somewhere near at hand projecting into her mind the memories of what they once had had but long since had abandoned.

 

But looking around herself she was at once struck with the vivid contrast between the intensely sensual experiences that another Cologne was enjoying…and the far less pleasant place in which she currently was nestled. Rather than find herself in the amorous arms of a childhood lover long abandoned she discovered that she was chained to a wall with arms and legs spread akimbo and the cloying scent of mildew all around her that befitted her dank environs, which to all appearances seemed to be a fairly standard castle dungeon.

 

“Awake at last are we?” a familiar voice asked, compelling her to turn and gaze in the man's direction.

 

“What have you done with me and the others?” Cologne demanded, then gaped in shock as her voice did not carry the raspy quality of old age but rather held the strength of youth undiminished.

 

“Surprised?” Shang-Kwan asked as he stepped into better lighting, “Don't be. That illusion you wore hardly flattered you, so I have dispensed with it so that I may gaze upon the Cologne I knew as a warrior of legend. I honestly don't understand or care why you disguised yourself as a withered old hag, but you really should have known better than to think it would fool me.”

 

“The others?” Cologne asked, maintaining her resolve in spite of her evidently helpless situation.

 

“I'm seeing to it that they are suitably entertained,” Shang-Kwan replied, “But you are my special guest, the one I would prefer to spend more time with, when circumstances permit it. By then the event that you came to prevent will have come to pass and I will bathe in the glorious radiant energies of your very own great-great-great…ah, how many greats is it? Well, no matter…your heir apparent's life essence will be mine, and through it I will have achieved godhood, at which point even you will bow before me.”

 

“Never,” Cologne said flatly, “And what makes you think that I would ever view you with anything but spite if you accomplish such a fiendish thing?”

 

“Oh, trust me, by then it will no longer seem all that important how I got to where I am,” the man said with a confidence that was bone chilling, “Neither will you remember such trivial things, for with all the descendants you have had over the centuries I'm sure losing one or two of them will be a sacrifice small in importance.”

 

“You are madder than I thought you were when we last met a century ago,” Cologne stated flatly, “At the time I had thought you to have some potential, but I see that you have squandered your gifts on petty self-enrichment…”

 

“Spare me the lecture that you would use upon your minions among the Joketsuzoku,” Shang-Kwan said in mild dismissal, “You can pretend all you like to embody some noble cause but in the end you do whatever you think is necessary to preserve your power. Is that not why you fool your peers by attempting to seem as one of them with that age-inducing illusion? Because you do not want them to know that you are of superior stock and a breed apart from normal humans? What a pathetic waste of your potential, to squander your gifts fretting uselessly about the welfare of others.”

 

“You would never understand the concept of community, kinship ties and friendship…” Cologne protested.

 

“Of course I understand them,” Shang-Kwan insisted, “I have observed these traits in others, but never felt them in my own life, and why should I? I have worked to achieve what I have and I see no reason to waste even a second of my time fretting for the sake of those mindless sheep who do not have wit enough to care for themselves. Mere mortals are fools who relish their ignorance and flaunt it as a badge of courage, despising those who take the time to study and learn. It is rule by the thug and the bully that is the true lot of civilized society, I find nothing noble or of consequence to laud in those who care not a whit for one another. This world belongs to the strong and the insightful…the man who understands its workings is the master of all fate, far more dangerous for what he knows than the rude brute who lumbers around feeding his animal appetites and rutting himself into extinction.”

 

Cologne regarded Shang-Kwan carefully then said, “I was wrong…you are not merely mad, you are a sociopath, and it will be my duty and pleasure to see you suffer for your crimes before this is over.”

 

“Whatever,” Shang-Kwan made a dismissive gesture, “Your failure to realize your own superiority is a consequence of your upbringing, but I will soon liberate you from the petty weight of an imposed conscience, and you will even thank me for doing so once you come to realize the extent of your maudlin error. But for now let us not spoil our reunion by quarreling over petty issues. I regret that I must restrain you for now, but I intend to treat you like royalty when I am ascended, and who knows? You might even make a fitting queen for my court…once you are persuaded to accept your role as my divine consort.”

 

“Never!” Cologne stated flatly.

