I don't own any of Rumiko Takahashi's or Jack Chalker's works. They are just borrowed.

Ranma of the Dancing Gods

Chapter 2.4: Out of the frying pan

The two kauri were flying toward the entrance to the lava tube across a landscape that was bright as daylight to their enhanced vision. They still had about an hour's flight to go and Kasumi was frequently checking landmarks on the map that she, Nabiki and Nodoka had marked up.

"Hey Kasumi, I was wondering about how ya got so good, the way ya handled Kodachi back home?"

Kasumi was startled for a moment. 'She thinks of my home as hers?' "Err…well Ranma, I never quit practicing Mother's school of tai chi. You see, I was her heir. The school is passed along the maternal line. The big problem was the lack of sparring partners after she passed away. I incorporated the katas into my daily cleaning routine and used the dojo when everyone was asleep for the advanced work. The shiatsu is a blend of Mother's Art and the books that I borrowed from doctor Tofu. When he left Nerima, I found a box full of scrolls in my room and a letter saying they were mine. He said that he loved me, but he had an incurable allergic reaction to my aura. He moved away for the safety of his patients and for fear of harming me." Ranma's hearing picked up the sadness in her voice.

The two took a gliding path above the trees after passing over a ridgeline. Ranma allowed a wing tip to caress one of Kasumi's and returned the other girl's smile as they sailed down and across the valley. Then they worked their way up the ridge to catch the updraft that would be on the other side of the ridge. Their target was a few hundred feet above the tree line and the free boost from the prevailing wind would help Ranma's limited strength.

The updraft did its job and carried them up like an express elevator and they began a slow glide to the entrance of the lava tube. Ranma began to feel an unease as the landing spot grew nearer and searched the ground for threats in a frantic manner. A sudden realization struck and she looked up and saw a huge black shadow drop the last few feet, knocking her the remaining distance to the ground. "Taro, why?" A mooing noise was the only answer as the monster stood over her. Kasumi swooped in and kicked the minotaur in the head, distracting him for a moment, but opening herself to attack. She screamed as a pair of tentacles grasped her and twisted her wings with a sickening crunching sound. Ranma cried out and tried to do something, anything for Kasumi but failed to move as she saw her own legs were both broken as was one arm and her own wings. Pantyhose dropped the shuddering girl to the ground and began to move slowly on Ranma while laughing in an evil cow-like manner. He picked up a boulder and raised it above his head to crush the pigtailed fairy when a splash of heated water struck him from nowhere. Ranma saw a look of surprise as the boulder fell. Kasumi came to Ranma and held her in her arms. "Thank Kami, you're alive" came from two throats.

"Not for long fem-boy and not long for your girl friend either. I never told you that I'm a poor loser and when I listened in on that conversation earlier, with the pancake chef and the tomboy, I decided that this is the perfect time to kill the great Ranma Saotome. I think that I'll just play with your girlfriend for a while to make my revenge a tastier dish." He let out an evil chuckle and began to move forward.

A pipe came out of thin air and knocked Pantyhose across the open area into a boulder, smashing it to rubble.

"Well Pantyhose, I thought that I was here only to give you a new name, but it appears that you get to learn a lesson as well."

It was Happosai and he was standing in the loose Anything Goes stance. Instead of his usual purple outfit, he was wearing a white gi and glowing with a white radiance. Never taking his eyes off Taro, he said, "Kasumi, dear, you'd better get yourself and Ranma up into that cave, I'll watch your back."

"Grandfather Happosai, what…"

"A Pretty Lady showed me the error of my ways and lent me some strength to do good things in her name, now go on. This is just the start of my penance, we'll meet again." His aura flared up and formed a glowing dragon shape as Taro splashed himself from a bottle. The two forms clashed and the dragon kicked the minotaur down the hillside. Roaring and bellowing could be heard as well as explosions that followed bright flashes.

Kasumi ignored the pain from her mangled wings and carried the now unconscious Ranma into the cave that was the lava tube. The floor was clear of rubble, probably from ancient rains that found the tube an easier path downslope in the past. Still, at some point, she became too weak to carry Ranma any further. She sat herself and Ranma down and sobbed. "Oh dear Ranma, I mustn't fail you. I mustn't!" Gathering her strength, she put her arms under Ranma's and dragged the little kauri up the tube, stopping to catch her breath and to make sure Ranma was still alive. The increasing heat of the tube spurred her to redouble her efforts. Her world narrowed down to the fire in her muscles and the precious life in her grasp. It was pull for a few yards speak some encouraging words, rest, and begin again.

