Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Honeymoon Hentai ❯ Nihao my Captor... ( Chapter 20 )

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.

"My Lady!" a marine Sergeant announced rather suddenly, "We have found a clue…we have found-a peach!"

"That's very nice," Lao said drolly, "Now put it with the others…about a dozen in all so far, and one for each member of the previous away party who is currently missing. I see the Prince hasn't changed his ways since the last time we paid this island a visit. Now, if only we can get their attention without having things degenerate into a fight, then we'll really accomplish…"

"My lady!" a scout reported, "There is a palace just beyond that ridge, and the entrance is heavily guarded, but we should be able to take them by stealth without incurring any losses…"

"Belay that," Lao said, "Recall your teams and regroup to this site. Let them make the first move, and nobody is to act without my permission, is that clear?"

"Yes, my lady," Sergeant Nakamura replied, barking out orders and making the appropriate handsigns to draw back their teams and form a defensive position in anticipation of…whatever.

"How long must we wait like this, my lady?" asked Marine Corporal Kue as her people waited nervously for something to happen.

"Not long I'm guessing," Lao replied, "They already know that we're here and by now they've had a good look at us, which means that any second now…"

"My lady!" one of the scouts pointed off to the side, "A shadow approaches!"

"Ah," Lao smiled, "Punctual as ever. Don't let the shadow touch you, and when it comes within reach be prepared to attack it with weapons only…"

All at once a woman to her left cried out as she dropped down into the ground as though swallowed where she stood. The rest of her people reacted to the perceived attack by stabbing out with spears at the offending shadow, only to hear a yelp of surprise as the missing mercenary was heard to cry out, "Hey, watch it!"

"Why doesn't anyone pay attention when I give a direct order?" Lao growled, and stabbed out with her cutlass, causing the shadow to jump back as it suddenly disgorged the girl, who landed sprawling in the sand, slightly shaken but no worse for wear, while a figure lithely darted back out of reach and manifested as a man-like figure that took purchase in a nearby palm tree.

"Whoah!" this figure cried, "You're quick! Not many could have spotted and thwarted me like that…"

"Fortunately I am uncommon, Sarutoru," Lao replied as she brandished her cutlass, "And I see that you haven't slowed down over the years since I last saw you…"

"Captain Lao?" the monkey-like figure dropped down to the sands, "It is you! I thought you looked familiar. My Prince, you remember Captain Lao the provider of many young girls to the court of your father..."

All at once there was a flash of light and then three more figures appeared, two of them flanking the third, who stood erect and noble for all that he barely came up to breastbone height to the others.

"Indeed I do," said a young man barely thirteen seasons old, "Greetings, Captain Lao…it has been a long time since you last paid a visit to our island."

"Five years to be exact, Prince…Toma is it?" Lao inclined her head, "You were barely knee-high to a stump, now look how you've filled out. Your father must be very proud of you…where is he? I should very much like to see him."

"So would I," the youth sighed, "Alas he has been gone to us for the past few seasons. I am Crown Prince now of this Island of Togenkyo and your host besides this. Now…how may I help you?"

"You have some people of mine in your custody," Lao answered, "I would like to get them back, in exchange for which I am willing to trade in goods and services. Whatever you like, Prince, just name it."

"Is that so?" replied Prince Toma with a smile, "Then I will ask that you and your people accompany me to the palace, where we can reunite you with your missing fellows. Your arrival is most fortuitous as my birthday is tomorrow and I am looking to choose a bride from the many candidates that I have already gathered. You are invited to participate in a friendly bit of competition that I am arranging…in fact, I insist."

Several Marines reacted very badly to the suggestion implied by the smile of the imperious youth, but Lao stilled their grumbling with a hand and replied softly, "You misunderstand something…I am a guest on your island and not one of the girls who are to be bought, sold or traded. I do not compete with others for the privilege of becoming a bride, even to the handsome likes of you, Sweet Prince."

"Well, I say you do," Toma replied, laying a hand to his side and adding, "And what I say here goes, do you understand that?"

Lao's eyes fell to the hip of the young Prince, or-more precisely-at the gourd that hung by his side and felt her hackles rise up at the base of her neck. She winced to herself as she considered the implications, then said to her minions, "Put them up, people! We're not here to start something, just finish it up. We'll do this diplomatic-like, just like I did with his father."

"Only not quite the same," Toma smiled, "I think you will find that I am somewhat…different from my father, with different needs, which I think you will be admirably quite well suited to handle."

At that Lao gave a nervous smile and suddenly realized that she had just stepped into something a lot more nasty than Tiger poop, so she silently sent a command out to one of her Undines, who relayed her instructions back to the ship and an anxiously waiting Blossom…

There was quite a lot more to making love with your wife than performing a simple "bump-and-grind-roll-over-and-go-to-sleep" routine that many husbands tended to think of as "foreplay." For Ranma the act of making love to Nabiki was tantamount to a martial arts match in which his skills and resources were called into play for the singular act of pleasuring her and giving his newly recommissioned wife a full-body, no-holds-barred all out pleasuring assault on her entire nervous system with a life-or-death intensity worthy of a major battle.

For her part, Nabiki was far from an inactive lump of flesh laying on her bed and taking it like some sort of chore that she had to get through. The fiercely competitive streak that made her such a champion fighter would not allow her to lay still and make like a corpse, nor did she want this to be a one-way experience with her passively absorbing everything that her husband could dish out with meek acceptance of his manly prowess, so she tended to give back as good as she got on occasion, and even managed to excel in adapting to her own brand of Kamasenken, taking what she learned from him and adapting it to compensate for his male anatomy. Between the both of them there was a spirited, lively, affectionate competition to see which one of them could make the other yield first in the battle of love that lay between them.

For Ranma, this experience was heightened by his recent experiences in knowing what female anatomy was actually like, something men usually had to guess about, even when aided by the comely services of someone as sensitive and adaptable as Perfume. The Amazon Enforcer was much too hypersensitive to be an accurate barometer of the effectiveness of many of his Senken maneuvers, she tended to over-react to his lightest caress and gentlest of fondles. A woman whose body was as well conditioned to withstanding pain as Nabiki's could only be measured on a much higher scale of tactile sensitivity, but now that Ranma knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of his own techniques he could adapt his maneuvers to work even better on her anatomy, judging by her responses to his movements that he could measure by the slight tremor of her nerves, which he felt like a sympathetic resonance in his own body.

