You can guess the crossover. Ranma won't wear a fuku, and also no tuxedo. He won't be some re-incarnation. He is just... Ranma. I want to avoid numerous stuff that became the norm in these crossovers but that actually is pretty stupid. I also will make it clear that while Ranma and the Senshi learn new techniques, I won't sink to the insane levels of the canon, where it became an absurd arms race in the later parts of both series. It's a common weakness in anime series that the power level increases to ridiculous levels. (In my opinion, DBZ is the worst offender in that regard in the anime world) I will try to stay on Earth and try to give everything a bit more realistic feeling (as much as it as it is possible) but don't worry... hilarity will still ensure!

Needless to say that I will slaughter the canon of both series, but I guess you expected this. Also I don't have any rights to both series, but I guess you know that, too.

Wow, this one has to be the ,longest chapter I've ever written, and yet it's within the normal time frame for a chapter. Now, when you read this chapter, remember that this one does mainly deal with the shit Ranma will encounter as a Shadow Hunter. Some of it is quite disturbing, so please read the chapter and then the notes at the bottom, before you decide what you think.

I do have a page for the story at TV Tropes, the link is found in my bio. Please help to contribute to it if you feel like it.

As always, I try to answer all reviews and I'm always happy for reviews.

Note that specific notes are at the end of the chapter, to avoid spoilers.

Chapter 37: Wicked City

"A recent development at the flower market: the flower Tellun. Once this beauty blooms, it will make all the other flowers look like old news."

"Honestly?!" Ranma said, rolling his eyes while listening to the loud sales pitch from the other side of the street. "She must be rather stupid to think this would not attract our attention. Jadeite's schemes were quite stealthy, but this is painfully obvious."

Mamoru could only agree to this. "Yeah; a shop out of nowhere? Jadeite at least took over already existing venues for his plans. A new flower no one ever heard of before? Not to speak of the fact that the flower itself also looks painfully suspicious. I bet the whole thing collapses once Akane gets us a sample."

Standing on the other side of the street, they - beside Ranma and Mamoru, this included, Usagi, Naru, Rei, Ami and Minako - were watching the shop in question and the curious people who wanted to see what this was about a new flower.

It had been painfully easy. Rei had noticed the new shop while walking through the area on a private errand. She had not even needed her spiritual senses to see that it was highly suspicious how a fully-stocked shop could appear overnight.

Considering too many people would look suspicious, the Outers had stayed out of it and Makoto was unavailable and not even answering her communicator, clearly being on another date with Mu-Tsu. Ever since the whole ordeal with the nightmares, these two were spending even more time together than usual. Everyone knew it must have 'clicked' between these two after their first date.

Some time had passed since their adventure in Elysion. It felt good that after being played like puppets, they had managed to kick the Dark Kingdom's ass and win a well-earned victory. They knew the war was far from over, but that had been a big step.

However, even though Jadeite was no longer evil, the sheer guilt over all of his actions while under the thrall of evil was resting heavily on his shoulders. He also was busy with taking care of Tethys, whose return to being human had reduced her to being bedridden for some weeks. Both of them had thus stayed in Elysion, but not before warning everyone that right now trying to invade the Dark Kingdom would get them slaughtered.

And speaking of Elysion, Minako had actually seen Helios in Tokyo, sitting together with Setsuna of all people. True to form she had spread the word almost right away. Everyone of course knew that it was impossible that something serious could have developed in such a short time, but nonetheless they were respectful and gave Setsuna and Helios their space for whatever they were doing.

Finally, Akane left the shop, one Tellun flower in her hands. "Here. Now lets see if our hunch was correct," she told them, glad she didn't have to use her own money to buy this thing.

Besides that, I can't see what's supposed to be beautiful about this thing, she added silently, finding the flower to be rather ugly.

Retreating to a silent backyard, Akane set down the flower pot, then gave Ami and Naru a look. "Well, Naru, you are the plant expert and Ami is the scientist..."

They both knew what this meant. Ami whipped out the Mercury Computer and started to scan the flower, while Naru tried to use her powers over plants - something she much to her relief got even when being untransformed - to get a feel for the strange flower.

After some moments, Naru gasped, then gulped hard. "Guys, this thing feels really strange. I guess it would be no trouble for me to control it while being transformed, but right now I can only read it. Strange, by now I shouldn't have that much trouble with a simple flower when being out of uniform."

"It's not only you, Naru," Ami told her, reading the screen of the computer in worry. "This flower was manipulated by a mixture of science and magic, just like the Daimon eggs. Looks like we need to step in right away."

Inside the shop meanwhile, Tellu couldn't believe how well her scheme was going.

After Eudial and Mimette had died due to their own stupidity, the Professor wanted them to step up their efforts and she had presented him with this proposal: a flower that would rip out people's heart crystals while they were sleeping and send them to her locket, where she would store them and then deliver to the Professor. That plan would show Viluy and Cyprine that she meant it serious.

Speaking of these two, Viluy the computer nerd had upon hearing these news first cried her eyes out, before delving into creating some sort of machine to compete with her. Well, she would be too late to the party. As for Cyprine, the wierdo had reacted strangely calm at these news. On the other hand, Cyprine was a weirdo, so being strange was a given.

"No need to be impatient. There are enough Tellun for everyone!" she called.

Stupid fools, your obsession with the new will be your doom... she thought while observing the people looking at the special flowers.

Tellu took a look at her locket. It was a little marvel, controlling all of the Tellun. Of course, should it get destroyed, the flowers would all die. However, she couldn't conceive how this could happen. After all, she was not attacking people directly, that should do the trick to not attract the Senshi or the Dark Kingdom.

"Halt! You are all in great danger! These flowers have been tampered with to do you harm."

"Who said that?!" Tellu growled, trying find find the culprit. However, she hadn't expected them to turn up.

The crowd hadn't even noticed the Senshi entering the shop, but them standing there after their declaration attracted everyone's attention. Then the words sunk in and everyone understood that this place was highly dangerous - after all, Senshi battles tended to be quite violent and destructive. Panicking, the people stormed out of the shop, leaving behind a fuming Tellu.

"You! You've ruined everything!" she shouted, ripping off her disguise to reveal her witch costume. "How did you even find me this fast?!"

"Well, you were so obvious it was laughably easy. You didn't even try to mask your activities better. That, and we are glad to have stopped it," Mars lectured Tellu, then raised her burning lance. "You want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

If anything, that made Tellu even more angry. "No one talks to me like that!" That said, she slammed a syringe into the Tellun beside her, and it suddenly grew monstrously big, easily becoming three meters tall. "Tellun, get rid of them!"

All of a sudden the plants in the shelves came to life, ripping themselves out of their flower pots. Ceres just rolled her eyes at this threat. "Really?! You clearly have no idea what my specialty is." Ceres then adressed the plants. "Made for evil you are, but the Senshi of Ceres commands you now!"

To Tellu's horror, the plans suddenly turned against her, forcing her to use her own powers to let them rot away. "You obviously didn't do any research about us," Ceres mocked her.

Tellu was fuming. "A cheap trick, but that won't work on my Mega-Tellun! GET TEHM!"

The massive flower roared - however that was possible - and attacked right away.

"Not good, that thing is way too evil for me to control!" Ceres gasped. "Time for Plan B!"

"Right, let's see if your flower is fireproof!" Mars then slashed her lance in an arc.

An arc of fire shot out of the lance, engulfing the monstrous flower. The beast shrieked, then retreated into the back of the shop where it tried to douse itself. Tellu looked incensed at this. "My flower! Just wait!" she shrieked in anger, making a grab for a spray gun filled with a green liquid - clearly poison.

The Senshi had no wish to get sprayed by whatever that was, but they didn't expect Tellu to go after Ceres alone and the Senshi couldn't react fast enough, getting sprayed into the face by green mist. "Ha, let's see how long before my poison makes you keel over!" Tellu laughed.

However, Ceres coughed a few times, then her lungs calmed down. "Either your poison is crap, or thanks to my strengths I'm immune to poison..."

"Oh damn!" Tellu cursed, now realizing she should better make a run for it when seeing Ceres raise her sickle.

-kliiiiirr- She never managed to do so when the window broke and Endymion flew in feet first, the iron-clad soles of his boots making hard contact with Tellu, slamming her back and right into her own mega flower.

"Damn it, not me, you stupid thing!" Tellu cursed when the flower started to ensnare her. Trying to take hold of the control locket, she sudden realized that Endymion's kick had cracked it. "Oh no!"

The flower clearly was confused and thought she was a snack, Tellu on the other hand had no desire to end up as a snack. "No, you won't!" Trying to zap the monstrous flower with her powers, she miscalculated.

-BLAOOOOOMMMMM-

They tried to shield themselves from the explosion that followed and ran out when thick smoke filled the ruined shop. Outside, Ranma and Akane were waiting, having felt that the whole issue could be left to the Senshi unless it would get hairy.

"What happened in there?" Akane asked, looking a little surprised at this sudden turn of events.

"Things went a bit out of control and..." Minako tried to spell it out. "She kind of blew herself up."

Seeing that people would return soon after running from the explosion, Ranma and Akane made sure to stay far enough away to not arouse suspicion while Endymion dared to go inside to see what was left. He returned a few moments later, looking a bit pale.

"Eh, what did you see?" Moon asked.

"Trust me, you don't want to know. She's still in one piece, but that's it. It's a real mess," he said, making it clear the explosion had been fatal. He then held up a small, slightly burned booklet. "That was on the floor."

Mercury took a look at it. "Ah, she was working for the Mugen School. Well, we do know who they are, not that we get anything new out of this."

"Why can't we just storm the place?" Venus asked, getting tired of the Death Busters causing so much trouble.

"You know Pluto explained it," Endymion told her, seeing the girl needed a reminder. "If we do that now, they can just re-locate and we would be back to square one. We need to go there once they can't do that anymore - whenever that is."

Hearing police sirens approach their positions, they knew what would come next. "Oh, that will be great. We now have to explain all this to the police as well. That will take some time," Mars groaned.

o

"Defeated... Your helpers are less useful than you claimed, Germatoid."

