Disclaimer; This fanfiction uses existing ideas, characters and or worlds, but is an independent work of art. I own nothing, hence the reason for publishing my writings here instead of in real books where I could make some money.


Erwin Talon was not in a happy mood, something that unfortunately seemed to develop into a trend lately.

Not only had he been outbid on the Amulet of Truth by Penny Pincer, but Zelda, his chauffeur and bodyguard at this activity, had gotten her butt handed to her by a strange woman with a huge sword.

The Harpy that usually acted as Pincer's bodyguard was apparently off duty for family matters and this woman had taken her place until the issue could be resolved.

Erwin had counted on that harpy being there, as he knew from previous encounters with her that she was as spineless as a jellyfish and as naïve as a toddler, the perfect victim of Zelda's bully tactics of diplomacy and negotiation. Because the harpy was not there, and the new woman was nowhere near as easily intimidated or beaten, the auction had been lost to the former nemesis of Gina Diggers.

When he returned to his lab, he had related his experience to the Amazons, or rather, the one called Cologne.

"So, you're saying that this Pincer woman's regular bodyguard took the day off for family reasons, and was replaced by a professional?" asked Cologne curiously. "Did the woman mention something else … Some information of use, perhaps?"

"Not much," huffed Erwin, annoyed both at his situation, and that he couldn't get more sympathy for it. "They mentioned that they would visit the Diggers place this evening and pick up the Harpy, Charlotte, then … but that's it …"

"So, the Diggers have returned?" enquired Cologne in thought. "Then chances are that Ranma has returned as well …"

"If he was their guest on their trip, yes," agreed Erwin, still not calmed down from the humiliation of being outbid.

"Then it's time we gathered our people and retrieved my wayward Son-in-Law before he disappears again."


Ranma shivered for some reason as he welded the last piece of steel to his latest invention. He had gotten a little time to himself after the whole baby revelation and induction of Charlotte into the "Harem" he seemed to have gathered, and decided to put that time to good use.

The invention he now had before him looked like two rings of steel, the hoop large enough to fit a blue whale through if it was determined enough. The ring itself was smoothed at the edges, almost like the rings normally worn on the hand, only much bigger, and containing about a kilometre of chi-tech wiring inside just one of them. On the side, a console was mounted much like a diamond setting on a ring, only containing a monitor and keyboard instead of diamonds.

One might wonder what the function of these rings may be, but this question was about to be answered.

Ranma carried one ring to one end of the lab, facing inwards, and carried the other ring to the opposite end of the lab.

Picking up a wrench from a workbench near the centre of the lab, Ranma returned to the closest ring, and started pressing buttons on the console.

A whoosh filled the lab, and both rings suddenly filled with what looked to be a swirling vortex of bright, shimmering water, appearing not too differently from how water starts whirling down a drain.

Stepping out in front of the ring, Ranma tossed the tool through.

-Clank!-

Looking over his shoulder, Ranma was satisfied to see the wrench falling to the ground before the other ring, with as much force as if it had not been transported across the room first.

There had been a tiny delay of about one hundredth of a second, but that was acceptable, considering the device was only in its test phase, and transport had not occurred before the entire object had passed through the vortex.

The vortex suddenly disappeared from sight with a similar whoosh as when it came to be, and Ranma drew the wrench to him with telekinesis, before placing it in the ring, balancing on the rim, but still intersecting the non-existent vortex.

Once again, Ranma pressed some buttons on the ring console.

-Beep!-Beep!-

" Connection cannot be established, " answered the monotone male voice Ranma had put in it … he had borrowed one of the voice-boxes of the numerous hurtbots that were in for repairs. " An object is obstructing the gap, please remove it and try again. "

Nodding in satisfaction, Ranma removed the wrench, and pressed the same buttons.

The vortex whooshed into being once more, and Ranma placed the wrench back where he had just removed it, before stepping back and checking a timer he started to compare times.

Time marched on, but the vortex did not turn off, and the wrench did not appear on the other end.

Making a note of this, Ranma made an attempt at shutting the ring down manually.

-Beep!-Beep!-

" Warning! An object is still in transit, shutdown aborted! " informed the voice.

Ranma nodded once more, expecting this, and attempted to pull the wrench back, only to discover that this was not possible, leaving him with only one choice … force it through.

