MAGICAL GUARDIAN RANMA: BETA EDITION

MGR: Director's Cut

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR:

This is the Beta version of Magical Guardian Ranma. Besides simply collecting shorter chapters into longer ones, some sections actually have been rewritten and there is additional material, so hopefully those of you who have enjoyed the Alpha version won't be bored with this one.

PREREADING AND EDITING ASSISTANCE BY:

Golden Arms

Lord Talon

and… some guy named Steve.

LAST EDITED:

8/21/2010 (Costume descriptions revised to match current conception)

9/02/2010 (Some minor plot holes patched and some details added)

DISCLAIMER:

'Ranma ½' 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 fanfics, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even gasp American comic books!).

TAGS:

Gothic Horror Romantic Sex Comedy Adventure Drama Alternaverse

This should worry some of you…

PROLOGUE:

Genma looked out across the sea from the railing of the ship that was taking him back to Japan. Another expense he hadn't planned on, but again the cost was much less due to Ranma's current state.

When? When did things start going so terribly wrong? Was it at Jusenkyo?

Most of the training grounds Genma had taken Ranma to over the years had legends that were just that - legends with no current basis in reality other than historical curiosity. Even those whose legends were active had only amounted to a few interesting adventures and minor inconveniences at worst. Nothing a couple of martial artists couldn't handle when it came right down to it. The boy got to feel good about helping people out, and if Genma himself was enriched in any way, that was just a side benefit, right?

However, the fact that the last cursed training ground on their planned route was remarkably active, and turned out to have the effect that it did, was entirely unforeseen.

Genma felt that he had really let Ranma down this time with his habit of just bulling ahead and damn the costs and advice. If only he had actually paid more attention to the guide, other than just enough to actually get to Jusenkyo...

If he had had listened to the man ahead of time, neither he nor Ranma would have been cursed at all. If only the Nyanniichuan had not effected Ranma the way it had, then perhaps the Nannichuan would have helped his son the way it had helped him.

The... incident... at Joketsuzoku was also a result of some poor decisions on his part. Eating the prize for the annual village tournament had not endeared him to any of the Chinese Amazons. Oh, they had spared him, for Ranma's sake if nothing else, but Genma was under no illusions that he held any respect in their eyes. About the only good they saw in him was his desire to find a cure for his son.

Leaving as he had, in the middle of the night with Ranma, wasn't likely to win over any of the Amazons either, but Genma couldn't allow his son to remain in Shampoo's hands with the way the arrogant girl was treating him! If Ranma was going to belong to anyone, let it be one of the Tendo daughters! It would be a way to keep the pledge after all...

Perhaps the only way...

Tears of a father who deeply and truly regretted the actions that had cost his son so much poured unhindered down Genma's grief-stricken face.

The Guide and the Amazons had called it an honor...

They had said that the Nyanniichuan would have turned Ranma into a girl had Jusenkyo not found him worthy of a higher purpose...

Damn them! A girl would have been much better than this!

Genma looked down at the sapphire lens clenched tightly in his fist.

"Don't worry Ranma... I'm certain one of the Tendo girls will be able set you free..."

O O O

CHAPTER ONE:

Soun looked down the table where his daughters were lined up sitting in their kimonos. Originally, when he told them about the upcoming engagement, there was a collective firestorm due to his admittance that he had never even met their prospective fiancé. However, he was confident that his daughters would see reason. Granted, Akane still appeared to be less than happy with the whole arranged marriage issue. On the other hand, Nabiki seemed to have some hopes of finding Ranma to be acceptable, and had Kasumi's open support from day one.

The photo-sticker adorning the upper right-hand corner of the written side of the postcard that now rested on the family room table depicted the bust of a young man about the same age as either Akane or Nabiki, with blue eyes, a confident smirk, and slightly unruly hair. The boy was wearing a plain white martial arts gi, and what little could be seen of the background suggested that it was taken at a temple.

