For disclaimer see prologue.

{ ... } - thought speaking

[ ... ] - Weapon speak

Chapter 06

If One Was Bad two is Worse

By: Master Yume & Blind Man X

Will turned the key in the old lock slowly. Perfume curiously examined the walls surrounding the compound, for structural integrity. The heavy wood and iron doors swung open slowly on the heavily rusted hinges.

"The walls are well made, good stone composite."

Will nodded and finished pushing the doors open and was greeted by a rather poorly kept yard. Perfume blinked in a slightly confused manner as Will dawned a safari hat and swung his scythe from his back. With a loud 'HA!' he swung and began to hack his way towards the house. Perfume just shrugged and followed her rather eccentric husband as he moved towards the house. Finally the large three-story building came into view. The very sight of the old building sent a small shiver down her spine. The house had an unearthly presence; the windows that were placed in odd places along the structure were poorly boarded up. But they were still boarded well enough to keep the windows intact. The building was a slate grayish color and loomed over her making her feel like a she was a mere child again, staring from her village up over the fog of Jusenkyo to the peak of Phoenix Mountain. When she looked back to Will, he was standing in the front door of the house and she had a flash of insight at seeing her sinister looking husband against the back drop of the evil house.

'My goddess he looks right at home. Like he belonged there.'

Shaking her head to clear her mind of the disturbing image she walked to the door just as Will swung it open. Bowing slightly Will gesture her inside she nodded and stepped into the building followed by Will. Looking around both were rather surprised to see a great deal of furniture. Most of said furniture was covered in aged white sheets. (At least Will thought they were white at one point.) It was obvious that the house had rather wealthy owners before the Amazons just from the shear amount of seemingly useless furniture. Will was most certainly out of his league and he felt that Perfume wasn't much better off. His repertoire of furniture consisted of the following: Couch, chair, table, bed, and stuff. Most of the shapes he could make out fell into the 'stuff' category in his mind. They moved into the interior of the house letting the door close behind them casting much of the room back into darkness. The few slivers of light that the poorly placed boards on the windows let in were just enough that Will and Perfume could manage without Will enacting the light spell on his scythe. Moving himself to what looked like a table Will laid out some of the papers Nabiki had given him. He began to look them over grazing for important information. Soon what he had been looking for was revealed to him.

'Circuit Breaker and Main Power: Southeast Corner of basement.'

With nothing further to consult the papers about for the present time Will left the main room (at least he guessed it was) and headed towards the basement letting Perfume to her own devices. He fount the entrance to the basement easily enough (it was right under the staircase.) Getting ready to cast the light spell on his scythe again he was surprised when the blade lit itself.

'What's up with this Siren?'

[Master no need to worry about light Siren know the spell.]

{You do? How?}

[Master Yume teach it to Siren.]

'I did?'

[Yes when we first meet.]

{Hmm.}

'Hmm? What 'Hmm'?'

{Well if I figure this right, mind you it's only a theory. But Siren can absorb spells used on her and be able to recast them for an indeterminate length of time.}

'..... Uh..… Come again?'

[Yeah.]

{*Sigh* Ok when the blade has a spell used on it of channeled through it, Siren retains the memory of the spell's workings and is able to recast the spell for a certain amount of time that I'm not sure of yet.}

'Oh. So I basically taught her the lighting spell then.'

{Yes.}

'Ok just saves me time I guess.'

With that he began his descent into the bowels of the house. The blade cast its blue-green glow over the room giving it a surreal effect. As he reached the bottom of the surprisingly large stairwell and moved his scythe around to get an idea of the room he was in, he was rather surprised to see a hulking mass of black metal with a light layer of soot on certain parts of it. It was an old style wood-burning furnace for larger scaled houses much like the one his grandmother had. Navigating around the metallic beast he made his way towards what he guessed was the center of the room. Then with a quick bit of mental prodding from him Siren increased the light's intensity and he easily found the circuit box.

'Well I see the problem here.'

{Oh?}

'Oh yeah, you see this here switch? It needs to be in the 'ON' position. Yep.'

