Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Birdy the Mighty.

Author's Notes: Hello again and welcome to another exciting installment of RtM! Working hard day and night to provide you with piping hot fanfiction. Time to get on with the show!

Ranma the Mighty

Chapter 5

Take up the Gauntlet

Dinner that night was a pleasant affair. Kasumi always enjoyed entertaining guests, but her attention to Ryoga went beyond the norm. It was obvious to anyone with eyes what was going on, but somehow the Lost Boy remained oblivious. There was no fighting at the table and even Akane remained cheerful. She seemed to be doting on Ranma, making sure he had seconds and watching him with a faintly rapt expression. The pigtailed boy was actually eating at a normal pace and not doing his impression of a human vacuum cleaner. Nabiki, for once, wasn't trying to make money off of anyone. The fathers were contemplating their usual idiocy, silently planning a double wedding after observing the looks being tossed around.

'Sure is a nice night.' Ranma thought as he polished off his fourth plate.

'And the food's good. Can't complain about that. What's going on with Akane? She doesn't seem to be herself.' Birdy thought back. The young martial artist sat back reflectively, still continuing the flow of food to his mouth before looking over to his fiancée.

"What is it Ranma?" Akane asked in a sweet and oh-so-concerned voice. The boy blinked.

"Who are you and what have you done to Akane?" Ranma asked in surprise. Rather then the normal red aura springing to life, however, the girl looked deeply upset. Her eyes wide with unshed tears.

"C-can't I be nice to my fiancé?" she asked with a tremor in her voice. Somehow the boy immediately knew this wasn't Akane, but before he could say anything the imposter fled the room sobbing.

"Smooth Saotome." Nabiki commented dryly while everyone stared at the Anything Goes heir with mixed reactions. The one foremost on everyone's face was anger, except Kasumi, she was looking where her sister had gone with a contemplative look.

"How dare you make my baby girl cry?" Soun roared as he shifted into full demon head mode. It scared Ranma shitless like it always did, but Birdy soothed him enough that he didn't immediately flee.

"That wasn't Akane! When has she ever been that nice to me? Even when I don't do anything wrong she blames me for something!" the beleaguered boy tried to explain but his father overrode him.

"You just don't want to admit that she's growing up and you're still being a brat!" the fat patriarch growled.

"I ain't a brat! Who knows her better? You or me? Didn't anyone else see anything wrong with the way she was acting?" Ranma pleaded with the family.

"You're just mad cuz ya can't attack her like ya usually do!" Ryoga fumed. The whole conversation degenerated into a shouting match that only Kasumi and Ranma didn't participate in. Even Akane came back to throw her two cents in before fleeing, sobbing to her room.

"ENOUGH!" the Tendo patriarch yelled before leveling a stern glare upon Ranma. "I have had enough of this. You are not welcome in my house until such time as you see fit to apologize. Get your things together." was all he said before turning his back and going to the shogi board.

"Don't even bother going to your mother. She doesn't need to be burdened by disrespectful trash." Genma said before sitting opposite his friend. The two began to play like nothing was happening.

"Nice knowin' ya Saotome. See ya at school tomorrow." Nabiki said before heading back to her ledgers. The boy hung his head in shame, slumping up the stairs with barely enough energy to move. Kasumi reached out to him before crying. The Lost Boy curiously found he couldn't even gloat as he saw the gentle girl crying.

"I'm so sorry..." she repeated it like a mantra. Ryoga wasn't good with crying girls, but he held her anyway.

"Why are you sorry?" he asked her quietly. "He brought it on himself."

"Y-you don't understand... That was Akane from when she was little, but that wasn't her now. That girl couldn't have been her..." the eldest girl wept. It took some time for the bandanna boy to digest this information, but when he did he came to a conclusion. The correct conclusion for once.

"Of course you would know. Don't worry because I, Ryoga Hibiki, will get to the bottom of this!" he declared, but before he could run off, Kasumi held him tighter.

"Please don't leave me. If you leave now, it could be months before you return. Remember the last time you were here and I sent you for milk?" she asked.

"Uh...speaking of that..." he showed her the milk. She wrinkled her nose.

"That's what I was smelling. I thought Ranma forgot to take a bath again." there was nothing that could be said in response to that.

/-

'Something's not right about all this. We need to stay and investigate.' Birdy pleaded. She hated sounding weak, but maybe begging would work where threats had failed.

'If there is, we'll be back, but I refuse to apologize for merely talking. I put my foot in my mouth a lot and I get what I deserve, but I am not taking the fall for crap that isn't my fault! End of discussion.' he said as he stuffed his backpack even fuller after removing the weights to give him more room. Slinging the pack onto his back, he stalked out of the room. The person he came face to face with was Akane. Something strange seemed to pass through the girl's eyes before a twisted smile dominated.

"Have fun dear fiancé." she said, mockingly. The pigtailed boy halted.

"You did this on purpose." it wasn't a question.

"Goodbye Birdy! Take care of this stupid pervert, ok?" she said conversationally before heading back into her room. Birdy seethed at Ranma being called a pervert.

