Humans, Ranma knew for a fact, could be complete bastards and worse monsters then youmas. At least the youmas he fought against were only trying to gain access to food supplies; even if said food was humans. Ranma was sitting in a tree and had been trying to have lunch during his school break. Unfortunately, his meal was spoiled by the drama going on off to the side between one of his classmates and an upperclassman. The young champion barely knew the classmate in particular; all he really knew was that the kid had a mild case of asthma.

Ranma had watched with partial attention as the student in question had his inhaler accidentally drop out of his pocket and into a bush. He had then noticed a sophomore girl pick up the inhaler and walk over to his classmate. This didn't seem like a problem as Ranma figured that the girl was merely helping out a fellow student. That idea quickly went down in flames as the girl conned the guy into forking over 500 yen for a new 'emergency' inhaler to hold him over. Ranma couldn't decide what was more pathetic: the fact that the girl would hold something like that over a kid's head for a quick buck or the fact that the guy couldn't recognize his own inhaler.

The champion begrudgingly returned to his bento and muttered, "What a bitch. Maybe I'll let the youma have her if I find them attacking her." Ranma then dug into his lunch and tried to put what had happened out of his mind. He was soon able to put the incident away as yet another annoying situation he had seen/been in and enjoyed his lunch.

After finishing his lunch, Ranma put his bento box away in his backpack and casually jumped down to the ground. Several of the students started whispering to each other after watching Ranma make the jump and just casually continue walking. The nervous chatter from the various students was so loud that Ranma couldn't help overhearing some of the conversations.

"Did you see that?"

"How the hell did he do that?"

"That limb was at least ten meters off the ground. Saotome should be dead from that jump."

"We've got to get him on the pole vaulting team. Furinkan would be unbeatable with him as the star!"

Ranma rolled his eyes at the last group's comment. He already was one of if not the strongest fighter in his age group, his father had trained him to be a martial arts master who could take over a dojo, and he had an adrenalin packed job being Eris's champion defending the city. Joining a sports team or martial arts club was not in any of Ranma's plans. Ranma was determined that school would be a place where he could simply be a regular teenager.

Without anything better to do, Ranma left the outdoor section of the cafeteria and headed back to his homeroom. He opened the classroom door and was surprised to see Setsuna having lunch at her desk. The Guardian of the Time Gates looked up at Ranma and her eyebrow rose slightly. "You're back here rather early Mr. Saotome. Lunch period doesn't end for another fifteen minutes."

Setsuna watched as Ranma nodded his head and then shrugged his shoulders. "Already finished lunch and didn't feel like hanging out with everyone else today. I figured that I might as well start on some of my homework so that I could have more time to myself after class. That's not a problem is it?"

The emerald haired guardian turned teacher shook her head. "You may go to your desk and study if you wish." Ranma promptly went to his desk to start working and Setsuna resumed having the last bit of her lunch. Setsuna watched her unexpected company out of the corner of her eye as wrestled with a math problem.

Personally, Setsuna had found Ranma to one of her more interesting students that she had encountered while hunting for the mysterious new sailor senshi. It was quite obvious that most academic pursuits bored or simply weren't interesting to Ranma. Yet, the young man pursued everything he was taught with rapt attention and tons of hard work. Setsuna decided to keep her eye on the young Saotome boy as a little side project while she searched for the new sailor senshi. Who knew, he might just made a good candidate to be one of the other senshi's companion.

"By the goddess, it felt like school was never going to end." Shampoo muttered to herself as she and Ranma were walking back home. The Amazonian warrior couldn't figure out how the school could make things so boring. Back in the village the lore masters always made sure to hold everyone's attention.

Ranma shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I have to agree to you there. At least Ms. Meio makes history interesting. With how vivid she describes it you'd almost think that she lived through it." Both teens broke out into a small laugh at that remark. Once they stopped laughing Ranma continued. "So, what are we supposed to do about that 'family history project' due next month? I mean do we include your status with Pops or not?"