[Oh Master Yume you're so smart.]

Will stood and pulled his pants up in a very plumber-esque manner and sucked a bit of air through his teeth. Then he reached down and flipped the switch. With a loud 'pop' and a quick whiff of ozone the power flowed. Looking next to the circuit box he found a light switch and flipped it on. Then electricity based light flooded throughout the room in unparalleled glory. Now he was able to get a much better idea of the size of the basement. The ceilings were astounding they had to be at least nine feet high, while the room itself was quite spacious despite the large bulky furnace. It seemed that the basement extended even beyond the house in some places, but then again he could be mistaken, after-all he hadn't explored the whole place yet.

{Yes, this will do nicely.}

'Huh what will do nice?'

{This room is an excellent place to store the things you got from my place. It's position and lack of entrances allow it to be better fortified with fewer spells.}

'Fortified? You talk as if you're expecting someone to attack here.'

{It's a slight possibility. But for now let's go back and finish exploring this house we can make this room more suitable later.}

'Oh yes, some nice drapes, a chair, maybe an ottoman or two. Oh and some mahogany wood shelves, to give it that upper middle class feel. Then we can splash some pink and green paint on the walls to give it that kooky feel. It will be just fabulous when its done.'

[Huh?]

{Come again?}

Will shakes his head violently and leans against the wall to stabilize himself.

'Whoa I just had a HGTV moment. Eww I feel so dirty.'

He vehemently scrubs at the invisible dirt he felt was marring his skin.

{Uh ok, I won't ask.}

'Good cause I won't tell... And before you even ask I won't tell you either Siren.'

Will could feel Siren pout slightly at his comment. But Will just ignored it and began to move back up the stairs.

(Meanwhile upstairs)

Perfume looked around the room and decided to just look around and see where her feet led her. Very soon she found herself in a rather expansive kitchen. Now as she looked at said kitchen one must remember that while she has knowledge of the world outside her village she may not have practical knowledge. (Meaning she may know of them but more than likely not how they are used or work.) She gazed at the four metal boxes in the room with a critical eye. She knew that they were probably stoves and 'refrigerators,' using her limited knowledge of each devices applications in the kitchen she figured the two smaller ones were stoves while the two larger ones were more than likely 'fridges'. She jumped away from them, as there was a rather loud snap noise then the lights in the room became a great deal brighter. She looked around as the room was filled with a soft light from light mounts on the walls. The doorway to the right of the one she had entered the kitchen through had a different look to the light that was pouring forth from it. As she looked through the door she was awed at the rather ornate crystal chandelier, that glowed warmly over a rather long covered (what she guessed) table around the covered table were the chairs for said table. She moved closer to the table and gazed up at the ornate light that hung above it. At this she saw that a replica sat at the other end of the table casting the same warm light.

'These are really very beautiful.'

However before she could muse further a cold heavy hand gripped her shoulder tightly. Rather than 'eep,' or scream she gripped the hand in her own powerful grip and used her impressive upper body strength and tossed the perpetrator across the room into the opposite wall. She looked over and blinked as she began to recognize the shape now stuck upside-down into the wall of the dining room. Will blinked or at least tried to, which proved near impossible from his current vantage point. His little idea of giving Perfume a fright had apparently backfired and got him stuck into the wall rather firmly. He was relieved when he felt the telltale tug of someone gripping onto his robes then he was retched from the wall only to land on his (thankfully) hard head. He blinked a bit to clear his eyes of the drywall that was there, and then looked up at his rather sheepish looking wife.

"Sorry I thought you were an intruder."

Will slowly stood up and shook his head then smiled warmly at his wife. It seemed that even this (apparently) battle hardened Amazon still had a soft spot, at least for him.

"No worries hun you know me I got a head of steel. At least I have one now."

With that he gave her a peck on the cheek and began to leave the room only to be stopped by he foot stepping on his cloak.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going outside to hazard the jungle-like yard and try to get those boards off the windows."

Perfume looked at him suspiciously for a bit the slowly eased her foot off of his cloak releasing him.

