MAGICAL GUARDIAN RANMA!

PREREADING AND EDITING ASSISTANCE BY:

Howard Melton,

Lord Talon,

Nevermore,

Philip Jacobs (the new guy)

And some guy named Steve.

DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma ½' and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfict has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfict may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanficts, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even GASP American comic books!).

CHAPTER NINE:

After reverting back to her unpowered state and getting dressed, Akane managed to get her emotionally drained and physically exhausted sister dressed as well. Sensei politely looked the other way while she did so, keeping an eye out for anyone who might come across them. He had reverted from the blazing form to what she had come to think of as his regular blue furred one. As Akane prepared to pick up Nabiki to give her a piggyback ride home, Akane thought of something.

"Sensei," she asked, "what should we do about our packs? It's going to be awkward carrying them and my sister too."

"Carry them anyway," Sensei said. "It'll be good training for you."

Whatever response Akane was going to give was cut short when Nakiki glomped onto her and began wailing. "WAAAAAAHHH! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! WAAAAAAHHH!"

Akane's hair toinged out of place here and there as her sister produced a fountain of tears that rivaled any of those performed by their father...

O O O

Kasumi was out shopping with her father. They were currently visiting some shops that would have been unusual for either of them to go to no more than two days ago.

"Oh! Wouldn't that be simply adorable on Ranma, Father?" Kasumi asked, pointing out a sailor outfit for a doll.

"Ahem..." Soun coughed. "I'm not sure that Ranma would appreciate that particular outfit, Kasumi. Why don't we order the lumber first, and then try for some replacement furnishings before getting into what clothes Ranma might want in his condition?"

"Well... I guess that would be more prudent..." Kasumi agreed, slightly disappointed. Still, she had managed to find some fabric and terrycloth that were both just the right shade of blue, as well as some bead eyes that were very close to looking like sapphires, so this stop wasn't a complete bust for her.

O O O

R'hul pondered his new appearance in the bathroom mirror. He had a gender now, and had selected a more or less bishonen appearance based on his chief minion's opinion that many of the local females liked that look and would thus be disarmed by his new form. He missed his tentacles though. Which, he supposed, was why he had chosen to be male, given the similarity that their one appendage had to his race's probing tentacles, even if it was far too short and had an entirely different function.

Getting dressed in some of his chief minion's better clothing, making sure that the attire was clean first to be sure, R'hul swept his long wavy black hair back and attempted to scry H'rys' location in order to see what the local defenders brought to bear...

Oh dear...

This could not possibly be any good...

R'hul stared into the mirror, viewing an image that should have been H'rys and its immediate environment. Especially since the scrying spell was specifically cast to focus on the other agent, and should have located him either in this world or back in the staging area of the previous one. Instead, he continued to gaze upon his own reflection as he pondered what had happened to H'rys. The possibilities were various but rather low, ranging from being lost in transfer due to irregularities in the interdimensional barriers all the way to instant death upon arrival due to efficient local defences.

R'hul dismissed the later out of hand, given the evidence of his own continued existence, and while the first was possible, weak zones in interdimensional barriers tended to diffuse over a relatively large area. Thus, it was rather unlikely that any of his local minions had placed a tag far enough away for that to be a problem. This left the answer as being somewhere in the middle. Time to back off for a bit, have his minions quietly gather information that might relate to what had happened to H'rys, and try to plan out the next probing action.

Dismissing the ineffective scrying spell, R'hul returned to the family room of his current domicile and sat down heavily on one of the flesh-bags to consider how best to prepare his first report...

O O O

Nabiki, having cried herself out from her relief that her younger sister was alive and well, rode Akane piggyback as they made their way back home. No one spared them a second glance, assuming that the two sisters were yet another pair of refugees from the battle that had recently torn through this section of Nerima. And there were plenty of other refugees walking around too, both the walking wounded and others who just seemed to be in a state of shock. The more Nabiki saw, the worse she felt over all the lives and livelihoods she had disrupted with her super powered tantrum. She had no idea how some of these people would recover from the damages she inflicted on their businesses alone, not to mention all of the physical injuries.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any fatalities," Ranma stated dryly from his perch on one of the small packs Akane was also carrying. "That does not mean that this isn't still a bad thing though. Losing control like that could have killed someone, and nearly got you killed as well."

"And you say that I have a nasty temper, Nabiki," Akane chided.

"I know," Nabiki grumbled. "And you do have a nasty temper, Akane. It's just that apparently I have one too."