It was really too bad that Ranma would not be coming himself this time, but obviously the boy had suffered some sort of training injury and was now in a hospital in China. That was a possible risk of training on the road. Still, it must not be too bad if he was still sending a gift for one of his prospective fiancées.

Occasionally, one or another of his daughters examined the postcard even now. Soun, of course, had memorized its every detail during the prior two days.

Akane, growing bored with waiting, frowned as she ran her hands through her long, lustrous black hair, then picked up the postcard yet again…

Tendo,

Something happened to Ranma in China. I am coming Saturday afternoon with his token. If one of your daughters can accept it, then Ranma is hers. Hopefully the situation with Ranma will change soon.

With Regret, Genma Saotome.

Akane huffed. Obviously Ranma couldn't be all that hot of a martial artist if he had gotten himself hurt bad enough that he was stuck in some hospital in China. Still, she tried not to think too badly of the boy.

With two days to digest the news, Akane wasn't nearly as upset as she had been when she first found out about the arrangement. Not that she was at all happy with her father for having made it, but the extra time allowed her to think some things through

She knew something of the injuries that a martial artist could get while training, and it had to be pretty bad if Ranma's father was leaving him back in China to make this visit. So this promise must have a lot of honor involved.

At least as far as the fathers were concerned.

Akane noticed that Nabiki seemed to be interested. As Akane's interest with boys near her own age had plummeted, thanks to a certain upperclassman at school, she was only too happy to encourage her sister's interests instead.

"I'm not getting married to some strange boy," Akane huffed, passing the postcard to Kasumi as her elder sister gestured for it.

"No one was saying that you had to, Akane," Kasumi said gently as she placed the card back onto the table just so. He was really too young for her to be interested in herself, but he had a nice face and with Nabiki's interest, she was sure that it would all work out.

"Look," Nabiki said as she reached over and took the postcard herself. "We've already gone over this over and over again for two days now. I already said that I'll do it, so just leave it alone, Akane. Some of us are actually looking forward to this."

Nabiki turned the card over in her hands as her sisters lapsed into silence once again. She was, indeed, looking forward to this meeting. Granted, Ranma himself wouldn't be there, but he was sending a gift of some sort. Very proper, and something that Kasumi approved of naturally, but in this day and age Nabiki simply respected the fact that he was bothering to send one at all.

The photo-sticker showed a boy near her own age who had a confident smile. Nabiki thought that she could get used to a smile like that. And he had those remarkable blue eyes, so rare among the Japanese, lending an exotic air to his appearance.

Maybe he was stuck in China due to an injury at the moment, but his father obviously thought that he'd get better. Most likely, it wasn't something that would become a permanent liability. Once Ranma finally arrived, perhaps she could convince her father to take in more students again with Ranma as an assistant. Money wasn't too bad now, but with her Daddy practically behaving as if he had retired with only Akane and a handful of sporadic students, it wasn't too good either.

Accepting an engagement to Ranma was a possible way out of this potentially bad situation. It didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes either. Maybe not the most handsome by any standard, but attractive enough. And well trained to boot! She hoped that he got better soon though. If he was laid up too long, his skills would take a while to get back to whatever level he had originally raised them to.

Then again, Nabiki thought, best not to count dividends until they mature. So no arranging for tournaments for him to enter until she knew he could make a good showing...

Soun, being fairly pragmatic about it, let Nabiki stake her claim and acknowledged that it had his support as well, although, for his purposes, he'd be just about as pleased no matter which daughter accepted the engagement. In fact, he had been planning on letting the boy make his own choice, but since Ranma couldn't be here, it fell to his daughters to decide among themselves instead. About the only downside was that no matter which daughter inherited the property as a dowry, at least one of the others was likely to move out afterwards for one reason or another.

Oh well, at least with Nabiki, he'd be assured that the financial end of the dojo would be secure. And it was nice seeing her smile pleasantly for a change, as opposed to the nasty smirk she had been cultivating lately.

