This is raw, Bert still has things to add/change that he says he has
planned. So there will be some spelling/grammer mistakes. This is just to
show you what we've done. ^_^
Enjoy.

| Twister (also known as Darren Steffler ;)
| 	e-mail at twister@tendo-dojo.ranma.net
| 		Home Page at http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/~fmw675/
| Big Heapum Fan of: Ranma 1/2, Bubblegum Crisis, Dirty Pair, Gundam, and
| 		     the rest of the known anime universe.

Part Six - Chaos Carnage
------------------------

     "Hey, Ranma."
     The semi-sweaty, pig-tailed martial artist stopped his
practicing and turned to give Bert a mixed look of annoyance and
surprise; the red-headed friend of Twister's had never stepped in
on one of Ranma's private training in the Tendo's practice hall
before. "What's up?"
     It was the day of Twister's fight with Herb and Bert had
realized an hour earlier that he had no real idea of what this
`dragon prince' could do other than he was supposed to be tough. No
one had given him any background on the guy and he and Ranma had
agreed to accompany Twister to the future combat zone. The psionist
seemed to be taking it very seriously and had been eating more food
than was his norm in preparation. Nabiki had seemed to be more
concerned with the problem of Lotion when Bert had seen her last;
she was somewhat jaded with challenges after living with Ranma and
Twister. Ranma always won and Twister was a very strong psionic. 
     Still, he was concerned. 
     Rubbing the back of his neck, Bert said, "Sorry to bother you,
but I'm just anxious about the little brouhaha going to occur
tomorrow. What's so bad about this guy in fancy armour, anyway?"
     Ranma's face grew serious. "A heckofa lot. Here, I'll give you
the short form: the ancestors of the Musk Dynasty desired to
imitate the behavior of animals and become greater fighters.
However, they reached a stopping point somewhere along the way, but
they also found heckofa solution: put animals they desired to gain
power from into the Spring of Drowned Girl, lock them in female
form, and mate with 'em." Bert gaped at that.
     "Bwaaaah?" 
     "The sons gained their once-animal mother's attributes and
became even greater fighters with human-animal origins." Ranma
sighed as Bert strove to pick up his jaw. "Mint's line is descended
from the wolf, Lime the tiger, and Herb... the ki dragon. As you
may have noticed, Mint has extra speed, Lime greater strength, and
Herb has enormous ki reserves.
     "Mint and Lime are decent fighters, but with his extra ki
force Herb is much greater an opponent. He can shoot off ki-balls
with no effort, use ki-force to make air blades that can cut
through a LOT of rock and destroyed a large section of mountain
when he did," Bert gulped; he was beginning to see why Twister
hadn't wanted a fight in the city. "He can analyze other people's
moves pretty quickly as well. He's arrogant, but can afford to be."
     The Knight Saber digested all this in silence, then held up a
hand. "One question: how the HELL did they fit a goddamned DRAGON
into the cursed spring, much less catch one?!?!" he demanded. Ranma
blinked.
     "Y'know, I never thought of that."
     Twister arrived a hour later and they left for the battle.
                              *****
     They settled on the ground as the sun began its decent in the
evening sky. Ranma's sigh of heartfelt relief was audible to both
Bert and Twister, but no one was in the mood to appreciate the
humor of his reaction. To Twister, the forest brought back memories
of his arrival to this universe, the broken trees here and there
were a reminder of his first battle with Malkon. A blur of movement
caught his eye and he whirled in its direction. Ranma had seen it
too while Bert turned a split-second later, his sensors had
registered the sudden arrival.
     "Looks like the party's about to start," SkyKnight said.
     It was Herb, of course, with Lime and Mint standing behind him
as Bert and Ranma did with Twister. Dressed in his usual garments,
Herb looked confident as always. Twister merely looked calm, if
still annoyed by this whole matter, in his black outfit with blue
trim.
     "I am pleased you have arrived on time," Herb said.
     "I'd rather not have come at all," Twister replied irritably,
flicking his cloak behind him so that his arms were unobstructed.
"Now could you PLEASE tell me what this is all about?"
     Herb considered this, and nodded in agreement.
     "I did say that I would. Very well." He cocked his head. "I,
personally, have no grievance against you myself, but I am
honour-bound to challenge the person who has offended my ancestor."
Twister blinked as Bert and Ranma looked at each other in
confusion..
     "Ancestor?? Who?" the psionist asked.
     "The Spirit Dragon Whose Name Is Secret!" Herb announced as he
pointed a finger Twister's way in accusation. The brown-haired
psionist stared at the prince in disbelief, then slapped a hand on
his forehead.
     "HIM?!?!" he shouted in disgust. "I thought I'd made sure he
couldn't do anything against me and this world. NOW this starts
making sense," he growled.
     "You've lost me," a confused Bert said from behind him,
wondering what he was talking about. Twister sighed.
     "Some renegade mage had stolen a dragon statue I had sold and
kidnapped several girls for an unwilling sacrifice to a spirit
dragon when it was summoned." SkyKnight stiffened at the mention of
the sacrifice, his chivalrous ideals rebelling at something that
sinister. "One of the girls was Nabiki so I was pretty motivated to
prevent the dragon from eating them when it possessed the statue.
I won't bore you with the details save I had to go mind-to-mind
with it and defeated it. Because of the nature of that link, I
forced it into accepting certain conditions to prevent it trying to
return again." Twister looked at the Musk prince. "I don't know how
he contacted you to do this. Ranma told me you had dragon blood,
but I didn't suspect that dragon was your ancestor.." Herb smiled.
     "It was not him, but one of his servants acting on its own
initiative who told me."
      Oh, perfect, Twister thought disgustedly, so much for my
conditions.
     "I also forgave it the impertinence it used to ensure my
fighting you; I would have fought you in any case." He raised his
forearms and the armour there shimmered into another, different
looking set of armbands. They were made of a dark red metal heavily
engraved with eye-wrenching designs. "These mystic armbands do two
things; compel me to fight you, and increase my ki abilities
threefold."
     Ranma gulped and grabbed Twister's arm to get his attention.
"Twister, if those things do that...!" he started to say, but
Twister just nodded.
     "I know," he replied to the worried Ranma, "you told me about
the fight you had with him."
     "I may be dense, but how much worse has things gotten?" Bert
asked, the helmet hid his face but you could hear the concern in
his voice. Ranma looked glum.
     "Piles worse. Very HEAVY piles worse."
                              *****
     Malkon suddenly leaned forward towards the image in his
scrying pool as he got a good look at what Herb wore.
     "The bands of Rekthil!" he breathed in amazement, then his
brow furrowed in concern. "Who would be so foolish as to have given
those to a mortal?" Malkon mused thoughtfully. "Even with dragon
blood, those magical armbands will consume that prince eventually
as the Chaos energies that reside within them slowly dominate him.
He will gain strength as it does, but the stronger he gets the
quicker his end."
     His gaze flickered to a sword that hung on a nearby wall, then
returned to it. The sword possessed Order energies and had saved
him from a Wild Magic creation of Twister's. Now an object with
Chaos force had appeared near the young psionist.
     Was there a connection?
     "Let's see what befalls," Malkon finally decided aloud and
returned to watching his scrying pool.
     Whatever happened -- it was bound to be interesting.
                              *****
     "So," Herb said and raised a hand, "let it begin!"
     A huge ball of ki-force erupted from Herb's hand and roared
towards the startled trio. Ranma and Twister leapt away in time.
Bert jumped to the side in a hardsuit-assisted surge, yelling a
fulminant curse as he did so.
     Twister landed, leaped again, and rebounded off a nearby tree
towards the Musk prince, shouting "CONCUSSION FIST!" as his cocked
right hand crackled with blue ki energy before he struck. The Musk
prince easily dodged the attack by hopping gracefully away, but the
fist hit the tree behind him. A foot's worth of tree in either
direction from the impact point exploded into sawdust and the
detonation tossed the upper part of the tree safely away. The
psionist himself was hurled away by the shockwave, but he had
expected it and tumbled easily through the air to land on his feet
ten feet away from the destroyed tree. The two fighters paused as
they assessed each other.
     Twister risked a glance around and found that their fight was
now spectatorless. "Where did our audience go?" he asked Herb.
     "Mint and Lime will keep Ranma and the oddly-armoured one busy
while we fight unhindered by interference," was Herb's calm reply.
Twister smiled grimly and minutely lowered his stance.
     "Then let's get busy."
                              *****
     "You really," Duck! "think this will," Leap! "work?!" Bert
demanded haltingly. Lime had ripped up a tree and was swinging it
at the silver armoured figure of SkyKnight like a baseball bat.
He'd learned from painful experience that fighting Bert close-in
wasn't smart, thus this tree attack.
     Bert, in his turn, was exasperated and not a little mad. He
didn't want to kill the inhumanly strong idiot so using his
particle lasers was out. Flying was not an option in the forested
area; he could dodge, but not at the speed he needed to avoid the
grossly-oversized bat.
     Suddenly, Bert grinned wickedly as a solution came to mind. A
metal cylinder slid into his hands. A glowing plasma blade crackled
into existence as the suit's systems routed power into the device,
making the startled Lime pause in his next swing.
     SkyKnight never gave him time to react and ducked under the
bat as he swung the lightsaber. The tree abruptly lost one and a
half feet of itself as a cleanly sliced-off portion dropped to the
woodland ground.
     "Quality, not quantity, wins out every time," Bert told his
wide-eyed opponent cheerfully before starting to whittle Lime's
weapon to kindling, piece by piece. A great way to vent pent-up
frustration, he found. As a result, unfortunately, he started
merrily singing, further lowering the tiger-boy's confidence.
     "Ohhh... I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay..."
                              *****
     Ranma had to jump away from Twister's fight as Mint's throwing
knives pursued him. He'd never fought the wolf boy before so he
needed time to assess his skills. He never thought he wouldn't be
able to beat Mint; after all, he had beaten Herb himself.
     But Ranma was distracted by worry; Twister was good, but not
quite as good as Ranma was in skill and Herb's announcement about
those armbands was not a Good Thing. The Musk prince used ki like
Ranma used punches and if it was tripled....
     "Kuso!" Ranma cursed; a knife had come too close and ripped
the side of his shirt. A determined Mint launched for him as he
irritably turned to face the wolf boy, tensing in anticipation.
     Better deal with the current problem first.
                              *****
     "Holy! DIAMOND KI DEFENSE!!"
     Twister didn't trace the pattern for the ki shield he had
devised while in the BGC universe; it wasn't needed now that he
knew it better. A glowing octagon of energy instantly formed above
raised and glowing hands, the corners of the energy facets shot
downwards and created a protective shell around the psionist.
     Just in time too; Herb's blades of ki impacted against his
barrier while those that missed instantly sliced up the terrain and
plant life behind him. Still, the diamond-shaped shield cracked
under the strain before the barrage stopped. Unruffled, Herb raised
his eyebrows with interest as Twister let the ki construct shatter.
     "That is a technique I have not seen before," the Musk Prince
said. Twister shrugged, but kept ready for an attack.
     "Something I came up with a while ago."
     "It did well against my <insert ;> technique at my normal
level of ki," Herb conceded.
     "Normal...level?" Uh oh, I knew this was going too easily,
Twister worried to himself. They'd been feeling each other out
since Herb's first attack. The prince used ki attacks often than
the psionist but he had Ki with a capital `K'. Twister, on the
other hand, used those only when needed, focusing mostly on speed
and agility. He wasn't as good as Ranma without the psi-boost, but
he was close. And as usual, he felt reluctant to use psionics,
especially in this kind of fight.
     Herb's new armbands began to glow and the prince's
white-and-blue aura sprang into visibility. There was an unnerving
red glow in his eyes that made Twister apprehensive as his opponent
slowly smiled.
     Then again, he thought nervously, maybe I should reconsider
the use of psi.
     "Enough play, Twister," Herb proclaimed, his voice now had an
odd echoing quality to it that made him sound more malevolent, "let
the real battle begin. HA!" Ki force higher than Twister had seen
yet built up around the prince's fist, then released.
     Twister's eyes widened in shock at the man-height-and-a-half
amount of ki gouging the earth effortlessly as it rushed towards
him. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" he shouted as he launched a rapid
counterstroke, but his ki attack only lessened Herb's a little
before it struck.
     It hurt. It hurt a LOT. Flung backwards by the virtual wall of
ki, Twister howled in pain as he broke through the few trees
remaining intact behind him. In addition, something in Herb's ki
was hurting him far more than he'd experienced before when
practicing with Ranma. A dim thought that it might be because of
those armbands passed through his mind before he impacted on a
large rock, cracking it as he made a crater in it. He hung on to
consciousness grimly even as fiery pain lanced into him from all
quarters.
     Herb viewed his handiwork with a smug smile. A trench extended
from him, through the splintered remains of trees, and ended at the
form embedded in a large boulder. "Is the fight over so soon?" he
mocked. He blinked when Twister's eyes shot open, and glowing blue.
     That does it!
     "Let's rock," Twister muttered.
     Ignoring the pain, the embedded figure calmly ripped his arms
from the stone, paused as he clenched his fists, then thrust them
back violently into the stone. It shattered into many smaller
pieces as Twister dropped to the ground, but the stones stayed
suspended in air. They began swirling around the brown-haired young
man as he coolly regarded the surprised prince. The rocks gathered
momentum and Twister shouted "STONE STRIKE!" as he launched the
head-sized and jagged pieces of rock towards Herb.
     Fear was the last thing to enter the Musk prince's heart as
the stony missiles approached him. All it took was another massive
ki-strike and the stones were pulverized. When the dust settled,
Herb spotted Twister standing a good ten paces away from where the
rock had been, and his eyes glowing blue. Herb grinned, and if Mint
or Lime had been there to see it, they would have remarked how
strange the grin was; the Musk Prince NEVER grinned like that.
     "Ah! Now it gets interesting," Herb purred silkily.
     The battle began anew.
                              *****
     "Hmm, interesting," Malkon murmured, "It appears the Chaos
energies are starting to affect this `Musk prince'." While he
himself was very reluctant to meddle in this fight since Chaos
force was involved, the arch-demon was keeping close tabs on the
two combatants via scrying bowl.
     Fortunately for Malkon, Twister was too busy fighting to feel
Malkon's eavesdropping.
     "The energy levels they have started to use are beginning to
interfere with my scrying waters," Malkon muttered as he watched
the fight continue, keeping the image stable at the same time.
     Events were approaching climax and he didn't want to miss it.
                              *****
     Cold winds whirled around Twister's body before he called out
his attack. He and Herb had gotten to the point that they were just
throwing long-distance attacks at each other. So far Herb was
winning there, as Twister's somewhat bedraggled state proved.
Still, he didn't let it show.
     "ICEWIND STRIKE!" he shouted, throwing icy tornado-force winds
at Herb. Who sneered and blasted a ki-bolt right into the howling
gale where razor-sharp ice blades had formed. The collision was
brief and Herb's ki-energy stopped the opposing move cold before
hitting Twister with much lessened force. He stood his ground
coolly as he was pushed back only a little. Herb scowled.
     "Is that your best?!" he demanded furiously. Twister sighed,
then assumed a serious expression.
     "No."
     Suddenly, a blue aura outlined Twister's features and his eyes
became lost in their azure glow as he raised both palms, which
started to glow. Wind swirled around him, making his hair fly
wildly.
     "PSICLONE!!"
     Pure telekinetic force ripped forth from Twister's hands in a
churning whirlwind of power. Visibly blue psi-energy lines swirled
within the onrushing wall of destruction. The earth was ripped
apart beneath it and red fire was beginning to flicker along the
gathered force's fringes as it rushed for the much-surprised Herb.
     The Musk prince tried to block with a ki-bolt, but this time
Twister's attack burrowed right through the massive ball of energy,
flaming a little more from the labor. It was too late for Herb to
move by then and he threw up his arms to protect himself. The mass
of energy tore into the prince's position like it's namesake and
exploded in all it's fury as the energy that composed itself was
unleashed.
     KRAKOOOOMMMM!!!!
     Expressionlessly, Twister watched the fiery explosion, but
inside he hoped he hadn't killed his rival. He'd never needed that
particular move since it's hazy creation in his first fight with
Malkon and had never used it until now. The hazel-eyed young man
would have preferred not to have used it at all. He needn't have
worried, for from the smoke a figure emerged.
     Amazingly, Herb was mostly intact. The only sign of his ordeal
were burn marks all over his slightly ripped clothing and exposed
skin. He did NOT look pleased with the psionist and that red glow
in his eyes had increased in intensity. The snarl on Herb's face
was directed at his visibly surprised opponent.
     That attack should have done more than just SINGE him! Twister
thought incredulously. He didn't have a chance to dwell on it as
Herb leaped at him fist first, lips twisted into a snarl, swirling
red energy around him.
     Twister's eyes widened.
     "OH SHI..."
     KRA-TOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
                              *****
     Malkon shook his head at the result of Twister's nearly-
ineffective attack. The armband's power would warp any ki, psionic,
or magical attacks, tremendously decreasing the possibility of
injury. And, in turn, Herb was growing more unstable and dangerous.
     As Twister was finding out now.
                              *****
     The explosion shook the forest, causing SkyKnight's helmet
eyeslot to snap towards the shockwave's direction. He was startled
to see a column of RED light fade before his eyes and sensors. What
the hell?? Bert thought incredulously. If Twister's aura is blue,
then whose energy was that? A sense of dread pervaded the Knight
Saber as he stood there. "I think it's time to investigate this
little duel," he muttered to himself.
     His helmet turned back to where a profusely sweating Lime was
backed up against a tree. His emotional state was understandable
since a crackling lightsaber was positioned uncomfortably close to
his neck. The tiger-boy wilted with relief when it snapped out of
existence.
     "Come follow me if you want, moron," SkyKnight snapped at him,
"something's up and I want to find out what." His back-mounted
wings snapped into full extension and with jets howling flew
towards the spot he had left Twister.
     He had better be all right, Bert mentally growled, or else I'm
going to ram something unpleasant up that snooty prince's backside.
     "Master Herb!!" Lime shouted frantically as he followed after
the armoured figure.
                              *****
     Just before he landed the final blow on a wide-eyed Mint,
Ranma paused as he felt and heard the disturbing ki explosion.
Suddenly worried, he let Herb's battered servant drop to the
ground.
     "That didn't feel right," Ranma muttered anxiously. "What's
going on over there?" He debated with himself for a moment, then
ran towards the direction the explosion had taken place. Hope I get
there in time, he thought worriedly.
     Helplessly, the bruised Mint watched him go; he needed a few
minutes to recover from the punishment Ranma had given him.
     "Master Herb..." he moaned.
                              *****
     Wisps of red energy still wafted up from the devastated earth
around Twister as he moaned and shakily lifted himself up. The
surrounding area looked like a small nuke had exploded nearby. He
had dodged the fist, but the energy wave that had accompanied it
wasn't so easily missed. Again, it had hurt far more than it should
have.
     What... WAS... that...?? he thought blearily. Two boots came
up beside him and he whirled around to face the owner, but a
impossibly strong hand caught his neck. "Grrk!!!"
     Herb lifted him up to dangle a foot above the ground in the
firm grip of his glowing hand. Smiling viciously, the Musk prince
brought his other arm up to wrap both hands around Twister's neck.
     The psionist tried to grip the arms holding him up, but
contact with the armbands was painful. The cry of pain he made was
understandably strangled. The face before him didn't look rational
any longer and was apparently enjoying his struggle immensely.
     "You would have given me a real challenge if not for these
armbands," Herb complimented the gasping psionist in his mercurial
emotional state. "Too bad I feel like killing you now; I wouldn't
have minded taking you on without them." The prince threw back his
head as he laughed in a deranged manner. His hands slowly began to
tighten.
     "Uhrrr..." Twister croaked as he tried prying the relentless
hands off of his neck. In desperation, he focused on the source of
Herb's increased powers: the armbands whose runes were pulsing with
an oddly eye-wrenching way. The notion he had wasn't a smart one,
but it seemed like the only one. Risking it, he removed his hands
from their attempts to stop the strangling; Herb didn't notice in
his maniac state. However, he did notice what happened next.
     For Twister's hands, now flaming brightly with his Mindfire,
landed squarely upon the Armbands of Rekthil. The energies bound
within the metal resisted, but controlled as they were they could
not stop the Mindfire from melting the magical relics that
contained them. It only took the palms to melt halfway through
before those same energies... broke free.
     The armbands glowed with a multi-colored light that grew until
the metal disintegrated in a shockwave that threw the stunned Herb
and Twister apart. The sudden loss of the armband's enhancement and
influence knocked the Musk prince out. Twister, by some miracle,
managed to keep on the edge of consciousness as he landed hard on
his back five feet away from where he had been dangling. He stared
at what was going on before his eyes as he struggled to get up,
neck throbbing
     SkyKnight and Ranma finally arrived at that point and halted
dead in their tracks at the sight that captivated the psionist's
attention.
     It was a swirling mass, it was a helix of energy, it was a
spiral of destruction, and more. All of the pure Chaos force that
had lain trapped within the armbands now positioned itself where
the two combatants had struggled. There was no specific conformity
to it and those watching it struggled futilely to assign a shape,
or color to the force. Suddenly, without warning, the bundle of
Chaos shattered and separated into hundreds of comet-like
fragments, zipping outwards in erratic paths from where the core
had been.
     "Incoming!!" SkyKnight bellowed frantically as the packets
zoomed towards Ranma and the armour-clad Knight Saber. Ranma had
time for a startled yelp as the towering hardsuit slapped a hand to
his tunic front, grabbing a handful of the fabric. SkyKnight's jets
shrieked, and he hurtled up and away from the crawling packets of
energy, hauling the martial artist bodily with him. He arced over
the ground to a position a few yards away from the energy, hovering
warily. Ranma concentrated on getting his breath back.
     Twister instantly vanished from his position, reappearing near
the shore of the lake where Herb had been tossed. Perhaps this is
a stupid move, Twister thought, but he erected a psionic shield
around him and his erstwhile opponent. Fortunately, the packets
didn't seem to like his force field at all and swerved to avoid it
when they came close. Neither did they seem to like Bert's high
tech armour; he and Ranma were spared as the packets steered away
from the airspace where he was hovering.
     For whatever the bits of Chaos touched, changed. The remnant