"In that case, I want to see the two of you spar in the Dojo after you've had time to recover a bit," Ranma stated. "If you are going to be fighting these Outsiders, then I need to make sure that you are both trained properly and can work as a team. And the first step for that is for me to see where your standings in our Families' School of Anything Goes Martial Arts are."

"Yes, Sensei," Akane agreed readily. Nabiki just groaned and hit her head on Akane's left shoulder repeatedly...

O O O

"Husband," Nodoka began formally, once Genma had finished his tale, stated his plans, and presented himself for judgement. "You have come to me, bearing a tremendous burden of guilt for your actions against our son, Ranma. You have done deeds, both petty and grave, that have put the honor of both our son and our family at risk. And you have led our son to a training ground where his very humanity was stolen from him. For any of this I could condemn you, and possibly our son as well, and either have you thrown out of the clan or called upon to fulfil your pledge to its fullest extent. And yet..."

Nodoka's tone grew gentler, but no less formal. "And yet, there was much good in what you have told me as well. Yes, you have led our son time and time again into danger, and time and time again he has overcome the challenges you have placed before him, thus he grew in the Art of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Yes, you have accepted tasks and quests in our son's name for the sake of petty greed, but he has thus come to learn to aid people in need and has come to be a better person for it. And yes, you did lead our son to Jusenkyo, but I can find no honor in requiring either of you to pay for what an accidental encounter with magic has done."

"Genma, even if had Ranma not been found worthy and had been left with the original effect you say this Nyanniichuan, Spring of Drowned Girl, would have had - I could not have been able to justify calling either of you to commit seppuku for something that magic and the whims of the kami have done. And you say that the locals told you that Ranma has been found worthy to be called to serve a higher destiny. For that I can find no fault in Ranma that I would deem unmanly at this point."

"Finally, Genma, even though you perceive yourself to have failed our son," Nodoka's voice was gentler still, almost a whisper in the still air of the Saotome residence. "Even with the burden you have placed on your own soul, you have come to me alone, to bear the full weight of my judgement, asking only that I spare, and even aid, our son Ranma. That showed a rare courage, my husband, a courage I have not seen from you in many years, since about a year or so after Happosai had taken over your training from your father. Once again, you have become the man I had married all those years ago. A fine man, who may stumble on occasion, but one of courage who can rise to meet the challenges placed before him."

With that, Nodoka stood and turned to leave the room, pausing at the door to look back. "Come, Genma, I wish to reaquaint myself with the man I married away from these grim trappings."

Genma stood, spirits soaring high with renewed hope within his heart. Soon he caught up with Nodoka as she headed for their room. And then he received a bop on the head with the hilt of the Saotome Family Sword.

"And you'll get much more than that if I find out that this multiple fiancee thing is some sort of perverted tradition of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts! Don't think that I've forgotten about Otsuko, Genma!"

"Yes, Dear... I mean NO, Dear, it's not a tradition of the School..."

"OR Hitomi!"

"But Nodoka, Sweety, that was years ago! Decades even!"

O O O

Under the late afternoon sun, Shan Pu frowned as she crossed a mountain clearing. For some reason, she was begining to tire out, even with her having stayed in continuous contact with the ground since the night before. Her trackless steps had carried her for league upon league towards her goal, and she was begining to wonder just how far away her token had been taken by that thief of a panda.

Sand poured off of her body as Shan Pu continued on for a few more steps before having to drop the now oppressive weight of her pack. She didn't feel so much physically exhausted as much as suddenly mentally weary. In fact, she began to experience some interesting hallucinations particular to the kind of fatigue brought about by sleep deprivation.

"Argh! What now? I've stayed powered up longer than this before," Shan Pu grumbled irritably as she gathered up the clothing that was reforming on the ground from the scattered sand. "Unless it has something to do with having used my Earth Powers to recharge myself continually since last night. I had better set up camp and cook something to eat."

Without bothering to get dressed, Shan Pu tiredly set up her tent and bed roll near a mountain stream, and (after a few false starts) had a modest campfire going, complete with a grill supporting a small pot of vegetable stew. As she wearily stirred the pot, she wondered how long it would take before she could power up again.

Because if she had to wait too long between periods when she could use her Earth powers freely, then she'd have to lighten her load considerably so she could continue to make time even when not the Earth Warrior...

O O O

Under the evening sky, Soun Tendo sat before his game board, across from Ranma, where the two were playing a serious game of shogi. The Tendo Patriarch was finding the match interesting, as Ranma's playing style was in sharp contrast to what Soun remembered of the boy's father's favorite tactics.