 

“Never is a very long time, even for Immortals,” Shang-Kwan chuckled darkly, “And one should never be so quick to prejudge the outcome of an event that is in question. But have no doubt of this…I am to be a supreme power and authority in this region, and it would be well for the Joketsuzoku to mind their place and not tempt me to wrath. I will give you time to think on it for now, but when I return you will see for yourself the truth of that which I have spoken.”

 

Cologne balled her fists and tried to pull herself free from her chains, but she could not slip her wrists out of the manacles, and something about the metal was inhibiting her chi summoning abilities. She gave up the effort as futile, but only for the moment, intending to find another way of getting loose so that she could strangle the abomination before rather than see him work his evil plans upon the whole of China.

 

“Oh,” Shang-Kwan said before fully turning away, “And since you did ask about your companions, I've had to apply restraints in order to keep them quiet and civil while I complete the delicate ceremony of my ascension. All except for one boy…a curious fellow who used Elementals to attack me…imagine. I trapped him in a dimensional void leading straight to the abyss, and so I doubt that you will see him alive and well ever again as the void tends to be a most inhospitable place to positively charged life forms.”

 

“No…” Cologne's eyes went wide and she took on a note of fear in her tone and expression.

 

“You didn't really think such a stumbling rescue could succeed against me, now did you?” Shang-Kwan asked, “You must not have valued those young people by very much to throw their lives away against me, regardless of their special talents. Think well on that and consider who is truly at fault here, for what I do I do from necessity, not malice, and if anyone suffers from this…well then, you have only yourself to blame for underestimating me and my resolve to become a power to be reckoned with. So waste no time grieving for the one who is lost…rather concern yourself for what will happen to the others if you do not cooperate in the very near future. And now with that tawdry bit being said, I bid you adieu…at least until later this evening.”

 

Again he started to turn away, only to pause as a curious tinkling noise was heard in the distance. Shang-Kwan appeared to be genuinely surprised, and then he asked rather curiously, “How odd…that sounded almost like one of my elixir beacons being shattered. But how…?”

 

“My guess would be my great-great-granddaughters,” Cologne said with a certain prideful air of smugness, “Just how well did you think that you had them secured in your clutches anyway?”

 

“But that's absurd!” Shang-Kwan insisted, “I left them in the central shaft under the control of the Eye of…Hotath? That's very odd…I don't sense the Eye's power anymore…in fact…”

 

All at once he quickened his pace, all but running rather than masterfully striding through the chamber, and he teleported with great haste at the very last moment before leaving Cologne's field of vision altogether.

 

“Good luck rounding them back up, fool,” Cologne malevolently chuckled, “You are going to need it. Now…how to get these blasted chains off of me without using chi? I really must remember better where I store my lock-pick kit for just such emergencies as this…”

 

 

“Hello…is anybody there?” Ranma asked as he dangled on the edge of eternity clinging to the chain that was anchored at the mouth of a really big pit that seemed to stretch on forever, “Anybody?”

 

**Save your breath, Master,** Karina urged in his head, **There is very little air to breathe on this side of the vortex, and I have to concentrate to keep as much of it together as you will need to stay alive until we can manage to effect a rescue.**

 

“The Abyss?” Ranma asked aloud, “Is that where that creep hurled me when he opened that gate? Ah…just what is the Abyss anyway?”

 

**Other than a movie made by mortals about a sea trench that's more in Latisha's backyard than mine?** Karina answered, **The Abyss is the term mortals use to describe a place that is not any place as you might understand it. It's the place beyond the Worlds of Light where Shadow rules with absolute darkness. It's the absence of form and substance as you mortals know it, an infinite realm of nothingness that sometimes shapes itself as dream and nightmare, the very opposite polarity from the Astral Plane, a place where even gods do not go to venture. Do you understand what I am saying, Master?**

 

“No,” Ranma reluctantly admitted.

 

There was a mental sigh and then Karina tried again, **That gate the Wizard opened was the doorway to the Abyss, and we're caught in a transitional tunnel of some sort that the guy must use as an interdimensional garbage disposal chute for throwing out the stuff he doesn't want, like intruders who try and mess up his evil plans and such…**

 

“So you're saying he thinks I'm garbage?” Ranma bridled.

 

**Well, that's his opinion anyway,** Karina reassured her Master, **But the important thing is that we have to get away from here, and fast, or else we could get trapped out here forever.**

 

“And that's a very bad thing, right?” Ranma guessed.