-Clank!-

Ranma watched as the wrench appeared on the other side of the lab and once more nodded in satisfaction.

"All right, who's messing with my precision tools?" demanded the annoyed voice of Gina Diggers as the woman entered the lab. "Oh, it's you …"

"Sorry," Ranma apologised sheepishly, raising one hand to the back of his neck as always when he feels embarrassed. "I was testing an invention of mine, and your wrench was the first thing I could find … it won't happen again, I promise!"

"That's okay, Ranma," purred Gina, sauntering up to Ranma and pressing herself against him. For one reason or another, she wasn't upset anymore. "You can mess with my equipment any time you want …"

"Er …"

"So, what is this invention of yours, hmmm?" cooed Gina and nuzzled her face into Ranma's neck, practically oozing pheromones of her own as she played with the hairs at the back of his neck, where his pigtail used to be.

It took a moment for Ranma to gather himself from the state of arousal Gina was putting him in with her rubbing, her tone and wandering fingers, but he managed, and coughed once before speaking again, to clear his throat of some excess saliva.

"Well," he started, knowing full well that Gina was capable of focusing on both his speech and her activities simultaneously. "It is somewhat similar to your Light Gate device … but with set entrances and exits, like doorways. Once activated, these rings will transport objects or living creatures from the ring they activated to the one they wanted to go to."

"Why rings?" was the only thing Gina could think to ask as she glanced at the device.

"It has to do with even distribution of energy to the vortex … any other shape would cause an uneven flow to the centre and could cause some nasty consequences …" explained Ranma. "And before you ask, the rings only work one way, so it's impossible to return to the point of origin without waiting for the shutdown and "redial" the ring back from where you came."

"So each vortex is a one-way street, so to speak?"

"Yes," confirmed Ranma.

"How about universal positioning?" asked the snuggling genius from where she was cuddling Ranma's side. "Wouldn't it be difficult to need constant knowledge of things like Lunar revolution, Earth revolution, Lunar orbit, Earth's orbit around the sun, the sun's revolution in the galaxy and the galaxy drifts just to calculate where the other ring is accordingly?"

"Not really," answered Ranma. "I've installed a positioning matrix in both rings that keep constant track of those things in relation to each other, so in theory, I should be able to place one ring on one end of the universe, and another on the other end, and still manage near-instantaneous transportation between them by allowing them to bend space between them"

"Wow …" commented an awed Gina. "What are the drawbacks?"

"Surprisingly only one I can think of …" answered Ranma. "If something stops halfway through the vortex, more or less, the vortex will not shut down, and the object will not appear on the other end until the object is pushed completely through … this could of course be solved by adding a certain amount of vacuum to the vortex, allowing it to pull in things that has started the transit but lost momentum, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet …"

"Well, you could try-"

"We're under attack!"

Ranma and Gina turned to the doorway, where Beebee came barrelling through with her announcement.

"In the front yard, Peewee's Minions and a bunch of scantily clad women with weapons led by a monkey on a stick!" she elaborated as she came to a halt before the two scientists. "We've got to do something before we run out of Peebos and Hurtbots!"


Outside the house, Peewee's minions and the Amazons were fighting the flood of Peebos and Hurtbots in order to get to the house and retrieve the werecat known as Ranma.

In order to make their fighting more efficient, the groups had set their magic users in the back of the battle, and the physical fighters on the front … that way, the ones in the back would be able to remove threats to their comrades, while remaining safe from stray explosions while focusing on spells.

This was the scene that presented itself to Ranma as he exited the house: Craters from exploding Peebos, littered parts of robot anatomy, gouges in the ground from blades of various sorts missing or being deflected from their intended target, scorch marks on the walls where spells had missed their target and struck anything behind them, two dozen scantily armoured women battling Hurtbots and dodging Peebos, two male shinobi cutting through the robots that strayed from the main battle front, a long-haired woman in a maid's uniform and a bald woman in a green bathing suit tearing hurtbots apart with their bare hands while cursing at each other for hogging all the fun or getting in the way, and two magic users, one of each gender, flinging spell after spell after their mechanical opponents.

As he was about to join the Hurtbots in their fight, two familiar women stepped into his path.