It was during a session of pulling that she unknowingly pushed off of a ledge and realized that they were falling into the center of a tremendous dome shaped cavern. She gathered Ranma to her bosom as they fell and prayed to her mother's spirit as they continued to fall.

Striking the lava was not the painful sensation that Kasumi expected. She realized that they were well below the surface of the lava. The next thing that she noticed was that, to her, it seemed no more dense than air, though it supported her and Ranma. She could 'see' clearly all the way to the sides of the vent. The pain in her back was gone and a flap of her wings proved that they were healed. In her arms Ranma began to stir. The odd energy around them saturated every cell in their bodies, burning off the dark energies that they had collected.

Ranma began to surface into consciousness and felt the glowing energy around her. She opened up her eyes to see Kasumi looking back with infinite care and worry. The little kauri felt so good that she pulled Kasumi's head down and kissed her on the lips. "Is this heaven Kas-chan? I'm floating here in the arms of the one I love, so it must be." Kasumi just closed her eyes and kissed Ranma while hugging her gently.

As the couple expressed their feelings for each other, the energies in the lava were intermingling their life and magical energies at a level that they were unaware of. A down current was carrying them deeper and deeper. After a while the two realized that they were being taken somewhere and by unspoken agreement just agreed to let it take them where it would.

Taro fought the chi dragon that Happosai had created around himself with growing desperation. He was missing two tentacles and the other six had enough damage to make them useless. Somehow the old lecher had discovered the shiatsu points that disabled his wings, making it difficult to escape or follow the two fairies to finish the job. Taro finally realized that he only had brute strength and physical moves and Happosai's spiritual power showed no sign of waning. He took a stance once again as the glowing dragon touched down in front of him. The dragon began to fade, leaving the ancient martial artist standing with wisps of chi flickering about.

"Taro m'boy, are you ready to talk?" The minotaur nodded in exhaustion. "Here, use this." Happosai tossed a thermos to Taro. The now human fighter sat on the ground and glared at the ancient pervert.

"You know old man, this is all your fault. If you had just given me a more common name I wouldn't have suffered through hell."

"Yes, I know. A very pretty lady convinced me that I had some things to do before I finished out this life and a new name for you is now on the agenda. Your name is now George Taro. Go in peace and forget about revenge for imagined slights. By now, Ranma and Kasumi are likely beyond any harm from you or anyone."

Happosai faded from view. George, 'why a gaijin name, well, it isn't the name I had been saddled with', he thought, speculated on whether the old bastard had left or was using invisibility. Out of curiosity, he went to the cave to see what had become of the two kauri fairies. He no longer felt any anger toward either of them, though he still felt like strangling Happosai in his sleep. He followed the trail to the ledge and looked down at the lake of fire and felt some confidence that they were probably dead. "I hope you found peace, Ranma." He made a small prayer for Kasumi's spirit.

Ranma and Kasumi had floated along the currents of this bright place until they saw what appeared to be a lush island floating in a bubble in the huge 'cavern' of lava. As they came to the boundary and passed through with a pop, gravity took over and their wings worked to right themselves. "Hey Kasumi, there's a garden and some kind of shrine over by that pond. Do ya think we oughta check it out?"

"I believe that maybe some answers will be waiting , since we appear to have been expected." Replied Kasumi as she saw a woman waiting on a garden path.

The two landed in front of the kimono clad person, both taking in her calm aura and the love that permeated the island. "Welcome to Irori, children. This will be your ultimate place of safety to raise your children as well as renewing your spirits. We are actually slightly out of phase with the world, here, so that the fires can't touch us, but the energy still bathes all, providing nourishment. My name is Boseiai…I am pleased with your choice of mate, Ranma."

Ranma sputtered, "But I didn't make her…"

"Look into your heart. I know that Kasumi made her own choice freely and out of love."

Ranma just blushed and hung her head and Kasumi blushed and gently smiled at her companion's distress.

"Well, now that you're here, what do you say to finding out about how all of the magic has affected you. There is unpredictability due to the large amount of chaos magic that filled you both because of the Jusenkyo curse."

"Boseiai-sama, do you mean that we may not pass for human?"

She said, "I don't know, but we can find out some things now. Try using some hot water, Ranma." She accepted the kettle and poured some over herself and was relieved to find himself male again, still kauri, though with no pain.

Boseiai tried to hide her relief on seeing the change. "There will be other interactions that you'll have to explore as you go. I expect that daylight will restore your human forms and low light or night time will start the kauri transformation." 'Darn, the were contagiousness is gone' she thought as she scanned the two.

