al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx


		The Caller's Plight, by Jorge Pratt

		Fourth Test, part B, section 1



Childhood lost... madness regained

			DAY 1

	A large figure leapt across the rooftops of Nerima, Tokyo. 
It was almost perfectly round, and bounced from balcony to 
balcony, gaining in size with each stop. Female shrieks followed 
every motion of the ball, which was nearly five meters wide by 
now. But wait... The ball didn't move by itself. There was a 
midget below it, carrying the sack as his face showed an insane 
grin.
	"Wa ha ha! What a haul, what a haul!" Happosai repeated 
maniacally, "This is the best day of my life!"
	And indeed it was, for this was the largest bounty he had 
ever stolen in his 100+ years of age. Filled with his silky 
treasures, the humongous sack weighed as much as a soft 
feather for him, so great was his delight. But suddenly, a pair 
of shadows loomed over him, the first one considerably smaller 
than the second.
	Whish! The Epoch swooped down to graze the rooftops, 
pulling Kirin's barge along. The tremendous wind they caused tore 
off Happy's sack, shearing it open and blasting away all of the 
bras and panties.
	"WAAAAAHH!" Happosai stared in shock as his beloved 
darlings were swept away, scattered to the four winds. "M-My 
precioussss! WAAAAAAHH!"
	"Take _that_," sitting in the copilot's seat, Ranma smirked 
evilly at Happosai's misfortune, the Epoch speeding away into the 
distance.
	"It'll be raining underwear for days," Phaeron snickered, 
maneuvering the Epoch towards the Tendo dojo. "Let's go home."
	"Wait a sec," Ranma said, "See that store over there? Get 
over it."
	Shrugging, Phaeron followed the instructions. Grinning 
deviously, Ranma leapt down from Epoch and ran into the 
electronics store. A few minutes later, and a few gold coins 
lighter, Ranma used his Wind magic to float back up to the ship. 
"Okay, all set."
	"What did you buy?" Phaeron asked, steering the Epoch 
again.
	"Let's say I got some insurance," Ranma smirked again as he 
tucked the electronic device in his clothes.

			*	*	*

	"Ah, what peace," Nabiki stood on the edge of the corridor, 
stretching her arms as she looked at the pond and the garden. 
Everyone had left last night, leaving most of the "normal" types 
at home. Well, Kuno wasn't _exactly_ normal... Oh, that's right. He 
still hadn't payed that IOU he gave her for the pictures of 
Ranko and her twin. She'd have to look for him. But right now, 
she had to smile at the silence around her. No arguments, no 
fights, nothing but peace and q--
	Kirin's barge descended upon the house, pressing down with 
a wind current which splashed the pond's water in all directions.
	"I'll sue for this," a very wet Nabiki glared and went back 
indoors.
	All the people were gathered on the deck of the ship, 
backpacks ready and the Brindstones in their pockets. A great 
silence took hold of them as they looked at each other, with 
Nodoka and Akane holding the sleeping twins. They had all been 
through so much in these last weeks, facing so many dangers. To 
think that nobody on Earth knew how close Lavos had been to 
destroying life on the planet.
	Ranma was the first to break the almost-sacred silence. 
"Well guys, we're back."
	"So we noticed," Mousse said indifferently, "It seems we 
left ages ago."
	"But for the guys here, we've been gone only a few hours, 
remember?" Phaeron said.
	"Okay, so we don't have to explain _everything_ that 
happened," Akane said, "But what about these kids?" she looked 
at baby Yuannyan.
	"Uh... We'll just have to hope everyone takes it well," 
Phaeron replied. "Okay, let's go." He picked up his knapsack, 
followed by the other people.
	"Wait..." Nodoka said, "I have to tell you something." She 
sighed, "With our daughters, maybe it is time for us to go back 
home."
	"We are home," Ranma replied. Nodoka shook her head, "I 
mean _our_ home. Our house."
	Ranma and Akane reflexively turned to each other. What kind 
of argument could persuade Nodoka otherwise now?
	Shampoo and Ukyou showed a catlike smirk. With Ranma out 
of the Tendo dojo, their own possibilities of winning him over 
would multiply! And no Akane to hinder their advances, yet!
	"Phaeron-kun, could you drop me and Dear at our house, so 
we can be ready?" Nodoka asked. He nodded, a bit nervous, "Sure, 
we'll just use Epoch to get there before I hide it in a cave."
	"Ranma..." Nodoka turned to him, "Could you please pack our 
things? I'm sure it's not that much. And make sure you show Mr. 
Tendo our gratitude for all the time his family took care of us."
	Not giving him time to argue, she handed him the baby, "And 
take care of them while we prepare the house." She smiled and 
gently shoved him and Akane to the railing if the ship. Shrugging, 
they nodded and leapt down, Ryouga following them.
	While the Epoch pulled the ship, heading for the Nekohanten 
and Ucchan's, the trio entered the gate and stood on the 
walkway in a minute of silence. Truly, it had been so long since 
they left... Two weeks in reality, but two millenia in their 
hearts.
	"What are we waiting for?" Akane said, suddenly cheerful as 
she handed baby Yuannyan to Ranma and ran for the door, 
desperately seeking the protection brought by her home.
	"Here," Ranma, barely handling both twins, handed Ranko to 
Ryouga and quickly followed Akane into the house, leaving him 
staring happily as yet another reverie commenced.
	"Dad! We're back!" Akane called cheerfully, kicking away her 
shoes at the door.
	"Oh my, so soon?" Kasumi smiled in greeting, coming out to 
the corridor. She suddenly blinked, "Where did that baby come 
from, Ranma-kun?"
	"It's a long story," he smirked, "An Ryouga here..." he 
turned, but saw nobody behind him. Ryouga was as still as a 
statue, holding the baby as if he were holding the greatest 
treasure he had ever found. Bonking him upside the head, Ranma 
took his sister and handed her to Kasumi.
	"They remind me of somebody," she blinked again, "Oh, well, 
I'll let them sleep in my room while I make dinner, alright?" she 
took the two sisters and giggled at them, walking up the stairs. 
Akane snickered a bit, seeing her sister acting motherly again.
	"So here you are," Nabiki greeted, with a towel on her 
head. "I'll have to sue for--"
	Ranma interrupted, pressing something beneath his shirt, 
"Nabiki, how much do I owe you?"
	Taken aback by the sudden question, she immediately said, 
"10 thousand yen." Realizing what she had said, she slapped her 
forehead for not increasing the amount.
	Ranma slumped down, "I don't think I got that kind of 
money..."
	Nabiki showed a lopsided smirk, "Don't worry, Ranma-kun, you 
can always pay back later. But I do seem to remember you had 
some emergency cash in your bedroom... along with some 
_interesting_ materials..."
	"Huh?" Akane looked oddly at him.
	Ranma cursed inwards. Arrgh, how did she find out about 
_that_? "Oh, all right. How much is your silence worth?"
	Nabiki waved dismissively, "Already covered, Ranma-kun. It 
was emergency money, after all. It even covered half your debt."
	"Tell you what," Ranma said, dropping his backpack on the 
floor, "I'll pay you back what's left right now, and I'll even 
throw in an extra yen just in case." He took out his wallet and 
emptied it on Nabiki's hand.
	"We travelled to another world, you become a Centaur, we 
spend most of our time fighting, you get turned to ice, we end 
up in the time-tunnel, and you STILL have your wallet?!" Akane 
blinked at him.
	"Nice doing business with you, Ranma-kun," Nabiki smirked, 
and began to walk away.
	"Wait, Nabiki," Ranma called, "Do I owe you anything at all?"
	She snickered, "Lucky boy, you don't."
	"What about Mom, or my sisters?"
	"Hmm... Nope, you were the only one."
	Ranma grinned, pressing a button beneath his shirt, "That's 
good to know." As Nabiki shrugged and walked away, Ranma 
stealthily took out the tape recorder from his shirt.

			*	*	*

	Later in the day, while Ranma prepared the stuff in his 
room, the living room began to glow oddly. A fearsome aura of 
gold covered the middle Tendo sister as she gazed upon the 
treasures brought by Ranma and Akane. Cackling madly, she threw 
aside the empty knapsacks and stared at all the gold and jewels 
before her. That sword might be of some value to a collector, 
but the stone hammer wasn't worth a yen. And the gems! An opal 
and an aquamarine, both perfectly polished!
	Nabiki aimed her hands to the heavens, making the gold flow 
upwards. She aimed down, the coins fell down again. Watching from 
the door to the living room, Kasumi thought Nabiki shouldn't have 
watched Fantasia so many times.
	"Bwa ha ha!" she dove into the treasures, basking in their 
glow, "I'm rich! Who needs to take pictures now! Mine, all mine!"
	"I don't think so," Ranma nonchalantly leaned against the 
doorframe. "Half of that is mine, the other half is Akane's."
	Nabiki hurriedly sat up on the gold, "Have you forgotten 
your debt, Ranma-kun?" Smirking, he took out the recorder and 
played back the tape. Nabiki sweated nervously at hearing the 
recording. "That... That's not my voice!"
	Ranma was enjoying every second, "Heh. We all said that 
when our first DoCo album came out." He stared right at her, 
"But it's true. I don't owe you anything. In fact, _you_ owe me 
one yen!" He grinned to Nabiki's face, "What about that?!"
	She shuddered in repressed anger, "I'll get even... You'll 
hear from my attorney, Ranma-kun..."
	"I'll buy him!" Ranma cackled madly, finally getting the upper 
hand on Nabiki. She cursed inwards. She didn't know how, but she 
would get back at him one way or another. She wouldn't be 
deprived of her shiny treasures--
	She bonked herself. She was beginning to think like 
Happosai. "Ugh, disgusting," she shuddered.

			*	*	*

	Night had fallen, and Nodoka had already called by phone, 
warning that she and Phaeron would soon arrive to take the 
Saotome siblings back to their house. Sighing, Akane headed for 
Ranma's bedroom. She still didn't know what had caused Nabiki to 
be so red with anger, but at least she hadn't said anything 
about the gold. As she was explaining to Soun and Kasumi what 
had happened to the twins, all that Nabiki did was clench her 
fist, as if vowing something.
	Meanwhile, on another room, Ranma was lying on the floor, 
face down. His and his father's backpacks were all set, all their 
clothes were inside and everything was ready. Well, almost 
everything. Ranma was still using the "interesting materials" that 
Nabiki had mentioned earlier.
	"How... how could they..." he whimpered to himself, blowing 
into a paper tissue. He was reading a book, but the cover was 
facing the floor. "You idiot, how could you say that..." he 
whimpered again, lifting the _Please save my Earth_ manga from 
the floor.
	"Hey, Ranma..." Akane came into the room. He hurriedly sat 
up and hid the manga behind his back. "Y-yo, Akane..."
	She crossed her arms, "What are you doing?"
	"N-nothing!" he quickly stammered. She rolled her eyes, 
"Auntie called, she said she'd be here any minute." She began to 
walk out, but out the corner of her eye she noticed the low 
dresser in a dark corner of the room. One of its drawers was 
open: she easily saw the countless magazines inside it.
	"Wait, Akane, don't!" Ranma vainly tried to stop her as her 
curiosity lead her to the drawer. There was nothing exceptional, 
just a bunch of _Dragonball_ and _Fist of the Northstar_ 
paperbacks. "Huh?" she noticed a book was slightly larger than 
the cover sleeve. Ranma winced as she took it out.
	"What the..." Akane removed the cover sleeve. Below an 
innocent _Patlabor_ cover lay another, more _adult_ manga, with 
the picture of an attractive woman on the cover. "R-Ranma..." 
Akane's hands shook at holding the manga.
	It was too late for excuses, yet he still tried, "Akane, I 
can explain..."
	"What's to explain?" she shook her head, "It's obvious you 
read this... _this_."
	"It's not what you think..."
	"Not what I think?" Akane turned to him, "Then what is it? 
You don't mean you actually _like_ this... _this_." 
	Ranma stood up in annoyance, "So what if I do?"
	Akane was surprised by him, "But to think you get this for 
entertainment..."
	Ranma snickered, "That's not all I get."
	Akane heard that remark, "But what else..." her eyes opened 
widely, "Don't tell me you _learn_ from this... _this_!"
	Ranma beamed in pride, "I've learned a lot from it."
	Akane stared at him in shock, "This time you really left me 
speechless, Ranma..."
	"That's new," he snickered.
	"This is nothing to laugh about," she said, flipping through 
the book, "You have any idea what would happen if my dad or Mr. 
Saotome found out you're reading this?"
	Ranma was taken by surprise, "They'd... they'd make us... you 
know..."
	"That's right, they'd make us marry," Akane glared at him, 
"They'd say that since only grown men read this, you're probably 
grown enough to marry me or something."
	"Oh, come on. Lots of guys at school read this. Besides, it 
was Nabiki who talked me into reading it."
	"Nabiki?" Akane blinked, "Well, I can understand if _she_ 
reads it, but you..."
	"What, you don't think I can handle reading this stuff?"
	Akane snickered, "This is a very complex series, I'm 
surprised a baka like you can understand it."
	"I don't see you, 'Miss Rocket-scientist,' reading it."
	Akane tried to glare, but she was still too pleasantly 
surprised she just smiled and handed the book back to Ranma, 
"Just make sure your dad doesn't find it." Walking out the door, 
she turned back and smiled softly at him, making him blink in 
confusion. Hearing the sound of Epoch landing, Ranma quicky 
gathered his manga and put the books in his pack.
	"But really," Akane snickered, "To find Ranma reading 
_Sanctuary_...!"