O O O

Genma stepped out of the taxi, happy to have missed the morning rain, having decided to wait at the hotel until it was closer to the time he had said he'd arrive.

Now that he arrived though, it finally occurred to him that all of this free spending was cutting into money he could be using for expenses when he searched for a cure to Ranma's condition. He briefly considered selling the two inch diameter gemstone lens before smacking himself in the face.

Hard.

Beyond the fact that it was made of sapphire, making it too expensive for anyone to leave where he could easily steal it back from them, the fact that he was even considering selling Ranma's token showed him that he still had far to go if he really wanted to atone for the actions that had cost his son so much.

So very much...

Genma paid the cab driver and then turned to go through the front gate of the Tendo home and dojo. Fighting to maintain his composure, he gathered the packs, and turned to face an uncertain meeting...

O O O

"Daughters," Soun started formally, once Genma was inside and seated, "This is my good friend, Genma Saotome, Ranma's father. Genma, these are my three daughters, Kasumi (age nineteen), Nabiki (age seventeen), and Akane (age sixteen)..."

Genma remained silent a moment longer, unable to find his voice now that the time had come. Just when everyone was beginning to wonder if he would actually say anything or not, he set a round blue disc just large enough to fit in the palm of a hand on the table before the three daughters. "Here," his gruff voice heavy with the emotional strain he was under. "This is Ranma's... Whoever..." Genma trailed off, unsure of how to explain the unbelievable.

Nabiki picked up the translucent blue lens. It was certainly pretty enough, and didn't feel like it was made of plastic. In fact, she thought that it felt like stone. A shiver ran down her spine as she considered that it might be a real gemstone. The possibility that she was holding a honest-to-kami sapphire, and the fortune that it might represent, made her feel weak...

"What? Did Ranma send us a slimy gel packet?" Akane asked skeptically, noticing her sister's reaction. She reached over to grab the thing out of Nabiki's hand, which prompted the middle Tendo daughter to draw it protectively in towards her bosom.

Which is when things began to turn freaky!

Light shined from the stone clutched in Nabiki's hand, a bright aura that cast the room in shades of blue. Nabiki's kimono - indeed, everything she wore, including the light make up she had put on - flowed into the sapphire lens as if it were all water.

"What the?" Akane exclaimed, as she pulled back rapidly, having lost the right sleeve and a portion of the upper torso of her own kimono as they too were drawn into the sapphire lens. Not to mention half her bra and her own make-up.

Kasumi, who had been sitting on the other side of Nabiki, rolled to her right and scooted behind her father before her own kimono lost more than just a slight bit of color from the left sleeve. She and Soun gazed in awe at what was happening to the middle Tendo daughter.

Nabiki, for her part, was speechless. She uncurled from her seated position as she floated weightlessly, naked as the day she was born. Her hair shifted to a deep blue hue while her eyes became a vibrant green. Then ribbons of water poured forth from the gem, slowly swirling around Nabiki's bare body. Several ribbons spiraled in on Nabiki's hands and feet forming snug gloves and boots with running shoe soles. As those were finishing up, several other ribbons began to paint a sleeveless halter top and bicycle shorts combo on her that left her midriff bare and fit like her own skin. The final ribbons of water painted an inverted triangular cup with the kanji for water on her shorts at the 'bikini spot'. The whole outfit had a water motif, done in shades of deep ocean blue, with crystal blue lagoon trim.

There was a silver rimmed fitting on the back of the right glove that seemed to be just the right size for the lens. Curious, Nabiki's grip on the sapphire lens relaxed as she prepared to switch it to her left hand so she could see if it fit into the fixture. However, it popped out of her hand and flew into the setting on its own just as Nabiki settled gently on her feet, gravity once again establishing it's hold on her.

Just as she started to wonder about the transformation, something else popped out of the lens, settling on the table in front of her. It was small, about the size of a cat or rabbit, and looked kind of like a kangaroo rat with blue fur.

"Um... Hi, I'm Ranma," it said, looking up at Nabiki. "Sorry 'bout this..."

