Ranma sat on the roof of the Tendo Dojo trying to come to grips with the reality of what had happened today. Everyone he knew who went to school had been given a Jusenkyo curse. He didn't know who did it or how they pulled it off other than that they used the principal's special modifications to the school's fire suppression system. Part of Ranma honestly didn't care. That part of him wanted to have the morons put in front of him so he could wrap his hands around their throats until their heads popped off.

Didn't those scumbags understand that a Jusenkyo curse was for life? Ranma could admit to himself that he had been chasing a fool's dream to try and get rid of his curse. It had only been a minor miracle that his curse had been changed into a much more acceptable transformation. Such a thing was not likely to happen for the nearly 5,000 students who were now forced to put up with this stupid curse.

At least he and the others with the Jusenkyo curse prior to this instance of insanity could take some comfort in the fact that their curses were their own faults. It was a bitter comfort, but at least Ranma could say that he would not have his curse if he had made some better decisions in the past. The curse then served as a reminder to think before you did something. Granted, Ranma and the others more often than not forgot to think about their actions even with the reminder. That was another issue all on its own.

Akane, Nabiki, Ukyo, Hiroshi, Daisuke, and everyone else at school didn't even have that comfort. They were now cursed because someone decided to practically flood the school with Jusenkyo water without any regard for the consequences. All everyone at school had done was show up at school like they were supposed to do. It was going to be hard for them all to adjust as the sounds of Akane's angry smashing of cinderblocks and Nabiki sobbing in her room indicated.

Ranma summoned the Gauntlet of Omens and withdrew the Sword of Omens so he could look at his sword. His eyes focused on the Eye of Thundera set within the cross guard. It was one of the most powerful magical objects that was ever known throughout of the Silver Millennium. A magical crystal rivaling but not quite equaling the Ginzuishou in strength. A fact which would have caused issues in the past had that fact not been carefully guarded by the Thundercats and Sailor Saturn. The Eye of Thundera might now equal or surpass the Ginzuishou in sheer magical strength now that it was connected to his sailor crystal.

All that magical power at his fingertips and Ranma couldn't do one damn thing to help anyone in this situation. The power of the Eye of Thundera was martial and aggressive in nature. It wasn't made to heal and revitalize like the Ginzuishou. Yes, it could fortify and rejuvenate allies on a battlefield. But that was from the Eye topping off allies' energy reserves and providing extra energy to supercharge one's natural healing. Even something rather simple in magical healing like setting bones was beyond the Eye's abilities.

If anyone asked Ranma if the Eye could break a curse he'd have to lie and say it couldn't. The Eye of Thundera was able to break curses by breaking apart the spell matrix of a curse according to Snarf. This was the mystical equivalent of putting a reinforced ram on a supertanker and sending the ship at Mach speeds to hit a rowboat. This made the Eye of Thundera great for dealing with magically hardened and reinforced enemy strongholds. Not so much for breaking a curse on a person you wanted to live after removing said curse.

Nearly 5,000 students, most of whom probably hadn't realized just how crazy the world really was before today, were now facing an untold number of challenges. It would be hard for them to fit in with regular Japanese society now with their curses. Things were challenging enough for Ranma and he honestly couldn't give a dead rat's ass over what society at large thought of him. It must be an unbearable weight for those who were more aligned with mainstream society. Who would they turn to in the coming days to help them? Who on earth could they turn to in a situation like this?

Ranma laid back and looked up at the stars in the sky wishing he could find an answer to help his friends. His eyes were drawn as always since his sailor crystal started to wake up to Saturn. In actually it was Thundera that pulled on his eyes, but that world orbited Saturn so it was basically the same thing for Ranma. How many of his subjects had Snarf said were in hibernation waiting for his return? Roughly 10,000 Thunderans and 2,000 Snarfs with all of them being kids.

That was going to be a massive problem for Ranma in the future given that only a few of the eldest were around their early teens and most were in the lower elementary levels in age. Those kids had literally gone through the end of their world and lost almost everyone they ever knew. Psychotherapists around the earth would probably either look at his subjects like the ultimate challenge of their profession or a nightmare for them to avoid. That wasn't including all the other issues that would have to be solved before he and Snarf could begin to start thawing the kids. That list alone was several thousand items and growing.

