Disclaimer: It has been a year since the last tournament. Violent fighting to begin again!

The Inner Demon

Chapter 16:Cast in the name of Justice...

Nu is the beginning and the end of everything. Until further notice, you may quote me on that.

Part 1: Where have the Ranmas of yesterday gone?

It was a late Sunday afternoon and Ranma had finally gotten around to dealing with Daisuke's hospital visit. Now he was bounding down a street, occasionally ricocheting from one building to another across the street. He had an armfull of IV bags and drips and was cackling madly.

"Another one of those Nerima wierdos"

"Don't look at it directly, honey"

"Sssh! I think it saw us!"

Insert bad poetry here

She looked down at the sound of cars veering and pedestrians shouting and narrowed her eyes seriously.

Ranma chuckled loudly as he toppled a street light.

She followed silently via rooftop.

Ranma threw a parkbench at a deli.

She was about to leap in to test her newest skills on Ranma when a shrill whistle sounded. Three girls in sailor uniforms landed in Ranma's path from some unknown point in the sky.

Ranma was loitering next to a "no loitering" sign.

"We shall rein you in!" Sailor Kodachi shouted with a crack of her rose whip.

"In the name of abstract morality! You shall be punished!" Sailor Kasumi brandished her shield.

"The fight we've all been waiting for!" Sailor Haruko drew a blue and white spatula from her back.

"I figured you'd show if I caused enough damage!" Ranma cackled.

Suddenly a malformed shadow was cast from behind him.

"There's a monster behind me, isn't there?" Ranma asked, half lidded.

A loud roar confirmed his suspicions.

"Drat"

That evening...

Ranma was reclining in a chair he'd stolen, eating chips that he'd stolen, watching a television that was stolen, and absentmindedly flipping through channels using a universal remote he'd cobbled together using parts from other remotes that were probably stolen.

The sailors from earlier were being interviewed by a woman with entirely too much makeup on.

"Well, we saw a monster and knew we had to stop it," Kasumi smiled sweetly.

"You woulda done it too if you were us," Haruko held a sign reading "Hi mom!"

"It is true that conventional crime has dropped to almost nil in the past few days, but how do you explain the rise in monster related crime?" The heavily made up woman asked.

Ranma's arm could be seen twitching spastically underneath a pile of tires that somewhat approximated the shape of a human, though much larger.

"Ahem," Kodachi spoke up for the first time, "We are currently running under the belief that we are not the cause or the effect of the monsters, but that some factor in the environment has changed in such a way as to bring both us and them into being, almost as though some dichotomous personality of eldritch power has risen and there is a need to balance both its beneficient and maleficient aspects."

"As in Derleth's equation E126/gregory-783B+552A2, where B and A are defined relative to a specific frequency "gregory" in the equation gregory (A+B)- (A2)+(B2)E?" The overly made up woman asked.

"Only if you take into account Allen's theory of electromagnetic resonance within the spectrum of the aether," Kasumi put in helpfully.

"Hold on! I'm gettin a call from HQ!" Haruko chimed in, and the three sailors leap to an unknown point in the sky, leaving the cameraman with backstrain as he tried to catch the movement.

"I'm Tsuki Wakamara with Tokyo's Mega News Television, back to you Bill," The heavily made up woman said as a different cameraman covered her sign off.

Ranma turned the tv off with a snort of disapproval, "They're showin me up! If I don't think a some way to take the cameras offa them, people won't take my reign of terror seriously." An evil grin spread over Ranma's face, "I know just what to do..."

Hiroshi got the call. At first he didn't know what to make of it. Then he used his "Kamaitachi decoder ring" to decipher it. Surely... the great Kamaitachi is not planning... No! It was unbelievable, irrational, and not nice. Ranma assured him that he'd heard what he'd thought.

Then... Hiroshi shivered.

Ranma replaced his legally bought with stolen money cell phone as he made his way to the scheduled meeting, climbing into a secret passage under a fire hydrant a block away from Furinkan. He proceeded down the dank passageway, which was uncomfortably tight, but was quite dry. After a few minutes, he emerged from under his desk in his office under the school.