"They are of no consequence. They have made themselves replaceable. We are already relying mostly on created Daimons to carry out the work," the Professor tried to deflect the Pharaoh's accusation.

Once again he was seemingly kneeling on a lone tile floating in outer space, facing the massive energy cloud with the huge eye being the only thing being visible of Pharaoh 90. To be honest, he could have lived without having to give this report, but his creator had demanded a report on the recent progress, becoming impatient with how little progress they seemed to make.

The eye stared at him. "Your labor planning is irrelevant to the greater goal. The goal is to aquire the grail, which still is in the hands of our enemies. Everything else is second to that."

He is getting quite impatient, the Professor noted, knowing an annoyed Pharaoh was bad news. "We will double our efforts to aquire the grail," he promised.

"I hope so for your sake. The time of harvest is to be soon. Anymore delays are unacceptable."

It was a clear dismissal, and the room around the Professor faded back in.

Even he knew that things were starting to get dangerous, as his master could be very nasty should he actually direct his displeasure at someone. He knew he had to make progress on that front, but problem was how to actually get the Senshi to release the grail to them. Since direct violence was no solution, the only way had to be extortion. That already was his plan, but the circumstances needed to be correct for it to work.

Walking back to his laboratory, he met with Kaolinite. "Kaolinite, our Pharaoh is displeased that we still haven't aquired the grail."

"But Professor, to do so we would need to have some sort of leverage against these girls. Which we currently lack," Kaolinite reminded him, understanding their dilemma all too well.

The Professor looked at the many test tubes containing Daimon eggs. "That's the problem, so we need to shadow them in order to find a weakness we can exploit. I want you to observe them every time they are seen, even if it means to start drawing them out by ourselves. This was something I was planning for the long run, but time is running short."

She had seldomly seen the Professor being this serious. "I understand. What about the remaining two backstabbers?"

"Leave them be. After Tellu died due to her own incompetence, Viluy and Cyprine have mostly lost their usefulness. We have already copied all their discoveries and our Daimons can now act on their own. They are now expendable," the Professor told her without much emotion.

"Good." Kaolinite didn't even bother with hiding that she couldn't wait for it.

...the next day, at school...

"Now, before we have the lunch break, here the test results you've been dreading for some time now," Ms. Haruna announced to the class, walking down the rows to hand out the papers. "I'll have words with some of you."

"Usagi, you surprise me. While you can't do wonders, this is a noticeable improvement. Whoever is motivating you, they are doing a good job," Ms. Haruna told Usagi while handling her a paper marked with 65.

Usagi looked at the paper and knew her mother at least wouldn't be disappointed. "I can't believe it..."

"Well, I can't, either." She then moved to Ranma. "Your work ethos is admirable. Over the course of the school year you have shown a remarkable improvement. Whatever you are doing, it is helping," Ms. Haruna told him while giving him his test.

Ranma took a look a look at the paper, seeing a 71. Learning another language was hard work, but at least he could now speak passable English. "Trust me, it's all lots of hard grinding. I approach it like a training session, that always helps."

"It certainly does do you good, so keep it up," she told him.

A few minutes later it was lunch break and due to the bad autumn weather everyone stayed inside.

By some unspoken agreement, all their friends from other homerooms converged into their room for lunch, thus Ami and Minako ended up in the same room as the rest of them.

At one table, Usagi had converged with Minako and Makoto, clearly talking about boys - no other way it could produce so much giggling. Additionally, Minako checked the class from time to time and smiled a bit when seeing that a boy had checked her out. After everything which had recently happened to her, getting back that part of her life certainly was a big relief. Makoto for her part was being grilled about her dating life with Mu-Tsu.

Naru was busy being together with Umino. Interestingly enough, both of them were very private about their relationship. Umino was managing to adjust to Naru's status as a champion of justice. Nonetheless, Naru made sure that their dating life stayed private, never going into too much detail when talking to the girls.

Ranma and Ami were enjoying a peaceful lunch when they were joined by Akane.

"No Ryo today?" Ami wondered when seeing that Akane was alone, despite the fact that Ryo was in class.

Akane sighed. "No. One teacher called him away and what I heard while they left boils down to that she thinks he's not applying himself enough since he no longer has the perfect scores he got in the past."

If anything, Ami could only roll her eyes at the teacher's attitude. "That's stupid anyway, you can't expect someone to keep a constantly perfect score. Even I can't do so. Also, I guess he didn't take that too well?"

"Not a bit, I could see it in his body language. I know that was a painful reminder of his past and I'm pretty sure I need to cheer him up once school is over," she said, taking a bite out of her lunch a bit more forcefully than intended. She knew Ryo didn't exactly like being reminded of Bunbo.

"You guys have some space?"

Looking up, they saw Ukyo stand there, holding her bento a little awkwardly. Despite them having warmed up to her by now after she had made peace with Ranma, the girl still was a bit insecure when Ranma was already talking with his friends. She knew she was not part of whatever Ranma's friends had in common, but didn't mind, since everyone had their secrets.

"The more the merrier," Ranma told her. Ever since Ukyo had decided to just be a friend, things had become much easier between them.

"Oh, by the way, is our sparring mach still on?" Akane asked Ukyo.

Ukyo gave the girl a smile. "You better believe it. I'm not that busy with the restaurant I have to postpone it. It's been a while since someone made me work up such a good sweat. To think it's thanks to Ranma helping Konatsu to vent I got to this..."

It was one of the stranger developments. After agreeing with Ukyo that Konatsu needed to vent all this pent-up emotions with someone who could take it - and that in a local training hall due to the time of the year - Ukyo had noticed Akane and Makoto having a friendly spar. Due to Ukyo feeling a bit rusty - as most of the girls at local training halls were outright wimps in her opinion - she had asked Akane if she could have a little spar as well.

Akane had been willing, as long as Ukyo left out that huge battle spatula of hers, and both girls had had surprisingly much fun. Ukyo felt great, having found a girl who took the whole thing seriously, while Akane was happy to have found a sparring partner with whom she didn't have to hold back and who also wasn't either miles ahead of her or too far behind. Both girls had quickly agreed to turn this into something regular.

"Just remember to leave that huge spatula of yours out of it. No need for accidental injuries," Akane reminded her.

"By the way, how is Knoatsu? The last time I saw him, he seemed to do better. I hope he can recover enough for being a witness when this goes to court," Ami said.

"Well, the whole thing got pushed back a bit. Turned out his monstrous step-family did so much nasty stuff in their area that it will take more time to get all the evidence into order before they set a date when to start court proceedings. Personally, I think it's a good thing he gains more distance," Ukyo explained while skillfully using her chopsticks to eat her lunch.

Ami looked thoughtful. "I honestly still can't imagine someone being treated that horribly, even though I know it's true."

"You're not alone. Even I can't do so, and after my disfunctional upbringing that means something." Ranma looked pained when remembering some of the nasty stuff his old man had done. "My old man did outright insane stuff to me - stuff that hurt a lot mind you - but even he did care a bit for me, even if it had been in a twisted way."

"Thank all goodness he's gotten better, or I would fear for the students he's teaching now at his new job," Akane remarked, having been told what Ranma had to endure in those years, though it probably paled compared to the shit Happosai had done to their fathers.

"I don't think I can ever get myself to trust your father again. Not after what happened in the past," Ukyo remarked. "Well, Konatsu is happy doing things he actually enjoys and it helps he is appreciated for his skill and being so incredibly nice. My regular patrons love him."

"Maybe you should keep him?" Ami suggested before taking a bite from her sandwich.

The suggestion seemed to surprise Ukyo. "He's not some pet I found at the side of the road, though maybe I could ask him what he wants once this mess is over. By the way, maybe you can come by sometime? I don't have many people to talk to. I would give you a discount as well."

"Better don't let Usagi hear that," Akane remarked, watching Usagi talk and eat at the same time.

Remembering Usagi's eating habits from all the times she had seen her during the lunch break, Ukyo grimaced. "Uh, yes. Maybe I should rethink that one."

o

"Ouch..." Ami groaned while her mother was busy with rubbing something onto her bare leg.

"Don't worry, I'm almost one and it should feel better soon," Saeko said while making sure to not miss a spot. "I honestly expected bruises and bleeding injuries from your training, but not a badly cramped-up leg."

"Oh, I can believe it. After all, it feels real enough to me," Ami said, already feeling relief that whatever salve her mother was applying, it did help relax her muscles a little.

It had come out of nowhere. In the middle of her training in the Neko-Hanten, she had suddenly fallen down when her right leg had cramped up horribly. Khu-Lon had pretty much told her that she was done with training for the day, since such a bad cramp would need time to wear off. No way she'd make her continue with a bad leg.

This had forced her mother to drive her home, since Ranma was out, getting swordfighting instruction from his mother - Nodoka had said she's pregnant, not an invalid. This led to her current position, lying front down on her bed just in her underwear while her mother was busy with treating the cramped-up leg.

"So, this should do it..." Saeko said after wrapping some bandages around the leg to keep everything clean. "Should be as good as new tomorrow."

"Oh, good." Sitting up, she pulled on a shirt and pants, then followed her mother hobbling into the living room, where she sat down. "I know it's only temporary, but I still don't like it. Well, nothing can be done about it. How are you feeling, Mom?"

Saeko knew she wasn't yet showing anything, but it was clear what Ami was talking about. "Well, I swear you didn't cause me nearly as much vomiting as your new sibling. Though I have to be honest, when I carried you I had been eighteen years younger."

"Oh, and you look like these years didn't happen."

They hadn't noticed that Kaizo had come home from work, giving his wife a Don Juan-look."Kaizo, you little flatterer! You know I'm honest with myself and of course I've aged. Still... thanks." Seako couldn't help but blush a little.

"Well, you are still beautiful and sexy, so no need to be embarrassed." That said, he hugged and kissed her, causing Ami to look away with a slight blush. "I also can't help but to be happy when seeing you, knowing our Ami won't stay an only child for much longer."