'Why am I taking offense at this? It was directed at him, not me. Why do I care?' she thought privately. Ranma suddenly felt his chest tighten, but not from a heart attack. It was the kind of tightness you get when you're sad.

'Birdy? Are you ok?' he asked.

'...I'm fine. Let's get outta here.' with that, Ranma left the Tendo-ke for parts unknown.

/-

Birdy suggested that the two of them go to her spaceship. The journey across town was silent since neither one of them needed to speak their feelings. The boy felt lost. He wanted to go to his mother but his Pops was right. She didn't need this garbage dropped in her lap. Why didn't anyone stick up for him? The only one who did was Birdy, but her word wasn't good enough for them, he thought.

"Why?" he screamed to the sky. That one word was full of questions and pain. Why doesn't anyone listen to me? Why can't anyone trust me? The list of questions was endless, but the most predominant question was: Why me? He couldn't allow himself to cry at the injustice, but that didn't stop Birdy from crying for him.

They reached the junkyard where she stashed her craft and slipped through the familiar hatch. Ranma had learned the code from seeing it once. Once inside, he staggered to the chamber with the holographic device and collapsed. With a shuddering breath, he tried to steady himself, but couldn't. All his pain collapsed on him with the force of one of Ryoga's punches and drove away his resistance. The tears fell down like rain as he thought over his life.

'I suffer for the Art and it's useless right now. I suffer for my father's stupidity and I'm useless. I suffer for...Akane...and I'm forced to suffer even more. Why can't anyone let me be happy? They make me think about them before I can think about myself and I'm the self-centered one...' his thoughts began to spiral until they were almost black with depression, but Birdy would have none of that.

'Stop it, Ranma! Why do you always take on everyone's guilt? You're suffering only because you allow yourself to suffer. Please stop... It is time you thought about yourself. Is pain what you're after? If it's not then make your own decisions. The greatest dishonor is not following your own heart.' he realized she was crying as well. The tears running down his face were no longer his alone. He hugged his legs to his chest, hugging himself and Birdy. The loneliness wasn't as large a chasm as they thought it was, but merely a gap. With a small sigh, the events of the day caught of up with him. Before drifting off to sleep one thought occupied both their minds: 'I'm not alone anymore.'

/-

Ranma was training in the least used room of the ship. It was supposed to be used to hone your skills, but Birdy never got around to going in there so the dust was quite thick. The first thing he had done was clean the room and set it up properly. He flowed from one kata to another effortlessly, gradually picking up the pace until only mere blurs were seen. His dreams had been pretty nice, actually. It was an impossible dream, but it was a nice one. He recalled it easily as Birdy continued to sleep.

It was a beautiful day. The sky was a brilliant blue and the sun shown down warmly. A truly great day to be alive. He was laying in the grass, waiting for someone. He absently noted the time and thought 'She's late.' before the sound of someone approaching broke into his reverie.

"Sorry I'm late." the girl said as she laid down beside him, snuggling into his side.

"It's okay." he remembered saying as he held her close. The smell of warm grass and lilies filled his nose as he kissed the top of her head. Her hair was red with locks of different colors. She looked up and smiled at him before rolling on top of him playfully. She cuddled up into his chest, filling his stomach with butterflies. Her beautiful face was mere centimeters from his as they slowly drew together. An eternity seemed to pass before their lips touched and the dream ended in a flash of light.

'Whoa. What were you thinking about?' Birdy said with humor in her voice. The pigtailed martial artist realized he'd stopped and caught himself staring into space just before the panic set in.

'I'm sorry! It's not what you think!' he went into full panic mode before she shushed him.

'It's alright... It was a nice dream...' she sounded wistful, the longing clearly heard in her voice. 'Too bad it can't happen...' she thought privately, struggling to contain her feelings. 'Even if it could, he's honor bound to marry Akane...'

'As you said yourself, the greatest dishonor would be in not following my heart. The schools could be joined simply by me teaching Akane and Akane teaching me.' he said. Birdy was flabbergasted.

'Y-you could hear my private thoughts?' she sounded a little scandalized.

'There really are no private thoughts between us. Why do you think I wait til you go to sleep before trying to think privately?' he sounded amused. The ridiculousness of the situation made the two of them laugh just before the alert sounded, letting them know a message was coming. Ranma arrived just in time to find the chief staring at him with some agitation.

"What's up...Chief?" he added that as an afterthought when Birdy mentally kicked him.

"I have some news for the both of you. Your time together is almost over. The procedure will be ready tomorrow by eight o'clock p.m. by your time. It will be the only time that you can do this before another window opens up in another twenty years." the two mentally freaked out over that announcement.

"A-anything else?" Ranma asked in a subdued voice.

"Yes, a criminal by the name of Gomez has been spotted in the downtown Tokyo area." he said.

"Be more specific, downtown is a big place." Birdy almost kicked him again, but had to admit it was a good idea.

"He was spotted near the Azuretech Labs. You do not have much time." the chief said before terminating the transmission.

"But...! Argh! Oh well... How tough can this Gomez guy be?" Ranma asked no one in particular, but Birdy chose to answer him.

'He's more then strong enough to defeat me.' she admitted.

'That's you alone, but not with me helping you. We can handle anyone together.' the pigtailed one thought back reassuringly. The girl nodded.