"We will need to go out later today or tomorrow to buy some foodstuffs our camping supplies won't last forever."

"Yes dear."

With that Will left and walked outside leaving Perfume to her own devices.

(Outside)

Will blinked confusedly at the path he had hacked on his way to the house. Every single plant that had touched the blade of his scythe was dead right down to the root. This was confirmed when his pulled one from the now barren soil. Although with much of the plant-life dead the stone walkway from the gate to the door was revealed. As he moved to the midway point of the walkway he looked back at the house and was rather surprised at the sheer western feel of the place. Now that he really looked at it the building just seemed out of place even on the outskirts of Nermia. Shrugging it off he began to move his way through the rather high brush of the yard to the closest window, careful not to let his scythe touch any of the plants. Slowly he grasped the first rather old board and with a mighty tug retched it free of the window frame. Looking at the board as if to ask it why it had been so easy to remove he was given his answer, the nails had ripped right through that board and remained fast in the window's frame. Shrugging and deciding to deal with it later he continued his work. The work wasn't all to hard once he got a rhythm down and soon all the bottom floor's windows were fully exposed to the light of the sun once more. Deciding that was enough for now he made his way back to the front door. The other floors could wait till he had more time to explore the house, after all they still had to finish looking all the rooms over. Upon stepping into the house again he was greeted by the rather odd sight of his wife struggling to fold the large amount of white sheets that had previously been covering the furniture. It seemed that wood was a common theme in the house not just wood looking but the real stuff. His eyes widened a bit. While he knew little about furniture, he knew about pricey things For instance he recalled in his initial world furniture and things made from real wood was worth a good deal, and now here he was in a house loaded with the stuff. Again he shrugged it off as unimportant though if wood furniture was as valuable in this world then he may need to keep an eye on Nabiki if she visited. But all that was for later now he needed to go shopping. At least that's what he guessed as Perfume drug him from the house towards one of the markets they had seen in their exploration of the city.

---------

The guide for Jusenkyo had been doing his job for some years now so he had seen strange people come and even stranger things go. So with that in mind the guide had a good right to believe that there was little to nothing that could faze him. This was a wrong assumption. First this odd man had fallen from the sky and smashed the remains of his house that had been on the slow road to being rebuilt. Then something else had fallen from the sky and landed in the spring of the drowned girl. Now the guide was angry and with due cause after-all it was always a good reason to be angry when one's home was destroyed twice in the span or no more than two weeks. So he was going to voice said anger on his new customers, the one in the spring just as soon as she got some clothes and stopped taking those deep, gasping breaths. The man however wasn't as lucky so the guide approached preparing a tirade worthy of his substantial anger. He was interrupted however when a rather large brick plummeted from the heavens and exacted so much divine retribution on the mystery man. With an oddly hollow sounding 'THOCK' the brick smashed into the guy's head and put him into a newer smaller crater. Slowly a strangled 'ow' seeped from the hole and the guide decided to hold off on his talk with the man till he was relatively sure of not having a random object fall from the heavens to batter his tender skull. Michael glanced at the note that was attached to the brick that had just smacked him.

"Mike,

I hope this note finds you well. I have a few things to tell you. First of all I would like to tell you of something I have deemed necessary for your success, Money. Enclosed you will find a checkbook, an ATM card and some account information for a checking account in Tokyo. Oh did I mention that? You will be meeting with an operative from a friend of mine, and living with him and his wife (or whatever she is). Anyways every month I will put money into that account, you spend it how you see fit just so long as you don't spend it all. As to your Mascot I have chosen a nine-tailed fox, she should arrive right before this message. I have also arranged a part-time job for you at the UN. Something I doubt that you should have much trouble with, they will contact you later.

Interesting Times,

Loki

(Your boss)"

Michael glanced at the girl who was currently wringing her multi colored hair of the extra water she had accumulated, then back at the letter, then to the girl. Suddenly a few more lines appeared on the page.

"P.S. Your mascot's name is… well that's not important right now just call her Fozzy or something, well anyways have fun."

Michael looked at the luscious babe before him and shrugged.

"Hey Fozzy."

