Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ukyo worked vigorously to get the right mixture of compounds for the non-stick "cooking solution" to remove the glue of the marriage license stuck to Ranma's chest. She was mixing by memory. She was joined Kasumi in the Tendo home kitchen.
Kasumi suggested a few things, but it was ultimately Ukyo who decided the right ingredients. Or she hoped where the right ones.
"It'll have to be a soft mixture that we can apply by hand, rub it all over the glue so it can peal off," Uyko said.
"I'm unaware of such a compound that can dissolve glue that quickly other than industrial solvents and those would be harsh on Ranma's skin," Kasumi explained. "A brillo pad would be faster, but that would be even worse and time consuming. We may have to wait until the glue dissolves on its own."
"Ranma needs it off now!" Uyko said pointedly. She didn't mean her tone to be harsh, but it was important.
Kasumi seemed to understand, and nodded, and both continued on, mixing food compounds - the entire kitchen was in complete disarray. There were pots and pans, foodstuffs, utensils, and other stuff, everything!
"Oh my," Kasumi said, looking around, putting a hand to her face in shock. "I'll have my work a week to clean this kitchen to get back in order after all this is over."
"We'll worry about that later," Uyko said. But then thought: If there is a later!
Kaio Ashward Lionhart dug a hand into his left pants pocket and pulled out a deck of old, beaten, well used playing cards. There was only one card missing - the Ace of Spaces. He didn't know where it had gone, but these had been his son's favorite deck - his lucky deck.
Often Kenneth would play the magician's game "Choose a card", and ask someone to pick one, and then guess wish one it was. Ninety-nine percent of the time, Kenneth guessed right. It had been a trick, but Kiao only recently discovered how his son did it.
And in truth, it wasn't a trick all at, but "slight of hand". When the card was put back in the deck, it was secretly marked by a bend or fold or other means to tell the magician which card it was. Sometimes, just its position in the deck told the magician its location. But this deck was already very well used, but it would be difficult to mark the card to know which one Kenneth would choose and put back.
But this was how he would get his son back, this is how he would convince the demon that resided in Kenneth to leave him, that Happosai had explained to him about. Kaio Ashward Lionhart just hoped his son didn't see through his trickery before all was said and done.
Kaio had carried the cards with him all these years, to remember his son. Now that he had finally found him after ten years, he wasn't about to let him be taken from him by an evil ethereal spirit who was only using him.
"Kenneth, play a game with me," Kaio said.
Ken looked at his father strange. He saw a deck of cards in his father's hands. And he recognized them. "Where did you get those?"
Ken released his grip on Ryoga, focused on his father. And Ryoga dropped like a stone. Ryoga gasped for air to fill his lungs.
"They were yours," Kaio said. "I kept them. I didn't throw them away despite one card was missing."
Ken momentarily blinked thoughtfully. "Yes, I remember - the Ace of Spaces. I lost it for awhile..." He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the bent, beaten, ripped, dog-earred playing card. "I found it in the back garden when I snunk back to the house after you threw me out a few days later for some food. But the maid was in the kitchen, so I couldn't get any."
"You came back?"
"Only because I was hungry."
"Why didn't you tell me? You would have been welcomed back - "
Ken scowled.
"I apologize. Poor choice of words. I love you son. You'll always have a home waiting when you want to come back."
"Never!" Ken swiped a hand through the air and a powerful gust of wind blew in his father's direction, nearly knocking Kaio down. Kaio had to shed his eyes from the wind. "You abandoned me, Father! At a time I was most vulnerable!"
"And I'm sorry," Kaio said. "I don't know what else to say."
"Your words are meaningless to me!" Ken shouted. "I've been living just fine without you all these years!"
"As what? A carney and a thief? That's not a life!"
"You didn't give me a choice!" Ken sneered.
Kaio nodded. "Then, if I am not to be in your life, I only want one thing..." He presented the cards to Ken. "Pick a card."
"What?"
"Pick a card," Kaio repeated.
Ken looked at his father suspiciously. "What is this? What trick is this?"
"No trick, son. I'll guess your card. If I can, you give me the Ace of Spades."
Ken looked at the card in his hand, half-crumpled. "Why do you want this? It's worthless."
"Not to me. This was your lucky deck, you cherished it, took it everywhere with you. When...you left...it was left behind, and I started to cherish it. It reminded me of you, how much I love you. But it's incomplete, much like I am without you. If you will not come back to me, then I would like that card to complete the deck."
Ken shook his head dumbfounded. "You were always strange, Father. One moment you were kind, then the next - and always to me - you were cruel."
"I've changed. Now, pick a card."
Ken eyed the cards with a narrow gaze, but choose a card regardless of what a simple card trick this was. Even a novice magician could master it. But it was best done with a new set of cards. This deck was beat up severely.
Ken looked at the card he and chosen.
"Now put it back in the deck," Kaio said. Ken did, and the cards were shuffled, like a master magician would. He even flung them across from hand to hand, and Ken watched with amazement.
"How did you - when did you learn to do that?" Ken asked.
"I've been practicing over the years," Kaio said. "I took an interest in magic not long after. . .our falling out."
Kaio then put the cards flat in the palm of one hand and put his other hand on top, cupping them like a sandwich, making them disappear for a moment.
Kaio closed his eyes as if summoning up some mental power that would tell him what card his son chose. But he didn't need to, it was only for show.