of a tree dissolved into goo, its cellular tissue having lost all
cohesion. Ground froze, melted, or even transformed into unknown
substances wherever Chaos grazed.
     Bert's blood ran cold. If those things touch us...!! He broke
into a cold sweat and preyed devotedly that they continued to be
finicky little packets of mayhem and avoid his area. Magic might be
upsetting, but this stuff gave him the outright willies; not only
that, but his sensors were flatly refusing to identify the energy
or its nature. Bert began breathing easier as their outward-bound
velocities gradually took the destructive packets away from
everyone. The packets sifted into the surrounding forest, creating
a swath of corruption as they moved.
     "Bert! Ranma!" Twister called out as he dropped the psi-field
and leaped to his feet. "You two okay?"
     "We're fine," SkyKnight called back, swooping over and
dropping to the ground, relinquishing his hold on Ranma, who was
quickly looking from side to side for any sign that the packets
were returning. The silver Knight Saber looked around at the broken
and battered landscape, and finally took in the scale of the
devastation Twister and Herb had caused. Trees and torn earth
littered the area a good twenty feet in radius around them. "Whoo!
I thought I did a lot of damage at the university, but this..."
     Twister scratched the back of his neck as he regarded Herb,
then the surrounding area. "Good thing we fought here then or it'd
have been urban renewal time." He knelt by the Musk prince and
lifted a limp arm to inspect the burnt area where the armbands had
been. "He was acting pretty strange and I think those new armbands
had something to do with it."
     "What about those... whatevers?" Ranma inquired, casting
another nervous glance at the forest. "You think they're gone?"
     "No," Twister sighed. "I doubt we're THAT fortunate." He stood
after making sure Herb would be all right; the prince may have
tried to kill him, but the psionist thought it was the armband's
influence that prompted that behaviour.
     Two figures barrelled into the clearing. "Herb-sama!!" Mint
and Lime chorused worriedly as they ignored the other three and
knelt be their master.
     "He's unconscious," Twister told them, then looked at them
oddly. "Those armbands which were controlling him released
something when I destroyed them, so how did you two get here
unharmed?" The Musk warriors glanced at each other, then looked up
at those gathered around them.
     "We did encounter some strange things which stopped us
momentarily when we saw how dangerous they were..." Mint began.
     "... but they all flew up and we were able to get here
safely!" Lime finished.
     "'Flew up'?" SkyKnight said disbelievingly. "What the hell is
with that stuff?!"
     Twister shook his head. "I don't know, but we'd better..."
     The psionist's sentence was left unsaid because his
precognitive sense snapped into full alert. Unfortunately, he
wasted time jerking his eyes up to scan the sky rather than below
his feet, where the ground suddenly glowed. 
     The Chaos packets had indeed risen into the sky to merge into
a whole mass again, but then it had plunged into the earth some
distance away. And now, almost like something was guiding it, the
energy burst forth right underneath the unprepared Twister,
surprising everyone. He managed a yell of surprise before the mass
of energy first surrounded, then permeated his body into him.
     "EEEEEEEAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!"
     Twister's tortured scream of agony at the disruptive invasion
was not restricted to merely sound as he held clenched fists to his
forehead. Liquid PAIN radiated from him in a wave like the
shockwave that accompanied it, driving those gathered around him to
their knees before flinging them away. The energies were disrupting
his mental shields and the normally erect barriers of his mind,
conscious and unconscious, were much weakened. Empathy as well as
telepathy Twister had, but normally his mind shielded him and
others from that previously unused power. It now rocked those
around him with the feelings of pain, fear, desperation, and fury
roiling within his normally calm mind. His eyes burned bright blue,
Mindfire flickering within them as his aura shifted wildly around
him.
     Fortunately, all those around the out-of-control psionist were
familiar with the feelings and pain he was projecting. Bert more
than the others as it triggered memories, old and recent, within
him. SkyKnight struggled to his feet as Twister levitated slightly
off the ground, Ranma was still holding hands to his head from a
headache.
     "Twister!!" Bert called out, but it was plain his friend was
too lost within himself. He dove to the ground as a fiery lance of
white-hot plasma nearly fried him. Dammit! What's that stuff doing
to him?!? he thought in a panic. The ground shook violently from a
telekinetic jolt, making the red-head glad he had hit the dirt. A
corkscrew of telekinetic power flung in a random direction dug a
trench close by. But that was not the reason Bert's mouth went dry.
     The blue aura around the wobbling Twister was bleeding azure
power into an area above the psionist where it visibly began
swirling the air around itself. The ominous-appearing energy did
not look like a good sign to SkyKnight. He winced as another wave
of pain rolled over him, but he grit his teeth and ignored it as he
tried to come up with a plan of action, fast!
     Twister was obviously not dealing well with the Chaos inside
him, whatever the reasons for it entering him. It even appeared
like his psionic power was being forced out from the appearance of
that blue energy pooling above the distracted psionist. Bert
frantically thought about that fact, then stopped as an idea, a
wild belief was more like it, came to him.
     I hope this works, he prayed fervently as he started up his
jets and stood, his wings snapping out.
     Ranma noticed. "What are you going to do??"
     Bert looked at the pig-tailed young man. "Something crazy. Got
a better idea?" Ranma looked at the power-outlined form of the
still pain-filled face of Twister and said nothing. "I didn't think
so."
     Leaning forward, Bert aimed himself at his friend before
commanding his suit to engage the jets. Howling, his suit complied
and the silver-clad SkyKnight roared across the short distance to
shoulder-check the floating psionist.
     This was not without its pains. Direct contact with Twister
made the psionic outpouring of the young man's pain more intense.
Bert belatedly realized with some panic that some of his psionic
`immunity' must have vanished after Twister balanced the forces
within him a week ago, for otherwise he shouldn't have felt the
pain at all. Unfortunately, this meant his suit was now prey to the
capricious actions of the psionic forces of his friend. The
readings were beginning to go wild as they started climbing towards
overload.
     Then they plunged into the lake, Bert's objective.
     He sighed a breath of relief as the pain switched off like
someone had toggled a switch and his suit's status went back to
normal. It had been close. Fortunately, they were in shallow water
so SkyKnight stood up with his now-smaller and unconscious friend
Darlene in his arms. Ranma, looking relieved as well, came up to
the water's edge.
     "Whatcha do?"
     Bert chuckled. "I remembered Twister telling me he viewed his
powers like they were opposites. So I figured if that stuff was
causing him pain when male, then female it shouldn't. I wasn't
really sure if it would work, but I didn't know what else to do.
Thank goodness it did." A rumble attracted both of their attention
then and they looked at the source.
     The psionic power, now that its master was no longer even
semi-controlling it, was pulsing. Which didn't seem like a good
sign, especially when a glowing white light began to grow in its
core. A nervous Bert decided a tactical withdraw would be prudent.
The members of the Musk tribe had vanished with their prince so the
three were the only ones in possible danger.
     "Change into female form and come over here, Ranma!" Bert
shouted. "We've got to go, and go NOW!!" His suit's sensors were
detecting nasty things about that `cloud' of psi-energy.
     "Why do I haveta change??" Ranma demanded, glancing uneasily
at the cloud.
     "Less weight!" Bert snapped. "Hurry, I'll have to fly us out
before that thing explodes!!!" For his suit was reading high-energy
plasma that was becoming hotter by the minute as that which
contained it fed it, becoming less able to contain it.
     Ranma, quickly becoming Ranma-chan after a splash, wasted no
time after Bert's announcement. SkyKnight fumbled momentarily for
the best way to carry the two twins in his arms, but when they were
secure, Ranma-chan keeping Darlene in his arms, he roared away
across the lake as fast as was safely possible.
     Just in time. They were halfway across the lake before a
roaring thunderclap jolted SkyKnight's flight, but not severe
enough to dump his passengers. Looking back, he swallowed as he saw
the rising and massive fireball that had marked their departure
point, now a crater that would become a new inlet for the lake.
     The sad thing about it, Bert mused as he made a course
correction to take them to the dojo, was that, for a moment, the
fireball had made him feel like he was back home with the Sabers.
He grinned.
     He loved to make an impression, geological in this case.
                              *****
     Malkon leaned back in his throne, waving away the image in the
scrying pool. He should be feeling glad that Twister had been
treated with a good deal of pain.
     That was not so.
     Instead, he placed a red hand under his chin and thought about
current events, frowning as he did. The reason for his unease was
multi-fold.
     Why did the Chaos force come back? he pondered. It was
repelled by the inherent orderly nature of the psi-shield and that
SkyKnight's technological armour. Therefore, it should NOT have
been attracted to Twister, much less enter his foe; the human's
underlying, logical nature and powers of his male side should have
repelled the Chaos even without the shield. The only possible way
it would have done so was if it had been GUIDED, but by who? And
why?
     The fact that it meant another being was involved with this
was disturbing. Who could control Chaos so readily? His eyes
narrowed to slits as he dwelled on that.
     Malkon finally sighed and rubbed his temple. A simple piece of
revenge was getting more and more complicated and the arch-demon
HATED complications, especially potentially lethal ones. At least
the Chaos had fled Twister with the change.
     Suddenly, Malkon's eyes flew wide open, and the hand on one
arm of his throne tightened.
     But... HAD the Chaos fled?
                              *****
     The Tendo's back yard was the best place for Bert to land with
his two passengers. SkyKnight's jets announced their arrival and
those inside hurried out to greet them. Prepared for it, Kasumi
carried a steaming kettle over to Ranma-chan after the red-head
took the unconscious Darlene from Bert and put the mage on the
ground.
     "What happened? Did he lose?" Akane asked Ranma-chan, who
thankfully accepted Kasumi's gift and used it to change himself
back. Bert dismissed his armour and his worried look down at
Darlene didn't bode well.
     "No, but... It's a long story, Akane," Ranma sighed. "Just let
me change him back first; he heals faster when he's a guy." The
pigtailed young man poured the hot water onto Darlene's head.
     She groaned, and stirred fitfully, but no change.
     "Uh... Isn't she supposed to be male now?" Bert queried
uneasily. There was a sinking feeling coming over him as he saw the
stunned looks of the Saotomes and Tendos(save Kasumi who merely
looked mildly distressed).
     "I don't get it!" Ranma cried and poured again. Still nothing.
     Kasumi blinked and kneeled by Darlene's form, placing a hand
on a flushed cheek after wiping away the water. "Oh, my!" she
exclaimed. "She's burning up with fever! We need to bring her
inside. Father, could you get a mattress to Nabiki's old room?
Bert, could you carry Darlene?" Concerned, the tall red-head
nodded.
     "Sure." He reached down and gently lifted the mage off the
ground. Bert was worried about his new friend's sudden illness, but
a small, selfish part of him wondered who would send him back home
if Darlene...
     He shook his head, angry at himself for even thinking it.
     Akane, Ranma, and Genma watched them go, unsure of what they
themselves could do. Then Akane made a startled noise.
     "I'd better phone Nabiki!" she exclaimed and rushed into the
house, leaving Ranma and his father alone in the yard.
     "So, Ranma, what happened that forced you to change?" Genma
said. Ranma blinked.
     "What do ya mean, pop? I changed on purpose so Bert would have
a lighter load. I... ahhhh!!!" he yelled as Genma smoothly grabbed
his son's shirt and tossed him into the pond. Sputtering, a furious
Ranma-chan leaped from the water so she could yell at her father.
"What was that for, old man?!?"
     "Even in troubled times you must be ever vigilant in your
martial arts skills, Ranma," Genma shot back and struck a dramatic
pose as Ranma-chan fumed. "A true martial artist will let nothing
escape his notice! Nothing escapes his notice, no matter how small!
The path to a higher awareness..."
     "Husband?"
     "... is fraught with per... il..." Genma trailed off as his
brain finally registered the word that had been spoken by a
familiar, female, and terror-inducing voice. Ranma-chan's eyes were
wide with panic as she looked beyond her father. Slowly, Genma
turned around, swallowing.
     Nadoka. His wife. Ranma's mother.
     Kasumi must have let her in while everyone else was
preoccupied with Darlene. Nadoka unsheathed her katana in a flash
as she grimly walked up to the paralyzed Genma and pointed the
blade at her husband's throat as she ominously asked her question.
     "Where is my son, Husband?"
     Genma sweated, swallowing.
     Ranma-chan looked at the scene nervously.
     Your story better be good, old man, she thought. The panic she
was feeling was understandable, the sadness less so.
     Mother...
                              *****
     "He said I'm your WHAT?!?!" Bert angrily demanded, floored at
what the nervous Ranma-chan had just told him. He could see a
smirking Akane was trying her best not to burst into laughter
despite the situation.
     "Shhhh!!! Keep it down!" The pigtailed girl fearfully glanced
up in the direction her mother was: in Nabiki's old room where the
feverish Darlene was being kept. Nadoka was keeping a protective
vigil over the sick young woman with Nabiki, much to Ranma and
Genma's relief.
     Initially, she had demanded an explanation of where Ranma was,
to which Genma had managed to tell her he was off training on his
own while Ranma's father `helped' the Tendos. Nadoka was
suspicious, she knew Genma well, but accepted that story as she
wanted to help the obviously sick Darlene. She had accepted
`Ranko's' presence, but Bert was another story. A story
unfortunately woven by Genma.
     Bert struggled to keep his voice down. "I can't believe he
told her I was your BOYFRIEND!" he said in a strangled voice. He
had wanted to punt the bald martial artist into orbit when he had
heard THAT bit.
     "I can," Ranma-chan said disgustedly, lightly punching a wall.
The old man was ALWAYS getting into more hot water.
     "Well, technically, he was telling the truth. You ARE
friends," Akane ventured, giggling when the other two glared at
her. Her humour dissipated when Ranma-chan sighed and sadly leaned
on the wall she had just punched, expression dismal.
     "Damn him for making that STUPID promise anyway," Ranma-chan
said in a low, angry, and depressed voice.
     She said it so sadly that Bert was fuming; he hated anyone
looking like that, and the fact Ranma-chan was really male didn't
stop his damsel-in-distress instincts from kicking in.
     So sue me if I can't stand to see a cute girl depressed, Bert
grumbled to himself as he racked his mind for answers, even if she
is a guy. Oh hell, this is confusing. "Are you so sure your mom
will make you commit suicide?" he asked the pigtailed girl.
     "I really don't know," Ranma-chan said in low tones. "Maybe."
     "I can't believe auntie Saotome would ask you to," Akane
protested, not sure herself by her expression. "Even if you are a
hentai baka, you've done some remarkable things nobody else could
easily match."
     "And if the fact that you have four women actively wanting you
doesn't work," Bert went on, Akane glaring daggers at him which he
ignored, "three even KNOWING about the curse, then I don't know
WHAT she would consider `manly' enough to satisfy her. Christ, I'M
still amazed at it after all this time here." He was sweating at
Akane's increasingly intense glow at the corner of his eye but kept
his focus on the red-head. "Even if she says it's not enough, tell
her tough; YOU think so."
     Ranma-chan was smiling, feeling hopeful for the first time,
then her expression fell. "But what about Pop? I even start trying
to tell mom about what happened and he'll do everything he can to
stop me." Bert grinned wickedly, cracking his knuckles.
     "Just leave HIM to me."
                              *****
     Nadoka looked up from Darlene's pale and sweaty face when she
heard the door open and saw Ranko step into the room, looking
nervous but resolute. What was most strange was that she held a
steaming kettle in one hand. "Why, Ranko, what's the matter?"
     Nabiki had looked up as well and near-instantly figured out
what was going on. Despite her concern for Darlene, her brows
lifted. "Where's father and Mr. Saotome?" she asked.
     "Akane and Bert are making sure they stay downstairs,"
Ranma-chan told her, confusing Nadoka as the red-head knelt on the
opposite side of Darlene. Nabiki understood and was smiling
faintly.
     "You want me to leave?"
     Surprisingly, Ranma-chan shook her head, albeit with
reluctance. "For this I'll need someone to confirm what I'm
saying."
     Ranma's mother was looking at each of them, thinking they were
crazy. "What are you two talking about?"
     "Please," Ranma-chan said, looking very serious and sincere,
making Nadoka blink. "Hear me out. I need to tell you the reason,
the REAL reason, why you haven't seen Ranma here."
     The older woman gasped. "What? What do you mean?"
     "Around a year ago," Ranma-chan went on, committed now, "Genma
and Ranma Saotome were on a training expedition in China seeking
out a famous training ground where they could improve their skills.
Unfortunately, they went unaware of the danger because the old...
Mr. Saotome couldn't read Chinese."
     "DANGER??" Nadoka wasn't pleased.
     "So they eventually found it. It was a place with hundreds of
springs with bamboo poles rising from their midst. Both of them
leaped up onto those poles and immediately started sparring. Ranma
knocked his father off first." Nadoka blinked, then smiled
brilliantly.
     "He did? My! My son must be very good then."
     "We think so," Nabiki added dryly.
     "It was then they found the danger of the cursed training
grounds," Ranma-chan choked and Nadoka listened with growing dread.
"For when Genma jumped up from the spring what had happened to his
cursed father shocked Ranma, enabling Genma to knock Ranma into
another spring, and unknowingly cursing him too."
     Nadoka was pale. "What-what was this curse? My husband appears
perfectly healthy."
     "This is the curse of Jyusenkyo: whomever falls into a spring
will attain the form of whatever drowned in that pool whenever they
are hit by cold water. They regain their old form by using hot
water." Ranma-chan looked down at the floor. "Genma landed in the
spring of drowned panda."
     Ranma's mother's eyes widened in shock. "P-panda?" Things
began to come together in Nadoka's mind as images of Mr. Panda and
Ranko suddenly ran through her mind. "And-and which pool did Ranma
land in?" she whispered, staring at `Ranko', who took a deep breath
and looked up to stare at her mother right in the eyes.
     "Drowned girl," she whispered.
     Paling, Nadoka stared at the girl whose name was so close to
her son's and realized at last that `Ranko's' face looked like hers
when she had been younger. She swallowed and whispered, "Ran...
ma?"
     Her throat tight, Ranma-chan could only nod and reached for
the kettle. Surprisingly, her mother grabbed her hand in a firm
grip, making the red-head look up in surprise.
     "This sounds impossible. Why now then?" Nadoka asked her
tremulously. "Why so long??"
     Ranma-chan's eyes blazed, suddenly furious. "Because of that
STUPID promise to commit seppuku the old man gave you before we
left!! Then that IDIOT took us to Jyusenkyo without finding out
about the curses! He got frightened and he never even told ME about
it until you came visiting the Tendos. THEN he had to tell me and
after that he either had me scared enough to hide my real identity
from you or stopping me from telling you when I DID decide to." Her
shoulders slumped as the anger fled. "I wanted to know my mother as
her son, not as a stranger because of this damned curse and an
idiot's promise."
     Nadoka bowed her head, then looked at the silent Nabiki. "IS
this true?"
     "Oh, yes," the Tendo daughter confirmed solemnly. "If it
wasn't we wouldn't have so many `fiancees' crashing into our house
and racking up the repair bills."
     "Hey!" Ranma-chan protested as Nadoka blinked in confusion.
"Those aren't my fault!"
     "True," Nabiki conceded, "but you really shouldn't lead them
on like that."
     "I don't lead...!"
     "Stop!" Ranma-chan shut up and looked at her puzzled mother,
surprised. "Before you explain just WHAT you two are talking about,
I..." she inhaled, "would like to see my son."
     Ranma-chan swallowed, nodded, and picked up the kettle to pour
hot water upon her head. The familiar change occurred, increased
height, bigger frame, much less chest, and other things went on to
return Ranma to his normal form. He carefully placed the kettle
back on the floor as he nervously regarded his mother.
     Nadoka gasped. It was true! Ranko was really Ranma, her son!
Hand shaking, she hesitantly touched his face and he had to smile
at the wonder and amazement in her eyes. Confirming it really was
him, Nadoka pulled her son close to her and hugged him tightly. "My
son..." she breathed.
     "Mother," Ranma sighed gladly.
     "...you must commit seppuku," she finished sadly.
     Ranma instantly stiffened in shocked fright as a wide-eyed
Nabiki watched. Nadoka pulled away and saw his expression. Then she
smiled.
     "Just kidding, Ranma-chan," she said brightly and hugged him
again. "I'm glad you told me despite what you thought; it shows
great courage."
     "M-Mom!!" Ranma protested, but relaxed with a huge sigh of
relief. Nabiki chuckled at the look on his face before Ranma's
mother pulled away to look her son over with great enthusiasm.
     "My son," she said, pleased at the handsome young man she saw.
Her mood darkened. "It's that moronic husband of mine who should be
committing seppuku considering what he's done to you, but I'm
inclined to be lenient since he seems to have somehow done a fine
job otherwise."
     "A diamond in the rough, that's Ranma all right," Nabiki
commented as she switched towels on Darlene's head. The action
reminded Nadoka of the mage's presence.
     "But," Nadoka wondered, eyes blinking in puzzlement, "if Ranko
is Ranma, then who is Darlene?" Nabiki sighed.
     "That's another long story."
     "I'd like to hear it," Ranma's mother told her.
                              *****
     After two hours of telling Nadoka a whirlwind of information,
Ranma and his mother finally went downstairs. The sight below made
them pause.
     Akane was guarding the staircase, mallet ready on her
shoulder, while keeping an eye on her anxious father. Bert, in his
SkyKnight armour, had a nervously sweating Genma in a bearhug that
he couldn't escape from. He'd tried to. Many, many times. At the
sight of his wife, he froze and his face went white on seeing the
katana in Nadoka's hands.
     "Ranma!" Akane cried with a smile when she looked back at the
stairs. Ranma gave her a hidden wink, wanting his father to sweat
a little longer.
     "About time you finished," Bert groaned wearily, "my arms are
killing me!"
     "And your help is most appreciated, Mr. Vliet," Nadoka
politely thanked the person keeping her husband from running away.
"For keeping my husband from preventing me hearing the truth." She
turned her katana, Genma's eyes followed it like it was a deadly
snake. "Husband, you and I need to have a talk. Upstairs. Now."
     Bert gratefully released Ranma's father with a groan as Nadoka
grabbed the front of Genma's gi with one hand and forced him to
accompany her. The red-head gladly dismissed his armour and
stretched them. "You off the hook?"
     Ranma nodded, eyes bright. "She decided seppuku wasn't
needed."
     "That's GREAT news!" Akane cried. "How about I make supper to
celebrate?"
     "I didn't avoid getting killed by my mother just so your
cooking could do it!" Ranma protested, making Akane's battle ki
glow ominously. "You can't cook anyway, remember?"
     "RRAANNNMMAA NNOOO BBBAAAKKKAAAA!!!" Akane shouted and
malleted the hapless Ranma through the roof.
     "I, uh, think he meant Professor Miyabi told you not to cook,
Akane," Bert told the short-haired girl, who flushed with
embarrassment. "Remember?"
     "Oops," she said meekly.