 

**Very,** Karina stressed the word, **The problem is…I'm the only one of your elemental servants who's still left to serve you. He somehow siphoned the others away and trapped them in a jar of some sort. If you had ordered me to attack him then I'd probably have wound up with them…horrible prospect that. Not that I mind being a solo act, but without Latisha to create the heat you need to sustain you, or Nagisha to form substance out of the pseudo-matter all around us, or even Sharil to maintain the fluids in your body…it's going to be somewhat rough for me alone to keep you safe and healthy out in the Void, Master…so getting out of here isn't just a priority, it's a matter of life and death, and then some.”

 

“Right, got it,” Ranma noted as he continued to cling to the chain, “So…what happens if this chain snaps or I let go? Do I just sail out into the great nothingness forever?”

 

**That's the fate of most mortals who get stuck out here,** Karina informed him, but then she tried to sound more upbeat, **But you are not most mortals, Master…you're the great Saotome Ranma, and I have every confidence that you can beat this if you apply yourself, just like you have all the other enemies who've gone up against you.**

 

“Right,” Ranma said somewhat dubiously, “So…what do you suggest I do in this spot?*”

 

**Ahhh…** Karina paused and seemed to be thinking it over before reluctantly saying, **Well…you're the combat genius here, Master, I'm only the servant. Void and Air are like total opposites, and this really, really isn't my element…but if there is any way that I can suggest an idea to you for getting the both of us out of this mess…**

 

“Gotcha,” Ranma said, staring up the chain then softly admitting, “Ummm…nothing comes to me at the moment, but I'm sure using the Arashisenken…”

 

**WHO DARES DISTURB MY REST?!?**

 

“Ah…” Ranma paused somewhat reluctantly, “Did you just say something?”

 

**Not me, Master,** Karina assured him, **I've never heard that creepy, ominous sounding voice in my life…though it does remind me a little bit of my ex-Master, Dimitri…**

 

**I SAID---WHO DARES DISTURB ME?** the voice reverberated ominously, and then a face took shape from the swirling vortex of terror that lay directly below them.

 

“Hah?” Ranma glanced down and saw baleful eyes the size of miniature galaxies staring up at him with cold determination.

 

The face shrank down considerably and resolved itself into the form of a girl who stood roughly the same height as Karina when in human shape, only naked and quite pissed from the look of it. Her large breasts hung from her chest like a pair of giant asterisks, and with hands on her hips she looked surprisingly cute for all that her body was airy and translucent.

 

“I said who the hell are you waking me up when I'm trying to get my beauty rest?” she snapped, “What are you, deaf or blind or something?”

 

Ranma almost let go of the chain in his surprise, but managed to stop himself after sliding down a few links, “Ah…excuse me? Were you speaking to me just now?”

 

“Who the fuck do you think I was talking to, Stupid?” the strange girl all but exploded, gesturing towards Ranma and adding, “That air-headed bimbo Sylph you've got riding piggyback on your right leg? And what are you two doing here in my realm making so much of a fuss? Just let go of that thing and sail off to oblivion for all that I care, but don't hang around here and disturb me. I'm a working lady.”

 

**Air-headed bimbo?** Ranma could sense Karina bridling with outrage, then aloud she projected, “And who the hell do you think you are ordering my master around like that? A working lady? That's not how I would put it!”

 

“Ah oh,” Ranma said in a very small voice. He had more than enough experience with female catfights to sense were this was heading.

 

The translucent girl with the swirling hair glared hotly at both Ranma and Karina with her vacant eyes and snarled, “I'll give you to the count of ten and then I'm snapping that chain and ridding myself of you completely. One, two, three, five..."”

 

“Hey, what happened to four?” Ranma protested.

 

“I never was that good at math,” the transparent girl made a wave of her hand and all at once the chain above Ranma's head was abruptly severed as though struck by a knife blow, “Bye-bye, don't bother to write and…huh? Why the hell aren't you falling?”

 

Ranma had instinctively done what he would ordinarily do when presented by a long drop that might normally end in a rather rude landing…only this landing looked like it could go on forever. When the chain had snapped he let go and balled his fists to concentrate his energy, catching the chain on his foot while summoning up the Arashisenken maneuver known as “Warm House Creates Strong Updrafts,” which allowed him to defy gravity or---in this case---resist the pull of wind that was attempting to suck him off into the great nothingness below them. With Karina charging his ki and enabling him to control his vector and center of gravity he turned and oriented himself upon the see-through nude girl and gave her a look that was openly defiant.

