Don't even think about it. Just shut up and listen: things happen which prevent me from writing; schoolwork, writers' block, etc. That's why you didn't see an update for a while. But by no means does that mean that this story is finished. I never start a story without finishing it. (At least I like to think so…)

Sorry for being away for so long. The important thing is, I'm back. Plus, this is the chapter you've all been waiting for: the arrival of Max and Ranma at the Tendo Dojo. Plus, our little side story featuring Chinese gangsters will eventually add up to something nice. Enjoy

Chapter 5

Soun Tendo was literally moved to tears by the postcard he held in front of him. It featured a photo of a panda eating bamboo, and was no doubt purchased in some rural Chinese gift shop. He had already read the message fourteen times over just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. It seemed he wasn't.

"R-R-Ranma?...Coming here? Oh, how I've waited for this day!"

With a sudden cry of joy, he whipped his head in several directions, looking around the living room that he sat in. It was time to call the girls.

"Oi! Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!"

When he received no responses, he decided to go retrieve them himself. He first made his way to the kitchen, pushing aside the curtain to reveal his eldest, 19-year old daughter as she was cutting up a watermelon.

"Kasumi!"

"What is it, otou-san?"

He then entered the room of his middle, 17-year old daughter.

"Nabiki!"

"Hmm?"

He then moved to the next room, and opened the door.

"Akane!"

He received no response.

"Where is that girl?"

A young, athletic teenage girl jogged her way through the streets. She huffed as she approached the dojo gates.

"I'm ho-o-o-ome!"

As soon as she reached the dojo, she proceeded to throw aside her jogging clothes, and slip into a gi, which had been neatly laid out and waiting for her. Her actions were continued with the placement of a stack of cinder blocks in the middle of the dojo floor.

"HYAAAHHH!!!"

With a single karate chop, she reduced the blocks to rubble, with pieces flying all over the dojo floor. She stood up, and wiped the sweat from her forehead, letting out a sigh of enjoyment.

"Ahh! That was nice!"

"There you go again, Akane."

The girl turned around to meet her one of her older sisters approaching her.

"No wonder all the boys think you're so weird."

Akane reached down for a towel. "So, why should I care? Not everybody thinks the world revolves around boys, Nabiki."

Nabiki turned away from her younger sister. "No? Well, than I guess this wouldn't interest you."

It was starting to rain as the three girls faced their father from across the table in the living room of the Tendo estate.

"Fiancé?"

"Yes" the father replied. "The son of a very good friend of mine. The sons' name is Ranma Saotome."

He held the postcard in front of him as he cleared his throat. "If one of you three girls were to marry him, and carry on this training center…than the Tendo family legacy would be secure."

"Wait a second!"

Soun watched as his youngest daughter stood up in front of him. "Don't we have some say in who we marry?"

Kasumi seconded the motion. "Akane's right, father. We've never even met this Ranma."

Soun lightly chuckled to himself, tapping the postcard on the table. "Oh, that's easily fixed…"

The residents of Nerima, at least those who happened to be out on the street on this rainy day, were feeling several different emotions as they watched an unusual event unfold in front of them. Some were shocked, a few were amused, and others were just downright afraid. Still, there would no doubt be mixed reactions at seeing a young, exhausted pig-tailed girl in a Chinese outfit struggling to escape from an enormous, vicious-looking Panda.

"Dammit, Pops! I'm telling you- whoa!"

She had to duck to avoid another swing. "Cut this out right now! I'm not going to this place- yikes!"

Max had literally knocked the young aqua transsexual onto her back in the pouring rain, and stood towering over her. Ranma was intimidated, but stood up anyway.

"I don't care about this 'fiancé' thing! I'm going back to China, and there's not a thing-"

KLONG!

She was silenced by street sign upside his head. Max had taken the liberty of ripping one out of the ground while the punk made his point. He jammed it back into the ground, and hoisted the teenager up over his shoulder. As he walked down the street, several pedestrians moved up to get a better look at him. He stopped, turned around to give them all a look, and they all ran screaming.