One of them was about his height in human form, long purple hair and dressed in a short silk dress. The other rode on the first's shoulder, was about a foot and a half in height, with white hair twice as long, and eyes as big as tennis balls … she looked like a monkey, had it not been for the robes she wore and the cane she usually hopped around on.

"Hello, Son-in-Law," the old woman croaked from the shoulder of her great granddaughter. "We finally tracked you down … your disappearance has cost us nothing but trouble, so you will come back to our village without resistance, and assume your duties as Shampoo's husband."

The matter-of-fact tone Cologne had as she dictated Ranma's fate served to do nothing but irritate him.

"I'm sorry my transformation and subsequent banishment was an inconvenience to you," he ground out with a heavy serving of sarcasm. "But I'm not yours to command … I'm staying with my real friends and family, and there's nothing you can do to make me!"

Cologne was visibly restraining her own anger at the disobedience of youth, and keeping Shampoo from lunging at her Airen before the conversation was over.

Before she could retort in any way, something caught Cologne's eye.

Just outside the house behind Ranma, a group of women had emerged and were debating whether or not to jump into the battle. That several women had fallen for him wasn't all that uncommon around Ranma, although they seemed to be very organised and cooperative where the young man was concerned. What was uncommon was the winged woman with talons on her hands and feet, caressing an unmistakably pregnant belly through a maternity dress, while looking concernedly at Ranma.

"Son-in-Law, is that your child?" Cologne finally asked, not taking her eyes off the bulging belly of the seeming Phoenix woman.

"It is," admitted Ranma slowly. "What of it?"

Shampoo looked murderous for a moment, and was about to lunge for the obstacle between her and her husband, but Cologne bopped her on the head with her cane to keep her in place.

"Then we can, indeed, not simply bring you with us as originally planned …"

"Oh?" questioned Ranma suspiciously … this was usually the point in the conversation where some obscure Amazon law would make a major impact on his life. He was not to be disappointed.

"Amazons live in a Matriarchal society, and as such we hold pregnant women and mothers in high esteem …" explained Cologne. "As a mother-to-be has laid claim on you already, Shampoo's claim diminishes in significance. In practical terms, you are hereby free of the "Kiss of Marriage," Koki Ranma."

A whoop sounded from several of the women behind Ranma, and as a group, the women started hugging and airing ideas for weddings.

"Don't celebrate just yet," interrupted Cologne. "There is still the matter of the "Kiss of Death" to be taken care of …"

"What, you're going to try and kill me again?" asked Ranma, groaning at the unfairness of it all.

"We are not barbarians, Ranma," corrected Cologne in a sniff. "A similar situation has arisen before, and was fit into our laws. In this case, you, Ranma, will have to battle a village Matriarch in your mate's stead. Should you win, you will be released from all our laws and influence … you'll be free and likely never hear from us again. But, if you should lose, Shampoo will once again have the chief claim on you, and your child will be adopted into the village. The Mother will not remember you or the child you had together, and will be free to start over with someone else …"

"Formula 411 …" growled Ranma, remembering how Shampoo had used this formula on Akane, not long after he first arrived at the Tendo dojo.

"Correct," confirmed Cologne. "Now, shall we?"

Knowing that there was little else he could do that did not involve killing every Amazon present, Ranma nodded and followed the ancient woman as she hopped into the centre of the fray, where the Amazon women had started making a battle-free circle, forming a makeshift ring with fighting surrounding it.

While his back was turned, Shampoo turned to the group of women with murder in her eyes … they stood in the way of her love.

"Obstacles are for killing!" she declared before leaping at them, her blunt weapons raised in preparation for attack, only to feel herself being flung violently in the opposite direction by an unseen force. She was knocked out when the back of her head crashed through a tree and into a fire hydrant, which started pouring out water enough to rain on most of the battle, and turning her into a pinkish purple cat.

Cologne looked surprised when the water started raining down on Ranma, and no change occurred.

"Wh-"

"Part of the transformation Happosai forced on me," interrupted Ranma, anticipating her question. "It switched the trigger from water to a mental and biological command, now, should we get on with the fight, or chat about the weather?"