Moreover, those subjects were his responsibility. Ranma didn't have the faintest clue what he was supposed to do on that front other than put off the dethawing until he and Snarf were convinced things were ready. It wasn't like there were ways to learn how to handle such a disaster situation or practice on a smaller group.

Ranma sprung up into a sitting position as the thought suddenly struck him. The answer he had been looking for was so simple and clear to him now. Ranma put away his sword and gauntlet before he hopped down onto the ground. He entered the home and quickly made his way to the kitchen.

Snarf and Kasumi were in the kitchen trying to work on dinner. It was more like Snarf was having to sub in for Kasumi as she was still trying to process what had happened to her sisters. Finally, Snarf had enough a spoke up. "That's enough! You've grabbed the wrong spice 7 times already and we've already had to try and doctor things up twice to correct for earlier mistakes Kasumi. Let's just face the fact that you need time to process what happened today and call this meal a bust. I've got some cash available so I'll buy dinner for everyone."

Kasumi had a startled look on her face as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard. Her face grew despondent as she realized just how off from her regular self she really was. It was in a somber manner she said. "I suppose you are right Snarf."

Ranma decided to speak up, "Make it the Nekohaten Snarf and tell Cologne that she is both delivering the meal and staying for a dinner meeting. Call her after Mr. Tendo comes back because we might be having to have him call another person over for dinner. Kasumi, in the meantime I need you to make a list of every martial arts master in district that uses chi and teaches. Include their phone numbers on the list and their dojos. We'll need it for the dinner meeting. Now excuse me, I need to find Pops to go over a few things before Mr. Tendo comes home."

Both Kasumi and Snarf stared at the entryway as Ranma walked away with a determined stride. Kasumi turned to Snarf and asked, "What just happened?"

A proud and hopeful smile started to form on Snarf's face. "What just happened was we saw the Lord of the Thundercats taking on his duties for the first time."

Ranma glanced from around the stage curtain at the assembled students of Furinkan High. Everyone with a new curse was there in the overcrowded bleachers. Along with them were many of the parents who had shockingly taken the time off to be there in support of their children. Part of the teen was wondering what the hell he was doing here. He wasn't any sort of public speaker or really any sort of leader. He was the only experienced voice among the students and the only one who seemed to remember that something needed to be done for the students besides hiding the fact that they were cursed. Given that and the fact that he had stepped up when the situation called sort of potentially made him a leader by default. There was still the chance that the students would tell him to get lost, but that was unlikely given how lost they were.

He used the final minutes before the assembly began to double check and make sure he had memorized the speech that Snarf had helped him write. Then Ranma did a quick sound check on his mike before he walked out onto the stage set up on the high school stadium. Ranma reminded himself to treat it all like a martial arts match and to keep his face calm and confidant.

"Thank you everyone for coming back here to Furinkan so soon after the incident two days ago. For those who do not know me, I am Ranma Saotome a freshman here at Furinkan high. Before you ask, I will confirm that I am the one that Kuno attacked last month and I am the guy who seems to have been caught up in every wild story that hits the school for this semester. I will not tell you which of those crazy stories is true because they do not have any relevance to why we are all here."

"What is relevant to you all is that I have been stuck with a Jusenkyo curse since before I got to Furinkan. Learning how to deal with a curse is a long and tough process, but we all have to do it. There is no cure for a Jusenkyo curse. I looked myself and at least half of the dumbest situations I have ever ended up in were from chasing bogus cures. One of the worst days for me after getting the curse myself was being told by a magical expert that there straight up is no cure."

"Perhaps some of you are wondering if maybe they can change what their curse turns them into if they cannot get rid of the curse. That is possible. I used to turn into this busty little redhead that looked like she belonged on a pinup poster. However, such changes in your curse are tricky, rely on extremely unlikely situations, and can be potentially deadly."

"I may now change into this form." Ranma paused to activate his curse with one of two spray bottles preplaced on a stand turning into a thunderan. "But the magics that caused this change also resulted in me nearly getting disemboweled by Kuno. Don't go blindly chasing after a change in your curse for yourself given the risks. There's also the fact that you simply exchange one set of problems cause by your curse with a different set of problems. Getting hit on by guys was really disturbing every time I headed out in my old cursed form. Now I have to worry about my cursed form causing a panic from onlookers."