			*	*	*

	"Bwaaah!"
	"Oh my!" Kasumi hurriedly ran back and forth, looking for 
diapers and trying to greet Nodoka at the same time. Finally 
deciding to do only one thing, she turned to Soun and Nabiki, 
"Father, could you help me with her?" he carefully held the wet 
Yuannyan at arms length, putting her on the floor while putting 
all his martial arts training into opening the goddamn diaper 
pack. P-chan stared oddly at the twins.
	"Bwaaah!"
	"Babies, in stereo," Nabiki rolled her eyes when she heard 
Ranko crying. "Ugh, yuck," she winced at smelling what the baby 
had done. She took her in her hands and put her on the floor, 
taking off the chemical-waste diaper with one quick motion. "UGH! 
BLEAH! DISGUSTING! HELP, DEATH BY POISON GAS!"
	Nabiki waved her hand before her face, trying to disperse 
the hideous stench while wondering how all that could come from 
just one small baby. She tossed the contaminated diaper over 
the fence, unknowingly covering Happosai in infantile residues. 
Rushing to the bathroom while holding the baby in her hands, she 
saw Soun come out while making goofy faces at a giggling 
Yuannyan. Good, at least that one had stopped crying. But now to 
deal with the more immature one. She went into the bathroom, 
putting a towel on the floor and placing Ranko on it, cleaning 
off the last remains with a little warm water. The baby giggled 
at the sensation, giving Nabiki an excellent idea.
	"You're my ticket to get that gold," Nabiki held Ranko below 
the arms, lifting her in her hands, "When Ranma-kun sees all the 
dangers and perils of changing _you_, I can offer my services..."
	She suddenly looked down, feeling a moist warmth on her 
chest. She scowled at baby Ranko.
	"You peed on me."
	Ranko giggled.
	"You actually peed on me."
	Ranko clapped her hands at her great feat.
	"_You_ actually _peed_ on a seven thousand yen blouse."
	Ranko smiled as only a baby knows how, speaking in happy 
baby-talk.
	"Maybe Ranma-kun _does_ owe me after all," Nabiki smirked.

			*	*	*

	Phaeron finished lugging the backpacks and other luggage in 
Epoch's cargo compartment, just behind the cockpit. Looking over 
to the gate, he saw Nodoka and Kasumi holding the twins, who 
were waving their tiny hands at their mother.
	"All set," Ranma came out to the street, followed by Akane. 
They were surprised at themselves: at first, they had thought 
that Ranma's departure would be harder on both of them. But 
maybe all the life-threatening situations they had faced were 
finally beginning to have effect.
	"Just a moment," Nodoka nodded, and walked over to Phaeron, 
"Could you hold them a bit?" she asked, handing him the twins. He 
carefully put them on Epoch's wide back seat, smiling silently at 
them.
	"Thank you so much for your hospitality," Nodoka bowed to 
Soun, "We will always appreciate it."
	"At least there will be no more freeloaders," Akane joked, 
nudging Ranma.
	"Be sure to call if you need help with the babies," Kasumi 
said.
	"You'll hear from me, Ranma-kun," Nabiki flashed a wicked 
smirk.
	"Heh, at least I escaped this nuthouse," Ranma said 
nonchalantly, "No more of Akane's cooking ever again!"
	"Don't press your luck," she glared at him, Mjollnir 
glistening in the moonlight.
	"Yeah, right. Like you could get me with that thing," he 
mocked.
	"What do you mean by that?" she smirked.
	"See? Not only do I escape toxic cooking, but also a crazy 
tomboy!"
	Joke or not, that was the breaking point. Mjollnir found his 
new career of smashing Ranma most interesting.
	"You can come over any time, Akane-chan," Nodoka smiled, 
dragging her unconscious son over to Epoch and putting him on 
the backseat. The twins sat happily on his chest and belly. "We'll 
keep in touch!" Nodoka called, waving as she boarded the ship and 
sat at the copilot's seat. Silently looking at the flying vehicle 
as it rose into the air, contrasting with the silver disk of the 
moon as it flew off into the distance, the Tendos sighed before 
walking back inside.
	"It will certainly be quiet around here," Kasumi said.
	"How will I take pictures now?" Nabiki wondered. "I better 
sqeeze all that gold out of Ranma-kun while I can."
	"Baka," Akane thought. "After all we've been through..."
	But her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as they heard 
a loud crash in the dining room, followed by an avian shriek.
	"So much for peace and quiet," Soun shook his head.
	"What in the..." Akane dashed for the room, stopping to gasp 
at the sight.
	"I hope I no bother. Can I and pet hawk stay for night?" 
smiling cutely, Mink presented herself.

			DAY 2

	It was an early Sunday morning, strangely peaceful 
considering it was Nerima. At the Saotome house, the peace was 
broken every so often by a happy giggle that came from the 
bath, as Nodoka bathed her daughters in the tub. The twins 
played in the warm water, splashing their mother every now and 
then. Nodoka felt as if she were in paradise.
	"Now, don't splash mommy," she said, rubbing a baby's back 
with the soap. At the same time, the other girl trashed about in 
the water. The three giggled.
	"Wasn't that nice," she stroked the small heads, messing up 
the slight locks of reddish hair that were sprouting from them. 
"Let's use the staff, shall we?" she reached for a cabinet, 
taking the small version of Andellia's caduceous. Gently touching 
Ranko's head with it, Nodoka was marveled to see the baby grow 
to become like a one year-old, then repeated the procedure with 
Yuannyan.
	"Mama!" the twins immediately spoke, warming Nodoka's heart 
with their first words.
	"Auntie, we're ready!" Akane called from outside.
	"Just a minute, dear!" she replied. Andellia was right. The 
twins might have their memories, but their minds were like a 
baby's. Wrapping them in the baby-clothes that Kasumi had given 
her, Nodoka dressed them and took them to their room, outfitted 
for their current state with a cradle and a mobile that hung 
from the ceiling. Sighing as she set them on the cradle, Nodoka 
sat down next to them and began to undo her top.
	Downstairs, while Nodoka fed the girls, Akane and Ranma 
were talking to a beautiful, ponytailed blonde who held a 
majestic hawk on her arm. Sitting at the table, Akane had 
already told him about how Mink arrived at her house, a few 
instants after he left.
	"I very grateful Akane-sama let us stay at home," Mink 
bowed, "Shugo-kou and I not know anyone in Japan, and no have 
place to stay."
	"It's really no problem," Akane said, "We have more place 
for visitors now."
	"We still grateful," Mink bowed again, "But promise to leave 
when we find enemy."
	"Who're you looking for?" Ranma asked, hoping she didn't 
mean him nor his sisters.
	"Amazon girl Shampoo," Mink said, petting Shugo-kou's head. 
"She beat cousins Pink and Link and treat me bad. Real bad."
	"What did she do to you?" Akane inquired.
	"She humilliate me in tournament," Mink said, "I win first 
two stages, then meet Shampoo. I no knock out my opponents, 
didn't want hurt them. But when fight Shampoo, I no knock out, 
she attack from back and hurt me. Clan disowned me. They no let 
return until beat Shampoo and she accept defeat."
	"This is getting old," Ranma rollled his eyes. "At least you 
don't have to kill her."
	"Clan no give Kiss of Death," Mink quickly shook her head, 
"Think it is barbaric and no can make friends if they beat you. 
Clan only wants defend honor, not become murderers if you lose."
	"But if you defeat Shampoo, she'll try to give you the Kiss 
of Death," Akane said, worried.
	"Shampoo no can give, because I always pretected," she 
smiled softly at her hawk, "Shogo-kou defend from anyone. And I 
champion of clan and all opponents are friends. Shampoo only 
enemy. I want defeat her to restore honor, then make her 
friend."
	"Good luck," Ranma said, "You'll need it."
	Mink smirked, "No need luck. Heavens already give gift." She 
took a glass of water. "Look, gift that heavens give me," she 
said, pouring the water over herself. Ranma and Akane stared 
widely as the blond Amazon became a hawk, almost identical to 
Shogo-kou. Taking a teapot from Hyperspace, Akane turned her 
back to normal while covering Ranma's eyes with her free hand.
	"You call that a gift?" Ranma blurted out, now that Mink 
had redressed herself.
	"I find out from Guide that Shampoo change too," Mink said, 
"She turn to cat, I turn to hawk. It gift, no?" she smirked.
	"If you put it that way..." Ranma conceded, imagining a great 
hawk dive-bombing a defenseless cat.
	"And that not all," Mink said, readjusting her glasses, "I 
get good eyesight too." She sighed, "If only I could find nice man 
that lead me to gift..." she suddenly returned to Earth, "Say, 
you know nice man?"
	"You're looking at one," Ranma boasted. "Oh, gimme a break!" 
Akane laughed.
	"No, nice man with glasses and long hair. You know?"
	"You mean Mousse, right?"
	"Hmm... Yes, I think Mousse is name."
	Ranma snickered, "When you find Shampoo, you'll find Mousse. 
Don't worry." Mink clapped her hands happily, "I certainly lucky! 
Now I can find nice man and fight Shampoo at same time!"
	"Ready," Nodoka came down from the stairs, "I left them 
sleeping soundly in their crib. They'll be all right." She blinked 
at the blonde and her hawk, "Oh, good morning."
	"Nihao," Mink stood and bowed, "I Mink and she Shugo-kou."
	"Nodoka Saotome, pleased to meet you," she bowed.
	"Let's go, then," Ranma rose from the table. "Hope Pop 
doesn't sell those kids for fish and pickles."
	Nodoka giggled, "Don't worry, I've dealt with that." She 
began to head for the door, waiting for the youngsters.
	"You no mind I go?" Mink asked, "I still not know town."
	"Sure, come on," Akane replied. Mink nodded, smiling, and 
followed the trio as they went out to the street.
	"Okay, I'll see you later," Ranma said, walking in the 
opposite direction.
	"What are you going to buy?" Nodoka asked.
	"There's a cool bike I saw the other day. With the gold we 
got, I'll finally buy it," he snickered mischievously as he ran 
into the distance, eager to feel the powerful engine of the 
Harley-Davidson he so anxiously wanted.
	"Are you sure about this, auntie?" Akane asked to her, 
"You know they'll outgrow them in just one day."
	"I know, but this is important to me," Nodoka replied, "I'd 
love to see my girls wearing their first little dresses even if 
only once."
	"You have baby?" Mink asked, "How lovely! I have two baby 
brothers and play with them all day!"
	"I'll let you meet my girls when we get back," Nodoka smiled.
	<ring, ring>
	"What...?" Akane looked around. Those bells were awfully 
familiar...
	"What wrong, Akane-sama?" Mink asked, but her battle-sense 
was immediately aroused, "Danger!"
	"Aiyaaa!" Shampoo and her bike dropped from... uh... 
somewhere... The Amazon pedaled away, oblivious to Mink, "Ranmaaa! 
Come eat special ramen Shampoo make!"
	"Shampoo!" Mink bellowed, "I sorry, but no can let her 
escape," Mink bowed to Akane and Nodoka, and shot out in pursuit 
of the purple-haired warrior.

			*	*	*

	Genma was in deep trouble. He was tied to the floor, 
Masamune dangling from the weakest of threads over him. If he 
dared move, he would be skewered by the sword, although she 
didn't quite agree with Nodoka's baby-protecting policies.
	Growl...
	And he was hungry, to top it off.
	"Food... Must... get... food..." Genma struggled in the ropes. A 
007 soundtrack began to play in his ears as he scanned the 
room for a way to escape. "Aha," he saw his feet. They were tied 
to wooden stakes, which were nailed to the floor. His hands were 
also tied to stakes. "Urgghh..." he squirmed as he forced his 
right foot upwards. "Hah!" he finally tore the stake off the 
floor. Whipping his leg upwards, he ensnared Masamune's hilt with 
the rope and pulled, detaching the sword from the thread. 
Grabbing the hilt between his toes, he cut off the other rope 
that captured his foot and grabbed the hilt with his feet, then 
tossed it upwards. While Masamune spun dizzily in the air, Genma 
flipped on his back. The katana hit the rope to his right, 
cleaving it nicely.
	"FOOD!" Genma dashed for the kitchen, ransacking the fridge 
and everything he could devour. Finally satisfied, he went back 
upstairs, belching. "Huh?"
	"Funny," tiny Yuannyan giggled at him from the door to her 
room, trying to stand up by herself but falling. Genma snickered 
while she giggled at herself. But then the other baby came 
crawling into view.
	"Hmm..." Genma rubbed his chin. It was unnecessary to look 
for a husband for Yuannyan, given that Herb was a prince. But 
the other one...
	Ignoring completely what Nodoka had done to keep him away 
from the girls, he made a break for his bedroom and filled his 
backpack, then returned to the girls' and grabbed one of the 
babies. She calmly blinked at him. Oops, wrong one. He returned 
Yuannyan and took Ranko, who struggled slightly.
	But as he leapt down the staircase, he slipped and dove 
for the table. He turned over to avoid crushing the baby, 
without avoiding the water that spilled from the glasses.
	"Rowlf?" the panda looked around, hoping nobody had heard 
the noise. Realizing there was nobody home, he stood up.
	Ranko giggled at the big black-and-white teddy bear. 
"Funny."
	"Growl?" the panda lifted her. She grabbed his snout with 
her tiny hands.
	"Papa panda funny," she said, and kissed his nose.
	Genma-panda melted in a black and white puddle.
	"Ah?" the baby crawled on top of the puddle, confused.
	The panda reformed himself, holding her in his paws. She 
simply clung to the white fur, rubbing her face against him. 
"Papa warm," she said.
	Genma felt as lowly and miserable as a petty thief. How 
could he think about selling off his own children now? He thought 
back to the ten years of training with Ranma. How he took care 
of his son. How Ranma always looked up at him (until Jusenkyo, of 
course.)
	He looked down at the baby girl, messing up the slight hair. 
He couldn't sell her off, but there was one thing he had to do.

