Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Aa! Megami-sensei! ❯ Making Tracks part 2 ( Chapter 8 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Imported From: RAAC
falcon@best.com (Peter L. Ward)

Aa! Megami-sensei!

by Peter Ward

Episode 9: A Potion For Your Troubles?



"Aw, man, I'm gonna get Joat-mon for this!"

Ranma-chan dodged an attempt by Kuno to grab her and kicked him
down onto the ground in the same motion. Kuno looked up and saw
Akane a few paces away and tried to approach her to ask her for a
date, but met with her foot instead. As Kuno went back down
momentarily, Ranma silently cursed Joat-mon again, since it was
one of his pranks that splashed Ranma with water before they got
onto the school grounds. It was bad enough that Joat-mon resem-
bled a humanoid white tiger with wings, which scared the hell out
of Ranma (he was barely getting used to Suzie, another feline-
like alien). However, Joat-mon's fondness for pranks was too
much.

"Oh, so? I'd like to see you try it," Akane countered, giving
Kuno another close-up view of her sole as he attempted to come
back up. "If you can muster up the courage!", she added, refer-
ring to Ranma's phobia.

"Shut up, tomboy!" was all Ranma could reply with.

"Jerk!" Akane shouted back.

Meanwhile, the other students were taking the Ranma/Akane/Kuno
scuffle in stride on a Friday morning in late April. Even the
aliens and foreign exchange students had gotten used to the
goings-on at Furinkan high and Nerima district in general.
However, one newcomer (and no, we don't mean the scaly kind) was
already getting bored by this. And whenever she got bored,
things got dangerous...

"I swear, Kuno's indecisiveness is getting really old!" Urd said
to no one in particular as she watched Kuno go down for the count
from her usual lookout from the teacher's lounge. The other
teachers didn't seem to take notice, having gotten used to Urd's
muttering whenever she saw Kuno try to get a date with Ranma-chan
and/or Akane.

However, this time was different in that she was finalizing a
plan in her head. "Well, it seems the problem is that Kuno is
having trouble deciding between those two girls. I'll bet that
if Kuno decides on one, then all the problems will go away.
Looks like it's time for me to help move things along in that
department." She smiled as she got up and left for her first
period class, potion formulae dancing in her head.

* * * * * * * * * *

"What are you brewing up?" Jun asked while peeking into Urd's lab
the next day.

"Hmmm? Oh, good morning, Jun!" Urd said as she looked up from
her workbench. "This is a personal project of mine. You know
how Kuno goes on about Nabiki's sister and this 'pig-tailed
goddess' of his, right?"

"How couldn't I know? Almost anything sets him off!"

"Well, I'm about to fix that in a few minutes. I figured that
the root of his problem is indecisiveness. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Um, yeah..." Jun said slowly, starting to realize where Urd was
going with this.

"So, what if we helped him decide between the two. Problem
solved, right?"

"Right..."

"That's what this potion's for! It's a modification of a classic
love potion, only this time, I made it a bit weaker in case that
fool Kuno screws it up or something."

"Really?" Jun asked, getting interested at the mention of po-
tions. "I take it the plan is to get him to take the potion, and
whoever he sees first, he falls in love with for good, right?"

"That's right!" Urd beamed. "You catch on quick, Jun. You've
definitely got potential in the magic business. All you have to
do is learn how to control your spellcasting. That reminds me,
since I'm going to be away for a while, you can practice those
exercises I taught you the past week to hone your control
skills."

"Okay, okay..." Jun groused, not too thrilled at the prospect of
more drills.

"Well, I'm off!" Urd said as she finished transferring some of
her potion to a small vial and walked out towards the living
room. "Don't burn down the temple while I'm gone!"

"Hey! I'm not that bad, sensei!"

"Sometimes, I have to wonder..." Urd said as she stepped in front
of the TV. Before Jun could reply, Urd teleported out of the
room.

A moment of thought later, Jun said to herself, "Wait a min-
ute...didn't I hear on the grapevine that this "pig-tailed
goddess" of Kuno's is that Saotome guy, and that Saotome was
actually a shape-shifter of some sort? I wonder if Urd knows
that or not...."

* * * * * * * * * *

"I'm off, dear brother!"

Kuno looked up from his meditation to see his sister Kodachi
standing before him in her usual leotard. "And where are we off
to, sister?"

"Ohohohoho! To win the love of my dear Ranma, of course!"

"Well, I wish you the best of luck on your latest endeavor. I
would accompany you, but there is the matter of a rendezvous I
must attend to."

"That's right, one of your teachers is supposed to come for a
conference. Very well, then. I shall return soon with the
undying love of my dearest Ranma!"