There was much silence in response, as this statement had been made by something that resembled a cartoon rodent. Mostly because what had just happened was so far out of nearly everyone's experience, other than those of Genma Saotome, that they had a hard time believing that it had occurred after all. This, in the face of the magical rodent's continued existence on their table despite their natural inclination not to believe that it was there, left the Tendo family in a bit of a quandary.

"WAAAAH! Ranma! How could I have let this happen to my son?" Genma cried out in grief and self loathing as he burst forth a font of tears to rival any that Soun had been known for. In a way, this reassured the Tendo sisters that what was happening was real after all, however strange. Ranma, on the other hand (or paw, if you prefer) was looking at his father as if he had grown another head.

"Whoa, Pop! Get a grip already!" Ranma looked at his father in worry. "Pop? Are you feeling well? You've lost weight since the last time I was out..."

"WAAAAH! My noble son is worried about my health despite what I did to him!" Genma cried out again, slamming his fist down onto the table, causing a small crack to form.

"Stop that! You're embarrassing me!" Ranma hopped off of the table, glaring at his father.

"WAAAAH! My son is ashamed of me!" Genma wailed, banging his head repeatedly on the table. The Tendos sweat-dropped as they struggled to restrain the hefty martial artist from further hurting himself. Or further damaging their table for that matter…

"NOW CUT THAT OUT!" Ranma snapped. Surprisingly, Genma did seem to calm down at that. "Now, if you're done cryin' that river, could you tell me where we are? This ain't Joketsuzoku, Pop. The building style is all wrong, there are way too many modern features, and we were the only Japanese there anyway."

"We are back in Japan, Ranma," Genma explained. "In the Nerima ward, just outside of Tokyo, to be specific. This is my good friend Soun Tendo, and these are his daughters. One of them was to be your bride. If only..." Genma's voice grew halting and sorrowful yet again. "If only I had never taken you to that cursed place! Jusenkyo! Why have you taken my son from me! WAAAAH!"

At this point, Soun picked up the table and slammed it down on his old friend, knocking him out before he could damage anything else.

Ranma cocked a furry little eyebrow at this, then shrugged, figuring that his father deserved that. Then he looked over towards the man and the girls curiously. "Um... Could somebody run that by me again? It sounded like my Pop brought me over to meet some girls I'm supposed to marry, except that I can't while I'm like this..."

"Oh dear," Kasumi responded softly. "I do believe that is actually the case, Ranma-san."

"Oh," Ranma responded flatly. "I see." And then the eyes of the rather large mouse rolled back in his head as he tried to process the incongruous information, and he fainted.

O O O

A short while later, after calming down a panicked Genma (who had become frantic over finding Ranma's unconscious upon his own recovery) and then getting the whole story from him, Soun had taken him out to the Dojo, where he could provide his old friend with a harder proof of comfort without having to bother his daughters with the impending inebriation of the two men. Not that they hadn't had to deal with either him or some of his friends after they had gotten a little too celebratory before, but those had been happy occasions which lead to happy, if somewhat intoxicated behavior.

Genma was far from happy, and would not be fit company for anyone, sober or drunk, so it was off to the Dojo, where anything that got broken could be easily fixed. Besides, with everything that was going wrong, Soun decided that he could use a few stiff drinks himself…

O O O

Back in the family room, the three Tendo sisters sat around the table looking at their unusual guest, who was currently curled up on some blankets set in a wicker basket that Kasumi had dug out of storage. She was still wearing the formal kimono that she had on before while Nabiki stayed in the somewhat outrageous outfit that had been painted on her by the magical water effects that preceded Ranma's appearance. Akane, on the other hand...

"Akane, you might want to change into a different outfit." Kasumi pointed out helpfully. "I believe part of your kimono got caught in Nabiki's magical girl transformation."