			*	*	*

	"Aiyaaa!" Shampoo weaved her bike amid the terrified crowds, 
escaping from the hawk that pursued her throughout the streets. 
"What crazy bird want?!" she yelled. Shugo-kou suddenly dove for 
her and snatched her delivery box, flying away.
	"No! That ramen for Ranma only!" Shampoo took a sharp turn 
and followed the bird as it flew towards the Tendo dojo. It 
turned back. Good, Shampoo was nowhere on sight. Shrieking in 
victory, Shugo-kou spotted Mink in the vacant lot and dropped 
the delivery box.
	"Eh?" Mink looked up, forgetting to put on her glasses... 
"OWW!"
	Shugo-kou sweated visibly when Mink fell by a knockout from 
the box.
	"Where crazy bird?!" Shampoo burst into the vacant lot, 
wielding her bonbori. "Y-you?!" she gasped at recognizing Mink.
	"Hm?" a certain white phoenix suddenly looked down, 
intrigued by the Amazon's shouting. Having nothing better to do, 
Crystallus turned invisible and descended upon the tree, settling 
on a branch near Shugo-kou.
	"Owch..." Mink, awakened by Shampoo's shout, rubbed her head 
and put on her glasses. "Ah... Shampoo!" she rapidly stood up and 
fixed her eyes on her opponent.
	"So, Mousse was right," Shampoo began in Chinese, "You came 
to get beat up again?"
	"I see Shugo-kou managed to lead you to me," Mink smirked, 
"I'm here to restore the honor of my clan, and to avenge Pink 
and Link!"
	"How could a blind girl defeat me?" Shampoo snickered, 
fiddling with her Brindstone in her hand. Crystallus gasped, she 
wouldn't use her magic power on an ordinary human, would she?
	"I've learned a lot since our last encounter," Mink reared 
back, and with a flick of the wrist a quartet of small prisms 
appeared between her fingers. The sunlight broke into a thousand 
pieces when refracted by the prisms.
	"Then maybe you can entertain me," Shampoo said, 
surrounding herself with a Silver aura. Mink, although impressed, 
tried to show no fear.
	"I do not want to hurt you," Mink said, "Just restore my 
clan's honor. Give up now and everything will be settled nice and 
quickly."
	"Give up?" Shampoo glared at her, "To you? Not on your 
life!" she leapt upwards, placing the garnet in her clothes in 
order to mantain contact with it. Her bonbori glowed bright white 
as she charged them with Silver magic. Mink swallowed hard, but 
stood her ground.
	"Kyaa!" Shampoo flung a mace at her. Mink threw her prisms 
to the ground.
	"Wah!" Shampoo saw aghast how her round mace was 
obliterated by a laser.
	"Give up, I said!" Mink repeated, "One of my weapons is 
light, and I can do wonders with it!"
	"Amazing!" Crystallus thought. "She threw the prisms, which 
embedded in the earth. The sunlight was focused by them, each 
time making it more concentrated, until the last prism aimed the 
beam upwards!"
	"I already faced an enemy like you," Shampoo thought way 
back to the "Illuminator" from Star-Peak mountain, "And you're 
just as stupid!" she aimed her palms upwards. A solid Silver 
shield was created around her while she dropkicked Mink, sending 
her flying into the tree. Staggering, Mink realized her glasses 
were gone. And so was everything else in front of her, replaced 
by a blur.
	"Looking for these?" Shampoo twirled the glassses in her 
finger.
	"Give them back!" Mink assaulted the source of sound, 
sending a hail of crystals at Shampoo. But they were all 
deflected by the shield, falling idly to the ground. Shampoo 
simply charged towards Mink and tackled her, knocking her down 
to the ground. But just as the Amazon passed over her, Mink 
whipped her legs upwards and caught Shampoo's neck, smashing her 
back down. Shampoo arched her back and sent her feet backwards, 
kicking Mink's head from the ground. Mink reflexively released 
Shampoo and rolled away, spreading her arms as she tried to see 
something.
	"Stupid girl. You're as blind as Mousse!" Shampoo snickered.
	"Leave him out of this!" Mink took off her shoes and aimed 
them at Shampoo's general direction. The polished shoes reflected 
the sunlight, blinding her for an instant. Taking the chance, Mink 
leapt up and crosskicked Shampoo, knocking the Brindstone aside. 
Crystallus quickly caught it, Brindstones are too valuable to let 
them become lost. But as he did, he involuntarily became visible, 
letting Shugo-kou catch a glimpse of the magnificent phoenix. The 
hawk looked around, hoping to find him.
	"That does it!" Shampoo said. Still blind, Mink couldn't see 
Shampoo grab her neck and toss her over her shoulder, then try 
a heel-drop on her gut. Mink rolled away at the last second, 
then twisted her armlets. Below the scarlet silk lay a pair of 
glimmering bracelets, also made of an astounding amount of 
prisms. Shampoo could barely cover her eyes as the bracelets 
produced a glaring light, blinding the rider of a motorcycle 
nearby. However, when Mink tried to attack Shampoo was ready. 
She easily sidestepped from the dashing punch and stuck her 
foot out, tripping Mink. Using her momentum, Mink threw her arms 
downwards and rolled forward, then handstood and horse-kicked at 
Shampoo, catching her off guard and demolishing her other 
bonbori. Enraged, Shampoo grabbed Mink's bare feet.
	"Now you'll pay," she scowled... and tickled her feet.
	"Ah... s-stop i-it-t!" Mink tried hard not to laugh. The 
torture made her squint her eyes, for a split-second she could 
see with more clarity. "There!" she flung her hand forward, 
grasping her glasses and putting them on her face. Clutching the 
grass, she used her hold to twist her body and slam a heel on 
Shampoo's shoulder, slithering out of her hold.
	"Now we'll fight for real!" Mink crossed her arms, reaching 
into Hammerspace and taking out a pair of hand mirrors. Shampoo 
followed the example and took out an extra pair of bonbori.
	"If you want to fight for real you'll get hurt," Shampoo 
teased, "And I'll beat you again."
	"Don't count on that!" Mink challenged, leaping back towards 
the tree. Bouncing feet-first off the trunk, she rammed full-
speed towards Shampoo.
	While the two girls met in midair, Crystallus fell off his 
branch. When Mink bounced off the tree he lost his balance, 
making him tumble down to the ground. But no sooner had he 
opened his eyes that he saw a beautiful female hawk looming 
over him, examining him quizzically. She was easily five times 
smaller than he, being a hawk next to a condor-sized phoenix. But 
she found him alluring, in a mystical sort of way. Just as she 
was about to ask for his name (in bird-talk, of course,) he 
turned a very odd shade of red and flew away, dropping the 
Brindstone in his flight. Shugo-kou slumped down and shrieked, 
calling him back, but the phoenix had vanished.
	"Aiyaa!" Shampoo flung another round mace at Mink. Using 
her magic mirrors, she repelled the bonbori back at its flinger. 
Shampoo caught it easily, then saw how Mink threw a large 
crystal upwards. Just as it came down, Mink aimed the mirrors at 
each other, in front of her. The crystal passed exactly between 
them. In the microsecond that the crystal fell to the precise 
position, the sunlight was once again focused by the prism, 
reflected and amplified by the mirrors and turned the thin laser 
into a powerful bright heatwave. Shampoo leapt upwards, seeing 
the grass beneath her smolder, but without being damaged too 
much. After all, Mink didn't want to injure her, just defeat her.
	"Why you...!" Shampoo, still in midair, aimed her fall to 
dropkick Mink. Smirking, she simply sidestepped and dropped 
something large and flat on the ground. Shampoo gasped when she 
landed on a perfeclty-polished mirror, she slipped and twisted 
her ankle. Not giving herself time to feel the pain, she quickly 
flung a bonbori at Mink, who also leapt away. But she failed to 
notice the five prisms that she had flung at the beginning of 
the fight.
	"AAAAHHH!" Mink grasped her right foot tightly, a trickle of 
blood coming from her sole as one of the prisms had stabbed her 
bare foot. As she rolled over in the ground, her tear-drenched 
eyes failed to see Shampoo dash for her, then thrust her 
bonbori into her gut, smashing her HARD against the tree and 
knocking out every bit of air from her.
	"Stupid girl, you'll never defeat me," Shampoo snickered, 
squashing Mink against the tree. "Just go back home to China and 
we'll all be happy."
	"Not... until... I beat you..." Mink didn't know what hurt the 
most: her foot or her torso. But suddenly she was released, she 
idly fell to the ground as Shugo-kou flapped her wings at 
Shampoo.
	"And get your bird off me!" she screamed as she pushed the 
hawk away, then rode her bike away from the feathery berserker.
	"Shugo-kou..." Mink called, sadly, "I'm failing my clan... And at 
this rate I'll never get her to calm down." The hawk shrieked in 
sympathy. Mink smiled briefly, "At least I have you." She petted 
Shugo-kou's head. "What's this?" she noticed the bright garnet in 
her hawk's beak. "Where did you get that?" she asked, blinking, 
and put the garnet in her pocket. But then, biting into her 
sleeve, she grasped the prism tightly and pulled, rivers coming 
from her eyes.
	"Yah!" she screamed as she finally took out the crystal.
	"Huh?" Kasumi, who was coming back from the market, 
suddenly heard the scream and ran for the vacant lot. "Oh my, 
Mink! Are you all right?"
	"Ka-Kasumi-san..." Mink tried to say.
	"Oh, your foot!" Kasumi quickly took the girl in a piggyback, 
"We have to get you to doctor Tofu before it gets infected!"

			*	*	*

	Nodoka walked back to the Saotome house, alone. After 
hearing of the "accident," Akane had to leave so she could go to 
Tofu's clinic. Oh, well, it probably was nothing serious. But now, 
Nodoka was eager to see her daughters in the clothes she had 
bought, ranging from sleep rompers for the babies to dresses 
for teenagers. At last she would get _both_ twins to wear 
feminine clothing, she thought.
	She came into the house, unaware of the backpack next to 
the door and the tipped table. First things first, she hurriedly 
went upstairs to the twins' room. How cute they would look in 
their one-piece rompers, she repeated to herself.
	"Ranko-chan, Yuan-chan, mommy's back!" she called, going into 
the room. Yuannyan appeared out of nowhere, playfully hugging 
her legs. "Oh, you missed mommy, Yuan-chan? Where's your 
sister?" The girl replied with a shrug, but smiled, "Papa funny!"
	"Papa?" Nodoka wondered. "Oh dear..." she looked around 
nervously, "Ranko-chan! It's mommy! Where are you?"
	Receiving silence for an answer, Nodoka rushed for the 
master bedroom. "Dear me, no..." she gasped when she saw 
Masamune embedded in the floor, Genma nowhere in sight. She felt 
her heart freeze when she saw clothes scattered on the floor, 
as if somebody had packed in a hurry.
	Nodoka quickly took Masamune from the floor, not letting 
her explain what had happened. If he had dared sell their 
daughter, she'd make panda brochettes.
	"Dear?! Where are you?!" she demanded from the spectral 
silence. As she searched every room in the house, her hopes 
plummetted a little more. He couldn't have...
	"Dear?!" she burst into the main bedroom again, heading for 
the balcony. A black furry leg was in view. She made a break for 
the balcony... and smiled warmly at what she saw.
	The panda, asleep and leaning against the wall, with tiny 
Ranko sleeping peacefully on the furry belly. On the panda's 
right paw, which held the baby, was a colorful rattle, while his 
left held a children's book. The fact that he couldn't speak and 
Ranko couldn't read yet hadn't stopped him, and it made Nodoka's 
heart soar in happiness. Silently, she went back inside and took 
a blanket from the wardrobe, and covered father and daughter 
with it. The panda sighed in his sleep, causing the rotund belly 
to rise and fall. Undisturbed from her rest, the baby clutched 
the fur a bit tighter.
	"I was wrong..." Nodoka whispered, "And I'm glad."
	"Growlf?" the panda opened one eye, nearly having a seizure 
when he saw Masamune in his wife's hand. But before he could 
awake Ranko, Nodoka put the katana down and petted his head. 
"I'm sorry," she said, and kissed him on the cheek. Leaving an 
utterly confused panda blinking in the balcony, Nodoka gladly 
sheathed Masamune and placed her on a shelf over the bed.
	"Ptooi!" she picked a few panda hairs from her mouth. "Next 
time I do that, I'll change him back first."

			*	*	*

	The power...
	The speed...!
	The wind, whipping your hair, pressing your clothes against 
you. The sensation... It was exhilarating. Nothing could compare 
to driving a jewel of a motorcycle through the empty streets. 
Ranma was in Paradise.
	A gleaming helmet, shining in the sun, becoming a blinding 
streak of white as the speed turned it into a red blur. Sticking 
out of this red helmet, Ranma's pigtail whipped around wildly, 
almost as if it wanted to tear loose by itself. But the speed, 
the glorious speed! It just _had_ to be lived!
	And it was all thanks to this wondrous bike. Even after 
paying for Nabiki's seventy-thousand yen blouse (was it really 
worth that much?) Ranma still had an obscene amount of money, 
more than enough to buy the state-of-the-art Harley. Its 
power... So great a machine... Engineering to its highest 
manifestations! A beauty of a bike! Not even flying with Wind 
magic could be as heavenly as this! Already Ranma had christened 
his bike, naming it after him. And in truth, with the speeds of 
dream that it could reach, he would be indeed like a wild horse.
	"I'm going to inject the morphine now..."
	To feel the speed, the power... Between Phaeron's Epoch and 
Ranma's Harley-Davidson, the latter came out winning. The mother 
lode of might, the essence of dreams! Ranma accelerated: the 
need for speed coursed through his systems. With each meter he 
advanced, the maddening drive increased his lust for speed.
	"He'll be coming out in a second..."
	Houses, pedestrians, automobiles and bicycles... He left 
everything far behind, with all gasping in marvel at his machine. 
_HIS_ machine, he repeated to himself. He was the master of this 
power.
	A flash of bright, glaring light, and suddenly everything 
stopped. His machine slowed down, much to his dismay. But as he 
stopped, everything around him became blurry. Feeling a hand 
touch his shoulder, he bolted around...
	...and winced as his spinal column was straightened out by 
Dr. Tofu. Then yelled as his wincing hurt as hell. Then became 
frozen as his yell caused his ribs to crack. Then yelped out 
loud as his staying still caused his neck to snap. Then fell down 
as his yelp drained him. Then cursed the world as his fall 
cracked every bone in his body. Then--
	"Cut that out!" Akane suddenly bonked him upside the head. 
Ranma then realized he was in Dr. Tofu's clinic, squirming in a 
bed next to Mink's.
	"Wha... what happened..." he weakly said.
	"You crashed, that's what happened," Akane glared at him.
	"I remember being on my bike... and some bright light..."
	"Oops..." Mink thought about the anonymous biker that 
crashed when she used her armlets. "I really sorry, Ranma-sama."
	"You're lucky you were wearing your helmet," Tofu said, 
"Even if your head is hard as a rock, rocks can break after 
crashing at 120 mph."
	"120 mph... cool..." Ranma smirked weakly.
	"Shut up, 'Beavis,'" Akane bonked him again. "Dr. Tofu said 
you were a mess when they brought you here."
	"Aigh... But I'm not..." Ranma staggered to sit up. "Where... 
where's my bike?"
	Akane handed him a shapeless piece of metal.
	"Huh?"
	Dr. Tofu and Akane joined their hands in prayer, "Let us 
dedicate a minute of silence to 'Bike.'" Ranma glared at them. "Oh, 
Bike, we barely knew you. You wanted to kill Ranma but killed 
yourself first. At least you won't wreak havoc any longer..."
	"Will you cut that out?!?!" Ranma yelled.