"Yes?"

'Okay that worked.'

"What's your name?"

"Grace A. Foxx."

Michael nodded then looked over the letter again.

"Do you know anything about this guy I'm supposed to meet?"

Rather than answer him she just walked up to him and gripped his shoulder then the bag from Loki and then in a flash they were gone. The guide blinked rapidly then went over and checked for the hole to confirm that what he had just seen wasn't just a figment of his addled imagination. The crater proved true, it seemed that he was just having lots of interesting customers lately.

'Oh well back to setting up the tent.'

---------

Will sighed as he re-approached the Tendo home. It was just his luck that he only had gold and gems as currency. With that thought in mind he decided to return to see Nabiki about some exchange from gold to yen. Behind him Perfume just sighed and wondered why they couldn't just barter the gold for food and other things. But she assumed that her husband knew better having lived in this modern world unlike herself. Will knocked on the oversized wooden door and pulled his hood tighter over his head trying to better protect himself from the lightly falling rain. Perfume herself had taken to wearing one of Will's spare cloaks since she didn't really have one of her own. So it was the two black hooded figures stood in the drizzling rain waiting to speak with the middle Tendo girl. Who by some fluke of fate happened to be the one to greet them.

"Yes can I help you?"

Will nodded and held up a handful of gold and gems that sent Nabiki's heart going pitter pat.

"Yes I need some more of your assistance in having these exchanged for normal currency."

"Will?"

Will nodded.

"It's good to know you remember my name, I hope the memory is a good one."

{Yeah if your memory serves correctly, she's a bitch when you get on her bad side.}

'Shh.'

"For the most part Mr. Will, I was quite pleased with the little gratuity you included in my payment."

Will shrugged and replaced the treasure into his cloak, causing Nabiki to raise an eyebrow.

"Will you be able to assist us Ms. Tendo? We are in a bit of a rush."

Nabiki nodded and returned to the house only to seemingly reappear before them with a small purse of sorts.

"It will be no problem I have a friend over at the bank who owes me a favor."

Will nodded and mentally shrugged figuring there were few places Nabiki didn't have contacts. Well short of the Emperor himself. With that she led Will and Perfume into the business section of Nermia to the bank. After a quick chat with the guard a rather beautiful woman came out and greeted them

"Hello again Nabiki good to see you."

"Good to see you too, Maya. My acquaintance here has a few things that we need you to help with."

Will nodded staying silent, leaving his remarkably dry cloak and hood on, while Perfume had taken to removing her own and was holding it folded over her arms. Nabiki motioned towards the back to where Will presumed the woman's office was. Said motion was caught by the woman who did indeed lead the small group to her office. After closing the door and drawing the shade the woman (Maya) took her seat and held her hands together as she looked over the group. Nabiki sat in one chair on her left while Will sat in the one on the right with his wife standing behind him.

"We have the need to exchange some things."

With that silent prompt from Nabiki Will dropped a few jewels and a handful of gold coins onto Maya's desk. He allowed her a moment to reattach her jaw and get to doing her job. Shaking her head a bit to clear it she looked at the small pile of treasure then to Will, and took out a few pieces of paperwork from her desk.

"Ok Mr. ...?"

Before Will could answer Nabiki spoke.

"I'm sorry Maya but my client only speak Chinese, but he can comprehend Japanese just fine."

Maya nodded and over the next few minutes she and Nabiki filled out the paper work. By the time it was all said and done they had only taken an hour to get all the treasure on the table and change it into currency. They also set up and account and a way for Will to deposit gold to Maya to have it changed to yen a little later. As the trio left the bank Will handed Nabiki a few gold coins and thanked her for her assistance, then went on his way with his wife. Nabiki just turned around and went back into the bank to exchange the gold for yen. This Will guy seemed to be a god sent already her family was secure for a good few months with enough extra to do a couple extra thing and not have to worry too heavily about the cost.