With that, she leaped out of the room in a storm of black rose
petals and psychotic laughter. In anticipation, Sasuke stood
ready with the vacuum and cleaned up the mess with practiced
precision. A minute later, Kuno's room was again spotless and
Kuno returned to his meditation on the virtues of Akane and his
"pig-tailed goddess". A couple of poster-sized pictures on the
wall before him, one each of Akane and Ranma-chan, helped in his
meditation.

As Sasuke walked down the hall, he noticed a glow coming from the
living room he was passing. "That's strange," he said to him-
self, "I was sure that neither the master nor the mistress left
the TV on."

Walking into the room, the diminutive ninja servant was greeted
by the sight of a woman emerging out of the TV set. As she
settled herself into the room, Sasuke readied himself to defend
the estate from this intruder.

Seeing this, Urd held up her hands in front of her and said,
"Wait, wait! I believe I was expected...I'm Kuno Tatewaki's
chemistry teacher, Urd."

Sasuke blinked, then put his weapons away. "Yes, you were
expected, but we thought you'd come through the door like anyone
else."

"Well, I'm not anyone else. Could you please get Tatewaki? We
have much to discuss."

"All right, I will tell the master that you are here."

As Sasuke went back down the hall, Urd took a quick look around
and was impressed by the spaciousness and the decor of the room.
"Hmmm...at least principal Kuno has some taste in the home decor
department...too bad he doesn't have any when it comes to his
wardrobe."

"That infernal man has nothing to do with the decor of this
house, but I will take your compliments all the same."

Urd turned around in suprise to see Kuno standing in the doorway
to the hall. "I didn't realize..."

"Of course not, my dear sensei. That man has not been welcome in
this house for several years, so it can be said that I am the
master of this household."

"I see." Urd simply said, making a mental note to check up on the
apparent strain between father and son here.

"But you did not come to talk about that boor now, did you? Let
us then dispense with this unpleasantry and allow me to welcome
you to my humble domain."

"Thank you. As you probably have overheard, I am impressed with
how you keep your house."

"Oh, but the thanks go to you for descending on this household
with your divine beauty. Now, what is it that you wish to
discuss today, sensei?"

"Well, I've only been teaching at Furinkan high for less than a
month now, but I couldn't help but notice that you were attracted
to a couple of girls there."

"Ah, yes, the fair Tendo Akane and the stunning pig-tailed
goddess..."

"Hold it, Kuno." Urd interrupted, holding a hand up and wearing
an irritated look. "Whoever that red-headed girl is, she's not a
goddess. Trust me on this."

"But what other word could fit one of such healthy beauty? Nay,
there is no other word in existence that could even begin to
adequately describe her. She is the closest thing to divinity
that has ever walked on this earth..."

<That's what you think...> Urd thought before cutting into Kuno's
rambling. "So, I can see where your feelings truly lie. Why not
just go with this pig-tailed girl, then?"

"And forsake the lovely Akane? Never! She, too, is like a
goddess. In fact, she is the incarnation of the goddess Athena
with her beauty and her power. So skillful, yet so fair, is she
that I cannot bear to think of parting with her!"
"Okay, okay!" Urd cut in again before Kuno can go further in his
diatribe of praise. "I can see that you're having trouble
deciding between the two. That's perfectly normal, but I think
that your indecisiveness is actually pushing them away from you."

"Could that really be, sensei?"

"Oh, yes. You see, Kuno, a girl can be flattered when you focus
your charm on them. But when you spread that charm among other
girls, they'll think less of you since they might think you're
the two-timing type."

"But I can't decide between them!" Kuno cried out. "How can I
ever bring myself to accept one and leave the other?"

"That's where I come in. I can help you 'decide' between them.
Sure, you lose one, but you'll gain the love of the other. Sure
beats getting beaten up by both of them, right?"

"And how do you propose to help me make my decision?"

"See this?" Urd asked, holding up a small vial of pale blue
liquid. "This is something I came up with to give you a little
'push' in either direction."

"Go on, sensei." Kuno said, eyeing the vial and its contents.

"All you do is drink the contents when one of them is nearby.
When you see that person after drinking the potion, you'll fall
madly in love with her..."

"But I am already madly in love with both of them!"

"True, but this will make you even more so towards the one you
see. When she, as well as the other girl, sees that you've 'made
a decision', then your indecisiveness is no longer a problem and
you win her love!"

"I understand, sensei." Kuno said, nodding to indicate his
assent. "Yes, this is the time for action on this matter. When
this is done, you will have my undying gratitude. I only hope
the whoever the other girl turns out to be will understand and to
be too heartbroken."

"Alright then. I was able to look up the address of the Tendo
Dojo, so we'll start there. All you do is walk up to the door,
drink the potion and knock, and whichever one answers the door
will be the lucky girl!"

"Then let us proceed. I already know the way to the Tendo
domicile by heart."

<How did I ever guess?> Urd thought in sarcasm.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Hey, where's Urd?"