			DAY 3

	It was a fairly normal Monday afternoon. Normal, of course, 
always has a different meaning when you refer to the Nerima 
ward.
	Akane busily prepared dinner, still snickering at Ranma's 
accident with his bike. He really had a thick skull, that crash 
would have killed a normal person. Of course, when it came to 
the Saotome siblings...
	"Okay, let's see..." Akane said to herself as she took a 
spoonful of the... _stuff_... she was preparing. "Ugh, that didn't 
come out right. A little undercooked, I think." She thought about 
the opal in her pocket, and her Fire magic.
	"Aahhh..." Soun Tendo stretched his arms, lazily walking 
around the house. "What a quiet afternoon... This is the life." 
But when he walked past the kitchen window...
	 "Maybe..." Akane thought...	
	What followed was an amazing display of unbelievable 
naivet� mixed with astounding pyrotechnics.
	Whoosh. A giant tongue of flames reached for Soun, stopping 
only two inches away from his face. And what did Soun do before 
this tongue?
	He stuck out his own tongue in contest.
	The flames receded, licking all around the window frame and 
blackening the wall. Soun silently stared forward, his mind was 
numb about what had just happened. Sometimes it's better to just 
keep quiet.
	Meanwhile, in the kitchen, a completely-black Akane blinked 
once. Twice. And she toppled to the floor.
	"Are you making flamb�, Akane?" Kasumi asked, walking into 
the kitchen.

			*	*	*

	It was a quiet day at the Saotome residence. Not at all 
like the Tendo dojo, this house was actually lacking the insanity 
it often had. While Nodoka set up the table, she couldn't help 
but smile at what she saw. The twins were now two years old, 
but Genma and Ranma properly channelled their destructive 
tendencies with simple games.
	"I'm a plane, I'm a plane!" Yuannyan repeated happily, 
spreading her arms, as the panda held her in his paws and feet, 
rolling on his back. He suddenly released her and she dropped on 
his belly, giggling after the "plane crash."
	"Kya! Yah!" Ranko threw fists at Ranma's open palms, as if 
pretending to be training. Crouching in front of her, he coached 
her and encouraged her to go further. Briefly turning to see 
him, the panda saw himself reflected in his son, a much thinner 
(and less bald) Genma "sparring" with a six year-old Ranma. 
Suddenly, Ranma darted a hand for Ranko's tiny feet and pulled, 
tripping her and catching her with his other hand. "Gotcha," he 
said. She giggled.
	"Dinner's ready," Nodoka called. Genma took the twins and 
put them on his shoulders, then walked on all fours towards the 
table. Neither of the members of the Saotome family could 
picture a happier moment.
	"Where am I?!" a sudden cry burst from the garden.
	"Who is that?" Nodoka turned around. Ranma rolled his eyes, 
"It figures. If the story moved to Brazil, he'd show up in Brazil."
	"Huh?" a dirt-covered Ryouga dug himself out of the hole, 
"Now where..." he was interrupted as a red blur tackled him, "Yay! 
P-chan's here!"
	"Eh heh..." Ryouga grinned absently as the two year-old 
Ranko grabbed his hand and lead him inside.
	"Whaddaya know, it _is_ P-chan," Ranma said.
	"Who're you calling P-chan?!" Ryouga bonked him.
	"Would you like to join us?" Nodoka asked, offering a place 
at the table. Ryouga nodded hesitantly, "J-just tell me where 
the bathroom is..."
	"Uh-uh. You'll get lost. I'll show you," again, Ranko took his 
hand and dragged him to the bathroom. His reverie was so 
advanced he obliviously took the toothpaste and washed his 
hands and face with it. Snickering at him, Ranko took advantage 
of his state and pushed him into the tub.
	"Bwee!" the little piglet complained, back to reality.
	"Kawaii!" she grabbed him and squeezed him like a stuffed 
animal, and took him back to the dining room.
	"Where did he go?" Nodoka asked.
	"Ryo-kun got lost again," Ranko said, sitting the pig beside 
her.
	"Isn't that Akane-chan's pet pig?"
	Ranma and Ryouga sweated nervously. If she had the mind of 
a two year-old, her innocence wouldn't let her lie about Ryouga's 
curse.
	"Uh-huh," she nodded, "He was in the bathroom." Ryouga 
sighed in relief. She had told the truth without putting him in 
danger.
	Dinner was mostly uneventful, with just an occasional 
foodfight between the twins. And while Nodoka wiped off the food 
from Yuannyan's face, Ranko stealthily lowered a plate to the 
piglet, letting him eat. Yuannyan repeated the process when 
Nodoka cleaned Ranko despite all protests. This little piggy was 
in pure bliss.

			*	*	*

	The _other_ P-chan, however, was definitely not in bliss. 
How could he be, with a hungry hawk chasing him through the 
corridors of the Tendo house?
	"Bweeeeeee!" P-chan flung himself at Akane, finding the 
protection that her arms provided. Shugo-kou stopped in 
midflight, blinking in confusion.
	"No! Bad bird! Bad bird!" Mink came limping into the living 
room, chasing her hawk. "A-Akane-sama! I so sorry! Shugo-kou not 
mean to hurt piggy!" she grabbed the hawk by the legs and pulled 
her down, grasping her tight in her arms to prevent the bird of 
prey from escaping.
	"Don't worry, just feed her," Akane snickered, hugging her 
piglet, "It's okay, P-chan. Shugo-kou won't try to eat you 
anymore."
	"Hear?" Mink looked at the hawk, who nodded in abashment.
	"That reminds me, how's your foot?"
	Mink lifted her right leg, twisting it to look at her 
bandaged foot, "It better. Good doctor say I be fine tomorrow , 
but still hurt when walk."
	"I'm sorry it didn't work out with Shampoo," Akane said, 
"What are you going to do now?"
	Mink sighed, "I try again, until I beat her. I no can go home 
otherwise." She brightened up, "But I no give up. I train hard and 
challenge Shampoo again. Then, I win," she clenched her fist 
confidently. "And I still have many tricks," she said, holding the 
mysterious garnet in her fist.
	"Ranma-samaaaa!" came a voice from outside. "Huh?" both 
girls turned to the door.
	"Where is Ranma-sama?" a leotard-clad gymnast bounded her 
way into the room, whipping her ribbon around her, "Wicked girl! 
Tell me what you have done to Ranma-sama?" Kodachi tossed a 
club to Akane, who idly sidestepped.
	"Who crazy girl?" Mink asked, drawing a handful of prisms, 
"She want hurt Akane-sama?"
	"And who, may I ask, are you?" Kodachi scornfully eyed Mink. 
"I should warn you, if you want to take my Ranma-sama away from 
me you shall pay." As if to prove her point, she pressed the 
button on a club, releasing its spikes.
	"He's not here, you nut," Akane glared at her.
	"My name is Black Rose, Akane Tendo," Kodachi glared back, 
"But I do seem to recall the misfit Hibiki bursting into the Kuno 
residence, saying something of that sort. Very well, I see that 
my Ranma-sama has finally escaped your clutches, evil girl! I 
shall now look for his residence before the pigtailed girl steals 
him away! HohohOhOhOhOHohoHo!" she cackled as she bounced back 
outside, leaping up to the rooftops.
	"She need help. Bad," Mink blinked at the rain of black 
petals that suddenly fell over the room. "And I thought Pink and 
Link obsessed with flowers."
	"Shampoo!" came yet another voice, deeper in tone. Mink 
bolted around, both at the voice and the word.
	"Ranma Saotome, where's my Shampoo!" Mousse demanded from 
Shugo-kou. She pecked him. "How dare you peck me, Ranma?!"
	"Here," Akane lowered his glasses to his face.
	"Ehh?! Ranma's become a hawk?!"
	"That Shugo-kou, Mousse-sama," Mink giggled, turning mild 
red. He suddenly recognized the voice and turned to face her, 
"M-Mink! You're already here!"
	"Shampoo coming?" Mink asked.
	"I saw her come here, laughing and twirling a long ribbon," 
Mousse replied. "That was Kodachi," Akane glared at him.
	"Gaaahh..." Mousse shuddered at the idea that he was 
chasing Kodachi. "Then I better go back to the restaurant..." he 
took a monocycle from his sleeve and reared back, ready to jump 
over the fence.
	"Wait, sir," Mink called, "Can I go? I still need to see town 
and I not know many people." Hesitant at first, Mousse nodded 
and stuck the monocycle in his robes, escorting Mink to the 
door. "I back soon!" she called happily, Shugo-kou taking flight to 
follow her. Akane just shrugged and smiled. Seeing the threat 
was over, P-chan breathed a deep sigh.
	Mousse fidgeted nervously with a throwing dagger, walking 
beside Mink as he absent-mindedly headed for the Nekohanten. 
Sighing, she looked up at him and giggled at her luck. After a 
brief while, she spoke. "I want thank you for helping other day."
	"S-sure, anytime," Mousse stammered.
	"But need help again. Where find Shampoo?"
	He turned to face her, "Do you really want to fight her?" 
Mink nodded eagerly, "I no beat yet. I challenge Shampoo to 
rematch!"
	Mousse sighed and stood before her, "Take my advice, don't 
fight Shampoo. She has... uh... trained lately..." he thought about 
how much everybody had progressed thanks to the Esper War.
	"But I train too!" Mink smirked, "Shampoo win first match, it 
different next time!"
	"I'd be more careful," Mousse insisted, "Shampoo is very 
skilled, the best in our village."
	"I best in clan too," Mink looked downwards, "And need to 
avenge family honor."
	"I know what you mean," he nodded, "My family is not very 
respected because we don't see very well."
	"But you're fighter, no?"
	"Not as skilled as I'd like," Mousse said under his breath, 
but Mink still heard him, "It tough, right?" He nodded.
	Mink sighed, "It hard living in town where fighters are 
rulers."
	"It's the law of the Joketsuzoku, I guess," Mousse replied. 
"Whoever thought it up surely was the best in the village."
	"It worse with me," Mink shook her head, "Everybody make 
fun of family, but when Pink and Link return people treat us bad. 
That why I here."
	Mousse looked at her, "But do you really have to fight her 
to restore your honor?" He couldn't imagine the features of 
such a delicate girl being harmed by a senseless battle.
	"It law, like you say," Mink replied.
	"I know, but... You should be careful. I don't want you 
getting beat up."
	Mink stopped in her tracks. "You... worry?" Mousse gagged, 
realizing what he had said. "I thank you," Mink bowed, blushing. 
"Not all from Shampoo's village are bad."
	Shugo-kou sighed. Seeing Mink's behavior in front of Mousse, 
she recalled the handsome phoenix she had seen yesterday. Where 
had he vanished to?
	"W-well, I..." Mousse rubbed his head, his glasses steaming 
slightly.
	"I so happy!" Mink clapped her hands, "I meet so nice man 
that give confidence back!" Looking down to avoid his gaze, she 
smiled a little and ran off, back to the Tendo dojo.
	"Wait...!" Mousse tried to call, but she had already taken 
off. Sighing, he stayed there for a moment, seeing the speeding 
figure fade into the distance. "She's very different from 
Shampoo..." he thought. "I hope she's all right."
	Lifting his glasses, he humphed and whipped around... 
slamming himself against a telephone post.

			*	*	*

	A withered old troll smirked evilly as she filled the cash 
register box. "Mink, eh?" she snickered.
	"She no match for Shampoo," the Amazon put her fist on her 
chest, coming back to the counter to pick up another order.
	"She disappointed me," Cologne said, "She was supposed to 
be the finest warrior from her village. Of course, with the magic 
you gained she probably presented no challenge."
	"That true," Shampoo beamed, "But Shampoo still no find 
jewel that gives magic."
	Cologne narrowed her eyes, "Be sure to find it. It would be 
dangerous if somebody _unpleasant_ found it." She hopped onto 
her staff, motioning for Shampoo's father to take over the 
counter. "But for now, we must also concentrate on a more 
important matter. Shampoo, as soon as you have a spare minute 
come up to my room."
	"Your room, great-grandmother?" Shampoo stared widely at 
her. Cologne had never let anyone enter her sanctum, and when 
Mousse blindly walked into it he was greeted with the same 
punishment as directionless-Ryouga: one day trapped in a metal 
cage, witnessing how Cologne prepared either roast duck or 
sweet-sour pork. Shampoo shuddered at the memory, the 
psychological punishment had scared them so much it nearly cured 
Ryouga's sense of direction and Mousse's eyesight.
	"Yes," Cologne snickered, pogoing upstairs on her staff, "I 
have something to show you..."
	A little while later, a purple-haired girl leapt up the 
flight of stairs. Leaving Mousse as a waiter, she wondered why 
his face was dented, and why his thoughts seemed to be so 
distant. Oh, well, at least he had his glasses on. Nobody would 
complain about spilled dishes.
	"Great-grandmother, I here!" Shampoo called happily, knocking 
on the door. There was silence for a moment. Slowly, the door 
creaked open very slightly. Shampoo gulped, and walked in.
	Cologne's room was fairly ordinary, but only if you ignored 
the odd artifacts she possessed. Many Joketsuzoku treasures, 
mostly magical in function. A piece of the real Cross. The Crown 
Jewels. Three versions of the Holy Grail. And in the middle of 
the room, Cologne smirked wickedly.
	"I've been thinking a lot since you told me about the 
'decision' that the son-in-law has to make," she said, "And I 
think I found a way to help him make up his mind and choose 
you."
	"You serious, great-grandmother?" Shampoo smiled widely.
	"I'm always serious," she smirked back, "Behold..." she opened 
the door in the far wall. Shampoo gasped.
	"Those... are..." she pointed.
	"That's right," Cologne said, her smirk disappearing. Beyond 
was a small storage room, with countless shelves. And on the 
shelves, there were over seventy different flasks.
	Jusenkyo water.
	"I gathered these before we left China," Cologne said, "In 
case of an emergency." She hopped up and grabbed a random 
flask, "With these, we could turn all other rivals into snails. Or 
better yet, into winged minotaurs with eel-headed tails."
	"I no think that good idea," Shampoo sweated visibly.
	"Hmm, you're right," Cologne put the Niuhoomanmaorenniichuan 
flask back on the shelf.
	"What this one?" Shampoo took a flask which had the legend, 
"DO NOT USE," written on a label.
	"Be careful with that one," Cologne said, "That's 
Nyannichuan water."
	"From Ranko and sister spring?"
	Cologne nodded, "I also have Phoenix spring water, but I 
vowed to myself not to use them. Still, there's also special 
water to make combinations, temporary water and permanent 
water. Be very careful when you use them."
	"No worry, great-grandmother," Shampoo showed a feline 
smirk, taking water from Spring of Drowned Frog, Spring of 
Drowned Ant and combination water. Cologne smirked back.