(Another part of the Business District)

Will blinked to himself in confusion already he was loaded down with more things than he should have been able to carry. He couldn't even begin to think about how fast his wife had shopped, all he knew was that she was now in her element, and with her bountiful assets she was able to get quite a few good deals out of the inexperience male shop employees. He managed to slowly and discreetly begin to slip things into the volumes of his cloak so as to better store them and leave more room for other things. Already the couple had raided the grocer, and a linen store. Currently Will had no idea where they were going only that he was following his wife to wherever she led him. And so it was for the next hour and a half Will and his lovely wife Perfume bought thing they would need for the house With Perfume leading and Will carrying.

(Back home later)

Will sighed heavily as he sat on the old worn sofa in the main common room. His wife was currently stocking the kitchen with the food and things they had bought. Will was merely needed for labor, which he had performed remarkably well. Already perfume was talking about going out tomorrow to buy some more furniture. Will just shook his head at that, she wasn't even aware of what furniture they had, they had yet to explore the upper floors, as well as the back portion of the house. Heck Will needed to have her come with him to look over the training hall that was in the backyard. As Will began to ponder the horrors of furniture shopping a rather strange light flashed outside the front bay window. Figuring he had better investigate Will brought his scythe around and held it at ready. Already his tired mind was thinking about a possible Kuno attack so he approached warily (after all he had yet to meet the neighbors). Whoever was outside chose that moment to knock on the front door. Will turned the knob of the front door slowly and pulled the door open. What he saw before him was a scene of dread he could barely comprehend. (Though looking back on it later Will had to agree it wasn't as bad as initially thought, though not much worse.) Before him a rather odd looking character stood with a rather nude and oddly colored person a bit behind him. The man before him was dark skinned and had slightly tousled hair, he was dressed in a pair of black pants with a black shirt, over these clothes the person wore black trench coat with a rather large amount of metal buckles and thing hanging from it. In fact if Will had to say so he looked like a thinner, darker skinned, better-dressed Ryu from the Street Fighter game. His further musings were interrupted by something odd that accompanied a strange battle cry.

"Pie in the face."

So saying Will found himself blinded by a cream filled dessert. Reacting as well as he could Will swung his scythe wildly in the direction of the perpetrator of the act. The first few swing missed while the fifth one managed to hit his slippery opponent. When he heard the telltale sound of a body hitting the ground Will quickly used the sleeve of his cloak to wipe the cream from his eyes. Will looked at his assailant who had a rather large bump on the side of his head. Will looked down at his scythe and was surprised to see a dent that greatly resembled the side of the man's head. Said dent slowly straightened itself out. As soon as it had the guy who had attacked Will was back on his feet.

"Who the hell are you?"

The guy's face took on a rather dark continence and he looked at Will with a slightly disturbing gleam in his eye.

"I'm the shadow that lurks in the night, I'm the tea bag that sits in your tea, I'm.... uh Michael please to meet you."

Will glared at Michael and slowly shook the pre-offered hand.

"I'm Will and I can safely say the feeling isn't mutual."

Michael rubbed his head and chuckled a bit.

"Yeah sorry about that I just had to vent a bit and you were the first guy available"

Will looked past Mike to his companion completely unaware of his wife coming up from behind him. He blinked a bit as he took in Michael's traveling partner appearance, as Michael did the same to Perfume. The girl with the oddly colored hair was stark naked and showed off her rather well formed bronze body with little shame. Will's further observations were cut short by his wife as she slammed her elbow into the back of his head and gave him a rather un-welcomed face full of dirt. Before Will could regain his footing Perfume tossed the nude female the cloak she herself had used earlier.

"Put this on before my husband get anymore dim ideas."

Michael looked at Perfume oddly then spoke.

"Don't you mean bright ideas?"

Perfume glanced at him taking her glaring eyes momentarily from her husband's downed form.

"You obviously don't know my husband very well."

Michael could only nod, since she was indeed right, he didn't know the guy very well. Slowly but with a dignity that one wouldn't think was possible from a man in Will's position he stood and looked to Michael again.

"Is there something that we can help you with?"

"Uh I think so… I'm here from the guy upstairs."

Will raised an eyebrow recognizing the innuendo though not sure if he should believe the stranger.

