"Ran-chan!" – Regular Speech

'Stupid Spatula Girl!' – Thoughts

"Hiryū Shōten Ha!" – Martial Arts Technique

{Grandmother!} – Mandarin/Language other than Japanese Speech

Chapter 22: The Troublesome Six Demons of Happōsai!

The Next Day, Evening

Rooftop, Nekohanten, Nerima Ward

Mousse looked up at the setting sun and sighed. He was at a total loss as to what to do with himself, which was ironic considering he had lost his right to pursue Shampoo as a result of losing a match. Nothing but losses around him recently.

"Are you still moping up here, Mr Part Timer?" Cologne asked as she hopped up next to him.

"Why did I lose?" Mousse asked bluntly. It had been driving him up the wall ever since he had regained consciousness the previous day and he needed an answer. "I had more techniques than Shampoo and I'd planned things out well, so why...?"

"Still hung up on that, are you?" the Matriarch huffed. "First, while you did indeed know more techniques that Shampoo, you mastered them to a passable level before moving on and creating another, whereas Shampoo mastered all of her handful of techniques until she knew them inside and out. Another issue is that you created your techniques by yourself; you had no one critique or analyse them, so there were obvious flaws in them that Shampoo could spot, while you didn't know of them. Shampoo may not have created her own techniques like you did, but because she learned orthodox, traditional techniques, she had a wealth of knowledge about how to use them and what their weaknesses were before she even learned them."

With every point, Mousse's shoulders hunched.

"Additionally, while you are decently talented, Shampoo is simply more so." Cologne continued. "You have a bad habit of ignoring village traditions and then causing trouble because of that and getting punished, which severely cut into your training time. But really...the biggest reason that you lost was because Shampoo's reason she needed to win was greater than yours."

"Huh...?" the male Joketsuzoku blinked in incomprehension.

"You merely wanted to maintain the status quo, to keep things as they are." the Matriarch elaborated. "Shampoo wished to move on, to advance into the future. The determination to move forward is greater than that needed to stand still. It's as simple as that."

"I...lost in terms of determination? In my desire for victory...?" Mousse asked in disbelief. "I..."

"Well, it's over and done with now." Cologne stated, not unkindly. "You have until the end of the week to decide whether to return home or remain here, but I would ask that you make the best choice for yourself. Not for the village, not for Shampoo and not for me, but for you. For too long, you have placed Shampoo above your own self; now that you have no choice but to stop pursuing her, live for yourself. Go on a journey of training across Japan or something. Live your life for your own sake, Mu-Tsu."

With that, the old Amazon hopped off of the roof, leaving the only male Joketsuzoku outside of China to brood on his choices.

A Week Later

Fūrinkan High School

"This bazaar thing ain't all that bad." Ranma noted as he ate an okonomiyaki. He was hanging out next to Ukyo's grill, where she was cooking up a storm. The Fūrinkan High Fair and Bazaar was where students could sell old things that they owned or had made for a reasonable price. A fair few people made a tidy sum each year from it, so it was a proud tradition that the school kept up, in spite of Principal Kuno's attempt to turn it into a Hawaiian-style festival 'for da keikei, ya know'.

"Yeah! Plenty of business for me, so I'm even more in the black than usual." the Osakan Chef said happily. Since she'd received those taels of gold from Prince Kirin of Nekonron, she had very little need to worry about money at all, allowing her to take days off to do things such as watch Shampoo stomping Mousse into the ground, just as a random example.

All around them, students were selling all sorts of things with great gusto. From trading cards, handicrafts and magazines, to old games consoles, plants and even a few family heirlooms, the range of items being sold ran the gamut. In addition to these, there were also stalls that sold food like Ukyo's, although none of them were anywhere near as popular. Ucchan's had a quality and renown in a league of its own.

"Whew..." Ukyo breathed a few minutes later during a lull in the crowd. "This is even busier than at my shop!"

"Yeah. Politer though." Ranma agreed. His waitressing job (in his cursed form) was hectic because people still didn't get the idea of look but don't touch, at least among the teenaged clientele. The number of people ejected for not following that rule was well into the double digits by now.

