An empire reborn
Ch2: A political satire?
The relief Ehri felt at the decision that the refugee's of the long since destroyed Moon Kingdom arrived at was short lived as the ship jolted, knocking the gathering of Martian survivors off their feet. Even though she was sure they would decide to return home to rebuilt there shattered home and seek vengeful justice, there was that seed of doubt that they would choose the easier path, but now that they had made their decision she would see about fulfilling it by ensuring that the experimental and highly technical colony ship held together long enough to get the to safety.
The scaly but forgiving fabric that covered the surfaces of the ships interior prevented injuries in most cases as the jolt shook the crowded ship but the suddenness of the motion created confusion and panic, panic which was compounded further by the sudden dimming of lights and visibility throughout the ship, followed by a deep and regular sounding alarm. 'Why was it' Ehri thought in frustration 'that the very mechanism, which was supposed to precede an orderly evacuation most often, facilitated the exact opposite by causing panic amidst the untrained and incompetent?'
"Ma'am," urged Bokkhai urgently as Ehri frantically tapped at a consol that had appeared from underneath the rough fabric that covered all of the surfaces of the ship. They both tried to ignore the growing hysteria among the crews even as Eizhan tried to calm them, proving a surprising ally against the civilian unrest.
Hisssss
Ehri grunted in satisfaction as the walls exploded out opening up into individual survival pods. This action further cramped the refugee's by reducing the immediate standing room and further fuelled their fear-tinged panic as they were pressed together. Mass hysteria was always a possibility in these situations but as the ranking military commander it was her responsibility to try and diffuse the situation. "Listen to me! Everyone must step into a pod." She cried trying to make herself heard above the noise of the alarm and the screaming of one hundred and fifty fearful adults.
As if Beryl's army had known that the children of the moon kingdom were their future she had viscously targeted them first, leaving the majority of the refugees mourning parents. Even in war some actions were unforgettable and unforgivable. Beryl and earth had earned the unrelenting hatred of the survivors on board this ship. Still managing children would have made crowd control that much more difficult.
"It is important else you risk death by asphyxiation," Ehri tried to continue, increasingly frustrated at the undisciplined actions of the refugee's, actions that would eventually lead to their death in such a critical situation unless they calmed down. Military disciple would have long since got this ship home but instead she was forced to deal with this rabble. It was one of the reasons she had first joined the military, an attempt to limit her exposure to the foolishness she often saw outside the well-trained ranks of the Martian fighters. 'If we survive this, I'll kill them myself,' she thought viscously with frustration. It wasn't a serious thought but it made her feel slightly better.
"Bokkhai, get Eizhan to start loading the pods, I'll control them from here. This is one system I made sure that I understood from the start of this project." As Bokkhai started to make his way down to the lower deck towards the small island of sanity that surrounded Eizhan, Ehri turned back to the consol that controlled the pod system.
Under normal circumstances the life supporting pod system would never have been necessary, the level of technology engineered into the colony ship had been so advanced that every conceivable situation could have been overcome through infinite redundancy alternatives long before there was any need for external interference by the pilot. That didn't stop the engineers from installing triple redundancy checks into the life pods so that in the event of an emergency there would be no question that the crew would survive. For that she was grateful, she was already feeling the effects of oxygen deprivation and if she was then she knew that some of the crew were feeling worse.
A series of hisses followed by the thudding lock of the seals allowed Ehri to thank the fact that there was at least one co-operative citizen among the refuges. The sound of the pods being loaded meant that Bokkhai and Eizhan had been successful in calming the crowd, the lack of oxygen she knew would have also contributed to the rapid calming of the unsettled mob.
Oxygen deprivation often rendered even the ruleiest person sleepy and docile. It wouldn't be long before the entire crew were locked away safely and asleep in their own personal synthetic cacoon and safe from the quickly depressurizing cabin. "Ma'am the last of the civilians are currently entering the pods, I have reserved you one close to the command deck," mumbled Bokkhai in a drowsiness induced by a lack of oxygen.
"I will not be going Bokkhai, this ship may be the most advanced piece of machinery our entire kingdom has ever managed to build and yet complete AI has eluded us. Someone needs to drive this ship and counter any potential problems that arise on the way home and I am the only one with both the expertise and experience."
Besides this isn't the only experimental relic on this ship she thought to herself as she pushed a wearily protesting Bokkhai to a pod. A slightly modified series of self-assembling and maintaining nanites to the ones that which made up the exoskeleton of the colony ship, flooded her body. It was an edge she hoped would let her at least see the ship home even if there was no one to revive her when she arrived. The Refugees would survive to become the new colonists on earth. The moon kingdom would rise again, even if her death were necessary she would make sure of it.