Jun looked up from her drills with shapeshifting spells and saw
Skuld standing in the doorway. "She went to meet with one of her
students while I practice on my spells here."

"Ummm...what spell would that be?" Skuld asked nervously.

"Well, I'm trying to bone up on shape-changing, but as you can
see, I'm having little success.." As Jun swept an arm around to
invite Skuld to look around, Skuld could see that the room has
turned into a combination of a menagerie of various small animals
and a museum of various abstract shapes.

"Um, could you be a little careful with that? Urd must've been
really careless to let you practice unsupervised!"

"Well, she was busy at the time brewing up a potion for the
guy..."

"What?! What kind of potion, Jun?" Skuld cried out in alarm.

"Um, some love potion for Kuno, if I remember correctly. She
said it was something to help him make up his mind..."

"Kuno, huh?" Skuld said, not liking the sound of this. "Well,
I'm going to see what I can do to clean up the mess. He should-
n't be too hard to spot."

"That's for certain!" Jun agreed. "You really think it's going
to be bad?"

"Yup!" was Skuld's reply as she turned away from Jun's room to
head for the bathroom. While part of her was worried about what
might happen, another part of her was relishing the chance to
harass her older sister again.

* * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, at the dojo, Akane, Ranma, and Buffy were getting
ready for a weekend sparring session.

"Why did ya go and do that for?!" a dripping Ranma-chan yelled at
Buffy, who was holding an empty bucket.

"Well, I didn't feel right fighting with someone of the weaker
sex and all that, so I found your curse rather convenient to get
around that."

"What was that about the 'weaker sex'??" was all Ranma could spit
out.

"Serves you right, Ranma." Akane chipped in. "After all the
garbage you've been giving me about not fighting girls, it's a
nice little switcharound."

"Aw, what do you know, you uncute girl?"

Before Akane could escalate the spat even further, Suzie cut in
from a distance, "Would you rather spar with me, Ranma?"

"Um, no thanks, Suzie!" Ranma said hastily, his phobia kicking in
even though he had gotten somewhat used to her from a distance.

"Well, it's settled then!" Buffy said with satisfaction as she
took hold of Ranma-chan and tossed her out the open doorway of
the dojo. "Ooops, did I overdo it a bit, there?"

Before anyone could answer, psychotic laughter filled the air
outside. While Buffy and Suzie looked around, trying to figure
out who or what was causing it, Akane merely bowed her head, not
looking forward to dealing with the uninvited visitor.

Outside, Ranma looked up from where he landed in the pond and saw
Kodachi standing on the dojo rooftop. "Awww...not her again!"

"Where are you keeping my dear Ranma?" Kodachi asked, idly
twirling one of her ribbons.

"Haven't you figured it out by now that you're not wanted?" Ranma
yelled back.

"I think that you have brainwashed him and turned him against me!
I, Kuno Kodachi, the Black Rose of St. Hebereke's School for
Girls, will not stand for this!"

It was by then that the three girls in the dojo ran out to see
what was up. At Kodachi's mention of her name, both Suzie and
Buffy did a double-take.

"What? Did she say 'Kuno?" Buffy cried out.

"Not another one!" Suzie added. "Is there a history of mental
defects in that family or what?"

Overhearing these comments, Kodachi leaped down off of the roof
and landed on a rock, facing them. "Who are you strange ones
that insult me? Are you two also after my Ranma?" At this
point, she was twirling her ribbon earnestly and in their direc-
tion.

"I'm Suzie Cabbit, and this is Amano Buffy. What's this about
'your Ranma' anyway? Last we checked, he was engaged to Akane,
not to anyone else."

"Well, that won't last for much longer. Not if I, the Black
Rose, can help it!" With that, Kodachi tried to whip the two
with her ribbon, missing since they jumped out of the way. While
Buffy was content with a super-powered leap, Suzie used her
natural cat-like reflexes to add some flair to her jump. This
got Kodachi's attention.

"Impressive, cat-girl. But are you more than just some animal?"
Kodachi asked, punctuating her question with a lash from her
ribbon.

"Animal?!?" Suzie shouted out. "Where do you come off calling me
that, you psycho bitch from hell?!" Suzie followed that up by
leaping at Kodachi, claws extended. Kodachi deftly avoided the
attack and struck her with the ribbon.

"Well, you don't seem to be able to use tools, so you must be
some kind of animal!" Kodachi laughed.

"Why you..." Suzie growled. Before she could attack again,
though, Ranma-chan handed her a couple of clubs left over from a
previous encounter. "What're these?" Suzie asked.

"Kodachi is a martial-arts rhythmic gymnast. You'll have to use
tools against her, especially with your height, and these count!"

"Thanks, Ranma!" Suzie said while making a quick inspection of
the clubs. She noticed a button on the handle of each of them
and pressed one. Spikes popped out of the club and she grinned.
"Let's have some fun now, Kodachi!" she challenged.