Glad that part's over. Took longer than I expected. Oh well; it just shows you not to mess with nature. He sighed. If only Steve Irwin were still alive, I'd teach him a thing or two… He retracted his long, steely claws, gave them a once-over, and proceeded down the street, making Robocop sounds with every step.

"My friend and Ranma have been on a voyage of training for the last few years or so" Soun explained to the girls as the rain continued outside. "Recently, it seems they crossed into China, and spent quite a while there."

"Wow, China!" Nabiki said, leaning forward, and putting her elbows on the table.

Akane sulked, looking away from her family. "So they walked through China, big deal."

"Say, father" the eldest daughter began to ask, "is Ranma older? Younger men bore me."

"How much of a hunk is he?" the middle daughter asked.

The smile remained on Soun's face, and he let out a small laugh. After a lengthy pause, he exhaled. "I don't know."

After an even longer pause, Nabiki leaned forward, staring her father right in the eyes. "You don't know?"

"Well, you see, I've never met him."

Heading down another street, Max looked up the line of houses, eventually coming upon a long stonewall with a large gate.

Bingo, he thought. Any minute now…

As if on cue, the girl he had slung over his shoulder woke up. After a few seconds, Ranma-chan began beating the back of the large panda with her fists, screaming angrily. To Max, this merely felt like a crappy massage. He'd deal with it soon enough.

"Let me go, you stupid panda, let me go! I told you I don't want any part of this!"

Ignoring the protests, Max approached the gate, and stepped inside.

The Tendo daughters were still sitting in dumbfounded shock and irritation at their father's little revelation. Akane herself was grumbling in anger.

That's when they heard the first sounds of their new guests.

"Dammit, you old fart! I'm not gonna tell you again, put me down!"

"Huh? Who could that be?" Kasumi asked, looking towards the hall.

Standing up in excitement, Nabiki made her way into the hall. "Oh boy! It must be Ranma!"

His eyes tearing up, Soun followed her. "Saotome! We've been waiting!"

They were followed shortly by Kasumi, who was smiling at the thought of guests, and then by Akane, who had her head hung low in irritation. What a waste of time…Boys!

They stopped in their tracks when they saw their father and sister running right back at them, looks of fear and confusion on their faces. When they looked up and saw what was coming their way, their faces donned the same looks.

As Max walked closer to the Tendo family, Ranma struggled even harder. "Dammit, old fool! Stop already! You're scarin' em' shitless!"

Leaning in towards her father, Kasumi quietly inquired, "Daddy, are these people friends of yours?"

When Soun shook his head violently, Nabiki angrily piped up, "Oh, so this Panda just decided to visit, then! HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!"

As they continued to squabble amongst themselves, Max sighed, and slammed Ranma onto the floor, right in front of Soun. The elder man's eyes followed the girl, staring at her as a slight blush formed on her cheeks. Leaning closer, he pointed at her.

"Y…you wouldn't be…by any chance…"

Her face growing even redder, Ranma-chan fiddled with her pigtail, looking away. "I'm…Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this."

Soun appeared not to have heard the last line, because he immediately grabbed the girl by her shoulders, tears of happiness forming in his eyes. "Oh, you don't know how long I've waited for this day!" he cried, bringing the girl into a tight embrace.

That's when he felt something weird. Slowly letting go of the girl, he looked down, and saw something he desperately did not want to see: a couple of lumps that should not have been there. He slowly backed away, his jaw hanging open in horror.

As Ranma watched the older man, she felt a finger jab into her chest. Cringing in pain, she turned to yell at the culprit, only to have her breast grabbed tightly by the shorthaired girl. "Ow! Hey, you wanna quit that?"

Nabiki grimaced, and turned to face her father, who still had that look of horror on his face. "What's the deal, father? This 'fiancé' of ours is a GIRL!"

"A…another girl…" And, with that, Soun Tendo knew no more.

Max, still in his panda form, lay against one of the walls, watching as the daughters tended to their father. They didn't seem to be bothered by the fact there was a large, rather nasty-looking Chinese beast sitting in their living room, as all their attention was on the fainted man or the young aqua transsexual.

"Poor Daddy," the eldest daughter said as she squeezed a damp washcloth in a bowl of water next to her unconscious father, who lay on a futon in the center of the room. "He must be so disappointed."