Hiroshi had had the decor changed somewhat. The cabinets and desk were where they'd been during Ranma's previous visits. So was the picture of Hiroshi's mother. The eyes seemed to follow Ranma's movements...

"Kamaitachi, sir!"

Ranma almost jumped, but instead turned slowly around with a devilish expression.

"Hiroshi reporting, sir! We've begun the procurement," Hiroshi appeared unfazed by Ranma, who simmered down summarily, "Here are the latest reports."

Ranma leafed through several papers in the manila folder Hiroshi handed him, "How long before we are ready?"

"One week."

"Not good enough. You have two days," Ranma said distractedly before opening the secret door to the boardroom, which remained the same as always, with the television, potted plants, and watercooler. Ranma sat in the head chair and set down the reports.

Gosunkugi stumbled in at just that moment and hurriedly sat in the chair behind a new plate that read "Gosunkugi, Requistions and Necromancy".

"Nice of you to join us, Gosunkugi, " Ranma said gravely.

"Uh.. nice to be here?" Gosunkugi tucked in his shirt where he sat.

"Any news in procurement?"

"We've, ah, got everything under control. With Velius's help, the things you requested out to all be in place ten times faster than projected."

"Mr. Vice Principal. Have you seen to Principal Kuno's discipline?" Ranma turned to the man.

"We have contracted with one Ukyo Kuonji to keep him in line," the VP informed Ranma.

Ryoga had run toward the sounds of battle and somehow ended up on some grey street corner in the middle of nowhere. It was dark and cold and he was hungrier than could be imagined. And Kashin just wasn't helping at all.

The TV headed robot in the cheery rainbow wig just further marked them as "Nerima Ward freaks", which had been a serious disadvantage. That, and a few super villains had tried to steal Kashin, having recognized it from the battle with the giant robot clown werewolf, for whatever purpose.

The rain didn't help either. No doubt that if Ryoga could have spoken at that moment, he would utter something melodramatic. But, unfortunately, little black piglets can't talk.

Shampoo had been on that very sidewalk not but moments before, looking for Ranma. It was just Ryoga's luck that the rain had kicked up and left him with bicycle tracks on his piglet body.

Hours of wandering led them to Dr. Tofu's doorstep. Ryoga would have just scuttled by if not for the sound of a very familiar voice...

"... so what do we do now, Doctor?"

Kashin opened the door just enough to admit Ryoga, using a skeleton key function. Ryoga entered and scuttled this way and that, trying to find the source of the voice. He eventually found his way to an ajar sliding door that blended in with the wall perfectly.

Kodachi Kuno and Kasumi Tendo were talking with Dr. Tofu, apparently reporting their activities for the day. All three sat on cushions in a sparsely decorated room that Ryoga could have sworn was impossible to be part of the structure that it most certainly was part of. The room should be, by just plain common sense, in the middle of the street. Ryoga shrugged this off, figuring that his directional sense must be the fault here. But that didn't explain why Dr. Tofu was wearing a monacle.

"That Haruko wasn't with us against the Urubolus Jazzman, " Kodachi groused, "She's almost as bad as my brother."

Kasumi sipped her cup of tea peacefully.

"I'm sure Sailor Haruko has an explanation, but we have graver problems if Velius has returned to the world, " Tofu replied sagely.

Kasumi sipped her cup of tea peacefully.

"Regarding that 'Velius'," Kodachi frowned, "What exactly is it?"

"An extradimensional entity," Tofu shivered slightly, "Quite evil. Or, perhaps more accurately, it simply cares nothing for creatures of our mode of existance more that we do cattle."

Kasumi sipped her cup of tea peacefully.

"Well, for an extradimensional entity, he sure is pathetic," Kodachi snorted.

"There are eleven more," Dr. Tofu adjusted his monacle, "Velius is one of the most powerful, but there are worse, and each has the ability to call upon uncounted numbers of servants."

"Where do these things come from?" Kasumi entered the conversation.

"That is a mystery best left unexplored, but if you must have an answer, I'd say Hell," an unfamiliar masculine voice answered as Chewbacca entered through another hidden doorway.

"You!" Kodachi spit out the word as she stood.

"Easy," Tofu rose with a calming hand, "He's on our side."