Part Seven - Rejoinings 
-----------------------

     Images. Dizziness. Boiling heat. All had been confusing.
     Then there had been a blissful darkness.
     Now...
     Darlene's eyes snapped open, alert and aware for the first
time in two days, but was prevented from looking around by a sudden
coughing fit that threatened to turn her lungs inside out.
     "Easy, Darlene," someone soothed and waited for the fit to
pass before giving the weakened red-head a glass of water, which
was carefully sipped in case the coughs came back. Then the young
mage looked at who had given her the much-needed liquid and would
have started had she not been so tired.
     "Auntie... Saotome?" she asked weakly. Was she hallucinating?
She remembered the fight up to when that weird energy invaded her
male body and caused some incredible pain, then nothing.
     Ranma's mother smiled. "No, dear. I'm really here. I came to
visit, but I've been helping take care of you for the last couple
of days." Darlene's eyes widened in shock, then closed.
     "Days?" she sighed. "I guess that explains why I feel so
lousy."
     "You had a bad fever," Nadoka explained. "And have been
delirious until a few hours ago when it broke."
     Darlene smiled at the older woman from the mattress. "Thanks,
Auntie Saotome." Then she blinked. "You called me Darlene?"
     Nadoka's smile was a mixture of mischievousness and
gratefulness. "Yes, I did. And I should be thanking you for keeping
what I said about my son private." The young mage stared at her in
confusion.
     "What?"
     "I know Ranma is `Ranko'." Nadoka had to quickly place a
calming hand on Darlene's shoulder as she tried to get up in a
panic, but need not have worried as the red-head helplessly
collapsed back into a prone position. "It's all right," Nadoka
reassured the worried mage. "I did mean what I said."
     "So you know about me too?"
     "Yes."
     "Oh." Darlene mentally chewed on that before looking up at the
gently smiling woman. "I didn't tell him because I thought it was
best he decided on his own. I'm... sorry if it kept you two apart
longer."
     "No, you did the right thing," Nadoka reassured her, then her
face grew worried. "But there is something you should know,
Darlene."
     "Hm?"
     "Doctor Tofu and a Professor Miyabi came over after your fight
with that young prince Herb as Akane had called both. The doctor
said the fever should break but the more... worrisome part was what
that woman Miyabi told us."
     Darlene didn't like the sound of this. "Go on."
     "She told us that your body was infected with something called
Chaos and that your body could handle it." Actually, the woman told
us she was amazed Darlene's body was able to survive, much less
contain it, but everyone agreed not to tell the red-head that. "As
it is, she said it seemed to be disappearing at a very slow rate,
but that strong emotions will reverse this."
     "Oh great," the red-head moaned.
     "Until then, you can't change back to being male."
     Darlene stared up at wise eyes. "Wh-what was that??"
     "She said your body must be reacting to the intrusion by
staying in the form that can handle it." Ranma's mother placed a
gentle hand on Darlene's shoulder again. "This one. And you can't
change back until the Chaos is gone."
     The prone mage blinked once, twice, then the tears started
forming. Nadoka gathered the younger woman into her arms as the
sobs started coming and held the distressed mage until the she
calmed down.
     "I don't... don't know why I'm crying," Darlene murmured from
inside Nadoka's embrace. "You did say it was fading." The older
woman released her to smile into Darlene's eyes, swollen from
crying.
     "You needed to," Nadoka replied. Darlene chuckled weakly.
     "I guess..." The young mage didn't protest as Nadoka placed
her back down on the mattress. "Say, how DID you find out anyway?"
     Ranma's mother shook her head as she stood up. "I'll have to
let Nabiki tell you the story, she should be coming soon. I've
decided to take Ranma and my husband back to our house. The Tendos
must have had a hard time with them staying here so long."
     "Really?"
     "Yes. I hope you'll drop by once you're feeling better. Kasumi
will be able to take care of you now that you're awake."
     "I heal fast," Darlene reassured her, then the mage's stomach
grumbled and she blushed. "Just feed me and see how fast I'm out of
this bed."
     Nadoka smiled. "Till next time then." She slipped out of the
room.
     Darlene looked up at the ceiling and sighed, then grimaced.
Gods, I feel terrible, she thought wearily. So now I'm sick AND
stuck. All this because some bloody dragon who wanted to take over
the world. That STUPID...
     Her thoughts took a different turn after a few minutes of
nasty graphic visualizations of what she wanted to do with a
certain dragon and his relatives. So Chaos is in me now? she
wondered after calming down. Makes a weird sort of sense that I can
handle it, magic must be somewhat compatible to Chaos. And psi is
-not at all compatible. Ow. She winced at the memory. Curious, she
tried a spell.
     "Bright light," she whispered. All she got was a swirl of
convulsing brilliance before it vanished. Not what she had
visualized at all. "Scratch that idea," the young mage grumbled at
her spell's failure. The Chaos must be disrupting my magic.
     Juuuust great.
                              *****
     Kasumi's cooking took the edge off her hunger and she found
she could sit up again. Still, she wondered at the house's silence
until the elder Tendo sister told her that Soun, Akane, and the
Saotomes were at Ranma's house.
     "But what HAPPENED?" Darlene pleaded to Kasumi but the door
opened before she could speak and Nabiki and Bert came in. Bert
smirked.
     "Now you know how I felt," he chuckled. Darlene looked at him
sourly, remembering when the tall red-head had been in a weakened
condition.
     "Oh thanks, Bert," she responded sarcastically. "I've been
laid up like this before, thank you very much. I didn't need the
reminder."
     Nabiki sat down by Darlene and felt the red-head's forehead.
"You seem better," she said offhandedly, but the mage sensed her
concern and worry.
     "I am, Nabiki," she reassured her girlfriend, then sighed.
"Other than being stuck like this for a while. Look, could SOMEONE
tell me what happened when I was out of it?!?"
     "Calm down, Darlene, remember about the Chaos," Nabiki warned
and the red-head settled down, reluctantly. "I'll tell you all
about it now." Bert, now leaning on a wall, rolled his eyes.
     "Oh boy..." he sighed as she related what had occurred.
                              *****
     After the tale was complete, Darlene thought about what Nabiki
and Bert had told her. "Well, at least Ranma doesn't need to hide
anymore."
     "And less repair bills for the dojo," Nabiki added wryly.
     "You're forgetting Mr. Destruct-o-Bot here," Darlene said,
grinning impishly at Bert, who sputtered at the comment.
     "Hey! I object to that slander!"
     "What about MY apartment?"
     "That was that moronic prince's fault!"
     "Sure, sure. Place the blame on someone else."
     "THAT'S..." Bert began to protest angrily when he noticed
Nabiki looking amused and Darlene trying hard not to break out
laughing. "Hey, now wait a just minute here..." His indignant look
sent Darlene laughing and giggling. Bert sighed and looked up
pleadingly. "Why me?"
     Someone else walked into the room, and Darlene choked on her
laughter when she saw who.
     "Hello, husband," Lotion said, smiling hopefully.
     The weakened red-head didn't faint, but she wished she had.
"Um, hi, Lotion," she replied nervously, glancing at a
neutral-seeming Nabiki. The amazon magic-user turned to the middle
Tendo sister.
     "The week we agreed upon is up, but," she glanced at Darlene's
frankly pale and weak-looking face, "now is not the time. I heard
about your fight, husband. I... didn't like to hear you were so
ill." She smiled radiantly. "I'm glad you are feeling better."
     Bert couldn't resist a snipe. "For someone who can't change
back or cast magic for a while, sure," he drawled. Lotion turned to
him, started.
     "Truly?" the amazon said.
     "Uh..." Bert saw the laser look he was getting from Nabiki and
Darlene's paler face and realized he had just done. Oh shit, he
thought, I think I put my foot in it. Unfortunately, his expression
was all the answer Lotion needed..
     The amazon turned and knelt by Darlene, considered her
would-be husband and said, "Do you want me to help care for you?"
she asked the red-head.
     "Do I want...?" Darlene said, amazed. Nabiki seemed surprised
as well.
     "You are sick, but if I distress you then I will accept your
decision to go," Lotion said, smiling still.
     "And feel like a heel after," Darlene sighed. She looked up at
Nabiki for support and help. Her girlfriend grimaced.
     "It would help Kasumi's workload," she said reluctantly. "And
you shouldn't be sick long."
     Not comforted, Darlene turned to Lotion and saw an honest
desire to help. "All right," she said, not a little nervously.
     "Don't worry," Lotion reassured her, "I won't push you.
Professor Miyabi told me about the Chaos and I know how distressed
my trying would make you." She smiled wickedly. "I can wait."
     "Well, that's the second item I need to worry about," Darlene
sighed. Everyone else in the room blinked.
     "What's the first?" Bert asked curiously.
     "Well..." Darlene blushed. "I like hot showers and baths."
     "So?"
     "Think about it, Bert."
     He did. Comprehension dawned. "Oh... OH!!" Now it was his turn
to flush. Nabiki and Lotion merely looked amused.
     "I'm sure you'll survive," Nabiki said dryly. "Even with the
additional problem."
     "Problem?" Darlene said.
     "Well, for some strange reason the tub cracked in the house
yesterday. In addition, my apartment's water system is being
checked, as is yours. So we'll have to go to the public baths
today." She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. "Soon."
     Darlene's eyes widened, then slumped her head forward. She
didn't even react when Lotion patted her head sympathetically.
     Bert was trying not to think about the whole thing.
                              *****
     Strong arms tenderly placed an exhausted red-head onto her
futon in the Tendo house. Darlene tiredly looked up at the
concerned Lotion. The mage couldn't find it in her to be nervous of
the amazon after she and Nabiki helped her with cleaning up, eyes
closed when she could. The middle Tendo sister had left Darlene in
Lotion's care somewhat reluctantly, but Nabiki had other matters
needing attention and felt Lotion wouldn't try anything funny.
     Still, getting up and about had wiped out the red-head, even
relying on their support most of the time. Her body was slowly
reconciling to the Chaos as it dissipated, but full mobility was
going to take some time.
     "Thanks, Lotion," Darlene sighed, relieved to be lying down.
     The brown-haired amazon smiled as she pulled the bedsheet over
the prone girl's body. "It was no problem, airen, I enjoyed it."
     "I just bet you did," Darlene muttered to herself.
     Hearing that, Lotion smiled impishly, but didn't comment.
Instead, she stood after making sure everything was in order and
walked for the door, saying, "I have to get some things that will
make you feel better. Are you hungry?" She turned, puzzled, when
there was no immediate reply and saw Darlene had her eyes closed,
breathing slowly. Lotion smiled warmly at the now-sleeping mage
whose face was peacefully composed.
     "Maybe later," the amazon quietly giggled and carefully closed
the door as she left.
     Minutes later, the same door slowly opened and a small figure
zipped into the room, speedily shutting the door behind it. The
intruder grinned on seeing the slumbering form and eagerly scooted
up beside it.
     "Ah," Happousai sighed lecherously, eyes roving over the
red-head's blanket-covered form as he clasped his hands together,
"a sleeping beauty to keep a poor, lonely old man warm." He paused,
looking solemn for a moment, then his expression changed into one
more suited to the fiendishly lewd Master, drool hanging from a
corner of his gleeful grin. "Sweet!!"
     Hesitantly, as he was still unsure over how helpless the young
woman was, Happousai pulled a bit of the cover off the unmoving
form. When Darlene didn't move, he gained confidence and pulled the
rest of it down her feminine form. His eyes widened with delight
over the pyjamas she had managed to change into. They were made of
a purple, light material and made not baggy enough to hide her
womanly curves.
     And still she had not moved. Happousai nodded; the girl was
indeed worn out from her experiences. She would need some caring
company in bed to recover her strength and it would do much to
repay him for denying the poor Master closer examination of her
female side.
     In a flash, but done with exceptional care so as not to deny
himself this chance, Happousai happily placed himself on top of
Darlene, nestling his head right between her assets. She shifted
slightly, but didn't wake as the old lech was light and she too
tired.
     Happi was in heaven. It was exceedingly rare for him to be
able to do this. The last time was Akane, except that girl acted
like a pro-wrestler in her sleep and the incident was a painful, if
briefly enjoyable, memory. Wanting to test his boundaries, the
ancient lecher ran an experienced finger down her front in a
precise manner. She shivered, indicating excellent sensitivity.
Much more than he'd been able to get from Ranma, in fact.
     Which was odd; when a young woman, Darlene didn't act like she
noticed such things that much and acted more like his heir did.
Perhaps it was that irrational fear of such sensual matters when
female she had acquired somehow. Bolder now, seeing she hadn't
woken, his hand slid toward the oh-so-tempting cloth-covered mound
beside his head.
     The red-head didn't move until he expertly ran a finger on the
underside of one breast, then she shifted and sighed but was still
not waking up. Overjoyed, the old pervert kept it up, switching
sides often and basking in the rising heat his depraved actions
were causing. Then he froze in sudden fear when he noticed
something.
     Darlene was glowing! Literally!
     Her purple aura was faintly visible and shot through with an
eye-wrenching coloration. After his eavesdropping, Happousai
realized it was the Chaos altering her normal aura. The red-headed
mage was breathing heavily by now and, amazingly, her eyes were
half-lidded.
     But she wasn't awake. Instead, her semi-opened eyes were
glowing the same way as the rest of her, but a little brighter. A
little panicked at this weird reaction, Happousai noticed her arms
had been positioned in mid-grab above the motionless Master. He
realized they had halted when he had instinctively stopped, sensing
danger to his hentai self.
     Happousai sweated and kept absolutely still. The mage's eyes
were watching him, he noticed now, but he knew she wasn't truly
aware by the sensual smile her lips had formed. Normally, he would
have enjoyed being hugged by an attractive female, but all his
ecchi senses told him he was in danger, terrible danger. As her
breathing slowed, the glow began to fade. Darlene's arms went back
to their resting positions and her eyes closed.
     The old master went limp with relief; the danger, whatever it
had been, was gone. What, by the Great Panty, had caused THAT?? Was
it something to do with the Chaos inside her, a naturally
instinctive reaction, or something else entirely? Happousai
wondered what would have happened to him if he hadn't stopped.
Fried? Disintegrated? Turned to stone? At least that way there
would be a monument to his adoring female public(for bashing
practice!).
     In any case, he could easily settle for merely keeping his
hands on her treasures. Happousai nestled in for a more comfortable
position on her soft body and...
     "WHAT YOU DO WITH HUSBAND?!?!"
     The old pervert's head snapped up to see an angry, amazon mage
glaring at him with fire leaping in her eyes. He turned his head
and saw Darlene had snapped awake at the bellow, unaware of what
had happened previously. She stared at him, then blue eyes narrowed
as she furiously clenched her teeth.
     "Uh..." Happousai sweated as the two magic-users glared at
him, realizing he was in deep trouble now. "Just checking pillows,"
he said lamely, goosing the two nearest bumps available. Darlene's
eyes widened.
     "THOSE AREN'T PILLOWS!!!" she screamed, finding enough energy
to WHAP! the old pervert off her and towards her nurse. An outraged
Lotion now had a bo in her hands and furiously slammed him into the
floorboards with the wooden staff. Multiple times, and with
commentary too.
     "You!" WHAM! "not!" SNAP! "touch!" CRUNCH! "HUSBAND!!" SNAP!
CRACKLE! POP! She stopped, much to the groaning pervert's relief,
and sang a flurry of musical notes. When she finished, Happousai
found himself immobile and the glowering amazon distastefully
picked the little old man off the floor. Embarrassed, Lotion looked
at the tired red-head, who had lost her adrenaline rush fairly
quickly. "I am so sorry," she said miserably. "I let this molester
get into this room while you were unable to defend yourself."
     "Happousai is a martial arts Master," Darlene sighed wearily,
trying to forget what he had just done. "If you don't know how
determined he can be, get Cologne to tell you about him."
     "I'll put wards up this time!" Lotion declared, desperate to
make up for her failure, then noticed Darlene was looking at her bo
with an old expression. "What?"
     "Have you ever heard of a pinyata?"
                              *****

     Bert moved to Darlene's apartment during the wait, not wanting
to be around the `target zone' as he put it. It also allowed him to
work non-stop on the new computer, and with no Sylia to stop him he
had a field day, or rather, days. Simulations and diagrams for new
equipment filled the screen as he pounded away on the keyboard.
     Eventually, however, even the gallons of coffee he consumed
weren't enough and his heavy-lidded eyes shut one last time as he
went to sleep for a long, long time.
     
                              *****
     Bert's eyes cracked open. Brthmrumphwhere am I? Sleep-filled
eyes blinked once and he noticed the right portion of his face was
embedded on a keyboard. With a tired groan he pushed himself
upright in his chair and rubbed his hands over a bleary face.
     "Ohhhh boy," he sighed, feeling unwholesome things in his
mouth as saliva(whoa, new thing) began flowing to wash it away.
"Now I remember why Sylia doesn't want me doing that."
     The computer had turned itself off after the long period of
inactivity(the AI had heard snores though the microphone; at that
point you don't need a lot of smarts to figure out what happened to
your operator) so Bert booted it on again before venturing outside
to put something other than coffee(well, that too) into his
grumbling stomach.
     Three surprised faces looked his way as he emerged and,
zombie-like, disappeared into the bathroom for a long shower.
     "Was that Twister's friend?" Morio asked Yasuro, who rubbed
his head. Hito was still blinking at what he had seen.
     "It looked like Bert. I think," he added dubiously. The
computer wiz shook his head. "He was in the room so long I'd
forgotten about him being in there."
     Showered and generally feeling better, but extremely hungry,
Bert went back into Twister's room and got dressed in clothes that
did not fight back. Then he made a bee-line for the kitchen. Damn,
I'm famished! he thought even as he saw the Yasuro and two people
he was unfamiliar with. "Hi all," Bert greeted them as he prepared
a fresh batch of coffee. Nothing like getting your priorities
straight after all.
     "You shocked us when you came out," Yasuro said with a grin.
"We wondered if `it' was human."
     "Not until my coffee," Bert growled, eyes fixed on where fresh
coffee would emerge. Coffee, sustenance, same thing. "What are you
doing this early?"
     "Late," Morio corrected, smirking. "We were just trying to
persuade Yasuro to help us with, er, something."
     "Uh huh. Fine," the red-head said noncommittedly as coffee!!
started to flow. Bert had heard all about the two hentais from
Twister and had privately disapproved of such antics. It just went
head-on against his chivalrous nature to think much of lechers. 
     Hmmmm....
     Generally feeling vile and evil-minded, which was perfect,
Bert snapped his fingers and headed for the door. "Going to see if
the closest store has something. I'll be back soon," he said as he
closed the door. He walked down the hallway and stopped at another
door. Making sure he was unwatched, Bert checked if the door was
open. It was and he slipped inside, shutting the door behind him.
     He turned on the lights and his eyes widened at the posters he
saw everywhere on the walls, then he shut them firmly, face
flaming. Teeth gritted, he pressed on.
     "I am in unholy lands, I will fear no perversion," he muttered
under his breath. Peeking carefully around he eventually found what
seemed to be the hentai duo's plans written on paper. When he
finished, his mouth was gaping.
     "Good Lord!! They can't be serious!!" Narrowing his eyes, he
turned towards the equipment the two planned to use. Slowly, his
lips stretched into a wicked grin. 
     "Two can play at this game," he chuckled and quickly went to
work. He would not have much time.
     But it would be worth it!