"Yeah, Akane, you're kind of showing... Wait. Magical Girl Transformation?" Nabiki cocked an eyebrow at Kasumi as Akane 'eeped' and ran to her room to change. "Get real, Kasumi. Magical girls are just products of fiction. The stuff of anime and bedtime stories, or bizarre rumors that conspiracy theorists and other oddballs pass around from time to time. They aren't anymore real than those sentai teams that Akane is into."

"What else would you call it?" Kasumi asked. "Between the water effects and the fact that your hair is blue and your eyes turned green, I do believe that it is a safe call to make, all things considered." Looking over her sister's outfit, she made a further observation. "Although, now that you mention it, your costume does sort of fit more into the sentai theme instead."

Nabiki blinked and suddenly wished that she had a mirror handy to examine herself with. She was somewhat surprised when water flowed out of the sapphire in the silver and steel fittings on the back of her right hand, forming into a flat plane with a somewhat fancy border and handle, which suddenly froze solid. And then fell to the floor, shattering into a hundred or so shards of ice.

"Really, Nabiki," Kasumi chided gently. "If you are going to use your magical girl powers to make things like a hand mirror, you should be ready to catch them before they break."

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Nabiki responded numbly, stunned at what had just occurred.

O O O

Far away, in a certain village in China, near Jusenkyo...

"Great Grandmother! Will you let me go after the fat panda that stole my Guardian Stone now? It has been two whole months!" Shampoo whined, only to get bopped on the head by Cologne.

"Shampoo! How many times do I have to tell you that Ranma's Guardian Stone belongs to nobody but Ranma!"

"But I could use it! Doesn't that mean that I've been chosen as a magical warrior? Doesn't that make Ranma my guardian beast?"

"Shampoo, while being able to bring Ranma forth from his Guardian Stone is a sign that you have potential as a magical warrior, the fact remains that were Ranma truly yours, his father would not have been able to take him from you. Some other woman will become Ranma's chosen warrior."

"But who, Great Grandmother?" Shampoo whined. "What outsider woman can fight better than the Nichieju? Surely, if there were one, our warriors would have found her by now!"

Cologne sighed, having had this argument with her great granddaughter many times before, especially over the past couple of moths. "There are other types of strength than strength of arms or strength in martial arts, Shampoo. Intellectual, tactical, and spiritual, among others I could name. Besides, your elemental affinity with Earth is but one of what may be six or eight elemental aspects that Ranma can potentially support, so Ranma is most likely charged with being the Guardian Beast of a group of Magical Warriors. Not, as you would like to believe, just one."

Cologne raised her hand to cut off any further protest. "But enough about this. The other candidates from the village have had their two months to track down and attempt to retrieve Ranma's Guardian Stone. The council and I agree that this can only mean that Ranma is destined to serve his duty as a Guardian Beast wherever it is that his father is taking him."

The Nichieju Elder closed her eyes for a moment as she continued. "Given that you have already activated Ranma's Guardian Stone and have been revealed to have an elemental affinity as an Earth Warrior, you should have no particular difficulties in tracking down Ranma's sapphire Token. With that in mind, we have finally agreed that you may go after Ranma and find out... Shampoo?" Cologne addressed the now empty air, noting that the door to her home was only now just slamming shut.

After a few moments of contemplation, Cologne began to grumble to herself with half-lidded eyes. "Oh my. I do believe that she has jumped to an inconvenient conclusion." Sighing heavily, she gathered herself and made her way outside. "I had better warn the council of my upcoming prolonged absence."

O O O

Ranma woke to find himself curled up in a wicker basket padded with some nice soft blankets. While a nice surprise in and of itself, it 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; however, in the physical world he could sleep and wake up on his own.

He hadn't realized how much he had missed little things like that. Granted, he hadn't 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 embarrassment, 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 sisters 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, concentrating 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 surprise 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 around her sister's forearms and was about to get up to call for emergency services when she noticed something truly bizarre. "Oh!"

"My hands!" Nabiki screamed. "What happened 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 suspended in the ice about where the back of Nabiki's right hand should be.

