Ki Cutters: 6

The Perceptions III

Shampoo stalked the inside of their prison and glared. There had to be a weakness somewhere. She would not simply sit and wait to be rescued! She was an Amazon and Amazons did not tolerate capture nor admit defeat.

"Shampoo?" Keiichi called softly to get her attention.

"Mr. Morisato?" she replied, tense and not really paying attention.

"Please don't attack the barrier with ki techniques."

His manner was quiet and far less panicky than Shampoo would have expected from an untrained individual. His suggestion was ludicrous on the surface. "What you know of ki attacks?" Shampoo demanded.

"Not much, really," Keiichi admitted. "But you've noticed what is happening to Urd and Skuld?"

"Teacher and Nabiki-friend? Yes, but I don't understand why."

"It has to do with their… religion and how they gain power for their work," Keiichi hedged. "This barrier has shut us... them away from their sources of power. It's happened before, though not as a result of an attack. This…" He indicated the barrier surrounding them. "… drains the power from them even faster. If you attack it with a ki blast, it may drain you – like Ms. Hinako, but worse."

Shampoo nodded and looked thoughtful. Still… "Shampoo is a warrior. Warrior can take risk."

Keiichi nodded as if expecting her answer. "That's good, because I'd like you to take a risk by not attempting to break out of here."

Shampoo looked at him as if he was crazy. "What should I do, then?"

"Shampoo, you understand that martial arts might not be the best way to fight these demons... Urk!" Shampoo grabbed him by the shirtfront.

"Don't patronize me," she said evenly, using her words with care. "Don't waste time. Tell me your plan. If Sham… If I like it, I will tell you."

"S-s-sure." She released him. "Urd and Skuld are bound to nature. Their power comes from nature, a little bit at a time from a lot of different places. Nabiki has managed to stabilize them for now, so they're not in immediate danger." Shampoo nodded. "And the demons have to come to us sometime." Shampoo nodded again, more slowly. "Would you be willing to lend Urd and Skuld your strength, your ki, so that they could face them on something approaching an even playing field?"

"Is it dangerous?" she asked suspiciously.

"Very," he nodded sighing, "Extremely. In fact it might do the same thing that our prison would do, except Urd and Skuld would gain your energy instead of Senbei."

"Okay." Keiichi stared at her and Shampoo became cross. "I said, is okay! Now where does Shampoo have to be, so in best place?" the Amazon growled.

Natsume and Kurumi suddenly put their yen's worth in. "If one's good then three would be better, right?" Kurumi nattered.

Natsume gave him a level look. "We may not be Amazons but we can do our part," she said cooly.

"Besides," Kurumi added aggrieved. "They interrupted lunch!"

After a face-fault, Keiichi began to explain what he wanted while trying not to think of how the demon's local block of the Yggdrasil interface would affect his wife. 'I just hope Kodama and the others managed to get you someplace safe, love,' he thought. 'I hope you're alright.'

oOo

It's not a good idea to set off a fireball in an enclosed space. The black ninja set off four, focused on where Ranma and his ninja escort had been.

"Shippai Akurai!" they screamed, releasing their manifested ki. (FWOOSH! BOOOM!) Four blackened black ninja were swept screaming in opposite directions by the shock wave of super-heated air that rebounded off of Ranma's barrier and was channeled by the enclosed spaces.

As the flames died down, Ranma released his ki and struggled to rise, hoping Akane didn't hear about this. He and the five female ninja were tangled about each other in a very suggestive fashion. "Get offa me," he snarled. They scrambled off. "When were you guys gonna tell me you could do ki techniques?" he demanded.

"We can't," quavered one of the girls.

"Then what the hell was that?" He pointed in the direction of the vanished black ninja.

"We don't know," answered the ninja, Nabiki. "Only a few of us can manage a hand-light or charge a weapon to make it stronger or more controllable. And that, usually through Kuji finger rituals." She stared after the quartet, vividly acknowledging that her best friend, Choochoo, had been one of their murderous attackers. Shivering, she added, "This is new, Ranma-sama."

"Don't call me 'Ranma-sama'!" Ranma flinched. He had been 'sama-ed' by Kodachi far too often to willingly listen to a bunch of miniature ninja-girls doing the same. "Damn!" Ranma winced wondering why that word seemed so harsh, then considered their predicament. "Listen up! We're going to get out of here, locate the captives and then we'll go back and see Kodama. We will need to include your friends' new tricks in our plans."

They advanced swiftly along the tunnel which took a sharp right. Nabiki searched along the ceiling for several minutes before giving a faint 'ah!' of satisfaction. A hidden door swung down revealing the narrow boards of the temple floor. A small square of wood was moved aside revealing a vertical support beam and a row of small nails set as a ladder rising into the darkness above. They entered ascended the ladder and using utmost stealth, hurried across the ceiling toward the kitchen. Ranma hoped Keiichi and the others were all right.

From a vent near the stove, they looked out on the room that had been the focus of Baradandya's attention here at the Temple. The lunch she prepared had been dolled out to Senbei and his allies, the kitchen was a mess of cookware and dirty dishes. A jar of huge proportions, seemingly made of green glass, covered most of the table. Inside, tiny shapes moved about.

"Okay. They're here like we suspected. Someone got binoculars?" Ranma asked. Almost before the words left his mouth, he was handed a small, powerful, electronic spyglass. "Nice," he commented. He looked. "Keiichi, Kasumi, Sakurida, Urudu, Mom, Pops, Nabiki, Natsume and Kurumi, Mr. Tendo, and there's Shampoo. Okay, everyone accounted for," he said with some satisfaction. They heard movement below. Senbei walked in, and knocked on the surface of the jar. The sound sent those within to their knees. The demon laughed as two black cats slid in behind him, one jumping up to the table surface to glare at their prisoners.

