Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Honeymoon Hentai ❯ The Price of Battle... ( Chapter 13 )

Nabiki 1/2

Honeymoon Hentai

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

"In you go, young lady, and don't ruin the flooring with your landing!"

The rude treatment help partially wake Nabiki up, but so did the splash of water in the face, which caused her to sputter for a moment before full consciousness was restored in a flash.

"W-what?" Nabiki sat up, saw Lao standing in the doorframe, and sputtered, "What did you do that for?"

"You need to ask?" Lao asked, "After the way you just behaved at dinner? I don't know about you, Saotome…I try being nice to you, I give you every opportunity, but you insult my hospitality, offend my people and even have the poor judgement to make slight of my chef's cooking. On top of that you challenged me and lost in a fight, so you don't think I'm going to take advantage of you for that? You must think I'm some kind of social worker or something…"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Nabiki asked, standing up, "You challenged me to a fight, not the other way around!"

"Details," Lao stepped fully into the room, and the door swung shut behind her, leaving the two of them alone in the wooden chamber, with the sound of a heavy beam being placed over the door to secure it firmly, "You still got your butt kicked by me, and you were the one who threw down the gauntlet, so let's not argue about semantics."

"Semantics?" Nabiki glanced wildly at the door, then at the fearsome pirate-slaver, "W-what are you doing?"

"Sealing us in so we can have round three," Lao smiled in an even more predatory manner, "On my terms this time, and with a much different outcome."

"You're even crazier than I thought you were," Nabiki fell into a fighting stance, heedless of their presently nude status, neither one of them wearing a stitch, which in Lao's case was ominous beyond telling, "If you think I'm going to let you force yourself on me…"

"Do you honestly think I need to?" Lao replied, "Think carefully on that before you answer, and think back to just how you got yourself in this situation."

Despite Nabiki's pretense at bravado, one could not help allowing their mind to go back by less than an hour to when the orgy had begun in Lao's seraglio, when all sorts of hot and heavy bi-play was in progress and even Nabiki had let down her guard long enough to claim her husband, if only to make sure that Ranma did not wind up getting claimed by a woman who was not of their marriage circle…

It was true to say that those who spent any great amount of time on board Lao's ship inevitably began to have feelings of uninhibited lust, a magnifying of their libidos, and a decreasing ability to resist the pull of even the most casual attraction. Here, even those confirmed in the gender preference could wind up becoming…confused in their orientation, and the desire to explore and unleash their sensual potential was a much stronger urging than those civil impulses of restraint upon which modern civilizations have been founded.

That being said, there was certainly no anarchy to the way people made out in this harem, nor was it so random a process by which one party chose to lay down with another. That was certainly true of Nabiki and her people, just as it was within the harem itself, a fact easily discernible from the way the couplings started out, though over the course of time they inevitably wandered into the exploration of new and heretofore unventured territories.

Thus, though Nabiki herself started out with Ranma, and Perfume began her sexual romps with Shampoo and Ukyo, it was all but inevitable that they would start to wander outside of their circle. Ranma himself was feeling the lure of other, greener pastures, even though his desire for Nabiki lessened not in the least, nor did any of his other women lose their appeal for him, having established ties that would prove long lasting. Instead, he took notice of things that he normally would have been aloof to, such as a curving thigh here, a lovely profile there, a flash of breast or buttock on display that was well-shaped and quite appealing, even the shape of a bare foot or the curl of a leg could easily tempt him, though in no slightest measure did any of these temptations lesson his ardor for the woman whom he had actually married.

Perhaps that was because Nabiki possessed all of these things, and in ample measure. She was lean and curvy and narrow in the right places while well filled-out in others, and there was something about her jaunty smile that he found quite addictive. Besides, she was already becoming a familiar and appealing presence in his life, one to whom he was growing ever more attacked, and so plunging away with mouth, lips, hands and tongue were just natural facets of this attraction. He intended to go farther still with her, and never yet exhaust the possibilities for their lovemaking.

At that moment in particular he was taking his time to slowly stroke and fondle her body, marveling, as he always did, at the smooth, fine texture of her skin, the supple strength that lay hidden beneath her womanly contours, the way she yielded to his lightest caress and yet could spring back with surprising energy as he moved his body against her own, treasuring the feeling of her skin and how very different she was from his own body…light and yet as strong as bamboo with twice the resilience and infinitely more tasty!

Nabiki, for her part, was admiring many of the same differences about his body, the way a man could be both hard and yielding, strong and yet gentle, warm and sensitive to her lightest caress and the merest stroke of her hand. Every time she touched her new husband it sent an electric thrill all through her body, and the tingling shivers that went up and down her spine made her want to renew her vows again and again in a physical acceptance of his virility and ardor. Just rubbing her thighs against his own while stroking her breasts against his smooth chest while holding him deep in her passionate embrace gave her such a thrill never-ending, and she wanted to yield herself to him, even as she took her pleasures while sating their mutual hunger.

This was what her marriage meant to them both, the coupling of mind and body, of heart and muscle to limb and frame that were manifest perfection. Ranma would rub his hands all over her breasts in search of the right combination of pressure points that would make them hard and erect to his touch, even as Nabiki used her hand to play with his testicles and rod to awaken his manhood to full erection. Their kisses continued all the way through this, each planting their lips and tongue on the other's face while the fires of their mutual lust intensified slowly, becoming a raging inferno before too long that could only be extinguished when the both of them achieved ultimate satiation. It was not enough to merely couple like two wildcats in heat, they needed to MAKE LOVE in its purest essence, and so the movements of one tended to copy and reflect the intentions of the other, and by this means they slowly but certainly got down to serious business, using foreplay to rev their engines before getting more intensive in the way they went about their lovemaking.

Meanwhile Perfume was receiving a tongue-lashing from her wife that more than made up for the time they each had spent earlier making out with another, and all the while Shampoo relished the joy of being a part of it all, alternately kissing and caressing both Ukyo and her cousin until the three of them began writhing together, blurring the lines of where one was making out with the others. The okonomiyaki chef silently vowed that she would one day have to find a flavor that could compare to the delicious taste of her wife in her mouth, savoring the sweet flavor of Perfume's skin, mouth and loins, each of which she sampled with great delight and exultation. And-of course-when Shampoo took her time playing around with either of them it was with the naughty sense that she could have as much of her Airen as she could take down at a single serving with a side-dish of Hentai!

As if this were not enough, There was also the show presently being put on by Akane and Kodachi, each one starting with their own respective "chosen mate," but working by inches to gradually turn towards one another, to eventually wind up in a four-way coupling that had Keiko on one end, Ryoga on the other, and both Black Rose and youngest Tendo child pressed together in a sandwich in the middle, all groaning and moaning as they went at each other like minks. Truly theirs was a blending of mind, body and soul, for at the center of their action there was tenderness and affection borne of a lifelong subliminal attraction.

And then there was the epic team of Alison and Beatrice…Aiko and Beiko respectively, whose own curious union was the penultimate joining of mind and body in a classically mythic framework. That one of this pair was heavily pregnant by the work of the other only added an element of mild restraint to their fun so that their lovemaking was gradual and measured. Yet these were two ladies who never did anything in a simple and uncomplicated manner, and that went as much for their contrasting styles as for anything physical the two of them shared together.

At the present, Beatrice was taking great ease and care in the way she made love to Alison on account of her condition. Despite her heavy pregnancy, Alison still had normal needs and desires, and the greatest of these was the need to be found desirable by her significant others. Beatrice, although a very intellectual sort of person, had carnal needs of her own, and she found Alison quite desirable in spite of her pregnancy…or perhaps more because of it, the knowledge that Alison had accepted her into her world-imperfections intact-and had even consented (if after the fact) to carry her child, the greatest honor that any woman could bear for another, and so Alison was all the more beautiful in her eyes for that acceptance.