"Oh, so the cat-girl is more than an animal? Let's see if you're
a match for the Black Rose!" Kodachi said, accepting Suzie's
challenge.

"Um, Ranma, you gave her those clubs of Kodachi's that were left
behind last time, didn't you?" Akane asked nervously.

"Yup." was Ranma's answer.

* * * * * * * * * *

As Kuno and Urd came up the street towards the dojo, the sounds
of fighting could be heard.

"Did we enter a warzone or something?" Urd asked. "Sounds like
World War III broke out nearby!"

"Hmmm? Oh, I keep forgetting that you are still new to this
area." Kuno answered, grasping a bouquet of roses as he went
along. "No, what you hear is probably my dear sister fighting
for the love of Saotome."

"'Sister'? You have a sister? She's not after Saotome Ranma, is
she?"

"Yes to both of your inquiries. My younger sister attends St.
Hebereke's School For Girls, so you probably have not had the
distinct pleasure of meeting with her yet. As for the matter of
Saotome, yes, she is smitten by him. I do wish her the best in
her pursuit so that his engagement to Tendo Akane would be broken
and I can be with her in her time of dire need. Before I digress
even further, we have arrived at the Tendo residence."

The two of them came to a stop before the doors of the Tendos.
Looking around, Urd noticed that the neighbors and passers-by
were taking the combat that took place on the other side of those
doors in stride. <Hmmmm...nothing seems to faze these people.
Must have been going on for quite a while.> Urd mused. She
grabbed Kuno's wrist as he was raising his hand to knock on the
door.

"Wait a sec!" she hissed as she produced the vial containing the
potion. "Take this as you knock on the door. The effect will
take hold almost immediately and whoever answers that door will
be the one you will be drawn to above all others. I'll be
waiting and watching from nearby. Get to it!"

After Urd went around the corner and started watching from there,
Kuno did as he was told. As Urd had told him, the potion took
effect immediately and his eyes seemed to glaze over.

On the other side of the wall surrounding the Tendo residence,
Buffy was looking around the yard. While Suzie was holding her
own against Kodachi, Kodachi was playing dirty and that riled
Buffy more than Kodachi's psychosis and arrogance.

Buffy didn't mind the use of tools as they were a legitimate form
of martial arts; a form used by her older sister who was also on
Earth attending a nearby university. What got to her was the
underhanded use of black roses loaded with poison gas, the use of
explosives, and other methods to sabotage Suzie's fighting
ability. Indeed, this deeply offended Buffy's sense of honor and
Buffy was out to put a stop to it.

She spied a good-sized rock and walked over to it. "So, Kodachi
wants to play with 'tools', eh? Let's see her try this one on
for size." As she grinned and prepared to heft the boulder, a
knock on the door was heard.

"Could someone please get that for me? I have my hands full in
the kitchen." Kasumi's voice was heard from the kitchen.

Turning aside from the rock, Buffy ran inside and to where the
door was, calling out, "I've got it, Kasumi!" Behind her, Nabiki
was coming down the stairs to also see who was at the door.
Buffy opened the door to find Kuno standing there with a blank
look on his face. "Oh, hi Kuno. What's with the flowers?" she
asked, not wanting another Kuno to add to the chaos of the
morning.

However, since taking the potion, Kuno's vision became very
blurry. When Buffy opened the door to him, his vision was able
to focus only on her, and not anything else within sight.. Also,
he felt an irresistible pull towards his alien lab teammate,
which was as great as his attraction to Akane and Ranma-chan.

"Amano Buffy! I feel that we are destined to be as one! Your
exotic, amazonian, other-worldly beauty has captivated me! I
must date with you immediately!" Before Buffy could react, Kuno
was inside and holding Buffy in an embrace with a surprised
Nabiki watching from the side.

As for Urd, all she could see was Kuno rushing inside, but not
who he fell for. Laughing with glee at an apparent success, Urd
switched to her small-bodied mode and jumped to the top of the
wall surrounding the residence in hopes of getting a better look.
All she got was a good view of Kuno going sub-orbital as a result
of Buffy giving him an uppercut. She did hear Buffy yelling "Get
off of me, you jerk!!!", though.

"Wait a minute!" Urd exclaimed. "That didn't sound like Akane or
our mystery girl...it sounded like that Amano girl in first
period! What's she doing here?! Leave it up to Kuno to screw
things up!"

While the attention was focused on Buffy and Kuno, Nabiki spied a
glint on the sidewalk in front of the open door. Stepping out,
she picked up the vial that Kuno dropped and inspected the label
on it, particularly the small face on the label. "Hmmm...so
Urd-sensei is involved in this somehow..." She mused as she
stepped back inside, a glint in her eye.