Shampoo paused to consider her 'son's' words. On the one hand, mentioning that she already had a husband would stop the annoying requests for dates. On the other hand, the Japanese didn't seem to do too well when faced with something out of the ordinary from what she could tell. The simple fact that she was from a village of warrior women seemed to be enough to cause trouble with a lot of people she met. Finally, Shampoo shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Let's think on it Okay?"

The cell phone Eris gave Ranma rang just before he could respond to Shampoo. Ranma quickly picked it up and answered it. "Hello, Ranma Saotome here. What's the situation?"

Eris's voice quickly came across the phone. "We've got another portal opening at the Toshiro's Fish Store and Warehouse in 10 minutes. Get your handsome ass over there now." The planetary spirit then hung up.

Ranma sighed and then turned to Shampoo. "It's work. A situation has arisen that I need to take care of. Why don't you head back home and we'll finish this latter?" Shampoo nodded her head and then the two teens spit up. Ranma ran a couple of blocks until he found a secure area to transform. He quickly crossed his arms over his chest and called out, "Eris Planet Power, Glamour On!"

The bluish-black cloud of smoke caused by the transformation quickly disappeared to reveal Senshi Eris. With a predator like gleam in his eye, Senshi Eris jumped onto the roof and began to roof hop to Toshiro's. Beating up youmas was just what the doctor recommended to deal with school stress.

Senshi Eris made it to the fish store with two minutes to spare until the portal opened. He whispered out, "Phantom Form". This was another ability that Senshi Eris had created for himself. It was an extension of the Umisenken's ability to mask his presence. While in this form, the planetary champion could not be detected at all. However, it came with the tradeoff of not allowing him to use any of his other abilities while hidden. Sure he could use his martial arts moves, but that wouldn't be advisable in a heavily populated area like this. He was just using Phantom Form to insure that the regular people weren't startled by his presence before the youma arrived.

Soon enough, the uninvited guests of dishonor decided to crash the fish store. A portal opened up right in the middle of a swordfish that was on display startling everyone with flying fish chunks. Toshiro's customers quickly started running when they saw the first youma emerge from the portal. However, Senshi Eris's voice startled everyone as it cut through the crowd's screams, "Chaos Slash!"

Eris's champion shifted into view standing on top of a shelf as his attack soared towards the first youma coming out of the portal. Senshi Eris quickly followed his attack and was only a few feet away from the portal when the youma was cut in half. He then called out as he closed the gap, "Chaos Claws!"

The frightened shoppers stopped running and watched in awe as Senshi Eris stood in front of the portal's mouth and proceeded to rip apart the youma as they tried to cross over. Occasionally the guardian of evolution needed to brace himself for an incoming attack before continuing his defense. No matter how painful a youma attack was or how ferocious their attempt to force their way through was, Senshi Eris simply refused to let them pass. He knew innocent lives would be lost if he retreated even an inch.

Senshi Eris winced as he took another blow from a youma beam attack that almost made him fall to his knees. Luckily, he was able to withstand it and call out once again, "Chaos Claws." Senshi Eris's short ranged attack formed just in time for him to stab the youma that had tried to blast him to hell. The chaotic warrior peered into the portal and saw another dozen youmas rushing towards the opening. "Damn it," he muttered to himself, "How am I supposed to close this portal? I can't keep on fighting like this for much longer." Using Realm of Confusion to close the portal was out of the question; by the time he got halfway through the chant the youma would be clawing at him.

Without warning, a small sand covered whirlwind formed next to Senshi Eris. The champion glanced over and saw Lilith appear as the whirlwind died down. In her usual seductive tone she stated, "Sorry about not being here earlier to help deal with this threat. I came as soon as I detected the portal."

Eris's champion didn't bother to look at the alluring sorceress as he was too busy trying to gut yet another youma. Without pausing in his butchering operation, Senshi Eris replied, "That's fine. I wasn't anticipating any reinforcements anyway so it's great that you're here. By the way, do you have any idea on how to close this damn portal?"