			*	*	*

	"Order up!"
	Leaping up, Mog easily caught the flying okonomiyaki with 
his personalized spatula and sent it down at the plate, then 
skillfully sent the dish flying towards the impressed customer, 
who gasped as the plate landed softly on his table. The short 
moogle bowed as he received ovations from all over the 
restaurant, Ukyou smiled at Mog's reddish hue. He had taken to 
this life so quickly! He was certainly the best waiter she had 
ever had.
	A cry of "Kawaii!" sprouted from all over the restaurant, 
many of the girls were already asking their boyfriends for teddy 
bears just like Mog. "Sorry, he's staying here," Ukyou smirked, 
"Right, Mog-chan?"
	"Right, kupo!" he replied, blushing.
	But in the midst of all this, a potted plant muttered and 
cursed. How dare this little creep usurp his rights to be with 
his beloved Ukyou-sama? Where had he come from, anyway? That 
was sure a great disguise, though. Now, to dive in for the kill... 
As Mog headed for the kitchen to get more batter, the potted 
plant stealthily whished to the door, following him.
	"Order up!" Ukyou said, "Mog-chan, c'mon!" she turned around, 
but he was gone. 
	"H-here, kapou!" a slightly-frazzled Mog came out.
	"Hm?" Ukyou blinked at him, but shrugged and sent him 
another okonomiyaki. Mog did nothing to keep it from plastering 
on his face.
	"You okay?" Ukyou asked.
	"Uh, sure," Mog replied, wiping off the batter. Looking oddly 
at him, Ukyou just handed him a dish, waiting for him to fling it 
to the table. But Mog meekly walked over to the customer and 
placed the plate in front of her, remaining oblivious to her 
"kawaii!" call.
	"Huh?" Ukyou stared at him. Not a single of his whiskers 
had even shifted at being called that way. "Hey, order up!" to 
test him, she sent out another okonomiyaki. Mog covered his face 
as it also plastered on him. "Something's wrong here," Ukyou 
thought.
	"There you are!" another Mog, still showing the rope with 
which he had been tied up, burst out of the kitchen.
	"Oh, great," Tsubasa thought. And being inside the cramped 
moogle disguise didn't help much, either. Before Ukyou could even 
blink in confusion, Mog flung himself at Tsubasa and wrestled 
with him in a cloud of dust.
	"Stop it!" Ukyou slammed her spatula next to the cloud. Two 
frazzled Mogs blinked at her in unison, "Oh, boy..."
	"I'm the real one!" they both claimed.
	"KAWAII!!!" resounded in the restaurant at the sight of the 
two moogles. Both shifted slightly, rubbing their heads.
	"Okay, let's settle this..." Ukyou took her sapphire and 
created a sharp icy blade. One of the Mogs shuddered mightily. 
"Aha! You're the fake!"
	"I'm not, he is!" he pointed at the other.
	"No, I'm not, he is!" he pointed back.
	"No, I'm not, he is!" he pointed back.
	"No, I'm not, he is!" he pointed back.
	"No, I'm not, he is!" he pointed back.
	"No, I'm not, he is!" he pointed back.
	"Enough!" Ukyou yelled. "One of you's a fake."
	"I'm not, he is!"
	"No, I'm not, he is!"
	Ukyou sweated visibly.
	"I'm not, kupo, he is!"
	"I'm not, Ukyou-sama! He is!" Tsubasa shut himself up, "Oop."
	A pair of obscenely-large spatulas flung him out to the 
street.

			*	*	*

	A midget leapt from rooftop to rooftop all over Nerima and 
its adjacent areas. Happosai, a pervert on a mission. The quest 
for silky treasures carried on.
	"Our preciousss... Must rescue our preciousss..." he droned, 
scanning the rooftops for the undergarments he had lost the 
other day, when Epoch blew away all of his load. He was finally 
rebuilding his hoard, he had already found half of the silken 
items. But he was sad. Regardless of all the panties and bras he 
had recovered, there was something missing.
	As he bounced from house to house, an image formed on his 
mind. The image of a set of underwear, the pink panties matching 
perfectly the brassier. The frilly cups, the soft panty. The 
greatest catch he had ever accomplished... And it was lost. That 
set was his ideal of perfection: he just _had_ to find it.
	"Oh?" Happosai spotted a pale cloth on a nearby balcony. It 
couldn't be... "It is! Our preciousss!"
	He happily leapt for his beloved treasure. Unfortunately, 
his bliss made him misjudge the distance. Instead of landing on 
the railing of the balcony, he slammed himself against the bars. 
But he didn't feel the pain. Grinning idiotically, he climbed up to 
grasp the bra and panties...
	"Atchooo!"
	"Waaaah!" Happosai cried as a gale wind blew away his 
precious, which floated down to the street. Not thinking twice, 
he leapt down, arms stretching to catch the underwear...
	SLAM!
	"Ouch..." he peeled his face off the Happy-shaped crater on 
the asphalt. Looking around, he realized his precious were gone. 
He panicked for an instant, but suddenly looked up and stared 
widely.
	A slim, purple tentacle had captured his treasure.
	"Agh!" Happosai gasped, "An ecchi demon!" he clenched his 
fist, "Trying to compete with me, eh?"
	"Wa ha ha!" a voice came from above. "I got it!"
	"No, you don't!" Happosai leapt up, charging his battle aura.
	"Eh?" a Super-Deformed Ultros blinked at him. Although he 
wasn't the giant octopus he used to be, Ultros was still as 
large as a tall human. Happosai scowled at him.
	"You'll pay for this..." he began to enlarge his ghostly 
aura.
	"Atchooo!"
	"Wha..." Happosai blinked as another gale wind tore away his 
aura. Bolting around, he saw a... a... well, whatever it was, it 
was PINK.
	"Ah, Master Chupon!" Ultros said, "You still have a cold?"
	Nodding, Chupon sneezed again, blowing away the last 
remnants of Happosai's haul.
	"I'll get you!" he challenged. Chupon cackled, Ultros grabbed 
Happosai's limbs...

	"Owwww...." a midget trudged along the street, holding 
himself up with a tiny staff. "Why those... Ganging up on me like 
that..."
	Ah, but he would have his revenge. It sure was fun to 
shove that Happodaikarin into Chupon's mouth. But who would have 
thought that the stupid thing actually feeds off from fire?
	He would have his revenge, yesss... But his treasures had 
probably been claimed back by their rightful owners by now. He 
would have to begin the Quest all over again. He was depressed 
beyond hope.
	Or maybe... Yes, there was something that could cheer him 
up. A place he had recently heard about. He snickered, this would 
be the perfect training for Ranma. And maybe he could bring 
Genma along, too. Tossing the staff aside, Happosai stood in an 
imposing stance, aiming to the heavens...
	"To the Kunoichi Training Grounds and Play-spot!!"
	He toppled to the ground.

			DAY 7

	A weary and tired Ranma shook his head, trying to cast off 
the dizziness that still possessed him. Really, of all the strange 
people in the world... But there couldn't be such thing as a male 
Kunoichi, could there? Then again, these last three days had 
been too weird. Konatsu was weird, period. At least he turned 
out to be a male, it would have been quite _odd_ if an ordinary 
Kunoichi declared love for Ukyou. Of course, neither Mog nor 
Tsubasa was pleased.
	"Ranma, breakfast!" Nodoka called from downstairs. Hearing 
his stomach rumble, he stretched and painfully pulled himself out 
of bed. This was gonna be another weird day, he thought.
	Walking through the corridor, he pulled his shirt over his 
head, catching a glimpse of the twin's room. Nodoka was probably 
enjoying their childhood very much, even though this was the 
seventh day the twins were only four years old, and very 
playful. Mog was sure lucky he hadn't shown up at the Saotome 
house, otherwise he would have ended up like the panda. There 
they were, waiting for Nodoka to set the dishes, and bouncing up 
and down on Genma's big belly. Now _that_ was some change, 
Ranma thought. The old man had actually changed his attitude now 
that there were two small girls to take care of.
	"That reminds me," Nodoka said, during breakfast, "Ranma, 
you received a letter from one of those girls." She handed him 
an envelope, with the Nekohanten logo stamped on it.
	"Shampoo invites me for dinner at her restaurant," Ranma 
said, reading it. "Hmph. Probably wants to get me with another 
hypnotic mushroom or something." He tossed the envelope aside.
	"She simply wants to be nice," Nodoka said. "She would be 
deeply hurt if you left her waiting."
	"Oh, all right, I'll go," Ranma rolled his eyes. "I just knew 
this day would be weird."
	"Also, please order takeout before you leave," Nodoka 
added, "Yuan-chan's coming down with a cold and I'll have to take 
care of her before she starts to get really sick." Ranma nodded.
	"Light, light!" the twins giggled at each other, grasping 
their respective gems with one hand and making small glimmers 
with the other. But the emerald slipped from Ranko's fingers and 
fell under the table.
	"Hey, look what I found," Ranma smiled at her, giving her 
the stone back. "Thanks, oniichan," she reached for it, 
immediately going back to play with Yuannyan. "Watch, watch!" they 
both said, then held the jewels with both hands. A bright light 
came from between the tiny fingers, then the light spread and 
covered the girls, turning them into very small winged glimmers. 
If they were petit in their "fairy" shape when they were 15, they 
became about two inches tall with their current age. The gems 
were huge for them, they quickly changed back and giggled.
	"That gives me an idea," Ranma thought.
	Later in the day, he busily prepared something in his room. 
Borrowing some sewing materials from his mother, he made a 
special belt, with a transparent pouch on its buckle. After a 
while, he was finished.
	"There!" he lifted the belt up to his eyes. Trying it on, he 
took his aquamarine and put it inside the pouch. It slid in 
perfectly. Grinning, Ranma easily created a fireball in one hand 
and a tiny whirlwind in the other. Just let that old fool try and 
take them "training" again...
	"Oops, I'm late," he glanced at a clock on the wall. He 
fastened his belt, making sure the pouch was tight enough to 
prevent the gem from sliding out, and headed out of his room. 
But as he did, he couldn't help but feel a nagging curiosity 
pulling at him. The twins were playing downstairs, and they had 
left their stones in their room. Tip-toeing to the bedroom, he 
looked around and quickly saw the Astbrindel stone. Shrugging, he 
took it and examined it, the glistening emerald shining brightly. 
He walked over to the open window, looking at the intrincate 
carving on the jewel, the ring of stars surrounding the infinity 
symbol.
	"Ranma, you're going to be late!"
	His mother's call startled him, his hands shook slightly.
	"Eh," he stared forward as the emerald fell out the window, 
becoming lost in the garden below. "GAAAAAHH!"
	He dashed downstairs, tripping at the foot of the 
staircase and falling flat to the floor, then heaving up and 
dashing for the living room door. He flung himself to the grass, 
carefully picking between the blades and trying to find a glimmer.
	"What are you doing?" Nodoka asked. He eeked and bolted to 
his feet, grinning nervously at her. "You better get going!"
	"Uh, right," he nodded, giving the garden a last glance. 
"Great. She's gonna kill me when she finds out."
	Sighing, he headed for the door, feeling his stomach trying 
to get his attention. He shook his head, and was just walking 
out when...
	"Oniichan!"
	"Gah!" he eeked away from the four year-old that yelled 
next to him. "W-What?" he asked.
	"I know it was you!" Ranko fumed at him, putting her hands 
on her waist and trying to act like an adult. Ranma sweated 
nervously, how could she have found out so quickly?
	"I... I what?"
	"You forgot to call the pizza-guy!" she yelled. He sighed in 
relief. "Really, I gotta do everything!" she stomped away, drawing 
a smile from him. "I have to look for it when I come back," he 
thought to himself, heading for the Cat Cafe.

