MAGICAL GUARDIAN RANMA!

PREREADING AND EDITING ASSISTANCE BY:

Howard Melton,
Philip Jacobs,
Jeff Denniston
Lord Talon,
And some guy named Steve.

DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma �' and all characters therein belong
to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This
fanfic has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass
on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfic
 may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other
fanficts, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even GASP
American comic books!).

CHAPTER THREE:

Ranma woke to find himself curled up in a whicker basket padded
with some nice soft blankets. Which, while a nice surprize in and
of itself, was less remarkable than the fact that he actually literally
woke up. Shampoo never bothered to leave him out of his token long
enough to get any regular sleep. Not that he really needed any as
long as he was in the sapphire disc, as the two states were similar
from his point of view. Other than the fact that in the physical world
he could wake up on his own.

He hadn't realized how much he had missed little things like that.
Granted, he had never been given much time to miss little things like
that, what with Shampoo keeping him in his token most of the time,
only bringing him out to show him off to her fellow villagers or at the
requests of the Elders. Still, Shampoo was one of his charges now. As
much as he may have resented the way she treated him, he was now a
Guardian Beast and he knew that it was his duty to serve a magical
champion.

Much to his embarassment, he felt a tremendous amount of relief to
find out that his "chosen" warrior didn't have to be the first one who
activated his token. It might not even have to be the one his father had
just found for him either, but he'd at least give the new girl a chance.

Shaking his head to clear it, the oversized blue kangaroo rat sat up
and looked up at his latest charge.

O O O

Kasumi and Akane were looking on in awe as their sister experimented
with what Kasumi had dubbed as her "Magical Girl Powers". Nabiki
had formed a new ice mirror, a standing one large enough for all three
sistes to be shown together this time. Elegant ice sculptures graced
the family room here and there, along with the occasional weapon
made entirely of ice. At the moment though, Nabiki was poking her
hands into a large sphere of water she had called up, concentraiting
on keeping it floating like a bubble in the air while boiling the inside.

"Wow!" a high pitched voice exclaimed from the basket on the table.
"You sure catch on fast! All Shampoo's done so far is move rocks and
shake the ground a bit."

"Eeeep!" Nabiki's surprize manifested itself not in scalded hands, but
instead with the sudden solidification of the boiling ball of water into
a frozen globe of ice. A rather heavy globe at that, as Nabiki found
out when it dragged her to the floor.

"Nabiki!" Akane cried out as she dove to intercept the ball lest it
shatter and damage her sister's hands.

"Oh my!" Kasumi moved to wrap a towel arround her sister's forearms
and was about to get up to call for emergency services when she
noticed something trully bizarre. "Oh!"

"My hands!" Nabiki screamed. "What happend to my hands!?"

For when Kasumi began wrapping up her forearms and the ball,
the thin layer of frost had been brushed away, revealing crystal
clear ice.

And nothing else, save for a solitary sapphire disc suspened in the
ice about where the back of Nabiki's right hand should be....

O O O

Far far away, in a vast desert, a lonely figure in a hooded cloak walked
with resolute determination. He was close. So close he could feel it!
Soon, he would have his revenge!

Now if only he could find a lifeguard or somebody to help him find
his way off of this beach. And what was with all the scorpions
anyway?

O O O

"Calm down!" the high pitched voice commanded, drawing attention
to itself. The three Tendo sisters looked over at the giant azure
kangaroo rat, at which point Ranma continued. "Now, are you in
any pain?"

"No," Nabiki considered. "I don't even feel cold or numb. Just weird."

"Okay then. I want you to just relax and think about having normal
hands again. Can you do that for me?" Ranma asked.

"I think I can manage that..." Nabiki said, as much to assure herself
as to answer the blue fuzzball.

"Your element is water, in all it's forms," Ranma stated clearly as the
girl's hands gradually became visible once more. "Just remember,
your elemental powers can never directly hurt you, even by accident.
That iceball is yours. Tell it to let you go."

Nabiki thought about it. And, as easy as that, the globe of ice poofed
into a cloud of snow, releasing her hands. "Um... Thanks. I really
should have kept a level head just then. Might have saved myself
some trouble."

"Hey, no problem," Ranma chided. "For someone who just got magical
powers, I think you've adapted rather quickly! You should be proud of
yourself!"

"And how many Magical Girls have turned their own hands into ice,
hmm?"  Nabiki asked, cocking an eyebrow at the fuzzy blue kangaroo
rat.

"Beats me," Ranma admitted off handedly. "Including you, I've only
encountered two so far, and both of those were because they had
an elemental affinity of some sort and had managed to activate my
token."

"I feel so assured," Nabiki responded dryly, leveling a flat gaze at
her magical mascot.

"So any girl could become a magical girl as long as she can activate
that blue disc?" Akane asked.

"Sort of," Ranma nodded. "I can only support so many elements at
one time, and Earth and Water are already taken, so anyone else
affiliated with either of them is out of luck."

"Nabiki?" Akane turned to her sister, eyes pleading for permission.

Nabiki extended her right hand...

Akane reached out to touch the gem...

and there was a raging inferno!

END CHAPTER THREE

O O O

OMAKE THEATER PRESENTS:

"Nabiki?" Akane turned to her sister, eyes pleading for permission.

Nabiki extended her right hand...

Akane reached out to touch the gem...

BEEP "Please deposite two game tokens" BEEP

"Darn!" Akane muttered. "I knew I shouldn't have used them all up
playing Sailor Io in all of those crossovers!" 



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