Besides, in spite of Beatrice's awareness that OTHER beauty awaited them all around, her first duty was to make Alison happy, if only BECAUSE to do otherwise was potentially life-threatening. Alison may tolerate some of her antics, but only up to a point, and giving into those **other** temptations first was certainly no way to insure a pregnant wife's happiness…**especially** when said wife could dead lift a main battle tank in her normal condition.

Suffice it to say that lips brushed ample acres of bared flesh, breasts were stroked and fondled, necks were caressed by hands and mouths that drifted ever further southward, and finally cunnilingus was performed where those mouths encountered the soft folds of womanly loins, unfolding the outer layers to discover the nubs that were a woman's clitoris. Since nearly all the participants in this orgy were female, it is natural to describe this oral-to-vaginal sex as a sort of "eating out" process in which tongues plunge into the moistened folds of womanly glory, yielding the succulent fruit of said loins with a kind of lapping process similar to what one used when eating an oyster. Said "fruit" came when one found the inevitable point of penultimate arousal, having stroked enough nerves to trigger this much-desired reaction, at which point the woman being eaten out rewarded the one doing the devouring with a gushing vaginal reaction that crudely goes by the name of "female cum," a syrupy, translucent fluid, little more than a teaspoon full of liquid sugar mixed with lemon juice and other elements in a biological concoction that tasted differently with each and every woman. Mildly acidic, full of nutrients, it was intended to provide a "thickening" fluid through which a male penis could penetrate fully to the vagina, and to seal in the cum that a man might shoot into a woman when releasing his own jism inside her. That happened with only two people-Ranma and Ryoga, to their respective Tendo-born ladies, though in one case it was a largely wasted motion since the woman involved was already quite pregnant.

In the case of the ladies, however, the results produced were always quite savory and satisfying!

Lao's harem-being entirely female-quite naturally were adept at yielding this sort of vaginal extraction and practiced the art regularly and with great enthusiasm on one another. Everyone in the harem liked somebody well enough to do this with on a regular basis, but they also liked to "shop around" to keep things interesting by trying out their arts in newer and more interesting combinations. The Tendo Posse, on the other hand, were mostly relative newcummers at the arts of female love, though Shampoo had practiced her arts diligently with Nabiki in both of her genders, while Ukyo and Perfume knew each other well inside and out and had yet to grow even faintly bored with each others bodies. Nabiki had only made love to Shampoo before marrying Ranma, and she was finding it delightful to try herself out on each of her fellow wives, so the novelty there was not even close to becoming a routine. Ranma, on the other hand, was still a beginner, but with advanced training in how to pleasure a woman and was still learning the particulars of each of his four very different and excitable wives. His main challenge was not to exhaust himself by trying to do too much at one time, and the strain of repeatedly cumming was much harder on him than it would be on a woman, men being designed by nature to be "Fifteen minute Wonders."

Not so the ladies, who could enjoy as many orgasms in succession as they had the energy to play with one another. Such it was between Keiko and Kodachi, who did not confine themselves to each other alone in any exclusive sense, both being intimate with the seraglio itself, having both trained there in the arts of pleasure under Madam Lao's direction. The Harem greeted them now like prodigal daughters returned to the fold, and with great enthusiasm they exchanged licks, kisses and caresses before bending down to the business of just play happily screwing those nearest to them silly. Akane got dragged into the midst of their fun, and-with her-also came Ryoga, who normally would have been too shy to ask any one of these lovely ladies for directions, but before too long found his male member getting regular and routine service by women who had not even seen a male "dick" in what they termed as "ages."

For Akane, it was a new experience to actually experience a full-blown, no-holds-barred orgy, finding herself surrounded by supple and affectionate ladies whose hands seemed to rove freely over every surface of her body. It was so easy to yield herself to their embrace, to swim in a sea of feminine glory that seemed to appreciate her for herself and to find no fault at all with what they encountered. Most assuredly Akane did not find any fault in their methods, and before too long her body was arching and writhing under the sweet torment of so much pleasurable fondling, and then the lips that suckled her breasts and loins made her forget all about the fact that Ryoga was quite nearby having his own "pipes" serviced by these selfsame ladies. If anything, Akane silently wished her iinazuke well and hoped he would give these women as much delight as she was receiving. It was amazingly difficult to feel any sort of inadequacy or jealousy in this kind of group scene, and-if anything-she felt warm and accepted into their midst, even if she could not identify who was sucking on her toes and suckling her right and left tit, her own mouth being buried deep between a pair of creamy thighs that cried out for a good tongue-lashing.

Kodachi and Keiko both spared a moment between their own antics to smile in Akane's direction, taking pride in their self-described "apprentice" in the arts of love and pleasure (Ryoga, being their other student, naturally impressed them) before renewing their efforts at "rekindling their ties" with their beloved playmates of Lao's harem. They knew these women intimately, knew then as individuals, knew their likes and dislikes, and were prepared to give full measure of whatever it would take to assure them that they were welcome…and well-cummed!

The Tendo party thus being itemized and their activities duly recorded, let us turn our minds to the activities of Lao herself, who was enjoying the embrace of four of her favorite girls, accomplished concubines all who knew the needs of their Mistress and were all too happy to service them with great enthusiasm. Lao duly acknowledged their token obeisance in the warm spirit of generosity in which it was tendered, but a part of her mind was on the two "new-cummers" in their midst, Martha Kent and the girl named Lila, who started things out on the sidelines simply talking about…things…and yet before too long were actually touching each other in places normally never ventured by a mother and a daughter-in-law, which effectively was what they were due to the element of Joan Wayne (Jordan-Kent) that was shared between them. The Ambiance of the "Piece of Junk" subtly influenced the mood of both women so that they were able to take in the orgy going on all around them with very wide eyes, and no little amount of speculation.

It was not long before Martha-who had only just rediscovered her own sexual nature-felt the call to do more than "just watch" from the sidelines, while Lila was round-eyed with amazement upon seeing the kind of "lesbian orgy" that you only witness in cheaply made porn movies. There was wall-to-wall female sex on display, and amply desirable feminine bodies writhing together in a kind of "group grope" that left all parties panting and gasping for more. When one girl had a climax it set off a chain reaction in those who were further aroused by the sounds of her pleasure, and when two girls managed to cum together it was with such energy and delight that one could almost not help cumming oneself from sympathetic resonance. The room itself vibrated and hummed with each mini-explosion, but none came more violently nor with as much force as Alison Kent, whose orgasm literally shook the entire chamber despite her body being effectively immobilized by Beatrice and some cunning nerve-blockage that prevented the redheaded titan from kicking somebody senseless.

"Oh hell," Martha at last murmured faintly, not wanting to be left out of this fun, in spite of the fact that she was now back to her "old self" in terms of raw superhuman power. She actually found herself regretting the absence of the golden Orichalcum chains that had inhibited her power absorption earlier since having full power meant having to restrain herself from going all out. For her, the world was made of cardboard and tissue paper, and human beings were easily breakable things. Lose control for even a second and the results would be spectacularly messy, and the last thing that she wanted to do around here was cause a mess, especially with so many accommodating and beautiful people attracting her interest, Lao chief among them.

But then the touch of a womanly hand on her chin turned her focus back towards Lila, who was smiling at her in an understanding and even welcoming manner. Her eyes were luminous with emotion as she said, "It's all right…I understand your problem…I go through this with Joan all the time, but you don't need to worry about me…I can handle it, and I know how to make you happy."