Almost by instinct, Nabiki stepped aside as Kuno rushed back in
almost as quickly as he was forced out. Immediately, he glomped
onto Buffy again, starting a long-winded speech about her beauty.
Not in the least bit impressed, Buffy managed to toss him in the
direction of the area of the pond. "What's gotten into him?!"
Buffy said in exasperation, going to check on Kuno to see if the
toss knocked some semblance of sense into him.

"I'm not sure," Nabiki muttered as she headed upstairs, vial in
hand, "but Urd-sensei's gotta have a good explanation for this.
I hope she has some blackmail money on her as well."

Out by the pond, Kuno was coming to again. While Suzie kept
Kodachi occupied, Buffy, Ranma-chan, and Akane were watching him
warily as Buffy filled in the other two about Kuno's "greeting."

Due to the weakened nature of the potion, the focus of attention
was not quite what it should have been. Instead of just seeing
Buffy and no one else, he was able to see Akane and Ranma-chan as
well. He also felt the same pull to all three of the girls.

"I must have died and gone to heaven to be able to be with such a
divine trio! Akane! Buffy! Pig-tailed Goddess! I must date
all three of you for eternity!" With that he leaped at Buffy,
who was closest. Buffy hit him with another uppercut, and he
arced in Ranma-chan's direction. Upon seeing Ranma-chan near
him, Kuno made for her, and got a kick in the face for his
troubles. This caused him to stumble towards Akane, who did
likewise. And so it went as the three girls alternated between
putting distance between them and the smitten Kuno, and beating
the daylights out of him.

Outside, Urd was pacing back and forth in front of the now-closed
door, having reverted back to normal size. "Gotta think up of a
cover story quick! Lessee...he stole the potion? No, that's
gonna imply that I made it on purpose. How about if he stumbled
upon an experiment of mine...yeah, that'll do it! That'll be
interpreted to mean that I didn't plan on this happening at all
and Kuno was the one who screwed it up! Now, let's see if
they'll let me in with all the commotion going on in there.
Actually, it sounds a bit too noisy for him to be chasing after
one girl. Gotta see what's going on!" With that she knocked on
the door.

A moment later, a girl in her late teens opened the door and
greeted her in a sweet voice. "Hello there! Is there anything I
can help you with?"

"Actually, yes, you can. I think a boy in a kendo outfit came
into your residence a short time ago..."

"Oh, yes, Kuno came in here a few minutes ago. Why? Did you
want to see him?"

"Um, yeah. Actually, I'm the new chemistry teacher at Furinkan
high school and he accidentally drank an experiment of mine, so
he might not be acting normally."

"Oh, so you're Urd-sensei! I'm Tendo Kasumi" she said brightly.
"My younger sister, Nabiki, is in one of your classes, so I've
heard about you. As for Kuno, I could hardly tell the differ-
ence." she added with a giggle.

"Really? Well, is it possible for me to borrow your kitchen for
a bit? I need to brew up an antidote to the stuff that Kuno took
so we can bring him under control."

"Sure, go right ahead!" Kasumi said as she let Urd in. "Actual-
ly, we have quite a few guests here today. Not only is Kuno
here, but Buffy and Suzie, as well as Kuno's younger sister
Kodachi. I wonder who will show up next? I hope we have enough
food for them all, or else I'm going to have to do some shopping
in a while."

As Kasumi showed Urd to the kitchen, Urd was thinking, <Nice
girl, maybe a little too nice. Reminds me of Belldandy in some
ways. Guess she must be some sort of survivor if she can take
this combat in stride.> After looking over the orderly kitchen,
Urd gave Kasumi her thanks and set aside some space to work on
the antidote.

As Urd went over the potion components she brought with her (just
in case), Ranma-chan poked her head into the kitchen and yelled,
"Hey, Kasumi! Is there any hot water ready?"

"Coming right up, Ranma!" Kasumi said cheerfully as she drew some
water from the kitchen sink into a kettle and started heating it.
Ranma-chan couldn't stick around, though, since Kuno started
going after her again.

"Wait a minute, Kasumi. Did you just call her 'Ranma'? That's
pretty odd since there's this one guy at school that's also named
'Ranma'. Come to think of it, they both share the same ward-
robe. Are they twins or something?"

"Oh, I guess you don't know about Ranma, do you?" Kasumi replied.
"It's a pretty interesting story..."

"Go ahead. I'm not going anywhere since I've got to fix up the
antidote...lessee, 50ml of acryllic paint thinner..."

Urd's work slowed down gradually as Kasumi recounted what she was
told about the Saotomes' ill-fated trip to China and the results
of it. When Kasumi got to the Jusenkyo bit, Urd stopped her in
mid-sentence.

"Hold on, Kasumi. I think I've heard of this Jusenkyo place.
Isn't it where they have all of these cursed pools or something?"