"Is that so? You have any proof?"

Michael began to pad himself down looking for the note from Loki. Soon enough he found it and gave it to Will with a smile. Will took the paper and raised an eyebrow as he read it. He suddenly smiled thinly and turned the blank sheet of paper around.

"Okay this is a very nice sheet of paper but what do you want me to do about it?"

Michael blinked and took the paper back and watched in fascination as the words for the note slowly reformed onto the page. As the last line filled in new words began to appear.

"P.P.S. Oh did I forget to tell you that the only one who can read this paper is you? I guess I did."

Michael blinked and slowly put the letter back into his pocket. Now he was racking his brain trying to come up with a way to prove that he was from where he said. While Michael did this Grace moved up from behind and removed the sword Loki had given Mike from its sheath. Slowly she presented it to Will for him to examine. Will took the offered sword and looked it up and down then looked closely at the blade by the hilt. He laughed at the inscription that was there and drew Michael's attention away from his own musings.

"What's so funny Will?"

Will smiled, handed the sword back to Grace and then turned and smiled to his wife.

"This is a friend of one of my old bosses. At least I guess he is."

'It's a good thing I used those gifts that Loki gave me while I had them.'

Michael took the blade from grace and looked at the inscription near the hilt.

"This is a rune sword and I don't know why I have it or why no one wants it. Loki"

Michael blinked and read it again then shrugged and put it back into the sheath.

"So can we come in?"

Perfume blinked and looked at her husband oddly then grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him inside and shut the door. Both Mike and Grace blinked at the sudden sounds of explicit violence from within the home.

"You sure this is the place Grace?"

"Yes this is where Loki instructed me to bring you."

Michael was about to say something but decided otherwise as the door creaked open and a rather abused looking Will leaned against the doorframe.

"Okay you can stay but don't piss off my wife too badly ok?"

Michael nodded as he walked into the house with grace close behind carrying his bag. Michael nodded and let off a brief whistle as he observed the relative splendor of the house.

"So the pay for your job's pretty good huh?"

"Pay?"

"You know your monthly salary from your boss."

Will blinked and glared a bit towards the heavens.

"Actually this is due to my wife's people."

"Her people?"

"Yeah the Amazons."

"Oh bet her in a fight huh?"

"Yeah."

With that Will began to walk up the stairs and motioned for the two to follow.

"Well come on lets get you two a room picked out. Mind you we haven't cleaned the upstairs yet."

Michael nodded absently as he observed Grace's ascent of the stairs. Before he was halfway up he turned and walked back outside, then looked to the heavens. He thought about how he found himself in this mess and couldn't pinpoint any one thing except.

"Loki you are a real jerk you know that."

As if in response to his a passing he had earlier startled, bird relieved itself on his upturned face. Michael merely scowled in response.

---------

(Now this chapter's Ranma Updated brought to us by Nermia Realty: remember Ask for Miko.)

Ranma blinked blearily in the darkness of the hull of the ship he and his father had stowed away on. Beside him his father snored away dreams of an easy retirement lulling him to sleep. Ranma sighed as he looked out the miniscule porthole by where they had taken to hiding. The stars twinkled in the night sky as the ship rocked slowly back and forth along the waves. Ranma and his father had managed to give the crazy Amazon girl the slip while in Shanghai. So now he and his father were going back to Japan in relative comfort. Genma had said that they only had one more stop before they reached the end of their training trip, then they could return home. Ranma sighed again as he thought of his mother it had been so long since he had seen her in fact he couldn't even remember her face. With thoughts of his imminent reunion with his mother in mind Ranma allowed the gentle rocking of the boat to send him into a peaceful sleep.

Back in Shanghai Shampoo scowled at the distant horizon to where Japan was. Her quarry had escaped her and managed to get onto a boat bound for the outsider girl's apparent homeland. Oh she was anger of that you could be sure but she wasn't going to let this setback hold her for long there was only so many places that Girl-type Ranma could hide and sooner or later she would be found then Shampoo would exact her revenge. With that Shampoo turned away and returned to her camp.

(TBC)