Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Princess of the Moon ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 13 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Notes: Well it’s been a long time since I updated this hasn’t it? Well with ch 13 of GO posted I figured it was time to work on something else for a little while. I actually wrote this up pretty quickly, just 3 weeks. A lot faster than normal. I think you will like this chapter quite a bit. A lot of ground is covered, things people have been asking about for a while too.

Please Review!

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Princess of the Moon
Chapter 12
Cory D. Rose
ertle2@msn.com
(c) 2004
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Usagi practically dragged Ranma through the doors of the arcade and up to the second floor where the restaurant was located. They got near the top of the stairs and Usagi came to a dead stop, and then very slowly peaked around the corner and into the room. She quickly looked around to see just where Rei and Mamoru were seated, but couldn't find them. She frowned.

"Usagi, what's going on?"

"We have to watch Rei."

"Why?"

"Because that guy is a jerk and I don’t want her getting hurt."

Ranma rolled her eyes. "I thought this was a serious situation."

The blonde's girl snapped around to stare through her in a rather disturbing way. "It…is."

Backing up a couple of steps, Ranma just nodded and hoped the girl would buy it. She sighed in relief as Usagi turned back to the dinner. Ranma wasn't sure what was going on, but knew that Usagi had a habit of taking the wrong things seriously and that usually led to some pretty interesting klutz attacks.

Smirking a little, she decided to see what the girl would do. "So what do you think that guy will do to Rei?"

"He insults me all the time and he just isn't good enough for her." Usagi said as she straightened up and casually walked into the restaurant. "I will make sure he doesn't hurt her in the same way." She muttered.

Ranma nodded and turned to leave before Usagi did something strange. "Right."

Her hand reached out, grabbed Ranma's pigtail and dragged her along with her. "Let's see what she's up to!"

"Arrghh!" Ranma yelled.

"Come on and be quiet!" Usagi growled as she made her way over to a booth and tossed Ranma in the other seat. She then looked at the other side of the diner. "There she is…"

"I don't think this is a good idea Usagi."

"Shhh." The Blonde said.

"But..."

"Quiet, I don't want her to know we are here."

"It's a little late for that Usagi." Ranma said, but Usagi didn't appear to hear her.

Ranma sighed and looked around for a way out of the situation, then she spotted just the vict…er, accomplice she needed to make a get away. In the booth on the other side of them, she spotted the class geek, Umino. Those swirlly glasses of his were impossible to forget even if you've only met the guy a few times.

Smiling to herself, Ranma casually slipped below the table and vanished from sight. Usagi didn't even notice as Ranma vanished, though Unizuki noticed and gave Ranma a weird look as she saw the red head slip beneath the table. Ranma then crawled under the booths and reached for a pair of legs.

Seconds later Umino, who was having a shake before heading home and spending the rest of the night in the Sailor Moon Chat room, was suddenly dragged below the table. He didn’t have time to yell out as the monster took him down. Unizuki watched his hand clawing at the seat for a second before even that disappeared with a barely heard gurgle.

He froze in shock as he came face to face with Ranma as she glared at him with enough malice to make him start sweating. She leaned in close and stared at him for a second.

"You like Usagi?"

He nodded, fearfully. Agreeing to anything the crazy girl had to say. He wanted live.

"Then this is your lucky day." Ranma whispered back, grinned evilly, and leaned in even closer. "Oh yes, this is your lucky day cause if you don't do as I say, you are in for a world of hurt? Understand?"

Now he nodded frantically, nearly losing his thick classes. He whimpered a bit.
Reaching to the table above them, Ranma grabbed his shake and silently dragged the geek back over to Usagi's table and shoved the geek in the seat across the table from Usagi. Then she placed the shake in the center of the table, tossed in a straw, and quickly crawled out of the room using the 'notice me not' technique.

She liked the blonde, she really did, but she also knew Usagi well enough to know that there was situation building that she didn't want anything to do with. Though she did stick around to watch as Usagi finally took her eyes off Rei and Mamoru for a second and turned around.

Instead of looking across the table, her eyes stopped on the shake and she instantly grabbed a straw. Then she noticed that Umino was also using a straw from the same cup, sitting right across from her. Blushing slightly. Usagi nearly jumped out of the booth in her shock, hear hair standing on end as her jaw dropped to the floor.

Ranma had to give him some grudging respect for even trying such a thing.

"AGHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

Giggling, Ranma bounded down the stairs, across the arcade, and out the front door. She skidded to a stop as she suddenly spotted Rei and Mamoru sneaking out the alley way beside the building and quickly jogging down the sidewalk. Ranma even noticed that Rei was dragging Mamoru, who looked bored out of his mind, and looking around to make sure they weren't being followed. Then she spotted Ranma and glared.

Smirking, Ranma just gave her a thumbs up gesture and headed off in the other direction. Rei was still glaring at her as they rounded the corner and vanished from sight, though not quite as bad as before. Ranma ran down the side walk a little and quickly ducked into one of the smaller alleys.

Sure enough Usagi came running out of the arcade's doors and started looking around frantically, her two long pig tails whipping around. She was also blushing brighter than Ranma had ever seen anyone ever blush. The Umino came strolling out of the arcade and moved toward Usagi with a giant grin on his face.

The blonde took off running before Umino even got close to her. The boy had a warped smirk on his face has he stumbled across the street and headed off in a different direction. Smirking again, Ranma figured she's just made the boy's year at the very least.

Once she was sure no one would spot her, Ranma quickly came out of the alley and ran off after Usagi. Even though she knew that the blonde would cause a scene eventually, she wanted to be there to witness it, not be a part of it. The attack poodle had been quite a scene. That one still made Ranma start giggling every time she thought about it.

"Ranma."

She looked around as Luna suddenly jumped up on a nearby wall. "What's up?"

"There's some kind of massive Youma attack happening over at the park. I was just on my way access Central Control to contact everyone."

"Why didn't you just transform and use a communicator."

Luna mumbled something.

"What?"

"I left it at home." She said, blushing a little.

"Heh, your as bad as Usagi."

The cat glared at her. "Go help Ami; she's already on her way."

"Sure, how many are we talking about here?"

"A couple thousand…"

"What?!" Ranma yelled.

Now Luna smirked at her. "Can't handle a few Youma?"


"Don't play that crap with me, I had enough of it back in China and I won't put up with it anymore." Ranma growled. "Which park?"

"The same one we were at this morning."

"Alright, I’m on my way." Ranma said and quickly took off down the street at a dead run. Up in the diner Unizuki looked out the window and wondered what was going on, though she was grinning a little. Then she turned around and went to help some new customers as they came in.

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A number of the buildings in Juban made roof hopping problematic at times because of their size, so Ranma was forced to run along the fences and between buildings as she made her way towards the park. She was a little hesitant as she approached it though. There was this feeling of anger emanating from the park that was nearly overwhelming her senses.

Turning a corner, Ranma ran along the fence line and jumped into the air when she reached the end of the fence. She sailed over the traffic below gracefully as she flipped in mid air and landed on the large stone wall that surrounded the park.

Kneeling down she looked into the sparsely wooded park on the other side. Now that she was right on top of the evil feeling she wasn't sure what to do about it. Normally it was easy enough to just head towards the largest source of negative energy.

It always led to a bad guy, just what she was looking for, but this feeling was completely different than the norm. The evil spirit seemed to fill the whole park and there wasn't one spot where it was larger or smaller than anywhere else.

It just seemed to be everywhere she tried to look. She could also hear the strange lack of noise as the various animals seemed to be making as they moved across the park. That was almost as scary as the possessed animals.

She glanced down and spotted a large group of squirrels in the grass at the bottom of the wall, they were looking at her with glowing red eyes and waiting for her to jump down to the grass. Several of them even eyed the wall and considered jumping up there to get her.

Blinking, Ranma looked them over and realized that all the animals in the park were possessed by the evil spirit. She hadn't really considered that. A few she could understand, but to actually possess all of them was a different story. Then she spotted a flash of light and movement nearby.

Standing up she ran along the wall for several seconds, the squirrels chased after her before she launched into the air, landed on a tree branch, and started tree hopping through the woods. She used her stealthiest techniques as she moved across the park. For some reason she really didn't want to deal with a bunch of possessed squirrels and any other animals she came across.

Then she spotted something and had to stop for just a second. Standing in the shadows, using some large trees for cover, was an old man wearing a simple pair of overalls, shirt, and cap. What caught Ranma's attention was the squirrel sitting on the old man's shoulder.

Like the rest of the ones following her, the animal had red eyes easily seen in the shadow around the old man. They didn't appear to know she was there, but Ranma could see hundreds of construction workers running around in circles out in the parking lot just beyond the trees.

Every animal in the park seemed to be trying to attack them. Even their construction vehicles were taking a beating as a couple of them burned. That one impressed Ranma, she couldn't think of a way for them to start on fire in the first place. Even possessed, they were just squirrels after all and the occasional butterfly.

Ranma considered attacking the guy for a second, but as she was about to move, a memory resurfaced. One of Ami and Rei both yelling at her for not working with the team. And her promise not to try and fight everything by herself.

Cursing silently, Ranma looked around and noticed that flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye again. This time she heard a yell just as the air pressure around the area suddenly changed, turning ice cold as it dropped. Launching off the tree, Ranma quickly make her way through the woods and closed in on her target.

Within a minute she started to find dead squirrels littering the ground, frozen grass, and shattered trees all over the place. All of it coated in a thick layer of frost and Ice. There was only one person she knew that could pull something like this off.