"They enter our world via special stones that form a bond with one that possesses the proper 'resonance'," Chewbacca stated with a dramatic flourish.

"You won't be able to defeat them all unless you can find the Princess," Tofu addressed Kodachi and Kasumi. He then turned to speak to Chewbacca, "Did you find Kuno?"

"I thought I had, but it was just some lookalike," Chewbacca frowned.

She waited, hiding, near where she'd seen Ranma duck into a fire hydrant. She was rewarded with his re-emergence an hour and a half later. She smiled.

Ranma casually exited the hydrant with his umbrella at the ready. He just as casually put the hydrant back in place and walked away whistling some random tune.

She pounced, knocking him into a puddle.

Ranma-chan rose and growled an unearthly growl. Then she choked audibly, "Happosai?"

Elswhere...

Soun awoke with a start, pale as a ghost and drenched in sweat. He rushed into the room Genma was laid out in.

Genma was twitching uncontrollably in his sleep.

Happosai rose, chuckling in a strange way.

"Wait... you're not... " Ranma-chan was momentarily dazed.

Happosai leapt at Ranma-chan and must've hit her a dozen timesin the space of a moment.

Ranma-chan staggered.

"Heh heh heh," Happosai chuckled with a deranged look, "You will take me to the 'Cat Cafe'."

Ranma-chan's mouth widened into a hideous smile, "Neuga Ziemer Zieber Zin."

"Oh, you want to play, " Happosai leapt to a nearby tree and muttered something unholy. The tree withered and Happosai seemed to de-age...

Ranma-chan floated into the air as storm clouds gathered.

"Uuu'haaaiua!" A figure that looked much like Shampoo leapt at Ranma-chan.

Ryoga heard a distant explosion. In the space of a heartbeat, Kasumi and Kodachi transformed and dashed past the piglet, with Chewbacca in close pursuit.

Ryoga scuttled after them and was swallowed by Kashin as soon as he emerged onto the sidewalk.

The road and sidewalk had been terribly ripped up and the nearby park was obliterated. Three nearby buildings lay in ruins.

Ranma-chan fought viciously, but every pain claw and crush kick she used was re-butted with a similar, but much more devastating version of the attack. Everytime she'd thought the monster was beaten, it would simply grab some living thing and suck the life out of it.

Finally, Happoshampoo hit her hard with a savage aerial spinning round kick to the head, sending her whirling through the air into the rubble of a nearby building.

Sailor Kodachi was first on the scene, lashing out with her whip.

Happoshampoo(Shampposai?) grabbed the whip and jerked the Sailor toward her and threw a punch that made an audible crack against Kodachi's skull, sending her flying in the opposite direction of Ranma-chan into the destroyed park.

Sailor Kasumi, encased in an iridescent energy sphere streaked from the sky, leaving the monstrous creature in a crater.

A moment later, a vicious kick sent Kasumi flying vertically with the sound of a thunderbolt.

She didn't land.

Kashin barrelled by, clotheslining the creature as it stood. The two exchanged blows at an unbelievable speed. Dents were forming on Kashin's armor as Happoshampoo finally bled slightly.

Another Shampoo had made her way to the battered Ranma-chan's side, "What is happening here?"

"Ugh, Happosai..." Ranma-chan stood in agony and dashed back to the battle in time to see Happoshampoo stomping Kashin into the ground.

Ranma-chan's eyes narrowed. She had only one chance. She didn't want to use it, but this was easily the worst debacle he'd ever seen.

"Cat Cafe. Now."

Ranma gave an agonized chuckle, "Brush off vanity and show reality!"

For a moment everything was still.

There was no sound.

Then,

A door opened somewhere.

Everthing turned green, then white.

A shrieking sound.

Then...

Monday.

Part 2: Queklain, Adramelk, and Zarela

Akane had overslept. She frantically dressed and rushed outside. Five minutes to get to class. Could she do it? Only time would tell.

Haruko (as Ms. O'Leary) counted the seconds on her watch. She'd regretted that she'd missed battle number eight yesterday, but until the whole 'Kouchou Kuno'(She'd discovered that he had had his first name legally changed to Kouchou.) thing was dealt with, she had little choice but to keep up the charade. That meant being up early enough to beat all of the other teachers and students to school because they were jealous losers. A bell rang and she stood to pronounce Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome late, as they would certainly rush through the door any moment. Then she noticed Akane was sitting at her desk, perfectly prepared for the day.