Martha stared with widened eyes at a lovely young thing only half her years-if that-who seemed to comprehend the unexpressed desires that lay within her and-to Martha's surprise-seemed willing to compensate. All at once she felt the press of some invisible current against her skin, and then she was being pushed down against her bedding of pillows, laid flat facing upward with thighs parted as Lila hovered over her, not touching but somehow touching Martha with gentle affection. The little clothing that they each had on was soon shed as though by magic, and then Martha felt a thousand tiny fingers stroking against the pores of her skin, her muscles being toyed with beneath their surface layering, and nerve endings receiving pleasurable stimulation as she arched her back and gasped in appreciation, discovering first hand how an otherwise normal girl with Magnetic abilities could overcome the strength of one physically superhuman…the sort of discovery that had been made by her own daughter…

So far so good, Lao mused, the Gods of Perversion must have been smiling on her to have arranged for the arrival of this Polaria, who was making out with Martha in a way that effectively neutralized one potential problem. Satisfied that good results would be forth-cumming on that end, she turned the rest of her peripheral attention back on her other source of chief concern, Nabiki and her husband, Ranma, even while acknowledging the loving efforts of her own sweet concubine lovers…

Ranma had wasted no time in pounding Nabiki's hot and horny little love-box for all that he was worth, but once he achieved the results that he was after he found his engine running perilously close to "empty," having cum so many times in the past sixty-two hours that even his remarkable stamina was beginning to wane a bit, having been called upon too much without sufficient time for sleeping in between such "milkings." He started to go slack at once as his reserves failed to kick in to his rescue, leaving Nabiki with his suddenly inert mass laying atop her body, and she not even close to being satisfied, having only achieved a single orgasm.

"Ranma-kun?" she asked, surprised at how heavy he felt so soon after such a dynamic explosion.

"Gimme a minute…I need to rest…" he murmured faintly, only semi-conscious, which left her more surprised than angry.

"I don't believe it," she said as she rolled him off of her and examined him critically to insure that he was not facing, but-sure enough-his "love tool" failed to respond to her attempted hand-job, so she desisted in her attempts to revive him, noticing how "cute" he looked when only half-coherent, which prompted her to say, "Some Sex Machine you are."

That got a faint rise out of him as he popped one eyelid open and mumbled, "Gimme another five minutes…and I'll spank you…for saying that…" and then the rest was too garbled and incoherent to follow.

"Promises, promises," she sighed, feeling too horny to wait but not wanting to disturb her husband while he was suffering from such obvious signs of exhaustion.

"My lady?" a voice politely asked, "Do you wish your husband revived? I would be most honored to perform such a service."

Nabiki turned to see one of the Undines standing close nearby, her body as near to being translucent as she was uncannily human in her expression. Despite her inclination to refuse, Nabiki was sufficiently intrigued to ask, "Revive him? How do you mean?"

"It is clear that your man needs rest and must regenerate vital fluids in order to perform his marital duties," the Undine explained, "I can speed up that process while helping to revitalize him by sharing a portion of my own life force. It will be no trouble at all, and when I am finished he will be able to ride you until you are happily bow legged."

Nabiki cocked an eyebrow as she moved away from Ranma's side and said, "Now that I'd like to see…"

"As you wish," the Undine replied, and promptly flowed onto Ranma, her body dissolving into its constituent state and expanded to take on more moisture until she formed a globe roughly oval-shaped and totally surrounding Ranma, who sputtered a bit in surprise but then began to relax as he found that he was not drowning.

"Ranma-kun?" Nabiki asked, amazed at seeing her man floating in a gel-like envelope that stood out a good four inches from his skin yet seemed to somehow feed him enough oxygen that he was only mildly discomforted, and then she saw his manhood begin to rise within this coating and stared in fascination at this evidence of his rapid revival.

All at once a pair of hands went around her and a happy voice said, "Ranma get soaked by Water Girl, is good because he soon can make nice-nice with Shampoo and Airen. Airen want to watch, or does Airen want to play with Shampoo?"

"That is a trick question, right?" Nabiki asked, allowing herself to be drawn off to the side with her wife and into the ongoing love-feast of Ukyo and Perfume, who were going at it hot and heavy.

For the next several moments Nabiki got into the thick of things with her fellow co-brides, taking turns with Shampoo and Perfume before somehow winding up in the arms of a fully aroused Ukyo, while the two cousins played with each other and fell into a happy sixty-nine mutual slurp feast. Nabiki gazed into the eyes of the eyes of the okonomiyaki chef and wondered why this felt somehow familiar, like she had been in Ukyo's arms many times before and had gotten quite comfortable with sharing her embrace, as though in another life they had been lovers independent of their joint union to Ranma. Then she dismissed the question as irrelevant and just concentrated on having a good time with her best friend, Ucchan. Having known each other since middle-school, they had an easy relationship born of a shared interest in the martial arts, only now they were sharing much deeper ties as lovers taking turns performing "breast massage" and cunnalingus. For some reason, eating out Ukyo's loins reminded Nabiki of okonomiyaki, but-she reasoned at the last-since you are what you eat, that really did make sense after a fashion. What mattered to her was that Ukyo was tasty, and that putting her tongue up the other girl's snatch just made her hungry to sample even more "pussy."

And then something very odd happened…in the midst of sending Ukyo over the edge another body was suddenly pressed up against hers, as though the party in question had rolled up next to her while moving about on the pillows. Nabiki looked up at the same time to see Beatrice, and both girls had faces slick with the moisture of another woman's sex on their chins and lips. For a moment, brown eyes stared into vibrant silver-blue as the spark of recognition passed between them and then-without warning-they turned and embraced one another, kissing automatically and savoring the flavor of other womanly juices, then losing all shyness and inhibition as their arms began to rove up and down flushed and naked skin, hands fondling and "sampling" breast-meat while tongues clashed and melded together and both women began groaning their approval into one another.

Ukyo-who was just then coming down off her latest high of mind-shuddering sex-because aware that Nabiki had desisted in bringing her off for another time, and when she opened her eyes the naked chef discovered why her best friend's attention seemed to have drifted elsewhere. Alison similarly opened her eyes and took in the sight of her wife embracing another woman, and yet-strange to tell-she felt no jealousy towards Nabiki but rather looked on with a surprised, fascinated and ultimately intrigued expression, which shortly thereafter led to another form of arousal…

Kodachi-who right then was urging Akane to keep on going with her tongue-flicking exercises, while Keiko-chan rode the Tendo girl from behind with a borrowed double-dong dildo-turned at the sound of the muffled groans of Nabiki and Beatrice together and cocked one black eyebrow, marveling to see her two smartest friends had suddenly taken an interest in each other…or perhaps rather had given way to an interest that Kodachi had long suspected…

For Nabiki there was a delirious joy in finally being able to "claim" Beatrice as a lover, having long considered the platinum haired beauty to be one of the most stunningly attractive girls in their entire high school. Bending Beatrice back to the pillows in order to straddle her came as naturally to Nabiki as her urge to "grind" her pussy up against the neatly trimmed silver bush of her fellow genius classmate. From there she made a point of pressing her labia and clitoris up against the unfolding pink pedals of the mercurial and often infuriating "mad scientist" of Furinkan High, feeling somehow vindicated to drive the other woman into a state of sexual submission as she asserted her dominance with firm and insistent pelvic motions. If she had been in her other gender-state it would have been something else she used to ride Beatrice's pussy, but having to make do with the equipment on hand seemed like no great burden as Nabiki pushed her soft sex into the pelvis of another and heard the grunting and groaning acceptance of the other young woman. Nabiki grinned like a rutting Tomcat, enjoying the ride as she ground her clitoris up into Beatrice's clit and managed to strike sparks each time the two sensitive nerve clusters met and flicked against one another. It was with the most sincere of intense pleasurings that Nabiki coaxed her labia lips to form a "kiss" that was shared with Beatrice's vulva, and then she felt hot fluid gush from her loins into that hot "love snatch" as Beatrice came with her and the two of them got wet and wild together in a double-rushing semi-fluid climax and caused both girls to cry out in simultaneous triumph….