Seako couldn't help but feeling good after these words from her husband, though she gave him a small mock scrowl. "Well, it's not you who has to carry the child to term, so it's easy for you to say that."

"Well, you already have experience with it, after seeing how well our daughter turned out," Kaizo replied.

If anything, Ami felt like wanting to be somewhere else, since no teenager wanted to watch their parents being like that. "You two just love to embarrass me, don't you...?"

"Oh, don't worry. We know when to stop so you won't feel too uncomfortable." Seako then paused for a moment. "My pregnancy does give me one advantage; they no longer attempt to rope me into extra shifts at the hospital, clearly too afraid to do that to a pregnant woman."

"Then it's good I got a permanent job. Someone planning a concept for an advertisement campaign, these guys are dime a dozen. Someone actually creating all the art involved, now these people are hard to find. Good artists are high in demand," Kaizo remembered, glad that he did find a permanent job, now that he was done with traveling.

"And you are happy with just creating advertisement art?" Saeko asked.

"Well, it does pay the bills, and I can still do all the art I want in my leisure time. It's a small sacrifice I can easily accept," Kaizo explained, remembering how he would have balked at such a job in his youth.

"Oh, speaking of careers..."

Hearing that from her daughter, Saeko knew what this was about. "I know you want to follow my path. It's not exactly a secret."

"Well, I still do... But not like you anymore." Ami then noticed she had her parents' attention. "I still want to help people and study medicine, but I can't anymore imagine myself making a career out of it like you do. Over the past months my duties made me realize my horizons are broader than that."

"I'm curious, what do your responsibilities have to do with your decision?" Kaizo asked.

To illustrate, Ami pulled the Mercury Computer out of nowhere and projected complex structures and formula. "It was always there, but my adventures and all the analytic work showed me that I have a big scientific streak. Sure, I still want to help those who are injured, but I think my main future path is that of a scientist."

Saeko looked a bit hurt that Ami didn't want to follow her career path, but then still felt pride for her daughter. After all, being a scientist also was a very responsible and important position. Also, it wasn't like she was forsaking her earlier ideas about her future, only that medicine wouldn't be her main focus.

"If someone can pull that one off, I think it will be you," Kaizo then said.

"Oh yes, I bet you can get both degrees in the time others need for one," Saeko added.

Ami knew it was a bit childish, but she did enjoy her parents heaping praise onto her. Positive feedback was always nice, after all. She knew her plans for the future were quite different from Ranma's, who was planning to become a martial arts sensei, but perhaps it was for the best that they were pursuing vastly different careers. After all, they were very different people as well.

But right now she only felt happy for the support her parents were giving her.

...Saturday morning, in the Takahashi dojo...

"Good. Very good. I see have have studied the material, which I have sent you, very thoroughly. You now understand the important parts of battles against the things not of our world, or our plane," Isamu said while observing Ranma.

"I'm a fast learner, and after reading about some of the things you actually faught against, it would be stupid of me not to take all of this very seriously;" Ranma replied while demonstrating a quick strike that was meant to do tremendous damage to a single spot - a great way to damage certain kinds of foes.

"I've never before seen that exact fighting style, though it does mesh well with our own style. It's not designed to be flashy, but ruthlessly efficient and deadly, especially since using weapons is an integral part of it," Genma observed from the sidelines, where he stood with Nodoka, who always was interested when Isamu arrived to check on Ranma's progress, and, interestingly enough, Hotaru.

I'm really tempted to copy some of that stuff for myself, but then the old man would kill me once he finds out, Genma reminded himself.

"It was very nice of Akane's senseis that they didn't charge us anything for using their dojo when there are no classes," Hotrau said, having watched the lesson with great interest.

"It didn't take that much convincing; I know since I was there," Genma reminded her. "Mere mention of Isamu Nakamura was enough reason for them. Although I think they also gave in so easily so they could spend a peaceful morning with their baby son."

"My grandfather is quite famous in certain circles - namely those that deal with otherworldly threats. Ryu and Chun-Li have both dealt with a man who had allied himself with forces beyond this world, so they are in the know," Nodoka added.

Truth to be told, she actually envied her son a bit, as he was accepting the legacy that had been denied to her thanks to her own father. She would have demanded answers from her father, if not for the fact that her parents were still not speaking to her even after almost 18 years; a long-time effect of them disapproving of her choice of husband. Also, thanks to her pregnancy, she could only watch the lessons for the time being, as unlike the sword lessons she was giving, here the injury risk was too great.

"You are coming along well in the physical department," Isamu finally said, very pleased with the progress Ranma had made. "However, that's not everything. There are things you need to know in our line of work. We can all sit together, this will be interesting for all of you."

Now, normally Ranma would dread verbal lessons, but everything his great-grandfather had relayed to him up to now was highly interesting and made him wish to learn more.

"Ranma, you know I already told you that there are different kinds of demons you'll encounter. For example, Neko, you certainly remember that monster, was a supernatural threat of this plane. That monster Metallia that rules the Dark Kingdom is an abomination from a different plane of this dimension. And then of course there is Black World," Isamu explained.

"Believe me, I'm still surprised that at least half the demons I'll encounter are just from a planet in a different dimension. Although, considering the freaky stuff you told me about them, there is not much difference," Ranma remembered.

"You certainly do know by now that thanks to the treaty which bars both sides from entering the others' world, the only ones coming here illegally are the scum of society; horrible criminals and fanatics who don't deserve mercy, their government even admits killing them is doing everyone a favor, since these downright monsters are too dangerous. You remember my encounter with Duruganov and his helpers I told you about? They were from Black World."

Truth to be told, Ranma still found that somewhat strange. These demons from Black World would be called aliens, if not for the fact that their very physiology was violating several laws of physics when using their powers - very much like Youma did. Add that lots of them looked rather unsettling in their true form and the jump to demon wasn't that far.

Maybe I shouldn't waste too much energy on that, Ranma thought, finding it got him nowhere.

Also, when Isamu had explained the deal about the treaty, it still was surprising that both sides had settled the problem in a legal and constructive way. Considering what Isamu had told him about supremacists on Black World and human nature about things different from themselves, it was a surprisingly mature solution. Of course Ranma had heard several mentions of a Black Guard and now hoped to hear more about them.

"Wow, demons that are aliens and secret treaties. Now that's exciting stuff," Hoatru said, amazed that this was something even Setsuna had clearly not known. "And they are like us?"

Isamu laughed a little at Hotaru's excitement. "Oh yes, judging by what information gets through with official contacts, most of them are people like you and me, ignoring the physical differences and their powers. Of course with the good always comes the bad, which is our job to deal with. Well, also the job of the Black Guard."

Nodoka gave her grandfather an interested look. "This sounds like professional rivalry being at work."

"Problem is not that they aren't competent; they certainly are, even though they rely a bit too much on firearms," Isamu started to explain.

Genma snorted when hearing that. "Firearms are good for people with no melee skill, but they are like always using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut."

"Granted, but firearms do have their uses. It's the Black Guard's attitude to independent fighters against the darkness that drives the rivalry. We Shadow Hunters work together with them professionally, but don't expect us to become the best of friends. Well, this is now what I want to ask you. The Black Guard is about to house a diplomatic meeting between the worlds and as part of your training I plan to send you as an observer."

"I thought you don't like each other?" Hotru asked.

"Oh, the current director knows to respect me and a reasonable request after I saved him from literally having his nuts get roasted by a female demon almost 25 years ago." Isamu then laughed when seeing Hotaru blush. "Thinking of him, I wonder if he's still collecting golf clubs..."

"Diplomatic stuff doesn't sound very exciting..." Ranma then saw his great-grandfather giving him an impatient look, causing Ranma to gulp. "Of course I could always change my mind... Too bad that Ami can't come along."

"Oh, they already know about her being a Senshi, and it wasn't me who told them. These Black Guard guys have their ways to know, trust me. It's downright scary. There would be no problem for her to come along, as long as she stays transformed," Isamu told Ranma.

Maybe this won't be as boring as I feared it could be. Question only is, if Ami wants to go, Ranma wondered.

...early evening...

Waiting next to a deserted side road for their ride to arrive, Mercury gave Ranma a telling look.

"Honestly, a diplomatic meeting between two different worlds, something that's bound to be highly interesting, and you doubted I would be interested to go?" she asked her boyfriend again, still in disbelief over it.

"Well, nobody is perfect, OK?" At least Ami was only confused by him, and not annoyed.

"Perhaps it's a good thing we have different opinions on some things, otherwise it would be quite strange. But honestly, why do you think this will be boring?"

Ranma rolled his eyes, while Ami was very into political stuff, he wasn't. "I think it will be the same as all these political meetings; a bunch of boring old farts getting together and putting everyone to sleep with their monotonous speeches. I'm only doing this for Isamu, otherwise not even ten horses could drag me to one of those."

"Oh... then I imagine this will be boring for you, despite the otherworldly attendance," Mercury admitted, then saw a pair of headlights approach. "Looks like our ride is here."

Indeed, a car was approaching them and some moments later a black Mercedes was stopping next to them. The side window lowered itself, revealing a woman with almost paper-white skin. "You are the kids we are supposed to pick up? Well, stupid question, not many girls would want to walk around like that."

Am I supposed to feel offended now? Mercury wondered, feeling a bit hurt despite the fact that none of them had ever made peace with the way their uniform sexualized them.

"Makie, be nice to them," the driver, a man, called. "Hi, I'm Taki Renzaburou and that lady is my partner, Makie. We work for the Black Guard and are here to pick you up. Well, hop in, kids."

They entered the back of the car and it sped off as soon as the doors were closed. None of them had noticed being watched from quite a distance away by someone handing from some kind of thread. Whoever it was then left quickly.

In the car meanwhile, Ranma gave the woman on the passenger seat a strange look, rubbing his arm a bit. The tattoo was not itching like it did in the presence of evil, but it still was a bit warm. Considering the whiteness of the woman's skin and the fact he could see her ears were slightly pointed, he gave Mercury a nod.