"How long have you been there?" Ms. O'Leary's jaw almost dropped.

Akane blinked, "Don't you remember? I gave you that apple?"

Haruko glanced at the mocking apple on her desk. It taunted her.

Suddenly, a voice crackled over the intercom,"Code X."

Haruko blinked.

"Ms. O'Leary?" One of the boys in the back raised his hand.

Ms. O'Leary nodded.

"What is 'Code X'?" The boy asked.

"That's a good question," Ms. O'Leary nodded in contemplation, "Your reward is to be the teacher until further notice."

The boy blinked. Everyone else gasped in horror. Anybody but Yusuke.

Shin and Gosunkugi hurried into the boardroom, expecting to see Ranma.

Hiroshi entered via the secret passage with a solemn expression, "Kamaitachi has gone missing."

Shin ground his teeth and Gosunkugi paled.

"News from our contact in Tokyo Mega News Television is that the carnage last night claimed him, but his body wasn't among the dead.

A vision flashed before Gosunkugi's eyes.

"You killed all the people! You were solely responsible," Ryoga stood over a battered form, "and now you are going to die!"

"Carnage?" Shin raised an eyebrow, "Was that the..?"

"Exactly," Hiroshi nodded, "The police cordoned off the area, but it is certain that a battle took place. Only innocent bystanders were hurt, as far as we know. Ranma's failure to appear today is proof enough, though."

"What do we do now?" Gosunkugi asked in despair.

"We have instructions," Hiroshi told them, "To be executed if Ranma fails to return after a particularly rough battle."

"We have five stones. Six counting Gosunkugi's. We know who four are meant for," Hiroshi handed Gosunkugi a bag containing three spherical objects, "You must seek them out and give them the stones. Then you must injure them mortally. That ought to be enough."

"?" Gosunkugi paled further and his eyes widened.

"I am Sam Hain. I shall bathe in your blood."

The memory flashed back into Gosunkugi's terrified mind. Velius took over Gosunkugi's body, "It shall be done." Gosunkugi faded away.

Hiroshi turned to Shin, "I want you to supervise the special project. I have to find Ranma's body."

Far away, Amon Mousse and Akari Karasuma were investigating the devastation of the previous night.

"You look like you know what did this," Karasuma spoke to Amon.

"I recognize the type of attack that was used here, yes," Amon examined a withered tree.

"Is it the Legacy?" Karasuma asked him as she bagged a piece of unusually discolored debris.

"Possibly indirectly," Amon turned to Karasuma, "I suspect that it has a Chinese origin. Our first stop is the Tendo residence."

Tofu spoke hurriedly over the phone, "Yes, I haven't been able to contact any of them... No. I don't think they've gone rogue... Ranma... Yes, I believe only one door is left... I need more time! You've only given me two days!.. Could you at least tell me who that is?... I see. That will make things even more difficult... Because she's crazy, that's why!... I'll get right on it."

The black cloaked man waved to his subordinate, who cut the line. "That piece of garbage, Saotome. Urgh!"

"I'm here to inform you that now that Ranma Saotome has opened the second to last door, the galaxy police has resumed jurisdiction over this area. You can cooperate or you can return to where you came from, " Konatsu stood before the black cloaked man in the dimly lit chamber. A ninja with overlarge eyebrows, in an immaculate suit.

"Of course, we have always willingly extended our hand in friendship and cooperation to the Galaxy police," The man made a reaching gesture even as his patronizing tone betrayed contempt for the 'Galaxy Police'.

"That means no more surprises," Konatsu held his ground.

"I can hardly promise that," the figure chuckled under his hood, "But there won't be any unauthorized surprises."

Konatsu narrowed his eyes and left via an ominously large and old steel door.

A shadowy figure appeared beside the cloaked man.

"I want that man killed," the voice under the hood rasped.

Kiyone and Mihoshi tended to an injured Ryoga. He unconsciously clutched a broken television set. They were in an apartment downtown.