"Why, yes." Kasumi answered. "Anyway, they started to practice
without knowing what the true nature of the pools were and ended
up falling into them. Uncle Saotome fell into one that turned
him into a panda."

"So that's why I've been seeing a panda around here ever since I
started teaching!" Urd exclaimed, then added, "And Ranma fell
into..."

"The spring that turned him into a girl." Kasumi confirmed. "But
don't worry, while cold water turns him into a girl, hot water
turns him back into a boy. That's why I'm heating up some water
for him."

"You mean Kuno's been chasing after Ranma all this time without
realizing it? Geez, what a moron!" Urd said.
"Oh, the water must be done by now." Kasumi said as she took the
kettle off of the burner. Stepping out by the kitchen doorway,
she called out, "Ranma! You're water's ready!"

A moment later, Ranma-chan bounded into the kitchen and grabbed
the kettle, pouring the contents onto her and changed back into a
guy. Just as he set the kettle down, he noticed that there was
another visitor standing by a counter. "Um, er, hi sensei..."
was all he could manage.

"Hello, Ranma. Looks like you've gotten yourself an interesting
Jusenkyo curse there..." Urd said teasingly.

"Um, you know about that, sensei?" Ranma stammered, trying to
figure out how she knew about the Jusenkyo springs.

"I told her most of it, Ranma, but she's already heard about the
cursed springs." Kasumi said sweetly. "Urd-sensei's here to try
to calm Kuno down since he accidentally drank one of her experi-
ments."

"So that's why Kuno's acting weirder than usual!" Ranma said,
cupping a fist in an open hand to indicate his understanding.

"So, you hide in here, insulting my good name behind my back,
Saotome? For this you shall pay or I am not the Blue Thunder of
Furinkan high!"

As Kuno charged Ranma, Urd was puzzled. <He shouldn't be acting
like that if the potion were working properly. He should only be
chasing after the girl he saw at the door. I must've made the
potion too weak!>

Ranma easily dodged Kuno's attack, causing Kuno to run face-first
into one of the kitchen walls. As Kuno turned around, Ranma
called out, "Let's take this back outside, okay!"

"Let's!" Kuno answered as he chased Ranma back out of the kitch-
en.

"Is it like this all the time, Kasumi?" Urd said weakly as she
stared at the doorway both boys ran out of.

"Oh, pretty much." Kasumi said nonchalantly. "It's been like
this since Ranma and his father first came here. That reminds
me, I should warm up some more water in case Ranma needs it
again."

As Kasumi started to refill the kettle, a bright light flashed
out of the water already in the kettle and Skuld popped out of
the open top. "Oh, my!" was her well-practiced reaction.

Almost on cue, a splash could be heard outside, followed by
Kuno's cry of "Pig-tailed goddess!"
"Hah! I knew I could find you, Urd!" Skuld shouted. "All I had
to do was figure out where things were out of control and you'd
be there!"

"Not now, Skuld! I'm trying to fix things up before they get
worse!" Urd snapped back.

"That's a first! Jun told me what you were up to, so I figured I
should be on hand to watch you screw things up, as usual." Skuld
sneered.

"Excuse me, but I don't think we've been introduced." Kasumi cut
in.

"Oh, right." Urd said. "Kasumi, this is my younger sister,
Skuld. Skuld, this is Tendo Kasumi. You remember Nabiki from
one of my classes, right? Kasumi's her older sister."

"Hi." was Skuld's only greeting.

"It's nice to meet you, Skuld. Would you like something to eat
or drink while you're here with your sister?" Kasumi said.

Skuld started warming up to Kasumi since she also reminded Skuld
of Belldandy. "Do you have any ice cream?" she said with a
hopeful look.

"I think we might have some, but are you sure it wouldn't ruin
your appetite for dinner?" Kasumi replied as she started looking
in the freezer.

"It won't." Skuld answered. "Y'know, I like you, Kasumi! You
remind me of my big sis." she added with a smile.

"Why, thank you!" Kasumi said as she handed Skuld a bowl of ice
cream and a spoon. "I can see you look up to Urd quite a bit
there."

"Who said anything about Urd?" Skuld snapped. "I was talking
about my other sister."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize..." Kasumi said as she returned
to her cooking.

"That's okay. I didn't tell you about my other younger sister,
Belldandy, that's all." Urd said as she continued to work on the
antidote. "By the way," she added while eyeing Skuld, "I hope
you have plenty of ice cream on hand. You won't believe the
amount she'll go through in one sitting."

"Hah!" Skuld shot out, looking up from her now-empty dish.
"Better than going though sake by the gallon!"

Before Urd could counter that, an old voice piped up, "Did
someone mention sake?" With that, Happosai hopped up on the
counter, grabbed the potion that Urd was working on, and downed
it in one gulp. Immediately, he spat it out, shouting, "Hey!
This isn't sake!"