"Very well," conceded Cologne. "But we need to establish a few ground rules. Number one, no killing … this is not a fight to the death, so lethal force is off limits! Number two, no hybrid or beast form, because it would give an unfair advantage that could be looked upon as cheating. Number three, no poisons-"

"Or potions," added Ranma, to make sure he had at least some angle covered … it wouldn't do to look too confident against one of his former strongest opponents.

"-or potions," added Cologne grudgingly. "Anything else?"

"No outside interference," suggested Ranma, giving the hissing pink cat a knowing look.

"Of course!" exclaimed Cologne in near outrage. "That goes without saying!"

"I'd rather you said it," commented Ranma, giving the ancient woman a flat stare. He wouldn't put it past her to claim she had not agreed to the rule of no interference if he didn't make her say it. She'd probably claim she was agreeing with something else …

"Fine, there will be no outside interference," growled Cologne in annoyance. "But apart from this, it is, as you usually are so fond of putting it, Anything Goes."

"Excellent," said Ranma, falling into a tight defensive stance in preparation for battle, shifting back from hybrid form to human form. "Let's begin."

Cologne immediately knew something was wrong, now. In all the time she had known Ranma, he had never once fallen into any recognisable defensive stance at the opening of a fight … usually, he relied on his no-stance stance to lure his opponents into a false sense of security or enrage them for not taking them seriously. Either Ranma was really taking this fight very seriously or his transformation and mage training with Dr Diggers had robbed him of some of his hard-earned skill, causing him to fall back on the basics. This, however, was very unlikely … that meant Ranma was not going to hold back and was taking this fight dead seriously. But, she still had a couple of centuries of experience on him, so there was little he did that would surprise her in a fight, no matter how unpredictable he was.

Believing her victory already won, Cologne initiated the confrontation with a Splitting Cat's Hairs technique, surrounding Ranma with as many as six phantom images of herself to confuse him into making a mistake, such as attacking the wrong image.

Seeing Ranma glance around, Cologne smirked and replaced her staff with a sword, single-edged, thin and long, made with silver mixed into the iron and cooled with holy water, made specifically for battle against supernatural creatures, and a decorative white foot-long silk streamer attached to a hoop at the pummel. While the silver would burn him badly, Cologne knew what she was doing, and knew it wouldn't kill him or poison him long-term, so technically, she wasn't breaking the rules … Ranma being a werecat, she had expected him to ban silver weapons from the fight … too bad for him, because his forgetfulness was going to win her the fight.

As the sword cut into Ranma's arm, he exploded into smoke, blinding Cologne as well as shocking her … silver was not supposed to have this effect on werecreatures!

"Great grandmother! Watch out!" Shampoo called from the sidelines … where she had gotten hot water to change back remained a mystery. "Above you!"

Out of instinct, Cologne listened to and heeded the warning of her great granddaughter, and leapt away when she saw Ranma descending rapidly, feet first.

-Fwump!-

The sound produced by the impact between the already pockmarked lawn and the werecat in human form was not all that great … however, the results were impressive.

A crater, five feet in radius, formed where Ranma had landed, and soil and grass rained down on all who were watching.

"Isn't this cheating, Cologne?" asked Ranma seriously, nodding at the young Amazon at the edge of the battlefield. The fighting surrounding the two had died down somewhat, as the hurtbots had started to run out, and those remaining opted to protect their creator from random attacks instead of attacking. The peebos had run out, and their memory and personality chips were in the lab, waiting for Brianna to create new vessels for them. So the Amazon warriors instead focused on cheering for their appointed leader for this realm, and keeping Peewee's minions from interfering.

"Shampoo," called Cologne, her face just as serious as Ranma's. "Stop interfering with the fight! You dishonour our clan by breaking the rules set for this battle!"

"But, great grandmother-"

"No!" Cologne interrupted angrily. "Any more interruptions and we will lose because of them! Understood?"

Shampoo nodded reluctantly, and bowed her head in mild shame.

"Good, then let's continue," said Ranma, and once more slid into a defensive stance.

Determined not to be fooled a second time, Cologne once more raced in with her sword swinging for a blow.

-Snap!-Snikt!-hummm!-

But the sword never came as far as she had counted on, as Ranma blocked it with what looked like a flashlight with a four-foot long solid beam of light as thick as handle, wielded like a sword.

