Insert Standard Disclaimer: All characters are used without permission. Except for A, E, I O, U, and sometimes Y . Everyone should always have permission to use these characters. No Betas used. Just ran in through Grammarly.
Please Note: Memories Chapter 20 of Nabiki New Horizons has been updated! You can finally find out how Ranma was rescued!

This takes place after chapter 29 of Nabiki New Horizons

I wasn't going to do this, but this plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone. So just relax, keep your seat in the upright position and please note that our captain has put up the everything is not canon light.

Have a Happy New Year!
-

"As you can see, it's all done, Mr. Lawrence," said a burly contractor as he dusted his hands. "Some of my boys decided to take up the offered overtime and worked a few night shifts getting it all finished early. We fixed the broken windows and all of the torn sidings. We tried to sand the floor, but that weird stuff had soaked through the rug had gotten deep into the flooring and insulation. All of it had to be replaced. Not to mention scraping all that dried stinking stuff that was all over the house. Must have been a heck of a party. Anyway, the paint's all dried on the ceilings and walls, and the new rugs are in place. Like it never happened, right?"

"Right, I could almost forget it never happened. I wasn't around, but I'm told it was storm damage from a freak tornado. Thanks for fitting this in as a priority. Now they can concentrate on getting the new hotel restaurant ready," replied Jeff, shaking the man's hand. The contractors quickly cleaned up and left. He watched as their pickups passed Nabiki's silver minivan.

"Is everything done?" She asked through the open window while she parked the car.

"Yes, well ahead of schedule. We can move back in!"

"That sounds lovely! The penthouse at your hotel is luxurious, but nothing beats home." It had been a couple of weeks since she had returned from Japan, and she was anxious to get back into a normal routine at their home.

Jeff wholeheartedly agreed and then gaped as he saw her open up the back of the minivan. "Why do we need a new set of pots and pans?"

"We also need a new set of utensils for the kitchen. You can't expect us to use cookware that's so dented and scratched. Not to mention the smell of whatever was on those things. I don't want to eat food that is cooked in the same pot as whatever that vile concoction was."

"That 'vile concoction' saved Sodoshi and all of our friends," he gently reminded her.

"Oh, I know. I'm not even going to dock Jade's pay for the damages. Isn't that nice of me?" Nabiki pointedly ignored her husband's eye roll as she continued, "Speaking of which. I'll give her a call and let her know the house is fixed early and she can start working again." Nabiki stopped when she saw Jeff's expression. "Okay, what."

"Well about Jade," he said slowly.

"Yes, what about Jade," she repeated even slower.

"Ah, this morning I went to see how things were going with the new restaurant and then ..."

*Insert wavy flashback lines*

Jeff looked about as the contractors worked on the soon-to-be-opened hotel restaurant and searched for his business partner in this venture. He found him, as he expected in the kitchens laying out several test dishes. Next to her father, Jade arranged some edible flowers on one of the plates. In the background, he saw several of her brothers and sisters cleaning, peeling, and performing other kitchen duties. Yes, the tradition of nepotism in Asian restaurants was still alive and well. Slightly more worrisome is that he saw his daughter standing on a step ladder stirring a simmering stock pot with a long wooden spoon.

"Hi, Daddy! Look at me! I'm cooking!" she exclaimed while waving with one hand.

"I can see that. Good work! I'm sure the restaurant is going to be a great success now!" he replied while eyeing the stability of her footing. It was a testimony to her gymnastics training that she maintained her balance while enthusiastically stirring.

"Mr. Lawrence! You just in time. Try this! Ethical no shark fin soup." Mr. Sao said as he took a spoon and presented a bowl of soup.

"I helped make that Daddy!"

He tried some and found the taste and texture quite pleasing. "It's great! You did a great job on this!" He called to Sodoshi. He turned back to Mr. Sao and asked, "What did you use as a substitute for shark fin?"

"What your daughter stirring now is combination of konnyaku and yú chì guā."

"What's yú chì guā?"

"Shark fin melon."

"I didn't know such a thing existed, but I'm impressed."

"Many thanks, Mr. Lawrence," Mr. Sao replied with a bow.

"No thank you, Mr. Sao. I appreciated that you still wanted to go through with this venture despite the unpleasantness that occurred at the office. I can't excuse what happened, but um . . it was a bad day for me."

"It okay Mr. Lawerence. You need watch out for fake medicine sellers."

"um, what..."

"Jade told me you took some bad medicine from Japan."

"Well it was supposed to give me more energy," Jeff hedged.

"It no joke. Shop owner friend back in China had faker try to get him to sell bad medicine patch. Guy put freebie patch on my friend with no ask and friend pass out. He was fine as soon as we took off patch. Other shopkeepers chased, but faker got away."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it end up on news. South China Morning Post. They even got video."

"Ah, yes. I'll be more careful in the future. You do have a wonderful daughter though. Jade was a big help in getting my family through that tough time."

"Yes, she is."

"So you named the restaurant 'Jade Pineapple Palace' after her?"

"Oh no. Originally was 'Dragon Pineapple Palace', but then thought customers expect just dragon fruit on the menu. So changed it to jade which sounds more Chinese-like and I happen to like pineapples. First American fruit I ate. Special memory when we got to Hawaii. Jade was big help though. Helped with coming up with menu and plating design. So name after her just happy coincidence."

Jade who had started blushing under such praise said, "YOUR hard work in past restaurant helped make everything here possible Father."

"Everybody made it work, but you especially have been here every day. Help me remember old recipes. Fun making new things from old memories. Also, nobody else knows my recipes as good as you," Jade's father replied.

"Yes was much fun. Can still have more fun till Mr. Lawrence house is fixed," Jade said fondly to her father.

"Yes about that," Jeff said with a serious face as he quickly came to a decision.

"What's wrong Mr. Lawrence," Jade said puzzled.

"You're fired."

"What! Why?"

"Overachieving quarterly goals, but never mind that. I should mention that I just happen to have an opening for a sous chef at a new exclusive restaurant."

"Really Mr. Lawrence?"

"Yes, you want the job?"

"Yes!"

"Great. You're hired. Oh, if that's okay with you Mr. Sao."

"Nothing would give me greater pleasure Mr. Lawrence," Jade's father replied while hugging his daughter. In the back, still stirring the pot Sodoshi wondered if she would still get lessons from Jade.

*Insert wavy back to present lines*

"...and that's what happened," Jeff said while looking back to his wife as he stored the last of the new cookware on the kitchen shelf.

"You fired my housekeeper?" Nabiki said a little more sharply than she intended.

"No, I hired a sous chef for the new restaurant," Jeff said gamely, but a look from his wife told him that he was trending in dangerous waters. "...and I'll ask Sister Angelica if she knows anybody who wants to be a housekeeper too. Also, I'll get Rachel to gather applicants too," he quickly added before Nabiki's expression could get any flatter.

Before Nabiki could vent her opinion the phone rang and Jeff quickly picked it up while holding up a finger to his lips. She folded her arms and gave him a look to convey that this conversation wasn't over. "Hello. Yes. Speaking. My wife is here too if you need to talk to her. That's an unusual...ah right."

Nabiki warily looked at the phone as she tried in vain to make out the words on the other end. "Letter? No, we've been away from our house and haven't checked. No. Nothing like that. My daughter is perfectly fine! Who? Oh. I see. Yes. No, no trouble. We can be available in the afternoon. Yes, that time is fine. Goodbye." Her husband slowly put the phone down on the cradle as if it might explode.

"Jeff..." she started to say but stopped as he held up his hands and took a couple of deep breaths while hunched over. After a few moments, he straightened up and yelled,

"Sodoshi!"

"Jeffrey...," she said more insistently.

He focused on her and worriedly said, "A social worker is coming tomorrow afternoon to talk to Sodoshi. There have been some...reports made on her. Now the government is concerned about her well-being."

"Nani! Who?!" Nabiki demanded with as much motherly Japanese indignation as she could muster, which was considerable.

"I don't know. He wouldn't say."

"Probably some jealous twit of a mother. Oh, just because their daughter isn't half as talented," she retorted. She paused when she saw Sodoshi come running toward them in her workout clothes. No doubt taking advantage of their home gymnasium with its balance beam. Something lacking from most hotel's workout rooms. No matter how luxurious.