"Having fun in dere, eh, my goddesses?" Senbei gloated.

"Sheesh," muttered Ranma, "he's as bad as Kuno."

"We've been better," came Keiichi's voice, magnified in some obscure way. Ranma could see one figure standing out from the others.

"Oh! Did I forget about you, Kei-boy, you little heabennly gigolo?" snickered Senbei.

"What do you want?" Keiichi sounded almost bored.

"Ooo! Cranky. Am I interrupting something?" Senbei asked with false sweetness.

"What could you possibly be interrupting?" Baradandya's husband replied. "It's not like we're going anywhere."

Senbei stared into the bottle, doubt showing in his bearing. "No, you isn't." he said finally. He turned away. "What news, servant?"

"Four of our ninja found one of the escapees with five of their former sisters," the cat on the table answered. "They used the new technique, 'Demon Blast', but Saotome and the others managed to escape anyway."

"Saotome?" Senbei glowered. "Where is that redheaded tart?"

One of the black cats shook her head in a very human fashion. "The Saotome mentioned was male. They were very sure of that."

"Male?" Senbei looked confused but shouted, "Find dem both den!" He seemed to burst into flames. "Find them! Especially the redhead! No more games!" The cats streaked out, scrabbling across the smooth floor. "Hmmm... Maybe soon you' friends be in der wit' you, Kei-boy," Senbei assured his prisoners. "An' maybe not. But one way or de udder, brudder, you' gooses be cooked in half an hour."

"Now we know their timetable," Ranma nodded.

Then, behind Ranma and the five kunoichi, the drum of feet sounded loud in the crawl space. "Shit," snarled Nabiki in his ear. "Intonjutsu is not good enough to fool someone else who knows it as well," she added, "We have no cover here! And our tracks-!"

"I need a tablecloth or something!" Ranma grimaced.

"Will this do?" Nabiki-ninja asked, offering a human-sized handkerchief. He nodded tersely and swirled the cloth about them all, gathering them in, using teh surface of the cloth to slide awareness around them. Ten black ninja closed on their position. There was a sudden burst of dust like an explosion, leaving them coughing and teary-eyed.

Back in their hidden tunnel, Ranma and five gray ninja faded out of the shadows in a swirl of cloth. They stared at Ranma with looks that indicated their already high opinion of him just went up a few dangerous notches.

"Hey," he remarked nervously. "It's just a trick my Pops taught me."

oOo

"Pass me the solder," Akane whispered. Ryoga hurled a heavy loop of the metal wire up to her level. "Ryoga, come up and double check the value of this resistor." Ryoga leaped up and placed his hands on either side of the plastic pill shaped object. He concentrated.

"I make it about twelve times as resistant as the example you showed me, Tek." Ryoga said.

Tek scribbled on some paper. "That's eighteen ohms, Ryoga."

Ryoga glanced at the color-coding. "Shouldn't this be twenty-two ohms?"

"Umm…" Tek glanced at her blueprints. "No, eighteen ohms is right." She glanced at the color coding and shrugged helplessly. Skuld had her reasons for what she did.

"Solder up, Akane," Ryoga said stepping aside. He scratched his head wondering why Sakurida (Skuld) would use this resister, labeled at twenty-two ohms, even if it was actually the correct value instead of a resister with the proper rating and labeling.

"How much longer?" Kodama asked.

"We're almost done, Kodama," Tek answered her. "Then we have to recycle his programming."

"How long will that take?" Kodama insisted.

"About an hour," Tek hedged, knowing that was optimistic.

"We can't wait that long," Ranma's voice came from below. "We got about twenty minutes before that demon lowers the boom on our friends whether they've got us or not." The martial artist climbed up the inside of the robot, the five ninja following close behind. Nabiki-ninja bowed to Kodama and indicated that she had a report.

"Nuts," Tek exclaimed to Kodama. "There is no way we can recycle his program in that time."

"It's too bad you can't control him like one of those giant robots in manga," Ryoga sighed. "But that's too much to expect..." He paused at Tek's look. "What?"

"I've never used it," Tek said doubtfully.

"You mean there is one?" Ryoga deadpanned. Then, "How hard can it be to learn?"

"Guess we'll find out!" Akane smiled as she finished soldering the resister with a flourish.

Tek sighed. Akane was a skillful martial artist and manipulator of ki; but she was all-thumbs when it came to other arts. She shouldn't have turned her back. "Um, Akane? You don't need that much solder when you fix a loose connection." They stared at a globe of solder, nearly as large as one of their bodies.

"Really?" Akane asked blankly.

"Between the mech and my loyal ninja, Senbei won't stand a chance," Kodama smirked.

"Let me tell you the rest of the bad news," Ranma interrupted grimly. He quickly explained about the ki-powered black ninja.

Kodama frowned biting her lip. "I see. I guess we have to rely on strategy and misdirection, then."

oOo

"Master!" yelled a black-clad ninja. "We have located the remaining ninja and the escaped humans! They are in the garden by the south wall!"

The black cats looked at Senbei, who nodded and waved them on. They leaped out of the kitchen leaving Senbei alone with the bottle.

"It is almost time," Senbei grinned, cracking his knuckles. "You can consider dis revenge for what you did to Marller."

"Revenge, huh?" Keiichi said from within the bottle. "Marller was only banished back to Nifflehiem. It wasn't like she broke any of Hild's regulations. So does that mean you plan to banish us? That doesn't sound so bad."