That got a round of nervous chuckles from the audience. After the chuckles died down Ranma continued. "So, we cannot get rid of our curses and trying to change them really is not worth the effort. What are we supposed to do now? I am sure by now that you all have wondered what you did in this or a previous life to merit getting stuck with your curse. Ranting at the unfairness of it all to the kami sounds like a good idea until you realize that you are just wasting your breath. What you as individuals and all of us as a group need to do is move forward."

"How do you move forward? That is the question that I am here today to help you answer. The path to learning to live with your curse is long and hard. You will need the support of your friends and family in order to make it. You will also need to give that support to your friends in order to help them make it. Most of Japan is going to look at you like you are some sort of freak if they see your curse in action. Learning how to harden your resolve and how to tell society to go sit on a tack is part of the long-term goals for everyone. You will learn how to only consider the expectations of your family and friends as worth anything."

"That is in the long term. The short-term goal is to teach you all the skills you will need to immediately cope with your curse. One such skill that I think everyone will be happy to learn is how to change your clothes when your curse activates. If you will notice I am wearing a very different outfit in my curse form than I do when I am not in my cursed form. If you did not notice please pay attention when I deactivate my curse with this spray bottle of warm water."

Ranma spritzed himself with the other bottle on the display stand next to him on the stage deactivating his curse. He then put the hot water bottle next to the cold-water bottle and turned to face the crowd. Deliberately activating his curse twice in public had been nerve wracking for the teen. Ranma was just grateful that he could hide his nerves and confidently look at the crowd as he continued on his speech.

"One of many problems that my curse causes me is that my clothes just do not work between my two forms. What I am wearing now would either be torn to shreds or would strangle me when my curse activates. Finding clothes that would fit my curse form is hard enough, but I would fall out of them if my curse was ever temporarily reversed. I had to learn a technique to change and store my clothes every time my curse is activated so that I do not have to worry about getting fined for public nudity."

"Some of you may think that what I just showed you is somehow unique to me since both my forms are bipedal or is something inherit to my cursed form. A volunteer as already agreed to show that both these ideas are not true. You too can also change back into your clothes when you have an animal curse."

Ranma turned towards the side of the stage and said, "Shampoo please come so we can show them." He deliberately kept his face turned from the crowd so that no one in the audience could see his nervousness as Shampoo in her cat from walked onto the stage. Part of Ranma wished that he could have gotten Pops to do the demonstration. However, Cologne insisted on Shampoo being his assistant for the speech in return for her help in teaching the students of Furinkan High.

Shampoo leaped into the air with a twirl as Ranma reversed her curse. Everyone in the audience watched as she transformed back into her regular self while wearing a flowing dress and a large amount of jewelry. She circled around once in a spin before stopping to face the crowd with a bright smile. Shampoo started to wave a hand as she shouted out, "Hello Furinkan!"

That earned Shampoo a round of quiet applause from the audience. Ranma scanned the audience and was happy to see that hope was starting to return to his fellow students' faces. That was good since they couldn't do anything without hope. Ranma continued on. "Shampoo and I will be helping to teach everyone the skills they need to be able to store and instantaneously put on a regular outfit. We are also not the only ones who will be helping you. I have gotten in contact with a number of martial arts masters who are willing to teach you this skill pro bono."

Ranma handed the microphone over the Shampoo who smiled at her part. It was small, but at least it made her more than just a prop for Ranma. In a cheerful manner she said, "Airen has also gotten these masters to agree to teach you situational awareness and some basic threat assessment when it comes to your curses. This will help cut down on the odds of your curse triggering in public. You will also be taught how to move in your curse forms and what you need to be aware of so you can return to a safe place and change back. Trust me when I say from personal experience that getting chased up a tree by several dogs is not fun at all."

Shampoo returned the microphone to Ranma while the crowd chuckled at her joke. Ranma then said, "It will take some time and lots of honest effort on all of your parts to learn everything. I have been told that the masters are expecting it to take you all between 2 and 4 weeks to be able to get the instant dress technique down. This is with us all focusing just on that aspect of your training and you will have just learned the technique. Mastering the technique like Shampoo has shown will take longer. It should take an additional month or two after you learn the dress technique for us to teach everyone the other lessons we are offering."

