Yeah, yeah.< Joe projected into his sister's mind.  >Just don't

screw up this time...who knows what I'll end up being if you two
blow it!<

"Got him?" Urd asked as she hurried back into the temple.  "Don't
lose him...time's running out!"

Less than a minute later, all three were in the kitchen again,
joined by Skuld, and Urd repeated the spell.  This time, though,
nothing happened.

"What?  Impossible!" Urd cried out at the lack of results.  "We
still had some time left!"

"Maybe it was the mix there...it could have lost its potency."
Jun pointed out, indicating the pan still sitting there.

"It's not that." Urd answered, testing out her mix.  "In fact, I
think it's still got one more use left before it goes kaput!"

"Then what could have gone wrong?" Jun asked, getting worried
now.  "How come it didn't swtich Joe back to being a male?"

"Um, excuse me?" Belldandy asked, having returned with Keiichi
from their date.  "Mind if I ask what you ladies are doing in the
kitchen?"

* * * * * * * * * *

In the bathroom, Ryoga looked up from the tub to where his
clothes hung from a rack.  "My clothes are still wet from when
the robot hosed me." He thought out loud.  "That's not going to
do me any good since I'll just get wet again.  I'll have to get a
change of clothes out of my backpack instead.  I'll have to be
extra careful about it since it's still out in the middle of the
yard.  Now, how do I get to the yard from here?"

* * * * * * * * * *

"I think I know what happened when you cast the first spell."
Belldandy said to Urd as she set down the pan.  "The incantation
was correct, but the mixture you used was for the reverse-sex-
change spell instead.  You really ought to pay better attention
to these things, Urd."

"So, why didn't the spell reverse itself when she cast it again?"
Jun asked.

"Well..." Belldandy said as she gave Joe another lookover, "as
far as I can tell, the original shape-change spell and the first
reverse-sex-change spell had an unusual interaction.  The good
news is that neither spell is going to be permanent.  We'll be
able to undo the damage once we figure out how.  The bad news is
that each of the two spells are acting as a protective barrier to
the other.  In other words, the reverse-sex-change spell is
keeping us from undoing the shape-change spell, and vice-versa."

"Mother's not going to like this." Jun said as the implication of
Belldandy's words sunk in.

"I'm going to see if I can come up with something to straighten
out this mess that Urd made.  Be right back!" Skuld called out as
she dashed out into the hallway.  As she took a couple steps down
the hall, though, Ryoga stuck his head out to see if it was all
clear.

"Hey!  Who are you?!" Skuld cried out.  "You must be that pervert
that's been sneaking around!"

"Who?  Me?!  N-n-n-no!  You're mistaken!" Ryoga called out as he
saw Skuld ready her mallet and charge after him.

"Oh?  Do you know anyone else who walks around naked and leaves a
pile of wet clothes?!  Take this, you sicko!!!"

As Skuld's mallet hit Ryoga's head square-on, he stumbled back-
wards and onto the bathroom floor.  Skuld swung the mallet to
give Ryoga another whack, but managed to knock a water bottle off
of a shelf , splashing both her and Ryoga as a result.

Skuld didn't notice herself getting wet, going wide-eyed at the
sight of Ryoga's transformation.  "This is not happening..." she
said in shock, limply lowering her arms.  She quietly stepped out
of the bathroom, went back to the kitchen, and asked Urd, "Did
you do something to the water bottle in the bathroom?"

"No, I didn't.  If you're not going to help us try to turn Joe
back to normal, then go play with your doodads or something,
okay?"

"But, but..." Skuld stammered before a hand fell on her shoulder.

"What is it, Skuld?" Keiichi asked, wondering what got Skuld so
worked up.

"Well, this morning ,while you and big sis were away, I found a
backpack and a pile of wet clothes out in the yard.  I thought
some pervert left them there and I think he's in the bathroom
right now, but I saw him turn into a piglet like Joe there."

"Come on, let's go check this out." Keiichi said, concerned about
having a pervert in the temple, let alone one that could shape-
change if Skuld was to be believed.

A minute later, Keiichi peered around the bathroom's door frame,
and found nothing in there but a mess.

"Um, Skuld, do you remember if you knocked this guy out or not
when you hit him?"

"I should have.  I hit him really hard."

"Well, either he has a really fast recovery rate, or a really
hard head, because he's not here..."
* * * * * * * * * *

"It's getting pretty late.  Don't you think we should have heard
from them by now?"

Mrs. Kokashi looked up at the clock, which read 9:20 p.m., then
to her husband.  "Don't get so worried.  Undoing shape-change
spells can be a tricky thing, especially when they're cast by
accident.  I'm sure the avatar Urd will make things right.  We
just need to be patient, that's all."

After a minute of nervous silence, the ringing of the phone
echoed through the house.  Mrs. Kokashi quietly picked it up
since she was sitting next to it.

"Hello?  Kokashi residence."

"Hello, this is Urd.  Is this Jun and Joe's mother?"