She figured that the trees weren't as safe anymore; they were starting to crack and shatter as she landed on them, so she jumped to the ground and broke into a run so that she could arrive at the source of the disturbance as soon as possible. "SOL CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!"

In a burst of light Ranma transformed into Starfire, the magical energies adjusting to her body as she ran instead of making her go through the usual transformation set up. The feelings were the same, but Ranma was to focused to worry about them this time. She still felt wonderful, gods did it feel good for just a second, and then she focused on her goal.

The instant her tiara finished forming she launched herself into the air with a mighty jump. Her arms at her sides, her fists angled slight outward, as if she really was flying, eyes flaring with energy, and sailed above the level of the trees. She quickly looked around and could see Sailor Mercury battling a large number of squirrels as they bounded about on the ground below.

Starfire reached the peak of her jump, light reflecting off her tiara as she brought her hands together, and formed a ball of Ki in her hands as she quickly gathered a bit of energy. Then she threw a ball of energy right into a large swarm of possessed squirrels to give Mercury a few seconds to rest. This sent a large number of them flying into the air with a large explosion even as she landed.

Pulling off her tiara she threw it at a large squirrel as it jumped at her, cutting it down and several more of the possessed rodents before it curved back to her. She caught it, and placed it back on her head and turned to Mercury. "You okay?"

"Yes, my powers aren't really offensive, so I've been improvising." She panted out, trying to catch her breath. "I learned how to use my powers to make things really cold. These animals are all over the place and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold out, so I had to find a way to stop them."

"A new attack?"

"More of an adaptation of my normal one actually. I didn't think our powers allowed us to do that."

Starfire shrugged. "I seem to always be adapting my attacks so I'm not that surprised."

"I'll look into it a little after we stop whatever is happening here."

"I spotted a guy back that ways that we may need to take down, he looked like he was in control of the squirrels and even some of the birds. The animals around him were attacking the construction crews that were to start tearing the park down today."

Pulling her computer out, Mercury quickly started running some scans. "There are still way too many of these possessed animals. They have begun to leave the park as well, spreading out into the city, though so far it's only been in small groups." She showed Ranma several points on a city map the little computer screen was displaying.

"Let's stop it at the source and the rest of the animals should be fine."

"We're going to need Moon and Mars in on this I think."

"Last I saw they were a little busy. Mars was on a date and Moon was following her."

"Actually they are in the park right now." Mercury said as she read something on the screen on her computer. "Looks like they are in one of the calmer areas of the park though, I'm not detecting to many of the animals near them yet."

"What are they doing?"

"Well Mars appears to be out on the lake in a boat and Moon is on shore…"

"She's still following her?"

Mercury nodded.

“You know…” Starfire said with a smirk.”

“What?”

“You really shouldn’t be fighting these things on your own.”

“Huh?!” Mercury asked, looking surprised.

The red head smirked a little more. “Well you did make me promise not to fight the monsters on my own, so you shouldn’t either.”

Mercury gaped at her.

Starfire shrugged as she turned, formed another ball of Ki, and took out another dozen squirrels that were creeping out of the woods behind them. Ranma knew she was killing the little animals, but they were just too dangerous to let them get away with anything. The two of them then spent several more minutes fighting off another wave of animals, this time it was a mix of dogs, cats, and squirrels.

Eventually the attack died down, but there were frozen and unconscious animals spread out on the ground around them. Starfire didn’t like the way this situation was going as she glared at all the bodies around her. “We need to find a way to stop the thing possessing these things. There are way to many of these animals dying.”

Mercury nodded sadly. “They aren’t giving us any choice though.”

“I know. Well we might as well alert Mars and Moon at least."

Mercury nodded and hit a button on the communicator that would do just that, before putting it away, and turning back to her computer. "Do you have any ideas on how to stop what’s happening, besides beating up the guy you mentioned? It's the old man that takes care of the park by the way."

"That's right; I think you said you knew him?"

Mercury nodded. "I'd like to avoid hurting him."

"No problem, we just knock him unconscious." Starfire said with a smirk. "It should be easy enough."

Mercury glared at Starfire. “That’s hurting him.”

Starfire whistled a little as she started walking towards the trees.

“STARFIRE!”

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At the lake, Rei was talking a mile a minute as a bored Mamoru sighed quietly, hoping the girl would just go away or shut up at least. He wasn't even rowing the boat that fast, just doing enough to make sure they didn't slow to a stop. If that happened he'd really die of boredom.

"Uh huh." He said.

Rei knew the date was failing, and she was turning desperate, there had to be something they had in common. Anything that would allow her to at least connect to the hunk in front of her. So she blathered on, jumping from subject to subject.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted something strange and didn't quite know what to think at first. The first was Umino walking over to a large bush near the edge of the lake and holding an ice cream cone out to it, and a hand reaching out to take it.

The second thing was a man in a hard hat running down one of the paths on the other side of the lake with about ten squirrels attached to his clothing, and screaming of course. Then the bush next to Umino developed a pair of blonde pig tails in a very familiar style, refocusing Rei's attention.

"Usagi." She hissed.

"Huh?" Mamoru asked, seeing the girl's eyes take on a new, more attractive light as she suddenly stopped blathering at him.

She nearly jumped out of the boat and swam to shore just to yell at her bubble headed friend. Then suddenly remembered that she was there with Mamoru, her hunk, and decided that being with him was more important. She could always give Usagi a piece of her mind later on.

Then her communicator started beeping, just as she turned to grin prettily at Mamoru. 'Someone is going to die' she thought to herself as he heard the beeping sound from her purse.

"Your beeper is going off."

Rei sighed. Grabbing her purse, she opened it and rustled around for a second while trying to think of a way to answer it. Then she decided to just leave it sitting in the purse and looked at it. The emergency button had been pressed to alert them that there was an emergency in the park.

"Just my Grandfather checking up on me." She lied.

Nodding, Mamoru used an oar to swing the little boat around and head them back towards the dock. "There's a phone near the boat house that you can use."

"Great." Rei said, faking a happy smile. Her date was being ruined every step of the way. Someone was going to pay. She grinned a little wider as she heard Usagi suddenly scream and run away from Umino over near the bush.

"Hey, it's meatball head." Mamoru muttered.

Rei giggled. "That's the perfect name for her!"

Mamoru cringed a little.

"WHAAAAAAH!" Usagi yelled in the background. "Not now!"

The boat was quickly tied up the instant they reached the dock and Mamoru jumped out. Rei took a couple of seconds, wondering how she was going to get away from Mamoru and go help with the fight when he looked away.

She turned and saw that several people were starting to be attacked by squirrels and birds. Sending most of the people in the area heading for the exit, but she saw several already collapsed on the ground, their energy drained by the animals.

"What the heck?" Mamoru muttered out loud.

"We have to help those people." Rei said.

"I'll go check on meatball head, you see if that guy is alright." Mamoru said and quickly ran towards where they'd seen Usagi.

Rei growled for a second as he ran off, then shrugged, her date was ruined so why should she be mad that her date just ran off without her. Pulling out her henshin rod, a sphere of fire formed around her and expanded for several yards before it died down and Sailor Mars stood there, fire in her eyes.

"This had better be a real emergency." She muttered as she pulled out her communicator. "This is Mars."

"Hey Mars, sorry about your date." Starfire said cheerily.

"What's going on?"

"Youma possession."

"We’re about a quarter of a mile from your present location." Mercury said, it was pretty obvious that she was running. "Just head north, you should spot us eventually. I can triangulate if you want me to."

"I can find you." Mars said.

"It’s near the parking lot with all the construction equipment. This should be a fun fight." Starfire said.

"This thing ruined my date, I'm going to kick it's ass!" She yelled.

"Sounds like a plan to me, just hurry up and get here before I kick it's ass instead.

"Starfire!"

"Hehehehe." She laughed.

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Suddenly all across the park the animals started falling over, dropping out of trees, and twitching for several seconds as they suddenly lost all their energy, even dropping unconscious in mid attack. For several seconds no one can move as the animals stopped moving, before they all turned to get away from the strangeness and then dropped unconscious themselves as they got drained.

The Caretaker watched from his hiding spot in the trees as energy swirled around him in an angry red haze. His eyes glowing with a bright white light as the energy is ripped from his body and Patasosu formed a few feet away, she is a plant like creature with long green hair similar to grass, has pointed ears, and a white facial tattoo similar to a flower.

The Caretaker groans as she finishes forming and he drops at her feet, barely breathing. She laughs insanely. "Your energy is mine!"

"Not so fast ugly!" Sailor Moon yelled as she enters the area at a dead run, beating everyone there. "You have caused enough pain to the poor animals of this beautiful park."

The Youma glared at the girl. "Master said a group of weird girls might interfere."

"Then you are about to get the surprise of your life Youma." Mercury says as she steps out of the trees several yards to the right of Sailor Moon. Then half a second later Starfire jumped out of the trees, flips over all of them, and lands in a crouch, the jewel in her tiara flaring with light.

"I'm going to kick your ass!"

Moon and Mercury both formed a huge sweatdrop and gaped at Starfire as the red headed princess slowly stood and took a simple combat stance and grinned evilly.

"Fire Soul!"

A fire ball flew out of the woods behind the Youma and slammed into its back, knocking it forward a couple of steps, but didn’t appear to do it any harm to the thing. Patasosu just grins as she regained her balance. "If that is all you girls have, I'm going to suck you dry and leave your husks here rot. Just like this old man."