Senbei laughed. "You sure about dat, Kei-boy?" He danced a strange head-jerking high stepping dance. "But I'm not really justifying my actions! I just enjoy lying through my teeth! Happy, happy…" He hummed and bobbed some more.

"What will happen to our friends?" came a woman's dulcet tones.

"Ahhh," Senbei aspirated, dropping to his knees to stare into the bottle, "I been tinkin' 'bout dat, Bell-chan. De Saotome kid, he be sometin' of a celebrity, ya know. Maybe after you high-falutin' types be outa da way – banished back to Hebben, yah! - I tink I move de boy into politics, ya. I play kingmaker and cozy up behind da scenes, and de boy, he get de credit. And as for his sister, dat red head dat help you at de dance? She be one fine lookin' woman, I tink!"

"Oh, brother!" muttered Nabiki. "We've got another Kuno in the making."

"Oh…" groaned Genma, weeping on his knees, "My son is going to be the next Premiere!" Nodoka whapped him.

"O' course, he take all de blame, too, when de excrement hit de fan!" Senbei grinned and leaped back to his feet. He gestured and the table disappeared. Everyone experienced a moment of gut-wrenching weightlessness before the bottle was caught on Senbei's outstretched toe and lowered the rest of the way to the floor. "So sorry!" Senbei lied.

He quickly called up a stick of white chalk and began to draw a complex diagram around the bottle. He whistled and jibbed to an unheard tune, laughing and giggling as he worked on the diagram. "Of course, anybody Ah don' need - well - Day jus' be stoopid little short-lived mortals!" He finished his diagram. "Now tings get interesting," he gloated, straightening up.

"You said it, bub!" snarled a voice from the ceiling. Senbei turned and jerked his head aside just as a ki-bolt rocketed past his nose. "Interesting doesn't even begin to describe the things I want to help ya feel! Get 'im, Ryoga!"

"Ninja, attack!" Kodama, ripping off her black ninja disguise yelled at the same instant. Grey clad forms began to swing, leap and glide across the open spaces. A clanking came from the hall and the Banpei unit heaved into view. It moved with a surprising amount of grace compared to its normal motions.

Gray-clad arms swept back and heaved forward, hurling wire bolas with pinpoint accuracy. Banpei's helmet popped up and a set of canisters rotated and locked on Senbei. As the demon staggered back, Banpei's strong gripping hands snapped forward to imprison his shoulders. The demon ended up against the far wall with his legs trussed and his arms pinioned by the heavy padded fingers of the guardian robot.

"Gotcha, jerk!" Ranma gloated from Banpei's shoulder.

"Oh, Saotome! Good to see you, man! Where be your lovely sister?" Senbei seemed totally unaffected by his own capture. The demon looked past Ranma and the robot and strained to see out the corridor. His face hardened. "I guess I jus' have to go hunt her down one on one den."

"Like we're gonna give ya a chance to," smirked Ranma. There was a click as the safeties came off the luck-charm mortars.

oOo

Inside Banpei, Ryoga hung poised in the virtual reality simulator harness. His hands strained out ahead of him and his feet set firmly on some unseen surface. Tek was buckled into a seat nearby, one hand on a joystick and the other poised over buttons. "Let's do this!" snarled Ryoga. He still remembered how easily Senbei brushed him off at the Furinkan Halloween dance. His fingers tightened.

Suddenly, the whole Banpei robot shifted as Ryoga felt the feedback on his grip go slack. "What?" he bellowed. He tried to take a step backwards, but this time the feedback circuits limited his leg's motion, as if he were restrained. Slowly, the robot toppled.

oOo

Ranma and the ninja were already in furious combat. The blacks currently outnumbered them two to one and all had a variety of nasty ki-techniques at their disposal. Akane shifted into high gear as well, planning to team up with her fiancé. An angry hiss diverted her.

"KhhahahahaTch!" snarled a black cat. "You cannot win, girl."

"Let's play with her a bit, before we kill her," snarled the other.

"You sound pretty confident," remarked Akane stalling, but trying to make it look like she was unimpressed. If she could keep their attention long enough…

"She belongs to the other boy, the pig-tailed one," remarked the first cat. "If we have her, he must do what we say."

"Wanna bet!" Akane growled. Why did everyone see her as merely a tool to manipulate Ranma? She reached within for the Nekoken. She had never really fought using the full technique and was afraid of using it like this, but knew nothing less would do. Her aura seemed to explode.

oOo

Kodama and her ninja did not give their sisters time to set up and use the ki-blasts Ranma had described. They moved in to close range, relying on tsubo points and physical trauma to drop their opponents. She winced as a familiar face hove into view. Hikari's eyes blazed at her from behind a black mask. At some point, she had been turned. What was worse was that Hikari's speed usually negated Kodama's superior strength. This was bad. What was worse was that Kodama couldn't bear to harm her friend and lover, even knowing she had betrayed her.

Then Hikari dropped, eyes rolling up as Ranma leapt past, three black ninja trailing his wake. Kodama barreled into them from the side and dropped two with crushing blows. She sidestepped a needle-dirk and one of her ninja, Nabiki, took out the last one with the weight at the end of a kusarigama. Nabiki was dropped by debris flung from a ki-blast that left a smoking hole in the floor. Sprawled like a doll, she was in no condition to escape the suddenly toppling robot.