Ranma and Kasumi were, meanwhile, starting to feel rather warm in each other's presence. "Oh My, Ranma-kun! I think I'm really beginning to understand what you meant when you described the urges that you felt."

The goddess spoke, "I need to give you a bit of background on your current forms. You respond to arousal the same as you ever did, but to a very heightened degree. As long as your will is strong, you can control your response to those feelings. I do recommend that you practice birth control because you are highly fertile with each other but can naturally control fertility with normal humans." Ranma and Kasumi looked at each other and gave Boseiai nods of understanding. "The sexual imperative is wired rather tightly because, in the other universe, kauri fill an environmental niche. They remove negative emotions and nightmares from their partners, improving the mental health of their 'victims'. Both of you now have abilities to control the opposite gender of normal humans to ensure coupling and purging of negative emotion. There are no psychiatrists and no doctors, there, and mental illness is treated by magical means." She led them into the shrine to continue their education in their new lives.

Nabiki sat on the engawa with Yoshi's head resting in her lap, scratching his ears. It had been almost a week since Ukyo and Akane had returned with the news that Ranma and Kasumi had disappeared. They had followed the two kauri to the lava tube entrance when they hadn't rendezvoused back at the camp. They had found evidence of a great battle but no bodies. There were bovine hoof marks all around and they saw the lava lake and despaired. The eruption on the fourth day almost cost them their lives as the vent blew out the dome above the lava tube that gave access to the lake. Fortunately, a couple of university volcanologists warned of the impending eruption. The group had just crossed the ridge that Ranma had told them would protect the girls, when the pyroclastic flow obliterated all life in the other valley.

Two days before, Happosai showed up acting completely different mumbling about a pretty lady. He dodged Akane and Ukyo when they attacked him on sight and bounced up to Nodoka and bowed low. He said only, "The children will come home when the pretty lady is done with their healing." The old man then vanished into thin air. The women felt relief, but continued to worry about the terms of the healing.

Genma had come over to play shogi with Soun but was too nervous to put up more than a token resistance to his partner's cheating. Nodoka was cooking a late supper and singing 'Happy Days are Here Again' while slicing and peeling cantaloupes the size of his head in the air with her katana. She had a look of anticipation that truly frightened him.

The sun had set a while before and Nabiki watched the deepening night sky while petting Yoshi. The dog seemed to be missing Ranma in his own way because he had been unusually quiet for several days. She looked around to make sure that no one was around. She hugged the dog and said, "I miss them too, boy." Suddenly, Yoshi grew in her lap and she was looking at herself staring back.

"Imissem Imissem loveranmalove ilovekasumi loveyou ireaaalllyloveakane." Yoshi, turned Nabiki, kept a running display of affection going as the real Nabiki tried to calm the werenabiki down. Just then, another dog of the same mysterious parentage as Yoshi came running in. The dog looked at the two Nabikis and facefaulted.

"Akane is that you?" Akane growled, manifesting a large mallet that she was unequipped to manipulate. "I guess that Yoshi must have given you a playful nip some time. We have to be careful to isolate him from anyone else." Akane nodded with a downcast puppy look.

She was thinking furiously. 'Looks like Ranma-kun wasn't as careful as he thought. I wonder? Heh!' A look of realization crossed her face, followed by a sly smile. "Hey, Yoshi, I like you too. Want to play?" The werenabiki let out an excited cry and started bouncing around as Nabiki got up to play with a smirk becoming a grin from ear to ear. Akane was stunned as she realized what her sister was up to. She started to attempt to prevent it, when Nabiki held up her hand and shouted "Yatta!" as a trickle of blood ran down her hand. "I figured it out. The template is whatever form they're wearing at the time, so I just change into myself, I'm so good!"

Yoshi was sitting and listening to Nabiki, who now noticed her again. "Yoshi, do you understand me?"

"Yeah, yeahsureiknowwhatyouresayingsaying."

"If I told you to never ever bite anyone or anything again, would you remember it after you change back?"

"Yesyesyesiwillrememberit."

"Okay, PLEASE don't bite anyone unless I tell you to. It could be very bad." She then turned on a nearby day lamp, returning Akane and Yoshi to their normal forms.

Meanwhile a small camera set in a crack in the compound wall was transmitting to a small apartment a block away. Two large gaijin men watched a grainy screen and ate popcorn. "Jim, looks like we got a whole colony of shapeshifters here." Spoke one in english.