And so when he touched her breasts and lightly stroked around their edges he knew precisely how much pressure to use, exactly how long to take in order to mount those twin peaks and scale to their ultimate heights. He also knew that she was not as fragile as porcelain and expected him to use a bit of force to go along with the softness, and was very much a solid and compact mass of highly strung together nerve and muscle tissue, strong beyond the strength of a less conditioned mortal and quite resilient to his methods. He loved the feel of her in his hands, the press of her soft flesh masking the steely cables that lay just below that softness, and the resistance he felt when she pressed back against him. Her breasts were as soft as pillows yet as firm as the muscles that supported them and maintained their girlish shape. She was (quite literally) more than a handful and perfect in every way, exactly the kind of woman he needed to let loose upon his full intensity and ardor, knowing she could not only take his best efforts but respond to them in kind. It was an exhilaratingly sensual affair just running his hands over those delightful bosoms, and then running a tongue over her flesh and eventually suckling them as she groaned in heartfelt approval.

There was not an inch of her body that he did not love…everything from her face to her hands to the soles of her feet, every square centimeter of flesh and the muscle and bone that lay underneath, her entire person was like a tapestry upon which he wrote a song of love that resonated throughout her body. He could spend hours just working over her muscular legs as there was so much fascination to be found in their curving aesthetics, their heuristic algorithmic dimensions and complex muscular and neural arrangement. Running hands up and down her inner thighs brought such a shiver of delight that she could not hold back an approving shudder, and when he traveled up and down their length those legs could be a map of many wonderful places that he would like to pay a lingering visit, and everything he tried was good, and the more he worked those legs over the more Nabiki flexed and curled them to suit his caresses.

Her legs were certainly one of her most attractive features (and she had so many!), but the most fun for him always came when he got down to her feet and could take his time playing his trade against the neurons there, hardened and desensitized as they were by years of travel, they still yielded a delightful softness when recently bathed, and sucking on her toes was as much fun for him as it yielded such interesting responses from her lips. And besides which, she was surprisingly ticklish **down there,** a fact he never ceased to take advantage of when he had her at his mercy.

Of course. for her part Nabiki found his body just as fascinating to go over, from his hard pectorals to the soft flexibility of his testicles to the delightful **firmness** of his erect and ready manhood, which she could never resist paying homage to whenever she was in the position, wrapping her mouth around his head and "going to town" by sucking him in and bobbing her head up and down until he was hard enough to break concrete with the thing. She considered his prick to be her own personal love-tool and made him very much **aware** of the fact that she regarded it as her personal possession, to be left in his safe keeping when not in use and only to be loaned out to other women when she gave her express approval. She seemed so convinced of the fact that his rod belonged to her that she was always trying to hide it inside her body (through any one of her three openings, though her preferences were oral and vaginal) and seemed intent on carrying it everywhere, and Ranma knew beyond question-if it were detachable-she would have put it in a handbag and carried it with her, to only loan it back to him when he had a use of his own for the randy thing. She seemed to feel that she was incomplete without his organ inside her, a view he liked to encourage just so long as it did not lead to thoughts of virtual castration.

Besides this, she also liked to turn the tables on him, having discovered that her husband had his own secret "ticklish" areas, a fact that she would tease him about every time she thought that he was getting a bit too cocky with her. It delighted her to apply her own intimate understanding of the male anatomy to working over his nerve endings, to give him back Tit-for-Tat the kind of sensual sweep that he used so well to drive her crazy. Ranma found himself on the verge of an explosion each time she went to work giving him a sense of what it was like to be made of some highly volatile mixture that reacted when shook in an incredibly explosive manner. She was just as like to want to rock his world in as many ways as he knew how to please her, and together they found their combined efforts to be VERY pleasing indeed, even as they coordinated their mutual assaults to build up a tension, or a kind of sexual energy, that raised a charge that filled both of their bodies with Chi like twin resonating battle auras.

In time their auras began to resonate together, their combined Chi forming a pool that flowed from one linking Chakra center to the other through the connection of his plug filling her socket. Ranma used this linkage to teach Nabiki a vitally important lesson about the Kamasenken…how one used the entire body as a tool to fill the mind and soul with life-giving vitality, charging all the vital centers at once and pouring them together like a stream through his loins into her body. It was not just the life-giving breath of semen that he shared with his wife, it was the essence of his soul that flowed into her and mingled with the vitality of her own body. For Nabiki it was like being a battery soaking up the alternating current that was flowing from him into her and then back again, from her body into his, increasing the power output the more they maintained their link together. Nabiki saw in her mind how those vital energy centers awakened all through her own body as she formed her own "Tree of Life" pattern to match his. What began as a mind-blowing ecstasy of climax turned into something truly mind-blowing as her head filled with the light of their combined spiritual and sexual awakening, and then she truly did become a part of him as the both of them shared souls and consciousness with one body vibrating in time to the rhythm of the other.

All at once Nabiki's highly sophisticated mind began to surge with expanded awareness and processing power, like a computer that had just gained expanded RAM space and Cache Memory with a faster CPU that allowed her to make billions of calculations in the space of one second. At once she understood something that she had never even imagined before about the Senkens and their true nature…how the body was more than just a house in which the soul could live but a Temple that could be a place of worship or abuse, depending on how one tended to view it. It all became clear to her just then how much her body had become a refuge in which to hide from the world outside, a shrine dedicated to the memories of ghosts long dead and buried, not even a proper tool of her will, just a place to hang up her sandals when her mind was otherwise occupied with thoughts of how to make enough money to secure her family's financial future.

With that clear insight she made another logical leap and recalled that the word "Economy" itself was derived from the Greek words for "Our House," meaning that the field of economics was itself an extension of the body in that one cared for it as a place where everything had to be orderly and kept in a kind of rough balance. The collective body of society lived by the rules of supply and demand, just as any body had to take in nourishment to sustain itself, and put out energy in order to keep the engines of industry going. A woman labored from dawn until dusk maintaining her home in a kind of working condition where everyone was fed and clothed and no one suffered from wanting whatever was essential to survival. The food and money consumed in this endeavor had to be used constructively in order to produce more raw resources for later consumption, like a single-celled organism that would wither and die if the right conditions were not met. She had tended to view her family (both the one she had gathered and the one that she was born with) as a holistic unit in which all members contributed their part to the general welfare, and now she could see that their unit was like a body with organs that needed proper care and maintenance in order to work properly together. To ignore any one part was to threaten the efficient workings of this ergonomic machine and take for granted the very things that made life so pleasant in the first place, the heart, liver, stomach and kidneys or the lungs that filled one with breath and kept everything else going.