"Ewww!" Moon yells, grabbing for her tiara.

"Mars, attack form the side, everyone else help out!" Starfire yelled as her own tiara lights up. "SILVER METAL STARLIGHT!!"

A beam of silver energy fired from the jewel in Starfire's tiara and blasted a hole right through the Youma's shoulder. It screamed in pain and staggered back several paces and grasped its shoulder in pain. Then the arm just fell off and exploded into a cloud of dust as it hits the ground. Patasosu stared at the stump for a second in shock just as Sailor Mars hit it with another Fire Soul, this time causing a little damage.

Mercury had her computer out in an instant and started to scan the monster. "It's not dead, in fact I think its playing possum…" Mercury called out.

"So much for playing around." The Youma said as it turned its head toward then and it's hair lashed out, tangling Moon and Mercury instantly, at the same time the lost arm regenerates. "Come to mama!"

"Help!" Moon yelled as she struggled against the thick strands that were holding her.

Spinning, Ranma pulled her tiara off, charged it, and threw it right at the strands of hair holding the girls. Right as a large squirrel jumped onto her face and started biting. Starfire yelled in shock and started running around flailing her arms around.

She did succeed in cutting the vines and it only took Moon and Mercury a few seconds to free themselves, but that was enough time for the Youma to call out to various creatures in the area. In seconds the whole area was full of bugs, butterflies, bees, even roaches as they swarmed over and around the girls.

Patasosu just started to laugh as the girls screamed and started to run around trying to keep away form the bugs. Her laugh was interrupted as said squirrel suddenly went head first into her mouth. Gagging she only had a second to react before Starfire was there, her fist pulled back and ready to take her down.

Pain blossomed all over the Youma's body as Starfire's blurred attacks swirled around her at high speed. Then Ranma stopped for a split second, crouching down as he leg swept Patasosu off her feet and she received an elbow smash to the forehead.

Starfire flipped back as the girls lined up.

"Fire Soul!"

"Moon Tiara Action!"

"Silver Metal Starlight!"

"Ice Spray!"

Patasosu screamed as she was obliterated from existence. Then a large ball of light formed over the same spot as her body and suddenly sent a wave of magical light in all directions. The girls stood their ground as the energy flowed around them like a heavy wind, making their hair and clothing flutter around for several seconds. Then it ended and a silence descended over the area.

Moon and Mars turned to Mercury. "Ice Spray?"

The blue haired girl blushed a little. "Needed an offensive attack."

"I always wondered if you had one." Mars said and smiled.

"Actually it's just a Shabon Spray modified a little. I took Starfire's example and adapted my magic a little."

"That was so cool!" Moon explained and stared at Mercury with wide innocent eyes filled with awe.

Mercury blushed again and turned away shyly.

"You!" Mars yelled and pointed at Starfire. "That was my fight!"

"You got a shot in!" She yelled back.

"I told you it was mine!"

"You snooze you lose!"

"You…you…you…arrggh!"

Starfire smirked.

"My date!"

The girls jumped as Mars turned and ran form the clearing.

Starfire watched her for a second before turning to look up in a nearby tree as Tuxedo Mask jumped to the ground and quickly vanished. For a second she considered going after the guy, but then decided that now wasn’t the right time. He needed to find out just why Tuxedo Mask showed up every time they went into battle. Sailor Moon and Mercury didn't see him either. She wasn't sure what to think of the guy or why he even bothered to show up.

If he wanted to help out he would need to improve his fighting abilities considerably.

"You!" Usagi yelled as she powered down. "You…you…you…abandoned me!"

Ranma and Ami powered down and Ranma started to laugh nervously. Usagi started to stalk towards her getting angrier by the second. "Well you see, I was.."

"How could you leave me with Umino?!" Usagi wailed and burst into tears. "He's been following me around all afternoon!"

"Well he's not here now, so things are alright, aren't they?" Ranma asked, hoping it would calm her down a little.

"Ranma…" Usagi growled angrily.

"Usagi calm down, Ranma apologize to her this instant." Ami said, a little forcefully.

"I'm sorry Usagi." Ranma said, reluctantly.

"Okay!"

Ranma gaped at her.

Giggling, Usagi ran off after Rei. "I'll talk to you later! I've got to protect Rei!"

"What just happened?"

"Usagi tricked you." Ami said and giggled a little.

"This just isn't my day." Ranma said, then heard a groan and spun around to see the old caretaker staring to get to his feet. "Ah, we forgot about someone."

Ami ran over and helped him to his feet.

"Ah, Ami, what's going on?"

"Nothing, sir."

"But I remember this thing." He mumbled.

"Just a dream sir, just a dream."

He nodded slowly. "Of course, nothing like that could happen in reality. Thank you Ami." He said. "I need to finish that bed of flowers over on the east side of the park."

They watched him slowly walk off shaking his head.

"Wow, you lied." Ranma said, impressed.

"I do know how." Ami said.

"Yeah, but I've never actually heard you lie before. You're good at it that sounded so natural."

Ami blushed. "Thank you."

"What do you think they will do about the park now?"

"I'm not sure, but with the equipment wrecked, they may cancel the project."

"Good, I like this park." Ranma said. "It's quiet, just the way I like things."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I met a girl the other day that wanted me to train her in martial arts, today's her first lesson."

"Oh?"

"Her name is Makoto and she showed some potential the other day. Today's lesson is an evaluation really. I need to see what level she's at before I can start teaching her."

"Need any help?"

Ranma shook her head. "Naw, we're just going to be sparing with each other for an hour or so. Then after that I need to get cleaned up to go and meet my Mom."

The blue haired girl nodded. "Well let me know if you need any help. I think I should run home too, I have some studying to do for next month's chemistry test."

Ranma blinked as she walked off and muttered under her breath. "What test?"

---------------

The Scout transformation seemed to have some kind of cleansing magic to it, and Ranma had noticed it after transforming back to her normal self a couple of times. Her clothing hadn't been in the best of shape when the battle started, but after transforming back it didn't smell anymore and looked as if it was freshly laundered. She decided to ask Ito about it when she got back to the camp site.

That reminded her of Shampoo and Perfume. She hadn't seen them all day and she wondered where the two girls were. Shrugging, Ranma ran down the street, jumped up to a street light, and used that as a jumping off point as she landed silently on top of a bus as it moved through the thick downtown traffic.

Sitting down, she relaxed a bit as it took her across town. Eventually it came to the area she needed so she jumped off, landed on the roof of a nearby building, and headed north for a little while. Then she spotted the large open lot next to where she had met Makoto a few days before.

A hop, flip, and a jump and she landed in the center of the lot and smirked at the ease that she pulled off the Olympic level move without even breaking a sweat. Those pansy couldn’t keep up with her if they put in a year of training and had to cheat, she'd still beat them hands down. She did a few flips and started to limber herself up for the upcoming practice session since she didn’t think she was going to get any use out of it herself.

Then she heard something she hadn't heard in some time.

"Meow."

A cat. Her hair stood up as she turned and glared toward some boxes on the far side of the lot and she spotted the little gray haired devil with it's pointy teeth. Gasping for air she managed to throw off her ten year flee reflex.

Back in the park there had been a few of them around, but they hadn’t really mattered when she was fighting. Here though, it was a little different. She seriously considered throwing a Ki blast at the little pest. Ito may have 'cured' her of the Neko-ken fear, but it was taking forever for her to get over the reflexes caused by the training.

Then the cat turned and suddenly ran off before Ranma could burn all the fur from its body and get rid of the thing. Seconds later Makoto, dressed in a green loose fitting Gi ran into the lot, spotted her, and ran over. "Ranma!"

"Hi Makoto!"

"You made it!"

"Yep, was nearly late though, got into a fight earlier."

"Who was it?"

"Just some jerk in the park, he was hurting the animals so I stopped him."

"Good for you!" She said, grinning slyly.

"Well let's get to work and see what you can do." Ranma said, focusing on Makoto.

Makoto instantly turned serious as Ranma her go through a series of Kata, each one more difficult than the last and pushing her limits. Standing off to the side Ranma quickly evaluated what she was seeing and was a little disappointed. The girl had a lot of moves, but she didn't seem to know that she was building up a number of bad habits as she practiced.

Most of them were because she didn't really have anyone to fight against though, but the rest were just sloppy work. Ranma could remember the old man beating her up every time she started to slip into a bad habit. It was obvious that Makoto didn’t have a teacher around that could point such things out.

"You just do this as a hobby right?" Ranma asked.

She glanced over. "Well, not really, I put in two to three hours of practice a day."

Ranma nodded slowly. "It shows, but you don’t have anyone to spar against do you?"
"Not really, though I do go down to this dojo ever now and then and practice against the cute guys there." She said blushing to the roots of her hair.

Smirking a little, Ranma ignored the blushing girl’s comment and focused on the training. "Well you have a few bad habits developing, and one big one."

She looked a little shocked and straightened up. "What?"

"Well the biggest one is the Kata themselves. The most obvious mistake is that you don't do them exactly the same, so the move isn't really mastered yet. When you throw a punch it's always at a slightly different angle, a little high, wide, or low and rarely identical to the last one you threw. That's what the board is used for, to teach that accuracy." Ranma explained. "Punching bags and speed bags are fine, but they teach speed and power, not accuracy and impact resistance."

Looking a little dejected, Makoto nodded and started to throw more punches as Ranma watched for several minutes. Now that the girl was focusing on her punches she was improving already, barely straying from her mark and gaining about twice the amount of power.