'But it had better be me that he sees first. If worst comes to worst, I'll hand it over to you. Fair?' Birdy asked.

'Deal, but be careful. I care if you get hurt.' He got a glass of cold water from a replication machine and splashed himself. It took energy to become the other side of the curse. Birdy shook out her hair before activating the skintight bodysuit that she arrived in.

'Time to play.' she said with a grin before taking off.

/-

Back at the Tendo house, the mystery was mounting rapidly. Akane had somehow managed to get past Kasumi and into the kitchen, but where a nuclear waste should have been, they had breakfast. What scared these stout souls the most was the fact that it tasted great. Not quite up to Kasumi's standard, but it was good enough to serve the Emperor without embarrassment. Soun cried over the delicious food and nearly soaking everyone else's plates as he wailed about his baby girl finally cooking well. This was the definitive proof that the girl wasn't Akane, but the only ones who realized this were the teens. Something about the food made even Ryoga shy away from it. With speed and dexterity, he made it look as if Kasumi and Nabiki were eating while simultaneously transferring their food to the fathers' plates. It should be noted that he isn't as fast as Ranma, but after always trying to nail the pigtailed boy he had become quite a bit faster.

"Akane dear this is excellent! It doesn't matter what that little idiot says, you are terrific!" Soun said with delight as he tried to figure out why he suddenly had more food. Genma merely kept scarfing down the chow as fast as it reached his plate. By the end of it, the Lost Boy was slightly drained, but satisfied that he saved worthwhile lives through his actions.

"I gotta go to school!" Nabiki exclaimed. She needed to leave if she was going to have time to get a decent meal.

"Oh my! I have some books I need to return!" Kasumi said as well, having the same thought as her sister.

"Whoo! I'm stuffed… Time to pound that pig-headed jerk!" The Lost Boy needed real food and not whatever "Akane" was serving.

"Give 'em a thrashing for us!" Genma said cheerfully. Somehow, the fat patriarch's actions chilled them to the bone. It was with relief that the three of them left the house as fast as humanly possible.

/-

Akane frowned pensively as her sisters and the powerfully built boy left. She was certain that they had eaten the food she prepared, but they seemed to be perfectly all right. The idiot fathers were enjoying their meal, thinking it was the height of culinary excellence. Her cooking hadn't changed in the slightest, but she finally had the recipe correct. What everyone had assumed was that Akane couldn't cook. The truth was, she could cook, but it was Revi's attempts at a mind control substance that made her food inedible. In all honesty, they probably would end up vomiting half of it and diarrhea to remove the other half.

"At least the drug is effective." She shrugged, pleased with herself immensely. There was something strange about cooking for one's family and seeing them happily eating that cheered her. Better squash those feelings immediately or she might lose her edge.

'It's my body and I'll get it back. Ranma can't save me from myself. That poor baka…" she thought sadly. 'That ignorant little $#& has turned me into a monster! I'll cram my feelings down your throat and make you feel what a human feels. Love for family seems to weaken you pretty good… How about some memories of mother?'

"Mom was a great cook. She was so beautiful and graceful. She was so great, able to do anything she put her mind to and told us to always follow our heart." More unwanted feelings and memories began seeping in, making her feel warm and happy, even a little sad. She tried to fight them off, but the more she fought, the stronger they seemed to become. In a storm of tears, she fled the dining area to go to her room, where she fell asleep instantly. Thoughts of mother and a certain pigtailed boy tormenting her in her sleep. What somehow hurt most was neither father noticed her crying.

'I have to win or Ranma will never beat this challenge. He could electrocute Cologne easily, but he wouldn't do that to me… He wouldn't hurt me like that. So, I'm on my own against her, no problem. Akane Tendo don't lose!' she thought fiercely as she continued her silent assault.

/-

The two Tendo sisters and Lost Boy walked towards the school slowly, each lost in their own thoughts. Akane's "good cooking" looked okay, but Ryoga could tell it was the same. His sharper nose picked up the odor of a toxic waste dump, but the fathers were eating it as if it was manna from heaven. Kasumi was holding his hand, merely to prevent him from wandering off, she insisted as Nabiki rolled her eyes. It was too bad that this was a bad time to start a relationship or the mercenary girl would have been happy for her.

"Are you sure that wasn't Akane?" Kasumi asked the Lost Boy.

"Absolutely positive. She didn't become a stellar cook overnight and it still smelled like something the U.S. would claim was a biological weapon. Nope, that ain't her." He concluded firmly.

"She was also too nice to Ranma. I just hope he doesn't have a bad reaction to that garbage." Nabiki said thoughtfully. "Whether we want to admit it or not, we're going to need him and Birdy to get to the bottom of this." Her idea was a good one, but they drew a blank as to finding the conjoined duo. As they passed alone, a shape loomed overhead, watching them closely.

"Party time…" a girl's voice said just before dropping softly to the street.

The End

Author's Notes: Whee! Another chapter done and it's a doozy! I'm working on the next chapter already to continue bringing you more of what you desire! More action, more violence, more mayhem, and even more romance! I'll see you next time! Ja ne!