Martha-who by now was quite far-gone into the magnetically-enhanced caresses of her daughter's lover-heard the many cries of womanly orgasm all around her as though the noise were indeed the crashing sounds of waves on the beach, a term she had never truly understood before this moment. She supposed that everyone was "having a good time together" and gave no thought about how…unconventional it all might seem, but the sound of her own climax drew the attention of Alison, who was just then coming down from her state of superheated arousal and was beginning to wonder if Joan were the only one who was on drugs and behaving in a manner not consistent with past behavior…

That thought did not occur to Nabiki herself as she belt down and tasted the flavor of her own cum mixed with that of Beatrice in the latter's all-too-yielding vagina, and she was well into the delightful joy of eating out this cream-tasting mixture when a nagging thought began to occur to her. She wondered what it was but tried to dismiss it from her thinking, only to have the sensation return to her with a vengeance when she paused to lick her chin, having once more brought Beatrice off with the latter kicking her long, lean legs in the air and waving them like a "V" for triumph…

And that was when it finally dawned on Nabiki just who she was performing cunnilingus with, someone with whom she ought to be too annoyed to consider anything so…kinky. Beatrice was not one of her wives, she belonged to Alison and no one else. Nabiki had just cuckolded the strongest girl in their classroom, someone with a jealous streak as long as a crane, and whose fists could put a dent in battleship armor. What on earth would possess her to go hog-wild like this and possibly tempt a lethal reprisal?

And that was when it hit her…Lao! This ship of hers reflected the mood and mindset of its owner, which meant that Lao's own libido was conveyed to its occupants on a subliminal level. That was why the air seemed to highly charged with the potency of sex, and why everyone was screwing each other like rabbits irregardless of their normal standards of behavior. Lao was giving them all a sexual high and weakening their normal inhibitions…which meant that Lao was-by proxy-also making out with…

"LAOOO!" Nabiki rose up from Beatrice to turn and confront the lady pirate, only to find that Lao was staring back at her while being serviced by half a dozen amorous women. She glanced around and saw that Ranma was still enveloped by the elemental, while Akane was being pressed in close by a sandwich comprised of Keiko and Kodachi. Ryoga was all but lost to view from beneath a dog-pile of sensuous women while Ukyo was once more with Shampoo and Perfume, becoming the center-spread of yet another Amazon sandwich. Alison-much to Nabiki's relief-was glaring at the woman making out with her older sister and not directly at Beatrice and Nabiki. That meant that she was the only one not currently under the spell of love-magic, the only one semi-lucid at that moment, and thus the one who alone could confront Lao over the issue of her sexual manipulations.

Moving to part herself from a somewhat-disappointed Beatrice, she turned and said, "Lao…what in the hell are you doing to us?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Lao asked innocently, "Aren't you having a good time with the others?"

"A good time?" Nabiki stood up and waved a hand, "Is that what you call this?"

"Well…not to put too fine a point on it, but…yes," Lao said as she gently urged her concubines to ease back a bit in their affections, at least so that her voice did not quaver too greatly, "In fact I would even add…HELL YES!"

"But this isn't real…it's just a reflection of your own perverted fantasies!" Nabiki insisted, "You're having us make out as though we were nothing more than sex-crazed animals. These aren't real relationships based on mutual trust and admiration…we didn't get to here by learning to tolerate and respect each other as people, to understand our wants and needs and compliment our own desires…you're making this happen because you want us to be as obsessed with meaningless sex as you are!"

Lao sighed and said, "Tell me something, Tendo-san…when did you turn into such a frump? Your argument is not only specious and insulting, it also makes illogical leaps from one point to the other, all based upon assumptions. You leap to the conclusion that I have the power to force people to make love that is not of their own desire."

"If the sandal fits, wear it," Nabiki replied, "Or are you going to deny that you've practiced mind control to turn these people into your affectionate playthings?"

"What I deny is that I am forcing anyone here to do anything that is against their will and nature," Lao replied, "Human free will doesn't work like that. I can plead, cajole, influence and manipulate people into doing my bidding, but they have to make the right choices for it to work. You can't hypnotize someone into violating some fundamental element of their own nature…it's been tried before, and by people are more expert at this sort of thing than me, but never with such effectiveness that it can be relied upon in a group setting such as this one."

"And I'm supposed to take your word for it?" Nabiki sniffed, "Well then, are you going to toss me into the Kraken and make me suddenly change my mind and agree with you?"

"Nothing of the kind is needed," Lao said, "You just have to open your mind and your heart to the possibility that people might actually want to do this sort of thing without my prompting."

"Nabchan," Keiko started to say, "What are you trying to do here…?"

"I'm trying to keep a level perspective, which is what someone here ought to be doing before we all fall into her trap and start thinking like she does," Nabiki replied, "And you're a fine one to ask me that question, considering what you're doing to my sister. You're all like fanatics belonging to some great big religious cult, and you're one of the worst proselytizers in the whole bunch, Arigami…"

"I've had about enough of this!" one of the concubines suddenly rose to her feet and said, "My lady, are you just going to sit there while she insults us? She's offended our hospitality and is making us sound like a bunch of mindless drones, and I for one have had enough of it!"

"Yeah," another concubine said, "Where do you get off on such a high horse, Tendo-san? What makes you think you can come in here and tell us how to live?"

"That's right," a third concubine replied, "We're slaves, but we don't have to put up with this kind of abuse! We're entitled to some dignity…subject, of course, to your approval, Mistress."

"You see what I mean?" Nabiki waved a hand, "You look to her for advice and approval, but she's not a god, even if she does have delusions about it…"

"Do I now?" Lao purred with a half-lidded humor in her eyes as she regarded Nabiki with an unreadable expression, "And what makes you think I'm anywhere near that religious?"

"Ignore her, Mistress," another concubine spoke up, "She sounds like she's just having an identity crisis and she's trying to take it out on us just because she thinks we're all a bunch of mind-controlled geeks, as if she's any better."

"Yeah," the concubine nearest to her said, "I'd hate to see who's been controlling her mind or making her into such a grump all of a sudden."

"No one's controlling my mind," Nabiki insisted, "You're the ones who bow and scrape to a tyrant."

"Nabchan," Ukyo sotto-whispered, "I really don't think this is a very good time or place to be bringing this up…"

"I can't think of a better time to confront her on this, can you?" Nabiki turned back to Lao and said, "I've seen what you do to people, what you can turn them into if they give you half a chance, and I haven't forgotten how you broke your word with me by using a technicality to justify hauling me off and chaining me up with the rest of your human cargo. How dare you just sit there and look smug because you think we can't do anything about it, like this whole thing is one big perverse game to you that you can toy with us at a whim and make us jump through your hoops for your amusement?"

"Is that what you think of me?" Lao replied, "That I'm doing all this out of some selfish desire to treat you like some captive lab mouse?"

"That's exactly what I think you're doing," Nabiki replied, "You've even got poor Ranma running your errands, playing baby-sitter for your kid. You've got my friends and loved ones right where you think it will give you an advantage and you think I won't call you out for it. Well, just try something with my daughters and I'll make you regret the day you ever saw me, Kung!"