"Did Shampoo say where Mousse has gone to?" the Osakan girl asked after a moment. The look of loss on the Joketsuzoku male's face after his defeat at Shampoo's hands had been bleak enough that Ukyo felt a tiny twinge of sympathy.

"Said he was headin' on a small journey of trainin' around northern Japan...before he somehow headed south." Ranma deadpanned. "I think he asked directions from Ryōga, or so Cologne said."

With a blink and a look of disbelief on her face, Ukyo looked at her fiancé and asked, "Really? I mean...he asked Ryōga, of all people, for directions?"

"Really." the Saotome Heir confirmed. "Mousse ain't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, remember."

"Ah...true." the brunette nodded. While his far-sightedness was a major part of it, Mousse was also exceptionally stubborn and somewhat dim. He wasn't quite on Ryōga's level when it came to being gullible, but he was actually fairly close outside of a fight.

"Ara, Ranma-kun, Ukyo-san." a familiar voice called out to the pair, Tendo Kasumi approaching the two of them, manoeuvring through the crowd expertly. Given that the eldest of the Tendo sisters had attended Fūrinkan as well, it wasn't much of a surprise that she was good at avoiding rowdy teens.

"Hey Kasumi." Ranma greeted her. "Enjoyin' the bazaar?"

"Oh yes! It's nice to get out and about every now and again that isn't for grocery shopping." the girl beamed. "I was thinking of buying a couple of things that interested me, Kuno-kun was selling some interesting things earlier, so I'll have to stop by there at some point. But I left my purse with Akane while I went to powder my nose; have you seen her around?"

"She went to try and make Nabiki eat one of her 'boxed lunches' a while ago." Ukyo said as she pulled a face. "Last I heard, Nabiki was up in her classroom doing her usual business, if ya get what I mean."

Kasumi sighed unhappily. "Yes, yes I do...well then, I must be off to get Akane before she and Nabiki start arguing again."

"Later." Ranma nodded to her as the older girl walked off. "Man, you'd think Akane would take a hint that Nabiki doesn't want to try her cooking by this point."

"She's determined to prove what we say about her cooking is wrong, Ran-chan." the chef replied with a shrug. "She's got too much pride to admit that she's wrong and that her cooking should be banned under some international treaty, if what you've said about it is true."

"Trust me, it is." Ranma shuddered at the memory of the last 'food' that Akane had force-fed him. Given the choice between eating that slop again or eating the mess of a sauce that he'd made ten years ago, he would go for the sauce ten times out of ten.

Without needing to be asked, Ukyo quickly made up a 'Ran-chan Special' okonomiyaki and passed it to him. No way did she want him to be remembering Akane's so-called 'cooking' when he had her around!

After Ranma gleefully scarfed down the tasty treat, things got busy as Kasumi (trailed after by a foul-tempered Akane) returned to do some shopping. Akane headed back to her own stall to (try) and sell some home-made stuffed animals, which had turned out much like her cooking; odd, ugly and mere caricatures of the intended products. Ranma had seen them and knew that the Tendo Heiress would have a full stock by the end of the day, much to her frustration.

"Yahoo! Wotta haul!"

Upon hearing that familiar and dreaded cry minutes later, Ranma and Ukyo looked at one another with a weary look on their faces before they spotted Happōsai running towards them, a bag full of purloined panties and bras slung over his back. The pint-sized Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School was pursued, as usual, by a positive horde of angry teenage girls, wielding school-issue mops this time around.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU PERVERT!" the horde shouted at Happōsai.

"Wahahahahahaha! Catch me if ya can!" the evil old goblin cackled before spotting Ranma. With a quick blur of his hands, he flung several panties and bras at Ranma before scuttling off with another cackle.

"Geh!" the boy blanched as the underwear flew towards him. If he so much as touched one of those even slightly, he was going to get a pervert beating from the angry mob of girls

"Think again, ya old perv!" Ukyo shouted with a scowl. Her Ran-chan hadn't even touched her underwear yet; no way was he gonna touch some random girl's panties before hers!

Moving in front of Ranma, she executed a very good Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken, grabbing the flying underthings before they could come close to her fiancé and then put them in a bag, which Ranma pulled out of his Hidden Weapons space and handed to her, before chucking it at the crowd of girls, dusting her hands off as the crowd descended upon the sack to determine whose undies had been sacrificed by Happōsai as a distraction.