And yet there was so much more to the workings of this machine than she had ever imagined. Her world had been too small, too tightly focused, too narrow to encompass the wider reality that surrounded them all. Ranma was the heart that held their family unit together, and he had been the one to first discover this larger universe, informing the brains of their family-Nabiki-of something vitally important that she had been missing until now. That was why he had been forced to grow so much of late, and why he now exceeded her in spiritual understanding on matters so vitally essential to their mutual survival as a unit. It was why he needed to share this awareness with her now, to make her once more fully a part of him, a part he needed every bit as much as she needed him. Through the linkage of their bodies he helped her to see the greater reality that lay beyond their physical senses, and so was able to show her how the Tree of Life blossomed in each of them, and how one could tap into its vital energies the way a tree taps into soil through its roots. With unfolding awareness came the greater understanding that they were not alone in their corner of the universe…that there was another intelligence that embodied the same pattern consciously studying them as if just waiting for them to notice.

This intelligence was ancient, wise in the ways of man and yet of an entirely different order of ascendance. It had a liquid mind that flowed from a stream of thoughts to abstract concepts that the human mind was not designed to grasp, and yet it knew that they were watching back as though expecting them to notice, and through this instant rapport they obtained a level of communication that was not otherwise possible between themselves and a mind so alien and vast that it encompassed an entire ocean.

For Ranma and Nabiki it was like waking up to find themselves standing upon a rocky atoll that was barely projecting above the level of the waters. What was peering back at them was a single unwavering eye…an eye as big as the radio dish for a satellite TV system, and which was focused upon the both of them as if to imply a single word, "Welcome."

"Ranma-kun…?" Nabiki gasped as she clung to her man for support against the turbulent ocean, which threatened to turn her male at any second.

"I see it," he murmured back, and then, after pausing a moment he said, "Um…hello?"

[You have finally opened your minds to see], a voice that was not a voice at all replied, more like the eye was insinuating the thought within their heads.

"To see what?" Ranma asked, perceiving that the eye was attached to a body much larger than the POJ itself, gliding easily through the slate gray sees under a sky that was dark and cloudy with foreboding.

[To what minds and eyes do not see of their own accord,] the eye implied with a look of knowing.

"Oh," Ranma said, "Er…you wouldn't happen to be…?"

[What you call the Kraken.]

"Oh," he said again, "You're…communicating with us telepathically, huh?"

[You would not understand the term for this level of understanding. If you must call it anything, then label it as Implied Communication.]

"Right," Ranma said, feeling that the answer were somehow so obvious that he felt stupid for even asking.

"Implied communication?" Nabiki repeated aloud.

[What you call Telepathy is just another level of awareness that you Lilum share among yourselves, but that is simply the thoughts of one being resonating in time with the other. When two points separated by distance share a resonant pattern, then distance and space matter for nothing as the thoughts of one mind vibrate on a quantum level with the thoughts of another…]

"You sound just like Madam Lao," Ranma noted, feeling just as much out to see with all these complex technical terms flying at him at a rate that he had to absorb with some effort.

[My chief apprentice…and a very talented and adept mind at that, for a Lilum.]

"You mean…you taught Lao to understand you?" Nabiki marveled.

[On the contrary, it is she who has educated me in the ways of humanity, to which I was formerly a stranger. Of all those with whom I have formed a bond through the Covenant, she is the one who has come closest to understanding my nature. Understanding is essential to communicating with my kind…you Lilum have such small minds and a limited grasp of your reality that it is refreshing to encounter a mind that is capable of understanding me. Without that capacity my thoughts would not take shape in your thoughts and to you I would remain a mindless creature of primal creation and destruction.]

"Well…not to be insulting or anything, but…aren't you?" Nabiki asked.

[I am far more than you could hope to understand, my very being encompasses concepts that you would deem impossible, and yet I exist, composed of matter that is very different from your own and a spirit that is eternal. Think of me as you will, I am that and much more than you can know…]

"Right," Nabiki said, "That's pretty obvious. So…you serve Lao and do her bidding…"

[I serve the one who is the rightful master of the ship known to you as the POJ, but also known as the "Thousand Year Phoenix," bound by the Covenant that I forged with the mortal wizard known as Han Bo-Lo at the time of my reawakening. Lao Kung is but the latest of a long line of servitors whose will I have amended, but she has come the closest of any to understanding and accepting the true me, which is more by far than what you see upon the surface…]

"More than that?" Nabiki replied dubiously, arching and eyebrow to infer her skepticism.

[What you Lilum permit yourselves to see is but the outer physical shell of my being, but my being itself is…]

"Excuse me," Ranma raised a finger, "But what is that word you keep calling us…Lilum?"

[It means the Children of Lilith, wife of Eve and partner to Adam, who forged the first covenant long ago…]

"Right," Ranma waved the rest of this aside and said, "Just answer me something…are you really as much of a monster as people say you are? I mean…do you really have the ability to destroy the world…?"

[Not destroy it…reclaim it. The Covenant of Man and Heaven has been broken, the trust imparted to your kind availed for not. I do not wish to bring about the destruction of your world, but I must obey my nature and the purpose to which I was born. It is a destiny programmed into my very being…I cannot deny my nature. Though I love humanity, if I were free from my pact, then I would be bound by the Covenant to destroy it through absorption back into the greater whole…]

"But that's awful!" Ranma exclaimed, "Sucking us all into some kind of void that we never even asked for…?"

[It is not to you whom the fault may lay, but to those of your race who have the power to change the world for the better yet who squander their potential and render it for nothing. Your leaders, those who are invested with the authority, who have the influence to bring change to the world, yet who value greed and material profits above the very earth that is your mother…the seas which gave you life…as I who live in those seas know well from directly witnessing the results of Lilum deprivations…]

"And what makes you fit to judge us for our shortcomings?" Nabiki asked, "Sure, we may have clowns for leaders, and even an actor can be elected President of the United States, but we're not all about materialism and exploitation…"

[I well know this. My time as spent in service to a different Covenant has allowed me to learn what humans are like beyond your pale and petty surface emotions. I probe deep from the mind of everyone who has been linked to me and through their eyes have seen what life is like for those who live among you or on the fringes of human existence. The meek, the humble, the powerless and the petty, or the righteous and deserving, all human lives are beautiful to me, and I would see none of it wasted, save for those who have so greatly violated their own natures as to bring down upon themselves the tide of destruction…]

"You're not answering my question," Nabiki said, "Who gave you the right to decide whether we should live or die as a species?"

[The One who is of the Host and beyond even our understanding…the One who made us, whose Source Code I am not worthy to process…]

"You mean…Yggdrasil?" Ranma asked, wondering how he could even pronounce such a foreign word without stumbling.

[The World Tree is but the processor that multitasks reality as you know it. The One is beyond even the capacity of the Tree of Knowledge, it is beyond the understanding of mortal, immortal, god or Lilum…it is both our father and our mother, the One who came before time, and to whom all things return at their ending. It merely is, and because it wills things to be, I was created to fulfill my destiny, and unlike humans-who have free will and choice in their actions---I am bound by the Covenant to carry out my programmed function.]