"Give me a second to think, Senshi Eris. It's been a long time since I did any summoning." Lilith closed her eyes and entered her mindscape. Present Lilith quickly called out to the shades of her past lives in her mind, "Does anyone know how to seal a portal to another dimension quickly?"

One of the shades quickly appeared in front of Present Lilith wearing an even more provocative dress then her current outfit. The shade looked Present Lilith in the eye and stated, "I can provide you with the knowledge you seek. My lord King Solomon taught me much about everything needed in binding supernatural creatures. Closing this portal is a simple task."

Present Lilith glanced at royal concubine Lilith and then stated, "Will you please give me the knowledge? I need it now." The shade nodded her head and then pressed two fingers against Present Lilith's forehead. There was a flash of light in the mindscape as the knowledge was transferred between lives and then Lilith left her mindscape.

The sorceress opened her eyes and then called out, "I just recalled how to take care of this. Can you hold them off for just another minute or so until I can close the portal?"

Senshi Eris grunted as he took yet another attack and then muttered back, "Sure. Take as much time as you need." There was just a slight bit of sarcasm in his voice as he winced from the pain.

Lilith didn't pay any attention to Senshi Eris's complaining and rushed towards the fish preparation area. She picked up a sanitized knife and winked at the confused store attendant. "Sorry, but I'll have to borrow this to seal that portal. We wouldn't want monsters scaring away your customers now would we?"

The store attendant didn't do anything but watch Lilith's rear as she hurried back to the portal. Lilith paused for a second to prepare herself and then she slashed her wrist with the knife. She immediately ran her fingers along the blade to make sure that the cutting edge was coated in her blood. She then turned to Senshi Eris and called out, "Make sure to move when I finish the ritual!"

Lilith placed the palm of her hand on the back of the knife as she held it in front of her. "Oh Seraphim who guard the way, by thy lord and master's name I command you to forge a key to close the gates! With the essence of life granted by the Master, his name is:" the sorceress then used a bloody finger to trace the ancient Canaanite letters for YHWH. The knife started glowing with brilliant light until it looked like the blade was made of white fire.

Senshi Eris sliced another youma in half and then took the glowing knife as a sign to get out of the way. Lilith quickly rushed up and stabbed the knife into the portal's opening. A burning white Seal of Solomon appeared in front of the portal and incinerated a youma that tried to cross the portal. The seal then solidified so that it looked like a solid cast iron shield. Shortly thereafter, both it and the portal disappeared from sight.

Both champion and sorceress fell to their knees panting from their efforts. While Senshi Eris was catching his breath, Lilith was using her Hand of Hecate technique to take care of her slit wrist. "I think," Senshi Eris panted out, "That we should make a quick exit. Do you have enough strength to do your disappearing trick?"

Lilith shook her head. "If you get me out of here, I'll heal your wounds."

Senshi Eris quickly made up his mind as he stood up. The chaotic champion picked Lilith up in his arms bridal style and jumped onto a shelf. He then jumped out of a window and roof hooped a few roofs to get away from the fish store. Senshi Eris gently set the sorceress down on the roof and then plopped down in exhaustion.

Lilith got to her feet and then walked over to Senshi Eris. "Stay still; it will help my healing spell go faster, Hand of Hecate." It took Lilith a few minutes to fully heal Senshi Eris due to how much the sealing spell took out of her. She was literally soaking in her own sweat by the time she ended her spell.

Eris's champion looked over at his companion and made sure to keep his eyes focused on her eyes. He then mentally called out to his lady, "Hey Eris, do you here me?"

The planetary spirit quickly replied, "Yes, I hear you. Why are you hollering for me? Oh wait, let me guess. You want to use my power to recharge the sorceress."

"Well Eris, it seems like the right thing to do. After all, she did close that portal and heal me. Doesn't all that effort to help out deserve something?"