"Yes, Daddy?" She called as she came to a stop, " Mommy! Guess what! I got to cook today!"

"Not now. Something important has come up," Nabiki started and then internally winced as Sodoshi's face fell. She was trying to be better at mothering but still had some ways to go. "I mean that's good. Wonderful! Never know when cooking can come in handy." Her daughter's face recovered some of its youthful joy. Deciding to press ahead before she messed up again she said, "Tomorrow afternoon you'll be having . . . an interview. Yes, an interview here."

"An interview?" Her daughter parroted. "For another school?" Sodoshi turned to her father and asked, "Did I do something bad?"

"No! Nothing bad. Not for another school," Nabiki quickly said, perhaps a little too quickly to calm her daughter.

"It's just someone who wants to make sure you're doing well after everything that had been going on." Jeff quickly injected.

"You mean after the scary ghosts."

"Yes, that. You're okay after all the scary stuff," Jeff replied while trying to figure out how to convey the seriousness of the situation without scaring their daughter.

"But you can't mention anything about ghosts..."

"or ninjas..."

"or ghost ninjas," Nabiki finally added. Poor Sodoshi's head kept whipping back and forth as she tried to focus on each parent.

"So I should lie?" Sodoshi asked in confusion.

"No not lie. Focus on other things that happened recently. Good things. Like doing well in the gymnastics."

"Like Daddy waking up and you coming back from Japan!" their daughter replied with sudden clarity.

"Yes. Things like that," Nabiki said softly while taking her daughter into a tight hug and started to quietly cry.

"Mommy. It's okay. I'm going to do great! You'll be so proud of me!"

Her mommy let her go and said, "I'm already proud of you. Yes, you'll do great. Go back to practicing. I have a few things to ...talk to your father about."

She knew that tone and quickly beat a hasty retreat while her father laughed weakly.

"Aren't you sure you wouldn't want the dress with the blue and pink ribbons on it?" her Daddy asked again.

"No Daddy, that's for parties. This clothing is for importing things and Mommy said this was important."

Today she was dressed in one of her best clothing. It was a small business suit that looked just like her Mommy's. She asked Daddy for it so that she could greet Mommy at the airport wearing it. The smile on her Mommy's face when she saw it was etched forever in her mind. Needless to say, the memory and the clothing were cherished immensely. She was going to make sure that whoever came today knew that she was doing great and that she had the bestest parents on the whole island. No, on the mainland too!

She heard a car parking in their driveway. She ran to a window, looked out, and saw a huge figure coming out of a dark blue car.

"Sodoshi, the social worker is here! Let me look you over," her Mommy called. She ran over to her and her Mommy started fussing with her hair again and picking lint off her outfit. Her parents were dressed in what her Daddy called business casual clothing. Maybe if they didn't dress up then this wasn't as serious as she thought it was. Didn't matter. She was going to do so good today.

The doorbell rang as her Daddy answered the door. A big black man wearing a black suit entered. He was big. Bigger than some of her Daddy's navy seal friends. He was wearing dark sunglasses and she noticed a gold loop on one of his ears. She bet all the kids in his 'social worker' school would be good if he was one of the teachers or the principal.

"Hello, Mr. Bubbles. I'm Jeff and this is my wife Nabiki and our daughter Sodoshi." Sodoshi giggled at the name as the man greeted her parents. He then knelt in front of her, and said with his right hand extended,

"Hello Sodoshi, How are you doing?"

She bowed as she replied, "I'm doing very well Mr. Bubbles." She then stood straight and shook his hand while saying, "I'm very glad to meet with you." A perfect greeting just like Mommy and Daddy would do she thought proudly to herself.

He smiled back at her and asked, "Are you happy here?"

"Yes. I did very well at my last gymnastic meet." She promptly replied, just like her parents wanted her to.

"That's wonderful. You must practice a lot. Do you enjoy practicing gymnastics? Your parents must have cheered very loudly for you."

"Yes, I love being on the balance bar. I wanna try rings sometime too. Daddy cheered very loudly, and Rachel and Jade too!" She recalled with a big smile.

"Just your daddy? Where was your mommy?"

"Oh, she was in Japan."

"Really? Japan? That's far away isn't it?"

"Yep. She had *important* people to meet!" Sodoshi reported happily. Surely if Mr. Bubbles knew that that her mommy was someone important it would help.

"That's nice. Who is Rachel?"

"She's my secretary, and Jade is our housekeeper," her daddy chimed in. Cobra turned to look at her daddy which he gulped and got quiet.

"So Jade and Rachel. Do you like them?"

"Sure! Jade is nice and really really strong and pretty. Rachel comes over when Mommy is away. She's nice and pretty too."

"I see. So Rachel often comes over when your mommy is away?"

"Only when Daddy is busy. I had a sleepover at her house once too! It was for fun. That was before our house was broken."

"Yes. That weird tornado. I read some of the emergency incident reports. Many of your neighbors stated seeing strange and bright blue glows coming from this area of the neighborhood," Cobra said absently as if waiting for her to fill in the details. Sodoshi looked nervously at her parents and wondered what she would say if questioned about the fox army that broke into their house.

"Yes, very strange," Nabiki smoothly injected, "While I wasn't there. I'm sure the glows and sounds were just thunder, lightning...or maybe it was a transforming exploding. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Our friends were taking care of Sodoshi at that time and after the storm ended they went over to the hospital to make sure my husband was okay."

"Ah, yes the hospital visit generated some interesting police reports," Cobra said as he produced a different notebook. "There were reports of several assaults on several hospital staff. Especially this one report of burns suffered from an electrified door. Though, for some reason, nobody at the hospital wanted to press charges. You have some very interesting friends Mrs. Tendo-Lawerence."

"They can be a little over-enthusiastic," Jeff quickly explained, "They had just gotten a call from the hospital about my condition and were afraid of the hospital pulling the plug on my life support. Nonsensical, I know, but they just wanted to help."

"I helped too! I filled Daddy with energy!" Sodoshi said not wanting all of their friends to be in trouble alone. The look her parents gave her immediately told her that she had said the wrong thing.

"You filled him up?"

"Um, yes."

"Do you often fill your father up with energy?"

"No! Just that he really needed it and I'm sure Daddy would fill me up or Mommy too if we needed it," she said as she tried to think of a way not to mention the images of the bad man attacking her Daddy.

"She just means encouraging. Like they say holding hands or reading to the coma patient. I mean me. When I was in a coma, but I'm not now. I got better," Jeff quickly said.

"I see," Cobra said with a raised eyebrow. He turned to Nabiki and asked, "How are you doing? I heard that the bank robber situation was quite intense over here."

"I'm doing fine. Nothing wrong with me." Nabiki said with a hint of aggression.

"Have you had any counseling after the incident?"

"I told you that there's nothing wrong with me!"

"But yet you've left for Japan for several months away from your family multiple times," Mr. Bubbles pressed on.

"There was family business and REAL business that HAD to happen!" Nabiki said quite angrily.

Jeff held Nabiki for a second, "Oochitsuite. It's not personal." She calmed down with a humph.

Jeff turned to Mr. Bubbles and said, "Sorry about that. Japanese still have a strong stigma against mental conditions and they put a great store in family honor. Not to mention my wife is trying to break into a mostly male-dominant business world."

"I understand. I apologize Mrs. Tendo-Lawerence. Some of the concerns that were raised to my agency are that you're unhealthily pushing your daughter in gymnastics beyond what is expected of a girl her age." He raised his hands before they could object and continued, "Also with everything that happened to your family there's some concern about how everybody is coping. I've seen people need to move away from places where they experienced unpleasant events. The memories associated with it tend to linger."

Nabiki internally scoffed. If unpleasant memories had any effect on her then she would have left Nerima before her tween years. "My daughter is happy, healthy, and just better than those other kids. I can deal with the memories. I am fine. I'm home after a long trip and have no intention of leaving any time soon."

"I'm afraid I just can't take your word on that, but I'm willing to lean toward your side of things. Look, my agency needs to monitor your situation for the next three months. Nothing too intrusive. We probably won't need to check up on you no more than once a month. Also, just think about counseling if you need somebody to talk to. I can recommend some folks."