Lao drew a heavy sigh and said, "I would never, NEVER even think of either threatening or harming your children. They are my nieces, and I do not war with babies. You have entirely the wrong idea about me if you can even think me capable of such a thing. Clearly I seem to have become the very embodiment of Satan in your eyes, but that is not an accurate reflection of the real me, nor do you have the right to pass judgement…"

"Oh yeah?" Nabiki countered, "You gave me that right when you tied me up and hung me out to dry for twenty-four hours! I've had a taste of your methods for turning women into slaves…"

"You have had only one day to experience orientation," Lao replied, "Hardly adequate to judge my real methods, nor do you seem to have suffered any impairment from your experience. Be honest, Tendo-san, you were not injured or abused the whole time that I left you to your own devices. If anything, it was Lotus and Blossom who nearly suffered when you vented your displeasure with me upon their person…"

"But that's after I freed her," Perfume spoke up, "You can't exactly say it was unprovoked, Auntie, now can you?"

"My lady," Kodachi spoke up, "Allow me to explain this to my friend. Nabiki…do you honestly believe that I have suffered from my time among Lao's people? I spend many months here, you have barely been here more than a few days, and much of that time you have been left to your own devices. Regardless of what you may think of her, Captain Lao did me a great kindness, and I won't have you abuse her. This thoughtless rant of yours is pointless…surely you must see that there is no harm at all in allowing ourselves to explore our passions freely with one another."

"I'm not saying that she's doing this to hurt us," Nabiki replied, "I'm saying that this is evil…"

"Evil?" one of the concubines nearest to her stood up and got right into Nabiki's face, "Listen here, little girl, you may be a guest of the Mistress, but you don't know what you are talking about! You may be some hotshot martial artist, but that doesn't give you the right to throw your weight around here and be so snotty about it!"

"Evil is as evil does," another concubine said, "And by their fruit ye shall know them."

"What's so evil about having a good time?" a third reasoned, "Why can't we have fun with each other in whatever way we like? We enjoy what we're doing, and we're damned good at it, if you'd care to test us."

"You probably couldn't even satisfy half of us if you tried," the concubine standing in front of Nabiki snorted, "You're just an inexperienced teenager who thinks she knows something about the way the world works…you think you know more about it than us? Most of us came from OUT THERE, you know, and few of us really liked it."

"Maybe that's the whole point she's raising," one of the concubines said in more philosophical tones, "Maybe she thinks we'd be better off living our lives the way we were before the Mistress discovered us and made us a part of this harem."

"Yeah?" a forth scoffed, "Doing what?"

"I don't know," the concubine who had spoken before shrugged, "I don't even like to think about what my old life was like, when I'd been an office lady with a divorce and no children. Nothing much about my life back then that I really miss."

"But what about your ability to choose how to live your own destinies?" Nabiki spoke up again, "What about freedom?"

"Highly overrated," a fifth concubine scoffed, "Not much freedom when you're starving to death and can't make an honest living. Try being a prostitute in Singapore if you've doubts about that…"

"I never even had any employable skills before I came to live here," a sixth argued, "Now I make silk tapestries, and I've very good at it. I've got a beautiful daughter, friends who I can talk to all the time, plenty of time to myself to read books and write in my journal, and I even get to visit my parents on odd holidays. What more do you think I'm missing?"

"Excuse me," Martha said as she and Lila sat up, "Are we having a debate here about the propriety of being a slave?"

"That's what it sounds like to me," Lila said dubiously, not even bringing up the fact that she had just indentured and purchased her own girlfriend.

"We're here because we accept that being a slave is not such a bad thing," a concubine answered, "We enjoy our lifestyle, and we owe what we are to our Mistress."

"There are slaves and then there are Slaves," another concubine grinned, "And we're the best you'll ever find plying our trade on these Southern Seas. If we didn't like what we were doing, then we'd ask the Mistress to sell us to someone living somewhere else."

"I think the question that's being raised here is whether or not being a Slave is a good thing," yet another concubine remarked, then lifted a hand and said, "All here raise their hands if they would rather go free and live back on land like other people! Any hands? I didn't think so…"

"I think the confusion is really all about what kind of Slavery we're defending," said another concubine, "After all, there is the brutal kind in which a master beats and humiliates a girl and treats her like she's less than nothing. Most places where slavery is practiced aren't all that nice about it, and the slaves there are little more than helpless victims."

"Yeah, but we're not that kind of slaves," her nearest companion, "We're the kind that has fun. Back me up here, Mistress, you don't really think we belong to you because you forced us here against our will?"

"Ah, but I'm staying out of this fray," Lao smiled a she held up a glass, "Anything I say here is immediately suspect because I'm such an awful manipulator and can't be trusted to let people make up their minds about anything, remember? Besides, you're all doing such a lovely job of defending me that I wouldn't want to interfere."

"Laugh all you want, Pirate," Nabiki frowned, "But I'm still gonna expose you."

"Ohh…sounds kinky," Lao remarked, "Expose me to what? Your razor whit and dashing insight into the ways that people are supposed to live? Dazzle me with your brilliant observation on why I should even give a damn about what such a spoiled brat from a backwater country thinks of me for having fun doing the kinds of things that help me turn a profit."

"But you're enslaving people and making them into sex toys!" Nabiki all but shouted.

"Well, yes, but other than that, what do I do that you think is so evil?" Lao wondered.

"You toy with people's thoughts for one thing!" Nabiki countered.

"I only do as much of that as is needful," Lao replied, "Do you think I am so great a voyeur that I get off on reliving every trauma and tragedy in the lives of my supposed victims? Some thoughts are so private and darkly tainted that I could never even bring myself to share them with anyone. You have no idea what it is like to be in the mind of another person, Tendo-san. Take Kodachi over there…she is happier now, but in her past I have viewed such darkness that only she and I will ever understand. Count yourself fortunate that you were not the one who found her mother lying in a pool of her own blood, or the thoughts that once tormented her before I brought her under my dominion."

"Mistress," Kodachi herself said quietly, "There is no reason for Nabiki-san to have to know what evil tainted my soul before you helped to liberate me. I know and you know, and Kei-chan knows as well, and that is more than sufficient."

"Quite so," Lao subsided, "And you are right to remind me not to bring that up. I did not intend to expose your private heart, Koda-chan, it was rude of me and I ask your forgiveness."

"There is nothing for me to forgive," Kodachi replied, bowing from her waist before adding, "But I owe my whole world to you, and I will never forget that. I am yours to command as you see fit, Mistress, just as Kei-chan is my pet, and Akane-chan my good friend and apprentice…"

At that moment Ranma came sputtering out from the water-cocoon that had surrounded him and said, "Whoah, I'm back! Did I miss anything?"

"Only the beginning moves for World War Three…baka," Akane replied in a semi-affectionate, almost sisterly manner.

"Excuse me for asking this," Lila spoke up, "But you're a criminal, right?"

"I'll confess to the fact that what I do is illegal by the rules of normal society, yes," Lao replied, "But does that make me your enemy? I most certainly hope not."

"But you kidnap and sell helpless women," Martha frowned, "And you don't even bother to deny that."

"Would it do me any good if I did?" Lao shrugged, "Of course if you look for a victim here, other than Tendo-san, you would be hard pressed to find one who will press charges. I'm very good at what I do, and what I do is help those who have the ability to be pleasure slaves to find themselves and enjoy what they are. To some that may seem evil, but I acknowledge no law and no country as my sovereign, so the only authority that matters here is my own, the sovereignty of my conscience."

"In other words, you make the rules and you get to follow them," Ranma blinked, "Uh…how did we get on this subject?"

"Your wife is challenging our captain's authority," the Undine who reformed beside him answered, "Which means she is either crazy or desperate…or probably both."

