Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½. I do own a beat up truck that I originally paid like four hundred dollars for. If you actually think SUING me will get you anywhere, repeat reading the sentence about the truck.

Ranma-papa, Shampoo-mama:

Chapter 17

"How is the research proceeding?" Troika asked, finally returning to his personal project after having been called away to South America for a week. He did not enjoy having to report losing another girl, this one to her fathers own stupidity and the death it called, to Lord Hakama. He did, on the other hand, enjoy punishing the deviant for his mistake. It took him an hour to get the blood out from under his fingernails.

"It proceeded well, up to a point." The man, who was wearing a somewhat contradictory mix of a movie ninja's uniform, sans mask, and a lab coat. "The girl has definitely learned the Neko-ken… and destroyed three men when she burst from the animal containment chamber. Fortunately her 'ki-claws' are not able to penetrate the alloys used on the lab doors and walls. Nothing we have attempted have broken her out of her feral mental state, however.

"Hmm, that is unfortunate. Show her to me on video."

"Yes Troika."

The central screen of the ninja-scientists workstation lit up, revealing a naked Ukyo Kounji prowling around what used to be a multi-million dollar laboratory on all four legs. In spite of how awkward her position should make her she moved with a feral grace that could not be denied. "Is that a birthmark, or did you tranquilize her?" He asked, pointing at a small red mark on one shoulder.

"Tranq gun. The good news is it worked. The bad news is that Shakima's arm was not reattatchable due to the damage it suffered. "He commited suicide yesterday."

"Too bad, he was a good man." Troika leaned down, closer to the screen. "How long did she stay out?"

"A couple of hours, about half as long as the dosage should have worked."

"Still, that is plenty of time. Get a team together and be ready to tranquilize the subject this afternoon. I dislike wasting resources, and I'm curious what this Neko-ken can do.

"Look, I've been apologizing all week Ranma. Would you stop giving me the cold shoulder!" Stephanie miller growled at the pig-tailed man walking in front of her. Ranma grumbled something under his breath. "What was that? I didn't hear you."

"I said, at least this time I didn't get dragged off to China to find out it was a mistake." Ranma replied. "I just wish you could have kidnapped Ucchan while you were at it. It's been what, a week? And I still can't find anyone who's seen anything. Konatsu either!."

Stephanie nodded. She'd volunteered to go with Ranma on several of his information gathering quests, which lately involved him finding low life martial artists at illegal street fights and beating them until they admitted every wrong they ever commited. While it had proven less then effective they had solved two separate murders and had stumbled across one pimp who was drugging teenaged girls for his 'stable'.

She still wasn't sure who had more fun beating on him, her or the then redheaded girl with her.

"Has she ever had this happen before?"

"No, outside of one magic prince I don't think anyone's ever grabbed Ucchan before. Not that I remember at least. And the idiots who keep coming and kidnapping Akane usually do something blatant so I can find them!"

As if on cue an explosion rocked the street they were walking on, and smoke rose from a near by construction site, promptly followed by running and screaming construction workers.

"Like that?"

Ranma shrugged. "Actually that's pretty subtle. Might as well take a peek though." He replied, hearing one construction worker yelling "She's insane". "It might be another one like Himeko."

Both martial artists jumped the fence around the work site and froze, for different reasons. "What the heck is she doing?" the dark skinned girl demanded, staring at what appeared to be a woman, dressed in black, acting like a cat of all things.

Ranma didn't hear her. "Ukyo?"

Ukyo Kounji hissed in response, her feral eyes locking on the girl standing next to 'her mate'. It was the only warning either of the two sane martial artists had before she blurred, moving straight towards Stephanie.

She didn't even get a chance to scream as Ranma pushed her from the side, and out of the path of the ki-claws directed straight at her head. She was blinded when a hot liquid also struck her face. Brushing it off, she discovered her face was covered in blood.

Ranma pushed the feral Ukyo back with his good arm, clutching his wounded fore arm to his body, staining his shirt. The cuts weren't in a life threatening spot, but they were serious. Unfortunately he couldn't leave to seek help. "Stephanie! Run and get my mom! Tell her Ukyo's in the neko-ken! She know's what to do."

Stephanie backed up several steps, Ranma intentionally keeping himself between her and the apparently insane girl. "What? I can't just leave you here…"

"Do it! I'm the only one who MIGHT hold her off, and if I don't someone else might KILL her. Now go!"

She nodded, and jumped the fence, allowing Ranma to focus on his childhood friend.

"Ukyo…come on…kitty…That's a good girl." He spoke soothingly, trying to do what Akane claimed worked on him. The mind numbing terror her meow's drove into him didn't exactly help his concentration.