"Yes, it is.  I take it they got to you safely?"

"Yes, and they're doing just fine.  In fact, they're finishing
dinner here."

"Was the spell reversed, then?  Is my Joe back to normal?"

"Uhh...yeah...he's no longer the piglet he used to be...but
that's not why I called."

"Oh?  Is something the matter?"

"Oh, no.  In fact, I was discussing things with your children. 
If you don't mind, I'd like to train them further in their magic
studies while they stay here."

"Really?  You do us too much honor.  I'm sure those two aren't
worth your trouble."

"Nonsense.  I'm sure you know as well as I do that they need good
training, Jun especially, and I would like to give that to them."

"If that's the case, then I'll send their belongings over, then. 
What about their mundane schooling, though?"

"That'll be taken care of.  I hold a job as a chemistry teacher
at a high school, so I can easily make arrangements."

"Again, you do us too much honor.  Thank you very much.  Please
keep us posted on their progress, would you?  Good bye."

Urd slowly put the handset on the cradle, then let out a sigh of
relief.  "Good thing she didn't ask to speak with both of you."
she said to Jun, who was holding the still-female-piglet Joe in
her arms.  "It would have blown the whole cover story if she did. 
Anyway, she agreed to letting you stay here, and I will train you
as well as enrolling you at Furinkan high.  If only to keep your
mother from finding out that I screwed up as well.  Deal?"

"Deal." Jun said tiredly.  "I don't want to become an orphan
because my folks had strokes over this.  At least it'll buy us
time to try and break that spell matrix."

"Don't worry about it." Belldandy said as she cleared some of the
dishes away.  "Anyway, you two are welcome to stay here as long
as you need to.  I'll prepare a room for you after I finish
cleaning up."

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll get used to things around here." Keiichi
piped in.  "It'll be great for your studies.  Just don't let
anyone else know about Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld being goddesses,
okay?"

"Okay." Jun replied.  "By the way, wasn't there another piglet
around here?  I haven't seen it since this morning."

"That's right!" Skuld said.  "I haven't seen that shapechanging
pervert since I hit him earlier today.  I wonder what happened to
that sick jerk?"

* * * * * * * * * *

"Well?  Did you find anything we can use against Urd?" Marller
asked Dorllir sharply.

"Um...well...I wasn't able to find out all that much, really..."
Dorllir replied, ashamed of the fact that she forgot why she was
at the temple at the first place.

"It figures.  You're totally useless as a demon, you know that? 
I don't know why Demon Central sent you over here in the first
place!"

As Marller verbally tore into Dorllir, Sayoko watched them in
disgust.  >You haven't been of much use, either, Marller.< Sayoko
thought.  >You haven't done much to get rid of either Belldandy
or Urd, except sit around and watch that little TV of yours.<

"If it'll make it up to you guys, I brought home a little pet..."

Dorllir didn't get to finish as Sayoko, spotting P-chan in her
hands, screamed "Get that filthy pig out of my house!" and
swatted P-chan away from Dorllir.

While both Sayoko and Marller yelled at Dorllir, P-chan bolted
out of the house as fast as he could.  >I don't know which place
was worse...this one or that temple!  I have to get back to that
temple, since my stuff's still there!  Now which way do I go?<


Next Episode: Making Tracks


Author's notes:

- For those who are reading this as well as any other stories
with Dorllir in it, I must say that her being in these stories
are not part of the story continuity that Larry Mann and Ryan
Matthews have set up.  They are allowing authors to use the
character, but those stories should be cleared by them first,
especially if those stories are meant to be part of said continu-
ity.  I thank Larry and Ryan for graciously allowing me to borrow
Dorllir on occasion for my continuity.

- I suppose another new character intro is in order.  While this
episode dealt a lot with introducing Kokashi Jun and Joe, there's
still some background information that'll wait until next 
episode's notes, since I'm still working on making heads and
tails of her rather convoluted family history and the fact that
she's cursed with multiple destinies.  This'll be explained in
the next episode's notes.

- Missed any episodes of "Aa! Megami-sensei!"?  There are now two
places on the net to get them.  The fanfic ftp remailer holds all
current episodes.  Simply e-mail ftp@ranma.net to get a list of
them as well as other fanfics on the remailer.  Also, they're now
archived at the Urd Shrine (http://www.best.com/~falcon/
urdhome.htm), along with a few other fanfics.  There is also a
HTML listing of most of the original characters in this fanfic
series with a few character illustrations.  This will be improved
over time with more character illustrations as well as making it
look nicer.  It's a start.



All Aa! Megamisama and Ranma 1/2 characters copyright Fujishima
Kosuke and Takahashi Rumiko, respectively.  Dorllir appears
courtesy of Larry Mann and Ryan Matthews.  All other characters
copyright Peter Ward, Tim Dunn, Tim Holt, "Snafu", and Ray Yeen.

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

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

"YAY, KEIICHI!!  If you lose your race, you're DEAD MEAT!!" - Urd