                              *****

     Two hours later, Bert returned to the apartment, whistling
cheerfully. Yasuro, near capitulation, noticed his empty arms.
     "Didn't find what you wanted?"     
     "Nope," Bert agreed as he went over to pour himself a large
mug of coffee, Morio and Hito's eyes widened at the size of the
cup. "I'll look somewhere else later." Still whistling, he went
back into Twister's room and shut the door behind himself.
     "Odd fellow," Morio mused, rising from the couch. Hito quickly
followed him to the apartment door where they turned to face
Yasuro. "You WILL think about it?" The programmer tiredly nodded,
evoking knowing grins from the duo before they left.
     "How long do you figure?" Morio asked his fellow hentai as
they headed back to their room.
     "Three days?"
     "That's about right." The leader of the two smiled as he
opened the door to their own apartment. "Yasuro never could hold
out more than that. HANH?!??!" he shouted, startled at what he saw
in their apartment. Beside him, Hito gaped.
     Piles of stolen ladies underwear were all over the inside of
their apartment instead of being safely hidden in their closets.
The duo saw small box-like machines attached to the ceiling of the
room just before the trigger connected to the door activated them.
     The boxy things quickly started producing a chemical fog, a
fact that sent trills of horror through Morio and Hito. Hito would
have jumped in, but Morio's restraining hand prevented him.
     "The mist!" he shouted, slamming the door shut. "Remember?"
     Indeed the horrified Hito did. Morio had concocted a non-toxic
chemical to dissolve artificial fabrics like nylon, polyester, and
others. It would have been perfect for swimsuits and the like, but
now he became teary eyed when he thought of their painfully-
collected hoard dissolving like wet cotton-candy. 
     "Who could have done this?" Morio gritted as the hiss of the
machines continued behind the door. "Who...?" Hito gasped and
gripped his arm, making Morio blink at his friend's white face.
     "I was experimenting with the cellulose dissolver in some of
them!" the sweating engineer gulped.
     Morio's eyes widened as the implications of that fact occurred
to him. A groaning noise from behind the door started up as the two
started running for the exit. By good luck, as Bert had no idea
about the paper and wood destroyer, he had only selected one
containing the chemical. He would not have used it if he had known,
for while the chemical destroyed all photos and posters in the
hentai duo's room, the floor was made of wooden boards.
     The creaking noise grew.

                              *****

     The thunderous crashing made Bert start and turn. 
     What the HELL was THAT?!?! he thought incredulously, unknowing
of his part in the origin of the noise. It quieted so he shrugged
and went back to the computer screen.
     Ah well, nothing to do with me.

Part Eight - Broken Heart! Chaos Unbound!!
------------------------------------------

     A week went by and Darlene's condition improved swiftly.
However, Nabiki thought as she lay on her bed, hands behind her
head, I'm still not sure what to do about our little `situation'.
     By `situation' she meant Lotion. The amazon magic-user had
helped Darlene considerably while she was ill and Nabiki
unfortunately too busy to do much about it. Even worse, she found
herself reluctantly liking the brown-haired amazon. She more
considerate than Shampoo and was confident her `husband' would
accept her in time, WITHOUT resorting to magic. It was just not in
her nature to do so.
     The aggravating part was that it was working; Darlene was more
at ease with Lotion now, but shied away from any sexual overtures
the amazon accidentally made before realizing it.
     And that Chaos stuff was almost gone since Darlene hadn't
gotten upset with anything. Also, she had been doing some rather
complex programming on her new computer to pass the time and the
Chaos didn't like that one bit. Too orderly, Nabiki supposed.
     Suddenly, she sat up and got off her bed, following an impulse
to go visit Twister's apartment and see how things were; Nabiki had
found out if she didn't while he was in female form he often forgot
to call.
     Besides, she thought with a smile, I like surprising him...
er... her. Nabiki grimaced; one day she'd not find the constant sex
changing of her boyfriend confusing.
     But, she felt certain of this, not anytime soon.
                              *****
     "What do you mean Darlene's not here?" Nabiki demanded
incredulously of the nervous Yasuro as she entered the apartment.
"She's been cooped up in here for days so she didn't run into
anything that might upset her. That's what Professor Miyabi told
her to do."
     "That's why she went out for a walk," Yasuro explained as
Nabiki sat on the couch. "Fresh air, or something, she said before
she went bonkers from staying in the room all the time." He
chuckled as his guest rolled her eyes. "If Darlene hadn't, she'd be
stuck in here another two weeks after exploding, not that it would
really matter to her."
     Nabiki blinked; that last bit was odd. "Pardon?"
     "Considering how long she's going to live," he went on
blithely, "two weeks isn't much, right?"
     "What ARE you talking about?"
     He saw her confusion and belated understanding dawned. Uh oh,
Twister hasn't told her yet. "Um... nothing really. Darlene's just
been telling me some stuff to pass time. Nothing important or
anything."
     Nabiki stood and came over to ominously loom over the sickly
smiling Yasuro. "Somehow," she said levelly, "I doubt this is
`nothing'." Leaning forwards to put her hands on his desk, she
pinned him between her arms and put their faces a mere few inches
apart. "Tell me. Everything. Now."
     He swallowed.
                              *****
     Darlene walked into the apartment, smiling cheerfully in her
jeans and white blouse. Her mood was buoyant and barely registered
the scene inside as she exhaled gratefully. The walk had relieved
a lot of the stuffiness she had been feeling.
     "That was JUST what I needed! I..." her voice trailed off when
she noticed Yasuro was looking at her with a
about-to-be-hanged-man's expression and the unexpected presence of
Nabiki. Who was glaring rather forcefully at Darlene, to the
red-head's confusion. "What's wrong?"
     "'What's wrong?'" Nabiki grated out, her normally cool
composure cracking from what Yasuro had just finished telling her.
"Tell me, just WHEN were you planning on telling ME?"
     "I... don't know what you mean," Darlene answered, honestly
confused. "Tell you what?"
     Nabiki stepped forward a pace. "Perhaps the fact that you were
injured rather BADLY in that other universe?" Darlene paled as she
took another step. "Or maybe telling me how LONG it took you to
recover and the EXTENT of those injuries?" Twister's girlfriend was
glowing an ominous blue by now as she stepped forward again.
Darlene backed into the wall beside the slightly ajar door,
swallowing nervously. "Or that you had an examination over there
which revealed something rather IMPORTANT?" Nabiki placed herself
so that she could glare down at the pale-faced mage. She was
visibly shaking to keep her emotions in check, and bit her bottom
lip before telling the worst of it.
     "Or maybe it was THAT YOU WERE NEARLY IMMORTAL NOW??!?!?" she
shouted at the trembling Darlene. A single tear rolled down her
cheek before she collected herself. "I guess I wasn't important
enough to you," she said cruelly, knowing it wasn't so but didn't
care in her anger. "Good-bye." Nabiki opened the door and left
without another word.
     Darlene stared blankly into open space, shivering, making
Yasuro uneasy until she shook her head violently, spraying some
tears around. "NABIKI!! WAIT!!!" the red-head desperately shouted
as she ran out in pursuit.
     Yasuro swallowed. Suddenly, he remembered about the Chaos and
that Darlene and Bert had mentioned it grew stronger on dark
emotions. And from what Twister/Darlene had told him, Twister's
female side could be VERY emotional. This was Not Good. He ran for
the phone and flipped through the phone numbers, desperate to call
Professor Miyabi.
     He knew there was going to be trouble.
                              *****
     The desperate red-head caught up to stiffly-walking Nabiki
outside the building. "Nabiki!!" she cried as she ran up to the
brown-haired young woman. "I didn't..."
     "Didn't WHAT?" Nabiki demanded, keeping her eyes straight
ahead and ignoring the shorter Darlene. "Didn't THINK? Probably!"
     "It's not what you think!" Darlene nearly ran into her
girlfriend as she furiously turned to face the red-headed mage.
     "I don't CARE anymore," Nabiki spat angrily, eyes burning.
"Since I'm obviously not more important enough than your roommate
or even a near-stranger like Bert, then I have to conclude that you
really don't think of me as a part of your life. So I'd better
think the same in return." Darlene's expression fell even more, but
Nabiki ignored it in her fury. "It's fairly simple, isn't it? You
even have a spare girlfriend who'd LOVE to have you, and who CARES
what form she likes! Maybe you'll think her more important because
of that and actually confide in her! More than you did with me!"
     "Nabiki..." Darlene's voice broke.
     "DON'T `Nabiki' me!!" she hissed, cutting the other young
woman off. "As far as I'm concerned, this relationship is over! I
don't want to SEE you anywhere near my family's house, or my
apartment, or ME ever again!! And don't follow me like some lost
puppy or you'll regret it!" The raging Nabiki strode off, leaving
a distraught Darlene staring after her.
     Then the red-head collapsed to hands and knees as the full
impact of Nabiki's cruel words hit her. Her eyes closed from the
pain as the tears flowed. Nabiki!! she wailed inside.
     Inside her, the fading spark that was the last remnant of
Chaos energy began to grow.
     And grow, and grow.
                              *****
     An anxious Miyabi appeared in a burst of light, startling
Yasuro who was just hanging up the phone.
     "Where are they?" she demanded impatiently.
     "They ran out the door ten minutes before I managed to find
your number," he replied. Miyabi sucked in her breath.
     "We HAVE to find Darlene! From your description of what
happened the Chaos will feed on her current emotional state and
grow to an unknown degree."
     "What will that do to Darlene?" Yasuro said, dreading the
answer.
     "I wish I knew," she replied, extremely concerned. "I'll need
help for this if I can't find her soon. You stay here in case they
return." The mage vanished before Yasuro could reply.
     He sighed. It was about the only thing he could do.
                              *****
     The pretty, red-headed young woman was a pitiful sight as she
walked uncaring through the crowds on the sidewalk. Her expression
was of utter loss and depression. People took pity and avoided her
as she listlessly walked towards an unknown goal, arms limp at her
sides.
     She didn't know where she was going, nor did she care with the
hollow feeling aching enormously inside her heart. Nabiki. Know she
knew how Ryouga felt. The odd warmth growing inside her was
disregarded entirely.
     What did it matter?
                              *****
     With the Saotomes not living in the house, Bert's presence was
not such the imposition anymore. Especially since Ranma and Genma
usually ate enough for another two people. It also gave Akane
someone to talk to as Ranma's absent presence made eating at home
feel lonely, even with Kasumi and her father.
     "So, how's Ranma doing?" Bert asked her.
     "I think he's glad to finally be able to talk to his mother
again without having to be `Ranko'." Akane sniffed. "At least he
won't be running into me at home anymore."
     "Just wait till you're married to Ranma, daughter. Hahaha!"
Soun told her cheerfully. He wilted under Akane's glare.
     "Ahem." Bert tried to get off that topic. "How's the magic
going?"
     "Well..." Akane shifted uncomfortably. "The Professor won't
let be try anything out of her own kitchen. Something about keeping
whatever I try under control since I'm still learning."
     "Damage control is more like it," Bert muttered quietly and
luckily Akane didn't hear him.
     As if mentioning her name conjured her, a flustered Miyabi
appeared in the yard in a flare of white light. Surprised, everyone
turned to her but she spoke before anyone could comment.
     "Bert, get your armour on and get ready to do an aerial
search," she ordered the startled red-head. "Akane, I need you to
get anyone you can who can defend themselves and search for
Darlene."
     "Why? What's the matter, Prof?" Bert asked the magic-user with
growing alarm.
     "Nabiki and Darlene seem to have had a very major argument,"
Akane and Kasumi gasped, "and now I can't find Darlene. The raw
Chaos in her makes it impossible to find her by magic." Her face
grew grim. "And by the interference I'm getting, it's growing."
     Bert swore, that what he had briefly seen of that stuff had
made him uneasy was an understatement, and leaped to his feet. A
moment's concentration and his armour surrounded him after a purple
flash. "I'm on it!" he yelled as he ran into the yard, jets
starting as wings snapped out. With turbines howling, the Knight
Saber flew off into the sky,
     "I'll get Ukyou," Akane exclaimed as she too leaped up. "Could
you call the Nekohanten, Kasumi? Thanks!" The black-haired girl
disappeared in a swirl of dust as she ran off. Her older sister
went to get the phone. Soun was left blinking stupidly at the
table.
     "I just hope we won't be too late," Miyabi said to the empty
air before vanishing the same way she had arrived.
                              *****
     The policeman stood in front of the apathetic, red-headed
woman who was ignoring him completely as she leaned on a store's
window. People walked by, but didn't bother to stop as the officer
wondered what to do. The woman didn't look or smell drunk, nor did
she have the drawn-out look of a drug user. It was a puzzle.
     "Ma'am," he finally asked, "you're in a bad place to stop. Is
there something wrong?"
     Darlene stirred and blinked at the officer. "Wrong?"
     "Yes, ma'am, you seem... upset." When she started crying, he
was at a loss.
     "She doesn't want to see me again!" the mage cried, drawing
more people's attention and making the policeman uncomfortable.
     He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Your daughter?" he asked.
     Darlene started and broke off in mid-sob to stare at the man
in front of her. "Daughter?" she whispered, confused.
     "Is it someone else?"
     The red-head whirled to stare at her reflection in the mirror
and drew back a little at what she found. She looked older! More
than a decade older! More like two! Her hair was longer, face more
mature, and taller than she had been this morning. Looking at her
clothes, she noticed their slight baggy-ness had vanished and they
now fit her snugly. Finally registering the hot core of energy
burning inside her, Darlene almost panicked when she realized the
Chaos force inside her had grown enormously. It must be the reason
she had mysteriously aged.
     Then she slumped; what did it matter? Her depression hit full
force again. Unknowing of the turmoil within her, the policeman
placed his hand on her shoulder again, more forcefully this time.
     "Let's go to my station and we can talk about it there," he
advised.
     "Leave me alone," Darlene responded dully.
     "Ma'am, I'm afraid I have to insist."
     Anger flared like a nova within her; why wouldn't this idiot
listen?! Faster than the startled officer believed possible, she
whirled around, grabbed his shirt, and easily lifted the man off
the ground. Frightened pedestrians backed away from the angry
woman. "I said LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" she yelled at him furiously and
tossed him onto his back, knocking the wind out of him. Darlene
stalked away, people drawing away from her.
     The officer painfully got back up and pulled out his
transceiver for backup as he followed the obviously dangerous
woman.
                              *****
     Flying high above the city, Bert felt helpless. How the heck
could he find one single red-head?? It was a virtual needle in the
haystack! he cursed to himself.
     "Patience, young one. Find her you will."
     "Aw, no..." Bert groaned as he heard the oddly familiar voice.
Not THIS again! "Who ARE you?!" he demanded.
     "You wish to know, hm?" the funny voice cackled.
     "Damn straight I do!!"
     There was a pause.
     "I am... Yoda."
     There was an even longer pause as the name sank into Bert's
dumbfounded mind.
     "Ohhhhhhh ssshhhhhhiiiiiitttttt......"
                              *****
     The red-headed woman with a large streak of white hair down
the middle of her head glared at the five policemen surrounding
her. They were warier than they had been at the start as they had
tried apprehending her once already. Most of them were heavily
built and the woman smaller than any of them, but she had proven
that was no indication of her being helpless. Also, they had been
looking at her long enough to notice the rapid aging from her hair
turning from red to white.
     "Ma'am, you're obviously sick," one of them said soothingly as
force wasn't working.
     "Do I LOOK sick?!" Darlene demanded, stomping her foot down
and making a hole in the street. Some of the officers swallowed at
the display of strength.
     "No, ma'am," the officer admitted, "but maybe you could follow
us to the station and..."
     "Can you idiots not take a hint?!" she demanded, clenching her
hands. "LEAVE ME ALONE!!" A disturbing-looking aura started forming
around her and the police stepped back a bit.
     Reluctantly, they stepped forward and started closing in on
the lone woman. "I'm sorry, but we can't let you do that, ma'am."
     Before any officer could react, the raging woman leaped up an
impossibly high forty feet, and cried out her attack above the
startled officers' below.
     Ranma had taught her the Mouko Takabisha, which drew on a
person's confidence, but it was based on another technique. That
one was more powerful if the person using it had despair in their
heart and rage in their veins.
     Guess which one Darlene used.
     "SHISHI HOUKOU DAN!!!"
     A beam of roiling energy shot from between her palms, her
ki-energy corrupted by the Chaos within, and struck the street
where she had stood before. A blinding light erupted from the
impact point as the destructive forces were unleashed. The
explosion rocked buildings for blocks and was heard for miles
around.
     Unnoticed by Darlene, the panicked officers had vanished
before the shockwave reached them.
                              *****
     Miyabi sweated as her spell snatched the policemen away from
death. Behind her, several of her more advanced students aided
their mentor with a mystic link. It was difficult though; the
disruptive influence of Chaos via Darlene was permeating the entire
area and teleportive spells were shaky at best. The scrying spell
they had used to witness the red-head's strike wasn't much better
off.
     "Can't we do anything, Professor?" one asked quietly.
     "Chaos' influence over Darlene has already become too strong
for our spells to directly affect her," Miyabi sighed. "She only
knows me and Natsumi well, the rest of you, or even us, would only
trigger something we might regret."
     "Why is she aging like that yet becoming stronger?" another
spoke up.
     "Darlene was changed in some odd ways and the Chaos is forcing
her body to age as it gains more of an influence over her." She
turned towards the scrying image.
     "I only hope her friends can calm her down before it goes too
far."
                              *****
     The streets were empty; the police had emptied out the area
before the explosion. That didn't stop Ranma and the others as they
ran towards the center of the explosion. Akane, Ukyou, Ryouga
(amazingly he had been in Ucchan's), Shampoo, and Mousse trailed
behind the pig-tailed young man. A wall of rubble blocked the view
ahead.
     "Hey, look!" Akane exclaimed and SkyKnight's flight system
roared as he dropped to the top of the pile. The Knight Saber had
obviously seen the blast from above. "Bert!" she cried.
     "Come up, quick!" he directed.
     Everyone leaped up and landed in a line to either side of the
armoured figure and gazed in shock at the crater on the other side.
It was wider than the street and as a result had knocked down a few
buildings. In the lowest part of the crater a person knelt, head
bowed.
     "That... Darlene?" Shampoo asked hesitantly.
     "Darlene!!" Akane shouted.
     A white-haired head looked up at the company looking at her
and glared at them as the body connected to it stood up. Her
snow-white hair had lengthened considerably as her mature face
looked up at them. It wasn't wrinkled, but it held the cast of age.
Her body was that of a fit twenty-five or thirty year old.
     Bert was rocked at the changes in his friend. Good Lord! he
thought. What the hell's going on with her?!
     "GO AWAY!!" Darlene shouted furiously. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE OR
I'LL HURT YOU!!" Her face looked almost demonic as she glared at
them.
     "What do we do now?" Ranma wondered uneasily.
     "Why not Mousse wrap angry Darlene up, we knock out, then take
to great-grandmother to cure?" Shampoo suggested.
     Bert was uneasy with that plan. "I don't think..." he began,
unfortunately, Mousse jumped the gun in order to please his beloved
Shampoo.
     "At once, my love!" he exclaimed and leapt for the aged woman.
When he was within range, the hidden weapons master flicked out his
voluminous sleeves. Yards upon yards of chains shot out and wrapped
up the momentarily startled Darlene. The spectacled warrior landed
with a triumphant smile, but his victory was short lived.
     "RRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!" Darlene howled and after
straining mightily for a few moments broke free of her steel
cocoon, a disturbing aura glowing brightly around her. Mousse dived
to avoid chain fragments. Darlene did not look happy.
     "Uh oh," Bert said, stomach sinking.
     "NO ONE IS LISTENING TO ME!!" Darlene screamed, and then began
to change. Her white hair gained color again, but this time to
purple and not red. Clothes shifted as her body lengthened and
thinned subtly, becoming more graceful and lithe. The face became
more angular while retaining softness and ears became pointed. Her
clothes turned purple as a cloak fell around her and sliver-gold
armour glittered on her upper torso. Darlene had at last aged to
the point where she metamorphosed into the elven Valanna, and her
red lips stretched into a snarl as her purple eyes narrowed in
fury.
     Oh. Shit. Bert thought. Darlene had told him about the change,
but it still amazed him to see it. Assorted gasps of disbelief came
from either side of him as the martial artists witnessed the elven
form.
     Mousse, who was staring at her, was the first to feel
Valanna's fury. She ran towards him and he leaped to avoid the
enraged elf, but Valanna jumped to intercept him. The hidden
weapons master threw swords, maces, and rubber duckies at her but
her Chaotic aura either deflected or warped the weapons into
uselessness. Quicker than he would have believed, she snapped out
her palm and struck him square on the chest, lashing out with a
corrupted ki-bolt at the same time.
     "YEEAAAAA!!!!" Mousse screamed as he rocketed towards the
others, robes smoking. Unlike a normal ki-blast, Valanna's was
tearing at him in an extremely painful way and the force of her
hand's impact had broken several ribs. Fortunately, Shampoo caught
him and prevented worse.
     "Mousse!" his purple-haired goddess cried, honestly concerned.
He didn't look at all well as his entire front was scorched and his
skin bleeding from multiple cuts caused by the warped ki-force.
     "Sha-Shampoo," he groaned and immediately passed out in her
arms; Chaos had taken a lot out of him.
     "Darlene, no!" Akane cried. "Stop it!"
     Her cries fell on deaf ears; the Chaos had too much influence
over Valanna now and only her last desire to be alone was on her
rage-clouded mind. She summoned her sword and with a purple flash
it appeared in her right hand, lengthening and shifting to match
its owner's state. The elf streaked straight for the edge of the
crater. "RAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!" she cried as she sliced into the
ground ten feet below her friends, blade glowing with unearthly
power.
     The earth exploded away from the cut with a burst of white
light, shattering the foundation the others were standing on,
surprising them. Ranma managed to grab Akane before jumping away,
followed by Ryouga, Ukyou, and Shampoo carrying Mousse. Bert had
kept his jets on stand-by mode so he merely flew over the maddened
elf to the other side of the crater.
     As a result, Valanna whirled to face the direction of the
nervous Knight Saber. Her eye-wrenching aura wasn't diminished by
his scanners' readings, not that they were getting anything useful.
     He looked in disgust at his readouts, which were changing
wildly with each scan. The only one that stayed constant was his
threat reading and it was showing Valanna to be an extreme threat.
No shit, he thought. Valanna had just demolished a column of earth
and stone seventeen feet high, thirty feet long, and seven feet
thick! With one stroke! No, things were not looking very sunny for
this particular Knight Saber. Reluctantly, he raised his arms and
aimed them in her direction. "Valanna! Stop, or I'll have to
shoot!" he warned. Bert wasn't planning anything lethal and he knew
Twister could recover from some pretty major stuff.
     The elf bared her teeth at him and started walking towards
him, holding her sword in a firm grip by her side. She didn't even
pause when the Knight Saber blew a small crater into the ground in
front of her.
     "That was a warning shot!" he cried, sweating nervously. She
hadn't even bothered to flinch! Fifteen feet, thirteen, eleven...
Damn! he cursed, she HAD to be stopped! He aimed for a foot and
fired. His particle lasers shrieked towards their target... and
split into two beams to curve away inches from the elf, blowing
apart holes in the surrounding buildings.
     What the hell?!?! Bert fired again and again while backing up,
but his energy beams weren't reaching their true objective and were
instead careening wildly away from her. She was getting awfully
damn close now.
     Suddenly, she rushed him and lashed out with a spinning kick
to his side before he could block. The impact was horrendous,
driving the breath from his lungs, and it sent him flying into the
side of a somewhat intact store front. The store promptly turned
into a crater. His helmeted head shook woozily as he staggered
upright.
     "Did someone get the number of that elf?" he mumbled, trying
to clear his mind enough so that he could think coherently. The
second that passed wasn't nearly enough time, as a hand grabbed his
armour suit around his ankle, crushing it slightly, and yanked the
startled Saber off of his feet. Bert only got a brief look at
Valanna's burning eyes before she started crazily swinging him
through the air around her head, making him want to throw up. The
enraged elf released him once she'd built up the momentum she
wanted, hammer-throwing the silver hardsuit in a wildly spinning
trajectory through the air down the street.
     "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!" The world tumbled
sickeningly in front of Bert's eyes. His suit's gyroscope was
frantically trying to re-orient itself so that his flight system
would function, but he knew he was going to hit SOMETHING before it
managed THAT little feat. But then he was stopped with an
abruptness that made he head spin, however, it was a gentle stop
and he felt a jarring landing through whatever had stopped him.
     "Yo, Bert! You all right?"
     Ranma? Bert wondered and looking to the side he saw the
pig-tailed martial artist and Ryouga were holding him up. They must
have caught him during that wild, dizzy, stomach-churning.... The
nausea finally caught up to him and the red-head swiftly pulled off
his helmet so that what he had to do wouldn't mess up his suit.
     "Guess not," Ranma muttered.
     A few minutes later, after wiping the bile from his mouth,
Bert took a deep breath and stood up. "Where is she?" he managed.
     "Still in the crater," Ranma told him. "Ryouga and Ucchan are
keeping her busy while you recovered."
     "WHAT?!?" Bert shouted incredulously, quickly shoving his
silver helmet back on his head. "They won't last five seconds with
her!! We've got to pull out and figure out what to do from a
distance!" He started up the jets and snapped out his wings. "She's
too strong to attack without a plan." God, I sound like Sylia, Bert
thought, now I KNOW things are bad. The silver Knight Saber roared
into the sky and wheeled around to look at the fight happening in
the crater. Triggering his helmet's magnification capabilities, he
saw how the two were doing with Valanna, who appeared angry and
unscathed.
     Ryouga was the worst off. He was defensively holding half an
umbrella before him, the front half lying behind where Valanna
stood, and his left arm was hanging limply at his side. A head
wound was covering a lot of his face with blood and several gashes
were evident on the rest of him.
     The okonomiyaki cook, Ukyou, was in better shape than the
fanged boy. Fewer cuts adorned her body but her mega-spatula(Bert
could never get over the sight of that thing) had a slice carved
out of it and most of her throwing spatulas were missing from her
bandoleer.
     Frankly, Bert was amazed they were still breathing, much less
standing. Darlene must be holding back subconsciously, he reasoned,
because they're her friends and she knows them better than me. His
theory was confirmed when Valanna's keen eyes spotted the hovering
Saber and hurled her sword at him. "Yikes!!" he yelped and barely
dodged the glowing sword. Then he found out he hadn't quite managed
`barely' as a line across his front armour grew and sent cracks
from it. Christ, Bert swore when he saw what happened from a
near-miss, time to get everyone away from the area. He dived for
Ukyou first and picked up the startled young woman, shouting,
"Ryouga!! Get out!! I've got Ukyou!!"
     "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Ukyou screamed as she found herself
lifted into the sky. Ryouga hesitated, on the ground, not wanting
to be called a coward, then started leaping away. It turned out to
be a wise move as Valanna's sword returned to her hand and she
raised it high. Energy crackled around her and her hair flew wildly
about her.
     "DESTROY!!!" she roared and a sphere of ominous light built on
the tip of the sword. It rose, tendrils of energy snapping from
blade to globe to Valanna to ground.
     Then imploded.
     And detonated.
     Bert carrying a frightened Ukyou saw the energy surge and
looked back just in time to see the gigantic ball of negative light
erupting from where Valanna had stood. He'd never seen light like
this and it sent shivers down his spine as he prepared for the
shockwave. It hit harder than he thought it would and almost lost
the okonomiyaki chef as he bounced around in mid-air, she screaming
and holding on to him for dear life.
     On the ground, Ryouga had met Ranma, Akane, and the concerned
Shampoo with injured Mousse and all had started running in the same
direction Bert had flown away in. Fortunately, there was more in
the way of the blast to shield them but they were all sent flying
forwards, yelling and screaming as they flew through the air. When
they landed, somewhat in control as they were all good fighters,
they shook their heads groggily and stared back at where the
explosion had occurred. Akane gasped at the devastation.
     Further out, buildings were still in the process of collapsing
but beyond that and closer to the center there was an empty area
void of buildings. Dust swirled in small dust devils as the
disturbed air churned from the after-effects of the explosion.
     "Is she still alive?" Akane whispered.
     "I wouldn't worry, Akane," Ranma said grimly, and she looked
up at him, surprised. "I don't think she was hurt at all." He
looked up and saw SkyKnight had been looking from a higher vantage
and was heading off again. "C'mon, let's follow Bert and try to
figure out what to do next."
     No one protested, not after casting uneasy looks behind them.
                              *****
     Miyabi groaned and gladly accepted Natsumi's help to get off
the floor. The backlash of the scrying spell shattering had tossed
them all to the floor.
     "Are you all right, Professor?" the younger girl asked
worriedly.
     "Yes, Natsumi," she sighed, pushing her hair away from her
face. The raven-haired woman frowned, concerned. "Things are just
going from bad to worse. Darlene has lost control to the Chaos and
her body is unfortunately able to contain the forces that would
consume an ordinary mage. That blast was incredibly powerful and
probably only fed the Chaos more instead of depleting it.." She
sighed. "And I'm at a loss for what to do next."
     "Perhaps I can be of service," a smooth voice spoke up.
     Miyabi whirled and her eyes widened at who had spoken. Natsumi
shank behind her mentor in fright.
     "YOU?!" the Professor gasped. "How did YOU get here?!?!"
     "Let's just say I have my means," Malkon chuckled, enjoying
the mortal's shock, "and reasons."
                              *****
      Hikaru Gosenkugi's soot-covered face stared dumbly at the
pentagram he had made.
     "I did it!" he whispered deliriously. "I actually summoned a
demon!" Now he just had to work on his drawings so that they STAYED
in the circle...
     Unfortunately, Malkon had ensured that only HE would appear.
If he wanted to, that is. A boon to other demons, really.
                              *****
     Yuriko nervously kept glancing over at the stony-faced Nabiki
as they both sat on their couch, watching a show neither of them
much cared for. One was merely making the motions of watching while
the other watched her doing to, wondering what was the matter.
Nabiki's blue-haired roommate didn't know the reason why she was
acting this way, nothing had seemed capable of affecting Nabiki
this much. Well, maybe Twi...
     She stifled a gasp: that HAD to be it! Nabiki and Twister must
have gotten into a fight, and a serious one at that. But what could
bother her unflappable roommate? Suddenly, the show was interrupted
by a news report.