O O O

Soun poured himself another bowl of sake, and pondered if he should explain to the girls just why it was so important for the Tendo and Saotome lines to be joined.

With what had just happened to Nabiki, it was past time to explain to the girls what the actual motivation behind the arranged marriage had been. Granted, the purpose had already been fulfilled, though not from the expected results of whatever progeny Ranma produced with one of his daughters. However, Nabiki's costume looked nothing like any of those belonging to the four fading devil hunter lines leading into this union!

If only he had a son…

In his experience, the more dangerous the expected opposition of a devil hunter line was, the more revealing the starting outfits worn by the female members were. Males, at least, tended to get more armor and weapons instead. And since Nabiki's costume appeared to practically be body paint...

Soun Tendo, eighth generation devil hunter (retired), bitterly reflected on the painful truth of the old adage, "Be careful what you wish for, for you may just get it."

And then the thought faded as inebriation settled in…

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 its 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. "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 little 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.

"I don't know…" Nabiki dissembled, leery of what her temperamental sister might do with a power-up.

"Please?" Akane's eyes became even more soulful, and she started quivering her lower lip as she clasped her hands together under her chin.

Nabiki just looked at her younger sister with a half-lidded expression and said, "You've got to be kidding me…"

Ranma, on the other hand, proved to be a much softer touch. "Aw, c'mon… What harm could it do?"

"The mind boggles."

"Nabiki!" Akane huffed.

"That really wasn't very nice, Nabiki," Kasumi pointed out, as she placed a hand on Akane's shoulder, trying to placate her youngest sister.

"You'd probably end up with the powers of a rock anyway." Nabiki jibed, ignoring Kasumi's mild scolding. "You're head's just about as…"

"Finish that sentence, dear sister, and I'll show you who's got the thickest head!"

"See? Resorting to violence already!" Nabiki chided sardonically.

"Argh! Alright then! How about if I promise to be responsible?"

Nabiki thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Fair enough, I suppose. Just so long as you promise."

Akane waited expectantly.

And then waited some more.

And then her left eye started twitching. "Well!"

"You know me better than that, little sister. No promise, no deal."

"Argh… All right. You win, Nabiki." Akane groused in frustration, not being able to get

her sister to just give her something for nothing. Collecting herself, the youngest Tendo bowed briefly to Nabiki and made her pledge. "I, Akane Tendo, do solemnly swear to use whatever powers I get from the magic rock with all due responsibility."

"Very good, Akane!" Kasumi smiled brightly at her youngest sister, giving her a quick, reassuring hug.

"Okay then," Nabiki nodded again.

"Was that really necessary?" Ranma asked.

"Yes," Nabiki replied, at roughly the same time as Akane's own answer of "No!"

"Okay then…" the fussy blue rodent tilted his head in confusion.

"Just get on with it, Nabiki."

"Fine, have it your way." Nabiki extended her right hand...

Akane reached out to touch the gem. As soon as her fingertips touched the sapphire, great gouts of flame rushed out of it, washing over Akane and Kasumi, lifting the youngest Tendo into the air.

Fire raged in the family room of the Tendo home, a blazing column of flame that consumed the clothes from Akane's floating form in an instant. Along with the table, part of the floor and ceiling, and most of Kasumi's kimono.

Kasumi was apparently uninjured, Nabiki noted, although she wasn't sure whether that was because Akane's fire couldn't hurt her sisters, or because Kasumi was out in the yard, having been carried there by a now eight foot long (not counting the tufted tail), giant sabertooth kangaroo rat with blue fur.

Nabiki's own sensation was that of boiling. Not being boiled, or broiled, or even burned but literally boiling. From what she could see of herself, her body was now boiling water, somehow maintaining a human shape, with a sapphire suspended on the back of her right hand. Not uncomfortable, really; in fact, it was sort of warm and ticklish.

Nabiki cast her mind from the new sensation and back towards the raging inferno that was her sister. "AKANE! STOP!" Abruptly, most of the flames vanished, leaving Akane to drop suddenly through the hole in the floor before Nabiki could catch her.