Ranma seemed to blur and suddenly he and Nabiki were skidding clear as the floor tiles cracked under the impact of Banpei's weight. Kodama could see the cause of the fall. Banpei's legs were tangled in piano-wire, and the fingers of his grippies were lopped off. The luck-charm mortar skittered across the floor, severed as the fingers had been. The cause of that effect became apparent as four ninja dropped to the floor, flaming swords in their hands. They bounced and slashed at Kodama in unison.

oOo

Ranma cursed as he spun to a stop. He mustn't lose his edge! The blacks were fast and had several ki-techniques that were killers, but he had discovered a pattern to their responses. He had developed a system that let him take them down in a pattern of three moves: left punch, drop below a sweeping leg strike to finish them with a blow behind the ear. For some reason, they were very consistent in this response and…

"MMMMmmmmmrrrRROOAR!"

Even with his recent training, the hair on his neck rose at that challenge. His head whipped around to find Akane — his Akane — facing off against the two monster-cats. Akane was on all fours and her eyes glowed. She had been the source of that feline snarl. Even as he watched, she sprang swiftly to attack.

Akane struck with her aura, ki-claws slashing at the face of the left cat, Urayami. She moved so that the body of one cat blocked the attack of the second. She traded blows, her ­ki-shield and speed giving her an advantage over Urayami in the initial exchange. The cat was blinded by a slash across the eyes and Akane dodged beneath the screaming animal, avoiding the leap of Urami over her stricken sister. Her claws did more massive damage as she went, ripping across the cat's soft underbelly.

Normally a kind-hearted girl, Akane quailed within as her neko-instincts over-rode her normal limits. She struck again at Urami as she attempted to reverse herself over the crumpling Urayami, and then skidded to a stop, back high, to assess the damage. She saw Ranma strike.

Ranma saw the leap of Urami and leaped himself. Knowing the demons were tough, he put everything he had into the kick he delivered to the side of the cat's head. The cat pin-wheeled like a helicopter rotor as it landed, making an additional doughnut as its claws dug at the floor to bring it skidding to a stop. It shook its head and focused on him.

Akane hissed, the muscles in her back reacting to the instinctive urge to arch and present her silhouette. In three heartbeats, the massive injuries she'd dealt Urayami were gone and yellow eyes gleamed evilly at her again.

"You hurt me," the demon-cat hissed. It leaped again to the attack.

oOo

Kodama ducked and wove through the swords, disarming two of the blacks and using one of the swords as a missile to cut the piano-wire on Banpei's legs. Even if the robot couldn't grab, it could do severe damage kicking or hitting. They needed to keep Senbei busy; and Ryoga, Tek and Banpei were it. She fenced madly and suddenly sprang back, dropping smoke bombs laced with sleeping powder. Three ninja dropped but the fourth dove through the smoke, sword slashing.

It was Senrigan. Kodama parried and slashed back. She had never cared much for her other chonin and this betrayal gave her the excuse to kill. She drove inside where her position hampered the other's swing and allowed her to use her own strength. A punch drove Senrigan out and staggered her. A counter drove the other's sword tip low, exposing the throat and shoulders…

Ranma crashed into Senrigan like a pile driver, driven by a blow from Urami's paw. Kodama aborted her slash and cursed. "Saotome! Dammit! She was mine!"

Ranma staggered to his feet. "Go help your damn ninja!" he snarled. "I got two cats ta skin!" He gritted his teeth and surged back to where two black cats were ganging up on a tomboy.

oOo

Ryoga struck at the dancing Senbei, pushing the robot's responses to their limits. "Hold still, damn you!" he snarled under his breath.

Surprisingly, the demon seemed to hear him. "You want to hit me, little boy? Go 'head…"

(WHAM!) Ryoga kicked with Banpei's right leg. Senbei did a good imitation of a steel wall; Ryoga struck with the power and precision of the master martial artist he was. Something had to give. Banpei's leg, from ankle to knee shattered like glass. (SPRANKT!) Shrapnel ricocheted everywhere.

Across the room, Ranma and Akane dodged and deflected the lethal little missiles. All the ninja, black and grey, ducked. Ranma ended up in cold water as he often did under trying circumstances, as breaking glassware by the sink sent a flood over the countertop. The cats went down, temporarily shredded by the flying metal and plastic.

"You two should learn to duck," Senbei commented as they reconstituted and staggered to their feet. He suddenly saw girl-type Ranma complaining and dripping under the skirting of the counters. "Hot mama!"

"Jerk!" snarled Ranma. She glared at him. "Keep yer perversions to yerself!"

"But they wouldn't be any fun that way," Senbei replied. He kicked Banpei over almost negligently and then shrank abruptly, facing Ranma across the kitchen floor like a gunfighter across a western street. "Shall we dance, ma cherie?"

"I'll dance on yer grave, hell spawn!" Ranma spat. She set herself, knowing this was going to be bad. Senbei levitated a centimeter or so off the floor and hurtled toward her. Ranma snapped her shields up at the last minute, hoping to smash him against their hard psuedo-surface.

Senbei sailed right on through.

Ranma wasn't caught totally flat-footed. A demon had sailed through ki shields like this once before. As Senbei sank through the screens, she caught him with a slashing crescent kick to deflect him spinning aside. She had been concerned he would somehow do to her what he had done to Banpei and had been half-hearted about it. A kick worked this time, but would he sucker her in the next?

She was going to have to try that Aikiharaken technique. She really feared it, in a way, because she had an idea that the pain the technique caused was due to the judgment one made of one's own soul. She was much more particular and judgmental about herself than had been the technique's originator. If she was right, she was in for a lot of pain.