"Man, that stupid old perv never gets the hint." the Osakan girl huffed angrily.

"Yup." Ranma cracked his knuckles. "Think we'd better find time to teach the old fart a lesson after school. Cologne might even help."

The brunette smirked grimly. "I really hope so; the little pervert needs a kick in the rear to not do this all the damn time."

"He's been at it for the last three hundred years, Ucchan." Ranma pointed out with a sigh. "If he was gonna stop, he woulda stopped years ago."

"True..." Ukyo nodded with an irritated look on her face.

Meanwhile, at a stall that sold antiques, one Kuno Tatewaki eagerly sold Tendo Kasumi a set of cards that she was interested in. They reminded Kasumi a little of Tarot cards, or maybe those newfangled Pokémon cards, with each bearing an image of a strange creature on its front. All shared the same design on the reverse side, however; solid black, with a crimson pentagram.

After School

Tendo Residence

"Happōsai! Give me back my bra!" Akane shouted angrily, brandishing her mallet at the source of her ire as she chased him down the hall.

"Wahahahaha! Not a chance!" the little goblin of a man cackled as he casually avoided every swing of the heavy wooden hammer, driving up Akane's anger considerably, even as he twirled the purloined undergarment in question tauntingly in one hand.

Nabiki's refusal to so much as touch her bento at lunch, combined with the sight of Ranma and Ukyo acting all close and intimate as she had headed back to her stall, the fact she hadn't sold a single stuffed animal toy all day and the fact that Happōsai had once again stolen one of her favourite bras combined together to make Akane see red.

(Not that such an occurrence was rare, but it happened more rapidly in this instance due to the amount of frustration that she was feeling.)

With a roar of frustrated feminine fury, the Tendo Heiress reared back and then bodily hurled the hammer at Happōsai, who was slightly taken aback by the sudden escalation. He hesitated a second longer as he noticed a red aura around the hammerhead as it spun towards him, even as it became too late for him to dodge.

'This is gonna hurt.' he reflected.

With a mighty smack, the tiny martial arts grandmaster was sent flying through a (fortunately open) window, out into the yard, where he slammed into a tree and bounced off and soared straight through the (unfortunately closed) screen door of the living room to knock a handful of cards out of Kasumi's hand where she had been showing her new purchases to a disinterested Nabiki.

"Oh my."

"Dammit, the door repairs are so coming out of Akane's pocket money."

"Happōsai!" Akane shouted as she slammed the sliding door open, having pursued her target out into the yard. "Where's my bra, dammit?!"

The little pervert, who had been lying with spinning swirling eyes on the table, leapt to his feet as the six cards from Kasumi's hand landed around him, three to the left of him and three to the right.

"Ha! I'm not giving it back unless you model it for me!"

"Fat chance!" Akane recoiled in disgust.

Just then, the cards arrayed around Happōsai started to glow an eerie purple colour and start to float up around the now bewildered Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School.

"Wh-what the-?!" Happōsai looked around in bewilderment. "What's going on?!"

Floating into the shape of a six-pointed star around the small man, the cards became connected by thin beams of light and started to rotate in formation around him. Dimly realising that something mystical was afoot, Happōsai tried to escape, but found himself trapped inside the hexagram.

With a scream, the tiny man was engulfed in a beam of light that pierced through the ceiling of the living room and then the roof of the Tendo residence, speeding up into the sky and sending out an invisible wave of magical presence to those who knew how to sense it. It immediately drew Cologne's attention, making her rush out to investigate the disturbance, taking Shampoo with her.

The physical appearance of the pillar of light also drew the attention of the two Kuno siblings, who had been heading for the Tendo home at rapid pace, not to mention Ranma and Ukyo, who had been out looking for Happōsai in his usual underwear-purloining spots.

"What the heck have the Tendos done now?" Ranma asked in exasperation. People accused him of being the cause of all magical incidents in Nerima, but it was happening to the Tendos more than it was to him recently!

Later

Living Room, Tendo Family Home

"The Cards of the Evil Beasts?" Akane said blankly.

"Indeed." Kuno nodded. He and Kodachi were sitting at one end of the table, with the Tendos, Ranma, Ukyo, Shampoo and Cologne arrayed around it. "They are items which the Kuno family have been charged with guarding since before the Sengoku period."