"Yeah. But this ain't all of em. That sickly kid talked about a boy that turned into a girl and a china girl that turned into a cat. I don't know how much longer we can wait. 51 can only keep the locals away for so long. The jet and containment pods are good to go. I think national security demands that we take what we can get."

"You may be right," The first man in an American air force colonel's uniform spoke, "call in the boys. We got a plum here, maybe not the brass ring, but we can't afford much exposure. Put the informant on ice with a gun in his hand and leave him on site. A residual of sarin will let the terrorists take the heat."

Nabiki, Akane and Yoshi were sitting on the engawa under the plant light in their normal forms. After going to her room for some special items, she had explained what she knew of the were 'curse' and handed Akane two disks. Each had a lens on one side with a sticky band around the edge of the lense. "Akane, stick this dayflash to your skin, under your clothes and press the button when you go out under moonlight. It'll keep you from changing at awkward times."

"Thanks Nabiki. When I get my hands on that Ranma, I'll…"

"You. Will. Do. Nothing, little sister. Don't blame Ranma for your problems.

"But…"

"But nothing, neither myself or Kasumi will allow any more abuse of Ranma. He will soon be your brother, or sister. FAMILY." Akane's incipient aura began to fade from visibility. "I…look on this were condition as an opportunity, a gift, and so should you. Forget all the old stories about werewolves. Yes, we will heal much faster but silver only causes a slight rash. And, at night you can become something else, with moonlight or a flash." She smirked, "You could become Ranma…maybe Ranma-chan? Hmmm?"

Where Nabiki thought of human girl Ranma, Akane stared off, thinking of kauri Ranma, 'Flying…and being able to control boys?" She suddenly felt aroused as her thoughts continued to take her to greater heights of hentai thought. Nabiki watched with a nervous eye as her sister became slack jawed and began to drool. Yoshi collapsed at her feet and uncle Saotome, in panda form, was asleep on the garden walk at the dojo, snot bubble on his nose. 'Oh damn!" She felt a sting in her back and a dizziness coming over her, "Drugged dart…" With her last coherent thoughts and actions, Nabiki took the disks in hand and jammed them into her shorts into a hiding place that would avoid cursory searching. She reached out with both hands to soften her fall and everything went black.

Soun and Nodoka were stepping out of the dining room to announce dinner and took in the tableau of large men in black suits and faces painted black and gray. Each carried a firearm of some sort. Nodoka unsheathed her katana and faced off with the crowd of assailants. She managed to deflect most of the fletched tranquilizer darts but fell shortly after a couple hit her shoulder. Soun's demon head attack confused the attackers for long enough for him to knock several into unconsciousness against the outer wall. Most of the others peed their pants, but kept firing. Several were bleeding seriously, but it wasn't enough to prevent some darts getting through. He followed Nodoka into unconsciousness.

Not much of a cliffhanger but I'm back from a Caribbean cruise and my brain's pretty fried. I know my story probably reads more like a synopsis and wouldn't mind someone helping to flesh it out a bit, if this is a premise that they like. Thanks Gerald for looking over the text and for some ideas as to the direction I can take with this.

Hiryo I know it may seem more like a synopsis than a story, but I'll try slowing it down, no promises.

Wonderbee31 I loathe Genma's personality and wish him no good. Boseiai's blessings will affect them both, but not necessarily equally.

Ranko Think of Kasumi in so many fanfics. Placid on the surface but with hidden depths.

Jerry Unipeg Marge already had a kauri soul, Joe's soul was transformed by being a wood nymph for a time. I'm working out how the Jusenkyo curse and the Phoenix pill would affect Ranma combined with the lava purification.

Neither small size nor gender means one is weak.

I have ideas for Ukyo, next chapter.

John Tannius If you can get the entire Rings of the master series, I feel that you will enjoy it. There are lots of twisted laws of robotics and shape changing going on, though it took a long time to finish reading for me. Nabiki is pivotal to saving the kidnapped family in a future chapter.

Trugeta I like to have Kasumi do something a little out of left field, she is stronger than she looks, but has a hidden desperate desire for change. No she wasn't a kauri. She explained how she maintained her art in this chapter. Akane can be rehabilitated, I just can't accept that Ranma would become so co-dependent that he would put up with her forever. The results of the time that the pair are taught in the refuge will unfold. I spotted the grammar problem and figured corrected it as quickly as I could

Dragon Man 180 Those in the know will expand somewhat but the fathers will remain metaphorical mushrooms for a while regarding secrets. Genma will play a part just not very useful.