"Eep!" Akane landed awkwardly but unharmed on the somewhat charred ground below the Tendo house. Sitting up, she noted that she now had her own Magical Girl costume. It was very similar to Nabiki's, being what appeared to be biker shorts and a sleeveless halter that may as well have been painted on, with complimenting boots and gloves. Only in shades of orange with red, brass and copper trim, and the kanji in the inverted triangle on the shorts was for fire.

Nabiki swiftly sent out dense sprays of water to put out the remaining flames left in the room, noting that she automatically reverted from her watery state once it was safe to do so. That it took her costume a moment or two longer to reappear was deemed a curiosity, but irrelevant at the moment due to other concerns.

"Cool!" Akane chirped happily, noting that there was even an unoccupied fitting in the brass plate on the back of her right hand.

"I suppose so," Nabiki remarked sarcastically as she put out the remaining fires in the family room. "I mean, you only tried to burn our home to the ground. I guess that could be cool."

Akane looked around, noting to her chagrin the amount of damage her transformation had caused. Then she noticed Kasumi in the back yard, who was mostly naked and hanging tightly to the chest of the very large, very shaggy, and very dangerous looking gorilla-armed saber-toothed rodent...

O O O

Ranma, for his part, was starting to feel somewhat embarrassed. Mostly due to the state of Kasumi's attire (or rather, her current lack of same), but partly for not considering the possible side effects of the various elemental transformations. Granted, he had no way of knowing what Akane's elemental affiliation would have been ahead of time, nor had he actually seen Nabiki's transformation, or even Shampoo's for that matter. On one level, he was dead certain that none of the transformations were supposed to be that dangerous and out of control, but on another level he couldn't say why he was so sure that this was not normally the case.

Taking care not to look directly at the eldest Tendo sister's mostly bare body, Ranma tried to set Kasumi down carefully.

Except that Kasumi was having none of that! She continued to cling tightly to this large, furry (and not in the least bit on fire) guardian that had rescued her from being burned alive by her youngest sister. She had felt the heat of Akane's fire, painfully hot as her own kimono was rendered into ashes nearly instantaneously. A fate that Kasumi was sure to be her own until this wonderful beast grabbed her, taking the pain away and removing her from danger.

Kasumi began sobbing into Ranma's shaggy azure fur out of a feeling of shock and intense relief.

O O O

"What are you doing to my sister?" Akane yelled at Ranma, amber eyes glowing with anger and long red hair swaying violently side to side as she approached the monster in her back yard. She'd take care of this youma and then...

Being grabbed by her shoulder from behind, spun around, and slapped by Nabiki was not part of Akane's planned sequence of events.

"Akane! Calm down right now! This very instant!" Nabiki commanded angrily.

"But..."

"I mean it! Ranma is not harming Kasumi at all! In fact, he got her the hell OUT of danger! Danger YOU put her in!" Nabiki pointed out, her voice practically dripping with venom.

"But, Nabiki... I only..." Akane tried to explain tearfully.

"But nothing, Akane! You nearly burn down the house, incinerate your own sisters, and now..."

"Enough!" Ranma interrupted Nabiki's angry tirade. "It was an accident. None of the transformations are supposed to cause this much incidental damage. Not even fire, not that I had any idea what her elemental affinity was going to be. This was just a stupid, scary accident, and nobody was actually hurt, so enough already!"

Nabiki shook her head, forcing herself to calm down and regain her own composure. Ranma was right, and she could see that she had been overreacting in much the same way that Akane had, although at a different target. "I'm sorry, Akane."

"Yeah..." Akane responded sheepishly. "Me too." Getting a better look at the scant remains of Kasumi's attire, she exclaimed, "Oh! Kasumi! I'm so sorry! I ruined your best kimono! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Kasumi began to calm down, not that she was letting go of the giant plush toy that had saved her, and sniffled a couple of times before responding to her sister's attention. "I'll... I'll be all right, Akane. I just had a bad scare. I'll be fine."