"They were originally created to punish mankind for their sins, by a foreign sorcerer, which is why only someone who has evil in their heart can activate them." Kodachi added. "They summon demons that take on the form of the evil one's body in this world."

"Evil...? Well, that explains why the Master activated them." Sōun said with a scowl. "As well as why Kasumi didn't."

Kasumi looked confused at that, while everyone else nodded in agreement. Why was she special?

"So if these cards were so dangerous, why the heck were you selling 'em at a school festival, Kuno?" Ranma asked in minor disbelief.

"That would be because the number of items that the Kuno family guards isn't inconsiderable, Ranma-sama." Kodachi stated, making Ukyo and Shampoo glare at her subtly. "Add in the fact that the Cards of the Beast are small and seemingly innocuous, my brother did not recognise them and therefore did not bother to check the Index of Forbidden Items before taking them to be sold. A member of our staff informed us of the true nature of the cards, after which we both hastened to inform Tendo Kasumi of their nature and retrieve them."

"Alas, we were too late." Kuno said pompously.

"Cards such as the ones you describe are uncommon in China, but there are tapestries, paintings and murals that act much the same." Cologne frowned. "At any rate, we have to find Happi...or rather, whatever demons those cards have summoned."

A loud crash from outside made people sit up and take notice. Peering outside through the broken screen door (which Akane was definitely paying for), the occupants of the living room espied a familiar fanged boy pulling himself out of the large imprint he'd left in the lawn.

"Ryōga? What the heck happened to you?" Ranma called out, making the target of his shout whirl around in surprise.

"Ranma? What are you doing in Nagano?!" he exclaimed.

"This is still Nerima, Pork Chop." the pigtailed martial artist sighed. Seriously, he would swear that Ryōga's sense of direction was getting worse! It was starting to look like the Eternally Lost Boy couldn't find his way out of a straight-line tunnel...

"Ryōga? What happened to you?" Akane asked, making the Lost Boy flush in embarrassment as he walked up to the house.

"I was resting on a rooftop, minding my own business, when six little...things came out of nowhere and attacked me." he replied, shamefaced. "They were so fast I couldn't get a proper look at them, or even land a single blow on any of them. Next thing I know, I'm slamming down on the ground out there."

"Sounds like we've found Happi's demons." Cologne said grimly. "Fortunately, we have fought him on several occasions, so we know what to expect from him."

"I would not be so complacent." Kuno warned them. "Those affected by the cards are awoken as invincible terrors that will shroud the world in darkness if they are not stopped."

Sōun and Genma cringed at the thought of an actually unstoppable version of their Master. The pair were seriously considering going on an emergency 'training journey' until the incident was resolved.

"Judging from the cards, we have six very different enemies to deal with here." Cologne mused, eyeing the cards on the table where they lay, the main pictures on each whited out, leaving only the titles of each card visible. "Devil, Evil Knight, Centaur, Dracula, Witch, Fallen Angel...this is certainly a troublesome array of powers that these demons possess."

"Hang on, Dracula wasn't around until Bram Stoker invented him in 1897!" Nabiki pointed out. "If these cards are well over four centuries old, how does this card name make sense?"

"It used to be the more generic Vampire King card before then." Kodachi informed her. "About fifty years after Dracula was published, the records show that the card's name, if not the picture, changed."

"As interesting as that trivia might be, it will not be at all useful in battling him." Cologne said pointedly. "Fighting one Happōsai is hard enough; with six of him, it shall be much tougher. Furthermore, there is a female version of him wandering around if this Witch card is any indication. I seriously doubt that a female version of that old letch will be any more polite to boys than the usual Happōsai is to girls, so you, Son-in-Law, are to stay away from the Witch. Similarly, the girls are to stay away from Happi's male demons and focus on defeating the Witch."

"Brr...being perved on by a female Happōsai..." Ranma shivered, accompanied by every other male present.

"Ran-chan, you have to avoid gettin' splashed too." Ukyo pointed out in a low voice. "No tellin' what those pervy little goblins'll do if you change."

"Gotcha." Ranma nodded.