 

“Guess again, Bimbo!” Karina taunted from someplace just over Ranma's shoulder, “You won't get rid of my Master that easily, not while I'm here to combine with his spirit, because we're a team, something a vacuum-head like you wouldn't understand to save your life!”

 

“Ah…” Ranma murmured half-heartedly, “I really don't know if this is the time to piss her off…”

 

“Fine!” the ghost-girl seemed to glow with antipathy as she balled her fists and said, “Then you're gonna find out what it means to piss off an Astral Diva, you minor-league trollop! Prepare for Elemental Mortal Combat!”

 

“Anytime you're ready!” Karina shot back, then flowed all the way back into Ranma and said, **Don't worry, Master…she talks tough but she's just a minor-league act. I've met Void elementals before, and they're mostly just space with very little substance.**

 

“If you say so,” Ranma said while preparing for a fight, murmuring as he did so, “I just know that I'm going to regret this…”

 

The translucent girl expanded outward and took on the appearance of a sea of glass, and then began to whirl about with razor-sharp blades that looked like the teeth of a cyclone preparing to grind Ranma and Karina into bits of frothy hamburger. Ranma steeled himself and summoned up all of his training, knowing that he had only one elemental attack to fall back upon this time, and severely regretting the absence of the others…

 

 

Nabiki's Journal Continues:

 

A quotation comes to mind that popped into my head even as my counterpart and I were retrieving the other members of our hastily formed rescue party. I believe that it is a quotation lifted from the Christian Bible…though it also sounds like something that might well have been said by the Buddha, which I now know is far less of a coincidence than many people tend to imagine.

 

It goes something like this when translated into Japanese: “That which you have will save you if you bring it from within yourselves. Let Him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds he will become troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over them all.”

 

I said that aloud without thinking about it, which is why my counterpart turned a questioning look towards me and said, “You really get off on that fortune cookie nonsense, don't you?”

 

“It's not nonsense to me,” I assured her, “And ever since undergoing my training I've come to appreciate the value of a good saying, if for no other reason but that it makes me feel better at the time. Do I need a better reason?”

 

“Probably not,” she said, turning back to regard the others, “Look, I know it seems weird for me to be standing here without my baby, but I'm all right, and he's safe, and right now I can't be sidelined when I ought to be out there doing my part to rescue our children. It's only temporary, I assure you, and when I get back I'll be restored to my proper body…or that's what the guy I talked to said would happen anyway…”

 

“Airen?” Shampoo asked tentatively, touching her wife's stomach in a tentative way as if to reassure herself that her Nabiki was quite real and solid.

 

“Neat trick,” Ukyo noted, “Any chance you could teach it to the rest of us so we can take part in rescuing Ranchan and our daughters?”

 

“Unfortunately I doubt that it would work for anyone else at the moment,” I replied, seeing their disappointment since these women were as much girls of action as their counterparts on my timeline, “We needed a template to effect the spell, and I'm the only one here who could do the job. Besides, my Shampoo's just as knocked up as you are, Sham-chan, while my friend Kuonji has a Jusenkyo curse, which would kind of mess you up in the baby-making department, Ucchan…”

 

“Whereas I am not a part of your life on the other side of the dominion timeline,” Beatrice noted rather astutely, “And while the Akane of your world is not---as you say---pregnant at the moment, she also bears a curse that might make a transition awkward…so indeed, you are the logical choice for a template. Therefore the rest of us must remain in our assigned roles while you lead the charge to bring back our daughters…and Alison is going with you.”

 

“Just try and keep me away,” the doughty redhead glared meaningfully, and indeed, I doubt very much that I would have wanted to keep her behind if I could because when something that powerful gets that royally pissed it's time to commence prayers for the departed and addressing them to the bad guys.

 

“That goes double for me,” Perfume assured, “I may have held back because great-grandmother told me to stay behind, but for the sake of my Airen and our daughter…I'm going there whether or not I'm either needed or wanted.”