			*	*	*

	Shampoo was happy. Her Ranma was here, Mousse was away, 
and she had nearly finished mixing the spring water in a special 
pot. Soon, the violent girl, the nut and the cook would be turned 
into six-legged frogs, thanks to the combination water. Life was 
good.
	"Are you sure you didn't put anything in this?" Ranma sat 
at a table next to the counter, picking his food with the 
chopsticks.
	"Silly Ranma. Shampoo only do that once and he no trust 
anymore?"
	"What about the 'super-strength' noodles that almost killed 
me, Ryouga and Kuno?"
	"Shampoo no do that to airen. It violent girl who feed 
poison. Now wait and Shampoo bring next course!" she bounced 
happily for the kitchen.
	"Here goes," he closed his eyes and took a mouthful of 
ramen. Looking around, his eyes caught a glimpse of a crystalline 
glimmer over the counter. It was sealed, like a jar. "Oh, man. If 
she used another spice on me..." he thought, looking over the 
counter, but realized the jar was filled with water, and a label 
reading "DO NOT USE." Below that label, there was the name of 
the liquid.
	"Nyannichuan?!" he gasped. "Why, that old ghoul! She's 
keeping sis' water here!"
	"Did my ears deceive me?" Happosai stood on his head, 
appearing from thin air, and analyzed the water, "Ah, Jusenkyo 
water!" he lunged for it and grasped the bottle tightly.
	"Gimme that!" Ranma bellowed.
	"Heh heh... If I use this on you, I'll get three girls!" 
Happosai cackled, "Or at least it can keep me distracted while 
your sisters grow up..."
	"Touch that and die," Ranma threatened, creating a small 
fireball.
	"I don't think so!" Happosai sang out as he leapt over 
Ranma, suddenly landing behind him, empty-handed, "Wha..."
	"The 'don't use' label is for everyone," Cologne said, 
balancing the bottle on the tip of her staff. "Shampoo, go to my 
room and lock the storage closet."
	"You mean there's more water?" Happosai and Ranma stared 
at her. "What luck!" the old pervert threw a fuse bomb at Ranma, 
who just blew it away with his Wind. At Cologne. She batted away 
the grenade, and recalled she was holding the flask with her 
staff.
	"Wa ha ha! I have it!" Happosai bounced upstairs, outrunning 
Shampoo and locking himself in Cologne's room.
	"Goodness," she said, "If he finds the One Ring of Power I 
left on my nightstand..."
	Suddenly the sound of breaking glass was heard. Ranma 
burst into the room while Cologne made sure everything was in 
place. Happosai seemed to have escaped, the window was 
shattered completely. 
	Shampoo pointed at the storage room. "He take water!"
	Cologne gulped loudly, Happosai had taken at least twenty 
of the more dangerous cursed-water jars. "After him! We can't 
let him use the water!"
	Ranma didn't need more than that, he was already jumping 
out the window in pursuit. Cologne and Shampoo followed. 
"Shampoo, we must stop him!" she called, "He also took a magical 
growth pill! If he swallows that, he'll grow five times larger!" 
Shampoo shuddered, she didn't dare imagine the kind of havoc a 
pervert of that size could wreak.
	"Wahaha! Try to stop me!" Happy taunted, bouncing over the 
rooftops. Unknowingly, he bounced on the roof of Maison Ikkoku...
	"Hey!" Ranma called, seizing the chance, "Phaeron, the old 
freak's got water from sis' spring!"
	Of course, the result was an obvious one.
	"Wah!" Happy shrieked as a searing fireball blasted next to 
him. "You give that back!" the Esper called, rearing back to send 
out another fireball.
	Meanwhile, another youth walked back home, carrying a box 
of chocolates. Tomorrow night was the big date, Raphael wanted 
to make sure Seraphim had a good time. But suddenly Happosai 
bounced on his head, knocking him down.
	"Why, you..." he staggered upwards, lifting his face from the 
squashed gift, "I'll get you, you pervert!"
	"Eh?" Happy looked back at the five people that gave chase. 
"Let's see..." he stuck his hand into the sack where he carried 
the jars, "Hmm... Temporary Spring of Drowned Bull?" shrugging, he 
tossed the jar upwards and sent a Happodaikarin to break it. 
The group was doused in water.
	A lone figure walked through the streets, utterly lost. 
Sighing, Ryouga wondered why he had even left the Saotome 
house. He was so happy there, with the twins taking care of him. 
It was even better than being Akane's P-chan, at least his 
beloved Rank--
	"Outta the way!" Happy bounced off his head. Just as he 
tried to stand up, four large bulls and a miniature one 
stampeded over him.
	"That... was H-Happosai..." he thought. "How dare he step on 
me like--"
	"Ranma Saotome!" a kendoist smashed his foot on Ryouga's 
head, "Where have you hidden my goddess?!" Kuno demanded, 
following the bulls. Glaring, Ryouga joined the pursuit.
	"Ah!" Happy stared in delight, "Babes!" he sang, breaking 
into a girls' bath and locker room. Several shrieks were heard as 
the bulls broke through the wall and splashed into the hot 
water, which restored even their clothes.
	"Huh?" Phaeron suddenly looked around, noticing they were 
on school grounds, "I know this place..."
	"Daaaaarling!!" Lum zapped Ataru as she pursued him out of 
the front gates, oblivious to the troop that sped exactly 
towards them. And walking leisurely in the path of destruction, 
Ran opened her arms to catch Ataru and drain the youth out of 
him...
	An earthquake around 8.7 Richter would have been less 
damaging.
	"Ow... Anyone get the license...?" Ataru's head swirled 
around.
	"Hm?" Happosai looked at the two new girls, "Sweeto!" he 
called, glomping onto Ran. She punched him away, towards Lum.
	"I shall save you from that fiend, dear Lum!" Mendo dropped 
from a parachute, wielding his katana. Seeing the danger, 
Happosai gave Lum a quick glomp and leapt away.
	"Lust-driven demon!" Mendo shouted.
	"Why you..." Ran changed to her "not-so-demure" mode.
	"Aiyaaaa!" Shampoo screamed as Ataru chased her.
	"Come here, sweetie! Purple's my favorite too!"
	"Daarling!" Lum continued to give chase.
	"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" Ranma repeated to himself. 
"This just _had_ to be a crazy day!"
	A few miles away...
	"Dinner is ready, Keiichi," a goddess said sweetly, her 
voice soft and melodious.
	An entire batallion, lead by a demented midget, crashed into 
the house and left a path of devastation behind.
	"Eh..." Keiichi stared blankly. Belldandy simply blinked in 
surprise.
	"Where are we, anyway?" Coldfire asked, seeing a Bug being 
chased by a cute girl with what looked like a cricket hammer.
	"Don't know. But looks like we're approaching Nerima again," 
Phaeron replied. Accurate enough, they had already entered the 
Nerima ward. And they were heading for the restaurant sector.
	"Stop it!" Ukyou separated Mog and Konatsu with her 
spatula.
	"He started it!"
	"Did not!"
	"Did too!"
	"Did not!"
	"Quiet!" Ukyou yelled with a gigantic head. "I swear," she 
said in a calm voice, "you do that one more time, and I'll have 
to kill you."
	"But I want to put the curtain, kupo!" Mog complained.
	"I'll do it, Ukyou-sama!" Konatsu contested,
	"Then both of you do it!" she yelled again. They meekly took 
the curtain, grabbing an end of the staff each, and went outside.
	"Aahh!" Konatsu and Mog stared in horror as Happosai and 
the horde ran between them, breaking Ukyou's curtain in half.
	"Stop right there, kupo!" Mog retrieved his halberd from 
Hyperspace and followed.
	"You'll pay for that!" Konatsu threw off the kimono and 
fastened the belt on his kunoichi uniform.
	"Ah?" a few blocks away, a girl with no brains at all heard 
the approacing stampede. She idly stood back, letting the cloud 
of dust run past her. But then she saw Mog.
	"Kyaaa! Angeline! Come with Azusa!" the figure skater bolted 
in pursuit of the moogle.
	"She'll never learn..." Mikado nonchalantly swept his hair 
before being violently dragged by his mentally-absent partner.
	"Eh?" Happy turned back once more, surveying his troops, 
"Whoa!" he stared at the army he had gathered. "All right..." he 
lowered his head, breathing in to prepare for the shout.
	 "STOP!!!"
	Everyone stopped out of pure reflex.
	"Heh heh heh..." he grinned, "Now I'll show you... Behold!" he 
lifted a jar. Phaeron and Coldfire gasped.
	"The Phoenix water!"
	"Stay back or I'll douse myself with it!" Happosai 
threatened.
	"Phaeron, tell me he'll turn into a big fat bird," Ranma 
turned to him.
	"Nope. He'll turn into a young man with intense ki-powers," 
Coldfire replied. Ranma groaned.
	"Now I'll get my revenge..." Happy grinned evilly, pulling the 
jar over his head, ready to take off its lid--
	"Wah! I can't see, I can't see!" he squirmed around, rubbing 
his ink-covered face. The jar dropped back into his sack.
	"Just what we needed," Ranma slapped his forehead.
	"Muuu!" a winged minotaur with tentacles and an eel-headed 
tail bellowed angrily, then doused himself with hot water.
	"EEEK! Hentai!"
	"Shut up!" Pantyhose Taro took his clothes from 
Hammerspace, "This time nothing will stop me! I finally got water 
from the Spring of Drowned Virtuous Man!" he lifted a large cask 
over his head, labeled, "Spring of Drowned... Legion."
	Everyone screamed inwards.
	"You idiot!" Ranma called, but in a more colorful language, 
actually.
	"I think I'll go home now..." Ataru said, sneaking away. Lum 
and Mendo agreed completely. As the trio left, the others 
pounced for Happosai.
	"Not until I'm through with him!" Taro yelled, smashing Happy 
into the asphalt to knock him out, and then doused himself with 
cold water and took off, grasping Happy and his sack with his 
tentacles, the cask of water in the remaining tendrils.
	"Somebody stop him or it'll be hell on Earth!" Ranma yelled. 
The troop moved on to the rooftops once more, chasing Taro 
through the air. Fed up, Ranma used his Wind magic to float 
upwards, charging a Moko Takabishya.
	"Ah, Mr. Customer, wait!" the Guide appeared out of nowhere, 
running on the street below. "He use new spring! He douse 
himself with..."
	"Muuuuu!" Taro's fur became golden and longer, his eal-
headed tail became a monkey's tail, then he joined his palms to 
fire off a gigantic blast. Ranma stared widely at it and dropped 
low to avoid it.
	"... Spring of Drowned Saiyajin," the Guide sweated visibly.
	"Muuu!" Taro fired off another big burst, snickering at his 
might. Seeing Ranma vulnerable for a split second, he joined his 
palms and remaining tentacles to fire away another beam.
	"Hah!" a blast of power dissipated the assault. Everyone 
looked up to the six-armed, three-faced woman flying above them.
	"Muu?!" Taro blinked at Rouge. She scowled viciously at him, 
readying another thunderstrike. He smirked, and reached behind 
him. He took out a box of pain-relieving patches. "Heh, with 
Rouge's 'Source of Power' I'll be unstoppable!" Taro thought, 
plastering the patches all along his back. Nothing happened, he 
sweated visibly. And ran away.
	The chase continued.
	Meanwhile...
	"But what if she really tries to fight Shampoo?" Mousse 
thought, worried about Mink. "She wouldn't stand a chance..."
	An army passed above him.
	"Sh-Shampoo?!" he said, "I'll help you, Shampoo!" he leapt in 
pursuit.
	"I'm tired," Ran finally stopped, putting her hands on her 
knees.
	"Hm, what's this?" Mikado thought, "A girl I haven't kissed?"
	It's obvious what happened next.
	"Stupid Miky," Azusa glared at an aged and completely-
drained Sanzenin, dragging him home, "Now widdle Azusa lose 
Angeline!"
	"What's going on?" an invisible Esper thought, looking down 
at the marathon below him. Sweeping low, Crystallus turned 
visible and joined the hunt. Too bad they were heading exactly 
for the airport. The crowd burst into the International wing of 
the complex, leaving a wake of destruction.
	"Aye, caramba!" a bug-eyed kid exclaimed.
	"Maybe coming to Japan wasn't such a hot idea," Lisa 
Simpson said.
	"I told you we shoulda gone to Zambeze," Homer complained.
	The chase then returned to Nerima, aimed straight for the 
lake. Taro simply flew over it, while Ranma and the phoeni used 
magical flight to continue. However, the rest didn't see the 
water coming...
	A duck, cat and piglet pursued the flying minotaur, 
following the others. They passed through an open-air 
restaurant, Mousse and Ryouga were nearly caught by the chef. 
Without warning, the troop burst into an onsen.
	"EEEEEK! ECCHI!" many women shrieked at the sight of Taro, 
Mousse and Ryouga, although the men's side didn't seem to mind 
Shampoo. Many other screams followed the troop as they ran 
through the shopping district. Punching down a wall, Taro entered 
a department store.
	A motley group came out. Taro was now wearing a safari 
outfit, Mousse wore a Scottish suit, Ryouga came out in an 
Ultraman disguise, and Shampoo in a nun's habit. Cologne was now 
just a bouncing top-hat, swearing at her misfortune. But the 
chase was near to end.
	Taro ran past the Tendo dojo, running next to the old 
woman whose sole function in life is to throw cold water. 
Becoming a chimera again, Taro shot out another Saiyajin blast, 
but the onsen had also turned Rouge back to normal. Everyone 
had to leap away to avoid.
	At the same time, not too far, a human Genma smiled at his 
daughters, who drew on the street with their chalk and crayons. 
It was so peaceful, and the twins were so calmly enjoying their 
picture-making, he simply smiled.
	"Moko Takabishya!" Ranma blasted out, hitting Taro squarely. 
The beast fell, but immediately leapt upwards and took to the 
air. Ranma also flew up to him, landing on his back and trying to 
avoid the tentacles. He spotted an opening. With all his might, he 
reached into Hammerspace and took out a massive mallet, knocking 
it into Taro's head. The chimera dove, unconscious.
	"Hm?" Yuannyan looked up from her drawing to look at the 
big winged creature that was falling towards them, and the horde 
that ran in their direction. "O-oneechan..." she tugged Ranko's 
clothing.
	"I'm a minute older, don't call me oneecha--" she shut up as 
she too noticed the incoming doom. "Gulp."
	"Agh!" Genma made a break for them, taking them in his arms 
and dashing away. Unfortunately, he tripped on a pebble and fell, 
the twins landing next to him.
	"Waaaah!" Phaeron and Coldfire yelled at seeing the twins. 
But the troop couldn't stop.
	"Waaaah!" Ranma yelled also, unable to stop Taro from 
falling. With a big crash, the monster made contact with the 
street. Everyone else bumped into him, his large body being the 
perfect barrier. Everyone sighed in relief.
	The cask of Spring of Drowned Legion soared through the 
air, hurtling towards the twins. Everyone gasped.
	Nodoka peeked through a window, seeing the cask fly 
towards her daughters. She simply glanced at it, and it suddenly 
dropped and crashed. The water splashed one centimeter away 
from them. Everyone sighed in relief again.
	"Uhhh..." Taro tried to stir.
	"Ehhh..." Happosai shook his head and stood up, "What hit 
me..." he suddenly saw all the people around him, "So, I warned 
you!" he took out the Phoenix water and the growth pill. "I'll now 
use this on all of you!" he also retrieved the Nyannichuan flask.
	"Why, you..." Phaeron, squashed between Taro and the crowd, 
could say nothing more.
	"I hear trouble!" Mink came running into view, accompanied 
by her pet hawk. "A girl!" Happosai called. Distracted for a split 
second, he let Taro's tentacles around his feet. "Wah!" he yelled 
as Taro pulled him, the flasks and pill flying.
	"I've got them!" Crystallus quickly rose to catch them. Since 
she wasn't wearing her glasses, all that Mink could see was a 
trio of blurs heading for her.
	Shugo-kou shrieked at the sight of Crystallus, startling 
him for a second. But when she flew towards him, the growth pill 
suddenly fell in her open beak. She swallowed, the process 
began...
	The blurs sped for Mink. Reflexively, she took out two 
crystal shards and flung them at the flasks, shattering them and 
spilling the water.
	"Ah!" every single person stared at the liquid, ever so 
slowly falling towards...
	"Bwah!" Crystallus was hit by Phoenix' water.
	A condor-sized Shugo-kou shrieked when the Nyannichuan 
water drenched her.
	Two naked humans fell to the ground, utterly surprised and 
thoroughly confused.
	Crystallus had become a young man, very different from 
Phaeron, but sharing similar traits like his  height. His eyes 
were silver, matching his hair. He looked at his hands, panicking 
for an instant. Looking around wildly, he fixed his eyes on what 
had become of Shugo-kou. She was a stunning young woman, with 
glistening brown hair and golden eyes. But both were slightly 
older than the other people, they seemed to be about twenty. 
Shugo-kou and Crystallus blushed deeply when they saw each 
other, ignoring the rest of the people completely.
	But suddenly Crystallus bellowed, straining his muscles. To 
his relief, his own magic overrode Jusenkyo's and he changed 
back into a white phoenix, shooting out into the distance. Shugo-
kou shrieked, a sound not fit for a human throat, but he was 
gone. She looked down and drew her hands up to her chest, as if 
closing her wings, and suddenly lost her balance and fell. Mink 
quickly caught her, while Mousse covered the woman with his own 
robe.
	"What happened?" Phaeron wondered, looking into the spot 
where Crystallus faded in the distance...
	After a brief while, the streets empty again, a lump in the 
ground stirred. Even after being beaten up so much, Happosai 
still snickered. "I still have... this!" he produced a flask of 
water, "From the Spring of Drowned Godzilla!"
	But as he cackled insanely, a purple tentacle pecked on his 
shoulder. As Ultros cracked his tentacles, Chupon snuck up 
behind Happy...