Pulling out her computer she was just about to scan her, when Makie sudden turned her head to look at them. "Don't you think it is considered awfully rude to scan people without their consent?" She then saw Mercury blush a little. "You know, you could just have asked."

"Makie, be nice. You can't really blame them considering their line of work. Remember what we sometimes have to do when the enemy disguises itself," Taki reminded her, having just stopped at a red light, then addressed their passengers. "Excuse her, she not only is very direct, but also a bit sensitive about this."

"Sorry, it's just we noticed you are clearly not human," Ranma apologized to Makie.

Makie rolled her eyes. "In Black World they said I look like a human, and you right away say I'm not. Somehow I feel a bit ashamed of my people again."

"Don't take it personally, but just to prevent too many questions, what you see now is what Makie really looks like. Trying to disguise herself would just give her a more healthy skin color and make her ears rounder. Needless to say her looks had not made life easy for her on her home world," Taki explained.

"OK, timeout. Please, from the beginning, because we're getting very confused right now," Ranma said quickly.

Makie gave both of them a look, as if wondering if she should tell such personal things, but then trusted her gut feeling that these two could be trusted. "I guess you have been told about how on Black Word, there's a huge bunch of racist jerks who see humans as sub-creatures that should either serve them or are only good as hunting game?"

"Well, Ranma told me what he has been told. He also told me your government is cracking down hard on them," Mercury explained.

"That may be, but it still colors how a sizable part of our people think. And now here I come, imagine my parents' surprise after my birth. Looking like I do, you can imagine my life hadn't been easy." Makie looked pained at the memories. "Thus right when I turned twenty, I managed to get one of these astoundingly rare exceptions and immigrate to Earth by joining the Black Guard."

"Ouch, and all of that because of your looks?" Ranma asked.

"It's not only that, but the fact that it goes for the inside as well. Physically, I'm pretty much the same as a human woman, and yes, that means I am compatible, I've had an embarrassing exam to check that. Needless to say the very idea didn't make me popular with certain circles," Makie explained.

"So instead they forced you to come here, where that actually comes into play. I won't claim I will understand bigots." Mercury found it a bit ironic, that thanks to that, Makie now was around human males, probably causing exactly what the bigots fear she could do.

"You should have seen her when she first came here; looked like a lost puppy. Not that I can blame her, it must have been a very confusing experience," Taki said, then gave Makie a smile. "It's not that there didn't come something good out of it..."

It was pretty obvious there was something going on between these two, but there was no reason to ask about it. "So, what about you, Taki?" Ranma asked.

"Me? Not much to say about me. I'm doing this job for some years now and my private life is nothing to write home about. Also, my day job is fitting right into the theme, since being an electronics salesman is not glorious, but it does pay the bills. Don't get me wrong, the Black Guard pays well, but in order for it to be processed properly, I do need a legitimate job," Taki told about himself.

"Does she have a job as well?" Ranma asked, now being curious.

"Don't answer that one, Taki. I can do that myself," Makie warned him, then gave the teenagers an amused look. "Well, if you really need to know, I work as a model - transformed of course. Maybe your boyfriend has seen some of my work - after all, I do model in lace lingerie for catalogs."

Surprisingly, Ranma didn't react much, while Mercury suddenly gasped when remembering something, then stated to blush. Ranma needed a few seconds to understand. "Ami... you, eh...?"

"I... I was playing with the idea; thought you would like that sometime in the future," Mercury stammered.

Imagining Ami wearing lace lingerie certainly was exciting, but he could feel her discomfort bleeding over to him. "You know you don't need to do that, do you? I like you the way you are."

"Thanks... Though giving a little surprise now and then certainly makes things more exciting," Mercury said quietly, not wanting this topic to continue in front of others.

"I'm starting to like these two, nothing is better than some innocent teenage exploration of what they like," Taki laughed. "Well,enough of us. Do you know that your activities actually make many in the Black Guard highly nervous?"

Glad they were leaving things that were too close to home, Mercury composed herself. "Why that? I thought it's a good thing we are fighting the dark forces?"

"Oh, it's not that you do so. There's a silent agreement that the Black Guard doesn't interfere into the matters of those who battle threats of that kind, regardless if they are from Black World or a homegrown horror. The top brass is not exactly happy about that, but that's life. No, what makes them nervous, is, that with you it all became public."

Makie then continued. "You see, in the past discretion was top priority. However, your Dark Kingdom doesn't care about that. It caused the public - and trust me, this is making worldwide news - to start and see that there's more than just what they thought there is. A massive change is coming, and those who have gotten comfortable in the status quo are now highly nervous."

"I had no idea we were making so many waves," Mercury admitted, not having thought about that before.

"It's not your fault, your enemies simply don't care about being this public. Besides not even bothering with hiding their activities, these two highly public announcements were the cherry on top. Why do you think there is this summit? Even in Black World they know things are changing and they have to prepare for the day when proper official relations are opened," Taki told them.

"Wow. Makes me wonder how the school accepted my curse so easily when next to no one believed in magic at that point," Ranma wondered.

"We wondered about that as well when we got a report about a boy with a gender-changing curse. Took our research department quite a while to locate..." - beep- -beep- -beep- Makie got interrupted by the car phone. "A moment. Yes, Agent Makie speaking. ... What?! Please tell me he got out in one piece. ... Thank all goodness. What about the crew? ... Three in hospital, one critically injured. ... Yes, we'll meet you there."

"I can already guess things are not going according to plan?" Taki asked, dreading the answer.

"Giuseppe's airplane got bombed just after he stepped out of it at the airport. He's all right and thankfully there are no fatalities, but that means we can expect trouble. After all, there's only one who would dare something that high profile," Makie said.

"Is something wrong?" Mercury asked, alarmed by what she did manage to understand.

"Yes, our ambassador for the summit, Giuseppe Mayart, almost got killed by an explosion in his airplane. Clearly the summit got the attention of a certain someone who is very unwelcome," Taki said, looking incredibly angered.

"Blowing up planes, isn't that more of a terrorist thing?" Ranma wondered, having seen something like that on TV.

"Terrorist is tame for the guy responsible, more like complete monster; calls himself Mr. Shadow. He was the leader of a reactionary rebel army on Black World, the worst extremist of all. When his movement got it's neck broken by the army, he fled here with his remaining loyal followers to hide amongst the very people he sees as mere slaves and cattle. Somewhat ironic some would say," Makie explained.

"Sorry, kids, but it looks like things will be quite tense tonight," Taki apologized.

o

"How could you fail?! You've said that the explosion would go off while the plane is still in the air," a man wearing an expensive business suit asked another man, who looked distinctively uncomfortable to be the center of attention.

"Mr. Shadow, Sir, the timer was set right. We couldn't have expected the pilot to fly a different route to avoid a storm, and thus arrive some minutes early. That's why the plane only blew up after it had already landed and our prey disembarked," the man finally reported, hoping he'd stay healthy.

"Excuses, excuses... If you can't even deal with these sub-creatures..." The underling gulped when one of Mr. Shadow's arms transformed into something looking like demonic snakes that hissed menacingly at him.

"I... I..." Frightened, the underling's skin turned blue and he grew horns, revealing his true appearance while the snakes came closer.

"Boss, I bring you news."

Mr. Shadow turned his arm back to normal, then gave his underling a look that said to get lost. The underling left as fast as possible. He then looked into the empty office. "Kanako, what do you have to report?"

A woman lowered herself from the ceiling, only... she was very disturbing-looking. Her hands and feet looked more like limbs found on a spider, which also fit with how she was lowering herself on a thick spider thread. What made it really disturbing was her complete nudity and the fact that the thread emerged from between her legs, where one could spot sharp teeth instead of hair.

"Our prey is on the way to the summit, though I guess you already have something in mind. Also, the traitor and her boy-toy are on the way there. They've picked up two brats on the way, one who looks suspiciously like one of these girls who are making hiding so difficult these days."

Mr. Shadow looked displeased. These stupid Senshi had made things more complicated with their public battles, as if the brazen monster attacks were not already bad enough. These things certainly were not from Black World, or he would have dealt with the problem long ago, as no one could dare to question his authority and walk away from it alive. As it stood now, the world becoming aware that things beyond normal existed was bad for those from Black World. While being sub-creatures in his eyes, he knew humans could still be dangerous if the majority would declare war on them.

"And Boss... there is something else." Kanako looked uncomfortable. "The other brat, the boy, he gave me a very bad feeling. I was too far away for anything else, but I somehow know he's dangerous."

"He's one of them..." Now Mr. Shadow looked really displeased. "There start to be too many players. Although... maybe we can make a statement to all of them at once. Remind them of how things really are. Kanako, gather our troops. Time for us to make a statement."

Kanako had not expected something this big. "You have a plan, Boss?"

Mr. Shadow looked over Tokyo and where the sun had just vanished behind the horizon. "Oh yes, I do..."

Kanako was about to leave, then remembered something. "Wait, does that mean him as well? You remember his unhealthy fixation on her, don't you? That could be counterproductive."

"Oh, I know. That's also the only use the idiot has - being a good distraction."

o

"So that I understand you correctly, Zoisite, you want to take them on a trial run into Tokyo, despite knowing it could attract their attention?" Beryl asked skeptically.

"Yes, my Queen. I plan to separate the good from the bad. If they manage to prevail, it's good. If they fail, then too bad for them," Zoisite said, hoping she would get the OK to proceed.

"Perhaps, but to think you also want to test the special case... I know you found him, but why the interest?" Beryl asked further.

"It's a test of loyalty. Ever since emerging from the transformation, his personality is clashing with the other troops. Especially the female Youma dislike him. I know we have broken every piece of defiance against us, but only in the field can we test if he's now giving it all to us," Zoisite explained.

Beryl had to admit that that newly awakened Youma was especially difficult, having heard the reports of his unruly beavior. As far as they had managed to understand, the man had been a disgusting and monstrous hedonist with little regard for others. Even after his change, he was still bemoaning that he now essentially was a slave, though not once had he done anything that would put his loyalty into question. The fact that he continued some of his disgusting habits was not reason enough to terminate him.