"I will not lie to you. The lessons needed to be able to do what we have shown you will take much out of you since it is part of the starting intermediate chi usage skills and we do not have the months or years normally required to build you up to that level. If you agree to our lessons than we will become your after-school club and we will own your free days. Most nights you will go to bed feeling utterly exhausted and like one big bruise. This might not be entirely fair to you all. However, you should have figured out by now that life is not fair."

"This whole situation is like being thrown into the sea during a storm and someone up on a tall cliff has thrown you a rope. This is the choice before you all now. Will you take the lifeline we are offering and pull yourselves out of this mess? Or do you find the steep climb too difficult and would rather risk it by yourselves? Thank you for your time."

The Nekohaten was usually a busy restaurant in the evening between the good food, great prices, cute waitress, and the frequent martial arts shows put on it was one of the places to eat in the Furinkan section of Nerima. Many of the restaurant's regulars were annoyed when the saw the 'closed for private event' sign hung in the window. That annoyance dropped a little when a quick glance inside the front window showed just how jam packed the restaurant was. Even if the place wasn't closed for a private event there would be no room to eat. At least the sign said that delivery was still available.

Nerima's mayor Hideo Miyagi looked out at the assembled party with a small smile. Using parties like this was a wonderful way for the town council to more freely talk about magical issues without the need to keep an official record of the minutes. Every council member, martial arts master in the plan, and their families were here. He also noticed that there were a number teenagers who were caught in the Jusenkyo attack. These individuals were showing themselves to be in fairly good cheer which made Mayor Miyagi happy. He knew from his colleagues that most of the victims of the attack were either in or nearing a depression because of what happened to them.

Mayor Miyagi quietly stood up and walked over to the table that had the Tendos and the Saotomes. Soun was the first to notice the mayor's approach and said, "Sir."

The mayor motioned for Soun to be at ease. With a polite smile he said, "I wanted to thank you Mr. Tendo for your efforts in coordinating both the assembly this afternoon for the students and for getting the agreement of so many senseis to help the students."

Soun bowed his head and said, "I only did what I could. Besides, with my own daughters involved I could not do anything less."

Mayor Miyagi then turned to Ranma and gave the teen a small bow of respect. Almost everyone at the table and many at nearby tables were shocked to see the mayor bow so to Ranma. Mayor Miyagi then said, "I am truly grateful that you came up with this idea Mr. Ranma Saotome. You have both provided your fellow students with hope and found a way to address a serious problem they will have in the future. Initiative like that is to be commended."

Ranma shrugged and said, "Someone had to do something. I am still not sure if I made the best decision, but it seemed like a good one at the time."

That earned him a smile from the mayor. "The fact that you are questioning yourself is good young Saotome. It is very easy for a leader to think that their way is the only way and the correct way. However, one also needs to be decisive when it comes time for a decision to be made and to act on said decision. I have seen too many bright young people unable to make up their minds out of fear that they might make the wrong decision."

"What would truly have been the best decision for this or any situation is something only the kami can know. I will say that your idea is a solid idea and it is a better one than many could come up with in this situation so fast. Some may chide you that you should have waited for your 'betters' or the 'appropriate leaders' to give you the solution to the problem. I am not one of them and instead I commend you for your fast thinking and willingness to tackle this task head on."

Mayor Miyagi paused to look at Soun before asking. "Might I sit down with you all for a moment?"

Soun quickly answered, "Of course sir." He then scooted over so that the mayor could sit down.

Mayor Miyagi sat down and then said, "I have worked in the city government for several decades which has given me the opportunity to see many different types of leaders in action. I have also had the good fortune to see how different leaders respond to different situations. It has been my experience that it is more the situation that determines the type of leader needed for something to be successful than anything else."

"Many people look to offices such as mine and more often the higher ones in the nation with greed. They see what the position can grant them in terms of power, prestige, influence, and wealth. There are also many who might start out with good intentions, but find the allure of their offices too tempting to resist. Both kinds of people are the ones who will be most vocal about how people should listen to the 'experts' and the 'professionals' who know more about the situation."

The mayor snorted in disgust before continuing. "Such people tend to be the most incompetent when it comes to actually solving a crisis. They do not want to look bad to the masses as that might weaken their personal power. If called out for their ineptitude I have seen them try to escape blame by saying they were 'misled by experts' or that they approached things with 'the best of intentions'. We are rather fortunate compared to most wards of Tokyo that such individuals tend to be somewhat rare in Nerima. The city's challenges are too much for the rewards in those people's minds."