Confusion was the dominant expression on Cologne's face as she studied the beam of light. This thing could not be magic … there was no magic in it, but how else could such a weapon have been crafted? And how did Ranma, who normally shunned weapons, get his hands on it?

"I see you like my sword," commented Ranma lightly, something Cologne thought he should not have been able to with the pressure she was exerting on the blade. "I'm proud to say I made it myself … hardly took me an hour putting it together, and when I set it for lethal, it can cut through nearly anything! Including your sword …"

Listening to the not-too-disguised hint, Cologne retreated a few steps, and watched as Ranma stowed his energy sword away into stuff space, displaying that he knew how to perform the Amazon technique personally, and was not simply emulating it with technology.

Patiently waiting for Cologne to attack again, Ranma took a page from Happosai's book of fighting.

As the short, ancient woman rushed at Ranma with her sword, Ranma sidestepped the gleaming blade, and by touching her extended hand, he redirected Cologne's momentum in the same direction Happosai usually did … up.

As the old woman was still unwillingly ascending, Ranma stepped aside and pulled out a gun from stuff space, clicking the safety off and checking the clip to make sure it wasn't jammed in any way.

This almost casual behaviour in the middle of a fight caused several of the Amazons to bristle, but they could not intervene, because that would cause their side to forfeit … and the weapon he had was clearly within the limits of the rules, provided he aimed carefully before firing.

Cologne had no sooner touched down, experienced enough in unwilling flight to make landings less damaging, before she was forced to leap out of the way.

A series of explosions immediately followed where she had initially landed, and Cologne looked at her opponent, seeing him standing there with a gun aimed at her … however, the barrel of the gun seemed too small to propel bullets with exploding tips through it … as a matter of fact, the opening hardly looked wide enough to fit bullets of even the smallest calibre through … this was not a normal weapon, she realised.

Her suspicion was confirmed when she saw him fire once more.

A needle-like projectile was fired out of the gun instead of a bullet.

Not only that, but it was glowing, and had a pocket of energy cutting through the air for it to lessen air resistance and chance of deflection by any means.

Of course, Cologne was not curious enough to see what effects this projectile would have on her after seeing what it had done to the ground, so she dove out of the way, as did the Amazons standing behind her, allowing the projectile to strike a weathered tree at the very end of the property. The tree broke apart in the explosion and knocked out the female magic-user with one of its many branches.

"This is very unlike you, Koki," commented Cologne as she assessed the damage done by a single shot of this strange gun. "You used to abhor the use of weapons, and here you are, using a beam of light for a sword that was not magic, which makes it highly advanced technology, and a gun that fires senbon needles with energy-blasts in them."

"Being changed into a werecat, banished to a prison for powerful supernatural villains, then sent to a world that is more or less in the technological dark ages has a tendency of changing ones view of certain things, Ghoul," Ranma quipped. "But, I made those weapons myself, so I don't mind using them … and by the way, those weren't senbon needles, they were toothpicks!"

"That doesn't matter," Cologne smirked, ignoring the insulting nickname. "I was merely playing for distraction to allow me to get my second wind. Splitting Cat's Hair technique!"

Again, Ranma was surrounded by half a dozen phantom images of Cologne, all smirking and brandishing their swords.

"You won't trick me with another replacement technique, this time!" they all called.

"Who needs to use a replacement technique?" returned Ranma, equally smug.

Suddenly, there were six of Ranma, standing in a circle with their backs against each other, facing outwards towards Cologne.

"Good luck finding the real one," stated the Ranma standing directly behind where Cologne thought the original had been standing. What she found extraordinary, was that only that one spoke, unlike her own phantom images who could not move independently of the original. "Is it me?" asked the one next to the previous speaker. "Or me?" asked the one opposite that one. Cologne briefly wondered how Ranma had not only learned the Splitting Cat's Hair technique, but improved on it to such a degree that the images looked solid, and appeared to have independent thought. It would be a shame to let such talent go to waste outside the village!

It took a moment, but Cologne managed to spot one of the images smirking a little wider than the others, and determined that this must be the original.

Throwing the sword at Ranma, Cologne pulled her staff back from stuff space, and sped after the blade, intent on knocking Ranma out as soon as he dodge the sword.