"I don't need to hire someone to talk to me. That's why I married Jeff," Nabiki replied with a smirk.

"Ah, of course. Oh, I should also talk to your housekeeper. Jade, right?"

"Um, I'm afraid I just fired her," Jeff said sheepishly.

"You fired her," Cobra said while wondering if the housekeeper was hiding as an 'illegal alien'. Not that he would care about such things.

"Yes, but then I hired her as a cook for my new restaurant, 'The Jade Pineapple Palace'. I can give you directions. I'm sure she's still there."

"It'll have to be later. I have another appointment. Thank you for your time. It was very good to meet with all of you." He shook everybody's hand after he got Jade's contact information and left with a final look at Sodoshi.

Cobra Bubbles drove to his next appointment while he reflected on what he had learned. The Lawerences seem to be a nice family but in his current line of business, or even his former occupation he learned that not everything was as it seemed.

His gut feeling was that there was something that the family was hiding. Also, the dynamics of the family appeared to be slightly strained, while that could be easily explained due to the husband having recently recovered from a coma while the wife was away at business there was a certain uneasiness both parents exhibited while discussing the damages to the house and the incident at the hospital with their daughter.

Little Sodoshi was overall in a good situation, though the way she looked at her parents while talking made it apparent a few things to him. She tended to look at her mother first pensively and then relaxed when glancing at her father. He concluded that she craved approval from her mother. There wasn't any fear when she looked at either parent, which was good. Lastly, the father was the default parent in this family.

His musing was interrupted when a teenage girl ran in front of his car as he was accelerating from a stop sign and was forced to slam on the brakes.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, Stupid Head!" the girl yelled as she kicked his car and quickly continued running down the road. Cobra got out of his car and looked at the fender. Just minor damage, and thankfully his agency has extra rental insurance. He looked at the rapidly dwindling silhouette of the girl and wondered why she was in such a hurry.

Stupid Head? Some new slang he guessed. Shaking his head at today's youth. If she wasn't more careful she was going to have an accident one of these days. Getting back into his car he mentally reviewed his next appointment.

Two sisters, Nani and Lilo Pelekai. Living alone as they lost their parents in a car accident. According to the report from the other social workers, there was some concern about the younger sister's inability to cope with the loss. The other social workers consistently wrote that she was unsociable, angry, and sometimes had violent fits. He was there to observe both of them and verify the eldest sister's ability to provide for both of them. The older sister's dossier said a lot of things, but basically boiled down to she had to mature quickly and was feeling the strain of responsibility. He really hoped there were no signs of physical abuse. Those types of cases ended up being very messy to deal with.

As he drove to the address he assessed the house. It looked weather-worn and there were some signs of neglect. Nothing serious, the lawn could use some attention, a few piles of surf equipment, and a small Volkswagen bug could use a wash. More concernedly, a female was yelling from a pet door. Was she stuck?

"I'm going to stuff you into the blender and push puree and bake you into a pie and feed you to the social worker, and when he says 'mmm, this tastes great. What's your secret?' I'm going to say..." Apparently, things aren't so good with this family. He made his presence known and he immediately recognized her. Nani the guardian he was scheduled to interview and the person who just kicked his rental. Well, at least he now knows why she was in a hurry.

Hesitantly she asked, "You must be the..."

"The Stupid Head," he replied. Yeah, it was slightly vindictive of him, but he thought it was more of a life lesson for her to reign in her temper. He was professional enough to not let that color the rest of the interview, but unfortunately, it went downhill from there. The house was a mess, Lilo the younger sister was left alone, and worse the stove was still burning...something.

Lilo was starved for attention and enjoyed telling lies, or perhaps more kindly, tall tales. Saying she was beaten five times a day with bricks in a pillow case while smiling is not normal, but he's dealt with troubled children and didn't rise to the obvious bait. He was about to tell Nani that the state was going to assume custody of Lilo, but he stopped when he saw something in her eyes.

Fear. Fear of losing another family member. She really didn't want to see her sister go. One last chance, maybe they could pull themselves together with a little motivation. Maybe they'll even thank him in the end. Probably not. With his mind made up he said,

"Let me illuminate you to the precarious situation in which you have found yourself. I am the one they call when things go wrong, and things have indeed gone wrong." Turning around he found Lilo was playing with spoons in a pickle jar. No, spoons dressed as voodoo dolls in a pickle jar.

"My friends need to be punished," she said while staring intently at the effigies of her intended victims. No doubt this girl was a real riot at Halloween.

"Call me next time you're left alone," he said while resisting the urge to add 'or disciplined with bricks in a pillowcase'. He wasn't sure if he could say that with a straight face and it would have broken the mood. Turning to leave he saw that Nani still wasn't getting how serious this was. "In case you're wondering. This did not go well. You have three days to change my mind." With that he left, the nailed door barely slowing him down as he made his way to the car.

Her mommy and daddy didn't say anything more about the interview. Dinner was unusually quiet too. Even the treat of pizza takeout didn't alleviate the somber feeling that had settled around her family like a heavy wool blanket.

She spent the rest of the day watching her parents on the phone with their friends. It sounded like a few of them had been interviewed too, which is weird as some of them didn't have any kids. So why did Mr. Bubbles (chuckle) want to talk to her? She asked Mr. Dolphin, the stuffed animal her mommy bought her, but he didn't know either.

Bedtime had a rare treat, both her parents tucked her in and mommy read her a story about an ugly duckling looking for his family, but it did little to help her sleep. Her mommy and daddy kept looking worried at her when they thought she wasn't looking. There was something about that interview they weren't telling her!

While tossing and turning, she heard her mommy and daddy talking in their bedroom, but she couldn't make it out. Using all of her meager ninja skills, she quietly got out of bed and made her way over to their closed bedroom door.

"...not a solution and you know it. Put my phone down. You can't call Jamie's team for this. Just stop worrying about it," her daddy said tiredly.

"How can I stop worrying about it when it's all my fault? I'm a horrible mother," her mommy said while sniffling.

"Stop! Don't say things like that. You're a great mother!" her daddy quickly said. Sodoshi nodded her head in agreement too.

"Would a 'great mother' not go to her daughter's gym competition or not go with her to the zoo or aquarium? Why did I go to Japan?"

"Now if you didn't go back then Ranma and Akane would not be married or be expecting their first child. Also don't forget you saved all of us from the ancient samurai general. You. Saved. Us. Me and Sodoshi!"

She was going to tell Mommy she was a super mommy and she loved her and then hug her so much that she had to believe it was so, but she was suppose to be in bed. Would she be in trouble? No this would be okay. Maybe? She slowly walked up to the door in indecision.

"You two wouldn't be in danger in the first place if it wasn't for me!" her mommy said in a hissing tone. "Akane was the one who saved Ranma and I just gave them a shove in a direction they were already heading. Anyway, doesn't matter. Everything I did or did not do in Japan doesn't matter if they take our baby away because I was not a good mother!"

[Re-read Nabiki's New Horizon chapter 20 Memories. Newly added Ranma's Rescue.]

Sodoshi froze just as she was going to open the door and comfort her mommy. This is what this is all about? The nice Mr. Bubbles wanted to take her away? Her hand dropped away from the door handle in shock.

"Nabiki stop saying that. Cobra said that all he needed to verify that the report was wrong and there was nothing to worry about."

"Oh, Jeff. It's three months. Weeks of knowing that every little thing I say or do could lead to them taking Sodoshi away. How do I act normal when facing those nuns and mothers and not wonder which one of them made the complaint? Which one thinks that I'm unfit to be a mother?"

"It's not just all you. It's me too, you know," her daddy said dryly.

"No, it's not and you know it," her mommy said with a giggle.

"Bet it's not someone reporting us like that. Probably just some computer algorithm matching all the police reports that raised a flag. The social workers have to follow up on those. It's their job. You're a good mother and Sodoshi is a good daughter. So act normal for the next three months and everything will be fine."

"Acting normal is what got us into that mess in Japan," her mommy retorted with a snort.

"Well for the next three months just focus being 'normal' in Hawaii. Japan had its turn. It's time for us to enjoy having the whole family together in the good ol' US of A."