"He's disappointed!" the middle daughter responded immediately. "What about the rest of us? Some fiancé this person turned out to be!" she said, gesturing to Ranma.

"Knock it off, you two!" Akane retorted, noticing the other girl's head drooping low. "He…she is our guest!"

Nabiki pretended not to hear her. "This is all Daddy's fault, anyway! If he had made sure of everything, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

Laying the towel on Soun's head, Kasumi looked at her sister. "You can't blame father for that. This Mr. Saotome obviously told him he had a son."

Grabbing hold of Ranma by the shoulders and pulling the girl to her side, Nabiki latched her hand onto her chest once again, squeezing rather tightly this time. "Does this look like a son to you? Huh?"

Max smiled as he watched the cringe of pain appear on the young girl's face, and as she tried to throw off her grabber. "Hey! That hurts, dammit!"

Smacking her sister's hand away, Akane stepped in between them. "Enough, sister!" After Nabiki turned away with a pout, Akane looked down at Ranma. "Sorry about her. She's just really fed up with this thing."

"Tell me about it" the youth responded, trying to rub the pain out of her chest.

Laughing, Akane held out her hand. "C'mon, join me in the dojo." Surprised, Ranma looked back at her in return. "I'm Akane. You want to be friends?"

Heaving a relieved smile, Ranma got up and followed her into the training hall.

A few minutes later, Soun began to come to. As he sat up, he rubbed his eyes.

"Finally!" Nabiki said, putting her magazine down. "Now we can get to the bottom of this! Tell us why you screwed up, Daddy!"

Looking right at his daughter, Sound blinked. Rubbing his eyes again, he opened his eyes wider. Then, a look of apparent shock came over his face.

"Na- Nabiki Tendo?"

Confused, the girl gave her father a weird look. "What's wrong with you, Daddy?"

Max, watching since the beginning, raised an eyebrow. The man looked around, spotting Kasumi and the giant panda in his room. Nearly falling over in shock, he scooted himself back to the nearest wall. "Wh- what the hell?" he stuttered, followed by "Ranma?"

"Ranma's in the hall with Akane, father. What's wrong?" Kasumi asked.

The man didn't appear any calmer. "What the hell am I doing here?" he asked, sounding very confused.

"You live here, Daddy!" Nabiki said, clearly irritated. She didn't know what was going on.

But Max did. Looks like I'm not the only one who's been dragged into this manga story, he thought. If what he was thinking was true, someone had also been reading the Ranma ½ manga, and ended up in the body of Soun Tendo. Who knew what would happen next?

I've gotta talk to him, and let him know what's going on, he thought. But we've gotta be alone-

As if on cue, Nabiki stood up. "To hell with this! I'm leaving." And, taking her magazine with her, she stomped out of the room.

Picking up the tea tray, Kasumi turned to her father. "Father, I'm going to start dinner." And with that, she went into the kitchen.

Perfect, Max thought. Walking towards the still-confused Soun, he lifted a sign into the air. The man read it, and looked at the Panda, who gave him a smile before walking away, entering the hall.

If I remember correctly, the baths are this way… he thought, continuing down the hall. Reaching the end, he could hear Ranma and Akane sparring in the dojo. All on schedule, he thought, opening a door, and finding the bathroom. Ah, here we are.

After the transformation and a scrub down, Max, now in his human form, walked back into the living room, and found Soun sitting in the exact same place. Smiling at him, he sat down. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Who the hell are you?" the man asked almost immediately. "Where'd the panda man go?"

"You're lookin' at him."

Donning a look of disbelief, Soun looked him over. "No way" he said. "For one thing, Genma never had hair. And he certainly isn't built like you!"

"No, he wasn't" Max replied, pulling out a thick cigar from one of his pockets. "Not until I got into his body."

As if catching on, the man broke in. "So you know what's going on here?"

Lighting the cigar, Max took a puff. "Well, sort of. Let me guess: you were reading the manga one night, your computer sucks you in through the screen, and, next thing you know, you're here."

Taken aback by the statement, the man paused a bit before responding. "Well, actually, I was playing my console when it happened; through the TV."

"Ah. So it can happen different ways as well. Interesting."