"I don't understand," Lila glanced at Martha as if only just realizing what the two of them had been doing with one another, "Is she a bad person because she's a criminal, or is she a criminal because she's a bad person?"

"Oh, I'm bad," Lao chuckled, "But I'm not a bad person, ask anyone who knows me."

"Hah!" Nabiki scoffed, "Try finding someone who's more objective."

"Meaning you, I take it?" Lao replied with a certain menacing lilt to her voice, "A ship can have only one captain at a time, Tendo-san, and that Captain is-for all intents and purposes-a god in the eyes of her crew. I can allow a great deal to slide because it is beneath me to answer those charges, but to lose face is not something I can afford. You've accused me of a great deal more evil than I have by intent committed, and for that there can be only one answer."

"And that is?" Nabiki asked, tensing up slightly as Lao rose up from her seat to her full height with an obvious look of challenge in her expression.

"We settle this your way," Lao replied, then pointed with one hand, "But not here…the seraglio is the wrong place to conduct a battle of this nature. This way…to the challenge hall, where you and I can make a proper accounting."

"Fine by me," Nabiki said, missing the warning look that was shot her way by Ranma…

It turned out that the very hall where Ranma had played a game of baseball with Breeze was the so-designated "challenge hall" in question, a place where the entire seraglio-plus guests-convened only a few moments later. Lao began some stretching exercises while allowing Nabiki to consult with Ranma and the other members of her self-designated Posse. Shampoo and Perfume looked dubious about the whole matter, while Ukyo and Ranma were positively cautionary.

"This is a bad idea," Ranma said simply, "What's the point in fighting her now? You know we're still at sea, kilometers from land, and the POJ is the only way we're gonna get anywhere."

"That's right," Kodachi agreed with his assessment, "The invisible jet that we used to come out here could not possibly take all of us back to the main islands…it would take several trips, and you wouldn't be very comfortable during the journey."

"Yeah, that does sound…kind of bad," even Ryoga admitted, "But if it's a matter of honor…"

"Honor be damned," Perfume growled, "Fighting her like this is a really bad idea, and you can quote me on that, Airen."

"What's the idea of picking a fight with her now, Nabchan?" Ukyo asked, "You want to wind up the new captain of this ship or something? This reeks of bad timing!"

"Couldn't you at least wait until we get a little closer to civilization, Oneechan?" Akane wondered, "I hate to side with the others against you, but she wasn't doing anything to hurt us…"

"I know you guys are worried," Nabiki said, "But I have to do this. That smug pirate thinks she can run our lives and make us dance to her tune, and it's about time somebody teaches her some manners."

"But why does it have to be you?" Perfume asked, "As good as you are, I don't think you can take her."

"Aiyaa," Shampoo agreed, "Aunt Lao mistress of Water School, is almost as good as Elder. Even great-grandmother no have easy time when fight her."

"Hey, I know she's tough, but I think I can take her," Nabiki replied, "I'm a lot better than I was a few months ago, and I beat her then, right?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, "But you did it using the Nekoken and the Shiryu Hoten Ha, and we wound up all taking a bath when it tore the ship apart, remember?"

"I know," Nabiki said, "But I've learned a lot of other things since then, and so have you. I'll bet together we both could take her easy, Ranchan. And what about you, Keichan? Got any advice?"

"Excuse me, do I know you?" Keiko said a bit frostily, "I'm too biased to know my own mind, remember?"

"Hah?" Nabiki glanced at her, "Uh…look…about what I said before…"

"I'll chalk it up to PMS," Keiko folded her arms, "But this is one fight where I'm not in your corner, Nabiki. You insulted both me and my Mistress, and for that you deserve to have your butt kicked."

"I think you did get a bit carried away back there in choosing a confrontational approach to this situation," Beatrice noted, "Madam Lao is dangerous, but she was on her best behavior. You've jeopardized everyone's safety just to establish a point that no one else thought you should make, and it may be that you have truly bitten off more than you intended to chew this time around…"

"Translation," Alison noted, "You're gonna get your butt kicked but good. But…for what it's worth, I'm kind of with you. Just watching my Big Sis acting like she was…eerie. Before this, she acted like the whole idea of being with another girl was the worst sin imaginable, and now she's messing with Joan's main squeeze? That just ain't the Martha I remember…"

"Maybe you never really knew me after all, Ally-chan," said Martha herself as she joined these others, "I don't know the rest of you people, but I have to say that I do admire your nerves. You are a very unusual young lady, and I have my eye on you. I can't take sides in this fight while my own daughter is being detoxified by the Kraken, but I do wish you well in your fight against the captain."

"Um…thanks," Nabiki looked up at the older woman whom Alison named as her big sister, reading a strong and formidable character to her features…which oddly enough did seem to bear a strong resemblance to Nabiki's own face…in a Gaijin sort of way. It was almost like being given encouragement by an older sister, which-oddly enough-made Nabiki think a bit of Kasumi.

"I'm really not sure what this is all about," Lila admitted, "But since you're obviously the good guys, I guess you're the side I should be rooting with, even if Captain Lao is doing me a favor."

"Oh, don't worry about Nabiki and me," Ranma said, "We always come out on top, and besides, this ain't a matter of life and death for us…is it?" he asked with a questioning lilt in his wife's direction.

"Ask me when it's over," Nabiki said, and completed her warm-up exercises-in the nude, of course, since no one around them was wearing a stitch of clothing. How odd it was to find out you could get used to such a thing after a couple of days of living in a "Nudist Colony" situation…

Lao smiled as Nabiki and Ranma moved to the middle of the room, joining her in a manner that was more typical of an informal challenge match greeting. She nodded to Ranma before addressing herself at her real adversary and asked, "Are you both fighting together, or is your husband just here to wish you well on your way to dreamland?"

"Ranchan's going to be my partner in this," Nabiki said, "I'll take the first round, but then we switch off. Got any problem with that?"

"None whatsoever," Lao answered, "I'll fight you both at the same time, if you like…it would be a fairer match, and together you might even have a chance at winning. Alone, you're just not that much of a challenge, I fear…"

"We'll see about that," Nabiki said as she squared her stance, "Ranma, call it…and don't interfere unless I call for your help, got it?"

"Right," Ranma said reluctantly, raising his arm in preparation then bringing it down again with a decisive, "Hajime…!"

"Okay," Nabiki said grudgingly, "So maybe I did make a tactical mistake by doing that, but you knew I'd never let Ranma or anyone else help me in a fight if I thought I had a chance at winning…"

"True," Lao said, "Pride goeth before the fall, and it's one of your chief character traits. Of course, you knew that your husband would never settle for just standing helplessly on the sidelines when he saw you were at a disadvantage."

"Well…" Nabiki said reluctantly, recalling the unfortunate way that the fight had started out as being far from one of her better moments…

The opening sally against Lao had been a standard attack offensive with Nabiki charging in and delivering a devastating series of kicks and punches with speeds exceeding that of the Amaguriken, a clever combination attack that she had been mastering while under Cologne's direction. To her surprise Lao moved in rhythm to her attack and absorbed each punch and kick against her defenses without trouble or seemingly any effort, and not a single one of her attacks got past the taller woman's guard. Lao just moved through the opening motions as though the two of them were engaged in a dance, then stepped back and smiled in that ingratiating, condescending manner that Nabiki found so annoying.

"Have you forgotten that I studied under the same mentor?" Lao asked, "I know your moves before you commit to them, and even if you vary your speed and tempo I can still respond in time to block you."

"Try this then!" Nabiki charged up a fist and hurled a point-blank Chi-burst into Lao's face, only to see the Captain harmlessly catch it against the palm of her hand and absorb it.