     "This just in: a disaster of epic proportions
     has occurred near the Nerima district
     levelling hundreds of buildings in a circular
     area of almost one and a half kilometers and
     causing damage to many more. The police have
     withheld comment but rumours abound that the
     incident started with a mysterious, middle-
     aged red-headed woman with blue eyes wearing
     blue jeans and white shirt..."

     Nabiki sat bolt upright when the anchorman read out the
description. "Oh no... What have I done?" she whispered as Yuriko's
eyes widened in realization, the blue-haired girl had figured out
who the man was talking about. He went on,

     "...of whom age is uncertain. Earlier reports
     say she was in her thirties but later ones say
     much older. Police who tried to apprehend the
     suspect were nearly killed by an `energy bolt'
     but were mysteriously taken somewhere else.
     The area was fortunately evacuated before the
     much larger explosion took place. Reports of a
     'flying suit of armour' fighting an oddly
     dressed woman with purple hair before the
     explosion have been made. These came from
     observers with high-powered cameras on
     witnessing the event from a building ten
     kilometers away. No helicopters are allowed
     but the JSDF has started to move and...."

     The pale-faced, middle Tendo daughter had seen enough, and
sprang up from the couch to round on a startled Yuriko. "Can you
contact Professor Miyabi?" she demanded, voice tight.
     "I..."
     "Come ON, Yuriko! NOW! She's got to be involved by now and..."
     Nabiki would have said more but then she was enveloped by a
white light that Yuriko had once seen around the Professor and
vanished. The blue-haired girl blinked and looked at the spot where
her roommate had stood instants before.
     "I guess the Professor wanted Nabiki too," she told empty air.
                              *****
     SkyKnight had landed on a rooftop with Ukyou a few kilometers
away from the area of Valanna's devastation. After willing his
armour away for the moment, they was quickly joined by the others,
who in turn had been joined by a worried Lotion and a calmer
Cologne. Lotion had evidently done something to help Mousse for the
spectacled young man was conscious and walking with only a few
winces now and then.
     "All right, what do we do now?" Bert paused, then corrected
himself. "Or, more accurately, what CAN we do now against a
Chaos-filled, enraged elf? I mean, besides getting the crap kicked
out of us."
     "How strong is she, boy?" Cologne asked.
     The red-head ran a hand through his unruly hair and looked
worried. "She tossed me around like my powered armour was tinfoil
and my main weapons had no effect when I tried disabling her. That
doesn't happen every day, folks." He waved a hand at Mousse,
Ryouga, and Ukyou. "Sorry, people, but you weren't much better off
even if I think she was unconsciously holding back until that last
blow-up. I bet, you were all injured in the order on how well she
knew you. Mousse, not really. Ryouga, somewhat. Ukyou, pretty well.
Am I right?"
     There were some glares at him but Ukyou finally nodded. "He's
right, guys. None of us could touch her; she's too fast and strong
now."
     "Why did this happen?!" Lotion demanded, nobody had told her
the reasons Darlene had gone berserk yet.
     Multiple flares of light were her answer and everyone turned
to the new arrivals. Miyabi was at the front, Natsumi on her right
and a pale but composed Nabiki on her left. There was a strange man
with a hood over his head behind the Professor but he was ignored
by the assembled company.
     "I'll answer that," Miyabi declared, "but it makes little
difference with our problem now." She waved beside her at Nabiki,
who looked down, and said, "Love can be a trying experience some
times and this is no different. There was an argument and it
allowed the Chaos within Darlene to flourish as she got more and
more emotionally engrossed. Eventually, it overcame her natural
reason and is dominant, somehow aging her in the process to a form
that can handle the increased power." She gazed over the assembled
company of fighters. "Mere physical confrontation will not stop her
now."
     "So we just do nothing?!?!" Ryouga demanded.
     The man behind Miyabi spoke up at last. "Not at all! The
solution is an obvious one, even to you." Miyabi reluctantly
stepped aside as the man stepped forward with an arrogant
confidence and stood in front of an incensed Bert. A hand came up
and pulled of the hood, revealing a elegantly handsome, reddish
face with pointed ears at the side. The man gave the red-head a
superior smile.
     "Who the hell are YOU?!" Bert demanded.
     "Uh, Bert," Ranma replied nervously, "that's more accurate
than you know."
     "Quite so," the reddish-skinned person agreed, amused. "Allow
me to introduce myself. I am Malkon, arch-demon of the 472th
sub-inferno of my former Master's domain of Hell, and the one who
accidentally bequeathed Twister with his power." His fangs were
prominent when he grinned at Bert's suddenly pale face.
     Errrrk!!! Bert's mind gibbered frantically as his face
whitened. Boomers were one thing, but a DEMON?!
     "I may also have a possible solution to your little...crisis,"
Malkon added, giving the uneasy Knight Saber an amused glance.
Perversely, the arch-demon's amusement irritated him, and he
squelched the panic he'd been feeling.
     "I'm listening," SkyKnight replied warily, folding his arms
across his chest and trying to look calm and collected. Malkon's
eyebrow twitched upwards, but he didn't comment.
     "It's quite simple," the arch-demon said smoothly. "The
altered and Chaos-filled Darlene, whose ears are most attractive on
her, can only be opposed by the one force which can most
effectively counter Chaos."
     "And that is?"
     Malkon rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious. "Order.
Order force grows on planned motion, or the smooth functioning of
a machine. More so with a piece of advanced technology like your
own `hardsuit'. It loves error-free computers, I hear." The
arch-demon blinked innocently. "And I happen to have a sword
infused with such Order energy. With me it merely guided my
swordplay, but I suspect that in your suit it will allow you to
combat and hopefully eliminate the Chaos-forces inside Darlene, or
`Valanna' if you prefer."
     "Just `happen' to have, huh?"
     "Yes." An almost imperceptible frown flitted across the red
face, but Bert saw it and wondered about it. "I didn't think I had
something like it, but I do. Believe me, I had NOTHING to do with
Darlene getting infected in the first place." *And I WILL find out
who WAS,* the arch-demon promised himself. He cocked an eyebrow.
"I'm not foolish, nor suicidal."
       "You do realize that I don't entirely trust you?" Bert
asked, eyeing Malkon skeptically. "How to I know you're not
bullshitting me into doing your dirty work?"
       "Because it is as much in my interests to cure Twister as it
is yours. I have NO desire to have her get the bright idea to come
running after me with that much Chaos in her; my magic would be
near useless with that kind of directed power." The arch-demon gave
him a direct look. "And whom of the two of us do you think would be
better suited, pardon my humour, for this? An arch-demon of Hell
who wields magic for more often chaotic purposes and a disliked
adversary of Twister's; or a human with idealistic honour with a
sophisticated suit of digitally programmed armour, however magical,
and a new friend of the Chaos-afflicted party?"
       Unfortunately, Bert got Malkon's point, but he didn't have
to like it. "Okay," he sighed. "I'll take the Order." A sudden
impulse made him add, "Did you want fries with that?" There was a
muffled groan from somewhere behind him, and the sound of someone
slapping a hand over their face.
       "Pardon me?" The arch-demon looked puzzled.
       "Nevermind. Long story," Bert waved off the joke with a
hand. "So where is this Sword?"
       "Right here." Malkon gestured with one taloned hand, and a
long sword with an ornate hilt shimmered into view, hanging
point-down in midair.
       "One second." Bert forced his mind into a calm state, and
then concentrated. One purple flash later, and he was again clad in
his armour. "Now I'm ready."
       SkyKnight stepped forward and reached out to the sword,
noting absently that his sensors were detecting a powerful energy
field around the weapon. No, not around the weapon....IN the
weapon. His gauntleted hand hesitated only a moment before he
wrapped his fingers around the hilt.
       There was a flare of white light from the sword at the
contact, and a loud thrumming noise erupted for a few seconds as
the light turned into a swirling iridescent rainbow-hued cloud. The
whirling cloud cloaking the displaced Knight Saber flashed and
flickered as Malkon backed away in distaste at the emanations of
Order coming from the sword-bearing hardsuit.
       The whirling of the light slowed, and the phosphorescent
cloud suddenly seemed to be sucked back into the blade of the
sword. Ranma gaped in surprise as the light receded; SkyKnight's
physical appearance had changed as a result of the Order energy.
     The silver hardsuit was now brilliantly iridescent and
mirror-like in the polish of its armour plating. Light reflected
from every facet of its surface. The suit had also somehow become
more ornate-looking, and a long cloak of midnight blue swirled down
from SkyKnight's armoured shoulders.
       "Methinks 'tis raiment more befitting the task at hand."
SkyKnight's modulated voice had also altered a bit, becoming more
resonant. He stretched and flexed his arms, still gripping the
Order sword in one hand. "And I doth feel...revitalized somehow."
       "Interesting," Malkon murmured to himself, his eyes
narrowing as he looked at the transformed hardsuit. "I will leave
you to your task then," he spoke aloud, shelving the matter for
later consideration when time wasn't quite so pressing. "My
remaining here this long is risky enough, and I don't wish to tempt
fate further."
       "Aye," SkyKnight agreed. "And methinks haste in this matter
is warranted on my part."
                              *****
     Natsumi watched from behind Miyabi as Bert leaped off the side
of the building to land amidst startled pedestrians on the street.
He seemed a different person with the Order he had now. The young
mage turned her head to look at Nabiki and sighed softly.
     Nabiki was keeping her face carefully blank as she stood
beside her worried sister. The magic-user knew how concerned her
former rival for Twister must be now that SkyKnight had gone to
battle Valanna to combat the wild Chaos.
     The attractive woman whom she'd seen in magic class lately was
more openly concerned, alternately looking in the direction of
where the Chaos was disturbing mystic senses or frowning in
Nabiki's direction.
     She did not know the exact reasons for Darlene's blow-up with
Nabiki, nor, she guessed, did the young amazon woman. However, by
the firm set of Lotion's mouth and eyes it was a sure bet she would
find out. Natsumi turned back to where SkyKnight had left.
     "Be careful and safe, my knight," she whispered.