Ranma wasn't afraid of physical pain. But the technique didn't deal out physical pain. It hit Ranma where Ranma was the most vulnerable: self-image and self-doubts. She glanced aside and saw that Kodama now fought alone against a half dozen black ninja. Akane struggled and shrieked defiance as her strikes flung her opponents back, again and again, but without permanent effect. She was tiring. The Nekoken did not grant inexhaustible energy reserves.

Senbei laughed and spun back, his arms wide and his guard, seemingly open. "I'm coming for you, honey-child." As he closed, he transformed into one of the most hideous conglomerations of tentacles and multiple eyes and… Ranma blanched. She had seen something like this in one of Daisuke's rags, and it had been doing… things to a girl.

"Aikiharaken!" Ranma's fists blurred, ripping through the gelatinous horror, which screamed in a high-pitched voice as, in addition to the speed drill and the spiritual aspect, the redhead finally found her ki claws again. The result looked like a blender on high with the lid off. (SPLORCH!)

"Eeuw!" The rest of the conscious intelligent beings in the room lurched in horror as they were spattered by shredded, almost liquefied, demon.

"Now?" asked Shampoo as the three female martial artists stood tensely beside Keiichi, Urd and Skuld.

"Not yet! Don't ask me why, but I can feel it's not quite time yet." Keiichi answered tensely. They watched the hideous drips running down the side of the bottle gain motility and apparent intelligence. They began to join.

Ranma was curled on the floor in a fetal ball. It had been both worse and better than expected. Some things had not been called into question at all; others had been excruciatingly laid bare for inspection by her internal judge. She strove to refocus. A bug could walk up and kill her now, she thought. How the hell was she going to defend anyone if she didn't snap out of this?

Senbei slowly coagulated from oozing bits of slime that came together about a meter away. He wasn't happy. His anger was totally focused on the writhing female before him. He didn't hear the clatter as Tek and Ryoga unlatched the hatch in Banpei's belly nor did he see them drop to the floor and take cover behind the imobilized robot. He strode toward Ranma as she struggled to her knees and tried to get a leg under her.

"Bitch!" His kick snapped up under Ranma's jaw sending her nearly five body-lengths to crash against a cupboard. "You dare attack yo' master like dat?" He leaped forward and grabbed her by the hair. With a jerk, he heaved her off the ground and shook her ferociously. As he punished her, the last bits and pieces of his body were reabsorbed. He punched her several times in the face and belly. "I'm gonna make you scream for mercy an' then I'm gonna make you' scream some more!" he snarled. "You gonna be my slave fo' all eternity, girl."

"I ain't no girl," Ranma gritted through the pain. "You ain't my master!" She could hear Akane screaming in rage. "And your promises ain't worth shit!" She smirked viciously at something behind him.

(WANG!) "Leave Ranma alone, you jerk!" Ryoga stood behind the suddenly crouching demon, one of the luck charms from the damaged mortar in his hands.

Ranma had a sudden flash of inspiration. "Gimme that, Ryoga!" She snatched the square piece of embossed metal and hefted it, even as Senbei rose once more, bruised and smoking. Ranma wound up like a she was at home plate.

"I'll kill—!" snarled the demon.

"Aikiharaken revised: Heavenly Homer! Batter up!" (BWAM!)

"Nice shot, Ranma," Ryoga said admiringly. "Are you okay?" He caught the redhead as she started to colapse again. He wondered at the odd bruises Ranma had, almost like paint, on both cheeks and in the middle of her forehead.

"I'm fine. Help Akane, idiot!" Ranma growled/groaned as she tried to regain control. Ryoga turned and started running toward Akane. Tek reached out to catch a stumbling Ranma. Kodama, exhausted, sent the last of her opponents into dreamland before slumping to the floor, herself, easy meat if the cats finished Akane.

Senbei hit the big green prison bottle full on.

"Now, girls!" yelled Keiichi as light flared.

Shampoo startled like everyone else by this flash that seemed to probe more deeply than any light had a right to, called up her will and her courage and fed it into her aura. Natsumi and Kurumi were close on her heals. They never saw how Keiichi somehow took that energy and transformed it, feeding it through the splinter of Yggdrasil that had changed him and in turn fed that altered energy in turn to the waiting goddesses.

Skuld and Urd lit up like floodlights as they gained the power of three strong fighters. They focused on the barrier of the imprisoning bottle. A mallet was brandished, a hand was suddenly wreathed in lightning. They struck.

The bottle shattered and suddenly sublimated even as the shards rained down on the occupants. Shampoo, Natsumi and Kurumi collapsed, in fact drained as if Hinako had caught them being delinquent. Urd stood up straight and chanted loudly, raising her hand above her head as if she would call the sun out of the sky.

Outside, clouds suddenly roiled and lightning crashed. A massive bolt speared down on the Temple. Within the building, Urd screamed as she sent lightning up through the ceiling to meet it. She staggered and slumped to her knees. She began to ripple and change in size. Skuld saw this and wrenched at the moonstone Nabiki Tendo had given her. She snapped it over Urd's head. For a moment it seemed to help, then Urd began to waver again. Skuld staggered to the edge of the demon's ward.

"Ryoga! Ryoga Hibiki!" She wondered at how weak her voice sounded and looked suddenly at her hands. Her eyes were blurring as well, but she could see the rapidly shrinking flesh between the bones and the thickening joints. "Ryoga! You must do a Shi shi Hokudan!"

Ryoga dodged as Urami slashed at him. He wasn't used to Ranma's wolfish attack style, but knew nothing else had a chance of success. They mostly ignored him, though, unless he slowed them down enough for Akane to get in some damage.

"Ryoga!"