A female scream rent the night, making the room empty out quickly as the assorted martial artists went out to track down the rampaging demons of Happōsai. The only one who stayed behind was Kasumi, who set about tidying the room and ensuring the cards were in a safe place where they couldn't be lost.

Later

Streets of Nerima

"Come back here!" Ranma shouted angrily as he pursued one of the six demons. This one was basically just regular Happōsai with small horns, a spade-shaped tail and bat-like wings. The Devil, presumably.

"Wahahaha! I'm going to mess up this world!" Devil Happōsai cackled.

Cursing, the Saotome heir kept pursuing the little pain in the rear. The demons were a pain in the ass, but they weren't near as strong as Happōsai himself was; their chi draining abilities were a pain, but Ranma had KO'd them with one punch several times, only for them to get back up seconds later. It was never-ending!

Aside from the chi draining powers, the various different demons had several annoying abilities that made fighting them a pain. Fallen Angel Happōsai, for example, had a bow and arrow that allowed him to make females fawn over him. Dracula Happōsai had even more powerful chi draining abilities that had KO'd Kodachi rather easily. All of them could fly, but other than that, they weren't all that special...if they'd only stay down!

Skidding to a halt as the demon in front of him sped up and vanished, Ranma looked around him until he spotted six figures standing atop a building nearby. There was the Devil Happōsai surrounded by all of the others; Evil Knight Happōsai (basically just Happōsai wearing European steel armour, carrying a lance and riding on a rocking horse for some weird reason), Centaur Happōsai (who looked as if you stuck Happōsai's top half onto the neck of a donkey), Dracula Happōsai (basically a fanged Happōsai wearing a tuxedo and cape), Witch Happōsai (a female version of him with flowing golden hair with a large pouting mouth slathered in red lipstick, wearing a dress of some sort and riding on a broomstick) and Fallen Angel Happōsai (which was Happōsai wearing a toga, with a pair of wings fluttering behind him and a bow and arrow clutched in one hand).

"Well lookit that, the gang's all here." Ranma drawled, hiding his nervousness at the presence of the Witch demon.

He had been with Shampoo and Ukyo before they had gone to help out a group of women who had collapsed after being drained by Dracula Happōsai. He had, foolishly, charged after the nearest demon and now here he was, in a very obvious ambush.

"Presenting the Six Demons of Happōsai!" all six of them shouted, posing like a super sentai team and making Ranma sweatdrop at the ridiculousness of the situation. Seriously, he was half-thinking of getting Shampoo or Cologne to use Xi Fa Xiang Gao to erase his memories of this whole mess once it was over. One Happōsai was bad enough, but six?

He was going to have nightmares about this, he just knew it.

"Hey, old letch times six, you wanna stop causin' problems fer everyone or what?" he called out brusquely.

"As if!" Dracula Happōsai jeered.

"We're gonna mess up this pathetic world!" Centaur Happōsai added.

"And there's nothin' you can do about it!" finished Evil Knight Happōsai.

"Oh yeah? Try me, ya old perv." Ranma cracked his knuckles. He had been tempted to point out that the only thing they had been doing was a large-scale version of Happōsai's usual perverted antics, but Cologne had managed to convince him that some things didn't need to be pointed out; this was such an occasion, as Ranma really didn't want to see what a determined group of demons could do. He supposed that it was a good thing that Happōsai's evil heart was mostly filled with the petty, irritating and perverted type of evil, rather than the serious 'destroy-the-world' sort of evil that would have turned this fight from irritating to deadly.

Then the six of them where upon him and Ranma had no more time for worrying or thinking; he had to fight, which was fine by him.

Moving with a smoothness and grace that would make any Olympic gymnast weep with envy, Ranma leapt to the attack, smashing a fist into Centaur Happōsai's face before sending Devil Happōsai flying with a snap kick to the gut, slamming into Evil Knight Happōsai and sending both sprawling to the ground.

"Ohohohohoho! A handsome man~!" Witch Happōsai simpered as she shot towards Ranma on her broom.

"Gah! Freaky!" Ranma yelped before kicking the old hag into L.E.O. on pure instinct, shivers going down his spine, in a not too dissimilar way to when he was in his Cursed Form and Happōsai was about to grope him.

Even as he watched though, the damage he'd dealt to the demons healed and they stood up, ready to face him once again.