Giving Max a slight look of irritation, he said "You seem to be surprisingly calm for a man who's been dragged into a manga character's body."

Chuckling, Max made a smoke ring. "Well, I have been in it for about a month now."

Perking up at this, he asked, "When did you end up in the body?"

"Just as he was popping out of the spring. As soon as he became a panda, I guess."

Thinking for a moment, Soun's new resident asked again. "So, you knocked Ranma into the springs?"

"Yep."

"Why'd you do that?"

"Hey, do you really think it would be better if he didn't get his curse? It would have taken all the fun away. Plus, I was mad, and had to hit someone."

Finally donning a smile himself, the man laughed. "I guess you're right."

After a few more seconds of silence, Max shook the ash off his cigar. "Look, I should've asked you, what's your name? Your real name."

The man looked at Max for a second before responding. "Me? Carlos; Carlos Barillo."

Blowing out another puff, Max responded. "Cool name. Where're you from?"

"San Jose, Cost Rica."

"Really? So they do have Ranma fans down there."

"Of course. What about you?"

"Name's Max; Max Lee Savage. I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, back in the US."

The two continued to talk for a number of minutes, Max filling in Carlos on everything he had done since he had ended up in Genma's body. Kasumi had since brought them bottles of beer, and they drank away as they talked.

"And I raised my 12-guage in the air, and said, 'This is my BOOMSTICK!' And they all practically pissed themselves before they came charging at me. And that's when I let e'm have it."

The two laughed heartily, and Carlos wiped away a tear. "Classic, utterly classic. Kinda' funny how all we can think of is movie references when we read these comics. It's like we're writing our own live fanfiction here."

"Don't jinx anything, pal" Max responded, taking another puff. All of a sudden, he looked at his watch. "Oh, crap. Almost time." He put out his stogie, and sat up.

"What do you mean?"

Before Max could answer, a long, painful, girlish, drawn out scream thundered throughout the house. It continued, followed by the sound of someone running down the halls. Soon enough, Akane, dressed in her bathrobe, zipped by them, an expression of utmost anger on her face, and jumped outside, hoisting up a large piece of ornamental stone.

"I'll weigh him down! I'll drown him in the tub!" She began to carry the stone inside, when Nabiki and Kasumi caught up with her.

"Akane, what's the problem?" Nabiki asked, eyeing the stone. "What's that for?"

"There's a pervert in the bathroom!" she immediately responded.

"So, why don't you just kill him with your bare hands?"

"Because, I'm AFRAID!"

"That's odd" Kasumi said, looking towards the hall. "Ranma should have been in the bath just about now."

Looking from the girls to Carlos, Max smiled. The boy in Soun's body smiled back. "Guess we'd better get this over with." He said, just as Ranma, in his male form, appeared in the hallway.

Avi looked blankly at the man sitting at his expensive desk. The words he had been told had not quite registered in his brain.

"Run that by me again, Ting. I didn't catch it that first time."

The old Chinese man wiped the sweat from his forehead, and took a deep, nervous breath. "I've already told you, Avi, that's who they saw."

"Well maybe they were a bit stoned on some General Tso's mowie wowie themselves, Ting! You're telling me, that a fucking panda, who is actually a man who can turn into a panda, scared away those triads and Chow, and stole the very monkey idol we've been trying to steal for three months now?"

"I know it sounds crazy, Avi-"

"No, Ting, it doesn't sound crazy. Saying it sounds crazy would besmirch the good name of the word 'crazy.' Hell, it would besmirch a word like 'shitty.' I honestly can't find a word that wouldn't get a bad rep from this story of yours!"

"Look, Avi, that's all we can tell you. Believe me, the cursed springs are no joke. If you want me to take you there to prove it to you-"

The old Jewish man scoffed. "No, Ting, forget it. I'll believe it this one time. But I'm not happy that I have to go to fucking Japan, a country that's given me a hard time on Wall Street by the way, to find this damn thing. You know how much I don't like to leave my country, Ting. But this time I made an exception: I was headed for sandy beaches and fruity blender drinks. But now, I don't know if that fucking vacation is even gonna happen! You get how pissed I am now?"