Sodoshi shook as she realized that she could be sent away if she was bad. Getting caught out of bed would be bad. She did her best to keep her ragged breathing and beating heart in control as she scrambled back into her room and dove under the cover. So that's what her parents were hiding from her. She threw the covers over her head trying to block out the rest of the world.

High above the Lawerance and Pelekai households, a spaceship began to crack up through the ionosphere. Its lone occupant a small blue furry creature who the universe only identified as Experiment 626 yelled angrily at the controls.

He knew nothing of this planet, but his instincts called for him to find a major city. He took each spark and squeal of twisting metal from the disintegrating red police vehicle as a personal insult and obstacle to finding large civilizations to destroy.

The amount of water on this planet was worrying, but his supercomputer mind had already calculated one hundred and thirteen plans for converting the wreckage of the spaceship into something that could float.

Likely it wasn't part of the Galactic Alliance. Perhaps they had created large underwater cities. It would be perfect. A left-shoe target-rich environment with no way to call for help. He wasn't sure why his instincts told him he needed left shoes, but he didn't question it. It would make him feel fulfilled and that was enough.

He glanced out the window and noticed that he was approaching a large chain of islands. He quickly calculated that he was going to avoid a watery landing and quickly abandoned his boat making efforts to raid the spaceship's armory. Four plasma guns. Perfect. They went into his 'There's always more space pockets from X-S Tec' (TM) and then his craft impacted the ground.

"Jabugga oom chiki!" 626's adrenaline-fueled laugh filled the air as he jumped out of the wreckage that no longer qualified as space-worthy. He pushed back the pain from the landing and searched for a suitable target to start his reign of terror.

Except there was nothing, but rain, which his hair-trigger nerves had shot at, and some small native amphibian who was too oblivious to the danger of having a plasma gun pointed at them. The adrenaline started to wear off. The pains in his body started to make themselves known again and he started to relax.

This proved to be a mistake as his tired body failed to hear a convoy of approaching trucks over the pouring rain until the last moment. He barely had time to raise all four of his guns before the lead truck hit him and he lost consciousness.

The truckers were shocked that the thing they hit was still alive, if just barely. The shredded clothing the dog thing had been wearing made it pretty obvious it was somebody's pet. Feeling bad, the truckers made a call to a small local shelter, who took it in despite them not thinking it would last the night.

Sodoshi woke with a start and quickly looked around until she recognized her room. Her room and not the hotel suite that they had been staying. Her dreams were filled with angry, judging eyes.

It was still very early and she saw that the sun had yet to peek above the horizon. Good. She didn't feel like facing the outside world yet. Social workers must be even more dangerous than the spirits that attacked the house she thought. The adults fought back against those scary things, but here even her mommy seemed afraid and helpless.

She tossed and turned, but wasn't tired anymore, and hiding in bed was losing its appeal. She got up and quietly went to her playroom. She looked at the balance beam as she stretched a little and wondered if it really was one of the children who complained that she was too good at it. Her look turned into a glare as if it was the balance beam's fault that Mr. Bubbles visited. No that was silly. Daddy said it wasn't likely, but because the police at the hospital had filed a report.

She climbed up to the beam and began imagining herself at one of those competitions with the announcers on TV. Like the Olympics where a big crowd and her parents were watching her. She raised her arms and began a dainty walk forward which switched to a roll forward and ended with a dramatic twirl. As she got into the routine she imagined the crowd's appreciative response, but a dark area caught her eye. It was where her classmates would normally be to watch. Were some of her classmates talking behind her back? Was it Stacey, Jenny, or Candance? No, it couldn't be one of them. Why would they want to bust her? They were best friends, right?

Maybe it wasn't anybody in her class. Was it somebody in the audience? Now the crowd turned dark and shadowy with many large eyes and whispering mouths. She tried to banish the thought and went into a handstand, but found her grip slipping from sweat on her hands. She had forgotten to use the chalk!

She tumbled from the bar to the surrounding mats. She took several deep breaths while she got up and rubbed a small scrape on her calf. She imagined the disappointed looks from her parents and then Cobra would be there. Telling her parents if they did a better job then she would have remembered to chalk her hands and then told Mommy what a bad mommy she was. He would then say he should take her away from them. She scrambled up off the mats and quickly left the balance beam as it offered no solace today.

The quietly sniffling girl went back to her room, sat down at her desk, and turned on the desk lamp. Absentmindedly, she opened a drawer and grabbed a blank piece of paper and her crayons. She drew scary eyes floating in the sky, hidden in the walls, and even in the coconuts on top of palm trees.

"Neko-chan," she addressed her stuffed cat doll on the bed, "Those eyes were the ones who told Cobra Bubbles that things were bad."

Sodoshi considered a moment as she picked out another crayon. Cobra Bubbles seemed nice, but those eyes were telling him bad things. She drew the social worker who appeared to be following some eyes that were laughing, but the ones that were pushing him from behind were even scarier and meaner looking.

Those eyes wanted him to take her away from her mommy and daddy. She drew herself on the far side away from all the eyes. She needed to hide from those scary eyes. Now a green bush drew around her with the words hiding.

No, that wasn't enough. She needed to be ... ninja. She took her purple crayon and covered her clothing with more ninja-like clothing. "That's it Neko-chan! If the eyes can't find her then they can't tell Mr. Bubbles anything!" She just had to be away from home for a little while. Her mommy told her how she survived in Japan all by herself. Well with the help of some friendly ninja spirits. She could be just like that!

She grabbed her favorite backpack, the one decorated with little dolphins. She quickly put in some clothes, insect repellent, and sunscreen. Taking out a pen she quickly wrote a message on the back of her drawing so that her parents wouldn't worry. As she closed the zipper of her backpack, she looked at the dolphins. Some of the dolphins she had drawn silly things, like jumping over ice cream or flipping over a balance beam in a leotard. She quickly found an unmodified dolphin, the one nearest to her zipper, and quickly drew a ninja mask on it. Now all she needed was food. "Neko-chan, be good and make sure Daddy and Mommy are safe and happy!"

She snuck into the kitchen and grabbed all the granola bars. She wanted to make peanut butter sandwiches, but she could not quite reach the bread and didn't want to make any noise by pulling up a chair to get it. So she settled for stuffing the whole jar and a box of crackers into her backpack. Lastly, she grabbed an umbrella and quietly left the house, locking the door behind her.

Sodoshi walked down the driveway and spoke quietly to herself,

"Going on an adventure just like Mommy." She paused when she reached the end of the driveway. Where was she supposed to go? That stumped her. Was she allowed to cross the street without an adult with her? Oh right! Her Mommy had ninja spirits to guide her. She had one who was also an adult too!

"Sodoshi!" she whispered urgently.

Her guardian spirit appeared in front of her with her hands crossed, "Hello my little warrior. I praise your bravery, but are you sure this is the path you want to take?"

"Yes! I won't let them take me away. All I need is to hide for a little bit. You know how to be sneaky. I need to be sneaky too. Ninja sneaky."

"Yes, So-chan. I can be sneaky and if you wish to learn then who am I to deny such an eager student? Though I should probably let the elder, your mother, know where you are training."

"No! You can't tell her where I'm at. I already left a note!"

"She'll be worried. At least can I tell her you're fine," Sodoshi insisted and wondered when she became the responsible one.

"That's okaay, but no telling where I'm hiding! Promise!"

"Sure, I promise. Let me show you how to build a shelter. I know of the perfect spot for that too."

"Do you think Hawaii has a hidden ninja village too?"

"Ha. So-chan. If there was it's quite hidden."

"But you're a ninja. You'll be able to find it!"

"My little warrior, if I find one. You'll be the first to know." With that, the ghostly guardian led her younger namesake down the road.

Agent Wendy Pleakley looked nervously around the interior spaceship with his single large eye, his green tentacles nervously fidgeting. He couldn't even properly enjoy the excitement of finally being allowed to travel to his favorite planet in the whole galaxy, Earth.

Of course, he had never been there. It was a restricted planet. Nothing must disrupt rebuilding the mosquito population after all. The only real data he had seen was through the long-distance monitors and the university's invaluable collection of view masters.