"Is... Is he going to make it, Kiyone?" Mihoshi was kneeling beside Ryoga and holding a wet washrag to his head.

"He lost a lot of blood when we got there..." Kiyone grimaced, "I don't know."

Ryoga's eyes fluttered abruptly, "It."

"What?" Mihoshi was startled.

Ryoga stood, dropping the set on one of his feet.

"Agh!" Ryoga leapt up and banged his head against the ceiling, then fell to the floor again.

"Hey! Keep it down!" the neighbors complained.

Kashin entered the room wearing a chef's hat and carrying a platter on which rested the largest omellette that Ryoga had ever seen.

"You'll be buying us a new tv, by the way," Kiyone informed Ryoga as he began hungrily stuffing his face.

Amon had left word with Soun that he had to discuss old business with Genma involving his past.

"I try to get out, but they keep pulling me back in!" Genma had groused to Soun.

Now Amon was waiting with Karasuma in the Cat Cafe. Aside from the disturbing midget, it was a pretty good restaurant. Of course, Amon would never have gone there for anything if not for the necessity of the situation.

Genma stumbled in on a crutch, still wearing casts on his right arm and leg and covered somewhat loosely in bandages.

"Is he a mummy?" Akari Karasuma wore an amused expression.

"..." Amon wasn't one for frivolity.

Genma sat across from Amon, with Karasuma on his left, "So, I take it this is about last night."

"Someone with Happosai's MO is in town," Amon spoke cryptically, "And, as I'm sure you're aware, Happosai is having a bit of an identity crisis."

"Sssh!" Genma dropped low as the midget bounced past the table, "It might hear you!"

"Hmph," Amon dismissed the statement,"There is no way that Happosai is behind this."

"..." Genma stared blankly at Amon, "Didn't you see how he was dressed?"

"That notwithstanding, Happosai has been a model citizen," Amon almost growled, "And that leaves just one possibility."

"..." Cold realization entered into Genma's mind, "I see. So there is another ancient crossdressing midget that can absorb energy and convert it to other forms."

"Exactly. That's why we need you."

"Wait a minute!" Genma leaned away from them, "I will not go back with you or anyone else."

"Mr. Saotome! That creature was powerful enough to defeat your son. Certainly you aren't planning on letting it run loose!" Karasuma spoke up.

Suddenly there was a slight tremor.

Genma felt it in his bones,"You knew. You knew it would scent me."

Amon rose and drew twin pistols from his trenchcoat as Karasuma summoned her eldritch pig.

Both faced the entrance. Both faced the wrong direction.

Velius returned Gosunkugi's body to class with an excuse from the principal. Gosunkugi's memory of Sam Hain had been buried again, and he found it not so difficult to do what he was told.

Akane, however, was ready to bolt.

"Uhh... What's the capital of Boise?" Yusuke asked the class.

"Psst! Yuka! What's Boise?"

"Shh! He's looking at us!"

"Uh? Greenwich?"

"...Uh," Yusuke sweated nervously, "Correct?"

Akane raised her hand even as she rolled her eyes, "May I be..."

A hideous shriek dissolved into gibbering laughter somewhere outside of the school.

Sailor Haruko looked around for other sailors, then smiled, "I guess I'm alone."

"Hah!" A hidiously bloated ghoul with a vertical slit on its oversized belly laughed, "De bad keikis need to be punished!" The palm tree on its head wobbled, "I am Queklain! The Impure King!"

Haruko shrugged and dashed at Queklain.

"Nightmare!" Queklain shouted as the slit opened to reveal teeth. Gas wooshed from its jaws with such force that Haruko was thrown backward.

She stumbled about for a moment before passing out.

"Excellent, now we be eatin you up!" Queklain approached Haruko's unconscious body when Dr. Tofu seemed to slide from nowhere and hit the Impure King with a series of Shiatsu jabs.

Queklain quivered, then remained still as Tofu scooped up Haruko and ran off.

Akane and many of the other students in the school had made their way out just moments afterward. The Hinakos had been overpowered by sheer numbers.

At first everyone was dumbfounded, then someone noticed the palm tree.

"It's the principal!"
"The principal's a monster!"

"Get him!"

"Revenge!"

"Viva la revolucion!"

"Remember the a la mode!"