"Which is?" Nabiki asked.

[To gather knowledge and preserve the memory of the earth as it was…to guard against the possibility of worldwide extinction brought about by forces other than Man…]

"Other than Man?" Ranma asked, "You mean like…something alien or…?"

[There was another before you who asked this question. He was born of another world yet was raised on Earth as one of you. He embodied the best that is within humanity for all that he was not fully human, and it pleases me to see that his children carry on his tradition. He asked if the end of Mankind would be fated to be at the hands of human beings or something alien, and I told him that it would all depend on the choices made by your species, and of the paradox that is my existence.]

"The paradox of your existence?" Nabiki repeated.

[That I may one day bring about the doom of humanity…but that I also have the capacity of preserving it against extinction. I carry in me the blueprint for humanity's restoration, for I have spent all of existence recording in my memories the accumulated weight of Lilum existence. Even when I slept this was my function, and when awakened by Han Bo-Lo I was prepared to fulfill my function…]

"Wait a minute," Nabiki said with a sense of dread, "That was in the fourteenth century, right? The time of the Mongol Empire…but…also the time of the Great Plagues?"

[Precisely. Humanity was being ravaged by disease because another of my kind had also been prematurely awakened. Pestilence was upon the world, far more terrible than before, and two thirds of the human beings then alive were afflicted by his touch. Had the Plague not been stopped when it was, your race would have ceased to be, and I would have been compelled to fulfill my secondary function or restoring your seed from whatever was left among the survivors…]

"You mean…you could have saved us if things went any farther?" Ranma blanched, "So…you're not just some dumb monster after all…you have a purpose…"

[I was created long ago to fulfill my role in the Master Scheme, but not everything in life is programmed and certain. I cannot defy the will of my creator, though you can still act to preserve yourselves if you choose the correct path that your destiny may assume, Nexus.]

"Okay then," Ranma said, "If you're so smart and have all this knowledge, then why don't you show us what to do, huh?"

"Ranma-kun…" Nabiki looked to her husband with a hint of warning.

[I cannot show you what you must do…that is up to you to learn for yourselves, but…I can share with you a portion of my knowledge that may be of benefit in your quest of further enlightenment…]

And with that the eye opened wider and seemed to glow from within, and all at once Ranma and Nabiki found themselves being bathed by a light that reached within their very being and called to life the pattern of the Tree of Knowledge that was within them. All their Chakra opened as one to receive this inner radiance, and as reality inverted their minds became as one in soul and body, joined together for an instant as the light within became their world and filled their total awareness with a sense of universal being, of purpose and kinship that went well beyond the boundaries of their former existence, and in that instant they briefly touched the face of heaven…

"So…what is it about Monsters, and why do they want to destroy us poor humans?"

"It's what they do," Lina replied, "It's what they live for. They were created with the desire for destruction, and from the destruction they came, and that's where they mostly are headed."

"Now Lina," Nagha chided as she leered at her naked companion, "Not all Monsters are like that, as you well know. Your cute friend, Xellos, for example…"

"He's not my friend," Lina growled, "He's just some guy who keeps showing up whenever he feels like it, and he's really annoying…always going on about this or that, but when you ask him a direct question, what does he say but, 'It's a Secret!'" she mimicked the sound of a guy talking with a funny nasal accent.

"But what are Monsters, and where do they come from?" wondered Ryoga, who was trying very hard to keep his mind away from what he was seeing performed in the chamber before him.

Ukyo and Shampoo were having their way with Kodachi-no great surprise there-the Black Rose being stretched out between them on a rack that was presently pulling her as taut as piano wire while both Chef and Amazon took turns teasing, toying and tickling her to distraction. Off to the side Akane was helping Perfume out by playing with Keiko, who was dangling by her wrists from a bar that was hanging from a chain supported by a winch that was dangling from the ceiling. Given all of that-and other assorted games being carried out within this oddly named "Playroom," it was amazing to Ryoga that he was not sporting a massive nosebleed.

"Well," Lina replied as she and her companion remained on the sidelines with those others not presently engaged in friendly games of torture, "If you want to know the absolute truth of the matter…the Monster race was the original spawn of the primal Abyss…they're much older than humanity, and some are far more powerful than even the Gods. There's a legend that the world itself was created from the body of a Monster…a great giant as big as you can imagine who got taken out by the Elder Gods when they were spawned from Titans, another race of giant monsters…"

"I believe that I have heard the legend of that on our world," Beatrice remarked, "In the Norse religion it was believed that creation began when fire and ice met and collided, creating a warm valley, and from the melting of the ice came the first of the Frost Giants…and a great cow who fed him from the milk of her udders…"

"A cow?" Alison arched a crimson eyebrow, "Oh puh-lease! Everyone knows that Chaos was the first of all the Titans and the source of everything…"

"In the Hellenic system of your mother, perhaps," Beatrice smiled, "But to the Egyptians the swirling maelstrom of the great sea was filled by Ra, to the Chinese the world was called into order by the Celestial Emperor Shang-Ti, while in Japan the great god Susano-O dipped his trident into the sea and produced the Japanese Islands…"

"Ah, religious conflicts," Nagha smiled, the one who presently was most enjoying the…enthusiasm of the young girls currently applying the services of a feather to the naked skin of the tautly stretched Kodachi, "How refreshing to know that the traditions are carried on in this world as they are in the world we call home…'

"But a Sorcerer can't get involved with all that stuff," Lina said dismissively, "We study the power and its origins in order to master it, and we can't get mired down with any single personal belief system. In all religions there's one consistent pattern that we know how to interpret…that it all boils down to a primal beginning where the Monsters once held sway over the world, until the rise of the Gods and Heroes, who established the physical rules that govern our existence."

"I see," Beatrice mused, "Rather like the ancient Sumerian Legend of Tiamat, the Dragon of Chaos, who was slain in battle by the God Marduk to create the world as we know it, a theme common in many mythologies that see order as arising from original chaos."

"Wow, that sounds just like the legend of the Hellmaster," Lina remarked in surprise, "Only in our version of things, the first of all Monsters got divided into four parts who became co-equal rulers of the world in the ages before the Gods became powerful enough to tame them. Then one day the monsters had a falling out, in a time we call the War of the Monsters Fall, about a thousand years ago, when the rise of the Gods created the opportunity for mankind to crawl out from under the monsters' shadow…"

"Actually, Monsters are still fairly common in our world," Nagha remarked, "But we Sorcerers have our ways of keeping them in their place, and Lina here has taken out more than a couple in her times…"

"Hey, it wasn't like it was easy or like I make it my hobby or anything like that," Lina insisted, "It's just that Monsters can't seem to leave well enough alone…Hellmaster himself pushed me to the brink and caused me to open myself up to the Mother of All Night, and that's NOT an experience that I'd like to repeat anytime in this incarnation…"

"But the basic concept is that the Earth itself is a monster," Alison pointed out, "Why is that so much better than thinking of it as a creation of the Titans?"