			DAY 8

	Midnight approached, and Coldfire strode back towards 
Maison Ikkoku. He still hummed "Only You," the smile on his face 
wouldn't go away. Despite what had happened to his present, the 
date with Seraphim had been more than a success, he couldn't 
wait for the next one.
	"Hey, what's up?" he called, seeing Phaeron was still awake 
in their room. "Not too tired after spending all day playing with 
a couple of  five year-olds?"
	Phaeron snickered, "Try turning into a bird and letting a 
pair of kids ride on your back. But it was worth it."
	Raphael blinked, "Oh, _right_. I know what you mean." 
Phaeron turned red, but asked, "So how'd it go?"
	A chuckle came from his twin, "Just let the usual Raphael 
charm impress a woman..."
	"In other words, you made a pass at her."
	Raphael snapped like a whip, "I was a perfect gentleman! 
Besides... we're talking Fiducia here."
	"Already calling her by her Latin name, eh, you sly fox?" 
Phaeron stood up and nudged him. Coldfire turned garnet-red.
	"It... it was just a date. Don't make such a big deal out of 
it." Phaeron shrugged and sat down again. Raphael just couldn't 
keep quiet, "Oh, all right. So we're getting along fine, sue me. 
It's just..." he stammered for an instant, recalling how radiant 
Seraphim looked like an ordinary human. "She's so wonderful.. Of 
course, she's an angel, but... She's _different_. I dunno..." 
Phaeron smirked, seeing the face of his twin. But suddenly, 
Coldfire clenched his fists and exploded in a big blue blaze, 
"Agghh! It's so great!" he yelled, "I love an angel, and she loves 
me back! Bwa ha ha haah!!"
	"Good for you," Phaeron sighed, smiling sadly.
	Coldfire stopped his dance of joy, "Oh, sorry. I kinda... 
forgot..." He sat down next to his twin, "She still hasn't 
remembered, has she?"
	Phaeron shook his head, "I was hoping this 'second childhod' 
thing would help her remember about China, but so far nothing's 
happened."
	"Sorry about getting worked up like that," Coldfire 
apologized sincerely, "I  hope she remembers soon."
	"You don't have to apologize," Phaeron dismissed with his 
hand, "You're coming back from a date with an angel, you should 
be happy."
	"But I feel responsible for this," Coldfire turned away, "I 
mean, how could anyone forget what happened between you guys?" 
Phaeron blushed again at the memory. "Can I see it?" Raphael 
asked.
	"Sure," Phaeron half-heartedly took his medallion from 
underneath his shirt, handing it over to him. Raphael looked at 
it closely, analyzing the well-crafted patterns embossed in the 
gold, on the back of the medallion. "She really meant it when she 
gave it to you, didn't she?" he asked, turning to Phaeron. "Going 
after all the troble of finding the perfect ruby and all..."
	"Yeah, she did," Phaeron sighed sadly, "But I don't want to 
talk about it."
	Raphael shook his head, "Look, why don't you just go out 
and say it? Simply tell her about what it was like in China."
	"Right, sure," Phaeron snatched his medallion, "She wouldn't 
believe me anyway. And she has to--"
	"...'remember about it herself,' I know the drill. But what if 
she doesn't?"
	"Then I guess I'll have to start all over. If it happened 
once, it can happen again, right?" Phaeron smirked, gaining back a 
little confidence.
	Coldfire smirked, "Right. Just look at me and Seraphim," he 
boasted, "You should've seen her face when I gave her that 
pendant." Having an idea, he snapped his fingers, "Of course! Say, 
why don't you..." he whispered something to Phaeron's ear.
	"You think she'd like it? Remember why I chose to give her 
that bracelet."
	"Oh, and did you think it through when you gave her the 
Wall Ring?" Coldfire snickered at his twin's reddish reply.
	"Shut up, you... you copycat!"
	Raphael glared at him, "You dare say I'm a clone of 
yourself?"
	"What else could you be?" Phaeron smirked, gaining the 
upper hand, "You got part of my mind, remember?"
	"Now _that_ I won't stand for!" Raphael began to call a blue 
aura. "Bird-boy."
	"Don't call me that, 'iceflame'!" Phaeron reared back.
	"Yaah!"
	"Hah!"
	They lunged for each other, auras flaring.
	"It's so difficult to find this sort of entertainment 
nowadays..." Yotsuya said, leisurely peeking through the hole in 
the wall.

			DAY 9

	"Saotome, defend yourself!"
	"Y'know, I kinda missed this..." Ranma snickered, idly waiting 
for Kuno to try and attack him at the gates of Furinkan High.
	"Tell me!" Kuno shouted, slicing with his weapon, "Where is 
my goddess?!" Smirking, Ranma simply sidestepped and cut through 
the bokuto with a Wind blade. Kuno blinked, "How dare you defile 
my weapon, sorcerer? Is your treachery so great you--"
	"Don't you just love this?" Ranma whispered to Akane,who 
was giggling quietly to herself.
	"And you still dare torment beloved Akane? You will suffer, 
boor!" drawing another bokuto from Hyperspace, Kuno leapt to 
attack.
	"Happo-goen satsu!" Hinako cast from the main door, aiming 
her coin at the samurai wannabe. "Hah," she brushed her hair, 
tendrils of ki surrounding her more mature body, "Miss Tendo, Mr. 
Saotome, come inside now."
	"Tell me..." the Blue Thunder continued to insist, "Where is 
the pigtailed girl...?"
	"That I would like to know too," Hinako said, "Mr. Saotome, 
tell your sister to return to this school immediately or she 
might be looking to suspension."
	"Don't worry. She's just... uh... sick, yeah, that's it." Ranma 
sighed in relief as Hinako shrugged and went back inside, but he 
winced as he heard the childish voice call him from behind.
	"Oniichan! Oniichan!" a six year-old came running into the 
schoolyard, holding a package in her hands.
	"What are you doing here?" Akane kneeled before Ranko.
	"Oniichan forgot this at home," the girl handed her a bento.
	"Ah!" suddenly Kuno recovered completely, "This must be my 
goddess' young sister!" he petted her head, making her grimace in 
annoyance. "To think that these lovelies could be of the kin of 
that wretch Ranma Saotome... " he shook his head, unable to 
comprehend why the heavens were so capricous as to make his 
beloved a sister of his mortal adversary. "Tell me, little one, 
where is your sibling?"
	"There," she pointed at Ranma.
	"You have another sister?" Hinako blinked at him.
	"Ah, it must be painful for you to be related to a fiend 
such as him," Kuno said, "But I meant your elder sister."
	"I don't have any," she replied.
	Kuno stared widely, then turned to Ranma with an aura of 
flames, "Saotome! What foul sourcery have you worked on my 
goddess?! I shall bring punishment--"
	"Just go back to your class," Hinako said, blasting him up 
to his classroom. "As for you," a smaller teacher turned to the 
girl, "Go back home and tell your sister to come to school."
	"But--"
	"You two are already late, follow me," Hinako fluttered back 
to the building, leaving a small girl blinking. Shrugging, Ranko ran 
back home.