 

“Couldn't imagine leaving you out of this, Per-chan,” my counterpart assured her, “Frank, I know you'd be a real big help, and you seem to know this guy, which is more than the rest of us can claim…”

 

“Count on it,” the hulking homunculus whose name is a legend in the annals of terror assured us in his deep and brassy voice, putting palm to fist (which originally had belonged to two separate bodies) and glaring appropriately like an oversized Boris Karloff.

 

“I'm coming with you,” Kasumi volunteered, and when my counterpart tried to say otherwise she turned that imploring look her way that would have melted butter and made small puppy dogs whimper and said, “Don't say that I can't go along, Imoutochan…you know that I'm more than able to handle myself, and I want to save my nieces.”

 

The other Nabiki closed her mouth and had to acknowledge this as a fact, nor could I blame her for backing down in the face of such an entreaty. Even without the Vampiric or Divine charisma that attended this version's aura, I'd have found it just as impossible to say no to my Kasumi, especially when she looks at you with that heartfelt, imploring look that makes you even ignore the red eyes and fangs that distinguish her from the sister that I remember.

 

“If my lady is going along, then I'm coming with you,” Lenore stated firmly, “And the rest goes for my crew…”

 

“Not this time, Hotshot,” Frank turned a gruff look towards her and said, “Somebody has to stay behind and watch the farm while we're away, and I'm volunteering you girls for that assignment.”

 

“But…ahhh, nuts,” the vampire complained, kicking the floor with a bare foot and wincing slightly as she had forgotten that it was wooden.

 

“Guess it does make sense though,” Chloe the Werewolf noted, “And it's not the first time I've been given guard dog duties.”

 

“Let someone try and cause us trouble,” the ghostly Kiima assured, “They will be lucky if they live to regret it.”

 

“Well, if they're staying then I'm coming along,” Keiko informed us, “I've already talked it over with my Mistress and have obtained her permission…”

 

“Of course you may go, my sweet Pet,” Kodachi patted the redhead on the head and smiled benevolently, which showed he just how much of a resemblance there was between her and my world's Kodachi, “You will represent the Kuno family honor in lieu of my errant brother…but I charge you to deliver yourself safe and sound back into my presence when this is all over.”

 

“I'll be there with the bells on, Mistress,” Keiko assured with an infectious grin, and I thought to myself that if she had a tail it would have been wagging at the moment, “And you can put them on me when we're done saving the kids, including the little ones you can attach to my breasts and go…”

 

“Quite,” Lotion turned to the rest of us, “Then it is decided, the seven of you, plus myself, will be the new Ascending dragons to lay siege to the lair of the worm known as Shang-Kwan. Just remember that the first team failed because they underestimated the difficulty of the opposition. I cannot tell you in advance what will be encountered there, but I can say to be on your guard and to do your utmost, because holding back or keeping anything in reserve may not be an option.”

 

“Right, enough with the pep speech,” my counterpart said, “Take us to Oz, Dorothy, and let's go kick the Wizard's ass.”

 

“Eloquently put, Sis,” I smiled, “I couldn't have said it better myself.”

 

Alison glanced at the both of us and shook her head, “Weird…”

 

“I know what you mean,” Perfume murmured to her, “Like having Nab-chans in stereo…”

 

“I know it sounds weird for me to be the one to suggest this,” Keiko noted, “But maybe one of them should turn male just so we can tell them apart?”

 

“No time for that now,” Frank insisted, turning to Lotion and saying, “Babe…do your magic.”

 

“Most happy to comply, my once almost-Airen,” the old woman said while raising her staff and parting the doorway that we had left partially open.

 

At once the corridor formed and we leaped through, one by one crossing the space between one part of the world and the other, almost instantly crossing through a fold in the layers of time and space to cover a distance of leagues in only a few seconds.

 

When we arrived at the other point I have to say that I was surprised at how dreary and unwelcome it was as the place greeted my senses. Honestly, you would think that an Archmage who can turn lead into gold could afford the services of a nice landscaping team to brighten up the place…but, then again, that would require a sufficient abundance of positively charged Manna, of which there was very little in evidence to greet my wary perceptions.

 

The only way that much Manna could be sucked out of a given area is if something negatively charged were absorbing it more quickly than it could be generated, and given the ominous feel of the tower it was not hard to determine that it was the primary reason for the barren sense of sterility that greeted our arrival.