"Water is the medium by which energy is absorbed and dissipated," Lao explained, "Try something else that can be a little more effective."

"All right, you!" Nabiki squared her posture and launched herself into a powerful spinning back kick that could have felled a redwood tree, but Lao caught her about the ankle and halted her flying leap, thus arresting her motion.

"Too slow!" Lao cried and drove Nabiki body-first into the reinforced wooden timbers of the flooring.

"Yeowch," Lila winced, "They're good…I doubt even Tara or She-Cat could take them…"

"This is martial arts as I have seldom seen it practiced," Martha murmured somberly, "Even Lady Shiva might be impressed with their performance."

"I don't get it," Keiko winced, "Did Nabiki forget what I told her about the Captain teaching me the Shadowskills or something? She's playing right into Madam Lao's hands…"

"Perhaps she has some strategy to lure the Mistress into a false sense of security," Kodachi theorized, then winced, "Or…possibly not…"

"Oneechan…you baka," Akane murmured softly, watching Nabiki try yet another maneuver that was stunningly less than effective.

"This is sad," Lao sighed, "You have indeed improved much, but not anywhere near to where you should be if you want to challenge me to a one-on-one match. Is there nothing else in your arsenal but Amazon tricks that I learned when I was barely knee high to a tadpole?"

Nabiki pushed herself back off the deck, feeling as though her head or the room were still spinning, and belatedly admitting to herself that might indeed have a slight problem in regards. Her training with Cologne had tended to be rather intensive on the Amazon side of the matter, while she was only just beginning to learn the particulars of Ranma's Senken maneuvers, not knowing them well enough to consider her mastery all that effective against Lao's high standards.

"I would like to offer you a chance to back down now," Lao said as Nabiki got back to her feet, "You can save face and train yourself for a rematch, then face me again when you are ready."

"Are you ready enough for…this?" Nabiki cried as she spread her arms wide and began concentrating, drawing in the manna currents that saturated the air and forming them into a ball of concentrated energy, which same she shaped with her hands until she was ready to release it in Lao's direction.

Of course Lao was prepared for this and stood her ground to absorb the energy, power enough to punch through the side of a mountain, but which broke apart effortlessly between her hands as though she were dismantling a child's toy. Of course in doing this she had to remain immobile, and no sooner was the blue-white ball disbursed then Nabiki leaped high and delivered a smashing round-house kick that actually connected with Lao's jaw, staggering the pirate Captain backwards and leaving her open to a spinning heel-kick to her chest area.

"Whoah," Martha remarked, further raising her estimation of these two combatants after feeling the back-flash charge of the energy ball, which clearly went beyond what she normally took to be the threshold of an ordinary human.

Nabiki attempted to press her advantage, but the two good kicks that she had landed proved to be the extent of her good fortune. Lao recovered instantly and met her head-on, absorbing the third combination kick aimed at her body and trapping Nabiki between her hands, then driving the younger girl face-forward into the deck with force enough to bounce her, then pinning the Tendo girl's arms behind her back.

"Ready to concede now?" Lao smiled, "That was a good maneuver, but the follow up was a bit lacking…"

All at once Lao was batted away by a dragon-stamp kick that came from out of no where. Ranma alighted on the deck in a crouch and assumed a ready stance as Lao recovered her bearings, then said in a low voice, "You okay, Nabiki? You look a little rattled…"

"I'm…fine, Ranchan," Nabiki said as she got back to her feet, favoring one arm that hung sore and limp beside her body, "But I didn't ask you to interfere…"

"Give me a break," Ranma said, "You're getting toasted! You needed me five minutes ago, and don't try to argue with me about it."

"Ah, young love," Lao mused, "I almost didn't see that one coming. I was wondering how much longer you'd stand for seeing your beloved tossed around Saotome. Now this fight might actually prove interesting. Do you think the both of you can prevail against me with your use of the Senken?"

"You…know about the Senken?" Ranma blanched.

"I've seen you use it before," Lao squared her posture, "But this is my first chance to test myself against it. I find the idea of an entirely new form of martial art to be quite…invigorating. Do proceed to use any part of it that you might believe will be of value."

"All right," Ranma hunched his shoulders and hands down, "But you asked for this one, lady."

"He's going to use the Umisenken," Perfume reported, recognizing the body position and stance.

"Do you think that could be effective against Lao?" Ukyo asked.

"Not know," Shampoo shook her purple haired head, "But Aunt no seem too worried…"

"Interesting," Lao smiled, watching as Ranma mentally erased all traces of his presence in the chamber. She stood relaxed and at ease and waited for the boy to make the next move, and when it came she was ready and struck downward with a palm-strike aimed at where she estimated would be the location of Ranma's stomach. Her guess proved right, even as her legs were knocked out from under her, toppling her forward, and Ranma was halted in the act of following up to his "Shichi Rakuchi Sei" (Support Fall to Earth) maneuver with the more devastating "Haku Dato Shin Sho" (White Snake Reliable Fist) attack. It also meant he lost his concentration and regained visibility, thus became vulnerable to another attack had Lao chosen to commit one at that particular instant.

Instead she stepped away and remarked, "There is one problem with using that particular attack against me, young Warrior…it is a Water Based system, and-as you already know-I am a master of that that particular element of nature."

Ranma grimaced as he clutched at his stomach, grunting slightly, "How did you…know…?"

"I could feel you move against the currents within the room," Lao explained, "You must learn to flow with the currents if you wish to truly disguise your attack. You may be the next best thing to invisible when others do not notice you, but you are very noticeable to me, and not just because you have such magnificent equipment."

"Urk," Ranma's hands automatically shifted to his groin in a belated attempt at preserving his dignity.

"Now then," Lao said, "Where were we-oh, excuse me," said as she did a rapid side-step and moved inside the guard of Nabiki, who was attempting a dragon-stamp flying kick of her own, only to wind up on the receiving end of Lao's backfist, which knocked her to the floor and left her partially stunned.

"You see?" Lao remarked as she regarded a groaning Nabiki, "Fluid dynamics…be aware of your entire environment like a shark sensing motion in the water. If you both would learn that one simple trick, then this fight would be a whole lot more interesting. Ah…the folly of youth is that the young are always impatient…"

"Then eat this!" Nabiki cried as she sprang back to life with a vaulting backward kick, followed by a handspring and a triple somersault recovery, having bounced off Lao's defenses in such a way that she was back on her feet and ready to renew the struggle.

"Ah, much better," Lao said in approval, not in the least bit fazed by this near-miraculous recovery, "The both of you are finally learning."

Ranma was the next to attack, shifting his strategy from Umi to Yamasenken, launching a devastating double-hand-and-foot "Moko Kaimon Ha" (Fierce Tiger Entry Through Gates) attack, a maneuver he would normally have thought impossible to counter without the Umisenken attack he had already just used. To his surprise Lao met the attack and blocked both of his hands with her arms and caught his kick with an upraised leg, then shot her free leg forward at his undefended stomach, knocking him backwards and doubling him over.

She did not have time to touch down upon the floor before Nabiki was upon her, launching a flying Amaguriken-boosted series of kicks that forced the pirate slaver to go on the defensive, rolling with her attack and absorbing its fury. This time Nabiki did not let up, did not relent, went all out with everything in her inventory and launched punch after kick after blow in rapid succession, moving so fast that the air itself seemed to sizzle with her movements. The attack only lasted an entirety of two minutes, but it was enough to impress the onlookers, who found it hard to believe that a normal human girl could move with such speed, fluidity and controlled power.

"Wow," Ukyo exclaimed, "Nabiki's going all out…she wasn't this intense when she was fighting with Ranchan!"