Eris paused for a moment to consider what her champion was asking. Finally, she got back to him. "I'll let her recharge with my powers, but I want something from you. You'll owe me one favor that I can call at anytime I want. After all, I originally set it up so that she could ask. Don't bother responding, I'll know if you've accepted my offer and price the moment you lock lips."

Senshi Eris then sighed and glanced over at Lilith who was still completely exhausted. All he needed was one unknown favor to help her out? That sounded like a fair deal to him. Senshi Eris then stood up and calmly said, "Hey Lilith, Eris is willing to let you recharge with her power."

Lilith put her hand to her chin for a second to consider what she and been told. The sorceress then crawled on her hands and knees to Senshi Eris. Lilith quickly positioned herself in the champion's lap and hungrily kissed him. Small bluish-black bolts of energy moved from Senshi Eris to Lilith as she absorbed more and more power. The energy bolts helped to increase Lilith's overall magic reserves as well as recharge her powers.

After a few seconds, the sorceress pulled back from the kiss. She then bowed her head at Senshi Eris. "Thank you for allowing me to recharge champion and be sure to let Eris-sama know how grateful I am for this." Lilith then gave the champion a quick, gentle peck on the cheek before doing her vanishing trick.

Ranma glanced at his watch when he started the last block to his house. He quickly smiled when he saw that he was only a few minutes till his mother started dinner. With the youma invasion taken care of, Ranma was sure he could just enjoy the rest of the day. After all, the fighting off a demonic invasion and then practically making out with a sorceress had to top off his bizarre quota for the day.

The young champion turned the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. "Pops, why are you set up like a piñata?" Ranma couldn't believe his eyes; his father was in panda form suspended in midair from the street light. Furthermore, there was a baseball bat lying against the street light with a sign next to the bat. The sign read: Whack Bozo the Bear for candy inside!

Genma pulled a sign out from somewhere, Ranma didn't have a clue where exactly, and showed it to his son. "Get me down now boy!"

Ranma put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "First tell me why you're up there. Did you annoy Mom or Shampoo?" The young martial artist quickly ducked to avoid getting hit by the sign he had just read.

The panda huffed and then grabbed another sign. "That doesn't matter now! –flip- What matters is you getting me –flip- down! That bat hurts!"

Ranma glanced up at the heavens and muttered to himself, "Why me?" He then used a Kajin Rashu Dan to cut the rope holding Genma to the lamppost. At the very least, the panda made a satisfying thud when he hit the pavement. Ranma then quickly went into the house and called out, "I'm home!" The young champion started walking towards the kitchen.

Nodoka quickly poked her head out of the kitchen and smiled at her son. "What wonderful timing Ranma! Shampoo and I were just about to set the table." The Saotome matriarch quickly turned her head and called out, "Ranma's home Shampoo so set his place."

Shampoo's response could be faintly heard by Ranma. "Yes, will do."

Nodoka returned her attention to Ranma and asked, "So what happened today Ranma? Shampoo told me that you got called away by your work because something had happened."

Ranma shrugged and quickly thought up an edited story for her to hear. "Some thugs were trying to get protection money from the manager of a warehouse. The manager got wind that the thugs would be by this afternoon to make an example of why he needed to pay. Since the warehouse was one of our customers, I was sent to make an example of the thugs about what happens when someone tries to go after our clients."

A grin appeared on Nodoka's face as she heard Ranma's story. "Oh how manly! You must have made short work of those ruffians since you don't have a scratch on you." Her eyes got a certain gleam as Nodoka continued. "Tell me son, did the manager have a cute daughter who wanted show you how much she 'appreciated' your manly efforts?"

It was only through sheer force of will that Ranma was able to keep from banging his head against the wall. What was going on in her head? Wait, on second thought he really didn't want to know. Ranma just shrugged she shoulders and replied, "No Mom. However, the manager did have some wonderful photos of his grandkids." Ranma's eyes bulged as soon as the words left his mouth. What the hell was he thinking saying something like that?