"No more rules! No more papayas!"

"Ha ha!"

High in the skies above Nerima, Zarela was airlifting Hiroshi as they looked for signs of Ranma here and there, "I think they got Queklain."

"So what, he wasn't worth much, anyway," Hiroshi shrugged, "He was a loose cannon."

Far away from all of this, supposedly in safety, Ryoga glanced at a strange stone lying atop Kiyone's dresser.

Part 3: ...Ye not guilty!

Ryoga experienced a moment of vertigo. He knew what that was. But... how?

Unknown years ago... Hokkaido

"The subjects are responding nicely," Ryoga's grandfather had said.

"Indeed," Ryoga's mother had replied, "We don't have much time."

"Don't you have some remorse about this?"

"I have... misgivings... but He is far worse than this."

"So this is what you've been doing," a third, childish voice...

"What-What is that?"

"I'll be taking these, if you don't mind!"

A vision of four orbs.

"SECURITY!"

"Hurry, come with me if you want to live!"

"Alert the other facilities!"

His visual memory cleared. He was standing in a field with... four children that looked oddly familiar.

"You should be alright. If luck holds out, you won't see me again," the childish voice spoke.

Ryoga looked at the source.

"Ranma?" Ryoga grabbed the stone from the dresser. It was somehow connected to his family... but how? Could he trust some errant memory? Could he make it to the bathroom? He realized at this point that he was full of eggy mixture and desperately needed relief, dropping the stone and dashing away.

Mihoshi padded into Kiyone's room in interest.

The creature that burst through the wall behind the group appeared to be a frothingly deranged Happosai. Customers ran this way and that.

"Impossible!" Genma shouted as he waved his crutch defensively.

"What are you doing to my cafe?" Happologne hopped forward.

"Happosai!" the creature roared, spitting a voluminous ball of... something at Happologne.

Happologne was covered in a greenish yellow substance.

"..." Everyone paused.

"What the hell?"

Happologne reached for a nearby napkin and wiped the stuff from his/her/its face. Everywhere else, though, he/she/it was still covered.

Happologne lunged at the creature and the two were locked in mortal combat.

It was at this time that Shampoo happened in from the front entrance.

She immediately drew her bonbori and launched at the creature even as Karasuma's eldritch pig leapt.

Amon was firing wildly, trying to hit the creature and to heck with anyone else he happened to hit.

Genma ran out of the restaurant through the creature's makeshift entrance.

The creature grabbed Shampoo as she charged and flung her into the Cafe's kitchen with a crash," Aiyaa!"

Karasuma's pig butted the creature.

For the first time, the creature looked deadpan. Then it kicked the glowing pig through a wall.

Karasuma "humphed" in indignation as she drew her piece and opened fire.

Happologne leapt at the creature from the side only to be seized by the throat.

The creature emitted a growling laugh in triumph and proceeded past Amon and Karasuma as though they weren't even there and through the open exit.

"Halt!" a voice behind monster Happosai shouted.

Happologne turned to face Genma, decked out in his casts and crutch.

It laughed.

Genma reddened and dashed forward at an impossible speed and seemed to hit the creature from all sides at once.He threw away his crutch and made a triangle shape with his hands. He blurred and a furious flurry of apparent after images surrounded the monster. The wind from his revolutions lifted it from the ground, "Hurry! Dispatch it now!"

Amon dropped his pistols and drew a bazooka with a serious expression on his face, "Kampai!"

Boomf!

Ka BOOM!

Genma stopped moving and crouched as though in pain.

Something fell. It was...

"Happosai," Amon looked up to see the creature in tatters rising.

"Veni veni veni os!" The creature chanted, "Ne me mori facias!"

The crazed, frothing midget then struck a pose and cherry blossoms fluttered in from nowhere.

It landed and blew a kiss to Amon, who dropped his bazooka and began to be violently ill.

Shampoo emerged to witness the confusion, "?"

Genma recognized this as the dreaded "adorable cheesecake pose" maneuver. Only one person could be depraved enough to use it, "Cologne!"

Karasuma emerged, "You're just now getting that?"

Shampoo nodded, "I getting that looong ago."

"Who did you think we meant?" Karasuma shouted in disbelief.