"I'm given to understand that my girls saw a little action today, Ranma," Soun stated in a calm but serious tone as he examined the board after Ranma's latest move. The largish blue kangaroo rat was playing a delaying tactic, trying to recover from his poor position. Genma would surely have cheated by now, but his son had yet to choose to do so. Soun could respect that, even if he did enjoy the unorthodox games he and Genma used to indulge themselves in. Playing against Ranma was more like facing a younger player in the park, or like when Kasumi and Nabiki were learning how to play shogi.

Ranma, for his part, sighed. "They weren't ready yet. Heck, we'd just gotten to the gravel yard and were about to start simple training in activating and deactivating their new powers when we heard some woman's scream. I thought it was just a mugging or something, not some demon popping up already."

"There was someone else in the gravel lot with you?" Soun asked, surprised that they had heard anything given the way the loose piles of stone and dust should have broken up any nearby sounds from outside the lot. Soun pressed his advantage on the board while Ranma's pieces were still in a poor attack posture. The lad was definitely more patient in shogi than Akane had been. He learned fast and was good at improvising moves too...

"No," Ranma shook his tiny head in the negative. "That was the oddest thing. The scream was from several blocks away from the lot, but we all heard it clear as a bell. Otherwise it was actually pretty quiet in the lot, just like Akane had said it would be." The fuzzy blue one moved another piece. Playing against his father's friend was not very much like playing against his father. Not that Ranma had ever played more than a few games of shogi or go with Genma, as neither of them bothered to carry a board and pieces with them. Soun obviously had more time to practice, and was proving to be a challenging opponent. Ranma wondered if he had been mistaken to decline Soun's offer to take a more serious handicap as a superior player. Heck, even with the four piece handicap Soun HAD taken, Ranma was hard pressed to hold his own. Still, if he could lure the elder Tendo into making any of a particular set of attacks...

"Yes, that does seem to be odd..." Soun agreed, preparing to make his next move. Noting that his diminutive opponent seemed to become eager as his hand approached one of his silver generals, he reexamined the board and spotted a couple of traps that might have cost him that piece. Ah, the boy was clever, but his body language gave him away, even in this form. Soun casually moved his hand over his pieces until he saw Ranma's tail and tiny shoulders droop, then, double checking for traps in case the boy was faking him out, he made his move.

"They need to learn to work together as a team," Ranma shook his head in disappointment. His father would have fallen for at least one of those traps...

"I agree. Nabiki needs to start training seriously again if she is going to properly answer this call to duty." Soun commented gravely as he waited for the boy to make his next move.

"Tell me something I don't know, Daddy," Nabiki commented dryly from the sidelines, still a little sore from her spar with her younger sister. "You're taking this a lot better than Akane or I thought you would. What with us having just fought a demon and all."

Soun turned to look at his middle daughter. "I am not happy with this situation, Nabiki. If I could do anything about it, none of my little girls would ever have to risk their lives in a battle against dark forces. At the same time though, you and Akane have been called to a unique duty, and the fact that a demon has shown up here in Nerima shows that it is a serious duty that does need to be carried out."

Soun's shoulder's slumped as he started to weep softly. "If I thought it would do any good, I would banish Ranma from this house and forbid either of you from ever contacting him again, even knowing that this is no fault of his. We would move somewhere else, away from any possible demon attacks. But really, where would such a place be? Where could I take my precious girls that would be totally safe from such dangers? And I must ask myself if would either of you be alive today if you had not been given your powers? Would you have been safe here at home, with the nearest magical champion that Ranma knows about all the way over in China?"

"Dad..." Akane started softly.

"Mr. Tendo..." Ranma started as well, then paused.

"No," Soun interupted. "I am not happy with this situation, but at the same time, my babies are safer with these powers than without them. I will pick up their training as much as I am able, but I fear even now that I cannot bring myself to push my daughters as hard as I must to see them through this crisis. Ranma, I trust that you will train my daughters as well, both with their powers and as well as you can without their powers. I want my girls to be safe."

"I will do my best, Mr. Tendo," Ranma stood as straight as he could, and then bowed as best as he was able. "I will not fail your trust."

END CHAPTER NINE

OMAKE THEATER PRESENTS: With advice like this.

Contributed by Philip Jacobs...

R'hul pondered his new appearance in the bathroom mirror. He had a gender now, and had selected a more or less bishonen appearance based on his chief minion's opinion that many of the local females liked that look and would thus be disarmed by his new form. He missed his tentacles though. And despite the assurances of his minion, he was not sure having multiple deep purple gelled spikes projecting from his black hairdo was going to "Get him all the chicks."