Who the hell was that old woman over there? It was ridiculous for her to be dressed like Sakurida who was only seventeen or so… He blinked and almost got his head taken off. Old woman? Dressed like Sakurida?

"Ryoga! Do a Shishi Houkudan! We musht dropsh the demon's shield or we're finished!" Skuld tried to ignore the sudden lack of teeth in her mouth and the ringing in her ears.

Ryoga jumped out of range of the cats and saw Akane immediately take a nasty slash across a leg. She was slowing and the cats were closing in. He was going to watch her be torn to pieces before his eyes if… She'd die and Ranma would be devastated. He'd probably die, too… Sakurida, Urudu, Baradandya, Keiichi would all die… The Saotomes and Tendos would die… He'd die and she'd cry because… The angst-filled aura sprang up like an arc lamp.

The walls glowed green, illuminated by the tiny man who stood head down, his fists clenched at his sides. A deep throbbing pitched into sub-sonics. The world, so hopeful of late, would be a dark and gloomy place. With a jerk, his hands curled like claws and struck toward the ceiling.

"SHI SHI HOKUDAN!" (wak-THOOOOOOOM!)

A hole the size of Keiichi's Honda appeared in the roof overhead. Assaulted from within and without, the shield collapsed. Urd also collapsed, but she looked normal. Skuld gasped and patted herself. She looked at her hands with clear eyes as the ravages of time vanished like an illusion.

Two cat demons decided that enough was enough and ran for it. Without the spell to block the goddess's access to Yggdrasil, they were toast if they were caught.

Marks, azure triangles on cheekbones and a diamond on Ranma's forehead glowed. The martial artist felt a weird internal wrench. Had anyone been watching, they would have seen light streaming out of her back as a glowing form stepped out and took on solidity. Beldandy phased into being. She faded and firmed as she stepped back several paces behind Ranma, then fainted to lay tumbled on the floor. Ranma staggered and straightened, then turned and recognized her teacher. Footsteps and a shouted 'Beldandy!' told her that her teacher's husband was running post-haste to his wife's side. She noticed a crisped body crawling along the floor not far from them. Shrugging out of Tek's supporting grasp, she stepped over to it, blocking its path to Baradandya.

Senbei looked awful. His clothes were in rags and his pretty-boy face was puffy and bruised as bad as anything she had ever put Kuno through. Seeing his way barred, he came to a kneeling position and spat on the floor. "I'll be back, an' nex' time you gonna scream fo' me, pretty bird."

Ranma spat back at him. She knew he wasn't talking about simple pain. "You're sick even for a demon, you know that?" She picked him up by his heavy gold-trimmed lapels. "You want a bird, go screw a pigeon!" She sent her toe skyward and launched him through the hole in the roof. She hopped twice before emphasizing her contempt, giving him the bird. Then she sat down hard, as a dark-haired girl staggered across the broken floor to hurl herself into Ranma's arms. They looked across to see Beldandy reuniting with her husband and smiled. They'd get theirs later. Around them, various combatants began to wake up, as if from a nightmare.

oOo

Lunch was going on as originally planned, only about four hours later, so they called it dinner, instead. It was a testament to the strangeness of their lives that no one treated what happened that afternoon as out of the ordinary. Even Kasumi had returned to singing in the kitchen with Baradandya. Their joyful voices seemed to heal everyone as their workday choruses wafted from a magically restored kitchen.

"Whew!" Ranma patted his head and torso. Hot water for Ranma, and a careful application of Urudu's concoctions for everyone, had returned them all to normal size and proportions. Only Genma seemed concerned, as he found his bandanna seemed too large for his head now. Nabiki smirked. She had filched it during their return to normal and retied it for just that purpose.

While dinner was cooking, Ranma, Akane, Ryoga and Shampoo sat and met in relative privacy with Kodama and the ninja. Akane had insisted Shampoo come as she was her heart-sister and had helped their hostesses break the spell that had held them captive. Refereeing were Keiichi and Sakurida. Urudu was in her lab, cleaning up and taking inventory. She didn't want to be surprised in case the demons had run off with something dangerous. The former black ninja were stripped down to bare essentials to avoid accidents. Ryoga's nose twitched as he tried to avoid looking at them.

"I wish we could be made your size," mourned Tek, gazing at Ryoga fondly. Ryoga had become quite excited after Banpei had crashed that second time, ripping free of the virtual control harness and literally tearing through some of Banpei's insides to shift debris off of her. It had been sweet.

Ryoga twitched but smiled in reply. He was safe again. Those ninja could never try anything with someone his size. He was safe. One must understand Ryoga to understand his need for reassurance on this point. Especially since he still had to contend with two regular, if extraordinary, girls after him.

Kodama shrugged. "Unfulfillable wishes help no one," she said. "Our duty was to guard the… Mistresses, and we failed badly." She glared at the group of ninja who had betrayed them, including Hikari. She turned away, lips bitter. "Were it the old days our lives would be forfeit."

Akane looked at the huddled and miserable prisoners. She remembered her experience under the spell of the reverse jewel and Shampoo's under the egg-spells of Phoenix Mountain. She glanced at Shampoo who was still wide-eyed at the idea of these tiny warriors. "If I might make a suggestion?"

"Yes, Akane-sama," Kodama said respectfully. Her opion of the martial artists had undergone some modification: So far as she was concerned, the martial artists could do no wrong and were high on her 'be-nice-to' list.

"My friends and I," she nodded at Ranma and Shampoo and touched her own breast, "have some experience where we have acted badly due to an outside influence..."

"They are traitors," Kodama said shortly. Well, maybe they could be a little wrong. "As shinobi they should die. But, as my Mistress is opposed to such violence, they will be exiled. H-Hikari will head the new clan."