Genma blinked and scratched his chin.

The creature took this opportunity to rip up a piece of concrete and hurl it at him.

Genma shattered it and rushed forward.

CRACK!

He'd aggravated his leg injury too much, "!"

Genma Saotome, Legendary Mad Martial Artist, fell flat on his face.

The creature spit up in Shampoo and Karasuma's direction, leaving them running for cover.

Amon wasn't so lucky. He'd smell funny for weeks.

Happologne rose and caught the creature in a choke hold. The creature glowed green for a second and tossed Happologne into a parked car.

"Hyeh hyeh, you've gotten out of hand," another Happosai landed from some unknown point in the sky and slapped a paper talisman onto the creature's forehead. Satisfied that he'd done his job, Happosai departed the same way he came.

Genma rose to one knee and stared in disbelief as the creature stood motionless.

Konatsu usually liked his job. Travel, adventure, and occasionally running into Haruko. His overlarge eyebrows fluttered a bit at the thought. He had a cool car, a cool vespa, a cool helicopter, a cool decoder ring. He was cool. And he'd pretty much laid down the law with Herb.

"Ultimate power will be mine," Herb whispered while clutching the broken stone.

Konatsu shivered at the memory. That's why he left the Legacy. He thought the Galactic Police would provide him with at least as much as the Legacy. And he wouldn't have to deal with Herb's senority. Technically, he now outranked Herb. His overlarge eyebrows fluttered at the thought.

He was driving in his expensive, cool car when a strange figure leapt out in front of him and punched the grill. Konatsu was too cool to wear a seatbelt. He flew through the windshield with a thoughtful expression.

The stange figure seemed to be a teenage boy in elaborate ninja garb. Yellow, blue, red, and black, "What great stealth colors," Konatsu thought as rose rose and drew his ninja-to. The ninja had obvious bionic implants.

"Kiyone!" Konatsu shouted into his sleeve, "Get Ryoga down here on the double!"

Kashin airlifted Ryoga, Mihoshi, and Kiyone to the site of a pitched battle between a bionically enhanced and flamboyantly dressed ninja and Konatsu.

"You're one of Herb's, I'll bet," Konatsu remarked with the air of a swashbuckler.

"You-are-in-co-rect," the ninja spoke in a synthesized voice, "I-am-my-own-in-stru-ment."

Ryoga punched the the street at an approximate 45 degree angle, sending a wave of concrete into the ninja.

The ninja was momentarily distracted by the wave, which gave Konatsu the chance to swipe at the ninja's neck with his blade. It broke on contact, "Oh sh-!"

The ninja swiveled around and cold cocked Konatsu.

He then turned back to Ryoga, "I-re-mem-ber-you."

Mihoshi and Kiyone looked at the puzzled Ryoga, "Uh, good! Then you know better to tangle with me."

"We-have-un-fin-ished-busi-ness," It adopted a fighting stance.

"What?" Ryoga snorted, "You've got to be kidding me. A robot ninja and I have unfinished business?"

"You-dis-grace-ed-me," It lunged at Ryoga.

Ryoga deftly dodged, "And how, pray tell, did I do that?"

"Sure-ly-you-re-mem-ber-your-great-est-en-e-my-Lan-Tsu?" the ninja asked.

"..." Ryoga scratched his chin, "Nope, doesn't ring a bell."

"Lies!" The robot grabbed Mihoshi and Kiyone, "I-will-now-kill-your-wo-men."

Ryoga yawned and punched a hole into Lan-Tsu's chest.

"Why-me?" It dropped.

So did the stone Mihoshi had been carrying.

"Promise..."

"What?"

"Promise me..."

"Anything!"

"Good. I am Adramelk. The Devil."

Energy erupted from the stone and the figure of Lan-Tsu turned black as night for a second. Then Lan-Tsu stood, apparently unchanged.

"I am the Ghost of Fury," He laughed, "And I have actually found a more suitable body than my own." The stone plugged the hole in his chest.

"Wait!" A light bulb flickered on in Ryoga's head, "I beat you up in middle school!"

"Correct," Adramelk growled.

"But... what kind of a jerk lives his life under a middle school grudge?" Ryoga snorted derisively, "That's just stupid!"