It came as a great surprise to the Amazon Matriarch when Ranma slapped his hands on the flat sides of the blade, trapping it and then lodged it into the ground to the hilt with a swift toss … with no visible pain, burns or injuries anywhere.

So surprised was she, that she didn't realise she was under attack until she felt a pair of hands on each limb, restraining her and keeping her from gaining leverage to break loose.

"You are incapable of moving," stated the Ranma who had touched the sword without injury. "I win."

"You win," Cologne grudgingly admitted.

"I'll be left alone by the Amazons?" asked Ranma to make sure they understood each other.

"No Amazon will bother you again, if it can be helped," confirmed Cologne.

"Then, as a Weapons-Master of Jade, and the Head of the Weredinictis Clan, I command you all to leave now, and not bother me, or my loved ones again!" declared Ranma forcefully, using his title for the first time.

The five Ranma clones holding Cologne in place disappeared in clouds of smoke, and the Amazon Matriarch was free to move. She did not, however, as she was too stricken by this unexpected revelation, so she chose to stare and gape at Ranma.

The Amazons from Jade, however, did as they felt, and bowed in a show of respect for One of the Ten as he exerted his power for the protection of others.

One of the Jade Amazons stepped forward and gave an additional bow to Ranma before facing Cologne.

"Our contract is now over," she stated. "We can now return home without shame."

"Huh?" Ranma's eloquent question was the only response the woman got.

"The Amazons of this realm hired us to aid them in tracking you down, honoured Weapons-Master," the Amazon elaborated respectfully. "Time and again, you evaded our pursuit, and soon we had to give up on our pay, because your repeated escapes were blots on our record that had to be erased. But, now we see that the reason why we were unable to track you down, was not because of incompetence on our part … it was because of your skill, and now that we managed to catch up with you, Weapons-Master Ranma, our honour is returned to us three-fold. Not many in Jade can boast of the skill to track down a Weapons-Master that doesn't wish to be found, but now we can, and are thus able to return to our homes without fear of disciplinary action."

Ranma didn't want to ruin her fantasies by telling her that he didn't even know he was being tracked down most of the time, and wasn't deliberately hiding, and kept quiet. Honour was still important to him, so he respected that others held it in high esteem as well.

Shampoo, however, was not satisfied with the results of the battle, and lunged at Ranma with the intent to glomp him into changing his mind about abandoning her to her tribe.

She didn't even get within seven feet of him before she felt herself stop in mid-air, and remain there.

"It's over, Shampoo," stated Ranma sternly, his back turned to her. "There is nothing you can do or say to change my mind about you, so there is no point in trying. If you do persist in your futile quest for my heart and body, I will not restrain my girlfriends from doing you serious bodily harm, and may inflict some of my own." Shouts of "HELL YEAH!" and "BRING IT ON, B#&!" could be heard from the doorway where several of Ranma's suitors were standing.

"But I love you, Airen!" protested Shampoo, notably better in coherency than Ranma usually heard her, leading him to realise that she had not been as dumb as she pretended to be … just like him.

"That may be," agreed Ranma. "But I do not return those feelings, and it would be not only cruel to allow you to believe that I did, but my girlfriends have grown in number lately, and I'm afraid they may feel less loved if I accepted girls on the criteria of only them loving me, and not both ways. I could never accept a girlfriend I didn't care about. I know you would not only try to dominate me because of how you were raised, but also my girlfriends, which would more than likely lead to a fight. I will not condone such things, so I will not give you more chances to prove that you can change.

"Good bye, Xian Pu of the Joketsuzoku Amazons … I wish you a happy life, away from me."

Setting the young woman down and letting the other Amazons restrain Shampoo from making more attempts at intimacy. Ranma walked back to the doorway, where his girlfriends greeted him with one big group hug and words of endearment and gratitude for his speech.


Somewhere just outside of Tokyo, the prison guards were getting nervous.

It had happened quite coincidentally … no one were to blame, and none would take the blame if someone indeed was at fault.

The event in question was something that could end very badly for everyone in the prison … a Master and Student had been reunited in the courtyard.

"Master!" exclaimed the still overweight Genma as he grovelled at the feet of Happosai.

Happosai couldn't say he was surprised that Genma had ended up in jail … sooner or later the man was bound to run into troubles with the law that couldn't be solved by running away or blaming his son, but still, the man was so good at both that it was almost surprising anyway.