                              *****
     Darlene's aged form as the elven Valanna was still in the
devastated region of the city she had practically flattened during
her fight with the martial artists of Nerima and SkyKnight. A large
piece of concrete served as a temporary seat while the cause of the
destruction looked about herself with a half-smile, the whites of
her eyes swirling with random colors. Her altered Dragonsword still
lay in her right hand's grip and now reflected the visible aura of
Chaos about itself, the link to its creator having corrupted the
magical weapon into an instrument of Chaos.
     Valanna's thoughts were not lucid enough to make a normal
decision possible. While the force inhabiting her was currently
dominant, it still had trouble doing what it wished as the elven
mage unconsciously fought for control during this lull. Only
outside intervention could provide motivation now and everyone had
fled. However, it was obvious the damage she had caused would soon
attract attention.
     And then she would rise.
                              *****
     The police had barricaded all roads going to the devastated
region. They were quite unprepared for the gleaming figure in a
suit of futuristic battle armour wielding a sword striding
nonchalantly through the startled civilians gathered before them.
The suit didn't look at all fake, and it moved with impeccable
precision. The powerful, almost electrical-sounding hum that
accompanied it made people draw back in combined awe and fear.
     Nonetheless, several officers blocked this odd arrival's path.
"Stop!" one barked, and Bert halted, red visor gazing ominously at
the man nervously raising a hand in his direction. "No one is
allowed through. Who ARE you?!"
     "Thou mayest call me SkyKnight!" Bert boomed, flourishing the
Order sword a couple of times while a convenient breeze made his
cape dramatically billow out behind him. The fact that the long
blade was impossibly glowing like a rainbow made the foremost
officer sweat as it spun in the Knight Saber's grasp. "I doth come
to challenge the one afflicted by Chaos with the Order an' might
with every fibre of my being! It would be ill-advised to try to
prevent our inevitable battle, sir, even more to witness the fray.
I doth beseech thee: withdraw whilst thou art able."
     SkyKnight started forward again. Despite several dubious looks
at each other, the cops spread out into a line, blocking his
advance. Unless he wanted to shove them aside bodily, he couldn't
go past them.
     "I don't know who you are," the lead officer replied, his
voice wavering only slightly, "but we have orders not to allow
anyone past this point until the SDF gets here."
     "Thy dedication to thy duty is admirable," boomed the silver
figure. "In thy own way, thou art also servants of Order. However,
none may deter me; I must confront the blight of Chaos that
afflicts this city." With that, a scream reminiscent of supersonic
jet engines blasted through the air, forcing several people to
cringe and slap their hands over their ears. Dust and papers blew
outwards as SkyKnight lofted into the sky, sailing easily over the
police and their barricade. The silver figure landed easily on the
other side, and resumed his measured march towards the epicenter of
the destruction, where his eternal adversary awaited him.
     Inside his helmet, Bert blinked, then shook his head.
     "Methinks I be identifying with Order a mite overmuch," he
mused out loud to himself.
                              *****
     Dust swirled around Valanna's boots as the elf remained
utterly still. The wind blew purple hair across her faintly smiling
face as her vacant gaze stayed on the ground.
     Suddenly, she jerked upright, eyes darting back and forth as
she sought something that her senses had picked up. Valanna's eyes
finally found and locked onto the source of the damnable feeling of
Order. Her lips curled into something between a sneer and a snarl
as she stood, hand tightening on her sword's hilt.
     A part of her recognized the altered SkyKnight as the Knight
Saber strode steadily towards her across the blasted terrain,
brilliant blue cape fluttering behind him. His armour was
preternaturally bright and his walk was far too confident after her
effortless toying with him the last time they'd met. The Chaos
within her seethed at seeing the sword he held, and knew instantly
what had happened.
     Valanna aimed her sword at him, channelling more Chaos into
her soulbonded sword. Lightning-like discharges crackled about the
weapon as it glowed disturbingly. "YAAAAHH!" she screamed at last
and a beam of pure Chaos force clawed through the air towards her
armoured foe.
     SkyKnight both saw and felt it coming. He planted his feet
apart in a stable stance, holding his sword in a two-handed grip
before him with complete confidence. The stream of Chaos struck the
sword blade dead on and split in twain, arrowing into intact
buildings behind him. There was a moment's pause, then the
buildings exploded violently, causing SkyKnight's cloak to press
into him as the edges flapped with the force of the explosions. He
lowered his sword and continued advancing on Valanna's position.
     Pure force of habit caused Bert to start running check-up
diagnostics on his hardsuit. He frowned in irritation when he
realized that the Order in his SkyKnight armour couldn't help but
keep everything in perfect running, heh, order. However, he felt it
getting stronger when he did.
     And whyforth not? he thought, wanting to kick himself.
Diagnostic routines were logical programs designed to ensure the
proper functioning of his suit. Thousands of orderly computations
were involved with each full check; it was no wonder his Order
power increased. Cannily, he kept it up.
     Valanna crouched in readiness as he approached, furious her
attempt had failed but knowing why. Her eyes narrowed. "So..." she
growled, talking intelligibly for the first time since the change,
"ye hath come, have ye?"
     SkyKnight nodded as he came closer. "Aye," he agreed. "I hath
come to vanquish thee once more, as is our destiny." In a private
corner of his mind, Bert wondered what the heck he and Valanna were
talking about.
     "Destiny!!" Valanna exclaimed, eyes widening innocently. "We
hath but little of that. All ye do is deny mine simple pleasures."
She waved her arm to indicate the devastation around her. "This
pittance is nothing to us."
     "Thy true reasons are clear," SkyKnight said levelly, bringing
his sword tip up again. "An' since ye are mine to deal with, mine
be the duty to drive thee away."
     Valanna smiled viciously as she smoothly brought her own sword
level at the side. "To try, Vessel of Order," she mocked Bert
sweetly. "Thy duty to try."
     "So be it."
     "Aye!" Valanna cried wildly, aura increasing as energy
crackled along her sword. "And mine be the victory!" She drew back
her sword with a snarl. "CHAOS CUTTER!" was her cry as she swung
the weapon, creating an arc of roiling force that sliced through
the air towards SkyKnight.
     The Knight Saber's sword glowed and a scintillating shield of
rainbow light formed before him. It and the chaos attack clashed
wildly, white light flaring between the two opposing forces as most
of the Chaos was cancelled out by Bert's Order.
     Unfortunately, Valanna personally followed the strike. The
shield of light shattered when her left fist hit it. Then the sword
in her other fist smashed into the unprepared SkyKnight's own
blade, knocking it aside. She followed it up with a smashing kick
in the same place she had kicked him previously, but this time with
Chaos backing up the kick. Again, energy flared between the two
forces as she connected. However, instead of flying off
uncontrollably, SkyKnight skidded across the ground on his armoured
feet, creating furrows in the blasted earth as he struggled to
recover.
     "How doth thee enjoy mine might, Vessel?" Valanna smirked,
playfully tracing designs in the air with her sword. Her whole
posture screamed arrogance as she placed a hand on her hip. "Mine
body is quick and powerful while thy shell of metal and earth plods
along akin to an ass."
     "The ass is slow," SkyKnight declared, his side aching from
the blow, as he better prepared himself, "but hardy and steady. Thy
gloating is premature." His arm whipped up and a crimson beam
lanced towards the elf, propelling her backwards with a scream of
rage and pain as the Order-infused particle-laser beam tore at her
Chaos aura. It don't reach her physically, he had somehow known
that it wouldn't, but the Chaos that dwelled within her had been
caused pain.
     She held her mid-section with an arm, fiercely glaring at her
foe. "Thou DARE!!" she hissed, enraged. The Dragonsword burst into
flame of disorienting colors as more of her power was focused into
it. "I shall tear the shell that holds thy Order force apart and
rip asunder the soft man who wields you... thee, dragging his
entrails out from his belly." Valanna lifted a clawed hand as if
demonstrating. "Then I shall feast on them before his dying eyes
before shattering thy sword into dust!!!"
     "Thy fury only insures my victory," SkyKnight replied, far
calmer than the nauseous, free part of Bert's mind felt; his
intestines were bunching together for comfort. Still, every part of
him had noticed the minor slip in Valanna's Chaos-influenced
speech. He himself had surrendered to Order's guiding force
willingly, but it was a sure thing it wasn't the same situation in
Valanna's case.
     Then his mind was forced back to the fight as Valanna flipped
the sword to point at the ground and plunged the blade deep into
the earth, concrete and soil bubbling from the contact with Chaos.
"EARTH BREAKER!!" she shouted, and wildly aimed lines of power
tunnelled towards the spot where SkyKnight stood, leaving glowing
trails where they passed. 
     He jumped backwards just as the many lines corkscrewed into a
collision course. With a thunderous roar, a column of fire and
melting earth exploded from the ground. Catching the fringe of the
explosion, the silver hardsuit was tossed inelegantly backwards and
landed in a painful heap ten feet away.
     Forsooth, this hath gone too far, SkyKnight decided grimly as
he slowly rose. To continue this destruction wouldst only increase
her power. Raising his sword solemnly, he began channelling the
Order strength the hardsuit had generated into his well-made blade
even as his wings snapped out. Turbines howled into life as he
crouched, the sword intensely glowing with rainbow light.
     Valanna watched all this with a scowl, guessing what he was
about to do. "Ye seek to face mine power directly?" she said with
a scornful laugh. Pulling the unearthly glowing Dragonsword from
the ground, the elf raised it in parody of her foe's actions. With
an evil smile, she gestured him towards herself with a free hand.
"Come forth then, an' be destroyed!"
     "As the lady wishes!!" SkyKnight bellowed, and triggered his
jets. They howled as power flowed into them and the Knight Saber
was propelled straight for the waiting elf, mighty sword ready. He
had picked up considerable velocity by the time he reached her and
swung the Order Sword with all his strength.
     And clashed with the corrupted Dragonsword. Energy cracked
around SkyKnight and Valanna's forms as the elf strained to match
her enemy's power. Feet digging furrows in the ground as the
hardsuit pressed her, Valanna grit her teeth and matched the Order
force by pouring more of Chaos into the Dragonsword. Slowly, she
stopped her backwards progress, even with SkyKnight going full
throttle against her.
     White and black lightning sparked wildly over their forms, and
most intensely where the blades crossed. There a light grew as the
opposing powers annihilated each other. Two wills clashing for
supremacy.
     "You...will...not...beat...ME!" Valanna grated, glaring at the
red slot over their crossed swords and willing yet more of her
power into the Dragonsword. The glow of her blade intensified,
SkyKnight instantly matching it. "Never...beat...CHAOS!"
     "That...is...not...mine...intent," SkyKnight managed to say,
effort making him sweat as more and more of the enervating force
filling his suit and himself was drained into the sword.
"There...can...be...no...victor...for...us," he panted, "but...
your...vessel...WILL...be...freed! The...boundary...has...been...
crossed...foolish...one!"
     Valanna's eyes widened in shock, realizing she had been
tricked. For it was true, the Chaos was being drained from her even
as Order was from Bert. And Valanna's true personality was helping
the flow as it struggled for dominance against the alien power. It
made it impossible to halt the drain as Order destroyed itself on
Chaos. "NO!!" she yelled, but whether it was a protest of
SkyKnight's actions or of her own protest of being possessed was
unknown.
     His own mind settling back to normal, Bert was panicking as
the two swords continued to glow brighter and brighter. It was like
holding on to a stick of plasma dynamite.
     -Do not worry,- a familiar voice, his own actually, told him,
-she will be free when this ends.-
     "That's not what I'm worried about!!" Bert screamed as the
last of the Order left him. There was a sudden silence as the
lightning flowed over to cover only the pulsing swords. Valanna was
blinking as if waking up from a dream, then gave her sword a
startled look when she heard a cracking sound from it and Bert's.
     -Oh, yes, that could be a problem.-
     The rainbow and chaotic light from the swords were sucked into
the gleaming star that was the contact point in a sudden implosion,
taking both swords with it. Then a column of roaring power erupted
outwards, tossing both SkyKnight and Valanna away like leaves in a
hurricane wind. 
     It was possible the force was contained by what was left of
the Order affected by Bert's mind, but in any case the geyser of
power only grew to a diameter of forty feet and launched into the
heavens. The clouds above recoiled when the intense beam of light
passed through on its way through infinity.

                              *****

     Ow, ow, ow, ow, owwwww..... Bert groaned to himself, coming to
a few minutes after the column disappeared. Slowly lifting himself
up he checked his suit's status. It was perfect. Nothing damaged
whatsoever and power near peak despite the trails he had just gone
through. It was just his muscles that felt like he had just done a
marathon.
     I suppose I should count myself lucky, Bert thought, carefully
standing and looking around. He froze when he spotted the deep
crater their battle had produced, or, more accurately, the figure
standing beside it. He trudged towards the lone figure, who turned
to face him.
     "I made a mess, didn't I?" Valanna said, biting her lower lip.
     Bert couldn't help it; he laughed, much to her embarrassment.
"You make it sound like you wet your bed!" he chortled. She flushed
red, more angry now.
     "Bert!!" 
     "I know, I know, it's..." he began to apologize, then stepped
forward in sudden concern when the elf collapsed to one knee. "Hey,
you all right??"  
     "Just...suddenly tired," she said faintly. It was a measure of
her weariness when she did not protest Bert picking her up. 
     "I'm not surprised," he said as they looked at the deep
crater, and then the destruction around them. "That Chaos
possessing you sure had a real mean streak. Talk about urban
renewal."
     Valanna scowled. "And my sword. I LIKED that sword! It HURT
when the link broke!" she complained.
     "I can relate," Bert agreed, thinking of the now-destroyed
Order Sword. It had was a heady feeling remembering that you had
wielded something like Order. He looked up, checking as yet clear
skies, but knew that the authorities would be coming soon. Despite
their involvement, it would not be a Good Thing to stick around. "I
think it's time to be scarce."
     "I certainly don't want the bill for THIS mess," Valanna
sighed.
                              *****
     One of these centuries I really should get one of those
mortal... `Pop-o-matics' I think they are called, Malkon mused
silently as he watched the last of the two forces' energies
dissipate. I could use some of their `popcorn' after that fine
show.
     The arch-demon had gone to great lengths to insure his spying
would be safe from the energies unleashed from the inevitable
conflict and was glad he did. It was rare for him to see battles
like the one he had just witnessed. Normally, Malkon was of a more
scholarly bent towards magic. For an arch-demon, that is; one had
to be strong in many ways in order to survive in Hell. Especially
a young and humanoid one like himself. He enjoyed the occasional
torment, combat, or reaching for conquest, but preferred delving
into magics when he could. His passion for increasing his own
magics was one he relished.
     Which was why he had wanted Darlene, Twister's female and very
magical side. But current events were frustrating him, and that he
could not abide. Where HAD the that sword of Order come from, and
why save HIM with it? Why not give it to that mortal, Bert, as the
arch-demon believed it to be the original intent of his mysterious
benefactor. A second party seemed to be involved as well, having
supplied the bands of Rekthil which ultimately infected Darlene. It
was doubtful only one was involved as it was highly unlikely that
one being would use both Order and Chaos.
     But the PURPOSE of it all remained maddeningly elusive as his
mind fought to make sense of it all. The arch-demon didn't dare try
to approach Darlene or Bert until he found out why and what his own
role in all this was. It was all...
     A flash startled Malkon and he shot up from his chair, ready
to defend himself as his wary gaze swept around the room. Nothing.
Nothing, until he spotted a gem on the floor. The arch-demon
cautiously approached after casting a quick defensive spell so that
he may take a better look at it.
     He gasped.
     Not much will send dread through an arch-demon's soul but the
symbol he found engraved into the gem the color of dried blood
managed it easily. His hand scooped up the gem, knowing no being in
Hell would use this as a trap for fear of their very existence.
Malkon stared at the symbol with awed disbelief.
     It was both as simple and complex as a lie. A circle with an
inverted pentagram within was the simple part. The fact it was
formed from thousands of engraved snakes swallowing another's tail
was not. It was rumoured that every seal was exact as it could be
down to the last particle of matter and Malkon didn't doubt it. He
knew what it meant.
     A Summons.
     From the ultimate Lord of Hell himself.
     And no one had been Summoned for hundreds of eons. Until now.
     Malkon swallowed as he gripped the gem tighter for faint
reassurance. Such meetings were told to take anywhere from a year
to centuries. First his encounter with Twister/Darlene, now the
seeming plot by invisible adversaries, and then this... this
INCONCEIVABLE event happens! Only one thought flashed though the
arch-demon's stunned mind.
     What in all the HELLS is happening that precipitated THIS?!?!