Hikari sighed and slumped. She watched Kodama with eyes that were dead already.

"You don't understand," Akane exclaimed. "You aren't listening." Ryoga and Shampoo stared at her. Akane was one to talk! Well, she had gotten better. "They're part of your family. You love them and they hurt you. But if they were driven to it, maybe it wasn't their fault."

"Akane," Kodama said gently. "A shinobi lives by their honor and by trust in their comrades. To betray a comrade outside of orders for the good of the clan is unforgivable."

"You're living in a glass house, Kodama," warned Sakurida under her breath. The Jonin flushed, remembering her original defection from Marller.

"Sometimes the end result speaks for itself, Skuld!" she snapped. Tek flinched as her leader basically told her Mistress and best friend where to go.

"If what you say is true, Kodama, then Ranma and I should have parted ways long ago!" declared Akane. "I thought I'd been betrayed over and over. I used to... beat Ranma for doing things I thought were perverted. I used to believe that all he wanted was a meal ticket and any cheap thrill he could pick up along the way." She sniffed as the memories slapped her with guilt for the past. "He could have left anytime and would have been justified; but he loved me and wanted to protect me. It took two years for me to see that."

"And your point is?" asked Kodama dryly.

"What you see and what the truth is may be two totally different things. Are you trying hard enough to see the truth? Or are you reacting, like I did, out of hurt feelings and your own skewed perceptions?"

Kodama let out a ragged breath. That one had struck close to the heart of the matter. "I am Jonin of this clan," she rallied weakly. "I must make decisions."

"A good leader makes decisions in good time. In battle, maybe leader must say 'do now, go now'," said Shampoo suddenly. "There no hurry here. Battle won. They prisoners."

"They are ninja! They know the deadliest arts," Kodama cried.

"They're family," remarked Ranma. "Isn't it worth the risk to see if you're wrong?" He frowned suddenly. He had noticed the changes in how his father acted and how he treated his mother and his sisters. He had revealed to Ranma before they came, that he had gotten a job working as an assistant instructor in a dojo. He had wanted to surprise Nodoka.

Kodama slumped. "Keiichi-sama, you have said nothing. What have you to say?"

"I've heard people say, 'fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me'." He shrugged. "I'd rather be a well-loved, shameful fool than a loveless, wise man. Let's ask Bel—! Oh, heck! Beldandy…" He gazed thoughtfully at the martial artists. "…and see what she thinks."

"But she is so soft," Kodama agonized. "She'll just forgive them!"

"She sees a person's heart," Keiichi cautioned. "Forgiveness comes with repentance."

Hikari shuffled forward and knelt as a supplicant. "I would speak?" she asked softly. "Hear my words and pass judgement." Keiichi nodded when Kodama hesitated.

"The demons attacked us through our desires and frustrations," she explained. "There are many of us who wish for children; but there are no males of our kind." In the bound ranks, nervous shifting occurred. "Some of us were resentful; You would not or could not help us become human in full, able to join society." Hikari let her head sink lower as she spoke, hiding her eyes. "But for myself, my crime came from a thought so petty, that I cannot expect forgiveness." She raised her face to meet Kodama's gaze directly. "My sisters are blameless compared to me, but I too fell like a leaf in a strong wind."

"What was this petty thought?" asked Kodama stonely.

"I resented what you said this morning. That I was getting slow."

Kodama frowned. "When did I say that?"

"This morning! When the boy blasted the shield for the first time. You said I was 'getting slow'!"

"But I didn't mean it!" Kodama's words came out in a burst and they stared at one another. Kodama gulped. "I didn't mean it, at all," she said painfully.

Hikari groaned. "I know. And I knew it then, with my head, but the resentment was enough for Senbei to slip inside my soul and take control." She crouched, sighing in her pain. "It was like fighting your worst nightmares," she elaborated. "But the worst nightmare of all was when I struck at a monster and it suddenly had your face. I froze, and expected to get my guts handed to me," she agonized, "but I couldn't kill something that looked like you. That was the last thing I remember before waking here." She looked at them all and wept. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Kodama shivered as if she were encased in ice. How would she have faired against the demon? If so simple a fault as resentment left Hikari open to their manipulation, where would her pride have gotten her? She turned back to Keiichi. "Keiichi-sama?" she said tearfully. "Please ask Beldandy-sama for her opinion. I..." She turned back and knelt beside Hikari, embracing her and murmuring into her hair.

oOo

There was a second meeting after dinner. The ninja had mostly combined into one group as Beldandy's reading on the subject had given positive results. None of the ninja had wanted to betray their patrons.

"So, ah… Why'd ya want ta see us again?" asked Ranma with all the subtlety of a mallet strike.

"To thank you, of course," Kodama conceded. Hikari kept close beside her and their hands were entwined. "I also wanted to tell you, as one martial artist to another, that I consider your mastery to be phenomenal. And... we hoped you might advise us."

"How?" Ranma's eyebrows rose as a ninja he was unfamiliar with stepped forward, one arm in a sling. She bowed nervously. Her hair was drawn back in a thick ponytail that hung to her hips and clips with butterflies decorated its length.

"I am Choochoo, Ranma-sama. I was one of the black ninja in the tunnels," she said by way of introduction. "The demon taught us ki techniques to counter yours. The techniques called on hatred, anger, envy." She swallowed. "We find ourselves caught in a trap. We hate what we felt, but when a warrior has experienced power like that…" The girl swallowed again. "We fear we will be tempted to use that power, Ranma-sama. Do you understand what I mean?" she finished weakly.