What he really wanted to do was sulk, but that would mean taking his eye off his charge, the convict Doctor Jumba Jookiba. His day had started so well too when he received the summon from the Grand Councilwoman. He had just finished the annual cataloging of earthly artifacts gathered through the first and only official visit to that planet. That happened many years before his time and he often daydreamed of what it must be like to view these things in their native environment. He had chased away the flights of fancy as duty called and he quickly reported to the council chambers.

Surely the Grand Councilwoman wanted to know the progress of their latest plan to inoculate the mosquitoes against viruses that they were passing on to their preferred prey. It was logical that if the prey population declined then the mosquitoes would also follow, but the galactic council would probably strike it down as too direct an intervention and demand the plan be refined.

Alas, that was not the case. Somebody decided to unleash an ADOOMD. This Artificially Designed Organism of Mass Destruction on this poor defenseless planet. It needed to be relocated ASAP!

It was just his poor luck that he was saddled with the self-proclaimed evil genius who created the abomination! To make matters worse his spaceship was in the shop and the loaner wasn't allowed beyond the tri-galaxy area. So he was forced to request the release of Jumba's vehicle.

Not that it was terrible on the outside, but a large portion of the inside was heavily modified to include a small, but well-equipped laboratory. All of those volatile chemicals and unidentifiable machinery just made him feel uneasy from the top of his antenna to the bottom of his green tentacles. Also, the horn was an issue. Why a spaceship needed such an obnoxious-sounding horn was quite beyond his comprehension.

"...and that's why a minor cross strand of DNA could lead from urges to destroy all life to obscure obsessions like asteroid collecting or making sandwiches," concluded his traveling companion.

"That's quite the ... hobby... you got there. I find studying primitive cultures not only my profession but also my personal passion. My connections have granted me almost exclusive access to all available reels," but before he could really get into his favorite subject a beeping sound filled the cabin.

"We made good time," Jumba said as he glanced over the instruments and switched the controls to manual. "Within sensor range of the island where 626 is calculated to crash on. Let's go!"

"Wait!" Pleakley said in alarm. "Everybody and their kid brother will see us if you go straight in."

"Don't worry. Not my first rodeo. I can get in there fast and quiet. No kid brother will even know we are here."

He maneuvered the ship so that it was partially obscured by this planet's lone moon. Deftly he maneuvered toward the planet and avoided alerting any of the locals. He pushed a few buttons and said, "Loading coordinates for the general area of the crash site. Galactic space fuel should be unknown on this planet. Using a methodical scientific grid we will scan each section for a large concentration of standard-grade ship fuel isotopes, no way UGF would spring for the good stuff, and quickly find where 626 touched down."

Pleakley who had been looking out the window said, "How about we go to where that smoke and green plasma glow is?"

Jumba looked hard at Pleakley for any signs of smugness. Finding none he just said, "...or we could do that." He quickly found a clearing a bit to land and they made their way to the crash site.

After staring at the wreckage for a moment Pleakley sadly said,

"No way anybody survived that."

"Yes, way. Oh sure 626 might be stunned, but vital bodily functions would be easily protected by the armored epidermis layer."

"You sure he wouldn't be hurt at all?"

"Oh maybe a slight concussion, but nothing a good night's sleep wouldn't take care of," Jumba replied while looking at his handheld scanner. "626 is probably covered in residual fuel. We can use that to find 626. Science!"

"Look, I think I can see some footprints leading away from the crash," Pleakley said as he started following the marks in the soft dirt.

"You are doing that on purpose," Jumba grumbled as he followed Pleakley and 626's distinct footsteps. They followed the tracks until it ended by a roadside. They had just arrived in time to see a truck being towed away. Raising his scanner the scientist said,

"We can still find him using this. It'll take time, but we can find him." The scanner quickly found the remains of 626's outfit and blasters.

"We have to hide your ship and the wreckage first," Pleakley said after picking up the blasters.

"I thought we were in a hurry."

"We are, but what if the locals had discovered these guns? There must not be any cultural contamination. Trust me, you do NOT want to fill out the paperwork for one of those!"

"Fine, but this is going to take all night," Jumba grumbled.

Sodoshi skipped down the dirt path and hummed a song. Her ghostly namesake shook her head and said with mild sarcasm,

"You know little one that we ninjas of the Cold Moon Clan do not skip or hum."

"I'm sure you do when the sun is out and the birds are out and the wind is blowing and the puffy white clouds are out and..."

"I don't think I ever did that," the ghostly mentor said. She winced as her young charge step on another branch with a snap. "Look you need to learn to move quietly. Step lightly like this. Watch your step and don't step on any rocks or branches."

"No fair! You're a ghost," she complained as she looked down and gingerly stepped her way around some fallen sticks.

"Not bad. Eventually, you won't stare at the ground so much. The idea is to get an idea of your surroundings with just a glance and pick the best and quietest path. Watch me now," Ghostly Sodoshi lectured as she demonstrated how to quietly walk. With just a glance at the terrain, she quickly stepped over branches and around loose stones. Light footstep that if she was tangible would barely disturb the dirt. "Now you try," she said as she turned around to watch her charge.

It was terrible, but funny to watch her younger namesake slowly pick her way down the path while staring at the floor. After a few minutes of observing this she said, "A good start, but now look at me and try to walk faster."

"I'm walking like a ninja!" Sodoshi crowed as she successfully walked down the path without disturbing anything. Granted this section of the forest was mostly debris-free, but still a good effort.

"It's a start my young protege, but this is just the beginning. You also need to be aware of your surroundings to watch for danger." Her ghostly form swept next to Sodoshi as her student started to turn her head back and forth scanning the forest. "Not like that. Use the corners of your eyes. Stop and look through the corners of your eyes. Movements where there shouldn't be are more obvious when watching this way. Being able to do this while moving is one of the basic cornerstones of being a ninja. Otherwise, you're just a sentry."

"Oh. I think I see a chicken over there on the right!"

"Good! You can do it! Later I'll teach you to hunt. You can always have chicken for dinner."

"No! It's too cute! Show me something else!"

"We'll see how cute it looks to you when it reaches dinner time," the apparition said with a smirk. She relented, seeing how cute her younger namesake looked with that determined pout on her face. "Okay okay. Here's another nice 'ninja trick'. The heavens above help us. Look at the clouds."

"Oh! That one looks like a dolphin. Now it's a mermaid. That one over there looks like Godzilla falling on his back!" Sodoshi exclaimed while pointing at each cloud in turn. The elder looked at her in mild exasperation and said,

"Look at the SHADOWS they cast on the ground. When moving across open ground use them to hide your movements from others."

"Cloud shadows! Ninja go!" the young girl stage whispered as she ran to stay under a fast-moving cloud. Her ghostly mentor followed sedately. Her student was making a passable attempt at avoiding loose stones and branches while keeping pace with the cloud's shadow she mentally critiqued.

The two aliens had hidden the cooling spaceship wreckage with a heat-resistant tarp and shoveled some with dirt and branches over the crash site. Jumba's large ship was harder to deal with and they decided just cutting some trees to hide it from casual discovery would be enough. Fortunately, Jumba had incredible strength and could casually knock down whatever they needed. They were placing the last branch when they heard a gasp behind them.

They both turned and saw a small local female looking at them with wide-open eyes. This was the worst-case scenario. First comes the screaming and the running. Next came explaining this to the Galatic Council and then the paperwork. Oh, the paperwork, so much paperwork. Triplet copies of it.

"Are you a good ghost or a bad ghost?" the young girl asked. Pleakley blinked his one big eye. That was unexpected.

"Little girl. There is no such thing as spirits or ghosts. There is no scientific proof and anything else is just superstition," Jumba lectured. Pleakley elbowed him and Jumba complained with a hurt, "What?"

"Don't interact with her!"

"It was only a little question." He retorted as the two then turned their back on her. Sodoshi eyed the two strange creatures for a bit and decided that they weren't a danger. She turned back to her older namesake and asked,

"Thanks for showing me your ninja sneaking in the woods technique. It's so good I can sneak up on spirits!"

"You're quite welcome little one, but I don't think those are ghosts," the elder ghost said as she looked over the two strangers and mentally chastised herself. She had been so intent on training her charge that she became oblivious to their surroundings.

"They're not?"

"Mostly sure. For one thing, they're moving tree branches around."

"Oh. You're right about that."