"Aiyaa," Shampoo declared, "Nabiki very strong, stronger than ever…"

"No," Perfume contradicted, "She's exhausting herself with that attack, and Cousin Lao isn't getting any weaker."

"What?" Ryoga said, "But…that means…"

All at once Nabiki got kicked along the side of her face as Lao went from defensive to offensive mode and smashed the younger girl with a solid round-house that picked her up and sent her flying into the far wall. This time Nabiki fell to the floor in a heap and did not rise up again, clearly having lost consciousness with that maneuver.

"Game," Lao remarked, only to fall back on the defensive as Ranma launched a new attack, using the other Senken maneuvers in rapid succession, shifting from one elemental style to the next, and winding up falling back on his specialty, the Honosenken.

"Uh oh," Alison winced, "Is it just me, or does it feel like it's getting a little hot in here?"

"Oh dear," Beatrice murmured faintly, "I do believe your young Saotome has lost his cool, as it were, and is about to overheat things just a bit."

Indeed Ranma had lost his temper, seeing Nabiki being hurled about in such a way that he was immediately driven to a state of emotional outrage. Rather than lose control, however, his anger gave him a more intensive focus. Using the skills he had mastered while being a volunteer fire fighter gave him an edge on speed, maneuverability and evasion that even Lao found mightily impressive, having to counter his Fire-based attacks with her Water-based system.

"Very good," Lao noted as she maintained her defenses against the fury of his attacks, "Now this is the fight I've been waiting for…"

"Glad you like it," Ranma said, raising his hand as he fell back and cried, "TRY THIS-SURROUND AND CONTAIN FIREBURST!"

All at once the air around Lao caught fire, and suddenly she found herself being surrounded by converging waves of the element that was Alchemically opposite to her own, searing flames that could potentially prove more than a little inconvenient as they stole the moisture from the air and robbed her of one key lien that she normally relied upon. With a twist of his hand Ranma caused the flames to congeal around one point, but when those fires met at the center there was nothing for them to consume, Lao having completely evaporated.

"What…?" Ranma blinked, surprised at seeing this happen.

"Congratulations," a voice said from directly behind him, "Didn't think you had it in you, kid, that was sneaky and almost effective."

"Yikes," Ranma immediately vaulted forward and spun about in mid-leap to find himself facing Madam Lao, who had somehow managed to get behind him.

"Of course you still need to learn to tell the real thing from a mirage," Lao smiled, "But if you can manage an attack that ruthless, then there is hope that you'll grow up to even bigger and better things and more advanced maneuvers."

"I wasn't-I didn't…I thought you'd block it…" Ranma blurted.

"Never count on your enemy being as alert as me, Kid," Lao said, "That could have hurt if I hadn't sensed your attack before it happened. Tell you what…why don't we play our cards on the table and make one all-out attack to finish this in one stroke. Summon up your power and I'll show you what real power is."

"All right," Ranma's eyes narrowed, "But you asked for it…"

Ranma concentrated again, drawing upon his elemental power. All at once the forces he sensed in the chamber all around him became tangible and manifest within his grasp. He had only to mentally reach out to them and draw upon their strength, and then shape and channel the force to form a column of flame that rose up above his upraised arm and-to his amazement-it formed the shape of a flaming dragon.

"WHO SUMMONS ME HERE?" a familiar voice called out in a booming voice, "I SMELL THE BLOOD OF THE QUEEN OF THE SEA ELEMENTALS BEFOULING MY NOSTRILS…"

"Hooboy," Ranma winced, recognizing the voice as belonging to the Salamanth Queen, Latisha.

"Oh no," Perfume winced, "We're toast!"

"Ranma, you jerk, what have you done now?" Akane demanded.

"He's summoned up the elemental queen who gave him his Honosenken power," Ryoga exclaimed.

"But a fire elemental on a wooden ship?" Keiko asked, "That isn't exactly a good change of tactics…"

"Indeed," Kodachi remarked, "We could be in for a great deal of trouble."

"Or…maybe not," Beatrice noted, staring at Lao, who had remained calm and smiling the whole time of the summoning of the dragon.

"Magnificent," Lao smiled, and raised her own arm towards the ceiling, and all at once a column of water formed into a swirling water spout, and from this formed a dragon shape of its own that oriented towards the dragon of fire.

"YOU???" an inhuman voice snarled, "YOU DARE BRAVE MY DEMESNE, SALAMANTH?"

"ULQUALSH," the flaming dragon pronounced the name in distaste, "I KNEW THAT I COULD RECOGNIZE YOUR FOUL STENCH ANYWHERE! SO YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DARES RAISE A FLIPPER AGAINST MY ALLY?"

"YOUR ALLY?" the water dragon snorted, "SINCE WHEN DOES THE LOFTY AND MIGHTY LATISHA CONCERN HERSELF WITH MERE MORTALS? MY ALLY WILL SQUASH YOURS AND EXTINGUISH YOUR FLAMES FOREVER!"

"NOT IF I CONSUME YOUR ALLY AND BURN HER TO ASHES!"

"I'LL SMOTHER YOU FIRST, YOU COUSIN TO AN IGUANA!"

The fiery dragon-shape said the equivalent of "Up Yours" and then the two dragons came clashing together. For a moment everyone shielded their eyes as flames and water droplets shot in all direction and the air became clouded with a searing burst of steam that forced everyone but Martha to blink her eyes and avert her gaze to shield them.

Then at last the steam cleared and those who dared to look found Madam Lao standing where she had been, slowly lowering her arms as clouds of steam dissipated from all around her. Ranma lay out on the floor, obviously unconscious, having failed to withstand the clash of two rival elemental powers and the explosive aftermath that inevitably resulted from such an encounter. Everyone else was dripping wet and somewhat stunned by the fateful conclusion to this epic concoction, including those with Jusenkyo curses, who also stood around and exchanged non-plussed glances…

"Well," Martha mused as she shrugged off the effects of the soaking, "That was anti-climactic…"

"That was the conclusion of the fight?" Nabiki blanched, "You've got to be kidding!"

"No," Lao replied, "You slept right through it, but your husband put in a magnificent accounting for himself. The only problem was that I'm older and more experienced at this sort of encounter. Plus I have more hit points."

"Huh," Nabiki scoffed, "Yeah, right…"

"The point is that you challenged me and lost," Lao smirked, "Which means that I am entitled to the prize for my victory, which means that you will submit to me and give me what I most desire…"

"No way," Nabiki crouched low and readied herself, "If you think that a little set back's going to deter me from putting up a fight…"

"Oh, there will be no fight," Lao smiled all the more menacingly, "You see…I've removed your temporary resistance to water. My staff has finished running the tests and have assured me that your baby will be in no danger from a sex change…at least for the remainder of the week. In fact, if you look down you will find that you have already shifted to Kaneda."

"W-what?" Nabiki stared down at-himself-wondering when he had shifted form and gender, not having sensed the transition.

"You've been male the whole time that we've been talking," Lao explained, "I needed to give your body time to adjust to the change so that you will be virile for what I am planning."

"What you're…?" Nabiki-kun blinked, then a horrified realization hit him and he gasped, "No…you don't mean…you wouldn't…?"

"Hey, I'm evil," Lao grinned, "Do you really need to even ask that question? You do remember how our first fight turned out, do you?"

Nabiki-kun started to back away, feeling the hard surface of the reinforced wooden wall at his back, his eyes as wide as saucers as he watched Lao's outer form change and shift to become her "cursed" other self, manifesting in the shape of an eight foot long, seven hundred pound Bengal Tiger, which naturally in his eyes meant only one thing…

"A-A-A CAAAAAATTTT!!!!" he cried, his mind going white as his Alurophobia took over…

Continued

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