"Excellent, you are focusing more than you were earlier." Ranma said. "Now start on the Kata again and focus on them in exactly the same way to make sure you pull them off exactly."

Makoto nodded, sweating a little. From then on Ranma was constantly stopping her in mid kata to explain why a move had to be performed a certain way, why she had to hold her wrist at a slight angle, or adjusting her foot work for a kick. Nearly an hour later Makoto finished her most well known kata and collapsed to the ground gasping for air, sweat dripping off her face.

Looking pleased, Ranma just nodded. "You see what I mean about mistakes? You need to be able to recognize when you are making them, even to the slightest degree so you can work them out of your form. A technique must be performed without thought, just executed perfectly, you think about the fight, not the move you are using, only what it will do."

"Yes…sensei." The brown haired girl panted.

"Now for the next level." Ranma said as she sat down. "Please copy my position. We are going to work on your breathing, it's quite obvious that no one has ever taught you the value of breath control."

Makoto groaned a little as she examined the odd way Ranma was sitting, as if she was trying to sit like a proper lady in one of those movies. "Um…"

"Looks strange doesn't it?" Ranma said with a smirk. "This position makes you straighten your spine and tense all the muscles in your shoulders and stomach. From here we can begin the basics of breath control and from there to meditation, a core technique used to harness a person's full strength."

"I know how to meditate already."

"Good, then please begin and use this position, I'll be correcting you as find your center."

She nodded, forcefully regaining control of her breathing, much to Ranma's interested view of her heaving breasts. Ranma was just glad the girl was wearing a heavy duty support bra or the things would have been all over the place while the girl was practicing, just like hers were at times. She shuddered and focused on Makoto again.

The girl was good a meditation, she was already in a deep trance after only a few minutes, excellent. Ranma, who was always holding her center, knew if Makoto was going to be any good at Anything Goes she had to master the next step. "Excellent, much better then I expected."

Grinning, Makoto opened her eyes and lost her center.

Ranma sighed. "Alright, the next step is to hold your center while moving around."

She gaped at him. "I've never heard of that one before."

"You leaned at one of those local dojo didn't you?"

"Well sorta, I've trained all over the place, at a couple of temples, from roaming masters, and a few others like what we are doing."

"Oh? How come your still not with them?"

"I move around a lot." She explained nervously, not looking Ranma in the eye like she had been.

It was an odd answer, but Ranma wasn't to concerned with it even though it was quite obvious that she didn’t want to talk about it. "Well this is a secret that you have to learn. Once you can stand up and gain your center, you have to be able to regain it in an instant if you lose it. Over the next few days I want you to spend as much time as you can doing just that. Letting it go and regaining it as fast as you can. Don't sit down and do it either, stay on your feet, or sit in a regular chair and do it until you can do it from any position."

They spent another twenty minutes going over that, she even had Makoto perform several simple moves while trying to keep her center. She couldn’t do it, but Ranma could see her improving a little more every time she tried. That was exactly what she as looking for. They kept it up for a little while longer before Ranma called it a day.

"Very good, a few more days like that and we can begin the real training." Ranma said happily.

"Real training? What the heck was all that we just did?" Makoto complained. She was wore out, sore, in dire need of a bath, and feeling rather useless cause Ranma hadn't really shown her any new moves. Just corrections and a different way to breath and use her center.

"That was just foundation work, to learn my style you have to have a good beginning to work from. A lot of the moves have to be instinctive, once you get that down here in a week or so we can move onto the cool stuff."

Makoto just nodded, she did have a lot of practice to put in if she wanted learn more. "Want to come back to my place for dinner, I always make too much. As a kind of payment for these lessons?"

Ranma considered for a second, then noticed the time. "Usually I would say yes in an instant, but I'm going to meet my Mom tonight, so I can't."

The girl suddenly looked a little sad, but Ranma wasn't sure why, then she perked up a little. "I'll save some and bring it with me tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll see you tomorrow for another lesson and work on holding your center, it’s the most important of all the moves I showed you today."

Nodding, Makoto headed home and Ranma launched to a nearby rooftop and took off at a run before the girl could say anything else.

---------------

Dreams can come at odd times, usually in the middle of the night when they are the easiest to see, but sometimes they come even during the day. When the Youma in the park was defeated Nephlite was shocked, almost catatonic really. He had used up twice as much energy on that Youma than any of the others used to date. It was supposed to be unstoppable, and yet those blasted girls still managed to find and defeat it with relative ease!

He was sure that this operation would bring in a large amount of energy for Queen Beryl. Even if the human was saved, Patasosu should have been able to drain all the animals and send that to back to him. Instead he'd lost it all, ever little tiny bit of energy gathered and everything he'd used to amp the Youma's power.

He was a dead man.

That thought rang over and over in his head as he stared at the wall. Even Jedite's missions usually broke even when they failed. Nephlite couldn't think of a way to appease Queen Beryl’s wrath, she was going to blast him out of existence just for failing her and losing so much energy. He shuddered and recalled a large number of the executions he's witnessed over the years.

Even Jedite's punishment in the Pit would be tame compared to what she would do to him for failing. Nephlite nearly started to hyperventilate as he started to panic, there was no way he would just sit back and let her kill him, no way in hell. There had to be a way to appease her wrath. THERE HAD TO BE!

He grabbed his head and screamed out his frustration and a vision appeared before his eyes. All he could do was stand there, his eyes wide and wild, as it played out before him. He was in a bedroom of some kind, sort of plain, though comfortable and messy as hell.

There were several dresses tossed about on the floor along with books stacked against the wall in large piles. These were covered in more clothing, shirts, dresses, panties, and other things he didn't want to think about. He wasn't even sure why he was supposed to meet the girl here in the first place. They could have met down in the courtyard easily enough.

Nephlite twitched as the memory played out, and got a flash of red just as the world faded around him and he collapsed to the floor. A silver glow formed around his body causing his clothing to smoke for several seconds before he lay still, his eyes open, and occasionally twitched.

The vision continued as he turned and saw the unmade bed with its curtains pulled to the sides. Suddenly a something grabbed his hand and gave a yank and twist and his feet left the floor.

"ARRGGH!!"

He barely noticed that he was on the floor half a second later, a small foot on his neck as his arm was savagely twisted to the side. A red haired girl, her face was a little fuzzy and hard to really see, glared down at him with glowing silver eyes. Her hair was waving around as an aura of some kind surged around her body.

"Who are you? This is my room and I know I didn't invite you in here." She snarled. The crescent moon on her forehead glowed as she looked down on him. She had on a simple white dress, stockings, and a pair of simple slippers. And, as far as he could tell, magically enhanced strength as she nearly ripped his arm out of it's socket. "WELL?!"

“I was told to…” Nephlite started to say, but she twisted his arm and he yelled out.

“So a pervert has come to me room, well you will learn why that is such a bad idea…pervert.” She said the name with all the feeling of a frozen tundra.

"Princess, it's not nice to manhandle the help." An elder voice said with a dry laugh.

“He’s a…Pervert.”

Nephlite gulped and looked to the side to see an old woman walking into the room with a cane. "Help."

"Such a man is unworthy of you Princess, you should throw him back and try for something better." She said with a cackle.

The Princess gave him an evil smile. "I think your right old crone."

He paled as she suddenly took her foot off his neck, yanked hard, and lifted him into the air. Yelling out as she spun him around her head, he suddenly found himself flying, right out the window. That was when he remembered that they were on the second floor of the palace.

"AAAAHHH!!" He yelled as his body arched through the air and the girl’s laugh rang out like an evil cackle.

Sploosh!

He landed right in the large fountain in front of the palace and thanked all the gods it was deep enough to break his fall with a minimum amount of damage. Crawling out of the fountain a slipper hit him in the head and bounced off, landing in the fountain. He looked up just a second one slammed into him. The Princess was throwing things at him.

“PERVERT!”

"That spoiled little…" He snarled under his breath.

"The Princess is quite spirited this morning, Lord Nephlite."

Turning, he found himself looking at the head of the Royal Guards, the guy looked like he was about to start laughing. "Sir?"

"Well get back up there, you do have to teach her how to fight properly."

Nephlite sighed and headed back for the main entrance to the Palace. This was going to be a chore, he thought to himself.

---------------

"Princess I have to teach you how to use a sword properly."

"Not gonna waste my time!"

"You must learn!" Nephlite yelled.

She decked him and he dropped unconscious as his head hit the wall.

She tossed him over the bed.

She elbowed him in the forehead and drop kicked him out the door to her room where he slammed into the wall and fell to the floor in a hail of debris.

A knee to the jaw.

An uppercut so strong that he bounced off the ceiling.

'All that in just the first week', he thought to himself as he drained a bottle of hard liquor at a bar several blocks from the Palace. "This might take a while."

---------------

"Now little one, you need to know how to use one of these to defend against them." Serenity said lightly.

"Feh."

"Language Dear, you are a proper lady after all."

She snorted. "Feh, this sucks."

"Ranko." She admonished lightly.

Hanging her head the girl just sighed and nodded. "I still think this is useless, the guy is a wimp."

"Lord Nephlite is one of the four Guardians of Earth and has special magical powers that make him worthy to teach a girl of your standing, my daughter."

"Feh." The red head said and held the wooden practice sword as if it was something disgusting. "Let's get this waste of time over with, I've got better things to do."

Several feet away Nephlite had to restrain himself from turning the girl over his knee and spanking her. One does not spank a Princess, one does not spank a Princess, one does not spank a Princess. He repeated it over and over in his head and just glared at her.