"What is the little girl doing?" Jumba asked as they both watched the native converse with thin air over their collective shoulders.

"I think she's talking to an imaginary friend. You know I had an imaginary friend once. Her name was Kevin."

"With a name like that, I'd imagine your imaginary friends left you pretty quick, huh," Jumba snarked back, but Pleakley wasn't paying attention to him anymore. He had spotted a large mosquito flying toward Sodoshi.

"Look a rare mosquito is stalking her prey! Such a magnificent specimen. There's never been a documented eyewitness to such an event!" He watched in fascination as the insect hovered over her intended victim.

Sodoshi heard the noisy bug and started waving her hand around. The pest kept flying back and she quickly reached into her backpack. After a moment of frantic searching, she pulled out some bug repellant and proceeded to apply some on her. The mosquito flew away in disgust. Pleakley gasped, "No!"

"Problem?" Jumba asked as he fully turned around to watch.

"Their preferred prey now has a chemical defense! They're evolving! What will happen to the mosquito population now? She needs human blood to feed the eggs that are growing within her."

"There there. Maybe, this is the only one. You want to stop her before she teaches anybody else?"

"We really shouldn't interfere with nature," Pleakley said sadly. He watched as the disgruntled mosquito flew over and landed on him. "Look! The mosquito has picked me to be her perch. There little one. Just rest." More mosquitoes flew out of the bush. "Look! There's a whole flock of them and they like me!" Pleakley exclaimed in joy as he did his best to hold still. "Now they're nuzzling their noses against my flesh! Now they're...ARGH!"

Sodoshi, who had just finished spraying herself, looked up to see the one-eyed alien's plight.

"Hold on!" She quickly used the spray can's contents to disperse the buzzing swarm. As the mosquitoes retreated she could make out that the noodle-like body was covered in small splotch marks. "That's bad. I'll fix the boo-boos. Daddy showed me how to do first aid," she proudly declared as she opened her backpack again.

"No need with witch doctors or spells," The multi-eyed one exclaimed as he dug into his belt pouches and produced several rolls of bandages.

"I have bandages too," Sodoshi said as she opened her first aid kit.

"Does yours use nanotech?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. She did her best to recall if Neosporin did that, but gave up. The multi-eyed one started wrapping the one-eyed one's head who started to loudly complain,

"Gentle! Those are tender!"

"Stop being a big baby. It'll be over before you know it." The big one retorted as he continued wrapping.

"Can I help?"

"Little girl..."

"I'm Sodoshi and this is also Sodoshi," she said nodding to thin air. Forgetting entirely that her companion had remained invisible to others unless the ghost wanted them to see her.

"You know what? Fine. Sure. Start on the right side," he said, throwing her a roll of high-tech bandages. Taking her apparent imaginary friend in stride, he returned the greeting, "I'm Dr. Jumba, evil genius, and this is Pleakly, professional pain in the rear end." Having a friend, imaginary or otherwise, has got to be confusing he thought. It's like being married except you can go home afterwards.

"Why are you two evil?" she asked as she got to wrapping.

"I'm NOT evil!" Pleakley protested under the bandages.

"Not him. Just me."

"Oh." Sodoshi replied and then after a moment asked, "Did you ever kill anyone?"

"Um, no." Jumba slowly replied as he paused bandaging to look at the human.

"Ask if he ever vowed to hunt down an entire family clan for petty revenge solely based upon vague rumors of ancient weapons to gain personal power that ended the life of a young beautiful and talented woman in the prime of her life," the ghostly Sodoshi whispered to her with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Vowed to hunt down any family clans?" she said giving the ghost a concerned look.

"No."

"Tried to take over the body of anybody's daddy?"

"No! That last one seemed oddly specific."

"Well, what do you do that's evil?" she asked as the last bandages on that side were done. It ended up being a little sloppy, but it worked.

"I create evil experiments! One is here, ah .. accidentally ... crashed on this very planet! We're here to get him...back to his new home."

"Oh, so you're his daddy!"

"Not daddy. Creator and this one is my most evil creation!"

"It is?" She asked as she nervously looked around. Ghostly Sodoshi quickly scanned their surroundings too.

"Don't worry. Not in the immediate vicinity, but somewhere on this island."

"What's he look like?"

"Oh! Experiment 626 is about your height with fluffy blue fur all over his body," Jumba said as he finished wrapping the rest of Pleakly. Pleakley had tried to stop his companion from saying too much, but Jumba somehow had wrapped the green alien's mouth and limbs when he started talking about his passion for the evil sciences.

"That's evil?"

"Yes! He will back up sewers."

"Daddy says don't throw things in the toilet. It may clog."

"Um, that is true. Oh. He will also steal everybody's left shoe!"

"That is evil! Mommy has the best shoe collection ever!" Her mommy told her she could wear those shoes when she was older. How could she do that if there were only the right ones? "I wanna help!"

"No!" Pleakley yelled as he finally freed himself. "There's no way we can involve the natives!"

"Come one. Only a little one. Sodoshi is already here. Just think how much easier this will go with a guide."

"We don't need a guide. I'm the expert on this planet! Besides, her parents will be very worried about her. I can't condone taking anyone away from their parents!" Turning to Sodoshi, he gently waved her away with both arms, "Go now. Back to your parents."

"I can't. I'm learning to be a ninja!"

"Ah, little warrior," ghostly Sodoshi interrupted, "one of the first rules of learning to be a ninja is that we don't talk about learning how to be a ninja. Especially, if you're running away from home."

"Oh, I'm not supposed to talk about that and yeah like she said, I'm running away from home," the young girl said a bit quieter.

"Are your parents really that bad?" Pleakley asked as the two aliens looked at her in sympathy while ignoring the invisible conversation the girl had.

"Nuh-uh. They're the bestest!"

"Really? Why run then?" Jumba asked as he got down on one knee and started looking for signs of abuse.

"They are! Daddy is great and Mommy is ...is trying hard. There's a social worker who said if anything bad happens in the next three months then he could take me away from my home."

"Bah, governments are the same everywhere. Always interfering where not wanted. Rebels like us should stick together." Jumba said as he gestured for her to follow him down a path. Sodoshi put on her backpack and started to follow.

"What? We're helping her run away?" Pleakley said in disbelief as he ran to catch up. "Have you lost it? We're getting YOUR runaway experiment, not some random runaway."

"We get 626, drop him off, and then we'll bring her back. Besides, look at her. You would turn away this poor innocent little rebel?"

Sodoshi took her cue and looked at Pleakley with trembling lips and wide teary eyes, "Please?"

"Oh fine if it's only a few days," Pleakley said after a minute of resisting the embodiment of cuteness, "but don't blame me when you're in trouble with the Galactic Council again."

"Sure we'll find 626 in a few days. I'm sure it won't be three months, but who knows? Right Sodoshi?" Jumba says while giving a wink to her who didn't fully understand what was implied but smiled and nodded back regardless. He started to fiddle with the scanner. "I've filtered out the space crafts and the next largest source is in this direction! We'll get to my wayward experiment back to his new home in no time."

"He'll be happy to see his daddy!"

"Creator, not Daddy."

"Oh," she said then after a moment she asked, "Does he have any brothers and sisters?"

"I suppose you could say ... many. It's in the name. 626. So 625 . . . cousins."

"That's neat! I wondered what it would be like to have that many cousins. Would we like each other or not? Mommy's sisters are great, but my Mommy is the best of them. Does such a big family all get along?"

Jumba took a moment to think about it, "I'm not sure we would be called a family. They never met each other. My former wife would throw a fit at the thought of all of them coming to dinner for a visit." He had a chuckle at the mental image of the chaos they could cause her. That did cause him to wonder if any of the experiments looked to him as a parental figure. None of them had any DNA that involved imprinting. If they did it would be due to social interactions and not genetics. Something to ponder for another day.

Pleakley looked at Jumba in horror and said, "Wait are you telling me that there are 625 other little monsters running around? Our galaxy is doomed!"

"They're all stored safely away and not causing havoc. Come on. This way." They continued following the device until about mid-morning. Jumba waved the device a few times as they reached the end of the forest edge and then took something from his back that Sodoshi hadn't noticed before and asked while pointing,

"What's that?"