Ranma watched the pig tailed blond with the blue skirt and pink gum boots intently. Serenity had been telling him about a strong silver millennium signal coming from Tokyo for a while now. More worrying than these self made super heroes though and of more immediate concern, was the emergence of a sporadic signal that indicated the stirring of Beryl. All his life he had heard of the grand empire based on and around the moon and how Beryl had been directly responsible for its fall. Someone with that much power would be much more of a threat than some badly dressed school girls using a powerful but underutilised relic from the past.
Behind him a ghostly image of Serenity stood, he had found from experience that it was only his connection with the Ginzuishou that allowed him to see her. Leaning against a tree stump just back from the tree line was a beaten, bloodied and unconscious Genma, 'it wouldn't do to get father involved in this,' Ranma thought not taking his eyes on the pacing girl before him.
"It seems you were worried about nothing Serenity, even using those remnant artefacts from the moon kingdom the school girls are weak and untrained. I don't know how they generated such a strong signal. From what you've told me Beryl is the main concern here," Ranma just glared at disgust at Serenity as she grinned crazily obviously trying not to burst out laughing.
"Even when you take into account the others hiding across the other side of the park they don't add up to much and how they successfully expect to pull of this ambush while making so much noise is beyond me." He sometimes forgot that those posing as warriors lacked the training or the experience that he took for granted, he often forgot the effort it had taken to get himself to that level. Ranma was never one to dwell on the past except to learn from his mistakes.
"Not everyone has the benefits of a lifetime of training before they are thrust into conflict Ranma," Serenity reminded him before walking closer to the square in order to get a better view of the figure emerging from a portal in the ground. "Beryl's troops have learnt new tricks," she frowned as the foot soldier suddenly disguised herself as a journalist before the blond girl had a chance to turn around and catch the real identity of her visitor.
"Even armed with their new tricks, if this is the calibre of Beryl's troops she would've had to out number you a great deal to do the damage you've told me she wrought." He couldn't believe that the clumsy ambush hadn't failed already, the noise had grown louder at the enemies appearance. 'Unbelievable,' Ranma shook his head in disgust at the girls lack of skill and ability even with the free power up they were receiving from the moon kingdom relics they were inefficiently wielding.
"They did outnumber us by a great deal Ranma, but remember I had not invested nearly enough time or money into defence, as you are now, you would be more than an equal to any of my premier warriors. That's not including the power imbued by the Ginzuishou." The self-recrimination in the ghostly figures eyes almost made Ranma flinch, it was a wound that had never quite healed and it was one of the reasons that the old queen had really pushed him to acquire the strength that she had lacked.
"Yeah, yeah, let's just watch this show shall we, nothing we've seen so far accounts for such a strong silver millennium signal and besides it's just getting interesting." Ranma replied disinterestedly, making sure that his aura was carefully concealed as what he assumed was one of Beryl's generals appeared on top of the clock tower. "That one is much stronger than the other, still not much of a threat if they manage to pull off this ambush properly," he commented doubtfully, comparing the relative power levels of the two sides and glancing at the amateurish ambush attempt.
Serenity obviously agreed with his assessment of the situation as she casually sat down beside Ranma. "What sort of amateurs are they," Ranma spat out in antipathy as he watched the comedy of errors develop in the clearing. "First the blond almost gets turned to the very side she's supposed to be fighting and then the others expose their presence to the very people they're supposed to ambush. I can't believe we're wasting our time like this. Unless they start to pull out some interesting techniques I can learn and adapt, I'm leaving."
"Come on Ranma, if this turns out like I think it will then this will turn into one heck of a show, amateurs or not. In fact I think I saw something like this a few months before Beryl attacked. It was supposed to be a political satire, I wonder if they got the speeches right, they certainly perfected the uniform." Serenity's laughter echoed across the clearing, unheard by any but the holder of the Ginzuishou.
Ranma just returned his gaze to the fight, it was rare that Serenity got to enjoy some of the cultures from when she was queen. It seemed strange that someone would have resurrected such an old play though, but it certainly made more sense than a deadly confrontation. Any attempt to add comedy to such a confrontation would result in a quick loss if either side were deadly serious. Still that meant that there was a third party pulling the strings, a dangerous possibility.