Serenity’s smile was a little strained as she led them out to the practice yard behind the Palace where several other practice areas were set up. "Have fun dear."

"Sure mom."

"Now Princess, I would like you to hold the sword like this, it will help improve your griping strength." Nephlite said, falling into teacher mode.

She glared at him and suddenly tossed the wooden blade at him, he caught it, a reflex really. Then her fist hit him right in the cheek and his world exploded in pain as the blow blew him off his feet and he twisted around and crashed to the ground.

"Well I guess a sword is good as a distraction if nothing else." The Princess said with a mocking laugh as she used her foot to flick the wooden sword into the air and catch it. Then she spun it around a few times to show that she did know a few things about the blade, then walked off as several men started to laugh at Nephlite.

Nephlite groaned and wondered how many teeth he had left, a couple of them were loose.

---------------

"I heard you've been given the 'privilege' of training Princess Ranko." Zoicite said as he and Kunzite sat down next to Nephlite at the bar. They gazed at the four empty bottles next to him.

Nephlite laughed. "You could say that."

"What seems to be the problem, we trained her and she was as nice as can be all things considered." Kunzite said as he poured himself a drink.

"She attacked me that first day and has been doing it ever since. I can't even figure out why."

"Did you insult her?" Zoicite asked.

"Nope, I was told to meet the girl in her room so we could start on sword practice."

"I heard she talked a couple of the Commanders into showing her the basics last year when she was training in hand to hand."

"Oh sure, now someone tells me." Nephlite muttered and drank straight out of his fifth bottle.

"We can try and talk to her if you want?" Zoicite said.

"I doubt you can do anything, she seems to hate me for some reason."

"We'll find out." Kunzite said.

"Thanks guys."

---------------

Nephlite smirked a little as his two friends dragged themselves out of the fountain and dodged flying shoes. "Well?"

"You're on your own pal, see ya." Zoicite said quickly as the two men ran for cover.

"This is going to be a long assignment."

"COME BACK AND TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT LIKE MEN!" The Princess screamed from her balcony as she pulled a bow and arrow from nowhere, the arrow tip was on fire. "COWARDS! I'LL TEACH YOU TO PLAY WITH A GIRLS’ HEART! PERVERTS SUFFER MY WRATH!"

Standing beside her, Ranko's sister Serenity nodded her head and crossed her arms, glaring at the men. "Get'em! Get'em! Get'em!"

---------------

With a loud gasp of air Nephlite woke up on the floor and groaned as he sat up. He was back in his house and the vision was finally over. For some reason he even felt as if the Princess had just finished beating him up. Slowly climbing to his feet, he staggered around as his head started to pound. His jaw hurt for some reason.
"Memories…" Nephlite mumbled as he made his way to the kitchen and got himself something to drink.

He still wasn’t sure why he was having them, but they were getting more and more informative and a bit painful. He really couldn’t see anyone's faces, but he recalled names and actions almost perfectly. Even his exile to the Dark Kingdom hadn't been this bad and he had a feeling they were only going to get worse.

Then he stopped and started to make himself something to drink. "Vespa, she should have contacted me by now."

His second Youma hadn't reported in yet but it was supposed to keep a rather low profile. Turning he sat the glass of wine down and quickly made his way across the house and back into his chamber. He had to find out where she was and if she had any energy for him to send onto Beryl, maybe using her wasn't such a waste of time after all. If the Scouts had found her then she was more than likely dead, but she was still his last hope for another chance.

The instant he was in the room his magic swirled around him and he sent out his call to the Youma. "Vespa!"

"Master." She responded in his mind.

"How is the energy collection going?"

"Very well, I've managed to slowly accumulate almost twice as much as I expected."

Nephlite was surprised. "How?"

"I've been draining stray animals, they are all over the city, in the parks, subway tunnels, abandoned buildings, everywhere."

"No humans?"

"Several, but I'm more careful when I drain them because it's more noticeable." She explained.

"Send me the energy, I need to report to Queen Beryl."

"Yes sir."

A large yellowish ball of energy started to form in front of him seconds later and he started to focus his magic on it. It didn't have the power that human energy seemed to have, but it could easily be used for their needs. Bringing his will to bare he turned the energy into a crystal form that he could present it to his Queen.

"Excellent Vespa, keep going and get as much as you can."

"Yes master." She said and was gone.

With a burst of dark light Nephlite vanished as well and the house was empty.

---------------

As she arrived at the campsite, Ranma practiced a couple of flips as she jumped off the roof of the house. The three tents were still set up just the way she'd left them that morning. Stretching a little she allowed herself to relax as she walked over to her bag and pulled it out from behind the tree.

A quick check showed that Ito still hadn't returned, but Ranma wasn't worried about the red furred cat. Ito could take care of herself. At the bottom of her pack she kept a good set of clothing she picked up while at the Amazon Village.

Shampoo had helped her pick it out, along with over half the girls in the village that wanted to tease her. The only problem was that Ranma hadn't ever worn it for anything. Sure she had modeled it once or twice, but other than that it wasn't being used for anything.

Frowning, Ranma started to have second thoughts about wearing the thing. Sure it wasn't really all that girly, it even had pants, but it still showed her off as a girl. The seamstress had taken a lot of time to make sure the cut showed off Ranma's breasts when she wore it. Ranma could remember that she giggled a lot when she did it too, but never understood just why.

The outfit sure wouldn't help her with her mother though, she wanted a Man Among Men, a son, the best Ranma could come to that at the moment wasn't even close. Sure she still liked girls, quite a bit, but that didn't really count as far as she was concerned. Setting the outfit in her lap she grabbed her bathing supplies, some money, and closed the pack back up.

Rolling everything up in a bundle, she hid the pack again, this time in a different spot, and headed for the wall. No acrobatics this time, she simply hopped over the wall and headed down the street. She had a couple of things to take care of before she went to the Saotome Home.

The store she was looking for was one of those small, nearly unnoticeable types that people tended to ignore unless they knew exactly where it was. Ranma smirked as she stepped inside and glanced around. She'd found the store just a few days before while wandering around after dark, when she was having problems sleeping and went out to test her odd eye sight.

She still found it weird to walk around at midnight and still be able to see things perfectly. The store itself carried a wide variety of items, including food, weapons, and any other oddities its customers might want. The old man that ran the place never seemed to sleep either cause he was open all the time, but she didn’t worry about it to much. Anyway, the old fart wouldn't say why he was always open, just that it allowed him make more money.

What she wanted was near the center of the store sitting majestically on the its own shelf. A Crystal carving of a large cat that worked like bunch of prisms molded together. She examined it for any signs of damaged before she decided that it would be the perfect gift for her mother.

The old man wandered out of the back room several seconds later knowing that Ranma wanted to buy something. He grinned walked over and eyed Ranma like a prized student.

"Ah Ranma, how are you today."

"I'm good, Sir."

"How can I help you?"

"I'd like to buy this?"

He simply nodded. "A fine piece, would you like me to wrap it?"

"Yes, and I'd like a large bowl of Curry too." She grinned. "I haven't eaten all day and I'm very hungry."

He laughed. "Of course, it's always food and something else."

Ranma laughed a little. "I guess."

"How has your schooling been going?"

"I haven't been able to attend for a few days, but I'll be heading back here pretty soon."

"Oh?"

"Had some family business to take care of."

"Of course." He said as he finished wrapping the statue at the counter, handed her a bowl of curry, and rang up Ranma's purchase. "Will I be seeing you again tonight?"

"Ah, I don't think so. I have an appointment to take care of this afternoon and I think I'll be there till tomorrow at least."

"Ah well, you are my best customer."

Ranma laughed. "I'm your only customer."

The old man just grinned as Ranma stepped outside.

Just a few minutes later Ranma had the statue stuffed into her subspace pocket along with her extra outfit. She sat her bathing supplies down on a table set up in front of the small store and quickly ate her snack. Taking out the scroll Happosai had given her, she quickly reviewed it once more.

She was pretty sure she had the two moves down, but she knew she would still have to fight the old man to prove she could truly fight. He wouldn't play with her like he did before, he'd beat her unconscious or strip her clothing if she held back any of her skill. If that happened she would be thrown out of the school.

Ranma didn't like the thought of that at all. It meant she would have to find some other school and learn all it's secrets before she could be considered a master. A teacher. Sighing, she put the scroll away and quickly finished her snack.

Returning the bowl to the old man she headed down the street until she entered the bath house. Paying the desk girl, she hesitantly headed for the girls side with more than a little apprehension. Every time she did this she felt like a pervert getting ready to ogle the girls.

She stepped into the locker room and ignored the other girls standing about the room. Keeping her head down she quickly found a locker near the door and undressed. Tossing it inside she casually reached behind her back and pulled out her second outfit and placed it in the locker.

Taking her bathing supplies she wrapped a large gray towel around her body and headed into the bathing area. She could feel several people watching her as she walked into the room. Most were casual, but a couple felt hostile to her. Glancing around the room she couldn't see anyone that wanted to start a fight, so she just focused on cleaning herself up.

Sparing with Makoto hadn't been that hard, but she hadn't bathed in a few days so she was somewhat dirty, even though the transformation tended to clean her up, she still felt dirty. Grabbing the soap she quickly started to wash herself from head to toe, washed her hair, and took care of a couple other things that she didn't like to think about. She really, really didn't want to get another infection down there at a time like this.