"Oh, no reason," Beatrice replied, pausing to smile at the sight of Keiko being lightly fingered by an amorous Perfume, "Unless you count all those times that Gaea and Zeus had it out over the way he treated her monstrous children…"

"Well, Great-great-great grandma is a little peevish about that," Alison shrugged, for once missing the signs of her partner's "scoping out" the competition, "She had a falling out with her husband over locking up their children in Tartarus, and when Zeus did the same thing after the Titan War to everybody who fought on the other side, it-kind of got on her bad side, know what I mean? That's why she sicced Typhon on the gods in the first place."

"Ah yes…that," Beatrice nodded sagely, "How could we forget the event that brought us back together? Which reminds me, I wonder how Ukyo's other baby is doing on Monster Island?"

"Monster Island?" Lina wondered.

"Yeah," Alison nodded, "Here we keep our giant monsters mostly confined to one government-sponsored island where they can roam to their hearts content without stomping our cities flat and lowering property rates in the suburbs."

"What a novel concept," Nagha remarked, "A theme center where monsters roam freely in their natural environment. You could actually make such a place into a tourist center, charge rates for people to see the monsters in protected tram lines…"

"Are you kidding?" Lina snorted, "Who'd pay good money to see that?"

"Somebody already tried that once," Alison winced, "It…didn't work out."

"Because some greedy fool sabotaged the security system and let the monsters out," Beatrice shook her head, "Some people will do anything for money…"

"I know," Nagha nodded sagely, "Take Lina, for example…"

Lina grit her teeth and growled, "Keep it up, you're just asking to get fireballed…"

"I wouldn't recommend that, Lina dear," Nagha chided, "Remember, those Undines are keeping an eye on you, and if you so much as start to summon a spell they will effectively drown you. Besides, cold iron inhibits your powers as effectively as mine…and do you really want to cast a fire spell in the middle of a wooden vessel?"

"Ah…good point," Lina winced.

"And besides," Ryoga spoke up, "We have children on board, and I don't think their mothers would take too kindly to seeing you set their home on fire."

"A…very good point," Lina conceded.

At that moment their attention was drawn back to the fun going on in the room as Kodachi gave a muffled cry (as coherent as one can be with a ball-gag stuffed in your mouth) while Ukyo pried off the layer of wax that had hardened atop of her body, the product of three candles that had been employed in a "drip-drip" molding session that they had just been concluded. Ukyo held this paraffin cast up for close examination, then turned to one of the attending girls and asked, "Can I get a cast for this to take home as a souvenir?"

"Sure," the cheerful concubine replied, "Would you like it in bronze, brass or silver?"

Meanwhile Akane had just been introduced to a piece of exercise equipment that the concubines recommended very highly…a modified form of a stationary bike with the seat boasting a pair of projecting prongs which moved in time with the pedal motions…something that the locals called a "Bicycle Hump," and to which Akane was proving to be an enthusiastic convert. As she pedaled on the device she started making all sorts of motions that sounded a lot more intense than the usual panting and grunting. Even Ryoga found her increasing tempo to be highly impressive and it would doubtless take off a few kilos of excess fat at the rate that she was going.

"Hooboy," Alison remarked, "This place really has a way of bringing out the pervert in almost anyone…except for you, Bei…you're enough as a pervert as it is."

"Thank you…I think," Beatrice winced slightly, then murmured to herself, "I have the sneaking suspicion that-before we leave-I will be experiencing some of the pleasures of this chamber…"

"Count on it," Alison said with a knowing expression, "Good thing they have a great daycare service here, because we're gonna be busy for a bit…"

All at once Breeze came into the room, looking around before saying, "Where's Ranma and Nabiki? I've gotta find them…"

"They're not here," Ryoga replied, then paused before adding, "Aren't you a little…young to be here?"

"Why?" Breeze asked without seeming to comprehend the question, "It's just adults doing mushy stuff. Look…I need to find them quick…my mom's been taken hostage!"

"WHAT?" that statement brought the entire room to a screeching halt as everyone-both guests and concubines-turned to look in the young girl's direction.

"Your mother's been taken hostage?" Ryoga said with a blinking of his eyes, "You're kidding, right?"

"No," Breeze replied, "I heard it from one of the Undines, who was making a report to Blossom and said that Momma was taken prisoner by the people of Togenkyo…"

"Togenkyo?" one of the concubines reacted, "You mean the island of Men? The ones who have that special potion that can turn women permanently into men?"

"Say what?" Alison reacted.

"An elixir that can permanently change one's gender to the male persuasion?" Beatrice replied, "That's…very disturbing…"

"Worse than disturbing!" Breeze said, "I don't want my momma to turn into a guy! And I don't want her marrying some guy who's not much older than me!"

"What?" Ukyo said, coming over to join them, "Your mom is marrying a Tadpole your age?"

"Prince Toma?" another concubine asked, "You must be joking! He can't be much older than thirteen, and his father wouldn't approve of such a thing…not when he could buy him some women to practice and train with…"

"But they say his Dad is dead," Breeze replied, "And that means he has to marry someone to carry on the line…you know how these Island Princes work!"

"Oh yeah," said Mangos, "I was born on an island, remember? I know how they work…every Prince thinks he's a king of his own court, and most of them can't even get it on with their good right hand…"

"Why are you taking this so bland?" cried an angry blonde who came storming up from the other end of the playroom, "Someone's taken the Captain, we need to get her back! And we need to teach this little Pecker to go play with his toys and only play with the big girls when he's grown up and ready! And if anybody tries to stop us we DEFENESTRATE them and their fathers!"

"Um…" Ryoga asked, "Defenstrate?"

"What was that?" Ranma asked as he and Nabiki came into the room.

"Someone kidnap Aunt Lao," Shampoo replied, "Is prince of Island of Men who want her for husband..."

"Really?" Nabiki beamed broadly, having that glow of one who had just made out like a bandit in the sack, "Well, remind me to send my congratulations to the happy couple…"

"This is serious, Nabiki-chan," Perfume replied, "Our aunt is in trouble."

"I am serious," Nabiki affirmed, "And he can have her if he wants her, and good riddance."

"You can't be serious about that, Oneechan," Akane protested, slowing down the pace of her self-service pumping, "She's the captain of this ship…"

"So?" Nabiki replied, "So everybody gets a promotion, starting with Blossom, and everything that goes with it."