 

“I don't like the feeling of this place,” Keiko averred, “It feels almost like something died here.”

 

“Lots of somethings,” Perfume's button nose wrinkled up and I could tell that she was having difficulty coping with the general ennui of the place, her senses being so much sharper than a normal person that she must have been picking up a wide array of very unpleasant odors.

 

“Kinda reminds me of that time Mom took me to visit Uncle Hades in Tartarus,” Alison winced, “Dank, depressing and---hey---full of dead people, only some of whom wind up laying in their graves, just like in the old stories.”

 

“If I didn't know better I'd swear Bella Lagosi was their interior decorator,” my counterpart murmured, sparing a glance towards our senior companion and saying, “No offense intended.”

 

“None taken,” Frank answered, “Drac and me don't always see eye to eye, but even he's got more class than to hang around in a dump like this.”

 

“Oh my,” Kasumi said on cue, “Do you think Ranma-kun and the others are inside that awful place?”

 

“Let's hope so, Sis,” I answered, “For their sake, because the alternative to finding then alive and in some rat infested dungeon…well…isn't really all that nice to think about, know what I'm saying?”

 

My counterpart turned to me and said, “Can you give us anything more definite to work with?”

 

I had been trying all along to make mental contact with our absent colleagues, but the most that I was able to say with any certainty was, “I'm pretty sure that they're alive and inside there. I know Cologne is because her aura's pretty hard to miss…but as for the others…”

 

“The Matriarch is currently experiencing some difficulties in liberating herself from captivity,” Lotion said by way of dry understatement, “But she will fend well for herself, which is more than can be said for the others if Shang-Kwan decides that he has no need of their company. We must make haste to find entrance if we are to spare their lives and those of the children we seek to rescue.”

 

“Then stand aside and let me make an entrance,” Alison said, smacking fist to palm with a confident smile that as much as boasted that she came from a long line of rude entrance makers.

 

“Hold up on that, Aiko-san,” my counterpart urged, “We don't want to telegraph the fact that we're here to the bad guys. Let's try the quiet approach for now, then resort to your methods when absolutely necessary. Per-chan, take the point and scout us an entrance.”

 

“Right Airen,” Perfume complied, moving forward with great haste though by her mincing steps I could see that she was employing the most absolute caution that could be allowed in this situation.

 

“Kei-chan, follow her and back her up if she runs into trouble,” Nabiki indicated to the pigtailed redhead.

 

“Got it covered, Nab-chan,” the girl who bore such a striking resemblance to a taller version of Ranma's cursed form moved in support of the Enforcer, and together they found a way through the tangled debris of the landscape that the rest of us could tread with relative safety, and the rest of us started forward even as my counterpart continued to give out directions.

 

“Oneechan, of us all you're the only one who can fly, so please cover us from the high ground and let us know the instant you see trouble,” she directed as if giving orders were second nature.

 

“Of course, Imoutochan,” Kasumi replied, and then she rose up into the air, spreading her arms and levitating on a curtain of negative Manna that she channeled with great ease, a display of casual might that once again struck home with me the stark differences between the Kasumi whom I knew and this one who combined the aspects of both a Vampire and a Goddess.

 

“Frank and Aiko, stay close by me and be ready for trouble,” my counterpart then turned and gave me a wary look before adding, “I suppose you know where you're most suited…”

 

“Right here with you for now will do,” I answered, noticing how Lotion herself slipped away unnoticed to do her usual inscrutable thing without the hindrance of us young folks. To avoid calling attention to her absence I glanced at my counterpart and said, “You know, leadership really does seem to suit you. You just give a command and expect it to be obeyed as though it were second nature, and everybody jumps to do your bidding like they can see that you're their natural top alpha.”

 

“I'm not sure what you mean by that,” my counterpart sniffed, “I just call things as I see them and the guys do it because it makes sense and they really trust me. It's not like I ever force them to do things my way…”

 

“But they do as you ask and willingly,” I pointed out, “That must count for something. True leadership never has to shout orders or compel compliance…people follow a leader because he or she gives confidence that she knows what she's doing, and in a crisis that counts for a lot. You must have worked to earn their trust like that, but they follow you so easily that it's obvious that you haven't let them down or betrayed them. Leadership like that means you must be doing something right, or else they just respect you enough not to question your judgment or right to give them directions.”