Years of built up frustration reared it's ugly head, however. While she had no intention of KILLING the stupid tom cat, but he needed to learn who was boss. She dove and swiped at his nose.

"Ack!" Ranma threw himself back, less then gracefully for once, and rolled away in the dirt and gravel. He'd never realized how fast he was in the Neko-ken, and Himeko had been manageable. Ukyo, terrifyingly, was faster then him.

"YowlllllL!" Ukyo cried out..and dove again, trying to deliver two strokes to Ranma's chest. The pigtailed boy blocked both attacks at her wrist, guiding them over his head and letting them dig deep furrows into the ground above him, before kicking her away and into a water tank sitting next to a newly poured foundation, hoping to break her out of it.

Instead all he got was an angrier, and now very wet, Ukyo-neko.

"Well… crap."

"Mrs. Saotome!" Stephanie yelled, jumping the wall at the Tendo Dojo, hoping she was there since she wasn't at her own home.

"Stephanie? What's the…. Is that blood?" Nadoka cried out the last part, having just walked out of the kitchen with a Gasping Kasumi.

"Ranma's fighting some girl who think she's a cat. I think he called her Ukyo! He said she's in the Neko-ken or something."

Both the other women gasped. "I'll call Elder Cologne!" Kasumi spoke first, almost diving for the closest phone.

"Yes, do that. Stephanie, take me to my son. Now!"

Kasumi watched them run out, hoping that one way or the other, it wasn't to late.

Several minutes had flown by, and Ranma was getting tired. He hated to admit it, but he wasn't having much luck. He'd finally given up on trying not to hurt Ukyo, and had managed to bandage his arm while she was digging her way out of the pile of piping he'd thrown her into. Both were bleeding, but Ukyo was doing much better of the two, partially due to the outfit she was wearing, which was apparently some type of body armor.

His plan at the moment was to try and tire her out, but that wasn't proving to work as well as he hoped. She didn't seem to be getting exhausted any where near as quickly as he himself was, and unlike him she was never holding back.

"SON-IN-LAW!" He heard the voice of the Amazon elder cry out, quickly followed by Nadoka's cry of "RANMA!" His relief in hearing help arrive was very short lived.

Ukyo-neko had heard them to, and was going after them.

"No! UCCHAN!" He cried, diving out the new hole she had carved in the wall between them and the older women after her, just in time to see the chef turned cat take a swipe at Cologne, shreading her staff into a half dozen pieces. The old mistress of Amazon martial arts didn't take things laying down, however, and delivered a palm strike to fast for any but Ranma to see, knocking the girl down and into a newly laid foundation. Then she drew a dagger from her robes.

"What are you doing?"

"She's to old to get back Ranma! It's for her own good!" Cologne yelled back, pressing down her own dismay at this action with her feeling of duty. In spite of how she acted she'd grown fond of most of the Nerima Wrecking crew, and the chef had always been a good foil for both Shampoo, and herself in a business sense. The Elder threw the dagger, ignoring the cries off all three witnesses. She had to act while Ukyo was still pulling herself out of the cement trough she landed in.

Ukyo-neko climbed out just in time for a wet, sticky liquid to cover her face in a manner that didn't make her happy. She shook the red stuff out of her eyes to find her impertinent mate looking down at her. He looked more hurt then she'd made him too.

Ranma growled. "Cologne, help me stop her! We got Himeko back, we can get her too!"

"She's to old Ranma. We've lost her!"

The dark haired girl took the opportunity provided by their apparently distraction to dive at Ranma, ki claws actually visible in the dust surrounding the fight. She struck, or at least tried to.

Ranma, at the last moment, dove forward and under her attack, wrapping the insane girl in what he'd claim later was a reversed bear hug. He knew of only one chance, and even that was one in a million, since he'd only even seen it done once. For anyone else, the weren't betting odds. To Ranma, it was nothing unusual.

"Damn it Cologne! Ranma Saotome don't loose!" He yelled, as he drove one stiffened finger into the so called Yang Point, blind and making his best guess of how the Elder did it for Himeko.

Troika leaned forward when the boy, in spite of all logic, dove in front of the amazon womans thrown blade. "Now why would he risk that." He muttered, even as the boy dodged, with a speed that none of the Camera's watching the fight could follow, dove through the girls attack, and wrapped her in a hug.

"Damn it Cologne! Ranma Saotome don't loose!" came across the speakers, then for a moment everything froze as he touched a point somewhere on the girls neck. Then a moment's flash of green filled his screen and the camera's all went blank.

"Interesting."

AN: Here you go folks, and this one's fairly long compared to some chapters I've done for some stories recently. Hope it's enjoyable. I'm really tring to get into the swing of things now, and since I have a new lap top and all that fun Wi Fi connectivity going for me now, I might just pull it off.

Happy New Year.