Luckily, fate decided to give Ranma a little break as Nodoka did not break out in a rant about grandchildren. Nodoka simply smiled and replied, "Well, you were acting like a great man helping an elder out today. Now, why don't you go to your place at the table while Shampoo and I put on the final touches to dinner?" The Saotome matriarch turned around and promptly walked back into the kitchen.

Ranma let out a sigh and then looked to the heavens. "Thank you, all you kami for that one." The young champion then had the strangest sensation that was as if someone was laughing at him. He quickly decided to ignore the sensation and headed for the dinner table. Whatever that was foretelling could wait until after dinner.

Several hours later, Ranma walked into his room and promptly crashed on his bed. "What a day," Ranma muttered to himself. "I can't believe that I had to pull out all of the Saotome clan records for the project along with the Makimachi clan records from mom's side. Still, I don't know of many people who can claim descent from both samurai and ninjas." He then sighed and shook his head. "I wish that Mom wasn't so insistent that Shampoo and I mention that she's Pop's mistress. That's going to make things difficult at school."

"No Ranma that will make things interesting." Ranma whipped his head around to see Eris leaning against his closed door. To his shock, the planetary spirit had her avatar form wearing an extremely provocative teddy. It took all of Ranma's willpower not to faint in shock. Eris simply smirked at her champion's reaction and slowly walked over to him. "Think about it for a moment Ranma. People are comfortable with their usual patterns and don't like it when something unexpected happens. Don't you Japanese have the saying that the nail which sticks up gets hammered down?"

Her eyes seemed to get brighter as she continued on. "Your father's situation with Shampoo is just perfect for stirring up a little chaos at your school. It will shock your classmates and force them to consider things they hadn't before. Some will be disgusted, others confused, and still others will want to consider possibilities that hadn't occurred to them before."

Ranma sent a small glare to Eris and focused on her face. "So, you're saying it's a good thing that I can't even pretend to be a normal student?"

Eris shrugged her shoulders and sat down next to Ranma. "My dear young champion, haven't you realized that I view things very different from mortals? What you consider to be good or bad and right or wrong is different then what I consider these concepts to be."

The young champion frowned and then asked, "What do you mean? When something's good it's good and when something's bad it's bad. How can something be good or bad? I mean, I know that circumstances play an important part in determining right or wrong. However, there are situations where something can't be right or can't be wrong."

A smile appeared on Eris's face as she twilled a lock of her crimson hair. "For the most part, you are correct Ranma. However, the difference comes in that I see the shades of gray in different places than you might. Take our current situation for example. An average person would find it 'wrong' for a young man like you to have a girl alone in his room; especially if the door is closed. You don't find anything 'wrong' with the two of us talking in private. But, you find in 'wrong' that I'm dress this provocatively. On the other hand, I don't find anything wrong with this situation. Indeed, I wouldn't find anything wrong if you had a girl here like this and you listened to your hormones that are telling you at this very moment to ravish me."

Ranma wasn't sure what bothered him more. That Eris knew the effect she was having on his body, the bluntness that she put it or her stance on the scenario she described. "What? How can you say something like that Eris?" Personally, the thought of anyone doing something like that to anyone sickened Ranma. It went against everything he knew as a martial artist and as a decent human being.

Eris merely shrugged. "As I stated earlier, I see things differently than you. Where you see moral principals, I only see evolution. From my point of view, anyone who couldn't fend of an unwanted mate should be pleased that the resulting union would have a superior specimen to sire him or her. This would insure that the next generation is stronger than then last. On the other hand, anyone who could fight of an unwanted mate is correct to do so. Such a weak bloodline in the unwanted partner should die out to insure the whole race's survival."