"Very well, but take Kunzite with you. If trouble finds them, do not interfere and instead watch how things turn out," Beryl finally decided.

"We will be right on the way," Zoisite said, saluting to Beryl.

...at the diplomatic summit...

As it turned out, the summit would take place at an old aristocrat's mansion from the 18th century, somewhat outside of Tokyo's city limits. The huge mansion radiated the atmosphere of feudal Japan, which no longer was present in modern Tokyo. The property was surrounded by a massive wall, illuminated by floodlights and guarded by men and women armed with nasty-looking guns. That meant it had all of the atmosphere of a high-profile political summit.

However, Ranma cared little for that while asking Taki a question while they waited at the entrance to the mansion. "So, what kind of guy is this Mayart? You make it sound like you know him."

"Well, he's an old guy from Italy, and with old I mean more than a few years beyond normal life expectation, though even he admits he's feeling the years by now. He's got strong magic powers at his command as well."

"It's however his character that makes him unique," Makie added, remembering the previous encounter too well. "We've met him only once, but that was very memorable. We could forget all of these bigwigs we've met over the years, but not him."

That moment the gate to the property opened and a black limo arrived. Everyone went to attention when the door opened and...

Ranma had to look twice to make sure and Mercury kept closer to him, despite knowing better. The man that stepped out of the car at first glance looked a lot like Happosai; really old, having lost quite some height and giving women interested looks. It had been enough to scare them for a short moment.

However, then the difference became obvious that while Happosai had given looks that made it clear he was seeing women as nothing more than objects to fulfill his lust, Mayart, while clearly enjoying the sight, was way more respectful to them. Also, Ranma could not feel any of the nasty stuff he'd felt in Happosai.

However, for someone that old, Mayart certainly didn't act like it. "Ah, Taki and Makie, so good to see you again!"

Makie rolled her eyes while Taki sighed. "Hello, Mr. Mayart."

"Oh, nothing of that, I told you we are on first name-basis!" The old man than gave Ranma and Mercury an interested look. "Well, look who we have here, Isamu's successor and one of the guardians of love and justice. Very interesting."

"I better don't ask from where you know that. You guys are awfully well informed," Ranma sighed, then held Mercury a bit closer when noticing she still hadn't completely recovered.

"There's nothing worldshaking about it. I simply met Isamu when he was a lot younger." Mayart stopped when seeing Mercury still was a bit uneasy. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No... no, it's not you." Mercury felt a bit ashamed of herself she's went to pieces like this, but the memory of Happosai simply was disgusting. "You just reminded us of someone else for a moment and I have bad memories of that encounter."

"Really, who?"

"Some guy named Happosai. You've probably never heard of him." Ranma stopped when suddenly Mayart's expression became quite serious. "Or, I guess, you did."

"I've had two run-ins with that miserable excuse of a human being, and that was enough for a lifetime. It's total monsters like him who give people like me a bad reputation. I like to look, but many men and women like to do so, and I have a no-touch policy. Everyone is somewhat perverted in their own ways, but monsters like Happosai give us a reputation of being depraved and dangerous."

"Depraved and dangerous describes the old freak perfectly." Ranma knew that while he had encountered more dangerous things, Happosai would always keep the throne as the most disgusting foe he'd ever confronted.

"It's interesting to see you when you put away the mask. I always knew you were over-exaggerating some of your character traits," Makie remarked, noticing that people around were starting to get impatient.

"It's useful to see how people react. I do have a weakness for women, but it's not a defining trait of mine." Mayart then gave Ranma and Mercury a hard look. "Please don't tell me that monster is still running free."

"No. When we met him, we made sure that he's going get what he deserves. Interestingly the one time I felt someone deserves to die," Ranma admitted.

"Good, he deserves nothing less..." Mayart the turned his attention to the entrance, where someone was waiting. "Ah, my dear Fyra. I knew they would send you..."

Standing there clearly was the representative from Black World. She would have looked like a human woman wearing a white dress, if not for her green and scaly skin, the small horns poking through her hair and the rather obvious bat-like wings on her back. Nevertheless, she did not give off any dangerous vibes, as Ranma noticed. He also noticed her and Makie exchanging some hard to interpret looks.

"Looks like there won't be more talking for now. Can we expect these negotiations to take long?" Mercury asked, also having noticed the strange by-play between Makie and Fyra.

"Let's keep our distance. These two know each other, so it shouldn't take too long," Taki commented. "I think we... huh?"

Vibrations spread through the ground, causing all the guards to become nervous and hold their weapons ready to fire. Then suddenly... -Krabooooom!- The wall was ripped apart at a section, not from an explosion, but literally being torn apart. In the middle of it stood a man that looked like a mixture between a yuppie and a child molester, though that certainly wasn't his real form. The scary part was, that he had not even raised his hands.

"No, not him!" Makie gasped, her calm demeanor slipping.

"Makie, my darling! Here I am!" the demon shouted in excitement, before he made a run for her.

The guy was acting like a crazy acrobat in order to avoid incoming fire, and the projectiles he couldn't avoid, he deflected with his hands, using some sort of telekinesis. Only, instead of doing anything useful he only seemed to have one target. "Damn!" Taki cursed while drawing his gun - a heavily modified and oversized revolver.

"Ah!" Makie clearly wanted to do something, but before she could, the intruder hit her hard with his telekinesis, then threw her over his shoulder and made a run for it, ripping apart another section of the wall, before blasting off towards the forest.

"Makie!" Taki screamed, then suddenly felt his arms getting grabbed. "Hey, what...?"

"Can you trust us?" Mercury asked him. Seeing him nod in confusion was enough for them. "Good, then hold on!"

Both teenagers were much faster than other people, Ranma thanks to training and able to directly use his ki, and Ami because of the powers of Mercury. Holding onto Taki, They followed the trail of the intruder before it would get cold., leading them into the dark woods surrounding the mansion.

"OK, you clearly know who this creep is. Anything we need to know?" Ranma asked while they raced through the forest.

"His name's Jin. He does have strong telekinetic powers, so he must be caught by surprise. As for how we know him... Let's say he got an insane fixation on Makie. Stalked her back in Black World. Two years ago the bastard ambushed Makie and tried to have his way with her." Taki looked downright livid. "When I was done with him he escaped only barely alive and I regret I didn't blast his nuts off."

"That's sick..." Mercury now know why that Jin had reminded her of a child molester, as he certainly was enough of a scumbag. "There, on the clearing!"

What they saw made all of them ready to kill Jin.

On the clearing, Jin was clearly trying to have his way with Makie, even though she clearly was against the idea. He held her wrists above her head in an iron grip while his other hand had slipped under her skirt and it was pretty clear what he was doing. Makie for her part looked to be downright disgusted and livid at her captor, though her struggles didn't accomplish much and she clearly was still suffering the effects of getting hit by Jin's telekinesis.

"You pig! You clearly didn't get the message last time!" Taki screamed, firing his revolver at Jin. The projectile was encase in blue energy and the recoil threw Taki onto his back.

However, Jin quickly pulled his hand out from under Makie's skirt and deflected the blast, while his skin changed to show his real appearance of heavily scarred reddish skin. "Oh no, you won't take her from me! I'm going to keep her!" It was clear the guys was nuts.

"Telekinesis you say, eh?" Ranma said. "Let's see how you can deal with something made of pure energy! YAH!"

The resulting blast was just the size of a tennis ball - exactly as Ranma had intended. Remembering his great-grandfather's lesson on telekinesis, he knew the weakness was, that it could only affect objects that did have a mass. Jin did try to reflect it as well, but instead the blast impacted with his hand, burning it severely.

"Eouch!" Jin screamed, letting go of Makie's wrists. Big error, because suddenly her right hand shot forward, and... -Tchak!- "AAAAAAEEEEEEEHHHHHHH!" Jin screamed, falling over.

Taki was not surprised, but Ranma and Mercury looked in surprise how the fingernails on Makie's right hand had extended by almost 30 centimeters - which interestingly enough included the nail polish - and they clearly were razor-sharp, as proven when they saw how Jin was heavily bleeding from between his legs. They also saw why exactly Jin had screamed so loudly.

"Are these...?" Mercury wondered when looking at the cut-off body parts on the ground, feeling a little bit of sickness at the sight. "Forget the question, they are."

Ranma winced a little at the sight, but then felt that the jerk deserved it. "Well, you wanted to blast off his nuts, Taki? Too late, since Makie not only cut off them, but his dick as well, just for good measure."

"It's the least he deserves!" Makie hissed, looking downright furious. "I refuse to be victimized! I've dealt with so much crap in my life, I won't stand for that." She felt dirty after Jin had touched her in such a private area.

Not wanting to risk anything, Taki walked up to Jin, aiming the revolver at his head. Ranma and Mercury both knew what was going to happen and turned around, before Taki blew off Jin's head to make sure he would stay dead. Even though some pervese part of him wanted him to slowly bleed out, he couldn't take any chances.

They then wordlessly made their way back to the mansion. Taki gave Makie concerned looks, Makie clearly was embarrassed that others had seen her getting molested and Ranma and Mercury felt awkward with the situation.

"Ah..." Ranma suddenly held his arm, feeling a strong itch from his tattoo. "Damn it, something is wrong! Let's get a move on!"

Making a run to the mansion, they were greeted with a sight of total chaos as soon as emerging from the forest.

An eerie red glow illuminated the sky over the mansion. Several holes had been blown into the mansion and the wall got shattered in many more places. The sound of gunfire ripped through the night and bright light flashed inside the walls. Smelling trouble right away, Ranma used the trick he'd learned from Mu-Tsu to draw his sword from out of nowhere, while Taki readied his revolver, Mercury pulled out her bow and Makie's eyes started to glow.

Not wasting any time, they ran into the fray. There already were numerous bodies littering the area, most of them in horrible condition. The guards were fighting back valiantly, but the demonic attackers had the numerical advantage and were pressing the attack.