"Hello, Saotome," greeted Happosai casually. "What brings you to this abysmal, yet ironically appropriate place?"

"My disobedient, dishonourable son, is what!" moaned Genma in theatrical emotional pain. "Oh, to be cursed with such a horrid child!"

"Ranma?" asked Happosai. "For some reason, I was under the impression that he had passed on …"

"No, he's still alive!" corrected Genma and held out his forearms. "He put these things on me to sap me of my strength! He had me arrested! And worst of all, he did it in his cursed form and refused to change back!"

"Interesting …" Happosai muttered. He briefly wondered what happened to Ranma's fur … he seemed to recall Ranma turning shorter and hairier when the spell was improperly performed. But he couldn't really remember much else until he was crawling along the streets in search of medical attention. Surely Genma would have mentioned such details about Ranma if he had indeed seen him in the state Happosai had changed him into … and those bracers were masterfully crafted … how had Ranma gotten things like that?

"But now, you can free me from these infernal things!" exclaimed Genma happily. "We can both escape, and seek out my ungrateful son, then force him to marry Akane, and hand over control of his money to us! Oh, happy day! My retirement is assured! He's filthy rich from some kind of invention, you know … We're set for lif-!"

"No."

"Huh?"

"We are both in this place for good reasons," explained Happosai sagely, something not all that uncommon for him, but it was usually followed by a lecherous panty-raid or groping of women … there were no women within groping distance here, nor was there vast amounts of food and sake, so that was also out as a reason to act so wise. "I know I have broken the law on several occasions, as have you, and I intend to serve whatever time they decide I deserve, and not only make the best of it, but try and make those I have transgressed against accept my forgiveness.

"As for your son, I am surprised he didn't grow a backbone strong enough to thrash you for your sins against him sooner. I always knew he was holding back in some way, but never could find out in what area … his mind was the last place I would have thought to look …"

"But, Master-!"

"I'll hear none of it," protested Happosai. "We both deserve what we get, and it would make things infinitely more pleasant for you if you simply accepted that there is nothing you can do to escape, with or without my help. Now, leave me be, before you earn me an increased sentence for assaulting a fellow inmate. Good day."

Without listening to the desperate pleas of his former student, Happosai wandered to the other end of the courtyard, petting the body of the amorous octopus hiding under his shirt while pondering how to phrase a letter of apology to Ranma, and how to go about finding the address to send such a letter to.


Somewhere unknown, Gothwrain was contemplating the news his spies in Jade had brought him about the mysterious werecat. He had of course put this together with what he had learned of the werecat in the Earth realm.

It was clear that the werecat was already immensely powerful, being able to not only tie with a Weapons-Master in a sparring match, but beat her in a fight barely a month later … and his skill in learning new magic was unrivalled, to Gothwrain's knowledge. This was of course not a good thing when the werecat in question was supposed to be a threat. And that he seemed immune to the adverse effects of silver, magic and injuries from fellow werecreatures did not make him any less dangerous.

He had, naturally, sent out wererat ninja to shadow the werecat, to make sure that he didn't start hunting down wererats.

That bumbling trio of fools he had sent after Koki were only for distraction while competent ninja wererats surveyed them and their target.

When that idiot Romeo managed to leave DNA behind after a confrontation with Koki, those secret operatives went into the home of Talon and retrieved all records and samples of the DNA Romeo had left behind.

Now, what was he, Gothwrain, going to use his information for?

The only aggression shown towards wererats by Koki, had been in self defence, and that had been attempted rectified when the fight was over and had led to the loss of Lydia McCracken's loyalty to the wererat cause. If what Romeo theorised in the brief report he mailed before he was captured in a failed rescue mission along with his busty team mate, Moisha, then the real threat Koki posed, was not to the wererat cause, but rather to Gothwrain's power. Having every female wererat falling in lust with the werecat would be disastrous, as with any sentient species, the female holds a certain sway over the male, and if they left, the men would follow, if for nothing else than the continuation of the species, and to yell at the werecat for stealing their women.

However, he knew that he was not the only one to get information on the werecat … his spies had families and friends, all of whom somehow managed to hear about the same things, and spread it before the information could be classified and contained.