He failed to notice a now-angry Urd charging up a power ball.
"Do you realize how much that potion was needed, you old goat?"
she growled before letting fly with the energy attack, sending
the ancient gnome hurtling though two walls. All any of the
ladies could hear was crashing sound from where Happosai landed,
accompanied by the sound of smaller objects scattering.

Again, Kasumi commented with only an "Oh, my!"

Looking down the pair of holes that Happosai created as he was
blasted through the walls, Skuld was suprised to see the head of
a panda peeking through the other side. As she yelped in su-
prise, Mr. Tendo stormed into the kitchen, saying with a stern
voice, "What's going on here? Saotome and I were enjoying a
peaceful game of Go." Looking at Urd and Skuld, he asked, "I
don't think we've ever met, ladies..."

While Urd was trying to quickly calm down, Kasumi covered for
her. "Oh, father, this is Urd-sensei. She's Nabiki's chemistry
teacher. Skuld here is Urd's younger sister."

"Really?" Mr. Tendo asked, then turned his attention to Urd.
"Please forgive my outburst there. I'm Tendo Soun, Nabiki's and
Kasumi's father. What brings you here?"

"Well, I don't suppose you realize that Kuno's here..." Urd
began.

"He's here fairly often, so we didn't notice anything out of the
ordinary." Mr. Tendo replied.

"Well, he went and drank one of my experiments, so he's acting a
bit crazier than usual right now. I was trying to come up with
an antidote, but that old neighborhood pervert went and drank it
before I finished mixing it up."

"Ah, you must mean master Happosai." Mr. Tendo said in realiza-
tion as he reached for a cabinet and produced a bottle of sake.
"Don't worry, we'll keep him occupied while you work on your
antidote there."

While this was going on, Mr. Saotome (who was in panda form at
the time) was busy cleaning up the Go board and pieces. Of
course, he was putting the pieces back in an arrangement that
was to his advantage.

Taking a deep breath after Mr. Tendo stepped out of the kitchen,
Urd turned to Skuld and gave her a list. "Can you get these
items from my lab without mixing them up? I need to brew up a
new batch of antidote thanks to that sleazoid Happosai."

"Okay, I'll do it to bail you out," Skuld replied, "but don't
think I'll go easy on you about this one!"

As Skuld was preparing to teleport out, part of the ceiling came
crashing down behind her, followed by a small boulder. While
Skuld stared at the boulder in shock and Buffy could be heard
moaning "Aw, man...my folks are gonna cream me for that!",
Kodachi landed on the boulder and looked back up the roof.

"Ohohoho! So you're going to stoop to getting help from your
friends, cat-girl?" Kodachi sneered as she produced one of her
trademark bouquets of black roses. Tossing it up to Suzie, she
said, "Give your friend my regards!"

As Skuld watched Kodachi in astonishment, Urd stepped beside her
and muttered, "Um, Skuld, does she remind you of anyone in
particular?"

"You mean Peorth off the deep end with all those roses?"

"Yup, that's exactly what I was thinking." Urd said as a puff of
gas emanated from the hole in the ceiling, followed by a feline
yowl.

Kodachi let out another psychotic laugh and said proudly, "Never
underestimate Black Rose Kodachi, cat-girl! I thought you
would've been more of a challenge!"

"Oh, really?" Suzie yelled as she leaped down from the hole in
the ceiling, holding her spiked clubs in front of her. "It's
going to take more than a few puffs of poison gas to get rid of
Suzie Cabbit!"

Before the two girls could resume their fight, though, both of
them were stopped by the use of a levitation spell. As Kodachi
looked at Urd and asked, "Who are you?", Suzie merely yelped,
"Sensei?!"

"Okay. I have had enough of this insanity!" Urd said while
trying to keep tight control over her frustration and anger. "I
presume you're Kuno Kodachi, Tatewaki's sister. I'm Urd, his
very frustrated teacher. I would highly suggest going home now
before I get really mad."

As Urd released both girls from the spell, Kodachi leaped towards
the kitchen door. "Don't think that I, Kuno Kodachi, the Black
Rose of St. Hebereke's School for Girls, will ever forget this!
We'll resume our struggle later, cat-girl." With another burst
of laughter as well as a cloud of black rose petals, Kodachi
bounded out of the kitchen and out of the Tendo house.

"I can't wait..." Suzie sneered as she watched Kodachi leave.

"One Kuno down, one to go..." Urd muttered before turning to
Skuld again. "Skuld, can you hurry up in getting those items for
the antidote? The sooner I can get this done, the sooner we can
leave."

"Gotcha!" Skuld said as she teleported out using a pot of water.

"By the way," Urd said as she focused her attention on Suzie,
"What was that all about?"

"Er, um..." Suzie stammered, realizing that Urd was still in the
room. "Well, she was bugging Ranma about going out with her, so,
um, I decided to try to drive her off."