Ghostly Sodoshi admonished herself for being lax in her security and urgently said, "Little one. That's a gun!" She prepared to merge with Sodoshi and disappear, well, like a ninja.

"This is a plasma gun with a multi-spectrum scope. I'm certain experiment 626 is inside that building. With this, I can look inside."

"You're going to shoot him?" the young girl cried in dismay, "What kind of daddy are you?"

"Not daddy. Creator. And this will only stun 626. No need, of course, if he comes peacefully." After a moment of looking through the scope, he said, "I think I see him. In the back of the building. He's lying on the ground and is surrounded by many small mammals, of some sort, in a primitive enclosure. There's a warden there. Is that a weapon in their hand? No energy readings from it."

"Hey Sodoshi," she said to her ghostly companion, "can you go check and see if he's in there?" Both aliens shared an eye-roll as the reconnoiter was promptly completed and she reported,

"It's an animal shelter. This 626 is in the first cage on the left. You can't miss him. He's the only one with blue fur and six legs. The 'warden' is just an unarmed woman. She's just stapling posters for a pet adoption event."

"See it's safe. We can go down and get him." the young girl said still oblivious that the others didn't hear half of that conversation. Pleakley interrupted while waving his arms,

"This guy looks like a monster. We'll cause mass panic! We can't waltz up there and say 'Hey we're a couple of out-of-towners and we want our freak of nature back'. We should wait till it gets dark."

"I don't look like a monster. You're the one-eyed monster," Juma grumbled.

"I'll go down and get him! Wait here," Sodoshi said and quickly ran as fast as her young legs could carry her. Pleakley shook his head to Jumba who just shrugged in response. They both settled down to wait.

Sodoshi banged open the door to the animal shelter, startling the worker behind the counter. She saw that the front of the building was sparse but clean. The smells of many animals only slightly permeated the air and the adoption event posters were prominently displayed.

"Hello there. How can I help you?" The young woman said while smiling at her.

"I want to adopt!" She sputtered out. Her ghostly companion tilted her head and said,

"I would have gone with I'm looking for a lost pet."

"Oh. Too late now," she quietly replied. The worker, not hearing the ghost, replied,

"It's not too late. We're just starting and there are many adoptable animals here. You'll need an adult to adopt one, but you can look in the back. There are so many adorable ones just looking for a forever home!"

"Forever home?" Sodoshi said as she followed the worker into the back.

"Yes. Sometimes pets end up in a shelter again and again, often to no fault of their own. Everybody needs a home and these animals are no exception. Finding a forever home with a loving family is the dream of every one of our animals."

"You're a grown-up," she said looking at the older, adult Sodoshi who just shook her head,

"I don't think I can help here little warrior. A living grown-up is needed here."

"I mean another adult dear," The worker said with a chuckle who was unable to hear the ghostly companion.

Sodoshi pondered some more and thought that maybe she should go back and get Mommy and Daddy. No, then there would be a chance of those prying eyes telling Mr. Bubbles bad stuff. She'll have to go back and ask Jumba and Pleakley if they could help, but first, she wanted to see this so-called evil experiment 626 with her own two eyes.

"This one here," her ghostly guide pointed to one of the enclosures. Looking she saw a blue-furred figure splayed on the floor. She looked and saw that he indeed had six limbs. Amazing and cute!

"I want that one!" she said to the worker who was leaning against the door frame to the front.

"Oh. I forgot about that one." She walked over and took a blanket from a storage locker. Opening the door she carefully covered experiment 626. "I'm so sorry, but that one died this morning."

"Dead?"

"Yes he was hit by a truck, but he didn't make it."

"No!" Sodoshi cried as she ran out of the room and back into the forest. The woman looked sadly at the departing girl and decided that she should move the body someplace away from the public. There wasn't a lot of room though. Maybe a cardboard box from the back office. She'll have to contact the pet cremation service too.

Jumba and Pleakley watched in concern as Sodoshi ran back to them. She was crying and kept saying that she was sorry. It took a little while but they calmed her down and she relayed what she had discovered. Jumba looked through his scope and consulted his scanner.

"626 is just in a regenerative coma. I doubt the mass of any of the local vehicles would be sufficient enough to cause any real damage."

"Really?"

"Yep!"

"Great. You're both grown-ups. You can come down and get 626!"

"Well except the whole mass panic," Pleakley injected, "We're going to need disguises."

"We could just wait until nightfall and get him then," Jumba countered.

"I know where we can get disguises," Sodoshi said while walking away.

"Come on Jumba. It'll give us something to do while we wait for nightfall." Pleakley said while he enthusiastically followed the little girl.

Nabiki woke with a groan and looked at the clock by the bed. Sleep hadn't come easy for her and she envied her husband's ability to sleep. She still had quite a bit of time before her first meeting of the day and decided that she was going to get some breakfast. Jefferey stirred as she left the room.

Going down to the kitchen she reminded herself that they would probably have to go out until they could hire a replacement since Jade was no longer their housekeeper. Not that Jade cooked every meal for them and she cooked before they hired Jade, a little. In fact, maybe this morning she would. She may not be a great cook like Kasumi, but she could work her way around the kitchen.

Looking around she spied the rice cooker and decided that she wanted miso, rice, and maybe with an egg on top. Setting up the rice cooker was easy and then started looking for the instant miso paste. She found it after a few minutes on a back shelf. Guess it's been a while since she had used it.

Taking out one of her new pots she began to boil the miso and then got out a similarly shiny skillet. Only a small bit of eggshell ended up in the pan, her egg cracking skills were a little rusty. She fished out the shell with a fork and soon realized she had accidentally broken the yolk. She grimaced when she realized that she needed to put oil on the skillet too. Maybe then nonstick pan would save it? Oh well, it wasn't going to be a whole sunny side up. Messy over easy it was then.

Nabiki heard the front door open and she peeked her head out to see who it was.

"Jade! What are you doing here?" she said with surprise.

"Nihao! Brought food from the new restaurant. Advertisement!"

"Yeah, right. My husband owns that joint."

"Free samples! Fffrrreee!" her former housekeeper said while skipping into the kitchen. Nabiki didn't want to admit it, but those words still warmed her heart. Jade quickly took the eggs off the skillet and started plating all the food.

"Jade?" Jeff said as he walked into the kitchen, "Do I have to fire you again?"

"Does that mean I get two severance pays?"

"No!" Nabiki automatically said and then blushed at her husband's amused glance. She quickly said, "I'll go wake Sodoshi," and rushed out.

She opened the door and saw the neatly made bed, but no daughter. "Sodoshi! Breakfast!" she called as she started to walk to the playroom. Seeing nobody there, she then walked back to the bedroom, "Sodoshi? Are you hiding?" She looked in the closet and then under the bed. As she put the bed sheet down she noticed her daughter's cat doll was sitting on a piece of paper with a message written in purple ink. Her stomach dropped and with trembling hands, she picked up the paper and read:

Dear daddy and mommy. I'll make sure those I's do not see me to tell misster bubbles. I'll be nija until they go. Love Sodoshi

"Jeffery!"

"What's wrong?" her husband called out while running into the room with a concerned Jade right behind him. She held up the paper to him. He looked at it for a second and said, "Yes that's a nice drawing Sodoshi. A little creepy with all the eyes and is that Cobra in it?" He looked around the room and noticed the lack of one daughter. "Sodoshi?"

"Not that! Read this!" she said as she shoved the other side of the paper toward him. His face turned white for a second and then resigned himself for more trouble. "I think we need to tell our daughter how to spell ninja."

Jade glanced at the letter and quietly mouthed, "Ai ya." She then walked around to look at the drawing on the other side. After a moment she got closer and read, "Hiding."

Nabiki quickly focused on the image of a small figure dressed in purple ninja clothing in a bush with the small words 'hiding' above it. Ninja. Again. There was only one person to talk to about that. Looking up she called out,

"Sodoshi! Get your ghostly butt over here, right now!" The ghostly form appeared in front of her, bowed down on one knee.

"You summoned me, my Elder?"

"Where's. My. Daughter."

"Safe."

Jeff looked tiredly at the ghost and said, "Really. You have to do the mysterious ninja thing now?"

"Is it working? I thought long on that part after I promised the little one not to tell you two where she was."