Already, nearly half a dozen wererats had defected merely upon hearing that not all werecats were evil, and hearing about one of their own loving and being loved by one sped up the defection by thirty percent. Ranma and Lydia were already made into secret legends among the wererats, and those teenaged, giggly wererat girls had been caught fantasising out loud about the romance of the new werecat man. This had gotten one or two wererat women to do the same, and even if it hadn't officially been mentioned to him yet, Gothwrain was aware of an illustrated romance novel circulating, named after the image painted onto the car Koki had made, claiming the story to be a modified version of Romeo & Juliet of the fantasy and science fiction world.

It had been a week since the first defector … the number of disgruntled wererats were increasing daily because of the novel called "The Black Paw," and the rumours of Koki's achievements in the realms of the mind, heart, body and spirit.

But, what could be done to Koki without making him and Lydia into martyrs?

The only possible solution would be to somehow drag Koki's reputation through the mud … dig up horrible secrets from his past and pelt him with them to make him lose some of his following. If he somehow managed to make Koki's name worth less than the paper and ink it would take to write his name, then he could arrange for the werecat to meet with an accident, without anyone suspecting him or creating a form of religion or faction in the werecat's name.

But the question remained … where could he get his hands on such information?


Author's Notes; Well, I'm back! Turns out the Norwegian Corps of Engineers (That is what that branch of the army is translated into) aren't that crazy about people with a long history of depression, so they discharged me on my first day … the good news is that I didn't really want to go, but because of the Norwegian recruitment system a certain amount of people under thirty are "drafted" for one year of service –foreign or domestic service is more or less up to the individual- during which time the government will freeze all loan interests and give a good discount on rent on the apartments left behind. The reason I was so secretive during the last few AN, was that I was uncertain about how much I was allowed to tell, but apparently, as long as I do not mention specific names or places, I should be fine. I'm sorry if I led anyone to believe that I was about to charge out into the world, risking life and limbs for my country, though the option to do so was right there on the forms I had to fill out. The bad news is that because of this, I had nothing else planned for the year and am now left dead in the waters … so to speak … I need to get a job …

I know it seems very sudden for Ranma to be in the Lab, tinkering, after the shocking news he received in the previous chapter, but I'm not good with emotions, so I skipped any touchy-feely moments between the last chapter and where we find Ranma in this one.

As for Cologne's brutish style of fighting, I don't know what to say … I know it's not good, but in my defence, it is very difficult to predict how someone you've not seen fight a lot would react to any given situation, and at the time of the fight in this chapter, she is confident in her own victory, meaning she isn't taking it as seriously as she should.

Small writing tip; "Aloud" and "Allowed". When you say something, read, or laugh "Aloud", you speak or laugh so that other people can hear you. If you "Think Aloud", you express your thoughts as they occur to you, rather than thinking first and then speaking. If someone is "Allowed" to do something, it is right for them to do it and they will not get into trouble.

Second writing tip; "Pair", "Par", "Pare" and "Pear". A "Pair" of things are two things of the same shape and size that are used together or are both part of something, for example shoes, earrings, or parts of the body. If you say that two people or things are "On a Par With" each other, you mean that they are equally good or bad, or equally important. When you "Pare" something, or "Pare" part of it off or away, you cut off its skin or its outer layer. A "Pear" is a sweet, juicy fruit which narrows near the end of its stalk, and wider and rounded at the bottom. "Pears" have white flesh, and thin green or yellow skin.

Credits; I know, the rings seem very similar to the Stargates, and that is what I based the idea on, but unlike the Stargates, these rings do not make the "explosion" into the space before them during activation, the energy simply spins into existence, like colouring swirling down the drain in water, sort of appearing along the edges of the vortex, and the vortex doesn't stop until the device is deactivated. If any Stargate fans out there need an image of how the event horizon looks, picture how it looked when SG1 accidentally connected to a Stargate near a Black Hole. I have no idea how those things really work, so I've taken a few liberties and tossed in some explanations that sounded scientific and plausible … if they are not, please inform me, as normal, and I will correct the error … I think my explanation has something to do with Einstein's theories, but I'm not sure … and it would be impossible for me to claim that I got the idea for the rings on my own, because I'm pretty sure I've seen one or two reviews mention something like them, but I can't seem to find them …