Then just as she poured water over her head to rinse the soap out of her hair the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She frowned and did something she hadn't been forced to do in a very long time. From a sitting position she launched into the air and did a casual side ways flip that carried her the length of the bathing area.

She landed in a fighting stance with soap and water dripping from her head. Her knees slightly bent, her eyes cold as ice as she got a look at a ninja wearing a deep red uniform as she dropped from the ceiling. Obviously female, the ninja slowly stood up and turned towards her with a large shovel like weapon in her hand. The stool Ranma had been using was split in half as if it was cut with a hot knife.

"Ranma." The Ninja said, identifying Ranma.

The girl's eyes were familiar, but Ranma wasn't sure who she was. After Jusenkyo she had traveled quite a bit and made a number of enemies and friends, but none of the ninja she knew worked like this. "What'ya want and how do you know who I am?"

"My family has connections and they know of your training trip and a the stop at Jusenkyo. I don’t care about that, I just want your head for breaking a promise."

Ranma growled. A number of the customers were beginning to edge their way out of the bath and head for the lockers. This was nerima though, so a couple of older women sat around and ignored the whole thing as they finished washing up. That was fine with Ranma, she didn't want them to be harmed in the cross fire and the others would have to take care of themselves.

"I haven't broken any promises."

The ninja narrowed her eyes and Ranma dropped and rolled to the side just as two small things flew at her. The embedded themselves in the wall with a 'thunk' sound that rattled the nearby window. They were little squares with handles attached to them that looked damned familiar, but Ranma didn't have enough time to think about them.

"Cut it out, there is no need for us to fight." Ranma said, knowing that if she had to Starfire could end this fight in a second. That was only as a last resort though.

"Once a Saotome, always a Saotome and a betrayer." The Ninja snarled and lunged forward with the large shovel.

Ranma jumped into the air and used the girl's head as a spring board to get some distance between them. "I ain't no Saotome!"

"Die &%$#$!"

Running, Ranma grabbed several wooden buckets and threw them at the girl, but she used the shovel to block most and simply split the others in half and let them clatter to the floor. Ranma flared her aura, shoved her hands forward, and burst of air fired form her. "Push Wave!"

"What the hell?!" The Ninja yelled as a giant gust of wind picked her up and tossed her into the large furo behind her. She landed with a massive splash, but not before she tossed off a couple more of the small throwing darts.

Cursing, Ranma felt her shoulder explode in pain. She ripped the thing out and threw it at the girl, but she just caught it as she stood up with water falling offer her body. "Gotcha, now your poisoned."

Now Ranma was starting to get angry. Her aura flared even higher and there was a sizzling sound as she burned the poison out of the wound and stopped the blood flow. "Don't think you will win that easily."

"DIE TRAITOR!" She yelled, jumped in the air, and brought the large shovel down on the tile just as Ranma scramble out of the way on all fours.

"We don’t have to fight."

"I will have my revenge!" She yelled.

Ranma growled as she came to her feet, she hung her head for a second and then slowly lifted her eyes to glare at the Ninja. Her eyes were ice cold. "I warned you and gave you a chance to talk this out."

"DIE FOR RUINING MY LIFE!"

Ranma's stance changed while the Ninja was in mid jump, she took a step forward just as the weapon would have hit and cleaved her in half. Once inside the girl's guard she didn't even bother to talk as she whispered Amaguriken. She simply blurred from sight and the ninja started yelling as her body blossomed with pain.

The final punch took the girl across the face, the force ripping her mask off, and sending her body flying through a nearby wall with a halo of long brown hair around the girls head as she crashed out into the street with a hail of wood.

Ranma stepped through the hole and stalked out to the girl, picking up the fallen shovel and twisted it into large knot. Then she tossed it back on the ground and stomped on it a couple of times. Several women from the baths were outside watching in wide eyed fascination as Ranma walked over to the girl, grabbed her by the hair, and lifted her up so they could look each other face to face.

"Explain, or it gets worse." Ranma said in a voice as cold as her eyes.

"I will kill you, now, or later. My honor demands your death you bastard, traitor, liar, betrayer. I will kill you for ruining my life."

Taking a close look at the girl, Ranma had to admit that the long brown hair she was holding was familiar, but she couldn’t place it. Glaring at the girl she let go and let the head fall to the ground with a thump. "I've got no idea who you are, but I'm not a killer unless I'm forced to be one. Don't push me cause there will not be a next time." Then she drew her fist back and punched the girl unconscious with one blow.

Ranma really hated to admit it, but when it came to girls the Amazons really had taught her not to hold back. It was just to dangerous not to. So she turned around and stalked back inside to grab her bath supplies, rewrapped her dropped towel, and blushed a little.

She tried not to think about what it looked like to everyone to have a small red headed girl walking around naked in the street beating up people in a ninja outfit. Cologne had taught her that even such small things like had a weird effect on people, but Ranma couldn't think of a way her fight would be missed judged and just shrugged it off.

She ignored it for the most part, the ninja had forced her hand and being naked didn't bother her that much. She would just have to hope that no one really got a good look at her. Taking a second before she got dressed she bound her wounded shoulder and channeled some more Ki to it so the bleeding would stop, that punch had reopened it a little.

It would take a few days to heal, so she wasn't worried about it. She had taken worse in some of the recent Youma fights so she could live with the pain for a few days at least, Genma had wounded her a lot worse than this over the years. Once in the locker room, she grabbed her new outfit and started to dress.

First were the plain underwear and bra, these were always the same no matter what she wore. Then she pulled on a skintight black sleeveless shirt, followed by a pair of loose white pants tied at the ankles, and a pair of white slippers. She quickly changed her cloth bracers, black ones, and pulled on a deep red wrap around shirt made of a thick material that hung nearly to her ankles in the front and back, but split up both sides to expose her white pants. Finally she used a white belt to hold it all in place.

Shaking her hair out, she undid the pigtail and let it hang loose, running her fingers through it a few times. Smirking a little, she really wondered what her mother would think when she saw 'her' like this. She really had been forced to adapt to the curse after all. Though she would take a cure to the curse in an instant, no doubt about that at all. She just had to find one.

She didn't bother to head out the front, they'd just blame her for the damage and she couldn’t afford to fix it. So she snuck out a nearby window, jumped to a roof, and was soon out of the area before anyone could say anything.

Several minutes later Ranma jumped off a roof, flipped over one of those signs that tended to cross some small streets, and landed on the ground. She looked around and checked the address of a nearby house. She was only a couple of blocks away. Her face was calm, but she could also feel a pair of eyes watching her move down the street.

Not from a house either, but from the nearby trees. Whoever it was could hide themselves with enough skill that she couldn’t see them. Even better than that stupid ninja from earlier. There were several others watching her as she made her way down the street, but they weren’t hostile as far as she could tell. They were focusing on her body, not her movements like the first one was doing.

A few minutes after that she stopped in front of a large gate with a wall going back nearly half a block. The wall was strong and designed with martial artists in mind, tough and thick enough to withstand several blows before it collapsed. Reminding herself that she had business here she turned and pounded on the door, making a resounding noise.

It opened to reveal the woman he’d seen during that fight with Pink and Link the other day. They gazed at each other for several seconds sizing each other up and Ranma was surprised to find that the woman wasn’t as hostile as she believed. “I’m Ranma Mazaki.”

The woman winced, but quickly recovered herself. “Nodoka Saotome, please come in.”

Slowly stepping past her Ranma got her first look at the Saotome house in over ten years. She had memories of playing in the front yard here, but nothing that really mattered to her. “Thank you.”

“Follow me inside, I’ve just finished dinner.”

She nodded.

The house itself was two stories, in much need of repair, and looked like no one ever had the time to do the upkeep. There was even a large dent in one side of the house, it looked like an impact crater of some kind, though she really couldn't make any other details than that. Ranma decided that asking about it right now wouldn’t work, so she just followed the woman into the house. After removing their shoes they entered the living room.

“Boy.” Happosai said from his place at the table.

“Happosai.” She said and glared at him.

“Did you manage to learn that move?”

Ranma shrugged. “It was easy enough after I realized you’d used it on me during our fight, several times.”

He laughed. “Figured that out did you? Even Genma never caught onto the fact that I use that technique in such a unique way. The moron.”

“If you would take a seat Ranma.” Nodoka said hesitantly.

Ranma produced her gift from nowhere and handed it to Nodoka. “Here, I got this for you.”

She took it, bowed, and exited the room quickly. Happosai just laughed at the weird look on Ranma’s face.

“I don’t understand.” Ranma muttered.

“She’s a proud woman, she didn’t want to cry in front of you.”

This Ranma understood. “What do you have planned?”

“We are going to eat dinner and get to know one another.” The old man said as he flexed his hands. “Then we begin your evaluation.”

“As if you didn’t do it already, Master.” Ranma snapped sarcastically.

The old man just smirked. “Can’t deny an old man his fun.”

“Yes I can and I’ll beat you unconscious too.”

“We shall see boy, we shall see just what you are truly capable of when push comes to shove. Genma was never the most astute student, but he had a knack for creating weird training exercises."

"More like insane ones." Ranma snapped, but Happosai just shrugged.

"Whatever works."

The door to the kitchen opened and Nodoka stepped out and began serving them dinner. Ranma simply watched her as she went through the motions. At the same time she glanced around the inside of the house. It was somewhat plain, the occasional picture on the white walls, a simple set of stairs leading to the second floor. Quite similar to what she’s seen at the Tendo place really.