Part Nine - Aftermaths
----------------------

     Not feeling up to flying herself, Valanna let SkyKnight pick
her up and they flew back to the place where Bert had left the
others. She did have to cast an invisibility spell around them so
that no one spotted their flight. On arriving at the roof where the
group waited, the elf dropped the spell and some jumped at their
sudden appearance.
     "Here she is: hale, hardy, and healthy," SkyKnight proclaimed
as he let the nervously smiling Valanna stand on the ground. His
armour vanished with a purple flash as he dismissed it and his
smiling face was visible to everyone now.
     Valanna shifted as everyone stared at her elven looks. "Um...
sorry about the trouble," she said softly. Professor Miyabi sighed
and walked up to her, placing a hand on the now-equally tall elf's
shoulder.
     "It's not your fault that the Chaos overwhelmed you, Darlene,"
the older mage told her firmly. "You're still far too young to even
THINK about dealing with that sort of unpredictable and unstable
force. It was an accident that you became infused with it; don't
place blame on yourself."
     "I..." Valanna wrestled with her feelings for a moment, then
sighed and nodded. "All right."
     Akane couldn't hold back any longer and stepped up to the elf,
blinking up at the elegantly beautiful features and general
appearance. "Wow, Darlene, you really look different now." Standing
beside the downcast Nabiki, Lotion was staring at the elvish beauty
of the one she loved.
     "Yeah, I'm looking pretty outlandish now, huh? I..." Valanna
broke off with a shudder and closed her eyes. Before anyone could
panic, her features began to change. Now that the Chaos was gone,
her body was slowly reverting back to its true form without
anything to keep it in its current age. Her hair became white, body
widened and shorted, face became more like a mature Darlene, and
her outfit returned to the now-tight clothes she had originally
worn. Miyabi steadied her as she wavered.
     "Maybe you should come over to my place for a few hours," she
suggested as her dazed student opened her eyes, then looked up at
Bert. "You too, mister." The Knight Saber sighed, but fell in
behind them.
     All of a sudden, Nabiki stepped forward and stood in front of
the old-appearing Darlene. Her face was neutral, but her inhalation
before she spoke was shaky. "Could you come over to my place once
you're done?" She swallowed. "Please?"
     "I... will," Darlene answered hesitantly.
     Nabiki nodded brusquely. "Good. I'll see you later then." She
turned to find an angry but silent Lotion was standing behind her.
"However, I'd like to talk with you there right now," she said more
neutrally.
     Lotion was surprised, but nodded as she wanted to say a few
things herself. With a musical burst of song from her, both she and
Nabiki vanished in a flash of light.
     "What are you doing, Nabiki?" Darlene sighed aloud, drained of
emotion for a while.
     "I think they just need to talk things out between
themselves," Miyabi told her. "They'll be okay. YOU, however, are
coming with me, Miyabi, and Bert. Now."
     Bert didn't even have time to protest when they all vanished.
                              *****
     Nabiki sat down on her bed as she kept her eyes on her rival,
Lotion, admittedly not much of one considering Twister's
trepidation that bordered on a phobia about the amazon magic-user.
     The middle Tendo daughter sighed mentally; not that she had
helped matters herself after the outburst that had caused Darlene
to go into an emotional pit of depression. Which had fanned the
small spark of Chaos remaining into a forest fire. It was luck,
pure and simple, that Malkon had helped Bert drive the Chaos from
Darlene.
     "What did you say to Darlene that allowed the Chaos to gain
such strength?" Lotion demanded angrily. "You should have known
that what happened next would be disastrous."
     "I... forgot about it," Nabiki admitted reluctantly as she
absently rubbed her palm on the bed's cover.
     "WHY?!? What possessed you? What did you say?!"
     "I told him... her that I didn't want to see her again."
     Dumbfounded, Lotion stared down at the short-haired girl, who
was looking at the floor, then anger burned in the amazon's eyes as
she stepped closer and gripped Nabiki's shoulders hard, making the
young woman wince. The amazon lifted her so they could look
eye-to-eye. "By my Ancestors!! WHY!?!?" She shook the Tendo
daughter. "You KNOW she loves you, and you love her."
     "Let go of me and I'll tell you," Nabiki said softly. Lotion
reluctantly let her prisoner go and said nothing as she crossed her
arms and walked over to the window. She stared at the scene outside
sightlessly.
     "That other form Darlene had when the Chaos possessed her,
what did you think it was?" she asked.
     "What do you mean?" Lotion replied, suddenly confused by the
change of topic. "The Chaos did that... didn't it?" she said,
suddenly unsure. Nabiki shook her head.
     "No." She sighed and turned her head to see the amazon blink
in confusion. "That's the reason I was so furious, because he
didn't tell me about that and some other `minor' events he went
through when he was away."
     "I don't... I don't understand."
     Nabiki turned the rest of her body to face Lotion fully. "He
found out that his aging has slowed down dramatically, to the point
where if he stayed in this universe that if we died of old age he
would look almost the same as he does now."
     Lotion was stunned. Was this true?? But Nabiki had more to
say.
     "His `normal' lifespan is now somewhere between thirty to
forty thousand years, but that isn't the end of it, oh no! At THAT
point he will change and we've seen what the female side will look
like. For all we know he may be immortal now.
     "THEN I was told just how badly he'd been hurt once in that
other universe. I was NOT impressed that he had two limbs BLOWN
OFF, one leg and several ribs broken, a mild concussion, and
assorted other minor injuries." Furious at the memory, Nabiki
slammed a fist onto the top of her desk. "AND HE NEVER TOLD ME!!!"
she shouted angrily. "The bastard fixed it all, but he could have
died! I had to find this out from his roommate! Why couldn't he
have told ME?!" She stopped to get a hold of herself and calm down,
turning away from the shocked amazon.
     "It hurt," Nabiki said after half a minute. "It hurt a lot,
and I wanted to hurt him back. I was confused and uncertain on how
to react over his new longevity, but my anger at his `betrayal'
made things worse. That's why... I said what I said." Frustrated,
she ran a hand through her hair.. "I'm still unsure, but I shouldn't
have lashed out like that in the first place. Damn it, I still love
him." Nabiki blinked and looked up at the amazon magic-user. "I'm
not even sure why I'm confessing to you."
     Lotion was about to respond when a sphere suddenly appeared
before her. She was surprised, but not for long as she saw the
image in the globe. "Mistress Perfume!"
     The young-looking, head mage of the amazons peered at her
apprentice from the spell-sphere. "You seem distressed, Lotion. Is
something the matter?"
     "I just heard... something surprising, aunt Perfume."
     "Hmmm... Oh, well, no matter. I'm calling you because I
finally got around to the standard divination of a soon-to-be
married couple."
     "Divination?" Nabiki asked, puzzled. Perfume heard and seemed
oddly pleased to see her.
     Lotion explained. "A spell is often cast to see whether or not
a couple will have children and if they will have lots of female
children. If a couple does well then it is good for the village."
>From inside the sphere Perfume nodded.
     "That is true. And if Lotion joins with Twister they will have
none," she said calmly. The news took a moment for the younger
amazon to comprehend, but when it did she was rocked.
     "None?! But... does this not trouble you, great-aunt
Perfume??"
     "Well, I decided to cast another spell to see what the result
would be if this other girl Nabiki married your husband. It was the
same." Still Perfume seemed unruffled.
     Now Nabiki was stunned. "So... Twister is sterile?"
     "No. Neither are the two of you."
     Nabiki and Lotion looked at each other, extremely perplexed,
before turning to the globe. "Then WHAT is wrong??" Nabiki
demanded. Perfume took a moment to respond, but when she did she
did so slowly.
     "I thought it odd, for while he could have been unable to have
children I felt I was missing something. So I cast my spell again
in a different way and then, much to my surprise, I found children
were possible."
     "How?!" Lotion demanded.
     "You must BOTH marry him to have children," Perfume intoned.
     They stared.
     "Pardon me?" Nabiki said, not sure if she had heard right.
Perfume chuckled at their expressions.
     "There is something unusual about your would-be groom and for
some reason you are both required if you wish to have children by
him. I suppose it is something to do with his unusually dual
nature, more so than I have seen in any Jyusenkyo-curse person, if
Twister even is such anymore. If he was, he could not have
performed the binding spell with us. In any case, I have to go.
Good luck, you two." The globe vanished.
     "I suppose it is one way to solve our problem," Nabiki said
slowly.
     "But he is still afraid of me, and aren't you still mad at
him?" Lotion said sadly. "How do we resolve our problems?"
     "Both of us..." Nabiki muttered aloud. Now why both? Well,
Twister did say his two halves were opposites and she and Lotion
were also opposites in a way. She liked to consider herself
intelligent, controlled, and heterosexual; Lotion was a magic-user,
more passionate, and preferred women. It made sense, in a weird
way. She told Lotion her thoughts and the amazon reluctantly agreed
that it made sense.
     "It fits," Nabiki added. "Natsumi was also a magic-user but
you are more of an opposite to me. Twister probably hasn't even
realized it yet." A sudden thought struck Nabiki. "No... Surely
not..." she murmured.
     "What?" Lotion asked. Nabiki looked up and smiled as she
walked up to the puzzled amazon.
     "We both love Twister, right?" Lotion nodded. "And you..."
Nabiki blushed, "WE both want children, right?" Lotion nodded
again, wondering where this was going. "Would you mind if we both
marry him?"
     "Well," Lotion said with a purr, "you ARE an attractive woman
too..."
     "I'd say that's a yes," Nabiki said quickly; she could deal
with that later. "Therefore, let's both marry him. Two wives. AFTER
he does a few things first and without telling him our real reasons
for it, until after the ceremony of course."
     Lotion was confused. "Isn't this sudden? I thought you were
still angry at him." Grinning, Nabiki tugged the other woman over
to the bed and sat her down.
     "Not after I heard this," Nabiki explained as she remained
standing, smiling secretively.
     "What? I don't understand."
     "Well..." Nabiki drawled. "I was his girlfriend first, and
then you came along so this `two wives needed' thing didn't happen
immediately, right?" Lotion motioned her to go on. "This is
Twister's problem because of that `dual nature' business he keeps
talking about and it seems like a rather powerful problem, because
his powers are strong. So..." Nabiki said with a grin. "What if it
goes both ways?"
     "I don't..."
     "You," Nabiki pointed at Lotion, "are magic, I," she pointed
at herself, "am mind. Both are needed for children." She paused.
"For his male side."
     Lotion was starting to get it, but still wasn't sure. "But..."
     "What would be the opposite, mind-and-magic-wise of OUR
situation if we are married to him forever?" Nabiki asked the
amazon but answered it herself. "It's simple: a SINGLE, male
person, with both mind and magic powers, and makes out with...
Darlene."
     Lotion stared.
     "If I'm right, then it WILL happen eventually, even if I'm not
sure about all the details," Nabiki declared. "And that's why I'm
not mad anymore. Since Twister decided not telling ME about his
news, then I won't bother telling him this." She grinned at her
revenge.
     "After all, I may be wrong," she said loftily, "and it would
only distress him."
     Lotion had to agree with that.
                              *****
     Miyabi had used some hot water to change the rejuvenating
Darlene into Twister and the change was certainly one to see. White
streaks on either side of his head ran through his brown hair,
giving him a distinguished look. That, coupled with his older,
somehow commanding appearance, made his slightly more powerfully
built body look like he belonged in an important position. But a
sparkle of mischief and humour remained in his eyes as he looked
away from a hand-held mirror, tempering the aspect. 
     Bert shook his head at the sight. "Which army did YOU spring
from?" he said, joking.
     "Huh. Imagine me sitting in Quincy's office," Twister chuckled
as he looked at his reflection again. Bert blinked.
     "Scarily enough, I can," the red-head mused honestly.
     "Ha, ha. Funny. It's been a bit since I've been male. At this
rate I'll be back to normal in a few hours."
     "Yes," Miyabi agreed from her chair, watching Twister's
regression back to his true age with fascination and a little bit
of admiration; she was not over the hill by a long shot. "The Chaos
doesn't seem to have caused any permanent damage, fortunately.
Personally, I was more worried about Bert in that respect," the
red-head started, "but it seems to have been focused mainly on his
armour, not himself."
     "My student availed himself with honor. Proud I be," a voice
cackled. "Time to show myself to you, it is."
     Miyabi and Bert stared at the little, wizened apparition that
appeared in the middle of the room. Twister looked at them both,
puzzled.
     "What's wrong?" he asked. Miyabi looked startled that he
didn't see it.
     "Something just appeared in the room. Small, green, big ears,
and wearing a grungy old robe. Doesn't appear to be hostile."
     "He's not," Bert croaked.
     Miyabi looked at him sharply. "This belongs to you? What is
it?"
     "Yoda."
     The little Jedi Master made a piqued noise. "What is it, she
says. Yoda not an it. Yoda is Yoda. Humph."
     "Bert?" Twister said, wondering what was wrong.
     "I've been hearing his voice in my head for a while, but this
is the first time I've actually SEEN him. You can't?" he asked the
psionist, who shook his head. "Then how come the Professor can?"
     "Magic, I suppose," Twister offered. "I'm immune right now,
remember?"
     "Only those who can see the force can see me," Yoda stated. 
     "Whatever," Miyabi sighed. "It's likely a creation of your
subconscious mind acting as your `guide', Bert. A possible result
of your new abilities. Probably not a danger and more likely a
useful aid." Yoda `Humphed!'. Could we get on to what happened
earlier?"
     "What's to tell?" Bert demanded. "Twister, as Darlene, got
majorly depressed because of, uh, personal problems. That fed the
Chaos inside her and started taking over, to the point where it
actually had a guiding intelligence when I fought it with the now
destroyed Order Sword. The Chaos put everything it had into
Darlene's Dragonsword while Order did the same with its sword. They
both seemed drawn to each other in the end before the last blow-up
where the swords were toasted."
     "I lost a sword, but better that than me," Twister sighed.
     "But WHY?" Miyabi pressed. "Was there a purpose to all of
this?"
     "I guess..." Twister started slowly, "that Chaos wanted me
because my body COULD contain it in female form. Who knows for
sure? It's CHAOS."
     "I wish I knew why Malkon had seemed disturbed," Miyabi
muttered. Twister jerked straight in his chair, eyes blazing.
     "Malkon?! When??"
     "He gave us the Order Sword, but oddly enough he didn't seem
to be the one behind it all, and possibly wanted to know who WAS
more than I do." Miyabi frowned in frustration. "We may never
know." The psionist calmed down.
     "Besides," Bert pointed out, "you have bigger fish to fry
today. Like Nabiki."
     "I'd better go wait for her call then." Closing his eyes,
Twister leaned back into the chair and nodded painfully, agreeing
with what he had just said, before vanishing for his apartment.
     Bert didn't envy him.
     "Worry not, my student. The Force flows in mysterious ways."
     "Shut up, Yoda."
     "Humph!"
                              *****
     Twister knocked on the door with some trepidation and a moment
later Yuriko opened it. Nabiki had asked her roommate to phone his
apartment and that he was to arrive without teleporting, but it was
plain the blue-haired young woman wasn't happy about it. The two
were her friends and it tore her up inside to see them disagreeing.
The fact that it had also torn up a good section of Nerima wasn't
lost on her. She hoped they were going to make up.
     "Hi, Yuriko," Twister said softly, seeing her worried
expression. "Where's Nabiki?"
     "In her room. Waiting." Yuriko blinked, it wasn't her
imagination: Twister WAS a bit taller and more defined. "Why do you
look... older?"
     "I was aged during my little," he grimaced, "rampage. My body
didn't seem to like it happening artificially so I'm slowly getting
back to normal, but it's not quite done yet." The brown-haired
young man sighed as he stared where Nabiki's door was. "I'd better
go to her. Thanks, Yuriko."
     "Good luck," Nabiki's roommate encouraged.
     I'll need it, Twister thought as he opened the door.
     Nabiki was sitting on the bed, waiting for him. She was
prepared for him after hearing his arrival through the door, but
some of the grief he still felt over her heated words must have
shown on his face because she fidgeted a little on seeing his
expression. He was surprised to see Lotion sitting in the desk's
chair and positioned close to her rival.
     "Find out anything else I didn't mention?" Twister asked
Nabiki, he couldn't help the trace of anger that slid into the
words and regretted it instantly. Surprisingly, she only flushed a
little.
     "No, as a matter of fact I haven't," she told him evenly.
"Actually, I asked you over to apologize for what I said. I wasn't
myself."
     "Sorry, Nabiki, I didn't mean to snap at..."
     "I was being a bitch," Nabiki admitted, surprising him, "AND
damn thoughtless of what I should've known would happen." She
looked at him levelly. "But it hurt, Twister."
     Twister absently rubbed his face with a hand. "I'd wanted to
forget about those things, even though I can't. The best I can do
is avoid thinking about them until I'm ready to accept it. How
could I tell you until I was?"
     "You told Bert and your roommate."
     "I don't love them like I do you," he answered back,
resolutely looking at an empty wall. "Either of the things you
found out have elements that I worried might drive you away. Now
how could I tell you when I realized that? I was crushed when you
said you didn't want to see me again. That I was Darlene at the
time didn't improve things, Chaos or no."
     Nabiki stood and walked over closer to him. "I know. I just
wanted to hurt you at the time. I'm not proud of it." She paused.
"I still love you, Twister," she said softly.
     It lifted his heart enough that he had a wry smile when he
turned to face her, stepping close enough so that their arms could
reach around the other. Twister looked down at Nabiki's smiling
face. "Yeah, me too. I don't think I could stop that, even if I
wanted too."
     Her response was to pull him down into a long kiss.
     When they separated, Twister asked, "Two questions."
     "Go ahead."
     "Am I forgiven?"
     "Mmmm... After that kiss, I guess so," she chuckled. "What's
the second question?" Twister calmly looked at her.
     "Do you mind telling me why Lotion is here and hasn't said a
word of protest, or spoken up at all for that matter, during this?"
     "Well," Nabiki drawled as she eased herself from his grasp to
sit back down on the bed, "that's because we needed to make up
before all of us could continue with the second reason I asked you
here."
     "Second... reason?" Twister said cautiously. The happiness he
had been feeling over their making-up was quickly being replaced by
an uneasy feeling. He started looking from Lotion to his
girlfriend; what was going on here?
     Lotion smiled. "It's a simple one, really," the amazon mage
said.
     "Yes," Nabiki agreed.
     "And that is...?" Twister said, hating to ask it.
     "Marriage," they chorused.
     He closed his eyes, wincing. I knew it, he mentally moaned.
     "But don't worry, Lotion and I have already worked it all
out," Nabiki went on cheerfully, blithely ignoring Twister's
startlement, "and I think we're both satisfied."
     "You two," Twister stated with great care, looking at the two
women, "worked it out??"
     "Um hmmm," Nabiki hummed in agreement as Lotion nodded,
smiling. The financially-oriented Tendo daughter held up a hand and
started ticking off fingers as she went through the points she and
Lotion had come up with earlier.
     "One, you will leave this universe. First to where you were
born, then possibly to others to accomplish the other goals."
     "Wha..." Twister started to say, but she ignored him.
     "Two, you will date other women during this absence, sex with
them is optional but preferred. You really are too shy about that
topic at the moment, and we'll be asking about the details later."
     "Glrk?!?!"
     "Three, you will not return until you feel comfortable enough
to come back for the wedding.
     "Four, you will find a way to make people either immortal or
as long-lived as yourself, otherwise you'll get lonely.
     "And five, when you get back you will marry both I, Nabiki
Tendo, and Lotion."
     Twister was slack-jawed and speechless.
     "Oh yes," Nabiki helpfully added, "you have ten minutes to
swear to agree with ALL these points or else neither of us will
marry you or talk to you again. Starting now."
     It took a few minutes for Twister just to collect his
scattered wits, normally he was calm but THIS...!! "What the HELL
are you two talking about?!" he demanded. I sound like Bert,
flashed though his suddenly frantic mind.
     Nabiki calmly looked at her watch. "Seven and a half minutes
left."
     "You're not REALLY... Lotion!" He whirled to face the grinning
mage. "You can't..." he stammered.
     "We BOTH agreed, Twister," she cheerfully said, crushing any
hope. "I don't mind sharing, and neither does Nabiki. It's not
against amazon law."
     "But... But..."
     "Six minutes," Nabiki sang out.
     "Hey!!" Twister protested at her. "What do you mean by
`swearing' anyway??" he demanded of Lotion. I can't believe I'm
actually thinking of doing these crazy demands, he thought.
     "You have to give us your word that you'll do these things,"
Lotion explained. "Nabiki said your `old-fashioned honour' should
make you keep your promise."
     "I..."
     "Five minutes."
     Twister stared at Nabiki, then slowly turned to Lotion, who
smiled sweetly at him. It sent shivers down his spine. Really, it
was his fear about her desire for his female form that was the main
cause for delay. (That and TWO wives!?!) She was a caring person,
and Twister had gotten to like her during the amazon's care of him
when he was stuck as Darlene. However, the fear was persistent and
prevented love from springing up. Christ, he hadn't even been with
a woman as a MALE yet, for crying out loud!
     But if they were serious...
     "Three minutes."
     "All right," Twister said reluctantly. Oh, bloody hell, I
can't believe I'm doing this. "I give ye," Ye? Bad time to be
archaic, he thought, "my word that I will follow your five...
points."
     "I accept your word," Nabiki said, smiling easily.
     "Me too," Lotion chimed in.
     When she finished, the three felt a faint and odd sensation,
but dismissed it as part of their own emotions. They never
suspected it was a result of Twister's swearing and their accepting
it.
     The psionist stepped back and slumped on the door, groaning,
"Oh boy."
     He just wished those smug looks on his promised ladies would
vanish.
                              *****
     Yuriko took her ear off the door. Her face was flushed with
embarrassment and amusement; it was a struggle to get to her room
before the giggles became uncontrollable.
     Oh, Nabiki! Poor Twister!! she thought with no little devilish
delight as she closed her door. Muffled feminine laughter was
immediately produced behind the brown barrier.
                              *****
     The next morning brought a familiar voice to the Tendo Dojo.
     "Nihao!"
     Shampoo's eager greeting made Akane snap her chopsticks,
fingers clenching. Bert, somewhat used to this by now and given
about seven spare pairs of the eating implements by Kasumi, shook
his head and passed her a new set. Soun focused on eating. The
purple haired amazon was with company too; Cologne and her cousin
Lotion. Cologne was glancing quizzically at a neutral Lotion.
     Kasumi walked out of the kitchen to welcome them. "Oh, hello
Shampoo, Cologne, and Lotion. What brings you here?"
     "We were asked to come," Cologne replied, giving Lotion
another glance, making everyone at the table blink.
     "Ranmaaa..." Akane growled; it HAD to be her baka fiancee's
fault, somehow. What had he done THIS time??
     "It wasn't Ranma, Akane. I did."
     Akane turned to the voice and anger turned to surprise when
Nabiki and Twister came down the stairs. "YOU did, oneesan?"
     The middle Tendo daughter nodded, grinning. "We have some
things to settle." She looked over at Twister, who steeled himself
before walking over to the table.
     Bowing in greeting to the surprised Soun, the psionist smiled.
"Mr. Tendo, I would like to ask something important of you on this
beautiful day."
     Soun blinked. "Yes? What is it, Twister?"
     "I would like your permission to wed your daughter," the
younger man declared.
     Six pairs of eyes widened in surprise; Twister, Nabiki, and
Lotion remained calm as the news hit them. Bert's face started to
break into a wide grin, but then he looked at Lotion and blinked at
her odd composure. Cologne and Shampoo seemed surprised, but the
Tendos were ecstatic. "Of course you have it! Oh, another of my
daughters is to be married!" Soun exclaimed and Twister accepted
Soun's sudden hug with stoic patience as Nabiki's father cried.
Akane and Kasumi went to their sister and hugged their
congratulations.
     "So you finally got him to do it?" Akane whispered with a
giggle. Nabiki looked ready to laugh aloud when she returned
Akane's smile.
     "Wait for a moment, sis, and see daddy's reaction," she said
with a grin.
     Bert got up and extended a hand to the psionist when Soun
released him to run around in happy circles. "Congratulations,
Twister," he offered, grinning, but Twister held up a restraining
hand and the red-head paused, startled.
     "Just a sec, Bert," Twister told him, sighing, before turning
to face the amazons just outside. Shampoo didn't look happy as her
cousin hadn't got her husband but Cologne knew something was up.
"Cologne, you are the leader of your tribe and I have a request of
you."
     "Yes?" she said warily.
     "I ask for your permission to wed your great-granddaughter
Lotion."
     Dead silence as even Soun stopped crying for joy.
     Cologne, startled, looked at Lotion, who was now smiling at
Twister, then Nabiki, who was grinning. The ancient amazon put two
and two together and came up with the correct assumption that this
had been planned by both females. She smiled; that was the way it
should be. "Why certainly, Twister. I would be pleased to do so."
     "WHAT?!?! Soun roared as Akane, Bert, and Kasumi stood in
shock. "How DARE you do this to my little gi..."
     "Daddy!!"
     Nabiki's cutting shout stopped Soun in mid-rant and he turned
to his daughter, surprised. She looked annoyed at him.
     "Lotion and I talked things over and we thought this was the
best solution for all of us. Twister agreed to it, not the other
way around: it was MY idea, not his," she told him sweetly.
     "B-b-but..." Soun stammered, then drew himself up indignantly.
"Now see here, Nabiki! I will not..." He stopped again when Twister
placed a hand on his shoulder and gently turned his father-to-be
around to face him.
     "Mr. Tendo, I have already promised them on my oath that I
will marry both of them," he said quietly, looking Soun straight in
the eyes. "I will not break that oath." There was something in his
calm gaze that suddenly made Soun apprehensive; the martial artist
knew what the young man could do. There was a blocks-wide crater to
prove it too.
     "Ah.... Heh, heh, heh..." He rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, if it was NABIKI'S idea then I suppose it's all right." Soun
smiled weakly. Twister smiled back with a wry twist of his lips.
     "I'll be going back home in a few weeks to fulfil certain, er,
agreements we made, but I'll be back." He turned to the startled
Bert and grinned. "I think it's about time I send back a certain
freeloader back home too."
     "Hey!" Bert protested, then blinked. "You mean you're finally
going to send me back?" Twister nodded and Bert broke into a wide
grin. "WAAAAAA HOOOOOOO!!!!!!" he whooped, throwing a fist into the
air. The psionist laughed at his reaction.
     "Nabiki, why...?" Kasumi started to ask, but Nabiki hushed
her. The wink back to her older and younger sisters promised to
explain later.
     It was Bert's turn to laugh when Lotion happily glomped onto
a suddenly red-faced Twister.
                              *****
     Bert was feeling cheerful as he jogged through the
peaceful(since no martial artists were duelling at the moment) area
around the Tendo Dojo. He was doing so primarily for the reason
that he needed to get back into better shape before heading back
home; Kasumi's cooking was scrumptious and it was impossible to
resist eating too much. Despite the highlights of his visit, he had
gotten out of shape.
     Home. The red-head sighed out loud at the thought. Now that
Twister had said he would send him back, memories of his friends
that he'd had to repress or go bonkers were flooding his brain.
Nene, Priss, Sylia, Linna, Mackie, Sylvie, Anri, all of their faces
flashed by. Yeah, even Leon and Daley's were among them. 
     Now that hope was alive, he had to admit that his enforced
`holiday' HAD reduced considerable tension he'd never been able to
tone down much.. Twister was right when he had told Bert he'd be
able to relax. This place was not as mechanized as Mega-Tokyo,
purer in its existence in a way. While he considered the dirtier
city as his place, jogging here was a refreshing experience. To be
sure, it was something to think about. Magic still gave him the
willies, but after seeing Chaos and experiencing Order, he felt he
could handle his new powers now.
     Someone stepped out from behind a corner and Bert stopped
awkwardly when he saw who it was. Natsumi. Oh boy...
     "Are you really leaving?" she demanded, stepping close to his
sweaty form. "Is what the Professor told me true?"
     Bert groaned and put a hand over his face. Thanks a lot,
Miyabi, he growled inside, but the red-head suspected the mage had
told her pupil for just this reason: to settle Natsumi's doomed
relationship with Bert. He sighed; this was not going to be easy.
     "I'm afraid so," he confirmed and the young woman's expression
fell. She stumbled forward and grabbed his shirt with both fists.
     "Why?! You can stay here, be with me, and we can be together!"
     "I'm sorry, Natsumi," Bert told her gently and carefully
removed her hands from his shirt with a regretful expression. "I
already have someone I care for very much where I come from and my
friends NEED me there. I can't NOT go back because of that, and I
miss them very, very much." He restrained from comforting her when
her eyes moistened. "There's not much of a choice; I HAVE to, no,
it's ESSENTIAL for me to return home. I'm sorry," Bert told her
again.
     Natsumi stared at him for a long moment, backed up a step,
then whirled and ran away, tears streaming behind her.
     Feeling wretched, he watched her disappear behind the corner
she had stepped from. He did not know what to say to comfort her
and did not really know her that well anyway. Uncomfortable, he
resumed his jogging. What else could he have done?
     He wished he knew.
                              *****
     The next two weeks went by quickly as Bert helped Twister do
a few things to get ready for the departure. He and Twister had
come up with a few gifts for the Sabers when he returned and that
filled the days between the planned date to leave. Ranma, shocked
and uneasy at what his friend had done, helped out too. The
pig-tailed martial artist was afraid certain young women he knew
would get ideas...
     Twister went out a few times with Nabiki and, surprisingly,
once with Lotion, who didn't do anything overt. They were sad he
had to leave, but glad it wouldn't be very long before he came
back. For them anyway, the psionist suspected he would be gone a
long time.
     At last, the day came and a minor crowd gathered in the dojo's
practice room: the departure point. Twister had said good-bye to
Yasuro already, even though he might seem to be gone only a day or
two, but many others were there to see he and Bert before they
left. Twister had told them it might be best if only he and Bert
remained at the end before they left, just in case.
     There were a few; the Saotomes, the Tendos, Lotion, Miyabi,
Yuriko, Shampoo, Mousse, Ukyou, Ryouga, and Cologne. Natsumi hadn't
come and Bert felt a bit sorry about that, but he needed to go
back. Happousai, whom no one missed, was tied to a post outside and
paralyzed by a spell; there was to be a Happo-bashing party after
they left. Miyabi and Yuriko were the first to come up to Twister
and Bert, who stood near their travel packs.
     "Well," the professor of magic said as she looked at Bert,
"you're certainly livened my life during your stay. Too bad I like
things quiet." She smiled away the sting of her words as he
flushed. "I wish you luck, Bert, on your trip home."
     "Thanks," he said, and meant it.
     She turned to Twister. "You're certain you can send him home?"
The psionist nodded and she sighed. "Then I wish you luck as well.
I'll enjoy seeing you when you return to see how much you've grown
in experience and wisdom." Miyabi hugged him as she chuckled.
"Never hurts to add a little more." He chuckled back.
     Yuriko hugged him after Miyabi. "Good luck, Twister. You too,
Bert, even though I never saw you much."
     "Hey, I never turn away a pretty lady's compliments," Bert
grinned.
     "You'll see me soon, Yuriko," Twister promised as she blushed.
Miyabi smiled before they vanished in a burst of light. Bert really
wished she would stop doing that.
     The group of Ryouga, Mousse, Shampoo, and Ukyou came up and
offered us good-byes as well. Twister knew Ukyou best of them all
and was glad to see her there. However, before they left, he wanted
to do two things.
     "Ryouga?" The bandanna-wearing lost boy cocked his head.
Twister pulled out a compass with a string around it and tossed it
to him. Ryouga caught it and looked at it, puzzled. "I managed to
make the spell permanent and it's very durable. It will point in
the direction of where you wish to go." And hopefully keep you on
the same planet, Twister thought. The lost boy's hands shook as he
realized what it meant and quickly put it on.
     "THANK you, Twister!" he said, pleased. In the back, Ranma
groaned at what it meant to HIM if Ryouga could find his way around
now.
     "Just don't go through many walls following it. I felt I owed
you after you got injured because of me," Twister explained, then
turned to Mousse and gave him a small marble. The hidden weapons
expert frowned at the glass object.
     "What's this?"
     The psionist reached out quickly and snatched Mousse's glasses
off. The robed young man drew back, surprised, then blinked and
stared around him. "I... can see?" he whispered.
     "I found it odd," Twister glanced at an innocent-seeming
Cologne, "that the magic-users of your village couldn't cure you so
I made this marble." He shrugged. "Just put it somewhere safe if
you don't wish to use it." Ranma groaned again as Mousse stammered
out his thanks before the quartet left. Cologne hopped up. "That
wasn't nice, you know," the psionist told her.
     "What wasn't?" He rolled his eyes at her calm voice. "Good
travelling, son-in-law," she continued to say. "I AM pleased to
have two such strong husbands for my granddaughters and one more
certain to marry than another."
     Which one would that be? Bert thought, amused.
     "Thank you, Cologne," Twister replied and she nodded, before
hopping out on her stick. With the exception of Nabiki, the Tendos
and Saotomes came forward next to say their own good-byes.
     Nadoka smiled and bowed gracefully. "Thank you both for your
help in our family... problem." Genma looked guilty and Ranma
elbowed him.
     "Uh... yes."
     "No problem, Lady," Bert said as he bowed back, Twister
echoing with a smile.
     "Why'd ya haveta give those things to Mousse and Ryouga
anyway?" Ranma said crossly. Now it was his turn to be elbowed by
Akane. "What?" he demanded irately, frowning at her. She stuck her
tongue at him.
     "I owed them," Twister said simply. "Shampoo will likely hide
the marble, for a short time anyway, and Ryouga still has to figure
out how to use the compass properly. Things should stay the same
until I get back."
     "How can you NOT use a compass properly?" Bert said, startled.
     "Ryouga will find a way," Twister sighed. Ranma chuckled at
that truth, feeling better already.
     "Good luck, man," Ranma said.
     "Come back SAFE!!" Soun wailed and hugged an embarrassed
Twister yet again. His daughters looked amused as Nadoka hid a
smile. Bert was relieved not to have been targeted as well.
     "Come back soon," Kasumi smiled as Soun released him. They
nodded as the families walked out. Leaving just Nabiki and Lotion
with the pair.
     "Uh... I'll just stand off a ways," Bert said and backed off,
turning away as the two females came over to stand in front of the
uncertain psionist.
     "Having second thoughts?" Nabiki teased on seeing his
expression. Twister sighed.
     "Those are inevitable, but I'll keep my promise."
     "Not just to keep your word, I hope." Nabiki stepped forward
and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled him down to kiss
him deeply and passionately, letting her true feelings show and
loving it when he reciprocated. "No," she breathed when they
separated, "I guess not." Then she hugged him tightly before
reluctantly moving away. "Don't be gone TOO long."
     "I'll try not to be." He smiled, then turned to the waiting
Lotion and sighed as she impishly dumped some cool water on his
head as they'd agreed. The familiar change occurred in an instant
as Twister became Darlene.
     The amazon magic-user embraced her tenderly and gazed deeply
into blue eyes. Darlene swallowed nervously. "I'll hope my embrace
does not provoke such fear next time we do this," Lotion sighed
wistfully as she brushed a sad hand over the red-head's soft cheek.
Surprisingly, her gentle kiss that touched only the lips didn't
make Darlene shiver and that confused the blue-eyed young woman.
Lotion hugged her tighter once more before reluctantly letting go.
She backed away towards the door, keeping their gazes locked until
vanishing out the door.
     Nabiki repressed a smirk at Darlene's confused expression.
"Come back soon!" she cried before walking quickly out the door.
     "You can turn around now, Bert," Darlene murmured quietly,
thoughts a jumble, then shook her head to clear it. She'd deal with
it later.
     "It's time to go," she sighed.