"You can't seriously mean that we should just sit here and ignore this, do you, Sugar?" Ukyo asked.

"Yeah," Alison said, "You don't mean to say we should turn our back on this, right?"

"Watch me," Nabiki said firmly.

"Nabchan," Ranma frowned, "You know we can't do that. No matter what you feel about her personally, she's the captain of this ship…and you know what that means."

"Such as the fact that this vessel will not likely go anywhere without her permission?" Beatrice remarked, "I have been paying attention here, and I believe that I have mostly figured out the details behind her link to the Kraken."

"That worries me," Lina frowned, "Having a link to a Monster is no simple thing…for most people it can have some pretty negative consequences, like if the Monster is the type who exploits their pact to make the human side do its bidding…"

"Never mind all that," Ryoga said, "I want to know what that word 'defenstrate' means."

"It means to throw out the window, Ryoga-kun," Kodachi replied, having been let up off of the rack and now vigorously massaging her wrists and (somewhat abused) body, "But in the context that is stated, I take it to mean something closer to castration."

"Yeah, that," said the temperamental blonde with an angry scowl, "The guy who tries to pull something with the Captain without her permission deserves to have his balls tied off and hung from the yardarm!"

Ranma swallowed thickly and involuntarily crossed his legs, noticing that Ryoga had already beaten him to the punch there, and even Nabiki was covering her privates as though in sympathetic disquiet.

"Kind of aggressive for one of Lao's girls, ain't she?" Ukyo remarked.

"Oh, that's Maki," replied one of the other concubines, "She's not a concubine, she's one of the Mercs with the Marine detachment. She used to be a cop in Japan, but she kind of had a problem with authority figures, know what I mean?"

"You shut your face up or I'll gag you myself," the blonde named Maki snapped, "It was just a misunderstanding, and the guy had it coming! So what if they took my badge and kicked me off the force? I've done all right for myself, and all because the Captain believed in me and gave me another chance!"

"You mean she kidnapped you and brought you on this ship but decided you weren't concubine material, so she put you to work in a job that fits your talents, eh?" Perfume speculated.

"Well…that's one way of putting it, I suppose…but…" Maki shrugged.

"Never mind!" Breeze spoke up again, turning to Ranma and Nabiki, "You've got to help me! Momma ordered Blossom not to do anything, she wants us all to sit tight and let her handle things, but I'm worried! I don't know if she can handle this…not when she could get turned into a guy or be forced to marry a kid…"

"I don't know about the guy part," Nabiki said, "But it sounds like poetic justice to me…"

"Airen," Shampoo replied, "Is said that island people have water that turn you into guy. Shampoo no want to see Airen lose girl half…you no go to island, let Ranma do this."

"Water that turns you into a guy…permanently?" Ranma exchanged worried looks with Nabiki.

"Sounds pretty horrible to me," said Keiko, who also had been released to join them, "No offense, guys, but I kind of like being female. Besides, I already have one curse as it is, and that's more than enough for my liking."

"Indeed," Kodachi agreed, "Becoming masculine is no more my desire than yours, Kei-chan. Could it be that the threat of such water might be behind the captain's abduction?"

"That would sure do it for me," Perfume admitted, "And I'd bet anything our aunt is terrified of getting doused with the stuff. Can you imagine what it might do if it combines with her other curse?"

"Aiyaa!" Shampoo winced, "Could turn cousin into giant tiger man…is too horrible to contemplate…"

"A T-T-Tiger…man?" Nabiki's eyes went wide and a look of horror crossed her expression.

"Uh…Nabiki?" Ranma touched her arm, "You gonna be all right?"

"Ah...yeah…I'm fine," Nabiki swallowed, "But you're right…we cannot let that happen!"

"You bet we won't let it happen," Akane declared, "We have to get Captain Lao back if we want to get home, right, Ryoga-kun?"

"Er…well…" Ryoga winced, "I suppose that…kind of makes sense…"

"There's a problem," said Mangos, "The captain gave us a direct order not to leave, and we cannot leave the ship without her permission."

"You mean YOU can't leave!" Maki declared, "I'm not letting the lady who writes my paychecks get taken out of the picture, and neither will the other girls in my detachment!"

"But Blossom is your commanding officer," noted a concubine named Jasmine, "And we all know her well enough that she would never sanction a rescue mission that was in strict violation of the captain's orders. She's trained to obey her will, just like the rest of us…"

"You mean you're trained to obey her," Maki sniffed, "If I worried about stuff like that I'd never even be here in the first place! I'm mobilizing my detail…the Bush Lickers of Unit 409 won't stand by and do nothing while some freaks on an island have their way with our captain!"

"The Bush Lickers?" Nabiki blinked, then shook her head and said, "Never mind…"

"Can't we convince Blossom that this is enough of an emergency to bend the rules a little?" Ranma asked, "After all…if anything does happen to Captain Lao, and the Kraken winds up without a Master to restrain him…"

"That…would be bad," Nabiki slowly avowed, "But still…"

"Please?" Breeze asked, looking up at the pair of them with eyes that were full of petition.

Nabiki found it hard to meet that gaze with her usual aloof cynicism, while Ranma just smiled and patted the sex-changed girl on the head and said, "Just leave it up to us…we'll have your mother back in no time."

"We will?" Ukyo seemed surprised by this declaration, "You feeling all right, Sugar?"

"Never better," Ranma said, "Nabchan and me just had a little…revelation that helped put everything in perspective, right Honey?"

"Well…" Nabiki said reluctantly, "Let's just say that I think I understand Lao a little better…but the whole idea of riding to her rescue…I mean…you've gotta be kidding me!"

"Is old Chinese saying, Airen," Shampoo replied, "Life suck sometime, and then you hentai."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Perfume nodded, "So…when do we get going?"

"Soon I hope," said Martha Kent, who just then came striding into the room without any chains encumbering her body, "I've just had a look over the place and I have to say…it's not too encouraging."

"What do you mean, Sis?" asked Alison, who had just taken notice of the fact that her older half-sister was charged up to her normal level of power.

"There are about one hundred men guarding the palace," Martha explained, "And about that many women being guarded in a secure part of the structure…nothing I couldn't take on by myself, of course, but Lao…isn't with the others. In fact she seems to be spending time in the personal chamber of the Prince himself…"

"Lao's with a thirteen year old kid?" Ryoga winced, "That's…pretty perverted…even for her…"

Martha shook her head, "It's not like that at all…in fact, she seems to be playing a dress-up role of some kind. I talked with her briefly but she asked me to stay out of this. I think she has something in mind for the boy, but I don't know precisely what it is…she wouldn't tell me."