"Yeah," Ranma answered slowly. He glanced at Ryoga who was looking a bit wild. He had to wonder about the lost-boy. If he was that nervous around the ninja, why didn't he stay in the other room? "I know exactly what ya mean. You guys are all warriors and you've seen a new way ta be better warriors. Ya know if ya have to, or feel ya have to, that you'll use those techniques again."

"And when we do…" Choochoo said softly.

"Senbei'll have ya like that." Ranma snapped his fingers. The ninja nodded. "Look. I don't know that I have the right ta teach ya, but I can sort of lead ya the right way. There's a group of us martial artists that have been researching ki for months now. If Berru…Baradandya approves, we'll come here and bring our research with us. Its probably safer here than Ryoga's house right now." He shrugged. "In the meantime, find an emotion that's positive, and try ta use that. Ryoga here uses depression for that Shi shi Hokudan of his, but that really bites back after a while." Ryoga nodded at his assessment. "Mine was confidence."

"Ego," Akane teased. Ranma rolled his eyes at her.

"The love ya feel when yer bein' protective sort of helps, too," he added watching his fiancée for further comments. Akane blushed and fell silent. "It's kinda like leaping off a cliff or falling down a well…" He frowned.

"Yes, sensei?" Choochoo asked.

Ranma shook himself. "I'm not yer sensei." He got an odd look on his face. "Hey, Kodama," he sidetracked. "You said Mrs. Morisato and her sisters couldn't change you for some reason. What if something else did? Would they have any objections?"

"If you're talking about Nyanniichuan, Ranma," Sakurida said, "my sister didn't say anything because it's not there anymore. We'd heard about it only because of the fuss you caused when you destroyed Saffron. It's gone and we don't know when, if ever, it'll be back."

Ranma shrugged. He hadn't seriously considered Jusenkyo with another location nearer. "What about Togenkyo?" he suggested.

Akane and Shampoo clapped their hands. Of course! Ryoga's smile slipped. He frowned and thought. What was it about Togenkyo?

"It used to be like Nanniichuan, spring of drowned man," Ranma explained. "But lately, since I blasted it, it's been acting like Nyanniichuan. That's why Toma and his gang were over here when Marller cursed me with bad luck. If it acts like that, maybe you ninja could have an alternate form like mine, a full-sized, female human being. The Musk Dynasty used to throw animals in the Nyanniichuan to make wives. If a 200 kilo tiger or a 15 kilo monkey will come out a normal sized girl, maybe Togenkyo will make you guys the size you should be as humans?"

Ryoga bit back a curse. Akane and Shampoo, initially pleased with the idea caught the 'little hearts' look many ninja were shooting at Ryoga and/or Ranma. They frowned.

oOo

Walking home, Ryoga moved in beside Ranma and began complaining. "How could you, Ranma?" he snarled. "How could you?"

"What are ya beefin' about, P-chan?" Ranma replied. He was using the top of a wall for balance practice.

"I'm beefing about the two dozen girl-ninja who will want to date me after they get full-size bodies!" Ryoga whined, fumbling with the GPS unit Sakurida had made for him. "How could you do this to me?"

"Don't forget about her, man," Ranma said pointing at the device Ryoga held and grinning. "They were unhappy, Ryoga. Give em time," Ranma added slyly. "Once they discover what a great conversationalist you are, and how ya pass out anytime they flash their tits at ya, I'm sure they'll look elsewhere."

"R-r-r-r-r-r-Ran-MA!" Two dozen ninja and a… a sorceress! What a mess!

"And what about Nabiki, Choochoo, Kitsui, Suzuki and Gitari, Ranma?" Akane interrupted Ryoga's rant. "I saw the way they looked at you."

"So?" Ranma glanced perplexed at his fiancée.

Shampoo shook her head beside Akane expressing her disgust at his obtuseness. What really made the nape hairs tickle though, was Kasumi's "Ranma, Ranma, Ranma…" from behind him.

"Gee, Ranma," Nabiki Tendo said dryly. "Five more girls? Another Nabiki? Why? Isn't one of me enough for you?"

"Huh?" Ranma gulped and eyed them all wildly.

Soun caught his eye. "Ranma, am I to understand that you have more girls following you?"

"No! It's not like that," Ranma protested. "Besides, Ryoga has four times that many chasin' him!"

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" gritted Akane. Natsumi and Kurumi rolled their eyes and smirked.

The pigtailed boy shot Akane a desperate glance before his father's absurd grinning, clapping and hand rubbing distracted him. "Whacha doin' that for?" he demanded irately.

"This time," Genma grinned, rubbed and clapped. "This time it's not my fault! Thank you, spirits!" He cried and continued his celebration until Nodoka whapped him. He winced and rubbed his head. "You're your father's son! You make me proud boy!" (WHAP!) Genma crumpled as Nodoka, Natsume and Kurumi all pounded him.

"That's not even counting his new admirer," Nabiki reminded them. "You know. Ranma's demon lover-boy?"

"Oh, jeez…" Ranma fell off the fence and then pounded his head on the concrete. Akane picked him up by the pigtail in passing.

"Oh, well," said Akane, sighing. "I guess I should have expected it. He is Ranma, after all." Inside she hugged herself. 'Thank kami!'

They walked toward the train station, arguing over the latest developments. On a nearby rooftop, three demons squatted in their surly bivouac.

"How did they do that?" muttered Senbei. This should have worked. Two battered cats crouched and peered, unwilling to catch his attention and risk his wrath. "That girl…" Senbei licked his lips. "This isn't over yet!"