Sighing again, the bald man nodded. "Yes, Avi. I can see that you're upset."

"Upset?" he responded. "Oh, fuck it. Let's just leave it at that. I don't have time for this." He stood up, and motioned to his right-hand man. "C'mon, Rick. We've got problems to solve." The two made their way to the door, before Avi stopped.

"Oh, and Ting? Wearing a skullcap doesn't make you Jewish, pal!" he said, slamming the door.

Ting grumbled, snatching the tiny hat off his bald head.

Outside, the younger man turned to his boss. "So, how're we gonna handle this?"

Sighing, Avi looked at his colleague. "I don't know. All we've got is the info they've given us." Looking away for a few seconds, he drew in a long, unpleasant sigh. "Guess we've got no choice. We've gotta call him."

The colleague looked at him in confusion. "Avi? You don't mean-"

"Yeah, I do."

"Boss, he's not gonna talk to ya'. You remember what happened last time?"

"Do I look stupid enough to forget someone I shot in the head, you prick?"

"I'm just saying, calling him might make things worse."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. This guy is our only chance of finding that little golden monkey. We're callin' him, and that's that."

"And that's the story" Max said, finally finishing up his long tale.

There was an eerie silence between the families. Max and Carlos kept glancing at each other, while Akane continued to throw angry and disturbed looks at Ranma, still feeling it from their encounter a little earlier.

As if on cue, Carlos piped up. "The accursed springs…so the legend is true. It's true horror has always been shrouded in mystery."

"Feh! Whaddya mean 'true horror?'" Turning to face his father, he yelled, "Oyaji! What the hell was the idea of dragging me to that place?"

Lighting another cigar, Max waved him off. "We've already been over this, boy. Don't start it again."

"Like hell I won't start it again!" he retorted, leaping at the older man.

With a simple throw, Ranma was hurled out the door, and into the pond. "You little prick!" Max called after him. "You say you're ready to put your life on the line for the sake of the art, and you start blaming me for this problem?"

"My life, yes!" Ranma said, running up with a pail of water in her hands. "My manhood, however, is another story!" she yelled, splashing the old man with water.

The effect was immediate. Max grew double his size into the giant panda, and stood menacing over the young aqua-transsexual. Ranma backed away, slightly regretting her actions. It was too late, as Max was beside himself.

(This is the fifth set of clothes you've ruined, you little shit!) his sign said. And with that, he smacked Ranma right back into the drink.

While the girls appeared annoyed or worried at the situation, Carlos was enjoying himself. Nabiki noticed him chuckling, and frowned. "Daddy! What's funny about this? They're destroying our home!"

"Oh, relax. They'll calm down in a minute."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Just trust me" he said.

Nabiki gave her father a long, hard look, long after he had turned away from her. After thinking for a moment, she eventually sat back down.

After a few minutes of fighting, the two martial artists had calmed down, and Carlos had brought a kettle of hot water.

"So, the problem isn't really that much of a problem, then" he said, pouring the hot liquid onto the panda. Max emerged, pulling his ruined clothes back on. "You know it doesn't need to be that hot, C- I mean, Tendo."

"Sorry, sorry" he said, turning to Ranma. "Cold water triggers your curses, but hot water changes you right back!" he continued as he poured the water at Ranma, who immediately dodged it.

"Hot water, not boiling!" the redhead retorted.

"Right, right. The point is, your curses aren't that bad after all."

"Not that bad?" the girl yelled in astonishment. "How is it not that bad? Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be stuck as a girl for any amount of time?"

Akane scoffed at this statement, while Kasumi came in to defend her. "She's right, Mr. Saotome! How could you even dream of taking your son to such a dangerous place to train?"

Max merely sighed, and turned to the eldest daughter. "One, we didn't know the springs were actually cursed when we got there. Two, Ranma never objected to the idea beforehand. And three, I think if you've been doing other things in China, like running an obstacle course of hot coals, swimming to China through shark-infested waters, hauling two-ton rocks up a steep mountain, snatching live ammunition out of fires, doing drills over the edge of an active volcano, and fighting a bunch of pissed off Amazon warriors…you'd better be glad this is the worst that happened to you!"