"So why don't you go in there and bust her out?" Ranma asked, "After all, if you're a Super Woman…"

"That's Power Woman," Martha corrected, "Superwoman is somebody else. Always be mindful of trademark in this business."

"The point is," Nabiki said, "That you could probably just waltz in there and ignore anything they tried to do you, unless they have weapons tipped with magic."

"Actually, I'm afraid the weapon that the Prince keeps by his side is weapon enough," Martha replied, "Lao told me the water could turn me into a man if I get near enough for him to toss it on me. That's partly the reason why she seems to be acting so nervous around the Prince, she doesn't want to lose her sex forever."

"Plus there is the fact that they have so many hostages to take into consideration," Beatrice noted, "Among whom are the captain's captive crewmates."

"We gotta bust them out of there!" Maki declared, "Nobody messes with our crew without paying for it in spades! Besides, it's been ages since I've had a good excuse to really bust loose…"

"Are you nuts, Burn Up?" Keiko asked, "If you go in there with all guns blazing people are going to be hurt, including our missing crewmates."

"Right," Nabiki said, "We need a strategy to infiltrate the place…soft penetration, get a few of our people inside the building and take them while they're unawares, free the prisoners and convince this prince guy to let us go quietly and all that…"

"Soft penetration," Esmeralda smiled, "I love the sound of that…"

"But Blossom still won't permit anyone to land on shore and risk this," a girl named Wendy pointed out.

"Yeah, she can be a real tight ass sometimes," noted another girl named Alice, "But when it comes to the captain's word, she's a regular wuss."

"A beauty and beast situation," agreed another girl named Belle, "She's like a leopard with us but a lamb around the captain."

"Let me worry about that," Nabiki smiled, "I think I can persuade her to see reason."

"Kei-chan and I can enter the palace without being observed," Kodachi duly noted, "And once inside we can do a quick recon, give you others some idea of the layout…"

"I can draw you a map of the place from memory," Martha noted, "But you girls can get a message to the others that help is on its way."

"Then it seems we have no choice but to execute a rescue," Beatrice noted, "Perhaps some of us might even pose ourselves as bait to lure the guards into lowering their guard and possibly even allowing us into their midst without conflict."

"And just who are you volunteering to do this?" Alison asked her in suspicion.

"Keep in mind one thing," said another dusky skinned girl named Numa, "The guards will attack anyone who is male but treat us females as though we were escaped concubines whom they carelessly allow to wander free. Women are an extreme rarity on this island and thus valued beyond our weight in precious metals, so those who don't wind up the property of the island's prince will likely be given to the guards as a present."

"Right," Perfume grimaced, "Like we'd let that happen?"

"Hmmm…" Ranma frowned, "You know…I think I know a way of getting in there...it's risky, and you'll probably all think I'm nuts for even suggesting it but…"

"What have you got in mind, Ranchan?" Ukyo wondered.

Ranma turned to look at the concubines then asked, "You guys got any more of that Instant Nyaniichuan laying about…?"

Some minutes later found a shore party landed on the beach, and a worried Blossom shaking her head as she said in dismay, "I can't believe I let you talk me into this…the Mistress will mount my head on her wall placard…"

"That's only if we're successful," Nabiki turned to look dubiously at Ranma, who was presently a bit…shorter than usual, not to mention redheaded, "And I can't believe that I'm actually letting you do this…"

"Hey," Ranma-chan shrugged, "It's only temporary, right? And besides, at least I don't have to wear some dumb outfit like they gave to Ryoga."

"True enough," Nabiki said reluctantly, turning a look towards where Ryoga stood uncomfortably in a leather suit that seemed somehow appropriate for Lao's dungeons. She herself was wearing something that more closely approximated a Harem costume (or would have if Lao's harem included any clothing, however risqué) while the others not part of the basic plan…

Well…Frederick's of Tokyo might owe them a cleaning bill when this was over. They were all decked out in leather that exposed a lot of flesh to open view and hinted suggestively of a private life that found whips and chains to be in fashion. The mercenaries seemed quite at home in the gear, including the trigger-happy Maki, who was fingering a big rifle-shaped gun that she brought with her as though it were her most prized personal possession. The rest had more traditional hand-to-hand style martial arts weapons and seemed to handle them as if they knew their business…though Nabiki privately wondered about the abundance of whips and paddles among the crew, convinced without saying as much that they would not exactly meet with Elder Cologne's approval.

"Don't worry so much, Ryoga-kun," Akane tried to sound reassuring, "I think you look great in that outfit, so manly, so handsome, so…so…"

"Stupid?" Ryoga glanced down at himself with a despairing expression.

"I was going to use the word distinguished myself," Kodachi pleasantly admired his profile.

"Yeah, Stud," Keiko playfully chided, "Now you look like a real man, the kind who rides Akane hard like there's no tomorrow."

Akane beamed happily at that prospect, which made Ryoga feel-if anything-even more nervous than before, but he was committed to play his role as part of the secondary rescue party, and since the style of dress was clearly meant to infer a "whips and chains" mentality…

"You gotta hand it to Lao," Ukyo remarked, looking quite fetching in her own "Harem" costume, "When she wants to set the mood she really goes all out."

"At least I've got my axes back," Perfume patted her seemingly bare hip with a confident expression, "And-if worse comes to worse-I brought your favorite baker's peel to lay down the law with these aunt-nappers."

"What would I do without you, Perchan?" Ukyo beamed back with affection.

"Okay, we know the plan," Ranma-chan said matter-of-factly, "We're a detachment of Lao's women sent in to effect ransom negotiations and to serve as a kind-of-bribe to the Prince to make him think about releasing the captain. Assuming they don't chain us up or search too closely for hidden weapons, then we ought to make do, and no problems."

"Right," Ukyo said, "So…explain to me again why you're going in as a female?"

"Yeah, Ranchan," Perfume noted, "You're not going funny on us, are you, Airen?"

"Hey, I'm a guy, so this sex-changing water stuff doesn't threaten me as much as with you, all right?" Ranma-chan said, "Once we find the girls I'll use this hot-water flask to turn me back into a guy and then we'll bust out of there before they know it. It's you guys who are taking the risk here, and I don't have to say it that I ain't exactly happy about that."

"Ranma no have to tell Shampoo that he worried," Shampoo scowled at Nabiki, who appropriately winced, "No happy with Airen who maybe lose womanhood forever. You want be guy all time, Nabiki?"

"No," Nabiki replied, "I don't want to lose what little I have left of my true sex, but I don't intend to let myself get splashed either. You guys do the same job of keeping out of harm's way…I wouldn't want to see any of you turn male prematurely."

"What do you mean prematurely?" Keiko asked, "I wouldn't want to be male in the first place."