"Annoyingly, yes." he quipped back. "What can you tell us then?"

"Currently she's is in no danger."

"That's just saying the same thing. Seriously, how many more ways did you come out to say safe," Jeff said with mild aspiration.

"Two more, want to hear them?"

"Sure, let's get them out of the way."

"Okay. She's fin..."

"So you can't tell us, then show us where she is, " the ever-pragmatic Nabiki interrupted.

"Well, she didn't make me promise that..." Sodoshi slowly said while looking away.

"Hah! I knew it. Come on. Let's go!"

"Hold on," Jeffery said thoughtfully, "maybe we shouldn't go after her right away."

"Jeffery..." Nabiki said in a tone that promised immediate escalation.

"Not right away," he repeated, "Remember some of the things we did in Nerima? She needs some independence too. Just like we did."

"...but she's so young to be all alone," Nabiki protested.

"She's not alone," Sodoshi said quietly and then yelped as Nabiki was in her face.

"What do you mean she's not alone? Somebody strange is with my baby?"

"Two strange somebodies actually, but they're okay. They may have ...snuck into the country."

"Illegal aliens? Are they Chinese Amazons?"

"Definitely not that!" Sodoshi said while waving her ghostly hands.

"What is Sodoshi doing with them?" Jeff asked while pulling Nabiki back a bit.

"The little warrior is helping them get their lost . . . pet? back."

"What sort of pet? Is it dangerous?"

"Some kind of blue fluffy dog thing. I'm told it's only dangerous to sewers and shoes."

"Needs to be housebroken. I guess finding a lost dog is okay," Nabiki said while thinking of the late Mrs. Suzuki, the kindly elderly neighbor in Nerima, who used to own a huge dog ironically named Baby or Akane's Ami-chan and some of the messes those animals made. Still, she had to do something. It went against all of her carefully cultivated motherly instincts. Basically, what would Kasumi do to sneakily get involved? "Can we help with the search for this dog?" After nobody could complain about more people searching for a missing canine and if they just happen to come across their little girl...

"Oh, they already found it at an animal shelter and just waiting to pick it up and go."

Jeff looked at his wife's crestfallen face and said, "How about if we put together a care package for Sodoshi?"

Nabiki's face lit up, "...and then we can go see her and convince her to come home."

"Actually, I was thinking of having Sodoshi here help deliver it"

"Um, hello ghost here," said ghost in the room said while waving her hand through the bed, "I can't touch anything."

Jeff grinned, "I know, but if you take us nearby to drop it off afterward you can 'lead' Sodoshi to later.

"Woo! Ninjaly parenting. I like it. I'm in."

"We'll get the top-of-the-line tent and sleeping bag for her," Nabiki immediately said as her mind switched gears.

"Let's get an easy popup tent instead."

"Those are just glorified toys. Our baby deserves the best!"

"It should be enough for Hawaiian weather this time of year. I'll pay half."

"Three-quarters," Nabiki automatically countered.

"Done. I'll make some sandwiches for her and her two friends."

"Sandwiches? No, she's been hiking and needs more nourishment than that."

"What! Sandwiches are perfectly fine. You want a fine dining picnic?"

"Oh can help cook yummy camp food," Jade chimed in.

"Yes, fine dining bentos from an exclusive sous chef," Nabiki said while sharing a smirk with Jade.

Jeff threw up his hands in surrender.

"No, a crop top has nothing to do with farming!"

"The things on this planet are just amazing! Tell me more about how it can be mixed with a hoodie."

Jumba grumbled as he followed behind the two chatterboxes. Sodoshi and Pleakley have been discussing fashion and it was starting to drive him crazy. Fortunately, it wasn't long before the little girl stopped walking and pointed to a bunch of stalls and tents.

"We should be able to find a disguise for you at a swap meet."

"I'm evil, but taking things from homeless people seems kinda low," Jumba said as he eyed the ramshackle stalls.

"No silly, this is a market and I have my allowance though I'll have to ask for a receipt so I can record it in my ledger just like Mommy!" She looked at the tents and then looked harder. "I can't see. Hold me higher!" Jumba grumbled but complied and held her on top of his head.

"Why don't you send your friend Sodoshi to find what you're looking for?" Jumba asked with a smirk.

"She said Mommy wanted to talk to her, but she'll be back."

"Of course."

"I see one with lots of clothes. Put me down and I'll be right back." She ran as soon as her feet touched the ground and was soon lost among the crowd. Jumba caught Pleakley by the collar when he moved to join her and dryly asked,
"Where do you think you're going?"

"To see all the earth fashion!"

"What about all the screaming and paperwork?"

"Oh! Right! I guess I forgot. I always lose myself when talking about my favorite topic ...and now she's gone..." Pleakley one eye grew wider, "Maybe she lulled us into a false sense of security so that she could report us to the authorities!" He started looking around as if expecting uniformed security jumping out of the tall grass.

"Little girl said she was going to right back. She'll be right back." Jumba said while he sat down against a tree.

"She played us for fools!"

"You were already one." Jumba was grateful that after pacing for a bit Pleakley settled down into a worried pout. After a bit of time, Pleakley softly said,
"She's not coming back is she?"

"If she does or doesn't, doesn't matter. Worse comes to worse, we get Experiment 626 at night."

"But I trusted her!"

"Trusted who?" Sodoshi asked which caused the green alien to startle and choke back a scream. Catching his breath Pleakley quickly said,

"Why ... we trusted you to get us the ... best disguises ever!" He looked at Jumba, daring him to disagree, but Jumba just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"I did! Look!" She opened the big paper bag she had been carrying and handed out several outfits. Jumba picked out the biggest shirt and shorts she could find. She heard older Sodoshi laughing behind her making her jump a little.

"Why I think mister one-eyed green is quite happy to see you," her ghostly teacher said between giggles.

"Sodoshi! Don't scare me like that! His name is Pleakley and of course, he's happy to see me," she replied as she helped Jumba close the lowest button on his shirt. Jumba just grimaced as he listened to the one-sided conversation "Why wouldn't he?" she asked as she turned around to look at the other alien.

Pleakley was trying on an outfit composed of a very baggy Hawaiian shirt and shorts with a Panama hat. The biggest problem was his legs which tended to bulge in the front or back. After a few steps, the shorts tended to slip and one of the legs usually popped out like a tail. "Stop laughing at him. If you're not going to help with the disguises then do something useful. Go check on 626 and make sure he's okay." The ghostly Sodoshi faded away, but her laughter lingered in the air for a few seconds.

Pleakley tossed the hat as he went to look in the bag again. It landed near Jumba who put it on and decided that he liked the way it felt on his head. It really complimented the sunglasses. Meanwhile, Pleakley dived into the bag exclaiming,
"Oh, what are these!"

"Those are for when I wanna play dress up," Sodoshi said shyly as if caught doing something. Pleakley popped out of the bag, wearing a purple sparkling muumuu, a long blond wig, and holding a package above his head.

"...and what is this? It looks so enticing!"

"That's makeup. Daddy said I'm too young for it. I want to learn how to look as pretty as Mommy. Also, the seller gave it to me FREE when I bought the wigs."

Jumba noted that she had said that last part as if it was the most important thing in the world. "Good job. Always good to have resources that can be used for future experiments," he said while clapping his hands politely. Perhaps, she came from a poor family. It warmed his evil heart to think she was spending her precious funds to aid them!

Pleakley admired himself with a hand mirror that had come with the make-up collection while Sodoshi gave helpful hints about what her mommy liked to do. Jumba was impressed that the one-eyed one did a passable imitation of the model on the makeup box. He did wonder why there was green foundation though.

Sodoshi suddenly turned around and said, "Awake?!"

"What is the problem?" he asked while walking over to them.

"She says," Sodoshi said while waving to empty air, "that 626 is awake and someone is there looking to adopt!" She started running toward the animal shelter.

"Oh no! What happens if he tries to hurt them, or worse, they try to adopt the mutated menace. We have to hurry! " Pleakley cried as he took after her. Jumba just looked at them dumbfounded.

"Seriously, there's no way she should know this. You're just going to run around based upon an imaginary friend providing imaginary intelligence?" He started walking after them while calling out, "Who would want to adopt that evil monstrosity anyway!"