Turning to face Ranma, he continued. "Plus, after a look at your new body, you should be happy. You've got more power than you can think of! All you have to do is turn on the charm for some dumb rich boys, and viola! Free food, free money, and free favors, all coming your way! So stop bitching about your temporarily-lost manhood, and try counting your blessings!"

Ranma could only stare at her old man, dumbfounded, and unable to respond. Her father had never said anything of this caliber before, and it was starting to get to her. Although she tried to find a retort, she gave up, and sat back down.

Carlos broke the silence by standing back up and putting his arm on Ranma's shoulder. "Well, now that we're done with all that, let's get down to business. Time for you to meet your future wife."

"Hey, wait, I never agreed-"

Ignoring her, Carlos gestured to the three girls. "My eldest daughter, Kasumi, age 19. She's the typical submissive type, can work wonders with food and housework, and is a little bit dense when it comes to dealing with certain situations. She'll make a great wife, but you may want to keep her out of parts of your social life. Knowing her, though, she probably won't even notice."

Max laughed inwardly his new friend's antics, while Kasumi donned a look of surprise on her face. "Father!"

She was ignored, however, as he moved on. "Next, my middle daughter, Nabiki, age 17. While she may have looks and is probably the most likely to put out, she's awfully greedy, and just plain heartless at times. She'll use you at any time for her own agenda, which is to make more money. You may die young, but, if you do, you'll die smiling."

Nabiki didn't know whether to laugh, be angry, or just remain shocked. Their father was certainly not acting like himself. Before she could respond, though, they had moved on to Akane.

"And my youngest daughter-"

"Don't you dare tell him anything about me!" she cut in.

"-age 16. You already know what she's like, taking into account your last meeting. She's hot-tempered and hopelessly violent, but nice in her own way. Anyway, you're welcome to fool around with all three of them, but you'd better choose one as your long-term fiancé."

"Daddy!" Akane yelled, her face turning red. Ranma had gone a bit red as well, and Max laughed along with Carlos, watching the expressions on all four girls.

Both elder sisters immediately grabbed Akane by the shoulders, and pushed her forward. "Oh, he wants Akane" Kasumi said. "Definitely" Nabiki added.

"Eh?" the girl quipped, donning a look of shock. "You must be joking! Why on earth would I-"

"You keep saying how much you hate boys, don't you?" Nabiki asked.

"Yeah, so you're in luck! Ranma's half-girl!" Kasumi finished.

"I'm never gonna marry that perverted freak!" Akane retorted.

At this, Ranma forgot all about her other problems, and stomped towards Akane. "Who the hell are you calling a pervert?"

"You were leering at my body, you pervert!"

"Hey! You walked in on me, babe, not the other way around!"

"It's different when a girl sees a boy!"

"Oh, screw this!" the girl yelled before turning around. "I'm leaving!"

"Oh, really? Max said, taking a swig from his beer. "Where to?"

"Back to China! I'm gonna go and get cured of this stupid curse! This is no time for me to be worrying about marriage." He took a few steps before stopping to look at Akane. "And besides, I don't recall you looking away when you saw me. Plus, I've explored this body top to bottom, so the nude female body is nothing new to me. And the real crazy thing is, I'm way better built than you could ever hope to be! Hahahahaha!"

He didn't get another laugh out before he was clobbered by the family dining table. Akane clutched the massive piece of furniture in her hands, an enormous grimace of anger on her face. While the other girls looked a bit spooked, Max and Carlos seemed to enjoy themselves, continuing on their drinks.

"He really had that one coming" Max said with a smirk, downing the rest of his brew in one gulp.

Taking a deep breath as he held the phone to his ear, Avi listened to the rings, waiting for someone to pick up the receiver. After 5 rings, he heard a click.

Hello, yes, I'm calling for Tony…you know, Bullet-Tooth Tony, they who they say can find anything…who am I? Well, just tell him I'm an old customer…and that I'm really sorry."

After a few more seconds of waiting, he heard another voice on the other line. "Allo, Avi" the voice said in a rather malignant manner.