"Indeed," Kodachi noted, "Being a Ferret Man holds no great attraction…which reminds me, Kei-chan…we ought to be about our business."

"Right on that," Keiko said as she unstoppered a flask and poured it over Kodachi, then over herself as the two of them vanished into their cursed forms as a vulture and a ferret.

Perfume allowed Ukyo to pour cold water over her body and shifted immediately to cat-form as Nabiki pointedly looked the other way and tried to count backwards in Mandarin from one thousand.

"Okay guys," Ranma-chan said, "Do your things."

A squawk, squeak and meow signified their "Espionage Team's" determination (Nabiki naturally shuddered on the last part) then a flapping of wings and a scurrying off later, the three cursed teenagers took off in pursuit of their objectives.

"Weird," Martha shook her head, "I can't believe what I just saw…"

"Me neither," Lina agreed, "And I've seen stuff that would make your hair curl. Take Nagha here for an example...""

"Why, whatever do you mean, Lina dearest?" replied Nagha, who-like her diminutive partner-was now properly dressed in her regular wardrobe (which Nabiki privately thought of as being only one stage removed from bondage wear in itself), "We are part of the back up team for this rescue mission, and that means we wait for a signal before we launch our assault on these miscreants who dare detain our goodly captain."

Blossom shuddered and softly moaned, "This is a mistake, I just know it…I should never go against the will of the captain…she'll never forgive me for this…"

"Get a grip on yourself already," Nabiki snapped, "Don't you have any spine? Do you want to be a boot-licking slave to your Mistress forever?"

"Well…yes," Blossom replied, then in a more serious tone she added, "You don't understand…all of my life I've looked up to my Mistress, even when Lotus and I were children she was our role model and guiding inspiration. We defied the will of our own Elders in order to help her win her child back, and we have never regretted our choice. She is our friend…our Captain…our Mistress…and I would be devastated and lost without her…"

"To say nothing of where you'd be without Lotus," sniffed Maki, who was visibly fidgeting under the restraint of having to be part of the "back-up" crew, along with the rest of the hard-bitten looking women who formed her marine "detachment."

"Why don't you calm down and take it easy here, Lieutenant?" Xiong-Fu asked sweetly, dressed herself as a harem girl and clearly playing the role of a non-combatant, "I've brought along some tea if you'd like…"

"No thanks," Maki gritted her teeth, "Caffeine makes me irritable, but if you've got any beer…"

"We left the sake back on the ship, and it stays there," Blossom said firmly, "I'm in enough trouble with the Mistress as it is without juicing up your team to full Kamikaze status."

"Sadist," Maki grumbled.

"Hope you guys don't mind that I'm tagging along for this," noted Nila Caulder, "An island like this sounds like it's right up my alley."

"Just don't do anything to tip our hand too soon," Nabiki cautioned, and if anybody looks like they're going to be tossing anything at us…"

"Right," Nila agreed, "I'll freeze it before it can even get halfway to us."

"See that you do," Alison remarked, "Good luck, you guys…I'd be with you, but I got a kid of my own to look after. But if you send up a smoke signal, then you can expect to see me come battering down the gates to show these creeps who means business."

"Indeed," Beatrice mused, "And I will be there beside you…of course it would have helped if we could have enlisted the services of your niece and her girlfriend, but…"

"Oh yeah," Nabiki mused, mentally recalling the sight of seeing Joan Wayne hitched up to a harness and giving a "ride" to an enthusiastic Lila while some girl named Palomina gave some encouraging instructions in how to handle a "Pony."

"They do seem to make a happy couple, don't they?" Martha amused with what sounded like a surprising note of approval.

Alison eyed her in open dismay and said, "I'm starting to get seriously worried about you, Oneechan…"

"All right," Ranma-chan said, "Then let's move out, and make sure those guards at the gate can see that we're just a harmless bunch of innocent looking girls come to sell ourselves and…"

"I'm coming too."

"Say what?" Nabiki rounded on the speaker, who was none other than a determined-looking Breeze, "No way…"

"Yes way," Breeze declared firmly, "They've got my momma in there, and I'm going to help bring her out."

"Absolutely not," Blossom shook her head, "If the Mistress will be upset with me for allowing a rescue mission against her orders, she is going to absolutely crucify me if I allow any risk to befall you, her chosen heir…"

"You can't talk me out of this," Breeze said, "And besides, I'm a martial artist too…"

"No one's questioning that about you, little Mistress," Xiong-Fu declared, "But the guards are not likely to mistake you for a concubine…no offense intended…"

"Hey, I'm not risking anything more than him," the girl pointed at Ranma-chan, "And I'm going anyway, even if you try and stop me."

"Wow," Akane said, "What an attitude on that kid…"

"Still," Kodachi mused, "One has to admire her spirit…"

Blossom put her face in one hand and silently moaned, "I can't believe I'd doing this…I'll be scrubbing the masthead from top to bottom for weeks when the Mistress finds out about this…assuming she doesn't tie me to it herself…"

"Don't torture yourself, Commander," Jasmine said with an affectionate smile, "Let me do it for you."

Ranma-chan led the way while Nabiki, Ukyo, Shampoo, Akane, Xion-Fu and Nila started forward, with Breeze hovering back before darting forward at the last minute and shadowing these others. Martha folded her arms over her chest and softly murmured, "Good luck."

"There goes a very brave man," Beatrice mused, "Well…sort of…"

"You ask me, Saotome's taking this new fetish of his a little far, doncha think?" Alison sniffed, "Assuming this Instant Nyanniichuan really is a temporary deal."

"Oh it is," Blossom replied with a nod, "We use it all the time when we want to get our girlfriends pregnant…of course you have to remain in male form for about two hours before the semen become fully active and…"

"Uh…ooops," Jasmine blinked.

"Oops?" Maki looked at her, "What do you mean, 'oops'?"

"I was just wondering," Jasmine fretted, turning to Blossom and asking, "Are you sure we gave him the right vial, Commander?"

"Of course I'm sure," Blossom replied, "It came from the Captain's personal supply cabinet…" she froze for a moment, then said, "Um…I hope that doesn't mean…"

"I'll have to go back to the ship and confirm if it has the right label," Jasmine swallowed, "But if it turns out to be the **other** kind…"

"Other…kind?" Alison blinked.

"Oh dear," Beatrice softly murmured.

"That would be kinda bad, huh?" Maki winced.

"Extremely," Blossom paled, then rolled her eyes and gave a silent petition to her ancestors not to judge her too harshly, because it was like that she would be paying them a visit in the very near future, especially when either the Mistress or their chief guests found out about what was **really** in that water…

On the whole it was looking to be a very … interesting day…

Continued

Comments/Criticisms/Instant Gender Issues: Shadowmane@msn.com