Ranma could also feel, several yards below, some kind of magical energy slowly thrumming. She ignored it for now, barely paying any attention to it at all, as the three of the ate in silence. They finished eating several tension filled minutes later.

“Thank you for dinner.” Ranma said.

“Your welcome.” Nodoka said. “Can I ask you some questions?”

“Go for it.”

“Master Happosai says you have a Jusenkyo curse and that it’s been locked in some way.”

Ranma nodded. “Yeah, ever since I fell in that spring. That was when I got fed up with the old man, got rid of him, and left him to his own devices.”

“Why then and not at some other point?”

“It was the just the final straw. He trained me to be the best fighter of my generation, pushing me to do better than everyone I ever came across. He did this by insulting me, calling me a girl all the time, telling me how weak and pathetic they were. That they were useless and that I needed to be a man in everything. Then he took me to Jusenkyo, in our arrogance we ignored the warnings, and I had my worst nightmare happen.”

“Genma has always thought with his stomach.” Happosai said. “Can you explain how you got locked in this form?”

Ranma shrugged. “I came out of the spring like this, only I was glowing, and I booted the old man so hard that I lost sight of him in the distance. Didn’t see him again for several months.”

“So it wasn’t a ladle full of water that someone splashed you with?”

She shook her head.

“I thought the Musk must have gotten to you, but the unlocking kettle isn’t going to work if it wasn’t their ladle that locked you.”

“I would do anything to be unlocked. I hate this form no matter how much I’ve been forced to adjust to it.” Ranma said. “I no longer have my extra reach or strength. All I gained from it was a little extra Ki and speed.”

“Jusenkyo curses can be controlled with a lot of Ki and plenty of practice, though it’s rare that anyone ever manages to accomplish that.”

“I’m still working on building my Ki reserves, but they grow a little every day. The Amazons in China taught me several ways to build up my Ki and a few moves.”

“I’ve met them, they can be quite the handful.” Happosai said with a lecherous smirk.

Sighing, Ranma just glared at him. “Listen here Pervert…”

“I am, and I’m a martial arts grand master, so don’t underestimate me just because of the way I live my life, student.” The old man snapped. “Get to know your mother, and then we will have some fun in the back yard.”

“Alright.” Ranma said as the old man hopped out of the room. She turned back to Nodoka. “Now what?”

“I’m not sure where to start, Ranma.” She said.

“Why did you want to kill me?”

“I never did.”

“I saw the contract, with me like this I have to kill myself to keep my honor.” Ranma snapped.

“I never agreed to Genma’s ideas. He simply stole you from me when you were old enough to walk and abandoned me.”

“He never mentioned you while on the road, he just trained me in some of the most powerful martial arts techniques in the world. Sometimes at the expense of my sanity.”

“Ranma I’ve been looking for you, for over ten years, but I’ve never been able to find you. I’m always one step or more behind you.”

“Why?”

“Gendo Saotome.”

Ranma blinked. “Uncle Gendo?”

Nodoka winced before she nodded. “Yes, you see he’s been using his position in the government to block my attempts to find you for over ten years.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve never been able to figure out why either, all I know is that he didn’t want you to ever meet me and has tried to have me killed on a couple of occasions.”

That confirmed most of what Ranma remembered from that website she'd looked at a few weeks before. Trust was something Ranma didn't have much of these days, she would usually give someone the benefit of doubt, but not much else. The Amazon's way of manipulating people into doing what they wanted had been a hard lesson for her to learn.

They didn't take no for an answer unless it benefited them in some way. Cologne had spent several weeks educating her and correcting a good amount of the misinformation Genma had given her over the years. Being around Ami and the other girls at school had helped to further what she already knew. Ranma knew how to learn from mistakes instead of needing Genma or someone else to make the decision for her.

"I don't know about this."

"Can't we at least get to know each other?"

"I guess for now." Ranma said and saw the woman's face light up.

"Maybe I can help you unlock the curse. I've got a colleague of mine, a Dr. Jones, looking for any information he can find on Jusenkyo without having to actually go there."

"Do you think he can help?"

"Yes, he's one of the most respected explorers in the last fifty years and has encountered almost everything from simple ruins to an actual God. Just don’t ever ask him about Her, he won't ever shut up about it if you get him talking." Nodoka said and shuddered.

Ranma noticed that the woman, his mother, actually sounded normal for the first time since he met her. Her guard wasn't up and she wasn't thinking ahead in the conversation. "I'll be sure not to mention a thing."

"Thank you. He said he would need a week to find any information about it in The Library."

"No problem, I can wait. I've lived with the curse for some time now so I can wait even longer."

Nodoka started to look sad again as she gazed at her 'son'. "Did it hurt when you changed?"

"No, I didn't even notice at first, only when the guide at the place started to explain what had happened and I lost it."

"I see."

"What do you do for a living?"

"Like Dr. Jones I explore places, old ruins, temples, lost cities, and other places like that for the Explorers Society."

"I've never heard of them even with all my traveling."

"They are a group of professional explorers, treasure hunters, and super powered beings that banded together. Treasure hunters from all over the world work for and fund the various excavations of sites. A treasure hunter who finds a spot that hasn't been looted by robbers gets to keep a large amount of their finds. Then the Explorers Society will buy most of that as well. The biggest area for these are in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States where they host the annual conventions every decade or so. Huge sums of money can change hands in just a matter of days."

"Did you find anything?"

Nodoka sighed. "I'm not allowed to, but I have worked for them from time to time. Normally I work for the museum, but I've found some places that could have made me quite rich, instead the museum got it all and gave me a small bonus."

"That's unfair!" Ranma yelled, then blushed and looked away.

"I know, but the only reason I still have the job is that I bring in more than Gendo is willing to pay them. If he had his way I'd be homeless at the very least."

"And you are able to get by like that?"

Nodoka nodded. "Barely. I've got some other investments I've made through some friends that allow me a little freedom, but I have to be careful how I spend it."

"What about being a demon hunter?"

Nodoka blushed this time. "My family is a Demon Hunter clan, but I've never had a chance to finish my training. So I'm forced to cheat a little if I ever come up against a demon."

"The sword?"

"Yes, it's magical, giving me master level sword skill when I come up against a demon. Other wise I'm just a skilled swordswoman." She fibbed a bit.

Nodding, glanced around a little. "I can feel something in this house."

The older red headed woman froze as she was about to sip her tea. "Oh?"

"Yes, below us."

"My…workshop is down there. And my collection."

"Collection?"

"Things I've found over the years on my missions that no one knows about, weapons and other odds and ends."

"Like what?"

"Well my most prized possession is a magical Ring, made from a gold and polished to mirror finish. It seems to boost a person's skills quite a bit, making them feel strong and powerful."

"That…doesn't sound like a good thing." Ranma said.

"It's a cursed ring, so I should hope not, the thing is addictive according to what I've found. Once you wear the thing it adapts to you and will do anything to make sure no one ever takes it from you, even killing your friends."

"So why do you have it?"

"I have it placed in a protective box that seals away its power."

"Oh good, you had me worried there for a minute."

"I know what I'm doing. I've also got several other things that I've brought home from my trips. I'll show you some time."

"That would be great!" Ranma said and looked excited.

Happosai stepped inside. "Come on boy, I don’t have all day."

Standing up Ranma gave him a look, nodded, and adjusted her outfit to make sure it was in place and headed for the back yard. Ranma could tell that a fight had taken place there just recently from all the damage. She could even see more of the crater in the side of the house. Two bodies had impacted there at some point quite recently.

Happosai walked out to the middle of the yard, he was still smoking his ever present pope and looked like he was bored. Trying to look like a harmless old man, Happosai turned to look at Ranma as she walked across the yard. "Do you recall the terms?"

"Yes."

"Good, cause I forgot what I told you."

Ranma crashed to the ground and formed a giant sweat drop on the side of her head. "What?!"

The old man snickered at her. "You're pretty easy to tease boy."

"Why you!"

"Perform the Devil's Fist."

"On what?" Ranma asked.

"Hmmm, that's a good question actually."

"I'm sure as hell not stealing your underwear!" Ranma said and shuddered.

Happosai nodded. "Of course not."

Ranma sighed in relief.

"I much prefer going Commando, if you know what I mean." He said with a twisted little laugh. "Ah, the freedom."

Ranma shuddered. She was not going to think about that idea anymore, then she dragged it deep into her mind, and shot it a few times. Then had to resist the urge to throw up.

"I will volunteer Ranma." Nodoka said as she walked up to them.

"Do you know what he wants me to do?"

"Steal underwear."
"And you still want me to do it?"

"He's already stolen three pair from me, what's one more going to matter?" Nodoka said with a little grin.

If Ranma hadn't known better she would have though the woman actually liked having her underwear stolen. She shrugged and nodded slowly. Happosai didn't even seen her move, one second she was looking at the older woman, the next he saw her breasts sag down just a little and Ranma handed him the bra. "Here you go old fart."

"Excellent! Now for the lower bit."

Ranma rolled her eyes and she tossed Nodoka's Panties on top of Happosai's head. There you go."

Laughing, Happosai started to caress the underwear.

"Gross!" Ranma muttered.

"It's manly."

The red headed girl turned to give Nodoka a shocked look. "He's playing with girls panties!"

"I know, he appreciates women so much. He loves ever aspect of a woman, even her clothing."

"The old perv is pulling Ki from them." Ranma snapped.

Freezing, Happosai slowly turned to give Ranma a surprised look. "How…"

"Its obvious, I can see the Ki in the clothing as it's drawn into your body and it's giving you a little thrill as her Ki touches your male Ki."