"Ahhhh, nice control I can use that." Ranma's interest was once again ignited as the fight started. "The warp hole will make travel a lot more efficient and that cloth technique suddenly redeemed this evening. I wonder when the others are going to make a move though - their team mate is in a little trouble unless they jump in soon." Ranma's interest was further perked at the various techniques they used in their mock fight.
"You're too predictable Ranma," Serenity commented as he started playing with the cloth sash on his waste. "Still the shows just started," she said as she watched the remaining group as they started to squabble amongst themselves, further confirming to her that this whole fight had to be staged.
"Ahhhh, that's what we're here for," Serenity exclaimed as the red-skirted girl held up a moon shaped sceptre with a crystal imbedded into it. "That's what's giving off the signal, but how did a group of school girls get a hold of such a strong artefact. There is more going on here than we know; it might not be as staged as I originally thought. If that's the case these girls are playing a very dangerous game."
Serenity started to get a little concerned, a recreated play with clearly identifiable signals identifying Beryl and moon kingdom could not have been a coincidence, such a strong artefact should not have been in a position to be found by a group of school girls either. The transformation pens were quite common in her time and easily explained but something like the crystal was not something left lying around.
"So, just let me know when the real fight starts." Ranma continued to play with his cloth belt and mumbling about Ki strengthening right up till the point when the other four girls jumped into the centre of the park to confront the two enemy fighters. He was not here for fun but training. A good fight always interested him and sometimes seeing what not to do was just as important as seeing good strategy in action.
Serenity clapped in delight as the girls all posed as if for a camera, "justice and peace, just like I remembered. I wonder who knew enough of the moon kingdom to recreate such a show in this age? Only nobles could have afforded to see it, such a prestigious group was in high demand." It was a rhetorical question, Ranma, martial artist and bearer of the Ginzuishou was much more interested in the possibility of picking up some new techniques than trying to determine how these relics survived since the fall. They were beneath his notice and no doubt would be until they bit him in the ass, but then they would provide him with an interesting diversion.
"Nice uses of elemental attacks, even if they're weak I could probably do something with them and that shielding technique will come in handy," Ranma grinned trying to absorb as much as he could of how the techniques were executed, ignoring Serenity in favour of learning new techniques. 'The stances and attack names had to go but otherwise…' "They may be weak Serenity but they do have some pretty cool moves which can be adapted. I'll have to try that multiplier technique some time and that water attack and that…"
Serenity tuned out her ward, it seemed all he was interested in was getting stronger. She had played no small part in that, constantly urging him onto greater and greater heights and even helping in his training. Her life was over and it was now his time, his era. An era that she would make sure was not cut short through lack of strength like her own had been.
With the emergence of Beryl and these self styled Warriors of Justice maybe it was time for her to share a few more of her secrets and legacy, he had already claimed the palace as his own but that was the least of her secrets. Strength alone would not be enough if more of the moon kingdoms secrets and enemies started appearing. He would need diplomacy and tact to gather the forces together outside of the notice of the current governments of earth.
Even as Beryl's general fled and her foot soldier was banished back to the pocket dimension Serenity had originally confined Beryl to, Ranma continued to go over the techniques he had seen. If his past actions were any indication he would continue to try and duplicate them and he wouldn't be distracted by anything short of an attempt on his life until he succeeded.
Ranma and Serenity straightened almost in concert, "What is that?"
"Lets investigate Ranma, the fight is over anyway. It appears to be a piece of old moon technology and it can't be a coincidence. Not after that crystal that the girls sported around like a piece of jewellery."
"Come on Serenity, you should have learnt by now not to say that around me. Hopefully it's an alien invasion I've needed a good training exercise for a while and that room you allocated in the palace is starting to get a little old. Some strong aliens – enough to give me a challenge, Beryl's minions don't look like much and I have no reason to reveal my presence to the weak school girls."
"Bite your tongue Ranma," she said as Ranma slapped Genma awake.
"Father I have something I have to do, I'll see you later."
"But Son," Genma started groggily regaining consciousness after being beaten too a pulp by his son.
"We may be staying here for a while," Ranma cut him off.
"Yes son," he said stumbling away, still a little weak from his sparring session with his son. By the time he got to Tendo's however he knew that he would have recovered most of his strength.
Ranma watched Genma leave before smirking at Serenity and creating a black warp hole and winking, revelling in his own superiority. "One down."
He stepped in and they both disappeared.