One female demon with tentacles had just disarmed a guard and was about to gut him, when suddenly... -crac- -snap- Ranma jump-kicked straight against her head, causing her neck to snap. However, Ranma didn't give that any attention, already going after his next foe, hacking off a demon's hand with his sword.

"What are you supposed to be? A magical cheerleader?" a demon with spikes all over her breasts and excessive body hair in places better left unmentioned mocked Mercury.

She had endured it until now - not being taken seriously. But now, with her being more tolerant of her own anger, she allowed herself to get ticked off at this dismissal. "No. I'm the one to make you regret ever coming here."

Mercury drew on her training to jump backwards while at the same time arming a frost arrow, firing it off as soon as landed on her feet. "Wha... Ahhhhhhh!" the demon screamed when the arrow not only encased her legs in ice, but actually froze them solid. -baklirrrrr- Her screams were cut short when a follow-up sweeping kick from Mercury shattered her frozen legs.

Kill or be killed... She might not like it, but with grim determination, she aimed for her next foe.

-blom!-

Ranma had to take back some of his scorn for the Black Guard relying heavily on firearms when seeing Taki using his heavily modified revolver to blast a hole straight into an attacker's chest. Ranma also had to give the man credit that he didn't look fazed by the massive recoil.

Good thing I didn't diss guns in his presence, otherwise I would now have to apologize, he thought, then saw Makie cutting an attacker in two with her long fingernails, her eyes glowing and electricity dancing over her nails. Man, that jerk must have REALLY pissed her off! Let's better stay on her good side.

Ranma again was thankful that his great-grandfather had helped him come to terms with what he had to do. Fighting Youma and Daimons was one thing, bis this essentially were criminals and terrorists with way too much power. Part of him would never like this aspect of the job, but there was a time where killing the enemy in battle was what you had to do. If Ami could accept that, then he could as well.

"There are too many of them!" Mercury shouted, as for each killed enemy, another one seemed to appear. "How many goons did this Shadow have?!" she now openly cursed, looking in worry as the number of defenders was dropping.

"ENOUGH!"

All fighting ceased for a few moments. Mayart and Fyra had stepped out of the mansion, both of them having shouted. Mayart's body was actually crackling with mystical energies while Fyra simply looked very angry.

"It's us you want, so you get what you desire... Though haven't you heard the expression 'Be careful what you wish for'?" Mayart hissed, looking in anger at all the death surrounding him.

Mayart let loose the energies coursing through him. It clearly had to be something selective, as the defenders were left completely unfazed by it, while the attackers in its path were blown into bloody pieces. It was a frightening display of power, something totally unexpected from the old man.

"Oh yes, since after all 'Because you might get it'!" Fyra added.

Fyra than did something strange, taking hold of the skin beneath her jaw. Makie looked away and Ranma and Mercury nearly had to vomit a few moments later when Fyra pulled back the skin of her face, revealing the skull beneath it, a sick green glow in its empty eye sockets. Every attacker seeing the horrible sight suddenly screamed in terror, before turning into solid stone.

Fyra thankfully then put her face back to normal. "Surrender. Now!" she demanded to the few remaining foes, who only were too eager to comply after seeing what happened.

"What... was that?" Mercury stammered in fear. She'd seen a lot of fucked-up shit, but someone pulling off the skin to reveal her bare skull was a horrible highlight.

Taki was surprisingly calm about it, putting away his gun. "She calls it the stare. It's deadly for those from Black World, but harmless to humans. Says she hates to do that, since her face could get permanently damaged."

"I've already seen lots of weird and horrible crap, but this is fucked up beyond belief," Ranma said, not caring he slipped into gutter language. "Anything else you need to tell us?"

"Not very much, only that even for people from Black World, this is rather extreme." Makie now did look a little rattled. "Eh, are you guys OK? I know you probably didn't expect..."

"I'm barely holding down my vomit," Mercury said, trying to not think of a woman pulling the skin off her own skull. "No offense, but maybe we should call it a night? No way we want to be present for the aftermath."

"Makie!" All conversation stopped when Fyra hurried to Makie and suddenly hugged her. "Please tell me you are all right!"

If anything, the otherwise always composed Makie now looked highly embarrassed. "Mother! Please not in front of others! Not in front of Taki!"

MOTHER?! Ranma and Mercury both thought. But then again, by now nothing should surprise them anymore.

"I don't care, I want my only daughter to be all right! Your father and me didn't put so much effort into getting you to Earth, only for you to have to face even more danger." Fyra then finally let go of her. "I don't see you that often. Looks like that boyfriend of yours feels I shouldn't have grandchildren yet."

"Mother..." Makie looked like she wanted to vanish into the ground.

"Poor Fyra. No control whenever it comes to her daughter," Mayart remarked, then shuddered and pulled out a small bottle and swallowed some pills. "My doctor warned me about using too much magical power at my age. Guess even I have to take it more lightly at my advanced age."

"I think we've had our share for tonight." Ranma looked to Mayart and Fyra. " No offense, but this..." He stopped when something appeared in the sky. "Now what?!"

Mayart scowled a little when seeing whose face appeared in the sky. "Kids, meet Mr. Shadow, the one behind this entire mess. No wonder he didn't come personally, considering what happened to his little foot soldiers."

"Oh please, these were just the pawns. I have more than enough of those. I always knew they would be unable to accomplish what they were told to. They were here for two things: destruction and terror. They did both." Mr. Shadow then looked to Ranma and Mercury. "However, today my problem is with these two there."

"So what?!" Ranma couldn't help but to feel that this big-shot acted like some of the most annoying martial artists he'd met on his travels; incredibly smug and arrogant.

"I give you and your little toy in the ridiculous outfit one single warning. Stay out of our affairs, or you'll come to regret it," Mr. Shadow warned.

"'Little toy'?" Mercury hissed, being highly offended to be disregarded like that.

Seeing his girlfriend's anger, Ranma decided to not be diplomatic. "You know what? I really don't like threats, so forget it! It's jerks like you who remind me there has to be someone to take care of the problem. You clearly don't have the guts to confront me in person."

Mr. Shadow looked very displeased. "Your big mouth will be your undoing. You have no idea what you just brought over youself." His face vanished from the sky.

"Eh, you really think it was smart to antagonize him?" Taki asked, not liking the look Mr. Shadow had given Ranma.

Ranma crossed his arms, the night having taken its toll on him. "I won't back down from jerks like him! No matter how much he threatens me."

Mercury was proud of Ranma taking such a clear stance, but couldn't help to worry that Ranma being this hostile to this Mr. Shadow could backfire very badly. After all, you don't provoke sleeping dogs and be surprised if they start to bite you.

...later that night, Edogawa Ward...

"You know, how does it come that things go bad wherever we go? Tonight was just one huge disaster," Ranma wondered while they were on the way back into the city, the car just driving on the freeway through Edogawa Ward.

"Honestly? I've given up trying to figure that out. I just know I don't want to have a repeat of tonight," Ami added, having dropped her transformation for the way back. "Right now I want a warm bed and someone to keep me company to get over tonight's horrible stuff."

"These kids really got it bad," Taki said, glad to see something positive after the night's events.

"Like we were much better," Makie added, no longer seeing the need to stay more reserved, now that these two knew after Fyra had revealed their relationship. She then looked ahead and groaned. "Oh no..."

"I see it. Duty first, enjoyment later!"Taki couldn't believe their bad luck while steering the car to take the exit ramp back to the street level.

Seeing the growing panic and the destruction outside, Ranma and Ami understood what was going on. "And I thought tonight would just be some boring diplomatic crap to observe. I really need to have some words with Isamu about his definition of boring," Ranma grumbled while ignoring the light from Ami's transformation.

Panicked people were running past them while the car sped down the road towards where something was burning brightly. Whatever it was, the flashing lights were pretty much a giveaway that it couldn't be normal. The whole street fronts of the buildings they were passing were in ruin as well.

Suddenly the car was sliding! "Crap, the road is iced over!" Taki screamed, barely managing to stop the car before it could crash into a wall. "The whole road is iced over. What in all names...?"

"Ice? No problem." Mercury opened the car door and slammed her palm onto the iced-over ground. Right away the ice melted in seconds. "Remember, I'm the mistress of ice."

"Now, that's just rude!" A horrible grinding sound carried through the empty streets, people having fled in terror by now, though numerous dead bodies showed the sheer carnage caused. Taki had to jump back to avoid getting cut open by the blades of ice skates. Ranma and Mercury gasped when seeing the two Youma wearing these skates.

It seemed, the Youma recognized Ranma as well. "YOU! You are the boyfriend of the meanie!"

"Oh yes... What a stroke of luck we run into this one. I am going to enjoy this," the male Youma added with strange calmness.

"You know these two?" Makie asked, finding her first experience with Youma somewhat surreal.

"Yeah, but back then they had been human. Guess they found a new employer..." Ranma had no trouble to recognize Mikado Sanzenin and Azusa, though they had changed.

No longer being human, Mikado now was as pale as a vampire, sported the fitting fangs and had blood-red eyes. No doubt his powers had to become stronger as well. Azusa's change was a bit more radical; her skin had become brown and leather-like while her eyes had grown significantly and turned yellow. She reminded Mercury, who was well-read, of a female Gollum.

"Well, well, well... Look who we have here." Another Youma landed beside the other two.

Ranma and Ami both paled when seeing who it was. "Oh shit..." Mercury whispered, the short spike of fear almost making her lose bladder control.

The Youma in question without doubt was Happosai, the cruel old master they had thought to be dead after their confrontation in Nerima. He had changed as well - much to the worse. His skin now was green and warty, his fingernails had grown into claws, a pair of bull-like horns were added to his head and his eyes were now as black as the moonless night. Most disturbing however were the four tentacles that had grown from his back, making him resemble one of these tentacle monsters in hentai crap.

"You are supposed to be dead..." Ranma was shocked by Happosai turning up. He was one of the few people who disturbed him a lot - which meant something after today.

"Yes, you would have liked that, don't you?" Happosai looked happy to have a chance to get even. "Let's say I got an offer I couldn't refuse. However, for cutting me off from ever enjoying a woman again, you will pay dearly now."