'This ain't gettin' me nowhere. No matter how I punch or kick them, they get up less than half-a-minute later!' the boy scowled, now seriously starting to become worried. 'At this rate, I'm just gonna wear myself out and leave myself helpless to whatever it is that these demons want! No freaking way! Wait...there is somethin' that might be able to turn things around for me...'

The anti-demon technique that he'd shown Cologne and Shampoo a while back should, if the old ghoul was right about what it was used for, be perfect for this particular fight. He'd worked on it under Cologne's strict supervision every now and again, and while it was easier to do thanks to a couple of tricks that she'd shown him, it was still something he was wary about using, considering how badly it could go if he messed up. Still, he was fairly confident that he could use it at least once without causing harm to himself, so why not?

Falling back from a swipe from Dracula Happōsai, Ranma clawed his right hand and focussed, running through the exercise as he had countless times before. Unlike all the other times though, it reacted...almost eagerly to his will. Maybe the presence of demons was what was stopping it from being a pain to use like when he practiced?

A glow of pure white energy appeared around his hand as a ball of chi emerged from it, around the size of a tennis ball. It was practically throbbing with power, and Ranma was ready to use it.

"Chew on this!" he shouted and flung the ball of chi at the nearest one of the demons, Centaur Happōsai. The ball struck the quadruped demon on his hindquarters, where it promptly exploded like a grenade. With a scream of pain, Centaur Happōsai lost his entire equine lower-half, with the skin on his human-half's back badly scorched from the chi attack.

"Holy crap!" Ranma gawked for a moment before dodging another attack from Devil Happōsai. Then he spotted the flesh on the fallen demon's body starting to slowly regenerate. "Aw c'mon! What does it take to put you old freaks down for good?!" he complained before charging up another one.

Scant Moments Beforehand

With Ukyo And Shampoo

"Where the heck did Ran-chan get off to?!" the Osakan Chef snarled as she raced along the street. Getting Kodachi to Cologne to undo the energy drain from Dracula Happōsai had taken way too long, and Now Ranma was who knows where in Nerima, with six evil (well, more evil than usual) demons made from Happōsai wandering around!

"Airen probably fighting demons." Shampoo said, deciding that the obvious was a good place to start. "He too-too unlucky that way."

"Sounds about right." Ukyo grumbled. The kami all knew that she loved her Ran-chan, but he always seemed to gravitate to the centre of any incident that happened in his vicinity. Stupid chaos curse...

"EAT THIS!" Ranma's voice shouted from somewhere to the two girls' right, swiftly followed by a loud scream that sounded like a mix between Happōsai and a horse.

Without even hesitating for a second, the two girls adjusted course to head towards their fiancé's location. Skidding to a halt around a corner, they both gaped in shock at Ranma throwing balls of white energy at the demons, while the little terrors were dodging around fearfully and avoiding them as best they could.

"Since when does Ran-chan know a chi blast?!" Ukyo exclaimed in disbelief.

"Th-that no chi blast." Shampoo stuttered in awed disbelief. "That pure chi, no emotional blast. Is special anti-demon technique, too-too hard to use. Airen has studied under Grandmother to use it, but he not ready to use it in fight! He could cripple self! Even worse, look at demons!"

Ukyo stared at the demons as her former rival bade her and saw some bad wounds on them, with one down for the count already. At least that was what she thought until she spotted the flesh of the down one slowly growing back as she watched.

"I thought you said it was an anti-demon technique!" she hissed at Shampoo. "They're still regenerating after being hit!"

"Anti-demon technique causes too-too much damage to demons at slightest touch for many minutes, not stop demons from regenerating." the Amazon retorted, hands on hips. "This not anime or manga where anti-demon technique is one-hit killer. Ukyo so silly. Shampoo worried though; any demon hit by technique should be in too-too much pain, according to Grandmother. These demons not after being hit. Is strange."

This made Ukyo frown. Cologne was incredibly knowledgable about martial arts techniques, so Shampoo's words carried a lot of weight, as she was quoting directly from the old Matriarch's lecture on the matter. If the demons should be in agony for multiple minutes after being merely grazed by this 'pure chi' then that's what should be happening. The fact that they weren't after one of them being almost obliterated by the technique, incomplete as it may be, was telling.