			*	*	*

	"Look who's here!" Nodoka called from the door at the Tendo 
home, in the late afternoon. Jumping inside, the twins flung 
themselves at Akane, "Hi, oneechan!"
	"Hey, you're sure growing!" she laughed.
	"They turned seven before leaving the house," Nodoka said, 
"Akane-chan, Dear and I have to do some shopping. Would you 
please take care of them for a while?"
	"Just make sure you don't make them dinner," Ranma said, 
coming inside. Akane nearly malleted him, but seeing the twins 
she restrained herself.
	"We'll call later," Nodoka said, leaving, "Don't give Akane-
chan too much trouble, girls!" she waved, smiling as her 
daughters waved back.
	"Ah! They twins?" Mink asked, smiling at the girls. They 
blinked at her, not recognizing the blond Amazon. "Remind me of 
cousins, Pink and Link!"
	"Squee?" P-chan gawked at them, confused.
	"Oh, you're staying here?" Kasumi asked, coming to the hall. 
Akane noticed she was carrying her purse, and Nabiki also came 
down the stairs. "Don't wreck the house while we're out," she 
said. Soun finally appeared, escorting her daughters. "Ah, if only 
I had a son..." he said to himself as he saw the twins.
	"You're going out?" Ranma asked. Kasumi nodded, "We'll be 
back in a few hours. I left dinner for you in the kitchen." She 
turned to Mink, "Would you like to come?"
	She shook her head, "Thank you, Kasumi -san, but I stay 
here. Tomorrow have rematch and need to train."
	"Okay, good luck," Kasumi said as she and the others left 
the house, "Bye now!" she sang happily.
	"So, what's it like?" Ranma asked, sitting by the table in 
the dining room.
	"What?" Akane asked.
	"Not having me around," he smirked nonchalantly, like a 
lousy actor.
	Akane snickered, "You act like you're the Eighth Wonder or 
something."
	"Well, I did save two worlds..."
	She rolled her eyes, moments before hearing a knock on the 
door. "I get, Akane-sama," Mink said, walking into the kitchen.
	"Exactly like Mousse," Ranma said mockingly as Akane headed 
for the door. Opening it, she looked down at the little girl. "Uh, 
Hinako-sensei? What's wrong?"
	"I'll tell you what's wrong," the slight teacher said, going 
inside and walking to the dining room. "Mr. Saotome, where is 
your sister?"
	"Why, teach, what're you doing here?" he asked, turning 
away from the twins he was playing with.
	"I came to see if your sister _is_ sick, as you said."
	"You came all the way here to find out?" Akane asked, 
surprised.
	"A teacher's duty goes beyond school grounds," Hinako said, 
a slight hint of pride in her voice. "And that includes checking 
up on irregular students. Now, where is she?"
	"Hm?" two pigtailed heads turned away from their brother. 
One shrugged, the childish teacher being unknown to her, while 
the other blinked, "Miss Hinako?"
	"Eh?" she turned to the source of the voice, fixing her 
eyes on the twins, "Mr. Saotome, you _do_ have other younger 
sisters after all!"
	"Hey, wanna play?" Yuannyan asked, seeing the slightly older 
child. Her infantile instincts immediately took over, Hinako 
nodded happily and fluttered over to the twins, joining in their 
game. Cocking an eye, Ranma let them play with the teacher.
	A couple of hours later, after dinner, the twins and Hinako 
simply watched a little TV, they had worn themselves out when 
trying to get P-chan to wear make-up. The little piglet was still 
hiding in Akane's wardrobe, his heart beating rapidly as he 
expected a pigtailed redhead to peek into his hiding place. Not 
only was it bad having a condor-sized hawk gazing at him every 
time she was hungry, but you know what little kids do to pets? 
He almost had a heart attack when he saw Akane lead the girls 
into her bedroom.
	"But I don't wanna!" Ranko complained as Akane undressed 
her, "I'm not tired!"
	"It's still almost bedtime for you," Akane said, now helping 
Yuannyan put on the one-piece sleepwear. The other girl tried to 
make a break for the closet, out of Akane's reach, and drawing a 
squeal from P-chan, but she was quickly seized and Akane put 
the rompers on the struggling girl.
	"There, all set," Akane giggled at the girls, Ranko in a 
yellow one-piece and Yuannyan in a pink one. "Kawaii!"
	"It's not fair!" Ranko complained, "Just because you're older 
you get away with it..."
	"You're walking on thin ice, kid," Akane warned. "You've still 
got one more hour before going to bed. Cool off or you won't 
get that hour." Clenching her fists and shaking her arms a little, 
Ranko contained herself and nodded grudgingly.
	"Hey, anyone home?" they heard a voice from the door. 
Forgetting her temper, Ranko suddenly smiled as broadly as her 
eyes widened. She immediately ran back down, slipping slightly as 
the romper's cloth soles slid on the wooden boards. Holding onto 
the staircase's railing, she peeked her head between the bars 
and called happily, "Phaeron-kun!"
	"Hey, little girl," he smiled back, "What have you been up to 
lately?" While he crouched before her, Akane and Yuannyan came 
down, calmer that the first child. Ranma and Hinako just sneaked 
a peek from the dining room.
	"I found something of yours the other day," Phaeron said, 
showing two fists at her, "Which one?"
	"Hmm, this one," she pointed at his left. He opened his 
hand, revealing a handmade, yet skillfully crafted emerald 
necklace, with a fine gold thread made of a tiny chain. He smiled 
as he saw the girl's face turn to one of great delight. Akane 
blinked in surprise, she didn't think he was capable of making 
jewelry like that.
	"Ah!" Ranko lit up at the gift, "Thank you, Phaeron-kun!" she 
sang out, taking the necklace and quickly leaning to give him a 
friendly peck on the cheek, but almost immediately she ran back 
to the dining room, eager to show the present to her brother. 
Winking at Phaeron, Yuannyan also ran, following her sister. 
Akane stared for a minute to him, her eyes continued to aim at 
him even as she complied to Ranko's calls for her.
	"Where did you find that?!" Ranma stared widely at the 
Brindstone emerald. "I thought it was--"
	"It was," Phaeron replied, "Remember yesterday when I went 
to your house, and I turned into a bird so they could ride on 
my back? When I crashed in the garden, I saw the emerald below 
a bush. Wonder how it got there..."
	"I know!" Ranko said, putting the golden chain around her 
neck, "It's like yours, Phaeron-kun!"
	"That's right," he smiled, taking out his ruby medallion. 
They seemed almost alike, except of course for the obvious 
differences between a man's medallion and a woman's pendant, 
such as a more delicate chain and a larger gem. Also, the 
emerald wasn't encrusted on gold like Phaeron's ruby, but was 
surrounded by a ring of such metal instead.
	"How much did it cost?" Akane asked, still not believing 
Phaeron had made it himself.
	"Some gold coins, a lot of fire and some six hours," he 
replied, smirking, "Why do you think I had to miss school today?"
	"You what?!" Hinako suddenly turned to him, "You cut school, 
you delinquent?!"
	"I was prepared for this..." Phaeron snickered, "Ranko-chan, 
guess what. I also brought this for you," he handed her a pair 
of video tapes. Hinako and the twins immediately shrieked in 
delight once more.
	"Magic Knight Rayearth?" Akane blinked.
	"Oh no..." Ranma shuddered at the sight of the other tape. 
"No, please... We'll all die from diabetes!" he yelped at the title 
on the tape, which also had the picture of a blonde with 
ponytails: Sailor Moon.
	"A little too sugar if you ask me," Akane cocked an eye, 
but the girls were already thrusting the first tape into the 
VCR, sitting a few feet away from the TV set.
	"Oh, you all here?" Mink came into scene, but fortunately 
she had her glasses on this time. "Hm?" she noticed Phaeron.
	"That reminds me," Akane said, "Phaeron-kun, I've been 
having some troubles with my magic. You think you can help me?"
	"Sure," he said, "Let's go train in the dojo. Besides, looks 
like you can throw RedBirds now, right?"
	Akane blushed mightily, "One word and you fly, got it?" she 
glared at him, recalling what feeling was necessary to produce a 
RedBird. He had probably figured out towards _whom_ she felt 
that way, although she didn't want to spread the news.
	"You go train?" Mink asked. "I need train too, can you 
help?"
	"She's fighting Shampoo tomorrow," Akane explained, "But 
after all we've been through..."
	Phaeron nodded, "I know what you mean. Okay, let's go to 
the dojo."
	Seeing the trio flee from the room, Ranma desperately 
called, "Hey, what about me?"
	"What _about_ you?" Akane asked.
	"I can take this Rayearth thing, but the other one is... is... 
I'll die from all the sugar!"
	"But you gotta look over the girls," Phaeron said, "They'll 
be okay if they know you're around."
	"Besides, look at them," Akane pointed at the girls, who 
became entranced once MKR's episode began, "They're not gonna be 
much trouble."
	"But--"
	But nothing, Ranma quickly realized they had left him. Alone, 
with three small girls, and a Sailor Moon OAV. Not even Lavos 
presented a danger so great.
	Leaving him to his fate, the others were in the dojo. While 
Akane arrived, as she was changing into her dougi, Mink 
presented herself to Phaeron. But it was another situation what 
interested them currently.
	"I think he likes her," he said, "He's never acted that way 
before."
	"I hope you right," Mink replied, "Shugo-kou is no feeling 
very well these days. I think she miss him."
	"Well, Crystallus hasn't shown up lately... But how are you 
two taking your... changes?"
	Mink shrugged, "Shugo-kou no mind being human, but she not 
talk like us. She avoid changing anyway." She smirked, "I like 
being hawk. And other day found jewel that help turn into bird 
and back to normal without water. It great."
	"A jewel?" Phaeron repeated.
	"I'm back," Akane said, fastening her belt. Phaeron was 
pulled out from his train of thought, he'd ask Mink about the 
jewel later.
	"Okay, now let's just spar normally," he said, "But go easy, 
I have magic but I'm not a martial-arts powerhouse like you 
guys."
	Akane smirked, that was the first time somebody other than 
herself put her next to her friends in martial prowess, "Don't 
worry, I'll go easy. But we'll train in magic later, remember." 
Nodding, Phaeron reared to a fighting stance, followed by Akane. 
Mink hurried to the sidelines, sitting on her calves to watch the 
display.
	They began with a series of simple attacks, such as kicks, 
punches and several variants. Slowly, they rose to more complex 
techniques, Phaeron took the chance to teach her the 
Stymphalian attacks. Mink silently took note, especially of the 
Steel Talons, Dolus and Veritas.
	"I think that about does it for warm-up," Phaeron said, 
relaxing his posture, "How do you feel about ki-techniques?"
	"I guess I can handle it," Akane said, brushing her hair. 
Stepping back, she closed her eyes and concentrated, a blue 
layer covering her body instead of an aura.
	"That's very good," Phaeron said, "You know, it's actually 
even harder to produce a glow over you than to release a full-
blown aura. Now, try that ki-punch you first learned."
	"Okay," she reared her hand back, her eyes still closed. 
Suddenly, she leaned forward and opened her eyes, her ki flaring 
around her fist in a bright white glow, "Kyaaa!"
	Phaeron sidestepped as a white ball of energy, about two 
feet wide, shot out from Akane's fist. While he cancelled it with 
a ki-blade, she looked stunned at her hand. It had been so easy! 
She only had to concentrate on stretching her ki further and 
suddenly there it was!
	"You're making quick progress," he smiled.
	"Great, Akane-sama!" Mink said, hiding a bit of 
condescendence in her voice. She had ki techniqes as well, but 
didn't want to disclose them yet.
	"But... white?" she wondered aloud.
	"WhiteBird is based on hope, remember that," Phaeron said, 
"You were probably putting all your faith in that blast. Can you 
try again?"
	"Sure!" Akane replied, excited, now that she got more of her 
confidence back. "I'll try a RedBird." Phaeron nodded. She closed 
her eyes again, letting her face become gentle, as she fell into 
sweet rapture. After a couple of seconds, she joined her hands 
over her head and whipped them down, sending a crimson ball 
forward just as she opened her eyes. She didn't wait for 
Phaeron's compliment, she was already clenching her fist in 
victory, "Yes! I _can_ do it!"
	"Ki isn't all about shooting out big blasts, you know," 
Phaeron reminded, "Try to do something else with it. For 
example..." he smirked, "Wanna know why Ranko-chan flies?"
	"That's all I need?" Akane asked, astounded, "Just my ki?" 
Seeing him nodding, she closed her eyes once more. Hmm, maybe 
this wasn't going to be so hard after all. With her positive ki, 
she felt lighter anyway. All she had to do was think of herself 
as rising into the air, like when she flew as a Queen Fairy.
	"Huh?" Phaeron noticed she was not rising, instead all the 
dust around her was floating up in a spiral around her. The 
wooden floorboards began to clatter slightly, as if being pulled 
up by an invisible force. "You better stop now, Akane," he called.
	"Huh?" she blinked, "But I never got off the ground!"
	"You don't have to, at least not yet. It took Ranko-chan 
one year and a half to learn it, and you know how quickly she 
and Ranma learn new techniques. Anyway, you might have accessed 
a different trick here. Look at the floor."
	Puzzled, she stared down as she saw a helical pattern of 
dust around her, while the very floorboards she stood on were 
slightly risen, mismatching with the others on the floor. She 
blinked, did she do that? How did she do that?
	"It's pretty simple," Phaeron said, "You were so 
concentrated on lightening your ki that your aura began to flow 
up, pulling everything around you with it."
	"I... I can't believe I'm actually doing this," Akane shook at 
the excitement, thinking, "Maybe I can even surpass Ranma!"
	"You better believe it," Phaeron smirked, "Because we'll now 
move on to magic."
	"Akane-sama, you have magic?" Mink asked, puzzled.
	"Uh, yeah," she replied, taking out the opal Brindstone, "I 
can get it through this."
	Mink stared intently at the gem. It was cut in exactly the 
same way as the garnet she had found...
	"Okay, try to do something simple," Phaeron said, "Make a 
tiny ball of light in front of you. Hesitant at first, Akane 
nodded and aimed her hands forward, lifting them very slightly. 
Her Light aura suddenly boomed and a gigantic sphere formed in 
the middle of the dojo, blinding them momentarily. Phaeron quickly 
cancelled the sphere with a Fire blast before it expanded too 
much.
	"So that's what you mean..." he said, rubbing his chin.
	"That's right," she replied, "Ever since we came back, my 
magic always gets out of hand."
	"I think I have an answer for that. Tell me, Akane, when was 
the first time you used magic?"
	"When we fought that weird octopus that creates whirlpools, 
why?"
	"Yes, I know what's wrong," Phaeron said, "It's purely 
psychological. When you first used magic, it was because you 
wanted to save your friends. But now that the war is over, you 
unconsciously think that you don't need magic to save others 
anymore, and therefore you don't need to get it right either. It 
happened to me when I came back and introduced myself to all of 
you, that's why I didn't use magic too often."
	"Then there's nothing wrong with what I'm doing?"
	Phaeron shook his head, "As far as I know, nope. But let's 
make a small test. Leave the Brindstone on the floor. Now, try 
to do the exact same thing you do when you call magic." Akane 
followed his advice, doing as indicated. But when she tried to 
create a Light sphere, her hands released a powerful bright 
glimmer that floated away, illuminating the path.
	"How..." she blinked.
	"That was some surprise," Phaeron stared at her, "Seems we 
found the other reason why you get out of hand when you use 
magic. Your ki is so intense, you don't need the Brindstone to 
use magic!"
	"Re... really?!"
	"But since you didn't know that, you used the opal, which 
overcharged the spell with its own power. Pretty impressive."
	"Then that's all? I can use magic again?"
	"I'd say so," Phaeron replied. "Yeah, that's right. Mink, you 
told me about a magic jewel that can change you without water. 
Could you describe it?"
	"No worry, I have right here," she took the garnet out of 
her pocket. Phaeron and Akane stared widely at it.
	"That's Shampoo's!" they said.
	"Shampoo lose it?" Mink wondered. "Oh, that right. She lost  
during first fight."
	"Have you felt any kind of power emanating from it?" 
Phaeron asked. Mink nodded, "When training, I feel stronger and 
with more stamina."
	"Silver," Phaeron nodded, "Be very careful with that. That 
gem can summon magic, mainly defensive magic."
	"No wonder it help me with ki techniques," Mink smirked, "Old 
techniques are better now."
	"But how can she use it?" Akane asked, "It was Shampoo who 
received the magic."
	"It's because the Brindstone has power of its own. 
Shampoo's magic just finds a way through it when she wants to 
use it."
	"No wonder I stronger now," Mink said, "But here," she 
handed the garnet back to Akane, "If that Shampoo's, I no cheat. 
Tomorrow I fight with honor and own techniques. Give to her, 
okay?"
	Akane and Phaeron blinked in surprise. Even after being so 
utterly defeated, Mink wouldn't use the Brindstone against 
Shampoo. She was quite different from the other Amazons they 
knew.
	"Okay, let's go back inside," Phaeron said, "Mink, if you 
have ki-techniques maybe I can help you a bit, if you describe 
them to me."
	"And we still have to check up on Ranma," Akane said, 
glancing at Phaeron's watch. It had been an hour and a half since 
they started training.
	The trio returned to the house at the sound of, "Moon 
Prism power," or something like that. But the dining room was 
silent aside from that, only the TV produced any sound. "Aww, 
look at that," Akane whispered, pointing at the three unmoving 
silhouettes before the set. However, when they came closer they 
snickered: Hinako and Yuannyan were deeply asleep, leaning 
against Ranko's shoulders, while she could barely keep her eyes 
open and often nodded her head from the drowsiness. And the 
video was in its climax, no less.
	"Agh... help..." a weakened voice rose from the floor, "Must... 
find... insuline..." Ranma stuttered as he reached forward with a 
grasping hand.
	"They should go to bed now," Phaeron said, turning off the 
TV.
	"I guess it'll be okay for them to spend the night here," 
Akane pointed at the twins, "But you know what will happen if 
Hinako-sensei stays here..."
	"I help," Mink said, "But don't know where house is..."
	"Me neither," Phaeron said, "Ranma, can you drop Hinako at 
her house?"
	"Ugh... After enduring all that, and you ask me to take that 
cartoon kid home? Take a look at her face! I'll be tormented by 
sugar-filled visions all night!"
	"Don't be such a wimp, Ranma," Akane said, pressing the 
precise button.
	"Wimp?! Me? I'll show you!" he hurriedly took Hinako in a 
piggyback, "If I endured one and a half hours of that stuff, I 
can take this kid on!" not even thinking it through, he dashed 
for the door, heading for Hinako's apartment building.
	"Now these two," Akane said, taking Yuannyan in her arms 
while trying not to disturb her sleep.
	"But I don't wanna..." Ranko said in a tired voice, feeling 
herself being picked up by Phaeron. Mink giggled quietly at the 
two girls, but then heard a clatter in the kitchen and a very 
human shriek.
	"Oop, Shugo-kou turn human again. I go look," she sped to 
the kitchen, taking a kettle from Kettlespace.
	"I'm not tired..." Ranko yawned, rubbing her nearly-closed 
eyes. Smiling at her, Akane and Phaeron slowly went upstairs, 
heading for Akane's room. With the lights turned off, she put 
Yuannyan on her bed for a minute, while she took out the cot 
that Ranko had used before. Slowly, she tucked the younger twin 
in the covers, smiling at her.
	"Phaeron-kun?" she turned to him, noticing how he was 
smiling at the girl in his arms, a look of detachment on his face. 
He slightly turned to her. "Oh, right." With great care, he put 
Ranko on the cot, pulling the covers over her. For brief moments 
they stood by, waiting for both twins to finally fall asleep.
	Stroking Ranko's hair, but without disturbing her sleep, 
Phaeron smiled warmly, "Good night, angel."
	"Hm?" Akane blinked, noticing he was acting very oddly. 
"Phaeron-kun?" she repeated.
	He sighed deeply at the sight before him. Under different 
circumstances, he would have kept quiet, his feeling remaining a 
secret. But given the situation he was in, looking at the girl 
that slept in front of him, it was nearly impossible for him to 
keep quiet about this.  And in truth, nobody on Earth except the 
other Espers and Yuannyan knew about it. It had been so long 
since he had said it... Deep down, he felt the _need_ to tell 
someone, anyone, about his feelings. And at this time, who better 
than the person he considered his best friend.
	"Akane... Can I share a secret with you?"
	She suddenly understood every bit of Phaeron's behavior 
and gasped, nodding.



Quite the cliffhanger, ne? ^_^

The TerBril
(who just LOVES sudden endings.)