"There is a third kind of people drawn positions of power that are sadly much smaller than the first two groups. These are the people who step up because the situation at hand demands a leader. These leaders have both the ability to handle the situation that calls them and the ability to keep their own greed in check. Such people look at positions that Mr. Tendo or I hold and see the responsibilities that must be satisfied."

"I think you might have the potential to be such a person Mr. Ranma Saotome. You were the one who saw the needs of your fellow students and came up with a solution. You were also willing to step up and put your plan into action. None of Furinkan High student leaders had done either of these. The student council, the class representatives, and even the various club leaders were left completely adrift when their fellow students needed them to help handle this situation. You could have chosen to ignore your fellow students or focus only those close to you like the lovely ladies here at this table."

"This is especially true given the gravity of this situation. Making hard decisions is never easy. Telling people that the only way to improve things for themselves involves hard work and sacrifice is even harder. You did both of those today and you did them well."

Mayor Miyagi then smiled and said, "Let us move on to more pleasant topics for the night. Tell me Mr. Ranma Saotome, what are you plans for summer vacation in a few months? The lessons your fellow students will need should be wrapping up if not concluded by then."

Ranma had a deer in the headlights look when the mayor asked this. "Uh, I honestly hadn't given it any thought sir. All my thoughts besides classwork have been focused on this issue."

"Understandable Mr. Ranma Saotome. However, I would recommend you think on it some. We have a few positions opening up in city hall during the summer that I think you would find most interesting. Mr. Tendo can let me know of your interest later. I would love to stay and chat some more, but there are many other people I need to see today before this event ends." Mayor Miyagi got up, bowed to everyone at the table, and then left to visit some others at a different table.

Akane turned to her father and asked, "What just happened at the end there?"

Soun had a contemplative look on his face as he explained. "The mayor was requesting that Ranma join the high school interns at city hall this summer. Most of the interns that city hall takes on during the summer are college students with a few high school seniors. It is practically unheard of for someone so young as Ranma to be accepted as an intern let alone having the mayor ask him to intern."

Genma ate in silence for a bit as he thought about what just happened. He had been planning on taking Ranma and Akane on a training trip over the summer vacation to improve their martial arts. That it would help them grow closer as a couple was obvious to him. Ranma having a summer internship at city hall would put an end to those plans. That possibility annoyed Genma as Ranma needed to kick his training in high gear and also needed time to convert chi techniques to be used with mana.

On the other hand, it was old man Miyagi himself asking Ranma to do the internship. The mayor had helped him and Soun out several times when some of their typical teenage misadventures took a turn for the unusual. The man was a respected pillar of the community long before he became mayor. He would also be a good person for Ranma to learn some of the more political skills his dharma would require as the ruler of Thundera.

Finally, Genma came to a decision. "The mayor's request is something you and I can talk about later son. You can take it as a complement that he sees potential in you." Soun nodded his head in agreement. It would be an honor for Ranma to learn statecraft from the mayor. Kasumi was pleased to hear others recognizing Ranma for his actions. Nabiki used this to remind herself not to annoy Ranma in the future. He was still her best bet to achieve some of her life's ambitions.

Akane was the only one to look on it all sourly. She had heard from her friends that the ones behind the mass cursing were trying to turn their classmates into hot women. It didn't take a genius to figure out whose very existence proved the Jusenkyo was real. As to the hot women part, the jury was still out for her. She would privately admit that 'Ranko' was easier on the eyes than Ranma was in his regular form to say nothing about his new curse form.

In Akane's mind there was only one person that could be blamed for starting this incident. Principal Kuno might have laid the groundwork with his extensive modifications of the school's fire suppression pipe network. What that nut had been planning she didn't know. It would probably have been bad. However, it wouldn't have been as terrible as being permanently cursed to be a purse pooch! She figured that the idiots behind the mass cursing would have done something stupid if they hadn't known about Jusenkyo. Whatever that something could have been would have been humiliating if only temporarily.

No, there was only one person who had brought about things so that this situation would happen. Ranma Saotome and his presence in her life had caused things to go down hill for her resulting in this crowing moment of a dumpster fire called her curse. He shouldn't be praised for what he was doing in her eyes. It barely qualified as a down payment for the misfortune he had brought on her friends. To say nothing about what had happened to Nabiki or even herself.