"Feel my fury!" The energy crackled around Adramelk again.

Ryoga's eyes widened, "Run! RUN NOW!"

Mihoshi grabbed Kiyone's arm and dragged her away even as Kiyone drew her pistol.

Kashin dashed toward Ryoga.

There was a flash, then hundreds of energy bolts flew in every direction, shredding buildings and fleeing pedestrians.

"No! Kashin! Protect them!" Ryoga shouted as his eyes began to glow.

The robot complied, stopping as many bolts as possible.

Ryoga punched Adramelk with as much force as possible.

Adramelk staggered, "You! You are the only one I want!"

Ryoga growled and ran, "Then come and get me!"

He passed under an overpass, Adramelk on his heels. People were evacuating their cars and running for their lives as Ryoga and Adramelk leapt from car to car. Adramelk was moving slower, destroying everything he touched, "You will not be able to save them all!"

Adramelk was under the overpass.

"Oh!" Ryoga spat before lift up an empty truck and throwing it at Adramelk, who deflected it into the overpass above him. The entire overpass flashed red for a moment before it fell on Adramelk. Ryoga grimaced.

A massive explosion threw the entire street they were on into disarray. Vehicles flew everywhere as minature tornados kicked up.

Elsewhere, Queklain was hanging from Furinkan's flagpole, "Dere will be bowlcuts for dis! You be hearin me! Don't turn away, keikis!"

A vision passed before Queklain's eyes and he suddenly tore free from the pole.

"As it is written in the Book of Rage, so shall it be!"

He then struck a pose and grew to enormous proportions.

"Now all you keikis be runnin away, eh?" Queklain laughed, "well, dat won't be savin you from de bowlcut!" Queklain brandished an electric razor. Granted, it was a huge electric razor, but...

"Big K! Showtime!" a voice shouted.

A giant black robot emerged from under the tennis court. It had a red crest and huge fists. Its eyes glowed faintly blue. The cockpit area was shielded by red plating. It slowly stomped toward Queklain.

"Sir! The weapons aren't installed yet!"

"That doesn't change anything."

"You only have five minutes of power!"

"Acknowledged."

Big K stomped toward Queklain and slammed a mighty fist into it.

Queklain staggered before, "Nightmare!"

The gas had no effect on Big K.

The mech uppercutted Queklain with its right fist and then grabbed it with its left to prevent Queklain from falling into the houses behind him.

Queklain warded Big K off with its shaver and gloated, "You bin a bad robot. Mebbe you be needin de bowlcut?"

Big K answered with a right hook. Then it grabbed Queklain's shaver and crushed it.

"Dat not good."

Big K chambered his right arm. A cylander extended and the arm lashed forward. The cylander depressed when the fist made solid contact to Queklain's head.

Queklain was sent whirling through the air, well out of Tokyo, "IIII'lllll beeee baaaaa-"

The Robot struck a pose. Then it ceased functioning.

Hiroshi let out a sigh of relief. He'd need Shin to charge it again just to move it someplace it could be hidden.

Elsewhere...

Ryoga tried to catch the flying people, but Adramelk was right. He couldn't save them all.

He managed to save seven. Only seven.

Ryoga's eyes teared and he roared unearthily and shot at the now revealed Adramelk, battering him apart with a ferocity he had never felt before.

In moments he had downed Adramelk.

"You killed all the people! You were solely responsible," Ryoga stood over the battered form, "and now you are going to die!"

"Yes. Feel the righteous fury!"

Ryoga chambered his fist.

"Bring down the wicked with the heat of a thousand suns!"

He gritted his teeth through his tears.

"She will not go unavenged!"

Ryoga's fist shot forward.

"Ha ha ha! For you are the chosen one!"

Kiyone shivered. Mihoshi tried to comfort her, but Kiyone heard nothing, "I think something terrible is about to be born on this planet."

Ryoga tore the accursed stone from Lan-Tsu's chest and hurled it as far away as he could. He then stood and walked away, his bandanna fluttering to the ground. The ninja raised a hand and fired a single bolt at Ryoga.

Somewhere, a door that had almost opened locked closed.

AN 4/27/05: It was Ranma's fault.