The young champion gulped as he realized once again just how different Eris was from him. It was easy to simply think of her as a powerful, but slightly crazy friend. Ranma thought for a moment about what Eris had revealed about herself. What she had told Ranma didn't make him regret becoming her champion; but it did put things into a new light. However, he needed to know something before his new view on things could be set. "Why do you seem so adamant about protecting the people of this city? I mean Eris, if you view things as survival of the fittest then why would you spare the weak?"

To Ranma's surprise, Eris started laughing. "Oh Ranma, Ranma, you still don't fully understand everything do you? Remember, you are the defender of chaos and evolution. You understand chaos as you live it practically every day. However, you still don't understand what evolution is. Simply put, evolution is life and one's ability to adapt to the changing circumstances in life. That phrase 'survival of the fittest' fails to truly capture everything. It makes one think of the strongest, the fastest, and the most perceptive."

"What the phrase fails to show is that circumstances change what is optimal for a person and a species survival. Your physical fitness is an optimal trait for anyone living in a society from a hunter gatherer to a preindustrial one. However, your physical traits are less important in a post industrial society where the ability to handle complex social interactions or grasp complex abstract concepts is optimal for success. Now tell me, my dear champion, how that is it that a completely different set of optimal traits could emerge if humanity was bred solely for a specific set of traits?"

Ranma closed his eyes and tried to think about the question Eris was giving him. It was difficult for Ranma to consider since he wasn't used to this sort of deep philosophical thinking. He was much more of a hands' on kind of guy. Suddenly, realization came to Ranma and he opened his eyes, "Generalization and cooperation! The new traits were able to emerge because those like me insured that weaker people could survive and they were able to lead to the emergence of new traits."

Eris smiled and gave Ranma quick kiss on the cheek. "Very good Ranma, you figured it out. The secret to your race's success was that it didn't overspecialize and cooperated with itself. Those who weren't the best at the time were allowed to live and pass on abilities that in time were needed because of changing circumstances. That is why I am so adamant that you help protect everyone in the city. The loss of a single life would result in everyone losing something that could insure the whole race's survival sometime in the future. That is what it means to be the guardian of evolution: you protect the future possibilities that in turn insure your race's survival."

Ranma nodded his head accepting Eris's answer. So she had different views on some subjects. He could live with that as their views mostly meshed together. Now that the deep philosophical debate was over, there was just one question on Ranma's mind. "Uh Eris, why are you here and in the getup?"

The planetary spirit simple and lay down next to Ranma. "I'm cashing in that favor you owe me Ranma. In return for recharging Lilith, I want to sleep next to you tonight. If the teddy bothers you I can always sleep in the nude."

Almost instantly Ranma nervously replied, "That's alright. The teddy is fine!" Mentally, Ranma was kicking himself for giving out an unspecified favor. Next time he'd make sure to know exactly what he was agreeing to before making any deal. Still, he had given his word and Eris had held up her side of the bargain. Thus, he was honor bound to keep his side of the deal. Ranma gave a sigh and muttered, "Alright, make yourself comfortable Eris."

Ranma then got up and started changing into his usual sleep ware. He then turned off the lights and returned to bed. Eris quickly wrapped her arms around Ranma and whispered in his ear, "Goodnight my champion."

The young champion nodded his head and replied, "You as well, my Lady".

Author's note: The debate between Ranma and Eris in this chapter was to highlight how different Eris is from normal people. Despite how she usually interacts with Ranma, Eris is an entity that lives a very different existence then humans. Thus her views and attitudes on things are very different. If you want, think of her like the gods of Greek mythology or the Fairies of folklore.

I remember a review mentioned how things were getting a little spicy for Ranma. Remember that the Ranma series had three main elements to it: zany martial arts, Ranma getting into embarrassing situation because of his curse, and Ranma unintentionally getting into compromising situations with girls. The situations he's getting himself into are no different then Shampoo glopping him in the bath, having Akane walk in on him, or barging into the women's changing room while a bunch of classmates are inside while he's looking for a mystical item.