"Oh?" Urd asked slyly as she raised an eyebrow. "Jealous or
something?"

"Jealous? Me?? No, no, no...it's just that he's supposed to be
engaged to Akane and I was trying to see to it that the engage-
ment wasn't threatened by the likes of her."

"That was very nice of you!" Kasumi said sweetly as she swept the
black rose petals into a pile for disposal.

"I see." Urd said, not quite believing Suzie. "Anyway, can you
do me a favor, Suzie? Can you help keep the other Kuno under
control? He drank an experiment of mine by accident and I need
to administer an antidote as soon as I mix one up."

"You got it, sensei!" Suzie said cheerfully, relishing another
chance to pile onto Kuno again. "I was wondering why he was
acting weirder than usual..." she added as she went back outside.

Just then, Skuld popped back into the kitchen with an armload of
vials and packets. Almost immediately after grabbing the items
from Skuld, Urd set to work on the antidote while Kasumi finished
cleaning up the kitchen as best as she can and resumed cooking.

Of course, things were still pretty chaotic outside with the one
Kuno left. Normally, Ranma-chan, Akane, or Buffy alone could
handle Kuno. However, the potion really screwed up his mind, as
well as having the side-effect of enhanced endurance, and he kept
chasing after the three despite how many hits they gave him. The
addition of Suzie to the ongoing scuffle did help somewhat in
slowing him down, but not much.

Along with the chaos came property damage, though. Buffy was
already toning down her physical attacks since she realized that
any damage she caused to the dojo and residence would be added to
her regular fees there (negotiated by Nabiki, of course.). She
was already cringing on the inside over the matter of the boulder
she tossed a few minutes earlier and the eventual lecture by her
parents over the galactic holo-phone when they see the bill. So,
she switched to evasive tactics to try to avoid more damage.
Ranma-chan, Akane, and Suzie, on the other hand, kept up their
physical attacks since none of them had to worry about being
charged for property damage.

Eventually, Urd was able to finish the antidote and stepped out
with a blowgun in one hand and a dart dipped in antidote in the
other. Seeing this in the corner of her eye, Suzie signaled to
the others to grab Kuno and hold him still. It didn't take too
long to grab hold of him since he actually welcomed being held by
the ladies of his obsessions.

"Pig-tailed goddess! Akane! Buffy! I knew that we were meant
to be! Come to me, my dears!" Kuno said in delirium.

Before he could really get to enjoy being held by the girls, Urd
aimed the loaded blowgun and let fly with the dart. The aim was
true and the dart hit the intended target. Kuno ended up being
knocked out as a side effect of the two potions reacting and
neutralizing each other in his system. All four girls gave a
loud sigh of relief as Kuno went limp in their arms.

"Sorry about the mess ladies." Urd said as she set the blowgun
down. "I'm going to take this idiot home to cool off now that
the stuff in his system's been neutralized, and I guess I'll see
you at school on Monday!"

As Urd took Kuno and dragged him to his house followed by a
pestering Skuld, Nabiki watched them from an upstairs window.
She set down her trusty camera and picked up the small vial that
Urd had forgotten about. This time, though, she didn't take any
pictures of Urd (as if she had much of a chance to), but settled
for some of Kuno with any of the three girls he was chasing that
day. This was also partly due to Nabiki's wanting to see if it
was only Urd whose pictures kept on getting blanked out before
developing.

"Well, selling some of these photos to Kuno would make up some
for the income you cost me, sensei." Nabiki said as she looked at
the tiny picture of Urd's face on the vial. "But I still have
some of that pound of flesh to extract for the recent auto meet.
All I have to do is wait for the opportunity to use this..."

* * * * * * * * * *

When Monday morning came around, things seemed to be back to
normal. Out in the school courtyard, Kuno was chasing after
Ranma-chan and Akane while being beat up by them as usual.
However, he seemed to be keeping some distance from Buffy for
some odd reason.

Urd was watching things from the window in the teachers' lounge
as usual, but she wasn't as annoyed as she was the past few
weeks. "I wonder if he'll ever learn the truth about Ranma.
What a fool." she said with a bemused smile before she headed out
to her chemistry classes.



Next Episode: Talent For Chaos


All Aa! Megamisama and Ranma 1/2 characters copyright Fujishima
Kosuke and Takahashi Rumiko, respectively. All other characters
copyright Peter Ward, Tim Dunn, Tim Holt, "Snafu", and Ray Yeen.

E-mail all comments, suggestions, etc. to falcon@best.com.
They're always welcome...even the flames to a certain extent ^^;



Peter L. Ward falcon@best.com Kyusaku on IRC #Anime!
Caretaker of the Urd Shrine (http://www.best.com/~falcon/urdhome.htm)

"If you see something this big, with eight legs, let me know so I can
kill it before it can develop language skills!" - Ambassador Londo