"Um..." Ranma started in halting embarrassment. "Can I put you down now?"

"…" Kasumi buried her face in the azure fur covering Ranma's chest.

"Well?" Ranma asked again, plaintively. Or as plaintively as an eight foot tall blue furred saber-toothed kangaroo rat with the arms of a gorilla could.

"No."

Ranma would have joined Akane and Nabiki in their collective face-fault had it not meant possibly injuring Kasumi in the process.

O O O

Elsewhere in Nerima, five boys wearing animal masks had once again roughed up one of their favorite victims not too long ago. Hikaru Gosunkugi was angry, depressed, and, well... mostly depressed really. It wasn't like anger ever did him much good. When it came to classic fight-or-flight response, his adrenal system was every bit as pathetic as the rest of him, failing him when he needed it the most.

What he needed was a protector, someone strong, who was able to strike fear in others, and could back it up. And yet at the same time be caring and gentle. This was part of the reason he had fixated on Akane, who was normally such a sweet person, and yet was able to bull her way through thirty or forty boys at the start of every school day for the past month. Not that he thought about it in such an analytical fashion. He just felt a longing, nearly instinctive, need for Akane.

Now if only he could get up the courage to actually talk to her! Without thinking, Gosunkugi lashed out and punched a wall out of sheer frustration.

"Ow!" The frail boy examined his bloody knuckles and winced. His mother wasn't going to be too happy about this, and he wasn't too sure how his father would take it either. Or if he would even care about what happened to his son for that matter. What if it got infected?

Gosunkugi decided to rush the rest of the way home so he could get some antiseptic.

Which was fortunate for him because he missed the arrival of a gang of street toughs who would have been angry about how his bloody knuckles had ruined their stylized occult tag.

Unfortunately, for the wannabe gangbangers, they had gotten to their territory just in time to witness an arrival of another sort.

R'hul casually examined the pack of feral humans that had attempted to attack it, apparently out of some territorial urge. Not that the fight had lasted long, as they had proved to be young, undisciplined, and lacking in both will and power. At the moment it had them all paralyzed with fear.

Pathetic, really, because it wasn't even capable of projecting emotional attacks.

Still, its cursory inspection was giving it some clues as to why they might have retreated into the dark, gibbering recesses of their souls.

R'hul had two arms, two legs, a head with two eyes, all roughly where they should be for a human and certainly close enough to pass for human in a dark alley in the middle of the night.

However, as it was still early evening, there was still far too much light to effectively hide its less human features, like the sharp talons on its hands, and tentacles on its face. Many tentacles. Way too many tentacles, where the nose and mouth should be.

Tentacles that R'hul now extended from its 'beard' toward the unfortunate gang of boys.

R'hul had need of them.

END CHAPTER ONE

O O O

OMAKE THEATER I PRESENTS: Pest Control...

Curious, Nabiki's grip on the sapphire lens relaxed as she prepared to switch it to her left hand so she could see if it fit into the fixture. However, it popped out of her hand and flew into the setting on its own. Nabiki settled gently to the floor as gravity once again established it's hold on her, and one final thing came out of the lens and settled on the floor next to her.

It was small, about the size of a cat or rabbit, covered in blue fur, and looked kind of like a kangaroo rat.

"AHHHHH!" Akane screamed, "It's a rat! Kill it!" Which she promptly attempted to do with the table!

SPLAT!

"..." Soun was flabbergasted...

"..." Kasumi was speechless...

"..." Genma was shocked...

"Right," Nabiki muttered, "That's the fifth blue mouse-type we've gone through. Casting said that we wouldn't be getting another one after this until Akane had some therapy. Who's stupid idea was it to put her through the Nezumi-Ken anyway?"

"Why is everyone looking at me?" Genma asked nervously...

O O O

OMAKE THEATER II PRESENTS: Hidden costs

Akane reached out to touch the gem...

BEEP "Please deposit 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!"