"Wait..." the bifauxnen said slowly. "Shampoo, am I wrong in saying that the demons came from the cards and possessed Happōsai?"

"Ukyo right." the purplette nodded slowly as an idea solidified in the brunette's mind.

"What if...what if the demons Ran-chan's fighting ain't their real forms? If they're like...projections?" Ukyo said steadily. "Like demonic versions of the Shadow Clones made by the Shadow Clone Incense?"

"That...that sound likely." Shampoo nodded again, eyes wide. "Then what real form of demons? Not...?"

"The cards!" the two girls chorused in unison.

"It makes sense! The damned cards are the real form of the demons, with the six avatars just being a buncha clones!" Ukyo clapped a hand to her forehead at not seeing the answer sooner. "It makes sense! Why wouldn't the cards vanish when the demons appeared otherwise? Urgh...let's get back to the Tendo place so we can destroy those dang cards!"

"But Airen..." Shampoo was very reluctant to leave her fiancé behind.

"We can't go near those demons without them draining us like they did Kodachi." Ukyo shook her head, equally reluctant. "The best way we can help Ran-chan is to destroy those dang cards. Then the demons go bye-bye and he's safe. Trust me."

With every visible sign of reticence, the two girls turned and left, running back towards the Tendo household at their best speed. Unseen by them was the tiny form of Cologne, who had been shadowing them from the shadowy rooftops. Turning to look at Ranma, the old Amazon shook her head in wonder. Using a High-Master-Level External Chi technique in an incomplete state, without burning your chi pathways out, was actually harder than using the fully complete technique itself, and yet here Ranma was, doing exactly that with only a slight struggle.

She was no longer surprised by such happenings from her Son-in-Law, merely mentally cackling in anticipation of how idiotic several of the other Matriarchs would feel once he was married to Shampoo and they could see his potential and skills for themselves.

Returning to the current situation, she did, as a matter of fact, know a technique that would destroy the demons and send enough backlash down the link they had with their cards to destroy them, but she had stayed her hand, wanting to see how the three of her young disciples would rise to the occasion. Had things gone sour, she would have stepped in, but it was obvious that such a thing would no longer be required.

Ranma was occupying the attention of the six demons, utilising that incomplete technique to great effect. Ukyo had deduced the true form of the demons and was headed there now to deal with them. And Shampoo was learning to trust in her intended partners beyond times when they were in combat. All of them had fulfilled a niche that fulfilled Cologne's faith in them.

"Now then...let us see how Son-in-Law deals with the drain from the repeated use such a strenuous technique." she mused aloud.

With Shampoo and Ukyo

Tendo Residence

"Kasumi-san!" Ukyo shouted as she leapt over the wall, swiftly followed by Shampoo.

"Ara, Ukyo-san, Shampoo-san." the home-maker greeted them as she walked out of the living room and onto the veranda.

"Kasumi, do you have those cards?" the chef asked, only slightly winded after her run through the streets.

"Of course." the oldest of the Tendo sisters nodded, pulling the items out of a pocket in her apron.

"Those are the real forms of the demons! We need to destroy them to defeat the demons." Ukyo explained.

"Oh my. Very well then...it is a shame, they were nice to look at." Kasumi sighed as she handed them over to the chef.

"How should we get rid of them?" the bifauxnen asked Shampoo. "I ain't got an idea."

"Purification by fire is best." the Amazon answered. "Traditional and fit demonic item."

"Right." Ukyo nodded before grabbing some matches from the kitchen (with Kasumi's permission) and setting each card on fire, making them vanish in a small explosion of bluebell-coloured flames.

Over with Ranma, the boy blinked in surprise as, one by one, his pint-sized opponents screamed and vanished in balls of pale blue fire, leaving only the original Happōsai lying stunned and slightly singed on the ground.

"What the heck...?" Ranma blinked in surprise.

"The girls figured out the weakness of the demons and took care of them, Son-in-Law." Cologne informed him as she hopped down next to him. "You go off to the Tendo Dojo and celebrate with them; I'll deal with Happi here."

Glad to leave dealing with the old codger to someone else, Ranma leapt away to roof-hop over to his destination. Cologne turned to regard the twitching figure that was Happōsai.