 

“I've kinda noticed that too,” Frank averred, “Even I'm impressed sometimes with how you handle things in a rough spot, Saotome-san, and I've known guys with twice your battle experience who couldn't hold it together half as well when the guns start blazing.”

 

“Hey, even Beiko and me know better than to try and second guess you most of the time, Nab-chan,” Alison said wryly, “So give the modesty bit a rest for a while, will ya? Take the compliment for what it is and accept the fact that you're our non-officially designated leader.”

 

“I just try to do the right thing is all,” my counterpart insisted, “I'm not right all of the time, and when I screw up, it's a doozy.”

 

“The same could be said of me,” I noted, “But I would never assume to give orders to anyone, let alone expect that they'd be carried out to the letter and without question. Back home if I tried doing that my friends would think about it for a second then tell me to go fly a kite or cool my head down so it's not that swollen. I've never really considered myself a leader, more like an adviser and counselor to real leader types like Shampoo and Ranma.”

 

My counterpart eyed me dubiously and asked, “Are you comparing me to you again?”

 

“Not exactly,” I answered, “I'm just taking note of our differences. You have your life to live, I've got mine, and we're both more-or-less happy with the choices we've made, so there's no reason for either one of us to feel resentful. But I have to say that I'm learning a lot about myself by studying you, which I think is the whole point why Ganglot and Lotion sent me on this little field trip…”

 

“Who's Ganglot?” Alison asked, reminding me that once again I was talking out of school about things that were not quite native to this particular timeline.

 

“Somebody you'd better hope you never have to meet, Kid,” Frank assured her, “Never met the lady myself, but I heard stories, mostly told to me by Cologne and Lotion. She's kind of like a rebel Oni princess out of hell, but she acts more like a wicked Genie who grants you wishes, and whatever you ask for is granted…just not quite the way you imagined.”

 

“Sounds typical of what I've heard about Genies,” the other Nabiki said as we cautiously neared the base of the ominous black tower, “So…is she still around causing trouble.”

 

“Naw,” Frank shrugged, “She got locked inside her pyramid by Cologne and several other elders after she went one step too far in driving the Amazons to distraction. She made a deal with Happosai that granted the little pervert his martial arts mastery and longevity and made him an even worse nuisance than he was to begin with.”

 

“She's the one who turned that guy into such a menace?” Alison gasped.

 

“I'm surprised they even let her live,” my counterpart remarked with a sour note that conveyed how much she was thinking about Happosai, and the number of times he had groped her and her co-wives.

 

“She's mellowed somewhat after three hundred years,” I noted, “In my time a pair of Amazons fleeing from a clan feud stumbled upon her pyramid and inadvertently freed the Oni, making a pact with her to escape from China to Japan, and ever since she's been their guardian benefactor, keeping a watch over everyone in Nerima and warding off the evil plans of…someone a heck of a lot more nasty.”

 

“Do tell?” Alison remarked as we continued to follow the path set down by Perfume and Keiko, “You know, the Amazons have a saying about using one type of demon to fend off another…”

 

“Let me guess,” my counterpart said drolly, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”

 

“Hey, I didn't know you were part Amazon, Nabiki,” Alison grinned facetiously, only then we were rudely interrupted as something large and heavy fell from the sky, making a loud thudding noise as it hit the ground, more like a rock than the living thing that I sensed it to actually be.

 

“Oops, sorry,” Kasumi called down to us, “Didn't mean to come so close…but I think we have visitors, Nabiki!”

 

“No fooling,” I replied, already aware of lumbering shapes rising up to greet us from all directions.

 

“Let me guess,” my counterpart stated while sizing up the ominous looking brutes who seemed to be guarding the base of the very large tower, “The welcoming committee, right?”

 

“Gargoyles and trolls,” Frank clarified as I myself had been attempting to classify the impressions that I was getting of these creatures, “Nasty types, very strong and resistant to normal kinds of damage.”

 

“Well, fortunately I ain't exactly all that normal myself,” Alison grinned, “Let me at `em and I'll show `em what a welcoming committee feels like.”

 

“Go to town, Aiko-san,” my counterpart replied by way of giving her blessings, and then the creatures started to close in on us from all around and a battle royal began in serious earnest…

 

 

 

Continued

 

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