It looked like there would be an inevitable confrontation, but then...

"Oh no, you upstarts. Keep away from these two."

The Youma had to step back when suddenly demonic snakes with sharp teeth broke out of the ground. The ground broke open and Mr. Shadow rose out of the hole, one of his arms having transformed, the long snakes growing out of it. Other than that however, he still looked unnervingly human.

"Yes, these two belong to Mr. Shadow now, so hands off, or we will make sure you do so."

I think I'm about to vomit, Ranma and Mercury both thought when seeing Mr. Shadow's helper appear, sharing the sick feeling through their link.

Kanako looked very disturbing to them - and that meant something, considering what some of the more grotesque Youma had looked like. Perhaps it was the fact that apart from two differences, Kanako looked like a nude human woman.

Difference one, her hands and feet looking like a spider's limbs, already was disturbing enough. It was the second difference that made them sick. Where in normal women there would be a vagina between their legs, Kanako instead sported something that looked like a mouth with lots of very sharp teeth. That the thick spider thread from which she was descending emerged from there only made it more disturbing.

And I thought vagina dentata is something some sick writers thought up... Mercury thought, fighting hard not to vomit at the sight. She felt the strange urge to check herself between her legs as soon as possible, just to see if everything was as it should be.

It seemed the sight made not only them sick, as Happosai took several steps back. Horrifying someone as depraved as him was next to impossible, but the sight of such a twisted female body made him panic. "Oh gods... No, stay away! Take them, just take them! No... teeth don't belong there! They don't!"

Mikado and Azusa looked a little disappointed, but then composed themselves. "Well, we always have the other two to play with," Mikado then said, giving Taki and Makie an evil look. "Better start running now. We want our prey to move," Szusa added.

Taki and Makie hoped they had what took to defend themselves against this kind of foes.

"I knew you would see reason," Mr. Shadow said with a smirk when seeing the beginning battle move away, then looked to Ranma. "Boy, your big lip is now going to cost you dearly. You should feel honored that I'm going to kill you personally. After all, becoming a martyr is some sort of huge honor amongst you Shadow Hunters."

"Boss, can I take care of the cheerleader here?" Kanako asked, giving Mercury a greedy look.

"Don't let me stop you, Kanako," Mr. Shadow said, before setting his snakes onto Ranma while Kanako shot sticky thread at Mercury.

Meanwhile, Taki and Makie were struggling.

Taki was frustrated by how Mikado and Azusa were someone able to use their ice skates on pavement, zooming around and hitting him from all kind of angles. He was not used to enemies being this mobile, especially when they ganged up on him. Also, when hitting them with his fists, it did nothing but to annoy them at best.

Taki decided right then he really hated Youma.

Happosai meanwhile was enjoying having some female prey he could play with. While physical pleasure was now impossible for him, he could always suck out her energy, since that power he now got better than he did while being alive. Female energy, he knew, actually tasted better than ever before.

"Disgusting little troll!" Makie cursed. His mere presence made her feel dirty, her instinct as a female being that this thing felt uttermost disgusting. She couldn't know it was the aura Happosai was releasing on purpose.

"You are a beautiful thing. Maybe I should take some samples before dealing with you," Happosai said. Deciding he wanted to go right for the source, he headbutted Makie, causing her to see stars.

While still being dazed, Makie suddenly felt like she was ready to hurl when Happosai slipped all four of his slimy tentacles under her skirt, pulling down her underwear before touching her at a most private place.

Happosai looked very pleased with himself. "Comme to papa... URGH!"

He had expected a rush of warm energy, but what he got when touching that forbidden area was something very different. The energy coming from her could somehow sense that he was unwelcome and lashed out at him. He suddenly felt like drinking long-spoiled milk, let go of her and staggered back.

Despite still being a bit dizzy, Makie didn't let the chance go to waste. That was the second time this night some disgusting jerk had touched her down there against her will, and now she was downright livid. In female fury she swiped her hand while her fingernails extended.

"Arrgh!" Happosai gasped when feeling the cut over his chest. That did REALLY hurt!

"That's from the 'beautiful thing'!" Makie screamed in range, trying to cut this disgusting creature into pieces. Her eyes were glowing hot-white, conveying her fury.

"Damn it..." Happosai knew this was going south fast. "This is not worth it." Throwing some dirt at Makie, who had to close her eyes for a moment so it wouldn't blind her, he used the chance to escape to the rooftops.

"Screw this, these two now have to fend for themselves. It's not worth getting killed. Not after the first time..."

Makie saw that the disgusting little Troll was gone, then realized her underwear was still around her knees and quickly pulled it back up. "I hate this night already... I feel dirty, so Taki needs to make me feel cleaner." She had little time to ponder that development however, when seeing that Taki was in trouble, as fighting against two opponents was not good odds. "Looks like I have to help him... He better really makes up for my effort and all I've had to endure."

Ranma meanwhile felt that Mr. Shadow liked to play unfair.

The jerk was using these damn snakes from his arm to keep him far away, making it impossible for Ranma to actually fight him directly. Using his sword again these snakes was not that effective, either. Whenever he cut off one of them, it simply regrew. It was like fighting the Hydra.

"What kind of freak are you?!" Ranma cursed while cutting off another one, to the same effect.

Mr. Shadow laughed coldly. "Lowly creatures shouldn't question their betters. You are learning this the hard way now, boy. How long until your stamina leaves you? I could do this all night, you know."

"Bloody bastard," Ranma cursed. In his mind, the guy was cheating with his regenerative powers, but the threat was real. He knew he had to cut off the whole arm, but he couldn't get close enough.

"Oh, language. Clearly another lesson I have to teach you," Mr. Shadow laughed, clearly being amused.

Mercury saw the plight of her boyfriend, but there was little chance to help him, as Kanako proved to be a highly agile and unpleasant enemy. Since she was one of the weaker Senshi in melee, this proved to be a serious problem.

"Little girls shouldn't play the hero. You clearly didn't learn that lesson," Kanako mocked her while zipping around with incredible agility, hitting Mercury from all angles.

"Urgh..." Mercury groaned, while trying to get some distance.

She was meant to be more in a supportive role, to be a distance fighter, being completely on her own up close was not what she was supposed to do! Now, normally she would have used her magic, but Kanako wasn't giving her a chance with her sheer speed. Even more difficult was it to avoid the spider thread she was shooting from that disgusting area.

"A little girl with no sex appeal, trying to play in the big leagues. Of course it doesn't work that way," Kanako laughed, before suddenly spaying more thread , blasting Mercury backward and gluing her to a wall. "See what I mean?"

Jumping up to a ledge, Kanoko lowered herself from a thread. "Now, I'm going to enjoy this, although I'm a bit disappointed I had to ask the boss to give me the refuse, the leftovers that are normally not worth my time."

Now, Mercury should have felt afraid. However, instead she felt something very different bubble up and made not effort to suppress it. In the past she would have, but not now. The symbol of Mercury flared up on her forehead. "Just ... shut ... THE HELL ... UP!"

Kanako's eyes widened when suddenly an ice-blue sphere of light exploded from Mercury's body! Unable to dodge, she was engulfed by it and her final thought was confusion what the hell was happening to her. Mercury on the other hand felt like getting a booster shot, the coldness around her actually feeling very relaxing.

"What?!" Mr. Shadow said when seeing the light from where Kanako was.

To his great surprise, when the light disappeared, he saw that the threads around Mercury had shattered to frozen dust and a frozen solid Kanako hung from the thread for a moment, before it broke. She fell down and shattered into pieces, her head rolling to his feet, where he looked at it quite disturbed by this turn of events.

Mercury was hard to anger, but not she did look angry. "I'm the little toy, remember?!" she hissed, before drawing her bow and fast-shot an ice arrow at Mr. Shadow, freezing all of the snakes at once.

"Damn it!" he cursed, losing his cool.

"Exactly!" Ranma hissed. Seeing his chance, he struck down onto the arm, cutting it off at the shoulder.

"Argh!" Shadow hissed in pain. "You've hurt me! That was a mistake."

Back at the other battle, even with Makie, Taki had trouble to hold up against Mikado and Azusa.

"These jerks won't stand still!" Taki cursed.

"Why should we stand still? Although, if you really insist..." Mikado gloated, then suddenly stopped in front of Taki and his red eyes flared up. All of a sudden Taki felt like a passenger in his own body. "It was lots of fun, but now the fun is over. The same goes for your pale girlfriend. Now, Azusa, would you do the honors?"

"Gladly. That will be so much fun!" Szusa said with glee, being just about to do he final move and cut him open with her ice skates, being sure Makie was stunned for some time.

That was, if Makie had been human.

"Little bitch!" Makie screamed, her nose bleeding, while she suddenly jumped forward and swiped her hand. Azusa got no chance. Mikado looked in horror when Azusa's head got cut off, rolling a few meters before it and the rest of her body turned to dust.

"Azusa... How could you?!" Mikado screamed. While he didn't hold any emotions for Azusa, they had been a well-oiled team. "For that I'll make you kill yourself!"

His red eyes now glowed like headlights and Makie indeed felt light-headed. However, whatever power he got, it was fine-tuned on humans, not people from Black World. While she felt like the world was spinning around her, she still was well enough to run up to him and kick him hard into the head. While his neck didn't snap, he lost his control over Taki.

"Ouch... Now I'll make you pay..." Makie was still reeling, so Mikado felt he should just cut her up. However, he got no chance to do so.

-BLOM!- A blue-glowing projectile blasted through his chest. Mikado looked down at the hole and wondered how, despite getting so much more powerful, he would end up like this - shot by a mere gun. Then there was no more when he exploded into dust.

"Ooohhh..." Makie groaned while slowly getting back onto her feet. The whole experience had brought her close to losing the contents of her stomach and she still felt dizzy. She then felt Taki helping her up. "Thanks..."

"No problem." Taki then saw the other battle. "We better hurry."