"Enough playing possum, Happi. I know you snapped out of it once the cards were all destroyed." she said severely.

"Cologne-chan, I've just been possessed by demons! Let an old man have his fun!" the Grandmaster pouted as he sat up.

"Feh." Cologne snorted. "I'm curious, Happi...how did it feel to have Son-in-Law use that incomplete anti-demon technique on you?"

"Like someone set my marrow on fire. I'm low on chi as well." Happōsai grumbled. "Who the heck taught him that confounded technique?"

"Some senile fool of a temple monk." Cologne snorted, still angry that the old monk had blithely taught such a dangerous exercise to a young boy. "Now that he has a handle on using the chi in combat, I can teach him the second stage. Maybe even an emotional chi blast first to get him used to the idea of projecting his chi..."

"Urgh...he's my Heir, Cologne-chan." Happōsai whined.

"Then try teaching him something that isn't perverted and isn't utterly pointless." the Matriarch pointed out coldly. "Now, your demons stirred up quite a lot of trouble around here, so I'd suggest that you leave Nerima for a few weeks until the heat dies down a tad."

With that, she hopped off back to the Nekohanten, leaving Happōsai to crawl to his feet and limp away to take her advice.

Later

Outside Okonomiyaki Ucchan's

"Sheesh, what a weird day." Ukyo sighed tiredly. She had spent some time at Ranma's campsite with Ranma and Shampoo to celebrate the defeat of those damned little demons, and she counted herself lucky to have not fallen victim to the chi drain like Kodachi had been; she was still down for the count, with her older brother taking her home.

The impromptu celebration had ended a short time ago because of school the next day, the two girls leaving Ranma to crawl into his tent to get some shut-eye. Ukyo was pleasantly surprised to have Shampoo walking her back to her restaurant. Given that both Ucchan's and the Nekohanten were in the same general area though, it wasn't much of an inconvenience for the Chinese Amazon.

"Is so. Stupid Stick Boy." Shampoo grumbled. "Stupid Happōsai. He too-too much annoying."

"Well, at least the cards have been destroyed. No more demons from them." the chef said bracingly.

"True. Ukyo right." Shampoo nodded as they came up on Ucchan's. She shifted nervously for a moment before resolve entered her eyes. Nodding to herself, she looked at the Osakan Chef.

"Ukyo, Shampoo...no, I have to talk to you about something." she said, correcting her usual pidgin forcefully.

"S-Sure...what's up?" Ukyo gulped slightly at the determination in Shampoo's voice.

"It...It's not easy to talk about." the Amazon said with a small blush. "You outsiders have such...different rules compared to the tribe. But..."

Pausing for a moment, Ukyo was taken off guard by the girl moving into her personal space, throwing her arms around her neck and laying a kiss right on her mouth. Freezing in shock, she let out a little moan at how good Shampoo was at kissing. Ukyo wasn't exactly a rookie at kissing (when it came to other girls, anyway) but Shampoo made her look like a complete virgin at kissing!

'Whoa, she just slipped me the tongue!' Ukyo thought dazedly, her own jaw and tongue feebly responding to the sudden liplock and tongue action. She weakly struggled, but ended up grabbing Shampoo's waist, much to her partner's approval, as the kiss deepened at that point. The slight moans and sound of smacking lips and tongues from the two girls filled the street, which was fortunately empty at that time of night.

'Why...don't I want her to stop...? OH!' Shampoo had slipped her hands down and squeezed Ukyo's taut rear for a moment, which was...very nice.

"Mwah...!" Shampoo pulled back, a satisfied expression on her face as she disengaged (very reluctantly) from her partner. "Ukyo too-too good at kissing!"

"Y-you ain't exactly a slouch at it either..." Ukyo panted. "Wh-what's the deal with the sudden smooching?"

"Is my decision. I will marry Airen...Ranma." Shampoo declared firmly. "But I have also decided to take you as my wife, Ukyo! Wo ai ni."

With that, Shampoo turned and sauntered off, leaving a dumbfounded and slightly slack-jawed Ukyo, who was blushing bright red and wondering if this was a little of what it was like for her Ran-chan when it came to the busty Amazon.

"What the hell?" was all she could say.

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Next Chapter: A Clash of Four Chi Blasts! The Shishi Hōkōdan!

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