"Tony, hey! Look, I'm sorry I'm calling you right now, and I hope I didn't get you at a bad time-"

"Well, I don't know, Avi, let's see. For the last eight months, I've had a tiny metal plate in my head from that slug you nearly put in my skull. If that can be considered a good time, I wonder what could be counted as bad."

"That was an accident, Tony, you know that."

"So I'm supposed to feel better about that? You aren't the one who's been sitting on his ass fifteen hours a day for the past eight months."

"Look, Tony…I know things are a little emotional between us-"

"Emotional?" the Brit cut in angrily. "You think things between us are emotional, Avi? Let me tell you something about the varying degrees of a situation in peril: there's tough situations; then comes emotional; after that comes troubling; then things get painful; and, finally, we get chaotic situations. When things are emotional, they can still be resolved. Troubled situations make it a bit harder for everyone to stand each other. People aren't usually willing to talk to each other when things get painful. When things get chaotic, all bets are off. And as for our situation, my dear grandfather skullcap, we're bordering the fucking Annual Hiroshima City Mushroom Cloud Show. And the last time I checked, that's way beyond emotional, Avi, so you'd better come up with something much better to say if you want me to listen any further."

Sighing, the Jewish man responded. "All right, all right! I fucked up, and I owe you. Okay? That what you wanted to hear, you dumb jock? I'm calling you because I need your help! Now, are you gonna do it, or not?"

After a long silence, Avi looked at the phone in confusion. "Tony?"

"Ah'm here, Avi. Just been thinking, is all. Explain the situation to me."

Avi had been expecting this, and not looking forward to it. He told Tony the story, bit by bit, and waited in grueling anticipation for the answer.

"So, what's it gonna be?"

"A very troublesome situation indeed, Cousin Avi. But tell me, why should I come all the way to Japan, a country I know very little about, just to help you find people I know absolutely nothing about?"

"Don't bullshit me, Tony, I heard about that business you did in Japan! Why the hell do you think I'm calling you?"

"Very good, my old chum. Not as off your rocker as you look."

"All right, enough of this. You gonna do it or not?"

"I don't know, Avi. All depends on your offer, I suppose."

After a long, final sigh, Avi held the phone up to his mouth. "I'll pay you double what I paid last time, plus the money I should've paid last time. So, in all, it's triple your original price. I'll even pay for your ride over. Good enough?"

After another long silence, the voice responded. "All right. I'll be there, Avi. But no fuck-ups this time."

"Oh, thank you Tony, thanks a lot! You won't regret this-"

"I hope so, for your sake. See you in three days." And, with that, he hung up.

Letting out a deep breath of relief, Avi put the phone back, and walked away.

In a pub in southeast London, Tony took a long puff from his nearly-finished cigar before downing the last of his stout, and slamming the glass down. Putting out his cigar, he put his hand inside his jacket, and pulled out his chrome-plated .50-caliber Desert Eagle handgun, before extracting the magazine to check the number of rounds. Sliding the mag back in, he shoved the gun back into his jacket, stood up, and walked out the door.

Back in Nerima, Max and Carlos were both finishing up their own beers, and Max was putting the final touches on his cigar. Carlos gave him a look of interest.

"Great idea," he said. "I'm all for it. But how're we supposed to fund these little adventures?"

"Oh, there are ways" Max responded. "I've still got virtually all the cash I made from that job in China. Plus, I've got this." He reached into his pockets, and dug out the monkey idol.

He watched his friend's eyes go wide. "Where'd you get that? You said you were in China."

"I was. I'm as confused as you are. Still, we just have to find jobs like this, and we'll be set."

"Short-term, we're good. But we'll need a more long-term solution."

Taking a final puff from the stogie before putting it out, Max looked at Carlos with narrowed eyes. "I'll think of something."

Nabiki watched as her father's friend put away the little golden monkey idol that was encrusted with several diamonds. She began to get several ideas in her head, all of them concerning her plans for profit.

This man, whoever he was, was having a very strange effect on her father, as well on all of them. There were things about him she did not yet know. But she was already thinking of how to turn this man to her advantage. And nothing would stop her.

Or so she thought…

Whew! Finally finished. You should all be glad I was inspired to pick up the story once again. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try to get the next one up as soon as possible. Keep reading, and let me know what you think. Happy trails.