Meanwhile, things had gone south for Ranma and Mercury, as Mr. Shadow had somehow pulled up the road surface, encasing himself in a shell that simply absorbed all of Ranma's strikes, and after the small incident with his arm, he was not stupid enough to again get caught by any kind of projectiles, regardless if from Mercury or Ranma.

"I'm impressed! You've really made me sweat. But now fun and games are over. You both need to die."

Suddenly a shadow appeared under Mercury and she started to sink into it. "What is this?!" she gasped. It felt like sinking into a tar pit.

"You won't get out of there and the Shadow Hunter can't hurt me," Shadow chuckled darkly, having regained his cool. "You are dead. Only that you haven't accepted that fact yet."

Shit, Ami is going to die and everything I tried against this jerk hasn't worked! Wait... Suddenly Ranma got an idea - a desperate one at that. It doesn't work on living beings, but the way he bonded with the stuff... I take the chance!

"Hey!" Running up to his unconcerned opponent, Ranma thrust forward his fingers. "YAH!"

Now, Mr. Shadow hadn't been concerned, as nothing could have penetrated his special protective shell. The boy just trying to jab him with two fingers was not something that alarmed him in the slightest. Therefore his surprise was much bigger when suddenly he felt himself explode into pieces!

"Who knew a mining technique could be this useful..." Ranma said, then saw Mercury getting ejected from the disappearing tar, her legs covered in the stuff. "Are you OK?" he asked, helping her up.

"Yes, I just feel like I need a shower." She knew de-transforming would blast off that stuff, but still... She then saw Taki and Makie approach. "Too late, Ranma already took care of him."

"I fear it's not that easy," Makie told them.

Suddenly all the small pieces of Mr. Shadow moved and merged into a single mass. "You've got to be kidding me..." Ranma cursed, wondering what it would take to make this guy stay down.

However, instead of simply forming into Mr. Shadow, it turned into a trembling mass of muscles that looked vaguely humanoid, having multiple mouths with sharp teeth and growling at them menacingly while watching that with huge, black eyes. It was a very disgusting sight to watch this trembling mass of flesh.

"That's what the guy really looks like. As far as we know he experimented on himself to become an 'even more superior life form'. That's the result," Taki told them, then aimed his revolver and blew a hole through the thing's head. That however did little to kill it. "It sadly made killing him very difficult."

"Let me try something." Planting her feet firmly onto the ground, Mercury gave the trembling mass that was Mr. Shadow a hard look, then started to gather magical energy between her hands, the sphere of cold magic radiating outside. "Time for you to leave."

She thrust her hands forward and the sphere blasted out of them, hitting the mass. It howled while the magic did its working, freezing it solid. After some seconds it had become still. Mr. Shadow now was frozen solid, though if he still was alive they didn't know.

"Well, that's a nice touch," Makie commented. "Guess we now need to call the Guard to haul him back to Black World. They know how to dispose of him permanently."

Ranma let out a sigh of relief that this was finally done. "What about the others?"

"The freaks on the ice skates are done for. I don't know about the other one," Taki admitted while taking out his cell phone.

"He escaped. Disgusting little monster. I really wanted to slit him open," Makie added.

Ranma and Mercury had feared to hear that. However, right now they didn't care. They just wanted to get home and have lots of boyfriend-girlfriend-time for themselves.

...some time later, Dark Kingdom...

"...therefore, two of our new recruits proved to be duds, but the third one does have potential. He has held himself very well fighting against that strange woman who clearly isn't human and retreated when it was appropriate. The strange non-human intruders however concern me. The way they kept the Senshi of Mercury and that boy busy convinces me, that they will be a future threat after conquest," Kunzite completed his report to Beryl.

"Indeed. Considering these enemies are clearly not involved with the Death Busters, it means there is yet another faction vying for a hold on this world. Zoisite, your thoughts?" Beryl asked.

"Well, we could only watch, not listen, but I think whoever they are, they are a threat." What she didn't say was, that some of the stuff had freaked her out, especially that spider woman. Even their Youma didn't have that down there.

"Something to add to that, Kunzite?"

"Not much, my queen," Kunzite said. "Only that our two failures knew the boy, whoever he is. It's still annoying that he isn't more unique, or we could track the Senshi over him."

"Indeed, quite ironical that we can't identify him even when he is unmasked. Well, and what are your thoughts on your opponent, Defiler?" Beryl asked the Youma, still baffled a Youma could chose such a name for himself.

"Powerful. Dangerous. I was unable to affect her life force, despite direct contact. It just tasted downright disgusting. Regardless what she is, her kind clearly are dangerous." He touched the diagonal scar on his chest caused by her long fingernails. The scar still hadn't healed. "They all need to be destroyed."

"I like your way of thinking," Beryl said in amusement. "While these new potential enemies are concerning, we have to stick to our plans for now."

"My queen, I assume we are to continue gathering more troops for when Day X arrives?" Zoisite asked, rubbing the Dark Crystal in her hand.

"Yes. Until further notice this is what our Master has ordered. At least until there is some sort of sign, whatever this is supposed to be. Keep out of the struggles against the Death Busters, we now have good enough field commander Youma to take that job," Beryl told them.

They took their leave then.

The Youma called Defiler, but who inside still was Happosai, despite how his thoughts had been altered and twisted, mused that it had not been against his new loyalties to simply stay silent about Ranma. After all, no one had asked. He also had a pretty good guess that the Mercury chick was Ranma's little girlfriend.

While being incapable of actually betraying the Dark Kingdom after all these alterations, Happosai deep inside held a total hatred for those who had robbed him of his old life and made him easy prey for the Dark Kingdom. Ranma was at the front of those he wanted to get even with - in a lethal way.

It was all that was remaining to him outside of his servitude, forever being denied to enjoy the touch of women again.

...Saotome House, 02:45am...

It was deep in the night when the black Mercedes arrived in front of the Saotome property. Even in a place like Tokyo, a residential neighborhood like this was silent at that time of the night, the sound of the engine being the only thing piercing the deep silence.

Makie gave Ami a look. "You really don't want us to drive you home? I wouldn't be a problem for us and no one would blame you after tonight."

Ami waved her off. "Thanks for the offer, but there's a good reason why I want to stay here for the night - a reason you can probably already imagine." She felt no need to hide what Ranma and her planned to do; not after today.

Taki gave Ranma an amused look. "Looks like your ladyfriend needs you a lot, not that I can fault her after all the weird crap we all had to go through tonight. Even for my line of work, that was a bit much, though at least Shadow now is caught and won't trouble us anymore."

"Like you two don't want to do that as well as soon as you are home," Ranma returned while he left the car, Ami following suit.

"Now that you say it... Don't give me that look, Taki, you know I'm a very direct woman. After all the crap and being molested twice, I need some better intimate memories of tonight," Makie said.

"Oh, I don't complain." Taki then turned to the teenagers. "Well, if you ever need the help of the Black Guard, you know our number." That said, he drove off with the car, leaving these two at the front door.

Ranma unlocked the door and they silently went up the stairs after taking off their shoes as to not disturb the sleep of the others. Even in the darkness, they knew the way perfectly. Finally, the door to Ranma's room closed behind them and Ami did what she wanted to do for some time: she latched onto Ranma and kissed him fiercely.

Ranma didn't mind at all. After all the nasty stuff they'd seen tonight, they really needed this closeness. Their bond acted up and they felt very a pleasant warmth spread through their very beings while the kiss escalated into a fierce tongue-wrestling contest. The only thing they cared about at the moment was to find warmth and refuge in each other.

In no time they had undressed each other, their naked bodies pressing against each other while they kissed again. It wasn't just about physical lust - bare like this they felt that nothing was separating them. Ranma didn't notice Ami gently steering them towards the bed, until Ranma fell backwards onto it. Holding onto Ami, she ended up on top of him.

"Woah, Ami, slow down!" Ranma gasped, surprised at how aggressive she was.

"Ranma, I need you." She rubbed herself against him to show much she meant it, letting a little moan escape to show how much she was enjoying this herself. "I knew this before... But tonight again drove home we should cherish the beautiful things we have."

"I understand that..." He knew they both needed this, but Ami was more obvious about it. "Ami... you talk too much."

That said, he captured her mouth again while his hands started to fondle her ass.

Both of them would not find any sleep that night, Ami showing surprising stamina at the price of being very sore between her legs at the morning - despite both of them having been incredibly gentle, this simply happend when doing that for such a prolonged time. Even Ranma turning into a girl after half the time - because a man could only give that much before having to recover - didn't change that fact.

At the breakfast table Hotaru asked them why they looked so tired, why Ranma was a girl and especially why Ami was sitting so strangely and looking uncomfortable, causing Ranma and Ami to blush, while Nodoka looked proud and Genma gave his son a very knowing look.

However, Ranma and Ami both knew they had no one to blame but themselves for being that obvious that even Hotaru noticed.

to be continued...

Next Episode:

"At the Brink of Change"

Notes:

Here the notes.

Now, you could have already guessed from the chapter title, that this is sort of a crossover with the anime movie "Wicked City". I hinted at that in an earlier chapter. However, that movie was so filled with weird shit, I had to find ways to make it fit with my story universe.

I did changed the relationship between Makie and Taki considerably, fleshed out Black World into something more interesting than basically Mordor and rightfully made Ranma and Ami point out how FUCKED UP some of the shit is. I also wanted to put in more humor. It's up to you how well that worked, though I really wanted more connection to the Shadow Hunter aspect in the story.

I know this chapter was also quite violent, but that's intentional, as the Shadow Hunter business is quite nasty stuff.

That the chapter, apart from Ami, featured little to no screnntime of the Senshi also was intentional. After the last few chapters revolved around their problems, now I wanted to show what crap Ranma has to deal with in the future.

The Golden Duo got offed quickly, but that was because there really isn't much to them. Happosai however will return and I think he now really looks like a manifestation of his personality.

Oh, and if you think this chapter was filler, then you are going to be disappointed. I will be important later on.

As for the massive size of the chapter, that was a combination of the need for much exposition as well as several action scenes and character scenes needing to be squeezed into one chapter. I underestimated how much space this would take up.