As soon as he stepped out of the black hole and onto the white marble floor in the palace's throne room a holographic display appeared. "Your right, it appears to be a colony ship. The design appears to be similar to the ones being developed in the period leading up to Beryl's attack. You said they were all destroyed so how did this one survive and why is it zeroing in on the palace," Ramma said continuing to tap on the holographic display. Occasionally little pieces of information would appear awaiting Ranma's notice before fading.
"It appears to be in trouble and the ports aren't working since I never thought they would be needed and they couldn't possibly be of any help in training, I'll have to bring it in manually. The computer hasn't got time to initiate any sort of repairs before the ship smashes into the palace anyway."
'Who knew a ship would need to be docked after so long, I certainly never expected to see a ship until I got around to building them based of some new designs. I just hope Serenity doesn't find out my secret until I'm ready' Ranma thought secretly, it was a secret he had kept from Serenity and would continue to keep until the time was right. Keeping secrets from Serenity was a challenge but he loved challenges.
Serenity listened as Ranma talked to himself as much as he talked to her. It amused and disappointed her when Ranma immediately begun upgrading the castles training functions, making full use of all the research that the computers had come up with over the last millennia to maximise his strength and skill in the arts. She would have loved to see him buy or mine some resources to upgrade the other palace facilities or perhaps begin to rebuild the royal defence fleet, she knew that with the new technologies then any weaponry that they could build would be truly awesome.
Still, over the years Ranma had shown little or no interest or ability in the area's needed to be able to start that amount of rebuilding. Everything seemed to revolve around his own strength, at the expense of everything else. Though she had to admit, before now there hadn't been any real need, so she hadn't really pushed him in that area.
Not that the palace was in too bad a shape, Beryl had not managed to destroy much of it before she had been banished to the Negaverse. She had been too quick to gloat once she had cleared a path to the throne room. The supercomputers had thus been running on the problems that they had been set to and had come up with some true gems over the millenniums.
After a decade regions the palace was almost in a better working order than it had been with a whole troop of servants running it. It helped that it was uninhabited so once something was repaired Ranma could start on another section of the palace he needed.
'This would have been a lot easier in a few months after I get that artificial intelligence working.' He grumbled to himself, making sure that Serenity would not be able to hear. "Would you check that the medical wing is working properly?" Ranma asked before warping outside the walls of the palace in preparation to dock the ship himself.
'Another area he has neglected since he had never needed any major treatment himself and he never brought any guest to the place' Serenity thought sadly as she moved to the medical wing, still perhaps it was for the best the moon palace was a secret that was not safely divulged in this day and age.
The colony ship was coming in fast without much control but she knew that Ranma's training combined with the power of the crystal would allow him to achieve the normally impossible task of safely docking the ship in a non-functioning dock if only barely. In a zero-G environment it wouldn't weigh anything but the momentum of the speeding mass was more than deadly enough even for someone with Ranma's strength.
Serenity waited in the medical wing for Ranma, he wouldn't be long and she didn't want to distract him. Besides she would probably be needed to provide some guidance when he arrived here. The moon kingdom despite Ranma's familiarity with it was still her domain, Ranma may have the ability to react and deal with the unexpected but her foreknowledge would be invaluable in avoiding any disasters and treating the injured using instruments he was unfamiliar with.
"Serenity, we have live ones here but this one seems past it," Ranma grunted as he dumped a fit looking middle-aged woman on the sofa before offloading healthy looking sleepers from a trolley onto the other beds in the ward. It seemed strange that the whole crew had managed to get to safety but the captain had stayed out to die.
"Ranma, I have a feeling you should try to revive this one. I feel that this one is the most important of this group and preventing her death will divert possible catastrophes in the future." Ranma just looked at her for while before turning his focus to the blue skinned woman, her lips seemed beyond blue and her eyes seemed slightly bulged but surprisingly she still had a weak heartbeat, enough life that he would be able to revive her without any side effects. Whatever else he might say, this one had some inhuman endurance.
"What a bother," Ranma muttered leaning over the woman pouring as much healing energy as he dared into the woman, tapping into the crystal when he could channel no more of his own energy into the woman. Still he had learnt the hard way to listen to Serenity when she said something was important. "You know this will leave me weak until tomorrow."
Serenity snorted, "Weak to you is normal for the majority of my former soldiers Ranma."
"Meh," Ranma replied in disinterest. He was never really interested in comparing himself with the strength of others only making sure that he was the strongest he could be.
Serenity watched as the blue started fading from the woman's extremities and then from the rest of her body. She nodded approvingly at Ranma's control over the crystal's healing energies as the woman's face regained a health glow.