Happosai was starting to look excited. "You can see Ki?!"

"Sure, what's the big deal, I've always been able to see it. Ever since I fell in that stupid spring."

"Why Ranma, that's a special ability!" Nodoka said, sounding proud of her child and smiled at her.

"Huh?"

"Ranma there are probably 10 people in the world that can see Ki as it radiates off of clothing, let alone if it's being removed or not." Happosai said as he tossed the bra and panty back to Nodoka, who caught them and made them vanish inside her Kimono.

Ranma shrugged. "I've been able to do a number of odd things since I fell in that spring."

"Can you do anything else?"

"Well I can see in the dark, almost as if the sun was still on the horizon."

"Amazing, I bet that comes in handy."

"Feh, sure, but it makes going to sleep hard sometimes. I can never tell how late it is."

"We can work with that later, but now I want you to form a ball of Ki."

Ranma took a stance, brought her hands around in front of her and formed a marble sized point of sunlight, shining brightly.

"Pure Ki?"

"Yeah, it's easier to hold for long periods of time instead of using emotional Ki."

Taking a pull on his pipe, Happosai walked around Ranma and examined her with his own senses. He could tell that she was almost boiling over with energy, even after what he did to her the day before. She had tons of energy to draw on and he wasn't sure where it was all coming from.

He could easily see she had some very powerful magical weaves woven directly into her aura as well. The most obvious one was the curse, but that was balanced out by two others that he didn't recognize. The second one seemed to be quite old, almost eight years or more, and the third was impossible to comprehend. Just that it was magical.

Nodoka noticed something herself, Ranma was at the perfect stage of a girl's life to take on the powers of a Devil Hunter. She had to be a virgin on her sixteenth birthday and have killed a demon lord. There was a possibility that Ranma could use the official sword of the clan. She didn't say anything though, Ranma had her own test to complete.

"Alright Ranma, I can see keeping that up for an hour is going to be easy, so let's start on the next step a little early, just keep that ball formed."

"Next step?"

"Control and practice."

"What did yo…" Ranma started to ask, but Happosai jumped forward to poke at her with his pipe. For an instant she had a flash back of Cologne doing something similar and twisted.

Happosai's pipe handle missed her chest by less then a knuckle width, but she was still able to see the Ki as it formed around his hand. Then his whole body flared up and he attacked.

Dodging, while holding a ball of pure Ki between your hands is nearly impossible because of the shot of adrenalin that speeds through the body. This makes keeping emotions under control very hard, nearly impossible. After surviving Genma, Ranma could pull off the impossible with ease.

"Hey, hold it!"

"Learn quick boy!"

"Aghaa!!" Ranma yelled.

"Ouch!"

"BWHAHAHAHAHAH!" Happosai cackled as he removed her bra and tossed it to the side, then his attacks with the pipe increased speeds. "Time fort the next level Ranma-CHAN!"

Ranma paled, this wasn't good at all.

---------------

That night Rei was performing one of her usual fire readings while her Grandfather stood over her like an over protective hawk looking for anything that might move. He was around her constantly now as she went about her duties as a Miko for the shrine.

He hadn't been like this since she was just a little girl beating up boys that were mean to her. That one boy still deserved the broken nose as far as she was concerned, who cares if it was on picture day? That was a damned good day and one of her better memories.

Back then he'd done something similar. This time he was doing it because he thought she was going to run out and die in a fight against Youma. He knew about her place as a Sailor Scout, as Sailor Mars. The old goat had actually followed them to the airport and watched the whole fight and blown things completely out of proportion.

He even kicked her new friend out of the shrine and told her never to come back. Rei focused on the fire, it could sense her growing frustration and flared up to match it, nearly rising to the ceiling. She didn't see the old man smirk a little as he saw this, she could just feel his presence and it annoyed her.

Slipping deeper into her meditation she focused more and more of her Ki through the sacred fire and watched as a series of events suddenly caught her attention. There within the fire was a boy who looked quite a bit like Ranma, but he had black hair, and more muscles than she could count. She stared at him in awe as the figure appeared to be fighting an endless number of Youma. He was killing them with his bare hands and Ki blasts made up of pitch black energy.

What really caught her attention was the black crescent moon on his forehead, just like the one Ranma had, but colored black instead of silver. She could feel an evil force coming from him powered by the force of his aura. His hands flashed out and a dozen Youma were obliterated, and their blood ran down his arms and covered his clothing, but the hoard never stopped coming, so he fought on and on…

The scene changed, to show Ranma as she fought against a white haired man who was kicking the living hell out of her. Rei had seen Ranma fight enough times to know that she was better than the white haired guy, but for some reason she was losing, the crescent moon on her forehead was flickering in and out of sight as she watched. Rei could feel Ranma's terror through the fire as she fell to a powerful magic attack.

Four stones appeared, wrapped in fire and magic as they glowed brighter than the fire and slowly started to crack under the pressure. Rei jerked awake as the sacred fire flared to the ceiling again and she felt its heat trying to comfort her. Sweating she turned to see that her grandfather was kneeling beside her with a look of concentration on his face.

"Grandpa."

He opened his eyes and she could see that he was tired, very tired. "Sometimes when a vision comes it takes a lot out of us, sometimes to much. You needed help so I lent you some Ki to survive that vision."

"Did you see…"

"I did and I have a lot to think about." He said and silenced her with a wave of his hand. "I need to think. We will sit down and have a little talk here in a day or so."

Rei nodded as he stood up and staggered out of the room. He'd seen her vision and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. She would really have to tell the others though, especially Ranma.

That boy, she knew Ranma was under a curse but she had never really thought about what she would look like as a boy. If that was him did it mean he was going to be a threat, was Ranma going to be a threat to them or the Youma? She didn't know what to think, she just needed to get some sleep and recover from the fire reading.

---------------

End Chapter 12

Notes: There you have it! They fought the Youma, Ranma trained Makoto, then met his mother and got into a fight with Happosai. Then Nephlite had painful flashback and you got to meet Princess Ranko in all her anti social glory.

Evil Grin.

On the other hand Rei’s fire reading leaves several questions to be asked. The biggest one is why the Male Ranma is only being shown now and just what it could mean. I figured that it was about time that something was done to show that a male Ranma would be in this story and fire reading was the best way to do this. Grandpa Hino seeing and experiencing the same vision as Rei will help him see things a little differently as well.

Any comments on the chapter? Review and let me know!

---------------
Omake!
---------------

The old wooden stairs creaked as Ranma and Nodoka moved to the basement of the house, into Nodoka’s collection. The area below the house was a lot bigger than Ranma thought it would be, but it was still full of old junk that covered every surface from one end of the room to the other.

She could see piles of old armor, swords and blades of all shapes and sizes covered an entire wall and were piled up on the floor below. Statues from across the world stared out at them as they moved into the middle of the room, but Nodoka ignored it all as she moved over to a secluded corner and waved Ranma over.

“Right here?”

“You wanted to show me a statue of a large fat budda?” Ranma asked, looking at the ugly thing.

Nodoka grinned and pointed at the jewel set into it’s head. “Right here actually?”

“A green rock?”

Nodoka planted her face into the floor and groaned. “No, press the stone.”

Lookng skeptical, Ranma reached out and touched the stone, then gave it a press. It lit up for a second, then she heard a loud sound, like machinery starting up, and Nodoka grinning at her. “What?”

“Just wait.”

She opened her mouth just as a small rail rose up from out of the floor behind her, locked in place, and that while section of the basement suddenly lowered started to lower into the floor. Ranma gasped as they moved down almost twenty feet before it lowered into a large cave. Florissant lights covered the ceiling and lit the while area.

Nodoka grinned as she dragged Ranma out into the cave and could only gape at the shere number of junk she had piled down here. If the room above was bad, this place was worse. The big difference was the massive computer set up at the far side of the cave. As they approached the screen lit up to show a very skinny girl, nearly as thin as Usagi, wearing a red Chinese dress with a yin yang symbol on her chest battling an ugly Youma with a sword.

“This Ranma is our Heritage!” Nodoka crowed. “Devil Hunting in all it’s glory!”

Ranma glanced over at the dust covered heaps of something about ten feet away. “Really?”

“As a female of the clan, so long as you are a virgin on your sixteenth birthday, and after you defeat a Demon Lord, you will be granted powers able to kill Demons with ease.”

Ranma blinked, processing that statement. “Huh?”

“You have it in your blood to gain the power to defeat demons.” She said and clapped her hands in excitement. “You must begin your training.”

“Why would I need these powers?”

Nodoka blinked. “So you can defeat demons!”

“Yet I need to defeat a demon lord before I gain them?”

“Yes.”

“Then why do I need the powers? If I’m good enough to defeat a Demon Lord without the powers, why would I need the powers?”

“Uh…”

“Then why would a Demon Lord even let me get close to him if I already had the power to defeat one?” Ranma said. “If I was him, I’d just set up a set of circumstances that forced the Hunters to waste their time killing lesser Demons while I went about doing more important things.”

“…”

Ranma nodded. “Not my cup of tea, as they say.”

“But…”

She turned and headed back for the lift. “I’m thirsty, let’s break for a while and go get something to drink.”

Pouting, Nodoka followed after the younger red head. Visions of little devil hunters running around in tight fitting dresses playing devil hunter and demons in the front yard shattering into little pieces. “But, I had everything planned out.”

Ranma pretended not to hear her, being a magical girl was bad enough as it was.