"Your card was...the Five of Spades."
Ken smiled. "Nice try, Father. But you're mistaken. That wasn't my card. It would seem you need more practice."
"I think you're the one who's mistaken. Look at your card in your hand."
Ken did and was flabbergasted. Instead of the Ace of Spades, it was the Five of Spades. He sharply looked at his father. "That's impossible! How did you - I watched you carefully!"
"A true magician never gives up his tricks, son. You know that. And look at this - " Kaio feathered the deck of cards and each one was an Ace of Spades.
Ken gasped with shock and he became utterly speechless. And in the deck was the very Ace of Spades Ken had been carrying around with him all these years. He recognized it because of the fold lines, and his father picked it out of the pack, showing it to him, as if reading his mind that that was what Ken was looking at.
"I made you pick the card you chose by pressing it forward. You know the psychology of people who play this game and the magician who tricks that person into thinking they're choosing a random card. The original card you choose was a Three of Diamonds, however..." Kaio made it appear with a slight of hand illusion, making it appear out of thin air from his shirt sleeve, showing it to his son. He then reached into his other pants pocket and brought out another deck of cards. "This is your real deck."
Ken smiled. "Nice trick, Father. Tell me how it was done."
"You taught me this trick, son, a few weeks before, well, we parted. It was all slight of hand and in the believability of your eyes. You did choose from your deck, and as I shuffled in a special way, I quickly exchanged decks. I've been practicing this trick for many years, that's why each deck is wore similar."
Ken gave back the Five of Spades and Kaio placed it back in the deck. "You beat me, Father. You're the second person who has, congratulations. I want to be the best, I want to be a master magician - "
"And you will be, and I would like to be a part of your life when you do."
Ken smiled softly, but was silent for a few heartbeats. "Okay, Father, maybe we can - "
Suddenly Ken folded over in pain and he grabbed his head. "No, stop it!" he cried. "I don't want to, I don't want to hurt anyone, anymore! I won't hurt him!"
"Kenneth, what's happening? Kenneth!"
Ken looked up at his father with tears in his eyes. "It wants me to hurt you, Father! But I'm trying to hold it back - "
"The demon inside him is trying to reassert control," Happosai said. "You touched your son by opening up to him. The demon didn't like it."
"Ranma! We think we have it!" Ukyo said, as she and Kasumi ran out of the house. Uyko carried a bucket of what looked like milky oatmeal paste.
"Then pour it on me!" Ranma said. He had recovered from Copycat's attack, but his wound continued to ache severely. "Get this stupid thing off me!"
"Akane! Nabiki! We'll need your help too!" Ukyo said, waving them over.
They came, and the four girls plunged their hands into the oatmeal stuff and splashed it on Ranma's chest.
"Wow, that's - " Akane started to say.
Almost immediately Ranma recoiled. Not from the four girls touching him, but from the oatmeal stuff's icy, skin numbing feeling.
"What the - wh-wh-what is th-is-is st-st-uff?" he said, teeth chattering. "It's fr-fr-ee-ee-zing!" His nipples felt like they had just gone to sleep like an arm or a leg left in one position for a long length of time. And his stomach muscles tensed at the freezing sensation.
"We had to use a substitute of something we didn't have in the fridge, so we used a freezing agent. Stand still." The girls continued to spread the stuff all over his chest where the glue was. "It'll freeze the adhesive agent, crystallize, and then we can peal off the marriage license paper without a problem."
Ranma's teeth chattered. "Well-ll, hur-rry up!"
"Don't be a baby!" Akane said.
"How lo-lo-long is this-this stuff suppose to-to take to wo-wo-ork?"
Once his entire chest was covered with the stuff, Uyko took the top of the paper, and ripped it off in one quick motion, like a bandage off a wound. Ranma screamed only out of shock, but it didn't actually hurt when it came off.
Ranma felt his chest and stomach and smiled. And started to brush off any crystalline resume left behind.
"I'm sorry, Ranma," Nabiki said guiltily.
"You were under the influence of Xi'an," Ranma said. "You couldn't help yourself." He felt his wound. It ached, but it seemed sealed with the glue inside. He would have to go to Dr. Tofu later and have it checked out. But he'd deal with that later.
Ranma looked across the courtyard to Copycat Ken. Ryoga was just starting to get to his feet after being choked by some invisible force. Ranma had seen it all. Ken had nearly killed Ryoga.
Now it looked like Copycat Ken appeared to be fighting an inner struggle with the demon that had possessed him. He was folded over in pain with his hands to his head. Just like Ukyo, it seemed Ken was fighting the demon's influence.
Copycat Ken's father had now joined the fray and Ranma had heard their entire conversation. And for a brief moment, Ranma thought of his Mother, who was far away...
He mentally shook the distraction away. He had to focus on the moment at hand. "Ryoga!" he called out.
Ryoga looked at him, and Ranma waved him over.
"He's too strong, Ranma," Ryoga admitted, feeling his throat, his voice a little raspy. The swelling and discolourization of a bruise was starting to show. "Even my Lion Roar Shot won't have an effect on such a powerful demon even at full force. I thought I could buff it. But it didn't fall for it."
"Ken's father almost got through to him, but it's not enough. We need to join forces to cast out that demon."
"How do you suggest we proceed?"
"Throw enough power at him that the demon leaves," Ranma said. "We combine our Ki's...and destroy it!"
To be continued...