"Aaaaagggghhhhhhhh!" The woman cried mournfully sitting up in confusion. "Never had that reaction before," Ranma mumbled to himself starring at the woman.
Ehri stared worriedly at the screens in front of her, she had been called up to the communication operations by a junior officer. He was passing responsibility but she didn't mind, this was important she could feel it. Mars outer senses had been giving poor resolution for the last ten minutes when it had suddenly denigrated into static. They were effectively blind against attack and it wasn't uncommon for raiders to be seen this close to the moon.
"Double patrols and move all troops to battle readiness," she commanded snappishly.
"Yes ma'm," Ehri almost didn't notice the nameless officer as he saluted and moved to carry out her orders, she was too preoccupied thinking of all the possible problems that might arise from the current situation. Almost as fast as she imagined problems she mentally planned a series of actions that would neutralise the threat. It was this forethought that made her such a good officer and she took pride in it.
The mournful cry of sirens broke her concentration from the potential attack by bandits or invaders and multiple other scenarios' she had imagined. A drill was a little unexpected but nothing that would interfere with her plans too much, in fact it could just as easily aid in buffering the effects of an attack.
"A drill, at a time like. Alright you know what t…"
"Citizens of mars," the voice of their princess was broadcast planet wide "our world and our entire kingdom faces the biggest threat in our lifetime." On the rare opportunities she had had to meet the princess Ehri had never heard her sounding so grim. "An initial report suggests that our outer installations have been over run by an unknown aggressor. I call on you all to rise up and resist in the name of the moon. More than that, I call on you all to defend our home," if Mar's outer defences had been overrun so fast the threat must be dire indeed.
She had toured the defences herself along with more senior offices and to her they had looked impregnable. Constantly being upgraded, they contributed to Mar's reputation of being the planet of war. Certainly Mar's was the home to the best warriors in the kingdom supported by the best weaponry. If they had been taken down so easily it was easy to see why her princess sounded so grim.
A respectful silence followed the broadcast before Ehri decided that they could not afford to waste a minute more "If the princess found it necessary to broadcast such a message planet wide then we can't afford waste another minute. I want updates every five minutes!" She shouted as raced for the barracks, it was there that she would be able to do what she was trained to do – lead troops in the defence of her homeland in the name of princess Serenity and her princess."
Running across the open yard that stood between the communication ops and the barracks Ehri couldn't help but grip her side arm in an attempt to stifle the worried churning in her stomach. No one had shut off the sirens and probably wouldn't until the attackers had been eliminated. She didn't doubt they would eventually triumph- couldn't doubt.
"An officer, now heres a prize boys," drawled a gravely voice from in front her.
Ehri blinked as she was charged from the direction of the barracks by some foreign troops. She just stood in confusion as Beryl's motif flashed against the starry night, they had been allied for years surely Beryl would not stage something like this.
"Lets do her quick, these damn Martians just won't die and we're on a time limit you know." The thugs rough sounding words enraged her, snapping her out of her temporary stupor and prompting her to action.
Ehri scowled in consternation but then smirked at the soldiers comment with pride. Her people would not go down without a fight, she had trained them personally and she would lead them once she had put down the threat in front of her, allies or not. Pulling her side arm she shot three before engaging the other two in close combat.
The men's heavyset unaugmented bodies could not keep up with her hours of drilling in the Martian arts. The fact that she had recently become an active part in the experimental nannite program meant that Beryl's soldiers went down even faster. Not even looking at the smoking bodies of the five enemies behind her she continued her sprint to the Barracks.
"Princess," Ehri gasped out. Before her, a numerically superior enemy was massacring her troops. The black uniform of Beryl mingled with the red of Mars making their technological superiority redundant. Overhead jets and gun platforms roared futilely amid the background of the mournful sirens, at that moment she feared that those sirens would over see the fall of Mars, something that not even the moon princess had been able to do before they had joined forces in peace.
"To me!" She cried as she jumped into the melee immediately feeling the weight of the overwhelming odds facing her. "To me!" the press of bodies and the immediacy of the mortal combat didn't allow her time for seeds of doubt to grow and affect her combat potential, she just continued to lash out, killing anyone in a black uniform and bearing the traitorous queens motif.
"Its good to see you boss, thought you weren't gunna make it to the party," grunted Eijhi as he frantically warded off the enemies attempts to disembowel him, it was to close to use their superior arms so instead they had to fall back on their traditional training. The Martian arts were effective but not effective enough against such a large number.