Part Ten - Good Parting, Fellow Knight
--------------------------------------

     They were alone now, everyone having left after their
good-byes.
     "You know... there were times..." Bert couldn't seem to finish
the sentence as he watched Darlene getting ready to send him back
home.
     She looked up curiously, then understood. "Times when you
thought you'd never get back? That you would be stuck here
forever?" The smile she gave him told Bert she could understand
that as she'd had similar feelings from time to time.
     Bert nodded, relieved he hadn't insulted her. "Yeah, I'll
admit it's been...interesting." He smirked, then sobered. "Even
after everything that happened to me while I've been here, good and
bad, I have to admit I am a little nervous going back after all the
changes I've gone through."
     "Hey, you're not alone y'know!" Darlene said, aggrieved. "I'm
going to my birth universe and lay low, just be a normal person for
a while. The butterfly collection in my stomach is going overtime!"
Her nervousness showed on her face briefly before she forced it
away with a determined look. "But I have a lot of thinking to do
and I can't stay here. I have to find out how to do some...things
before I come back."
     Ignoring the questions brought up by that last piece Darlene
said, Bert chuckled at another thought. "Invite me to the wedding
when you do finally get around to it." He chuckled harder at the
beet-red blush Darlene wore.
     "Not if you keep bringing it up!" she said, heavily
embarrassed still at the implications of that event. Even now,
Darlene still couldn't believe Nabiki had made the demand that it
was either marry Nabiki AND Lotion or else Nabiki would break off
their relationship and never talk to Twister again. And gave ten
minutes to decide! It was a struggle, but one that really didn't
leave a choice had agreed. The two satisfied females had claimed
there was a very good reason why Nabiki had insisted on it, but
they had told Twister it would be explained after the wedding. That
still gave Darlene shivers.
     Seeing Bert still laughing, Darlene slyly felt a smug
satisfaction of her own. Among the objects the two had created for
the Knight Sabers, the red-headed Knight Saber had wanted something
that would protect Nene and so Darlene had made a magical ring. A
magical DIAMOND ring. Privately, she had hoped Bert wouldn't see
the trouble such a ring would cause, especially after his amusement
with her own predicament, and he hadn't, much to her hidden glee.
It was a wonder, but Darlene supposed it hadn't even occurred to
him. Being half-female had given SOME feminine perception and it
was obvious to HER what would happen. Maybe it was a blind spot on
him. Oh, well.
     "Get your suit on, laughing boy," Darlene ordered when she was
ready. 
     "At your command, m'lady." Bert bowed extravagantly.
     "Watch it," she warned him, seeing him grin. "Don't forget,
I'M the one driving, bucko. And no cracks about women drivers!" she
quickly added.
     "Who me?" he said, giving her an innocent look.
     Darlene snorted and waved him onto the spot where she wanted
him.
     Suddenly, Bert seemed a lot less confident. "Are you SURE...?"
     "YES!!" She glared at him, then stormed off to get the package
of the stuff he was bringing home.
     "Okay, okay! Sheesh!" He started to call for his SkyKnight
armour, and then stopped, a sly grin spreading over his face.
"Actually, can you change back for a moment?" he asked as she came
back with a bulky package. "I've got one last thing I want to do
before I go."
     "And that is?" Darlene asked warily, recognizing the grin.
Bert's grin widened.
     "Just trust me," he said.
     "All right," Darlene sighed, put the bundle down, and then
left the room. A minute or two later, Twister came back carrying a
glass of cool water. "Now what was it that you wanted to do?"
     "This!" Bert's face developed a look that was compounded of
intense concentration, mischief, and diabolical amusment. Twister
realized what he was doing an instant before the flash and
detonation shook the dojo.
     "You just had to do that, didn't you?" the psionist sighed,
shaking his head and placing a hand over his face. "The professor's
going to kill you, you know." Still shaking his head, he dumped the
glass of water over himself and became Darlene again.
     "I've always said you should go out with a bang," SkyKnight's
amused electronic voice replied. "Besides, I won't be back, so I
wanted to do it once more just for old time's sake."
     "Do that again, and that won't be the kind of `bang' you go
out with!!" Miyabi's voice snapped peevishly from somewhere in the
room, then sighed. "I suppose I should have expected it though. At
least I won't have to put up with any more puns!"
     "Bye, Professor," SkyKnight told the empty air, grinning to
himself. He didn't receive a reply, but he was sure he'd been
heard. Shifting around, he tried to stifle the queasy fluttering in
his stomach. All kidding aside, he was more than a little nervous
about what was going to happen next. Feeling his hardsuit around
him was helping to fight off the growing uneasiness he felt, but
not much.
     "Do not fear, my student. Fear leads to the Dark Side," a
familiar voice advised, making Bert groan. Yoda. Darlene saw the
magical being Bert's mind had...created?... coalesce next to him,
and grinned.
     "Hi, Yoda! Guess I'll be sending you off too, won't I?" Giving
the package to SkyKnight, she smirked. "After Bert, Star Wars will
never be the same again."
     "Hey!" he protested. "It's not my fault! Really!"
     "Uh huh. Right. I'd better send you off." She grinned once
more, then turned serious. "Bert... Just in case we never do meet
again... I want to say...I am truly sorry that I brought you here
against your will." Darlene's face was unusually solemn.
     Bert wasn't sure what to say, he could tell this was very
heartfelt and held a lot of emotion. He tried to joke. "Hey, it was
a blast. In the order of a small tactical nuke perhaps, but a blast
anyhow. I do feel less depressed than when I first got here,
thought through a few things, and you helped a LOT with this
stuff." He hefted the package in his hands to indicate it. "Don't
be hard on yourself."
     She looked at him for a moment as if wondering about
something, then with an odd expression on her face, she said with
an odd inflection in her voice, "An' it please thee, SkyKnight, I
would bid thee to receive one more gift." With his puzzled nod, she
continued, "I give thee my word, my oath, my pledge, that by my
entire being, if ye need help, if ye be desperate, if ye seek my
aid, I shall come. But only once I shall do so, and only once it
shall be." When she finished, she blinked. "I think that I'm
getting a little too dramatic."
     "Promised you did, and help my student you will," Yoda
cheerfully said from beside SkyKnight.
     "Ah...maybe we should start?" Bert wasn't sure what had
happened was all about, but it unnerved the hell out of him. It
seemed to bother Darlene too, but she nodded, stepped away, and
raised her hands. "I enjoyed your stay, SkyKnight." Darlene smiled.
"Hopefully, we shall meet again."
     "Hey, come visit anytime. We can shoot a few arrows together."
     Darlene nodded, a twinkle in her eye, and then began:


     "May time and space now heed my call,
      Reality firm as concrete wall,
      Fall back I say, I use my will,
      Resist his path? The chance is nil.

      SkyKnight you are, you seek thy home,
      Not one of birth, but one of heart,
      Through realities akin to specks of foam,
      I find the play that needs thy part.

      Go now I say! Go now with need!
      No longer friends shall be devoid!
      Go now I cry! Go now with speed,
      By magic strong and through the VOID!"


     Bert found that halfway through the spell he couldn't move;
this was not a conducive manner to preserve calmness. When the
floor beneath him started to fall away like a black hole had popped
into existence under his feet, he started to sweat. He hung above
it as if the hole didn't really exist, but he KNEW it did.
     Then Darlene finished.
     "Good luck!!!" she shouted, as if there was some kind of noise
but Bert heard nothing.
     That's when gravity dropped him into the hole in the fabric of
reality. Very quickly.
     "OOOOHHHH, DDDAAAAAMMMMMNNNNNN!!!!!"

IN THE VOID....

     ".....why I ever agreed to this!!" Bert yelled as he emerged
from the tunnel leading to the universe he had been living in for
the past few months. Craning his neck, he saw the large? entrance
receding impossibly quickly behind him, like something had pushed
him out like a cannon. The analogy made him uneasy; as a rule,
cannon balls usually did not survive impact.
     He instantly closed his eyes, remembering what Darlene had
told him off the Void's nature. Time was more a function of
perception here than was normal so closing off one's perception of
the whiteness around himself would make the trip seem faster.    
     Moreover, Bert prayed he would not encounter anything going
home like he head leaving it. When he opened his eyes after a few
minutes, he saw a familiar blackness encountered when entering the
Void the first time, and sighed with relief.
     No Encounters of the Omnipotent Kind THIS trip!

IN THE RANMAVERSE...


     Darlene wiped the sweat off her forehead. While it seemed she
had an easier time than most mages with trans-universal spells,
`easier' was still hard. Still, she had enough energy to make it
back to her birth universe. Around ten minutes rest was all she
needed.
     She wished Bert well, in a lot of ways they were alike.
Looking down at herself made her grin. Not right now. Telling him
that she would come when he needed help had been impulsive and she
wasn't sure where that had come from. Her mouth twisted wryly;
there was still a lot about herself she didn't know, even now.
     Nabiki and Lotion were like that. Thinking about Lotion made
her shiver; she couldn't help it. It was that reaction among other
things that she was leaving. One of those `other things' was age.
She couldn't marry Nabiki and Lotion if she was going to still look
seventeen or eighteen when they were a hundred. Darlene couldn't
stand that, and, as promised, needed to do some research so that
they too would live as long as Darlene. Whether or not
Twister/Darlene, Nabiki, and Lotion could handle it still remained
to be seen.
     She had a feeling they could. And her feelings were usually
true, especially in this form.
     Darlene sighed and picked up her own pack.
     She should go, but not forever. The red-head raised her hands.
     Time to leave this universe for another one.
     Home.

IN THE BUBBLEGUM ZONE...

     "Bert?"
     Bert froze at the sound of Sylia's inquiring voice and turned
around, giving her a warmer smile than his boss expected, startling
her. "Yes, O wise and all-knowing boss-lady?" he said with a wide
grin.
     Twenty minutes ago, he had appeared from a hole in space in
the exact position he had left so abruptly, save one minute had
passed by here instead of months where he had been. That had been
confirmed when Sylia's concerned, and welcome, voice had burst from
his helmet speakers. He had passed it off as a hardware or software
glitch, but she had insisted he return to base immediately. Sylia
had been surprised at his eagerness to do so, not knowing he had
been gone for a long time.
     Annoyed, yet puzzled, Sylia gave him an exasperated look. "All
right, what did you do this time?"
     "Moi?" Bert tried to look innocent. It didn't work.
     "You," she stated, tapping her foot. "You are entirely too
happy to have not done something that I am going to regret." She
paused, studying his guilty face more intently. "You also seem...
more relaxed than before."
     The guilty look vanished from his face as Bert smiled. It must
be true if Sylia noticed it, he thought, looks like Twister was
right about the trip being a good chance to de-stress myself. "I
just feel like a lot of bad karma dropped off me this flight,
Sylia. These jaunts have great therapeutic value for me, but this
one felt like...a vacation." 
     Sylia appeared dubious, wondering what on earth he was talking
about, but slowly nodded. "I can't argue with the result." She
looked down at the backpack he carried. "What's that?" 
     Bert hefted the pack containing all the surprises Darlene had
made from him and the other Sabers and placed it on his back. "It's
a surprise," he said, grinning broadly. "Trust me." Sylia's
expression turned uneasy when Bert turned and walked away,
whistling. 
     Oh no, she groaned mentally, putting a hand over her face.
Bert glanced back and saw it.
     And chuckled quietly.
     
EPILOGUE ONE
------------

     "Natsumi? What are you doing down in the basement?"
     The young magic user started at the sound of her mother's
voice and nervously glanced away from the glowing gem in her palm
to answer. "Just looking through some of great-grandpa's stuff
again, Mother," she called out, keeping her voice casual. There was
a pause before the reply.
     "You're not planning on trying something like that golem you
made before, ARE you, daughter?" her mother's voice asked
warningly. "Your teacher told me why you made it after it was
destroyed," Natsumi winced, "and I ignored it then since no one was
hurt." The tone warmed as she went on. "You've been much more
cheerful these past months and I think it's made you a wiser user
of magic. Just be careful, all right?"
     The raven-haired girl swallowed and her eyes were moist. "Yes,
mother, I will." It was the hard deceiving her mother, but she had
to.
     Natsumi picked up her pack as the stone's glow changed from
ochre to indigo; the end of the trail was found so it was time. She
had lost one love already, there was no way she would do so twice.
     "Take me to him," she whispered, forming the image of the
red-headed Bert in her mind and the gem's glow flared. The light
illuminated the basement as her hair whirled around her, her eyes
never leaving the source of the brilliance as it engulfed her.
     When it vanished, she was gone.

EPILOGUE TWO
------------

SOMEWHERE UNKNOWN...

     The unknown being who had involved himself with SkyKnight
considered recent events. He was in a part of his own realm that
was not conducive to material form and so existed as his powerful
essence only. But his contemplations were interrupted as a familiar
and much, much more mighty presence manifested itself, even that
was muted he knew. The presence communicated not in words, and nor
did the being respond with those vibrations in air.
     "THIngs diD NOT Occur tHE WAY we wisHED, TRial," the new
arrival `spoke' in a crystal-clear manner. It was a not rebuke, it
did not consider things that way. The being known as Trial
considered his reply.
     "The one called SkyKnight was but mortal, I could not exert
much force for fear of damaging him with the Wild magic. But in the
end he became what I desired, even without my intervention. He will
serve his new purpose well."
     "thaT WAS NOT my focus, TRIAL, YOu must knOW THAT." Before
Trial could respond, it continued. "BUT I missED A Play tHAT ShoulD
NOT have OCCUrred."
     "I noticed, but you covered it well, as usual," Trial
consoled, knowing it was a wasted effort but it was the polite
thing to say. This WAS one of his creators after all.
     "PerhapS, BUT I will eNSURE my othER WILL not inTERFEre."
     "That is not Its nature."
     "ALL AVENues are cOVERED For now.. whAT IT DECides is
iRRELEVAnt."
     Suddenly, a chill passed Trial's being and another strong
presence manifested itself, as powerful as the first one who had
arrived in Trial's domain but in different ways. Unlike the other,
this one had a `female' presence and one Trial could not feel some
fear for, despite knowing he was safe. He kept quiet, nonetheless.
     "I see things are proceeding well, hmm?" the female presence
commented amusedly.
     "YEs, cousIN."
     "And what about your relation?" she asked in an arch manner.
     "TAKen caRE OF." The presence paused. "why tHE INteresT?"
     "Oh, I'm just eager for a new person to talk to who isn't
instinctively afraid of me." If the female being had worn a face,
there would have been a wry smile on it. "My own sister's being a
god-awful witch. Again." She chuckled. "And she wonders why human
beings got that expression about her."
     "ONE WondeRS," came the response, and for the first time it
conveyed deep amusement.
     "I wonder how long it will take," she sighed.
     "IT IS Never tHE SAME, you knOW THAt."
     "Well, introducing myself early won't hurt, now will it?" Her
tone turned pleading. "I've been really desperate for company for
an eternity, literally, and this new one will probably like me."
     "NOT FOr at leAST ANother EON OR two." The female presence
made a rumble that would have terrified an entire universe, but it
didn't affect her cousin. Trial, however, convulsed in fear. "You
can wAIT. THe new oNE IS Not prePARED yet anD THERe are iNDICAtions
OF SOMe mentAL BARriers THAT PrevenT PREMature REALIzatioN. WAIT."
     "Oh, very well," she sighed.
     "GOod."
     There was a sending of sudden joviality from the female
presence. "I wonder what this Twister/Darlene will think of what
he/she has become."
     "YOU WIll finD OUT EventuALLY."


     The End...?


=================
Twister(aka Darren Steffler) e-mail at:
twister@tendo-dojo.ranma.net | fmw675@freenet.mb.ca
Homepage at: http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/~fmw675/
Anime Fan!!! Must watch BGC and Ranma 1/2 to the infinite!