"Report," she snapped. Eijhi was her right hand man and under normal circumstances she would enjoy bantering with him but these…
Even as she noted more of her squad joining her Eijhi started his report, "we were completely surprised. The first warning we got was Beryl's damn dogs smashing down our walls. We are making them bleed but its not looking good, someone managed to trip the siren and the Princess got a broadcast off b…"
Ehri stared at Eijhi's broken body abstractly almost unconsciously twisting the head off the soldier responsible. "Lets join the princess people," she instructed the mostly half dressed and bloody troop around her. The princess was making short work of the black flood that tried to crush her but all it took was a lucky hit and she would be engulfed.
"Fumhi lets get moving!" the noise of the sirens, the jets and the screaming of dying men and women all made communication almost impossible but it seemed that they understood her intention as she slowly made her way to the red rock amidst a sea of black, a rock that threatened to go under at any moment.
"Princess!" she cried out as her troop moved in an attempt to give her room. Ehri noticed that only half of their original number remained fighting but turned her focus on the princess. She at least would have an out to such a hopeless situation.
"Ehri, we have fallen. I want you to escape on the colony ship that we have been building. Take as many citizens as you can manage and take Bokkhai if he's still alive. He will serve you well, now go while there is more fighting than dying to be done!" Although it wrenched her heart at the thought of her home falling so easily, so quickly there was nothing she could do but obey her princess, it was what she had been born for.
Fighting her way out of the melee the princess of mars surrounded by her valiant troop burned in her mind, even with her eyes closed she could see them fighting to their last breathe and their death screams cut through her hands as she tried to block them from her ears.
"Aaaaagggghhhhhh!" She screamed mournfully sitting up in confusion. It seemed that she was in a medical facility of some kind not a battlefield, what the hell was going on and who was the pigtailed youth standing over her?
Genma banged on the doors of the dojo, his imposing figure had regained much of its energy from the sparing session with his son. His handkerchief and Gi was still stained with blood but his son had gone easy on him. There were times he had decided to test Genma's skill by going hard, it took him weeks to heal from those sessions.
He was far worse than the master ever was where training was concerned, fairer but far more brutal. 'How had his son become so powerful' he wondered. "Genma!" A middle-aged man with a moustache burst from the Dojo flanked by two young girls. "It's been too long," he cried launching himself at his old friend. "Tell me where is your son and why have you been taking training so seriously." Suon stared worriedly at the bloodstains that adorned his Gi, some older than others.
"Tendo, that is something we have to discuss." He said seriously, following Tendo into the house and sitting at the table while a third young girl poured some tea. "I am a changed man, my son has changed me for the better. I would love to stay here but I cannot endorse the engagement that we made all those years ago." His son would not accept such foolish behaviour, besides brute force was not a path he ever liked taking with his son, it was far too painful. More subtle measures had far more chances of success besides.
Taking a sip from his tea from where he had been sat before Suon's daughters he began to explain before he was interrupted, "I have been training my son for ten years now. But I wasn't the only one to train him over that period; he was so dedicated that he often sought out other teachers to teach him techniques and styles that I knew nothing about. It filled me with such pride that no mater what teacher he had visited or what training I put him through he returned to me, often much stronger than he had left and so I begun to work harder trying to be worthy of such devotion. Often I learnt as much from him, as he from me, Ranma truly is the heir that we hoped for. Even as Ranma exceeded my expectations I have tried to exceed his and it is my decision as his father that this engagement is not in his best interests."
"Are you saying my little girls aren't good enough," Suon growled dangerously. His agreement with Genma had been all he had thought about since his wife died, to have his daughters rejected so easily did not sit well.
"Not at all," Genma sighed tiredly, finishing his tea with a final gulp. "They all look like fine daughters but ultimately it needs to be Ranma's decision. That is why I still hope that you will accept us into your home and not mention the engagement again." It was Genma's hope that a prolonged stay would do more for a relationship than any pressure he could apply.
"Surely as his father you…" Suon blustered trying to convince his friend that the engagement was still salvageable. Genma noticed that the girls expressions were carefully blanketed while he discussed the engagement with his old training partner. Likely he had not thought to tell them about the agreement between their families until this morning.
"No old friend, besides who do you think knocked be about so badly."
"You mean…."
Genma just nodded as both men shuddered, Suons daughters watched the exchange with interested but though the youngest always looked ready to interrupt she never did.
A/N – If you have the American version of SM it is based on ep 38, the Japanese – ep 45.
